739 Fire Attack

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On the night of October 10, the night sky that was supposed to be silent was broken in Shouzhang Castle.

"Fire oil, pour fire oil!"

On the wall of Shouzhangdong, a veteran of the White Dragon Army shouted loudly, asking the militia next to him to pour the hot oil brought up to the city.

"What is this?"

The Qing soldiers who were climbing up the ladder suddenly felt their hands slippery, and a viscous liquid poured down them.

Then, some Qing soldiers sniffed the viscous liquid on their hands, and their faces changed suddenly.

"It's oil oil, it's oil oil."

The frightened voice of the Qing soldiers sounded, and the other Qing soldiers next to them also panicked after hearing such a shout.

"Run!"

At this time, as long as these Qing soldiers are not stupid, they know what the soldiers of the White Dragon Army on the city wall are going to do, and they want to flee in horror one by one.

Unfortunately, it was already late.

A veteran of the White Dragon Army on the city wall, looking at the Qing soldiers who were already panicked outside the city, showed a cruel smile, and threw down a torch he was holding in his hand.

Whew!

As the torch was thrown, the oil sprinkled under the city wall was instantly ignited, and then spread out at a speed visible to the naked eye, forming a sea of fire.

"Ahhh

Soon, a large number of Qing soldiers who were shrouded in the sea of fire turned into burning men one by one, scurrying around, and the screams made people feel creepy.

This sea of fire under the east city wall is like a wall of fire, blocking the attack of the Qing soldiers behind.

In particular, the Qing soldiers who attacked from behind, looking at the sea of fire in front of them screaming and wailing, fell to the ground and rolled around, and finally fell down with a 'plop' and turned into a charred corpse.

Even these Qing soldiers belong to the elite division that is not weak, and in the face of such a scene at this time, their psychology has collapsed.

That sea of fire was like a barrier, directly blocking the attack of the Qing soldiers behind.

In this way, the soldiers and militiamen of the White Dragon Army on the city wall were given time. So that they can kill the few Qing soldiers who have already stormed the city wall as soon as possible.

Previously, there were already seven or eight battlements of the city wall, and Qing troops attacked them, causing a crisis in the defense of the city wall.

Li Zixiao, who found that the situation on the city wall was not good, decisively ordered the use of fire oil, which could not only kill the enemy, but also form a fire wall blockade, so that the Qing soldiers behind could not rush up.

And those Qing soldiers who had already climbed the city wall, after losing follow-up support, were like rootless water, killed by the swarming White Dragon Army and militia.

The raging fire illuminated the entire eastern part of Shouzhang Castle as if it were daylight.

"Attacking with fire, Li Zixiao is vicious enough!"

Outside the city, Dolgon looked at the raging fire under Shouzhang City and the Qing soldiers who were burned to death, his face was gloomy, and he said coldly.

This fire attack of the White Dragon Army seriously thwarted the offensive spirit of the Qing army, so that the morale of the Qing soldiers was low, and they retreated one after another.

"Don't retreat, don't retreat, without the order of the prince, whoever dares to retreat will be killed."

Looking at the soldiers of the Han army's white flag, they retreated one after another, and the Tartar soldiers who were responsible for supervising the battle behind aimed their bows and arrows at those soldiers of the Han army's white flag, and scolded.

"These dog tartars, it's really hateful, such a fire in front, whoever goes up is not going to die."

At this time, these soldiers of the Han army with a white flag had a strong hatred for the Tartar soldiers who were supervising the battle behind them, and cursed in their hearts.

"My lord, there is a fire in front of you, and you can't attack it!"

However, cursing in his heart, a leader of the Han army with a white flag came over to a Tartar Niu Lu Jingzhang who was in charge of supervising the war, and pleaded.

"Don't talk nonsense, don't retreat without the prince's order."

That Tartar Niu Lu Jingzhang was unmoved, and said coldly, and the hundreds of Tartar archers around him were still aiming their arrows at them.

"Damn, I'm so angry, it's a big deal."

Among these generals of the Han army, some of them have a fiery temper, although they are also afraid of the Tartars, but they can't help it at this time.

However, the general of the Han army who said this was immediately pulled back by his companions behind him, and he didn't let the Tartars hear it.

At this time, Zhang Kang, the commander of the white flag of the Han army in the Qing army, had also come to Dolgon at this time and asked to stop the siege.

"Lord Wang, the Ming army in the city is vicious and attacks with fire, and the soldiers can't attack it, so let the soldiers retreat first!"

"No, the attack can't be stopped, first remove the group of soldiers who attacked before, send a new group of soldiers up, and continue to attack the city.

As for the fire under the city, you can ask the besieging soldiers to bring half a bag of sand and cover the fire with each of them. ”

Dolgon did not agree to Zhang Kang's request, but still let his men continue to attack the city.

Moreover, Dolgon also gave Zhang Kang the idea of solving the fire wall outside the city, just use sand to cover it.

"Yes, my lord, I will obey my orders."

After hearing Dolgon's words, Zhang Kang could only come down, and then turned back and sent a new group of siege soldiers to replace the previous group of people.

The soldiers who were besieging the city in front of them witnessed the tragic situation of many of their comrades in front of them being burned to charred by the fire, and they collapsed psychologically and could no longer continue to fight.

And just when Dolgon outside the city issued new instructions, Zhang Kang commanded the soldiers of the Han army to quickly complete the adjustment and launch a new offensive.

The hundreds of Qing soldiers who stayed on the city wall and attacked the city wall in advance have all been wiped out by the White Dragon Army and militia at this time.

"Listen to the command, don't be afraid, shoot together, and the Tartar will die like a Tartar."

At this time, some low-level officers of the White Dragon Army were commanding the militia to surround and kill those Qing soldiers, instead of letting the White Dragon Army soldiers go up, let alone using short guns.

This is Li Zixiao's instruction, and Li Zixiao wants to take advantage of this rare opportunity to train these militia young and strong.

As a result, these outnumbered militiamen, who besieged and killed seven or eight Qing soldiers, all took great pain, and some of them were almost defeated.

Fortunately, there are veterans of the White Dragon Army around to press the formation, and there are also commanders and chiefs of the White Dragon Army who personally command.

For these militiamen who lacked training, the veterans of the White Dragon Army mainly trained to obey orders, and adopted the formation and stabbing tactics used at the beginning of the White Dragon Army.

Seven or eight militiamen lined up in a line, each armed with a spear, obeying the orders of the veterans of the White Dragon Army next to them, and stabbed at the scattered Qing soldiers in front.

Those Qing soldiers faced seven or eight spears that were pierced at them, blocked one shot, and two more, and finally were pierced into a hornet's nest.

The reason why he used this stabbing tactic again, Li Zixiao was also very helpless.

In the half-day battle during the day and afternoon, they had lost thousands of militiamen, and in a one-on-one situation, the Qing soldiers who climbed the city wall could completely abuse these militiamen.

Fortunately, there are still veterans of the White Dragon Army on the city wall, and they can stand up at a critical moment and kill the Qing soldiers, so as not to let these militias collapse.

But the loss of thousands of militiamen in just one afternoon of fighting is still too terrible.

In the end, Li Zixiao had no choice, and after discussing with his generals, they finally decided to change their tactics and let these militiamen use the column stabbing tactic.

The advantage of this tactic is that these militias can join forces and fight with the Qing soldiers with the strength of the people, and no longer give the Qing soldiers a chance to go one-on-one.

The officers and soldiers of the White Dragon Army are very familiar with this style of fighting in formation, and you must know that when Li Zixiao first started, the White Dragon Army promoted this combat method.

And this kind of parade spurt later became the basic subject of the White Dragon Army's recruit training.

It's just that the later recruits of the White Dragon Army carried out this kind of column stabbing mainly to train the discipline of the recruits, and this style of play was rarely used by the White Dragon Army on the battlefield.

After all, the strictly trained White Dragon soldiers, even if they meet the Qing soldiers one-on-one, they are not inferior.

"Forward, thorn!"

With the command of a White Dragon Army commander, seven or eight militiamen lined up in a crooked line, holding the spears in their hands, and stabbed out fiercely at the Qing soldiers in front.

On the city wall, the last two wounded Qing soldiers couldn't avoid these spears, and they were pierced into a hornet's nest and fell.

At this time, there was no longer a single standing Qing soldier on the city wall, and all of them were killed.

And in order to kill these hundreds of Qing soldiers who had been isolated, Li Zixiao also paid the price of more than 70 militia casualties.

If the White Dragon soldiers were allowed to go up, it would be impossible to have such a large number of casualties.

But in order to train the soldiers, Li Zixiao let these militiamen go into battle, and even let some militiamen who had not seen blood experience the feeling of killing people in person.

Such a price is inevitable.

"Uh-uh!"

Many militiamen who killed people for the first time, after killing people, all threw up on the city wall.

It's a pity that the number of Qing soldiers who climbed the city wall is still too small, and it is impossible for every militia to see blood.

Li Zixiao ordered those militiamen who had never seen blood to go up and cut off the heads of the Qing soldiers.

"Peng Hao, lead people to clean up the city wall quickly, and take off the armor from the militia to those Qing soldiers and send them to the militia who have no armor behind.

Weapons were also collected and distributed to the militia who did not yet have them, so that the militiamen would take turns to go into battle, and they would all see the blood once. ”

Li Zixiao looked at the wall of fire outside the city, which temporarily blocked the attack of the Qing soldiers, and took the opportunity to order Peng Hao.

Such a rare time is the most suitable for Li Zixiao to make new adjustments, otherwise when the Qing soldiers come up with a way to extinguish the fire outside the city and launch a new attack, he will not have time to arrange these.

Moreover, Li Zixiao understood that he wanted to take advantage of the fact that the soldiers of the White Dragon Army in the city had not yet suffered too many casualties, and they would also train these militiamen as soon as possible.

In the early stage, to resist the Qing soldiers to attack the city and fight with the Qing soldiers, the white dragon soldiers were the main force.

However, there were too few soldiers of the White Dragon Army in the city, only 4,000 people, and after they withstood the siege of the Qing army in the early stage, they would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

When the time comes, these militias will be needed to take up the burden of defending the city.

Therefore, Li Zixiao attaches great importance to the opportunity to see blood through the experience of these militiamen, even if it is at a great cost of casualties, he can accept it if he can experience a group of veterans who can see blood.

"In addition, let the soldiers of the second and third banners of the second brigade retreat and rest, and replace them with a large team of soldiers."

At the same time, Li Zixiao also replaced the soldiers of the White Dragon Army who defended the city.

"Yes, my subordinates will go." Peng Hao answered, turned to leave.

"Ziwu, how much fire oil is there in our city?"

Then, Li Zixiao asked Li Ziwu.

The use of fire attack just now had a very good effect, which made Li Zixiao care about the reserves of fire oil in the city.

"Sir, there is not much fire oil in the city, and more than 20 barrels of fire oil were directly used in this fire attack just now.

There were sixteen barrels of fire oil left in the city, and they could almost use this fire attack again. ”

Li Ziwu replied truthfully.

"It's a shame that you can only use it once."

After Li Zixiao heard Li Ziwu's answer, he also said with some pity.

If there is more fire oil in the city, they can be able to deal with the Qing army and attack the city more calmly.

Such a fire attack not only caused huge damage to the Qing soldiers, but also dealt a very big blow to the morale of the Qing soldiers who were besieging the city.

"Sir, you said that our fire attack has repelled the attack of the Qing army, will Dolgon give up the siege tonight?"

Li Ziwu asked.

"No, it won't." Li Zixiao was very sure and said.

"Why? It's already night, and the Qing soldiers attacking the city overnight will not have an advantage for them, but will make their archers unable to play an advantage, why should Dolgon? ”

Li Ziwu asked puzzled.

Because Dorgon knew very well that he did not have much time, and with the grudge between Benjur and the two brothers, Dorgon and Dord, Dorgon would never give up such a good chance to kill Benjue.

So, let alone attacking the city overnight, even if the conditions are too difficult, Dorgon will not give up.

A single fire attack will not make Dolgon stop the siege, and Dolgon can guess that we will not need a few fire attacks like this.

Ziwu, if you don't believe it, after the Qing soldiers use sand to extinguish the fire under the city, they will continue to attack the city.

Tonight's battle has just begun. ”

Li Zixiao said, standing on the city wall, with the help of the light illuminated by several large fires piled up by the Tartars outside the city, he vaguely looked into the distance, and said in a heavy voice.

"Sir, Ziwu has been taught." Li Ziwu thought about it and said.

"Sir, the Qing army is coming up again."

As a result, less than two sticks of incense passed, and not long after the dialogue between Li Zixiao and Li Ziwu ended, there were soldiers of the White Dragon Army who shouted loudly.

Then, Li Zixiao lay on the city wall and looked out of the city.

Sure enough, I saw that a group of Qing soldiers rushed up again, and with the help of the firelight, the soldiers of the White Dragon Army on the city wall found it very timely.

Moreover, Li Zixiao saw that these Qing soldiers who rushed up at the front were each carrying a small half-cloth bag.

"Shoot the arrows!"

At this time, the soldiers of the White Dragon Army on the city wall had already shot arrows at the Qing soldiers who rushed up again outside the city.

Braving the rain of arrows, these soldiers rushed to the wall of fire, carried the sand from their sacks on their backs, and sprinkled it on the fire, so that the flames were quickly extinguished.

"Prepare iron-clad mines, don't let the Qing soldiers easily extinguish the fire."

Li Zixiao personally commanded and gave an order.

He knew very well that this was a good time to attack the Qing soldiers, otherwise let the Qing soldiers extinguish the fire, and the tragic offensive and defensive battle would start again.

In addition, the use of iron-clad mine attacks can delay the time for clearing troops to extinguish the fire, and delay some more time.

For Li Zixiao and the White Dragon Army, the key to winning this Shouzhang guard battle is time.

No matter how they fight this battle, as long as it can drag on for almost two days, Li Zixiao will win this defense battle.

Therefore, before the battle began, Li Zixiao tried his best to delay time.

(End of chapter)