"Ignition ——!"

"Boom—Boom ——!"

The roaring explosion from the ground was dull and depressing, blocking people's hearts, but correspondingly, a section of the city wall in the southwest corner of Hukou City in the distance seemed to jump up, suddenly rising upwards, and then sinking down violently, with a loud sound of shattering, it collapsed violently, revealing a huge gap of fifteen or sixteen zhang wide, and the dense Taiping soldiers on the city wall were also surrounded by sand, dust and smoke in a miserable scream, and countless people were buried alive by bricks, soil and rubble.

"Blown up! Poured! ”

"Brethren! Kill! ”

In the cheers of countless Wu army soldiers, without waiting for the dust and smoke to settle, the Wu Spontaneous Department of the Southwest Wu Army, which finally won the forward task in front of Wu Chaoyue, was already shouting and shaking the sky, and everyone was running wildly, one by one, rushing to the gap in the city wall like a flood. The soldiers of the Wu army cheered even more, but the Taiping soldiers on the city wall that had not collapsed were shouting and screaming, panicked as if the end was coming.

It is indeed the end of the world, in the fierce battle last night, the two defenders of the southwest of the Taiping army who are exhausted have used up the powder keg for emergency relief, and there is no way to effectively suppress the Wu army's impact on the gap in the city wall, so it can only be blocked by guns, but in front of the morale of the Wu army soldiers, the Taiping army's hurried bullets and sporadic shells can no longer stop the Wu army's charge in any case, and the torrent of the Wu army's crowd unstoppably rushed through the gap and rushed into the Hukou City, completely shattering the Taiping army's dream of resisting the Wu army outside the city wall.

There is also resistance, although Wu Chaoyue has repeatedly warned the generals of the Southwest Wu Army before, saying that the Taiping Army in Hukou will definitely not take the initiative to abandon the city and leave, and will continue to fight street battles to resist to the end, the result is that after the real entry into the city, the soldiers of the Southwest Wu Army know that Wu Chaoyue's warning is not a joke, in the case that the city wall has been broken and the soldiers of the Wu Army have successfully landed in the city, the Taiping soldiers in Hukou really did not choose to give up, and still rose up to resist under the leadership of Lin Qirong and Wei Chaocheng and other Taiping Army generals. With the fortifications built in advance in the city, the Wu army soldiers fought in the streets, forcing the Wu soldiers to pay the price of blood and lives for every step forward.

The sound of ping-pong gunfire is always in the ears, bullets continue to fly out from the corners of the streets, behind the courtyard walls, on the roofs and in the windows, and in the bunkers that are half hidden under the ground, not only may shoot bullets at any time, but also occasionally burst out solid cannonballs and shotguns, the Wu soldiers who do not know anything about the terrain in the city may be hit by bullets at any time as long as they are careless, many Wu soldiers and soldiers do not even know where the enemy is hiding, they have already screamed and fallen in a pool of blood, the southwest Wu army charged into the city before entering the first street, It was stubbornly resisted by the Taiping army.

Fortunately, although there are not many of them, the Southwest Wu Army is also equipped with a certain number of bitter acid grenades, which can rely on this kind of street warfare weapon to uproot the Taiping Army's strongholds one by one, and at the same time, the Southwest Wu Army, which has been trained in guerrilla warfare with the thief army in the deep mountains and old forests, is also relatively familiar with this kind of battlefield, and can skillfully use the ruins to protect itself, find an opportunity to accurately shoot and suppress the enemy, although the fight is hard, but does not retreat, firmly protect the gap in the city wall, and do not give the Taiping Army a chance to repair and block the city wall. At the same time, the soldiers of the Wu army in the southeast section of the city were also desperately attacking to the west, sharing the pressure for the friendly troops entering the city, and also helping to protect the road for the follow-up troops of the Wu army.

At this time, the second wave of the Wu army's attack on the gap in the Hukou city wall had also been launched, and a battalion directly belonging to Feng Sanbao, the Hunan Wu army, protected itself with a shield, roared and rushed through the gap in the city wall where the enemy and us were intertwined, stepped on the gravel corpses and rushed into the Hukou city, and joined the stalemate between the Wu army and the Taiping army in Guizhou.

No matter how familiar the Taiping soldiers were with the terrain in the city, and no matter how skillfully the Taiping soldiers used the house fortifications to hide and shoot, they could not stop the grenade attacks that the Wu soldiers smashed on their heads and faces. Many Taiping soldiers had just taken a shot from behind the window, and before they could change their position, the smoke-emitting Wu Army grenade had already smashed into the window and exploded, and shrapnel flew sideways, and the Taiping soldiers behind the window were either killed or wounded. Some of the Taiping soldiers hiding behind the courtyard wall had just emerged, and immediately one or two grenades fell from the sky, blowing up the Taiping soldiers who were still aiming into a bloody blur.

The soldiers of Feng Sanbao's battalion, who had undergone strict training, also continued to use the wall to catapult grenade bullets to the other end of the street corner, blowing up the Taiping soldiers who were hiding at the corner and preparing to shoot coldly. The Taiping army bunker fortifications that exposed the location of the shooting hole were even more unlucky, once Wu Jun touched the nearby place and smashed the grenade into the shooting hole, the Taiping soldiers who hid in the bunker and shot had absolutely no reason to survive. The soldiers of the Wu army, who had obtained Wu Chaoyue and did not need to be economical and explained, wantonly squandered the bitter acid grenades and Dana explosive grenades produced by the Daye Industrial Base overtime, and blew up the street battle positions of the Taiping army everywhere, and the Wu army's positions in the city continued to expand, while the Taiping army was defeated and retreated, and had to retreat to the corner of the previously built inner wall defense line to resist stubbornly.

At the same time, the Wu army in Dengcheng had basically controlled the city wall of the south gate of Hukou, and began to compete with the enemy army in the city for control of the steps of the upper city, and at the same time reinforce the east gate along the city wall in a roundabout way to help the Wu army outside the east gate seize the city wall of the east gate of Hukou. The Taiping army at the east gate still gritted their teeth and held on, refusing to make a half-step retreat, and while defending their positions in the city, they kept throwing out powder barrels for emergency use, which blew up the Wu soldiers who were attacking under the city with heavy casualties and corpses all over the ground. The tenacity of the fighting spirit made all the generals of the Wu army dumbfounded, and also made Wu Chaoyue secretly rejoice, not daring to imagine how much the self-army would have to pay if there were no traitors from the Taiping Army to respond.

But it is also a pity that the tenacious struggle of the Taiping army is just a return to the light, with the consumption of a large number of guns and gunpowder, the ammunition depot has been blown up by traitors The Taiping army is still gradually showing its defeat, the firepower is becoming more and more sparse, and the powder keg that does great damage to the besieging Wu army is also smashed less and less, and finally disappears altogether. After the Wu army outside the east gate was keenly aware of this, they immediately strengthened the offensive, and then relied on the help of the Wu army who climbed the city, and finally began to climb the city wall of the east gate one after another, turning the capture of the east gate position into a matter of time.

At this point, of course, some Taiping Army generals made suggestions to Lin Qirong, suggesting that Lin Qirong take the initiative to abandon the city and break through, and flee to Raozhou with the army to meet Shi Zhenji and Hu Dingwen, leaving behind a useful body and hope for a comeback. However, Lin Qirong categorically rejected the suggestion of his subordinates, and said aloud to everyone: "Brothers, it's not that I, Lin Qirong, must drag you to accompany you to the funeral, it's that we can't break through now, and if we insist on breaking through, we just want to die in vain." ”

"See? It's just morning. Pointing to the sun that had just risen, Lin Qirong said again: "At this time, abandon the city and break through, and when we get to the field battlefield, we can't stop the fast-firing foreign guns that surpass the little demon no matter what, and we are destined to only be surrounded and annihilated by demon soldiers!" So if you want to break through, you must hold on until the night, and when it is completely dark, when the demon soldiers' fast-fire guns are not accurate, we can hope to succeed in breaking through! ”

Recalling the great power of the Wu army's firing pin gun in the field, everyone in the Taiping army present also nodded, but some people were still a little shaken, and asked cautiously: "Zhen Tiantian, what if we can't hold out at night?" ”

"I'm going to hold on to it." Lin Qirong's expression did not hesitate, and he said loudly: "As long as we unite and work together to fight the demon soldiers to the end, we will definitely be able to hold out until it is dark!" ”

The generals of the Taiping Army, who had always respected Lin Qirong, responded in unison, and all expressed their willingness to follow Lin Qirong and the Wu army to fight to the end. If you have eggs, let me defend the city until it gets dark! ”

…………

In order to take Hukou as soon as possible and crush the hope of the Taiping army's stubborn resistance, the Wu army, which entered the city from the gap, had just opened up the situation and seized a position of a certain space, Wu Chaoyue immediately sent two additional battalions of troops to the city, and at the same time strictly required the officers and men of the Wu army to strive for surrender, and the slogan of surrender and not killing echoed endlessly in the city of Hukou. However, it was very regrettable that the surrender slogan shouted by the Wu army had little effect, and there were very few soldiers of the Hukou Taiping Army who really surrendered, on the contrary, Ji Rongxian's rebel soldiers ran to the front of the Wu soldiers and surrendered as soon as they had the opportunity, and Ji Rongxian himself seized the opportunity to run to the front of the Wu army to surrender after the Wu soldiers basically controlled the south gate city wall - and also brought Wu Chaoyue the head of Chu Erniang, the commander of the Hukou Taiping Army Women's Battalion.

"The sin general Ji Rongxian, meet the prince of the south of the Qing Dynasty, the prince is a thousand years old, the sin will be bold, after entering the city, in order to deceive Lin Qirong's trust, he deliberately told Lin Qirong about the prince's surrender, and asked the prince Hongfu, Lin Qirong's big long hair really no longer guarded against the crime, and the sin general also seized the opportunity to blow up his ammunition depot first, and luckily received the siege of the prince's army. It's a pity that Lin Qirong, who was long-haired and treacherous, saw through the intention of the criminal general at the last moment, and let the criminal general miss the opportunity to capture and kill the thief for the prince, which is really a pity ....... ”

Prostrate in front of Wu Chaoyue, Ji Rongxian, who looked quite good-looking, was full of flattery, spitting and spitting, constantly stating his various exploits in responding to the siege of the Wu army, and held the head of the female general of the Taiping Army with both hands, and said even more flatteringly: "However, thanks to the prince Hongfu, the sin general still made a fluke in the melee, and personally cut off the head of Chu Erniang, the female long-haired military marshal in Hukou, and I would like to present this thief's head as a meeting gift to the prince, talk about the heart of atonement, please be sure to reward the prince." ”

Wu Chaoyue stared at the bloody head in Ji Rongxian's hand, and felt melancholy, because Wu Chaoyue clearly remembered that the self-army had reported to him, saying that the person who led the female soldiers of the Taiping Army to attack the Tsarist fleet was the female general of the Taiping Army in front of him.

"General Ji is hard." After barely squeezing out a smile, Wu Chaoyue couldn't help but add, "If only General Ji could capture this Chu Erniang alive and send it to this king." ”

"Captured alive?" Ji Rong took a pinch first, and then came to his senses, and hurriedly kowtowed again and again and said: "The prince forgives the sin, the sin will not know what the prince wants to live, and the sin will die." But please rest assured, the situation of the female long hair in Hukou will be very clear, as long as the prince gives an order, the crime will immediately take the people of the headquarters into the city, and he will definitely catch the most iconic female long hair for the prince, and the custody is alive. ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled, but there was a sour smile in his smile, and then after sighing again, Wu Chaoyue picked up Ji Rongxian with his own hands, fulfilled his promise and gave Ji Rongxian an official position of a third-grade general on the spot, and doubled the reward for the gold and silver promised to Ji Rongxian, thinking that in recognition of Ji Rongxian's great contribution last night - but to speak in conscience, without the shameless behavior of Ji Rongxian's rebels, Wu Jun really has no certainty that he will be able to break through Hukou City.

Ji Rongxian, who had received a heavy reward, was overjoyed, and kowtowed to Wu Chaoyue even more constantly, Wu Chaoyue said with a smile that he didn't have to, while sighing in his heart, "In order to reduce casualties and end the civil war in China as soon as possible, I will have to deal with such young people often in the future." ”

It was also a coincidence that at this time, there was another urgent report of the military situation from the Hukou battlefield, saying that the southwest Wu army, which had entered the city through the gap in the city wall, had encountered stubborn resistance at the inner city defense line of the Taiping army, and the offensive was forced to slow down. Wu Chaoyue didn't hesitate when he heard this, and immediately bowed to Qian Weiyi, the commander of his direct corps, and ordered: "Go to another battalion, bring more grenades and grenadiers, enter the city from the front of the south gate, and outflank the inner city defense line of Changmao behind it." ”

Qian Wei received the order and immediately arranged for the elite battalion to attack, and Wu Chaoyue arranged for Ding Baozhen to lead the people of the headquarters to accompany his direct elite to attack, and then muttered in his heart, "Reward the capricious young people, but you must kill those you admire, and sometimes you have to do things with your conscience." ”

After the more well-equipped Wu Chaoyue's direct corps joined the street fighting battlefield, the Taiping army, which was already short of ammunition, was naturally even more unable to support it, and less than an hour later, the elite of the Wu army used grenades and grenadiers to destroy the Taiping army's inner city defense line. During the period, the Wu army also successfully dredged the south gate of Hukou blocked by the Taiping army, and the strong Wu army entered the city in an inexhaustible stream, and continued to occupy the streets and alleys in the city with a crushing momentum, and at the same time the Wu army also successfully captured the east gate of Hukou City Wall, compressed the Taiping army's position to the northwest of Hukou City, and actively attacked north along the city wall, and received Liu Ming's army to enter the city from the north gate.

The defeat was decided, but the Hukou Taiping Army that took the initiative to surrender was still like a rarity, and even many of the seriously wounded Taiping soldiers who had run out of ammunition refused to accept the kindness of the Wu army officers and soldiers to surrender, and chose to continue to fight with the Wu army soldiers to the end with broken knives and guns, forcing the Wu army officers and soldiers to kill on a large scale, and the Taiping soldiers who had been wounded and the Taiping army family members who were wearing people's uniforms had to be killed. At the same time, because the Hukou Taiping Army is too stubborn, many Wu soldiers simply don't even bother to shout the surrender slogan of surrender without killing, and when they see the enemy, they shoot and wave their knives directly, even if the enemy has fallen to the ground, they have to make up for a few shots, and the Hukou City is so bloody and bloody, there are dead corpses everywhere, and there are also red-eyed Wu soldiers everywhere, the corpses are layered on top of each other, covering the streets, and the blood flows down the ditch, floating abandoned flags and broken sawdust, and then flows into Poyang Lake outside the west gate of Hukou. A large area of Poyang Lake was dyed pink.

Under the banner array outside the city, Wu Chaoyue knew very well what was happening in Hukou City, but Wu Chaoyue did not order to stop it, because the Hukou Taiping Army was too tenacious, and if Wu Chaoyue forced the Wu soldiers to show mercy at this time, it would be equivalent to sending the Wu soldiers to death. At the same time, Wu Chaoyue also clearly recalled a historical detail that he knew - in history, when the Hunan army broke through Jiujiang City guarded by Lin Qirong, the gunners of the Taiping Army were all chained to the cannons, but the reason was not that Lin Qirong was afraid that these gunners would escape, but because these gunners were so hungry that they couldn't stand up, and they had to tie themselves to the cannons in order to continue to open fire......

Recalling this, after quietly wiping the corners of his eyes, Wu Chaoyue first ordered another batch of grenades to be sent to the city, explaining that the army must destroy the remaining enemies in the city before it gets dark, and then said in his heart, "Fortunately, there is only one Lin Qirong in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom." ”

In the end, the Hukou Taiping army still failed to hold out until it was dark, only after five o'clock in the afternoon, the remnants of the Taiping army were surrounded by the Wu army near the east gate of Hukou, in order to prevent this stubborn enemy army from escaping and then embarrassed with the Wu army, Wu Chaoyue sent troops to wait outside the east gate early, completely cutting off the Taiping army's escape route. At the same time, at the last moment, Wu Chaoyue gave Lin Qirong and his remnants a chance to surrender, but it was the bloody saliva spurted out by the soldiers of the Taiping Army who answered the Wu army's surrender envoy, "Phew! ”

The surrender was refused, and the angry Wu soldiers immediately poured artillery shells into the Taiping army's position, but the Taiping soldiers who had all the ammunition were gritted their teeth and carried it, and finally survived until the Wu army's firepower rested for a while, Lin Qirong, who was already covered in blood, gave an order, and the remaining Taiping soldiers roared angrily, struggled to get up with incomplete weapons, and faltered under the leadership of Lin Qirong to launch a counter-charge to the Wu army's position, suicidal charge......

After it was dark, Lin Qirong's body was carried in front of Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Chaoyue, whose eyes were already bloodshot, looked at Lin Qirong's corpse full of bullet holes and was silent for a long time, before he stood up, reorganized his clothes, and solemnly gave a military salute to Lin Qirong's corpse, and ordered in a hoarse voice: "Thick burial." ”