An old man in his seventies found Shou Order, the hereditary commander of the Guangzhou guard, Feng Yao.

"Old General Feng." Shou ordered to greet him politely.

Feng Yao held two big seals, Yongli canonized Shang Kexi Ping and Geng Jimao Jing Hou, and Feng Yao carried the big seal pardon to go out of the city to the enemy camp.

Shou Xuan shook his head and said: "Old general, I'm afraid this trick is useless, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao will never listen to you." ”

Feng Yao said angrily: "If the old man doesn't go, he is bullying the king, I only know that the king can't be bullied, and I don't know that the enemy won't listen." ”

"Why bother."

"I'm old, and it's useless to defend the city. Talk to Shang Kexi with a three-inch tongue, and drag on for a moment. ”

Shou Xuan looked at this old man who generously asked for his life, his hair was haoran, and he was very high-spirited, knowing that it was useless to persuade him.

"Bring the wine."

The soldiers brought up a jar of wine, which was not very good for aging, and the entrance was spicy.

Feng Yao toasted three times in a row, and there seemed to be endless sadness between his words, "One mile out of the suburbs, Yuewangtai is the Tianshan Shuo Desert." When I went to the enemy camp, I didn't expect to survive like Su Wu. ”

Feng Yao smashed the wine glass, wore a scarlet jade belt, and walked out of the city.

Shou ordered to bow deeply to the old man's back.

Half a day later, the enemy shelled all fronts.

Shou Xiang took a deep breath and came.

After two days of continuous shelling, the ruins at the gap in the wall were crushed by more shells, and the long-barreled cannon could hit as much as half a meter into the ruins at a distance of 500 meters. The walls collapsed further, and now there was no need for ladders, and the Tatars could climb into the city.

Heavy gunfire erupted on the walls, and the defenders fired outside the city.

Order waits.

The first red tasseled white hat appeared at the top of the slope, followed by the second, and more and more.

The smoke and dust filled the air, and the enemy forwards quickly dispersed after entering the city, each looking for cover.

There were several loud noises in the area of the academy, and the few soldiers who remained there set off mines, and it was impossible to see how much the enemy had lost in the smoke and dust. Anyone who goes first in the battle is a warrior, and it is one to kill one more with a useless thing like a mine.

Three stone bridges over Dongxi have been demolished, and the soldiers left behind swim across the narrow channel. Immediately, some comrades-in-arms rushed over and wrapped cotton coats around them.

Andrei paced back and forth in front of the soldiers, a pipe in his mouth, and his face was full of nonchalance.

The firing parameters had already been adjusted, and the Dutch gunners and Makassar gunners in the Ming army looked back at the order, waiting for the order to fire.

The second wave is the main force of the enemy commando, and the swarming red tassels and white hats are instantly crowded with the breakthrough, and I don't know which town the cannon fodder of the green battalion. Shou Order's right hand swung down vigorously, using the 9-pounder cannon beside him as the base gun, and each cannon fired in turn. Shou Xuan pulled out the binoculars, and two shells smashed into the pile, and the stumps flew into the sky, leaving more than a dozen corpses.

The guns quickly entered into effective fire, and after 5 rounds of shelling, the assault was easily crushed.

Yu Fengqi waved the flag, and Fan Chengen responded to the flag. It was a simple flag of the Ming army, indicating that the Tatars had retreated.

After three failed storms, night came, and the Tatars suspended their operations.

There were small forward units of the enemy remaining in the city, and the guards had no intention of sending troops to fight the enemy at night, and each battalion guarded the defensive line. And the enemy strikers went with them.

The core position of the Dongxi defense line is in the Chenghuang Temple, which is a palace-like building with a two-story hall, and is the only commanding height in the northeast corner of the old city, which is basically a bungalow. Shou ordered to go downstairs, found a room to lie down, last night to sort out the defense line all night, he quickly fell asleep.

During the night, Shou Xiang was awakened by the sound of cannons.

Andrei knocked on the door and came in, "Sir." ”

"Short report."

"More Tatars have entered the city, they have learned their lesson, and instead of swarming up, they have climbed in small scattered groups."

"Where is our defensive line?"

"It's solid at the moment."

The Dongxi defense line is about 1 kilometer long, there are roads along the river on both sides of the river, and all the street trees have been cut down, and the enemy crossing the river will inevitably be exposed to the defenders' field of vision, and it is unlikely that there will be a sneak attack. The Tatars who will enter the city are almost naked light infantry, not even Franc machines, although the Dongxi defense line is simple, it is not something that can be overcome by light infantry walking, so there is no need to worry too much for the time being.

Shou ordered to lie down and continue to sleep, "Hold your position, there is Zhang Pengfei on duty tonight, there is no need to wake me up if there is no big event." ”

The night was uneventful, and the first day passed quickly.

Wake up in order, the line of defense has not changed much compared to yesterday, the night shelling effect is not good, and the number of red tassels and white hats on the opposite side has increased significantly.

During the day, the Tatars continued to attack the city, and the biggest difference compared to yesterday was that the soldiers of the two feudal domains of Arihei and Jing were engaged in battle. This is very understandable, blindly using the green camp as cannon fodder, it must provoke a mutiny. Shang Kexi, Geng Jimao does not yet have the deterrent power of the real Tartar.

In order to ensure the continuity of fire, the barrel cooling time is allowed. At a time, a maximum of 3 guns fired at the gap, and the other crews rested and waited. 8 cannons with more than 2000 rounds of ammunition and sufficient firepower.

Fiercer battles broke out on the walls, and the Tatars stormed the breach on both shoulders. The female wall of the battlements on the city wall was smashed by cannonballs, and Yu Fengqi used sandbags to repair the gap, still insisting on the city wall.

After observing the order for a while, the Ming army seemed to be able to hold on. He is now more concerned about the progress of the evacuation of the residents of the old city, and called Shen Yaochen, the prefect of Guangzhou. The prefect Zijunfang, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, is just a first-class hard-working person in Guangzhou.

"How many people were evacuated?"

"More than ten thousand."

"Why is it so slow?"

"The officials of the old city have too much money and luggage."

Shou Xu's anger surged, pointing to the eastern city wall, "The soldiers in the city are using flesh and blood to resist the Tatar cannonballs, and you are still grinding in the city. ”

The prefect looked very aggrieved, "There are many family members of officers and soldiers in the old city, and they carry a lot of family property, so I can't use it." ”

Shou Xiang pulled back the binoculars, and there were several intersections where the retreating crowd could be seen, and the flat baggage was piled on the ground.

"You tell those people. If they do this, no one can leave. Only carry-on bags are allowed, and it is forbidden to bring furniture and antiques. ”

The prefect wanted to speak and stopped, as if he was full of bitterness.

"Governor Shen, I know that it is difficult for you, and it is difficult for everyone, so I can only find a way to overcome it."

Shen Yaochen gritted his teeth and bowed deeply.

He was promoted to the prefect of Guangzhou as a deputy tribute, all by virtue of his military exploits in capturing pirates when he was the magistrate of Sanshui, and of course he was not an ordinary corrupt Confucian. This is thanks to Chongzhen, who made drastic reforms during his reign, dismissed many officials who were born as jinshi, and vigorously promoted people who were young and strong and did not have too much sourness, and changed the officialdom for blood. It was these capable officials who improved administrative efficiency and made the Chongzhen Dynasty's tax revenue as high as two to three times that of the heyday of the Wanli year, and what Chongzhen's reuse of the Donglin Party led to a decline in tax revenue does not exist. Due to the rapid fall of the Ming Dynasty, the historical term of Chongzhen's reform, which is comparable to Wang Mang's innovation, was forgotten.

Since you can't use force, you can only kneel and beg. Shen Yaochen pleaded all the way along Chengxuan Street, perhaps because the Tatar people's increasingly aggressive shelling made the residents sober up and evacuate a lot.

Orderliness redirects attention to the battlefield.

More and more Tatar soldiers entered the city, occupying several large buildings on the other side of Dongxi, setting up firearms to shoot at the Ming army. The enemy army did not have cannons, nor did they have Francos, only Tiger squat guns with a range of several tens of meters. The Ming army returned fire with Franc machines, and the cannons continued to shell the gap.

The two sides of Dongxi seem to be filled with gunsmoke, but in fact they are not lethal. However, the Tatar shooting still played a somewhat distracting role, and the rising smoke obscured the view and reduced the efficiency of the shooting.

In the evening, the small north gate tower burst into flames. The strength of the Ming army reinforced from the west of the city was weak, and under the attack of the Tatars on both sides, they finally could not hold the half-crippled small north gate tower, and retreated to the Zhenhai Tower.

In the night, a Ming general was dressed in iron armor, holding Changge and leading several soldiers to break off. The figure in the firelight was so conspicuous that everyone in the city looked at him silently.

The swarming red tassels and white hats finally drowned out the officers after the break, and they were silent for a while, and asked Fan Chengen beside him.

"Who's that?"

"The battalion soldiers are all in the woods."

"Tell his wife never to be buried and raise children."

"I'll send someone."

It's not a family, it's not a door. Officers who died for their country often had wives who died for their husbands, and they tried their best to avoid more such tragedies.

The main force of the Ming army on the north city wall retreated to Zhenhailou, the small north gate was lost, and the Tatars gained the avenue into the city. The gate hole was filled with stones, and it took a little time for the Tatars to clean it up, so at least tonight, Shou Xiang could sleep peacefully.