When outsiders see several generals in the Gongyi battalion, they will think that Tan Xiao is the first fierce general in the battalion, he is tall and burly, speaks loudly, has a cheerful and outgoing personality, and is closer to the image of ordinary generals, but everyone in the Gongyi battalion knows that Zhou Guodong is the most fierce and ruthless one in the war.

This skinny Hubei man is less than 1.7 meters tall, his facial features are well-mannered, although he is dressed in military uniform, he still looks like a scholar who reads, but after arriving on the battlefield, he seems to be desperate every time, charging in front and retreating in the back, proving his bravery with his actions again and again, and winning the love of his subordinates.

"I don't know the soldiers, but I don't know the fight!"

Although all the Puqi volunteers sacrificed, the words they left behind were engraved in the hearts of the soldiers of the Gongyi Battalion, Zhou Guodong and others were all scholars leading the soldiers, and they often put this sentence on their lips to motivate themselves and encourage their subordinates.

In the battle of attacking Ji'an Mansion, Zhou Guodong grabbed the task of the first wave of attacks, but he did not fight to the death this time, and after rushing into the gap and killing for a while, he retreated according to the plan and retreated behind the moat to prepare for the next attack.

Seeing Zhou Guodong and them withdrawing, the mine apprentices guarding the second tunnel immediately lit the fuse, and then left the tunnel and ran to the safety of the rear.

Tan Xiao led five hundred soldiers to move forward a hundred paces, and the explosion just now had proved that this distance was still within a safe range. He knew that the wall in front of him would soon be blown out of a gap, and the farther forward the charge, the greater the results would be.

After waiting for about half a pillar of incense, with a loud bang, a second gap was blown up in the wall of the west gate of Ji'an Mansion, and Tan Xiao immediately ordered to rush towards the city wall with five hundred armored soldiers. Tiny rotten bricks and rubble fell from the sky like rain, and the Ming army raised the small round shield hanging on his arm, protected his head and face, and continued to charge, rushing in through the gap in the city wall.

There are countless green battalion soldiers lying on the ground inside and outside the gap, they are the bravest and most experienced veterans, and they are not afraid of the Ming army that attacked the city with the "demon method", and they still stick to the city wall, but they were suddenly blown up to the sky and seriously injured when they fell to the ground. Before the smoke and dust cleared, the Ming army rushed in and killed them all mercilessly.

On the city walls that did not collapse on both sides, there were still Qing troops who were spared, but they were all blown unconscious. Or they were injured by larger rubble bricks and did not make any interception attacks. On the inside of the city wall, some Qing soldiers and young men were digging pools. I was also dizzy from the explosion. Before I could figure out what was going on, I suddenly saw the Ming army kill in, some people turned around and ran, and some people raised their weapons to try to resist.

Tan Xiao led his men to easily wipe out the Qing army that insisted on resisting, but did not continue to advance into the city. The alarm bell on the bell and drum tower in the distance became more and more urgent, and there were faint footsteps and shouts, Tan Xiao knew that the reserves of the Qing army were about to arrive.

He took advantage of the unstable foothold of the Qing army's reserves. After another burst of slaughter, he withdrew from the gap with five hundred soldiers and retreated behind the moat, and this attack suffered almost zero casualties, except for the unfortunate man's head being stoned.

Behind them, Xu Qian led the green battalion soldiers to recover the gap in the city wall, and then pushed a knife cart to block the gap, and carried stones to build a low wall......

……

On the tower of the city, Gao Jinku once again received good news.

"Report! Mr. Xu Qian has already killed the southern thieves and blocked the gap in the city wall! ”

"Well, good, good, I will reward the guerrillas with a hundred taels of silver, and the other sons and daughters will be five taels each."

Gao Zheng was much calmer this time, and pricked up his ears while announcing the reward...... I only heard a boom, and the third explosion happened again.

Dispatching troops, organizing counterattacks, recovering gaps, and Gao Jinku repeated this process, but he was secretly calculating an account in his heart.

When the first gap was blocked, he put in 500 reserves, and 500 soldiers were drawn from other places, and when the second gap was blocked, he used 200 reserves from Zuihou, leaving 300 defenders in the first gap. When the third gap was closed, he had no reserves, so he had to tear down the east wall to make up the west wall, and transferred another 300 soldiers from other places......

After these gaps were recovered, they could only be sealed by building barricades and low walls in a hurry, and they had to be heavily guarded, and each gap should be filled with at least 300 people. Three gaps, 900 people have been used, and there are only more than 3,000 green battalion soldiers in the city, and the troops of Gao Jinkuo are already stretched.

What if this continues......?

When the third, fourth...... The seventh time, the good news of recovering the gap for the eighth time came, and Gao Jinku no longer announced the reward, but was busy transferring the troops in the city.

The south gate and the east gate city walls that were not attacked were handed over to Qingzhuang, only one hundred green battalion soldiers were left on the city tower to ensure the safety of the city gate, the military camp granary, and the yamen of the domain treasury were all handed over to the Ji'an prefect, and all the troops were transferred to the west gate and the north gate city wall, and the defenders of each gap were reduced by one hundred, and eight hundred soldiers were saved to prepare to recover the ninth gap......

There are only 200 defenders in each gap, which is very unsafe, but Gao Jinku can't take care of it, in order to defend these eight gaps, he has pinned down more than half of the troops in the city, and he must have a reserve in his hand to seal the gap at any time.

Gao Jinku's only hope was that the mana of the demon in the Ming army was suddenly exhausted, and he launched Qingzhuang tonight to plug the gap stronger overnight.

The ninth and tenth gaps were recovered, and by now, the Qing army had lost five or six hundred people, and in order to avoid too many casualties in the explosion, the Qing troops on the city wall were basically withdrawn to defend these two gaps.

Standing on the tower and looking to the left and right, in less than an hour, the city wall had become section by section, like a dead snake that had been cut off. And on the Dharma platform of the Ming army in the distance, the demon man was still dancing with his hands and words!

"Boom......!"

There was a loud noise in the distance, Gao Jinku was already very experienced, and there must be another gap in the direction of the north gate, but he had already arranged for another fifty people to be transferred from each gap, leaving a reserve of two hundred people at the north gate.

"Boom......!"

There was another loud bang, and Gao Jinku scolded fiercely, and sent Ximen Zuihou's reserve team to recover the twelfth gap.

There can't be more gaps, no more than one! Ji'an Mansion has become a rag full of holes, and if the Ming army lets go to attack a gap, the entire defense line will immediately collapse.

Gao Jinku secretly prayed in his heart, and swore to the gods and Buddhas that as long as he could stop the demon of the Ming army, he would enter the temple when he saw it in the future, and worship when he saw the gods, and he would not dare to be rude to the gods again!

It's a pity that it's useless to cramm.

"Boom......!"

The thirteenth gap appeared.

Gao Jinku called Xu Qianzong, who had just been promoted to guerrilla general, and gave him 50 personal soldiers, and asked him to randomly transfer some soldiers on the way to gather enough 200 people to recover the gap.

Xu Qian turned around and went, Gao Jinku hesitated on the city tower, and wanted to order the gathering of troops to break through the siege and abandon Ji'an Mansion several times, but with a trace of luck, he wanted to delay until dark to see.

If the Ming army continues to create a gap, Ji'an Mansion is estimated to be unable to hold it, and it seems to be the right choice to break through as soon as possible. However, the three thousand green battalion soldiers were scattered all over the city, and it was not a simple matter to gather together, even if they barely broke through, they would be completely wiped out under the pursuit of the Ming cavalry.

"Let's grit our teeth and hold on." Gao Jinku made up his mind, and in another hour it would be dark, and then there would be a chance to strengthen the city wall.

Thinking about coming, thinking about going, but he didn't wait for the news that Xu Qian had regained the gap, he suddenly realized that something was wrong, at this time, there was a crazy bell from the Bell and Drum Tower, Gao Jinku looked up, there were red lanterns hanging with warnings, and a few flags were waving desperately, indicating that a large number of enemies had attacked the city!

He hurriedly rushed to the side of the city tower, and looked at the battlement, there was a new gap in the northwest corner of the city wall, and nearly a thousand Ming troops were pouring in like a tide, and in front of them, one hundred and ten Qing troops formed a thin defense line, and were retreating.

"I'm X! It's really real this time! ”

Gao Jinku immediately understood that the Ming army had really launched a general attack, and he looked up at the rear of the Ming army, where there were about two thousand infantry and nearly a thousand cavalry.

It is clear that the Ming army still has the strength to attack continuously, and considering that there is still a Ming army in the direction of the North Gate, they can even launch three or four more attacks if they wish.

"Follow me!"

Gao Jinku was in danger, hurried down the city with his own soldiers, and ordered the green battalion soldiers around the west gate to give up all the city walls and gaps to consider him, and it didn't take long for him to gather seven or eight hundred people and stop the Ming army who entered the city.

Although there are more Ming troops outside the city, they have to leave some peripheral troops, but also to guard the camp and baggage, leave a reserve, etc., and the cavalry may not enter the city to fight, and the maximum number of people who are really engaged in the siege is only four or five thousand, compared with the nearly three thousand green battalions in the city, there is no absolute advantage.

More importantly, at this moment, the Ming army that rushed into the city was only 1,000 people, and the strength of the green battalion had the upper hand.

If you are the worst, you will have to drag it out until dark in the street fighting, and take advantage of the night to retreat, and the chances of getting out are much greater.

Under his leadership, the Qing army rolled into a thick lump and blocked the advancing Ming army, and the two sides fought each other in short quarters. While commanding the battle, Gao Jinku sent heralds to mobilize the men and horses of the north gate to support.

Suddenly, there was another loud bang in the direction of the north gate, standing in the narrow street, the buzzing echo did not stop for a long time, and then, a tsunami-like shouting and killing sound came from the direction of the north gate. (To be continued......)