On the morning of the same day that the main force of Shi Dakai's department was surrounded by the Wu army in the Tuanshan position, after a series of intensive preparations, the main force of the front team of the Wu army of the Eastern Expedition led by Cao Yanzhong finally launched a large-scale attack on Anqing Jiancheng. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

This day was also the fifth day that the Wu army Cao Yanzhong's troops successfully captured the beachhead on the north bank, and there were two main reasons why Anqing launched an attack after a delay of four days: the first is that the space of the position outside the west gate of Anqing is too narrow, and there is a strong city in front of the Anhui River on its back, and most of the open space outside the city is covered by the artillery fire of the Taiping army, so it is impossible to set up camp at all, and it is not conducive to the attack to set up camp on the west bank of the Anhui River, not only is it inconvenient for the army to move and it is difficult to carry heavy weapons, but the time is already early summer, and if you are unlucky, you may encounter floods to block the way during the attack.

In view of this situation, without absolutely grasping the Anqing Jiancheng in the first battle, Cao Yanzhong could only establish the Wu army camp in the area of Lion Rock in the northwest of Anqing, but in this way, the Wu army faced three threats at the same time, one is that the Anqing Taiping army may send troops from the west gate to cut off the connection between the Wu army's land division and the naval division, the second is the threat of the Taiping army in Jixian Pass, and the third is the threat of the Taiping army's garrison on the north and south banks of Linghu Lake.

The arrogant army will be defeated! Wu Chaoyue once not only warned his subordinate generals at this point, but as one of Wu Chaoyue's most powerful and trusted accomplice lackeys, Cao Yanzhong naturally kept in mind Wu Chaoyue's warning and warning, so Cao Yanzhong did not dare to underestimate the enemy, and spent some effort to build the Lion Rock camp, and at the same time divided the troops to monitor the Taiping army in Linghu and Anqing West Gate, first based on stability and then launched an attack, of course, it wasted a lot of time.

On the evening of the third day of seizing the position on the north bank, the Anhui Taiping army led by Lai Wenhong and Gu Longxian rushed from Tongcheng to Jixian Pass, greatly strengthening the strength of the Taiping army outside the city, and boldly walked out of Jixian Pass the next day, and took the initiative to attack the Wu army monitoring Jixian Pass, in a vain attempt to share the pressure of defending the city for the Anqing Taiping Army, and then although Cao Yanzhong decisively sent troops to draw them all over the ground to find teeth, but wasted a day's time. , and at the same time forced to increase troops on the northern front in case of emergency.

As a result, the Wu army not only wasted a considerable amount of time, but also reduced the number of troops that could be put into the siege battlefield to about 15,000 after increasing the number of troops to strengthen the monitoring of the Taiping army at Jixian Pass and Linghu. But fortunately, the weapons and ammunition of the Wu army are very sufficient, and the Taiping army in Anqing City is not too much, probably more than 23,000 points, and the Wu army not only has enough confidence to deal with it, but also has a very high morale. So much so that on the eve of the war, such a situation occurred in the Wu military camp......

"Second Brother Cao! At the beginning, my brother took me and you to follow the king of Zhennan from Shanghai to Hubei to take office, you worshiped your son as a brother on the road, you are my brother's brother and older than me, I have always called you second brother, treat you as my second brother! Now the opportunity to kill Changmao for meritorious service has come, second brother, you touch your conscience and say, should this opportunity be given to me?! ”

When he said this, Huang Yuanbao, who was sent by Wu Chaoyue to help Cao Yanzhong after the war, had a hippie smile, but Cao Yanzhong couldn't refuse at all, forcing Cao Yanzhong to nod on the spot and hand over the task of fighting the main attack to Huang Yuanbao. However, Cao Yanzhong, who has a steady personality, admonished: "Brother Yuanbao, the main attack can allow you to fight, but you must not underestimate the enemy, and don't think that our weapons and equipment are invincible in the world." Siege warfare is not as good as field warfare, and the superiority of weapons and equipment cannot be brought into play. ”

"Of course I know this, and I'm not a rookie on the battlefield for the first time." Huang Yuanbao casually agreed, and said in a big way: "But it's okay, as long as our demolition team can blow up the gap in the city wall, the rest of the battle will be much easier." ”

"That's what worries me the most." Cao Yanzhong frowned, raised three fingers and said: "The city wall of Anqing is three zhang thick (bottom) and four zhang high, which is much more difficult to blow up than the Pengze city wall. Lin Fengxiang, who is defending the city, is a long-haired general, and he must know that we are digging holes in the city wall in Pengze to directly blow up the city, maybe he has already figured out a way to crack our trick, if he really does this, then we will have to fight this battle. ”

Although brave, Huang Yuanbao was by no means a reckless person, and after listening to Cao Yanzhong's analysis, he was not careless about underestimating the enemy, and asked: "Then what are you going to do with the second brother?" ”

"It can only be the old way, clear the fortifications outside the city with long hair during the day, and attack the city at night." Cao Yanzhong still frowned a little, and said: "I'm only worried about whether I can blow up the city now, the long hair raised by the son of a bitch, our detailed report said that they added glutinous rice milk when ramming the city wall, this kind of rammed earth is the most difficult to dig, and I am really not sure if I can dig out the blasting hole smoothly." ”

"Can you find a way to win?" Huang Yuanbao asked again: "Like our Zhennan King, killing Changmao is unexpected?" ”

"It would be good if your second brother had the ability of King Zhennan, and he would still need to fight Lin Fengxiang so worried?" Cao Yanzhong smiled bitterly, and said casually without holding out much hope: "You also use your brains to see if you can kill Changmao by surprise during the siege, and take Anqing City directly without digging the city wall and burying explosives." ”

Huang Yuanbao agreed, and really racked his brains to figure out how to win the siege war, but unfortunately, this aspect is also not Huang Yuanbao's strong point, so he didn't think about it for long, and Huang Yuanbao, who had to take on the main attack task the next day, simply fell asleep.

The night passed quickly, the next morning, under the command of Cao Yanzhong, the Wu army officially launched a siege battle against the city of Anqing, in view of the fact that there is a Linghu natural danger outside the north gate of Anqing, it is more unfavorable to attack, and at the same time the east gate has to be left to the Taiping army to run, reduce the resistance to the siege, Cao Yanzhong can only choose the main battlefield of the siege in the west gate of Anqing, the south gate is deputy, the naval division is responsible for providing fire cover, clearing the periphery during the day, and breaking the city at night.

Although he was a famous general of the Taiping Army, and he also learned a linear tactic from Wu Chaoyue, Lin Fengxiang's tactical thinking still did not make much progress, and the fortifications built outside the city were still old-fashioned buried pile trenches, walls and bunkers, and such fortifications were used to resist the attack of the Qing army, but the effect was extraordinary, and it was not a big problem to deal with the poorly equipped second-line Wu army. However, when encountering the elite of Wu Chaoyue's lineage, which was armed to the teeth, such fortifications simply became a pile of decorations, and they did not play any role at all except for delaying the time and letting the Wu army waste some ammunition.

The sound of fierce artillery fire is like the sky falling apart, always echoing in the southwest of Anqing City, all kinds of caliber artillery shells and solid shells at a speed that is imperceptible to the naked eye, whistling and constantly hitting the field wall that the Taiping army has worked hard to build, the stones are flying, shrapnel is flying, the flames are bursting, the Taiping soldiers who are crawling behind the wall are like being in the iron fire hell, constantly covered by the sea of fire, shot by shrapnel, and from time to time are buried alive by the collapsed wall, and no screams can be heard. Any sound made by the soldiers of the Taiping Army was completely drowned out by the artillery fire of the Wu army.

After all, it was the elite of the Wu army who came to attack Anqing City this time, and it was a modern army equipped with firepower that was already comparable to the armies of the Western powers.

The 16 forts built by the Taiping army outside the two gates of the southwest city were completely dumbed down in less than an hour and a half, and they were all directly dumbed by the intensive artillery fire of the Wu army.

Before the infantry advanced to the city, the grenadiers of the Wu army also joined the battle, only on the battlefield of the West Gate, Cao Yanzhong put in hundreds of grenadiers in one go, and the shells fired in the curve continued to fall in front of and behind the Taiping army wall, and the Taiping soldiers who were squatting behind the wall and trembling exploded even more crying father and mother, and suffered heavy casualties.

The south gate side was even worse, although the Wu army's four third-class sail battleships and two fourth-class battleships were already behind the times, but the terrifying firepower was enough to directly raze the Taiping army's sheep and horse wall fortifications. As a result, the first fortifications built by the Taiping army outside the city basically lost their value as guards and could no longer play any due role.

It was only after the artillery fire basically cleared the direct fire of the Taiping army that the infantry of the Wu army launched an attack unhurriedly, pushing the trench bridge car built for the Taiping army trench with a bulletproof thick door plate trotting forward, and gradually approaching the trench to build a trench bridge, the remaining Taiping army behind the wall and the Taiping army in the bunker shot desperately, but it never had much effect, on the contrary, it also attracted the Wu army's grenadier to focus on shooting.

The first trench bridge car quickly set up the trench, and the infantry commando brigade of the Wu army opened fire to cover, charging through the trench alone, crawling forward, smashing the bitter acid grenade into or even stuffing it into the Taiping army bunker at close range, and constantly pulling out the neighboring bunker like pulling a nail, opening the way to charge. As a large number of Wu infantry crossed the trenches, the uprooting speed of the Taiping army's bunkers also accelerated rapidly, and the remnants of the Taiping army behind the wall could only abandon their positions one after another and flee back to the second field defense line of their own army in embarrassment.

Regardless of the opposition of his generals and personal soldiers, Lin Fengxiang insisted on going up to the head of the city to observe the enemy's situation, and when he saw the picture of the first line of defense of his army being quickly broken through by the Wu army in the telescope, Lin Fengxiang's heart was like a knife, and he hated Wu Chaoyue, who had seriously injured himself, but he was helpless.

"Prime Minister Lin, go down quickly." General Liu Guanfang spoke again to persuade and said, "The artillery fire of the demon soldiers is too fierce, so we must prevent stray bullets from coming over." ”

Lin Fengxiang ignored Liu Guanfang's persuasion, but strode towards the direction of Nancheng, where the Wu army had more artillery fire, and his own soldiers came up to stop him, but he was directly kicked away by Lin Fengxiang, and everyone had no choice but to try their best to protect Lin Fengxiang from the top of the city wall to the south gate of Anqing.

Fortunately, Wu Jun's stray bullet only once slashed 20 meters away from Lin Fengxiang, and at the same time, Lin Fengxiang was not a reckless man who blindly did not know whether to live or die, and when he reached the southwest corner of Anqing, where Wu Jun's artillery fire was relatively sparse, he stopped and raised his telescope to observe the situation. Then after a lot of time, Lin Fengxiang suddenly said: "The demon soldiers are intended to be used in Peng Ze's tactics, opening up the road to the city during the day, and attacking the city at night. ”

"That's what the last general thinks, too." Liu Guanfang, who left a name in history, agreed with Lin Fengxiang's point of view, and said: "It is likely that we still used the tactics of fighting Peng Ze to dig holes in the city wall and bury gunpowder, and directly blow up our city wall." ”

"The decisive battle is at night, so we will tell our main force to seize the time to rest, eat at the time of the unitary, prepare enough dry food and torches, and go to the city on time at two o'clock to change the defense." Lin Fengxiang said coldly: "The reserve team is stationed half a mile away from the city wall, guarding against the cannons that the demon soldiers will turn. ”

Liu Guanfang hurriedly agreed, and Lin Fengxiang commanded again: "Block the inner city gate of the urn city, the outer city gate is not blocked, prepare more ropes to go down the city, the more the better!" Always ready to go out of town and assault! ”

Immediately understood Lin Fengxiang's intentions, Liu Guanfang agreed, thought about it and suggested: "Prime Minister Lin, I remember that when we fought Changsha, Luo Bingzhang's old Qing demon once wrapped gunpowder in a quilt, threw it down the city and set it on fire, burning to death many of our brothers in the city. ”

Lin Fengxiang nodded, first ordered Liu Guanfang to prepare more, and then said: "If nothing else, the demon soldiers should start digging the city wall at the southwest gate at the same time tonight, tonight you guard the south gate, I personally guard the west gate, and pay careful attention to the section of the city wall that has been seriously damaged by the demon soldiers' artillery fire." ”

"Prime Minister Lin, this matter can't depend on you." Liu Guanfang hurriedly objected: "You are the commander of the whole army, you must personally sit in the city and command, and you can't go to the city to take risks." Let me guard the West City, and let Li Yuanji's brother guard the South Gate. ”

Knowing that this was Liu Guanfang's good intentions, and considering that he also had to command the Linghu garrison to attack at the right time to share the pressure on the defenders of the two gates in the southwest, Lin Fengxiang nodded reluctantly, and secretly gritted his teeth and said: "Demon soldiers, come on, see how Prime Minister Ben avenges the revenge of the year!" ”

…………

Lin Fengxiang, who was almost killed by Wu Chaoyue, learned a lesson and did not insist on going to the front line to command and defend the city, but what Lin Fengxiang never dreamed of was that when he walked from the West Gate to the South Gate, Huang Yuanbao, who had followed Wu Chaoyue to participate in the Battle of Shence Gate, had been looking at him with a telescope - although he had never seen Lin Fengxiang, but just looking at Lin Fengxiang's different clothes and the appearance of the front and back, Huang Yuanbao had already vaguely guessed Lin Fengxiang's identity.

"That guy should be Lin Fengxiang, he is dressed extraordinarily, and there are so many people to protect him, it should be him."

Observing Lin Fengxiang's movement in the city, Huang Yuanbao pondered and analyzed in his heart, and secretly said with great regret: "It's a pity that the distance is too far, otherwise if you ask my sniper to shoot cold, maybe you can ...... like last time." ”

"Huh? Wait, if I were Lin Fengxiang's big hair, at that time, I would have to go to the city anyway to see the situation and arrange the arrangement? ”

Thinking of this, Huang Yuanbao, who had been cultivated by Wu Chaoyue more than nine years ago, suddenly moved in his heart, and hurriedly called the sniper in his own team to the front, whispered instructions, and handed them the binoculars, so that they could see clearly the person in the city who might be Lin Fengxiang......