Chapter 7 The Heavenly Fire Breaks the City
Towards noon, the day's siege began again. The first two days of the siege were too heavy www.biquge.info casualties, so the various departments of the Heavenly Kingdom made an appointment to start the siege again until noon, killing time, and dragging it to the crypt to dig under the city.
There was a serious shortage of firearms and ammunition in the city, and if it weren't for the support of lethal defensive means such as boiling oil and boiling water stones, the city would have been breached long ago. Rao is like this, the Qing army and the people in the city fought for several days in a row, the attrition was serious, all of them were wounded, everyone was tired, and what was more serious was that there was not much food in the city, and the Qing army could barely eat some dry rice, and the people could only drink two meals of gruel every day.
Zhizhou Cao Xiepei was so anxious that he took the blood letter for help written for the second time, sent a messenger to change into the clothes of the Taiping Army, and took advantage of the chaos to go out of the city from the city wall to ask for help from the admiral Yu Wanqing and Liu Changqing. But he also knew that the two admirals had arrived outside the city of Quanzhou with more than 10,000 soldiers two days ago, but they retreated a few miles back and set up camp again, putting on a defensive posture, obviously too afraid of Long Hair, and they were willing to fight until more reinforcements came. Now that the whole state has been fighting for three days, I have not seen the other party send a soldier or a general to the rescue, which has confirmed my guess.
There are less than 600 defenders in the city, and more than 300 people have been killed or injured by the strong peasant women who threatened to defend the city wall, plus the lack of food and less food, the people in the city are already complaining.
By the end of the afternoon, the Taiping army had lost more than 100 men, and the Qing army had also lost more than 70 men, and both sides ended today's siege as if it were a routine errand. Cao Xiepei quietly breathed a sigh of relief and survived another day.
Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng, who had been following Feng Shaoguang, saw more than 600 Kong Ming lanterns and four simple trebuchets made by the women's battalion.
Kong Ming lanterns are quite rough to make, but Feng Shaoguang understands at a glance that he can basically meet his own requirements. One is the improved Kong Ming lantern, the skeleton of the outer ring is made of bamboo strips, the middle is wrapped with iron wire to wrap the oil combustion, the end of the iron wire connected to the middle is incense, and when the time comes, the incense burns out, and one end is broken to cause the oil and fuel to fall to the side, and the tissue paper of the outer ring is ignited, and the Kong Ming lamp falls naturally. The other is the conventional Kong Ming lantern, Su Sanniang said that it was borrowed from the surrounding mountain people's homes, and directly tied the top side of the lamp with fine twine, when the Kong Ming lantern in the sky needs to fall, as long as the twine is pulled, the Kong Ming lantern will be poured by force, causing the fuel to ignite the entire Kong Ming lantern and fall to the ground naturally.
Feng Shaoguang couldn't help but secretly praise Su Sanniang's cleverness and ability to do things. People in this era are just limited in their vision, but they are much smarter than themselves.
Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng were attracted by trebuchets. The four strangely shaped trebuchets are different from the conventional impression of trebuchets, and the wooden pocket on the top where the stones were originally placed has been turned into a large wooden basket, presumably to better place the firewood. Because the pyre is lighter than the stone, the trebuchet size is also one size smaller than the regular one, and it is very special to carry a large wooden basket on top of it.
Feng Shaoguang coughed lightly, and asked Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng, who were fascinated: "Brother Li, Brother Chen, what do you think of this stone cannon?" ”
Li Kaifang replied: "King Nan, I'm afraid this can't be called a stone cannon, but a firewood cannon." The method of the king of the south to fight is incredible, and Kaifang looks forward to the early shine of this firewood cannon. ”
Chen Defeng also replied: "King Nan, this firewood cannon throws bundles of firewood piles towards the city walls and towers, which can burn the city towers and city gates, causing chaos in defending the city and clearing the demons. But it is quite laborious, and it is difficult to burn for a while, and the demon will extinguish the fire, but I am afraid that the effect is limited. ”
Feng Shaoguang nodded slightly, these two people did not praise this trebuchet desperately because they were the king of the south, it can be seen that they are real people.
"What Brother Li said is reasonable, I will call the firewood cannon in the future, and the Qing demon will run away when he sees it. What Brother Chen said also has some truth, but there are not many clear demons in the whole state city, and some of them have been killed by my heavenly saint soldiers for a few days in a row, and now if people are divided to extinguish the firewood, it will definitely cause a decrease in the number of people guarding the city. What's more, as long as this firewood is added with a little vegetable oil, how can it be so easy to extinguish. At that time, Brother Chen will wait and see the power of this pyre. Feng Shaoguang saw that there were a lot of Kong Ming lanterns and four firewood cannons, which basically met the needs of the siege, so he ordered Lu Qi and Su Sanniang to lead the women's battalion and the boys' battalion to hurry up and arrange them overnight.
At the end of the hour, Lu Qi woke up Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng, and Feng Shaoguang, Su Sanniang, Zeng Guanlan, Xie Xiangcai and others were already waiting for them outside the camp.
"King Nan, the southwest wind is blowing tonight, and the wind is very small." Zeng Guanlan stepped forward and said.
"Good. Brother Li and Brother Chen, go to the southwest of the city with everyone, and tonight this king will accompany everyone to play a game of Kong Ming lanterns. After Feng Shaoguang finished speaking, with a wave of his hand, Lu Qi and Su Sanniang led the guard battalion and the female division battalion, carrying Kong Ming lanterns, vegetable oil cotton wool and other utensils, carrying torches, and marching southward.
Two miles away from the camp of the left army, there was already a team of people and horses around, Lu Qi stepped forward to see, but the leader was Shi Xiangzhen, the brother of the king of wings, stepped forward to explain a few words, Shi Xiangzhen followed Lu Qi to Feng Shaoguang to pay homage and salute, proposed that the night was dark, the enemy situation was unknown, and asked to lead the troops to protect the king of the south. Feng Shaoguang couldn't refuse, so he had to follow him.
Everyone arrived at the burned-out Feiluan Bridge in the southwest corner, estimated the wind direction and direction, found the right place and arranged several columns along the river, and lit the fire to release Kong Ming lanterns. In addition, more than 100 people leaned closer to the city and lit fires to release Kong Ming lanterns with long twine tied on the top.
Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng glanced at each other, full of doubts. It is impossible for Nanwang to be bored, and he really brought everyone to put the sky lanterns. It's just that I don't know what surprises there will be, Chen Defeng seems to have guessed something, but he is not sure, so he has to look up at the hundreds of lights in the sky like everyone else.
Here, on the city wall of Quanzhou, half of the Qing soldiers are still patrolling back and forth at the head of the city to prevent the Taiping army from attacking the city at night. Zhang Zhifu, the general manager, suddenly saw hundreds of flashing lights above his head, and hurriedly asked the soldiers around him to look up together, and was sighing in surprise, when suddenly dozens of lights above his head slammed into flames, it turned out that the sky lantern was on fire in the air, and then pieces of firelight fell into the city.
"Not good! This is a sky lantern put by the long hair, and it wants to set fire to the city. Someone came, and quickly reported to Lord Cao and General Yang of Zhizhou. "Put the general urgency.
But it seems to be too late.
As the Taiping army not far outside the city stretched the twine, some of the twine broke, but more of it was the Kong Ming lantern in the air above the city that burned up and fell. After a while, dozens of wooden houses and firewood piles had been lit in the whole city, and there was a commotion in the city, crying, shouting for help, and the sound of the fire was non-stop, and the fire light was red half of the sky.
Governor Cao Xiepei and staff general Yang Yinghe had just laid down when they were woken up by the bright firelight and firefighting shouts outside the window. Cao Xiepei saw the chaotic scene in the city, the soldiers and the people were busy putting out the fire in their houses, and couldn't help but sigh: "It's over, the food in the city has been cut off, the army is in chaos, and the whole state can't hold it." ”
Yang Yinghe heard this: "Lord Cao, the last general will organize soldiers and escort the adults out of the city to break through." Cao Xiepei waved his hand and said, "No need." Lord Yang, if you can break through, you will rush out of the city on your own. Cao is responsible for losing his land, and even if he breaks through, it is a capital crime. If you give up this body and change your name, it will not affect your family. Yang Yinghe sighed gloomily, bowed his head and left silently.
Cao Xiepei's figure flickered in the firelight, looking extremely lonely.
In the big tent of the Taiping Army, Yang Xiuqing received a report that there were fires in the city of Quanzhou, and he was wondering why the city was on fire, when he suddenly heard that the front guard seemed to be patrolling and guarding the city wall a lot, thinking that the people at the head of the city had gone down to the city tower to put out the fire.
Yang Xiuqing was good at seizing the fighter plane, he immediately realized that this was the best time to break the city, and immediately summoned the battalions of the First Army and the Second Army of the Central Army, and informed him that it was the Heavenly Father who sent down the heavenly fire to help the Heavenly Soldiers break through the city of Quanzhou, and ordered the city to be attacked immediately. At the same time, the front, right, and left armies were also ordered to fully attack the city, and the rear army and the waterway assistance cooperated.
Feng Shaoguang saw that the Kong Ming lanterns in the sky were falling into the city one after another, so he ordered everyone to return to the barracks.
As they were marching to the outside of the camp of the left army, there were already flames everywhere in the city. Feng Shaoguang saw that there were sparse people on the city wall, and he thought that the people in the city who assisted in defending the city went down to the city to put out the fire privately, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed. This is a great opportunity to break the city, and if the East King notices, he will definitely not miss it.
Feng Shaoguang didn't expect that he came up with a strategy to disturb the enemy, originally he just wanted to make the Qing demons in the city unable to rest in shifts, disturb the morale of the army, and make them have no energy to defend the city tomorrow, but he didn't expect that the effect of this strategy to disturb the enemy would greatly exceed his expectations, directly causing chaos in the city. In this way, there is no need to rely on digging a crypt and then blowing up the city wall, not only can the city of Jeonju be broken two days in advance, but also a lot of gunpowder can be saved.
He hurriedly asked Shi Xiangzhen to return to the Wing King Shi Dakai, inform him of the current military situation, and let the Wing King lead the left army to test the siege, and at the same time the Wing King sent someone to report to the East King. Then, Feng Shaoguang led everyone back to the rear army.
Li Kaifang and Chen Defeng, who followed everyone back to the camp in a hurry, looked at Nanwang in disbelief, who was surrounded by everyone in the center.
In their consistent impression and the rumors of the soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom, Nanwang was only knowledgeable, strong-willed, and persevering, and had always been in charge of government affairs and religious affairs, and had never been good at military affairs. But tonight, Nanwang let them see another kind of magic in the use of soldiers, as if opening a skylight, instead of just slashing and killing by force.
Feng Shaoguang and the others returned to the rear army camp, and there were already shouts of killing in the southwest, and it seemed that the left army had begun to attack the city. Qin Rigang led the first army of the rear army and Lin Fengxiang led a team of men and horses of the front army have also received reports and are ready to attack the city.
Feng Shaoguang ordered Li Kaifang to unify the command of the Second Army and the Nanwang Guards, and the commander of the Second Army, Liang Litai, and the commander of the Guards, Lu Qi, were under his control, and followed Qin Rigang and Lin Fengxiang to attack the city.
Here, Qin Rigang led people to rush the city, causing the city tower artillery to fire one after another, although several Taiping soldiers were killed and wounded, but the Qing army in the city tower was sparse and weak. Su Sanniang took the opportunity to lead the female soldiers of the women's battalion, tied wet towels, pushed four trebuchets to the "Guang'an Gate" in the west of the city, and lit the mixed vegetable oil and half-wet oleander firewood piles that had been prepared for a long time. For a moment, thick smoke billowed out, and the smoke engulfed the castle tower.
The seventy or so Qing soldiers on the city tower originally felt strange when they saw Qin Rigang, Lin Fengxiang and other Taiping troops attacking the city with scarves, but now that the smoke was together, they suddenly understood, and they also tore off their clothes and wrapped their mouths and noses, but there was still time.
The Qing soldiers of the city tower were so smoked by a burst of smoke that they couldn't open their eyes and coughed, tears and snot flowed, so they had to shoot indiscriminately with shotguns. Fortunately, there will be a bit of wind blowing, and the smoke will be much sparse.
Su Sanniang waved the flag, and the four trebuchets continued to load four bundles of smoking firewood, and with a roar, some were thrown under the city wall outside the city and fell into the trench, and some were thrown inside the city. For a while, there was smoke billowing from the city tower.
Qin Rigang, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang took advantage of the situation to lead troops to the city. With the siege support of more than 30 ladders and two Lu buses, soldiers continued to rush up the city wall. The soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom who could rush up to the city tower were all well-prepared, tied wet towels, smeared honey and vegetable oil on their eyes, and did a good job of protecting themselves from poisonous smoke.
Lin Fengxiang was outstanding in martial arts, held a knife flower in one hand, cut the throat of a Qing demon soldier, and quickly went down to the city. Then the Heavenly Soldiers guarded, and more than a dozen people finally joined forces to push open the heavy city gate. In the whole process, except for the loss of more than ten people under the city and the indiscriminate wounding of five or six people by the shotguns of the Qing army who couldn't open their eyes when they first climbed the city wall, there was not much damage.
Lin Fengxiang, who opened the city gate, was so tired that he didn't have the slightest strength, and leaned lily against the corner. At this time, Lin Fengxiang was shocked in his heart, he remembered what King Nan had said not long ago, that secret method of breaking the city was actually true, could it be that King Nan really got the revelation of Heavenly Father? Otherwise, although everyone has seen poisonous smoke, who can think of using poisonous smoke and trebuchets to attack the city?
Outside the city, most of the front army and the right army, a total of more than 1,500 men and horses, quickly entered the city and went straight to the state government and the Quanzhou standard camp. By this time, the Qing soldiers in the west of the city had no intention of fighting, and they fled for their lives one by one, and the soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom who were killed by the rush were killed all the way. There were wise officials and strong people, who hid in the house and wanted to escape their lives.
Seeing that the west gate had been broken, the other city gate guards also scattered and fled for their lives, and soon all the gates were occupied. Jeonju City is broken!