Bang! Bang! Bang! The deafening roar of artillery echoed, and one after another shells came out of their chests, whistling towards the towering Chaoyang Gate Tower, which also officially opened the prelude to the important battle of the Wu army's attack on the capital. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Among the 36 artillery pieces kindly given by the monk and the prince, only 12 were used in the Dongzhimen partial division battlefield, and the remaining 24 were all used in the main battlefield of Chaoyangmen, and the other 20 three-pounder rifled rear-loading guns brought by the Wu army themselves were also lined up outside Chaoyang Gate, and precious bitter acid shells were also used from the beginning of the battle.

Solid cannonballs and bitter acid cannonballs bombarded the city wall one after another, the bricks were broken and cracked, the sand and stones flew horizontally, the flames burst out, and there were two bitter acid cannonballs just hit the windows of the city tower, directly bombarded into the inside of the city tower and exploded, which immediately caused a fire in the building, and the Chaoyangmen city tower was also quickly shrouded in gunpowder smoke and fire, and the Qing soldiers guarding the city were shivering behind the arrow battlements, but there were still many people who were shot by shrapnel and let out a terrible scream.

The Qing artillery on the city wall also fired back at the first time, and it was relatively smart to concentrate firepower to bombard the Wu army's artillery position, but it is a pity that the Qing army's gunners' technology was obviously too rusty, and they failed to adjust the firing angle, and the shells were either outrageous, or they did not control the distance well, and fell to the front and rear of the Wu army's artillery position, plus the Wu army's position had repaired the anti-artillery fortifications to protect the artillery, so the Qing army's artillery effect was minimal, and it was impossible to effectively suppress the Wu army's long-range firepower. The well-trained gunners of the Wu army were skillful, and they quickly opened fire one after another, focusing on the Qing army's position in the city tower with a fairly high hit rate, so that the Qing soldiers in this area did not dare to raise their heads at all.

When the artillery was in full swing, the soldiers of a battalion of Wu troops were reduced to zero, and they quickly sneaked into the block outside Chaoyang Gate with the help of the cover of civilian houses, and at the same time removed the door panel and other objects as shields, and approached the moat with the door panel, and directly rushed to the stone bridge over the moat.

The Qing army in the city found the Wu army's attempt, concentrated firepower to cover the shooting, and the dense bullets hit the door panels in the hands of the Wu army soldiers one after another, which also led to a number of Wu army officers and soldiers' casualties, but the experienced Wu army soldiers followed one after another, as far as possible to hide behind the barely bulletproof door panels, striding forward, touching both sides of the stone bridge across the river to dig temporary bulletproof fortifications, during which the Wu army's artillery always fired continuously, desperately suppressing the defenders of the city to share the pressure for the infantry of the army.

The attack of the Wu army was orderly, although it was not fast, but it was not fast, but it was unhurried to exert pressure on the enemy in the city, but the more this was the case, the more the defenders on the city of Chaoyang Gate felt great pressure, even if there was not a single soldier of the Wu army stepping on the stone bridge across the river, the Chaoyangmen defenders composed of all the children of the Eight Banners were still shouting, showing the demeanor of the children of the Eight Banners.

"Shoot! Shoot! Wu thief is here! ”

"Fuck you, only gunpowder and no guns, you should be setting off fireworks during the Lantern Festival? The Lantern Festival is not here yet! ”

"Hit! Hit me with aim! I'm going to kill a thief with one shot! Your uncle, the gun has hit the sky! ”

Fortunately, the soldiers of the Wu army are still on the side of the moat, and the defenders on the Chaoyang Gate have not yet fled timidly, but even so, there is still a panic on the Chaoyang Gate, and they only know how to shoot at the position of the Wu soldiers, but they don't know how to maintain the coherence of firepower, the bullets are dense and sparse, and the accuracy is not small, and there is no way to suppress the Wu soldiers on the other side of the moat, and naturally there is no way to defeat the Wu soldiers who are rushing to build fortifications.

Looking at the battle situation in front of him through the telescope, the expression on Zeng Guoquan's face was always unwavering, or after basically confirming that the enemy in the city was indeed a group of rookies on the battlefield, Zeng Guoquan put down the binoculars, took out his pocket watch to check the time, and saw that the time was approaching four o'clock in the afternoon, Zeng Guoquan ordered again: "Pass the order, eat on time at half past four, distribute dry food torches, and launch an attack at half past five." ”

The herald took the order, Zeng Guoquan turned to Zhang Zhidong next to him, and asked worriedly: "Xiaoda, do you think that the rebel party has blocked the city gate of Chaoyang Gate with sandbags?" ”

"Jiu Shuai, Xia Guan is not the old prince of Hui, nor is he the prince of alcohol." Zhang Zhidong replied with a wry smile: "Will they preemptively block the corridor of Chaoyangmen, how can the lower officials know?" ”

Zeng Guoquan was silent, and only sighed after a while: "I can only hope that God will bless you, so that the old prince Hui and the prince will not be so smart, otherwise, we will have to fight this battle." ”

"Jiu Shuai rest assured, although the chaotic party may block the city gate in advance, we can still rely on flying ladders to attack the city." Zhang Zhidong comforted, and said confidently: "And I dare to guarantee that the fake news that the official document we released is dead will definitely be able to receive miraculous results, even if there is only one of our military flags planted on Chaoyang Gate, it may also make the army of the rebellious party collapse directly, and let the banner people all over the city directly abandon the city and flee." ”

"Don't talk too much." Zeng Guoquan said with some unease: "Your Jiang Gan's plan to steal books may not be impossible to be discovered by the chaotic party. ”

"We're not afraid if we're caught."

Zhang Zhidong's answer surprised Zeng Guoquan, and when Zeng Guoquan turned his head to look at Zhang Zhidong again, he saw Zhang Zhidong smile and said: "Jiu Shuai, you haven't stayed in the capital, I don't know how evil this Beijing city is." I can guarantee that at this time, the official text is dead, and the fake news must have spread in the capital. And even if someone comes forward to refute the rumors, the people in the capital will only believe that Guan Wen is really dead, and will not believe that he is still alive and can bring reinforcements to save the capital. ”

Zeng Guoquan will be skeptical, but the matter has come to this point, Zeng Guoquan can only sigh, "I hope so." ”

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Zeng Guoquan was purely worried in vain, Zhang Zhidong was indeed only familiar with six tricks in commanding troops, arranging troops, and tactical command, but in terms of insight into people's hearts and opportunism, it happened to be Zhang Zhidong's strongest point. In fact, not only did the false news that Wu Jun claimed that Guan Wen was dead before the battle had already spread throughout the nine inner and outer cities of Beijing, but even the passage of Li Tangjie's envoy to Wu Jun's camp had already been secretly spread throughout the officialdom of the capital, and a lot of oil and vinegar had been added during the process.

The reason is also very simple, after learning the news that Li Tangjie fled back to the capital under the pursuit of the Wu army, the civil and military officials and dignitaries in the capital naturally had to inquire about the reason, although Ci'an and Cixi issued a gag order, prohibiting all insiders from leaking the news that the official document was dead, so as not to shake the morale of the army.

However, the paper can't contain the fire, the eunuchs and palace maids present, the people in the military aircraft department and the servants who do things for them, as well as Li Tangjie himself and the house slaves who protect him out of the city, everyone may become a leaker, plus Wu Jun openly claimed outside the Chaoyang Gate that Wei Jun had killed the official documents, and the civil and military officials and princes and magnates in the capital drilled holes everywhere to find out the situation for the sake of their lives, so Li Tangjie saw the news of the head of the official document in the Wu army's camp, and it quickly spread throughout the officialdom of the capital, and then quickly spread to the people.

Ci'an, Cixi and Devil Six and others arranged to escape in advance, which also caused great panic in the capital, although Ci'an and others' escape plan was only secretly prepared, but there were too many people involved, no matter how strict Ci'an and Cixi were to keep it secret, the news that they and Devil Six were already preparing to run away was secretly spread, and it immediately caused a huge panic.

And when the civil and military officials and princes and magnates rushed to follow suit, panic and rumors of adding fuel and vinegar naturally quickly spread to the people, and the people of the capital banner, who were afraid of being affected by the war and liquidating the sins of their ancestors, rushed to pack their bags and prepare to run away, and many people even fled to the gate of the city where there was no war to escape for their lives, which also caused a further chain reaction.

Even the monk Lingqin who was in charge of the defense of Nancheng knew the news early, and the result was that unlike some skeptical civil and military officials, the monk and the prince did not hesitate to believe Wei Jun's rebellion and kill the official document, and slapped the table and scolded, "This king has long said that the Han barbarians are unreliable!" Wei Jun, who was born with long hair, is even more unreliable! Those fools in the court just don't believe it! Now it's okay, the official document was killed by Wei Jun's rebels, and the Zhili army of the Qing Dynasty has no leader, how can this battle be fought? How to defend this capital?! ”

After scolding, the monk and the prince quickly made up his mind, determined to immediately lead the army to retreat to the direction of Baoding Mansion after the loss of the city, and take over the main force of the Zhili Qing army, which had been equipped with a large number of advanced weapons, and become the optimus pillar of the Qing Dynasty again! Heroes of national salvation!

…………

The fierce artillery battle lasted until about five o'clock in the afternoon, the temporary fortifications of the Wu army on the side of the moat had been basically completed, and with the support of the fortifications, the firepower was used to cover the soldiers of the army to rush across the river stone bridge, but Zeng Guoquan did not rush to order an attack, but patiently let the soldiers eat enough dinner to replenish their strength, and distributed the dry food torches for the night battle, and waited for Ni Gui, who was in charge of the Dongzhimen partial division battlefield, to send the news that it had also been prepared, at 5:30, Zeng Guoquan waved his hand, An order to attack was issued.

The sky was already slightly dark, under the command of the veterans of the Wu army, the four thousand auxiliary soldiers equipped with arquebuses and carrying guns were divided into two ways, one left and one right rushed to both sides of Chaoyang Gate, frightened the Qing soldiers in the city and hurriedly opened fire to block it, as a result, although these auxiliaries composed of homeless people and flag slaves were still the same as the previous Tiger God Battalion, they put their guns indiscriminately before they entered the firing range, and they screamed in a mess when they were killed casually, and subconsciously retreated to dodge, but they still quite effectively dispersed the firepower of the defenders on Chaoyang Gate. It also more effectively covered the real actions of the main force of the Wu army.

didn't waste time asking the auxiliaries to storm the city wall, let the auxiliaries run back and forth on the battlefield to attract the enemy's attention, and waited patiently until the sky was basically dark, Zeng Guoquan waved his hand again, and the main force of the Wu army of the two battalions immediately stepped forward in the dark under the leadership of Li Chendian, carrying a spare flying ladder, and the Wu army demolition team covering a sentry rushed to the front of Chaoyang Gate. At the same time, the veterans of the Wu army tried to urge the auxiliary soldiers to come forward and shoot, attracting more firepower, and then the other auxiliary soldiers behind also waved their flags and drums, beat gongs and shouted, making a loud noise, and joined hands to cover the real action of the main force of the Wu army.

It was vulnerable on the battlefield, but the task of making noise and creating momentum was performed very well by the Wu army auxiliaries, and the main force of the Wu army led by Li Chendian had already touched the defense and was in place, and the defenders on the Chaoyang Gate had not yet discovered that the Wu army had touched the other side of the moat. Then, when the Wu Army's demolition team touched the stone bridge across the river in groups of twenty, the Qing soldiers on the city wall vaguely saw a figure shaking on the bridge, and shouted to warn, "There are people on the bridge!" Wu rebels and thieves are on the bridge! ”

Hearing the warning, the Qing army's firepower on the city wall finally began to concentrate on the bridge deck, but the Wu army's grenadier team hiding behind the fortifications opened fire one after another, bombarding the Qing army defenders on the city wall with twenty grenadiers one after another, and at the same time, other Wu soldiers also shot at the city, and tried their best to suppress the Qing army defenders on the city wall. The Wu Army's demolition team took the opportunity to carry picric acid explosives and strode forward, and rushed directly to the Chaoyang Gate under the rain of bullets, stacking explosives and placing leads. During this period, the Qing soldiers on the city wall also desperately threw torches to the city to illuminate, shot to block, and relied on the advantage of getting closer to achieve some results.

After sacrificing four soldiers, the Wu army demolition team finally finished planting the explosives, and after igniting the fire, they did not dare to flee back to the stone bridge, which was the focus of the Qing army's firepower, and fled directly to the dark distance on both wings of the city gate......

"Boom!"

An extraordinary earth-shattering noise suddenly came, and when the firelight broke out, Zeng Guoquan closed his eyes nervously, for fear that behind the city gate that was blown open by the picric acid explosives, there would be piles of sandbags, soil and stones. The result was okay, Zhang Zhidong's ecstatic roar soon came, "Nine handsome! It's not blocked! It's not blocked! The city gate is still open! ”

When he opened his eyes in surprise and quickly raised his binoculars to take a closer look, through the light of the bitter acid flame, Zeng Guoquan immediately saw clearly that the door outside the Chaoyang Gate in the firelight was indeed unimpeded, and there was no earth and stone obstruction! Zeng Guoquan also immediately cheered, "God help me!" ”

At the same time, the second demolition team of the Wu army had of course rushed to the outer gate of the Chaoyang Gate that was blown open under the protection of a team of Wu soldiers, and what made the Wu army demomen smile crookedly was that the rookie defenders on the Chaoyang Gate were so frightened that they actually lowered the jack gate early to protect the urn city - this means that the Wu army demoman does not have to worry about being caught by the enemy when he goes to blow up the inner gate of Chaoyangmen, and can also destroy the jack gate with a small amount of explosives under very safe conditions......

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At the same time, after hearing the extraordinary loud explosion sound from the Chaoyang Gate, Ci'an and Cixi, who had already changed into Han women's clothes, did not hesitate, and immediately took the five-year-old Tongzhi out of Cining Palace, and came directly to the south gate of the Taihe Palace.

Responsible for leading the guards to protect Ci'an, Cixi and some civil and military officials to flee for their lives is Prince Yi Cheng, but the dying and struggling devil who was ordered to stay in the capital is also at the scene, after seeing Ci'an and Cixi arrive, the devil six also knelt down to the two sisters-in-law, and said with tears: "Sister-in-law, you can go with confidence, the younger brother and the seventh brother will try their best to keep the capital, but if we can't keep it, we will also do our best to gain time and not give Wu thieves a chance to divide their troops to hunt you down." ”

Hearing this, everyone present burst into tears, even Cixi, who was famous for being like a snake and scorpion, was in tears, crying silently, Ci'an cried and said: "Sixth brother, if the situation is not right, you have to leave quickly, Wu Chaoyue was framed by the traitor, reversing black and white, the thief army hates you to the bone, you must not fall into their hands......." ”

When Devil Six cried and thanked him, there was a loud noise from Chaoyangmen again, and Devil Six didn't know the situation and didn't dare to take risks, so he could only urge: "Two imperial sisters-in-law, Emperor, get in the car quickly, go to Deshengmen and wait for news!" Once Chaoyangmen is not guaranteed, you will go out of the city immediately, don't hesitate! ”

Ci'an and Cixi cried even more, but they still rushed to the carriage without stopping......

…………

In fact, the Manchu court still has a chance, not to mention that the second blasting of the Wu army only blew up the jack gate in the urn city, Chaoyang Gate still has the inner city gate and a jack gate to guard, and the old prince Hui and Prince Alcohol who have woken up are also urging the soldiers to carry earth and stone debris to block the city gate of the inner city gate. And even if Chaoyangmen really can't be defended, the Manchu court still has the Forbidden City and the palace city to defend, and the crazy insistence at any cost and the street fighting will definitely not be a problem to hold it for another day or two.

Probably blessed by the hellish spirits of the wild boar skin family, the short-sighted God also gave the Manchu court this opportunity - just when the Wu army blew through the outer gate of Chaoyang Gate, a fast horse suddenly rushed across the river crossing the stone bridge outside the Yongding Gate under the pursuit of the Wu army scouts, and immediately the knight roared, "I am a messenger sent by the official platform, quickly put the hanging basket, I brought the emergency twist and turn of the official platform!" ”

The hanging basket was put down, and the wounded messenger covered in snow and sweat was dragged onto the city wall, and was brought to the front of the monk and the prince for the first time, and the sweat-stained official document was immediately put in front of the monk and the prince, and the messenger who was shot twice in the left arm also said very much: "Lord, our official system is rushing to the capital with the main force day and night to rescue, counting the distance, as soon as tomorrow night, at the latest the morning after tomorrow, our reinforcements will definitely be able to arrive in the capital!" ”

The monk first looked at the official messenger a few times suspiciously, and then opened the excerpt of the official document to take a closer look, and saw that the general content of the excerpt was to comfort Ci'an and Cixi, so that they could rest assured that they would stick to the help, and reported the time of emergency return to the army for rescue, and the time of arrival in the capital, the monk and the prince were inevitably more suspicious in his heart, and suddenly asked the messenger: "When did you set off with the excerpt?" From there? ”

"Back to the prince, the villain set off from Dingzhou yesterday morning." The messenger replied truthfully: "He was too anxious to return to the army in the official system, and it was not until he returned to Dingzhou to replenish grain and grass that he took the time to write an excerpt and handed it to the villain to send it quickly." ”

"I departed from Dingzhou yesterday morning, why did I only arrive now?" When the monk heard this, he became even more vigilant.

"The road is not very smooth, and there are no good horses to change at the post station, and the speed on the road is not fast, so the little one arrived at Liangxiang at noon today." The messenger replied: "The scout horses of the Wu thieves have been wandering outside the city of Liangxiang all the time, and they will intercept them on horseback and foot, so the little one can only wait until it is dark to dare to go out of the city to deliver the fold, and he has been shot twice." ”

As he spoke, the messenger hurriedly showed off the arm in which he had been shot, but to the unfortunate messenger's dumbfounded, the monk not only carefully examined his wounds, but also suddenly asked, "How come two shots in succession hit the least important left arm?" ”

"...... this?" The messenger of the official document was dumbfounded, and said in his heart, "Monk Wang, what do you mean by this?" Both shots were in the least important left arm, do you want both shots to be in my most important head?

At this time, the monk asked a more critical question, and said, "Also, since you are a subordinate of Guanwen, why do you have a Hubei accent?" It seems to be a Hanyang accent? ”

"The villain is a native of Hanyang, Hubei, when the official Taiwan served as the governor of Huguang, he was recommended by Zhang Linjun and Deputy General Zhang to serve under the official Taiwan. and was wrongly loved by the official system, the villain has always been trusted by the official system, and he was brought to the capital ....... ”

"Shut up! You Wu thief and spy, don't talk flattering in front of this king! Guan Wen had already been killed by Wei Jun's traitors, how could he still write an excerpt and bring reinforcements to save the capital?! Come on, take down this Wu thief and spy for this king! ”

At this moment, the evil spirits of the Wild Boar Skin family all have an urge to live.