Relying on much more artillery than the defenders, the Taiping army was able to suppress the Qing army's artillery fire. In the sound of cannons, Qi Hao ordered the gunners to transport the small cannons that were easy to move through the trenches, constantly moving forward, directly to the city of Wuzhou, and then firing directly at the city gate.

At the same time, thousands of Qing prisoners were driven by the Taiping army and began to dig along the trench, looking down from the city, thousands of captives were like ants swinging shovels in the ditch, the slightest slack, they would be pulled to the trench by the Taiping army watching, ignoring the bitter pleading of the other party, directly cutting off the head with a knife, and then kicking the headless corpse into the ditch and kicking to the side of those prisoners. The bloody scene made the captives no longer dare to be lazy, and dug desperately, lest they would be the next to be dragged to behead.

The earth was flying, and the Qing army in Wuzhou City could not see a human figure, but they could see the soil under the city flying up from the ground like rain, and then falling. The excavations of the Qing captives soon made the city of Wuzhou like a crack in the earth, and the trenches reached the bottom of the city. The captives were digging hard for their lives, and the civil engineers sent by the Taiping Army Marshal's Office to accompany the army were constantly correcting the straight line of the trench to avoid digging crookedly. Dozens of men with red scarves wrapped around their heads and the word "blasting" embroidered on their right shoulders squatted cautiously in a trench, looking nervously at Wuzhou City in the distance. Behind them, there were two large coffins. The two large coffins were dragged along the ditch by these big men all the way here, leaving only a flat and smooth mark in the ditch, as if the ground in the ditch had been leveled.

The civil engineering work of the Taiping army made the Qing troops in the city dumbfounded, they looked at the trenches leading to the city as if they were looking at strange things, and when the trenches were dug only a few dozen steps away from the city, they finally saw that there were countless comrades in the ditch who had been captured by the Taiping army yesterday were digging like ants. They also saw groups of Taiping troops armed with spears and guns going back and forth in the trenches, and the artillery fired by their own artillery in the city posed no threat to them. The trenches became the safe passage for the Taiping army, and a group of Taiping troops approached the city unscathed from this trench and appeared in front of the Qing army.

This scene surprised the Qing army, but the Taiping soldiers in the second town were all too familiar with it. When they were in Guangdong, they had done countless drills of digging trenches in accordance with the requirements of the staff officers sent by the military marshal's office, and in each exercise, they knew how to dig trenches faster, deeper, and safer, and also knew how to quickly move from trench to trench. The camp where the Second Town was once stationed in Guangzhou had long been densely covered with the same deep trenches as under the city of Wuzhou.

The results of the civil engineering operations done on the northern front of the Chaohui War were unanimously recognized by the Taiping army, and the tactics of three-dimensional defense such as blockhouses, watchtowers, and trenches were vigorously promoted by Zhou Shixiang, and they were also further improved. This trench tactic under the city of Wuzhou is one of them, but this tactic is not for defense, but for offense. It was prepared to say how to break the city with minimal losses.

"The Ming army wants to dig tunnels to break the city, and each listening port will immediately prepare fire oil, if you find that the Ming army is digging into the city, immediately pour oil into it and set it on fire, and you must not let the Ming army rush out of the tunnel!"

Based on past experience, Dai Liangchen judged that the Taiping army's civil engineering work was not only to avoid the artillery of the Qing army in the city, but also to dig tunnels from the underground to enter the city. He immediately handed down the order, and even took people to the nearest two listening cylinders to listen to the movement underground, but fortunately, there was no sound from the underground, which made him settle down a little, thinking that the Taiping army would not be able to dig in for a while, after all, digging from the ground is not just as simple as digging the earth, but a very complex technical work.

Although the Taiping army had not yet been able to dig into the city, Dai Liangchen did not dare to take it lightly, he personally inspected the listening ports, and after repeatedly explaining to the Qing troops at the listening ports, he took people to the city.

At this time, the Qing army in the city had already begun to shoot guns and arrows into the trenches below, and they didn't care about the people who were digging were them, they only knew that they couldn't let the Taiping army dig the trenches again. Guns and arrows rained down on the trenches, and the captives who were digging were immediately shot in large numbers, and fled to the rear screaming and screaming.

"Ready!"

"Put!"

After discovering that the Qing army was preventing the prisoners from excavating, Huang Sicheng, the commander of the C Brigade and the former Conghua Qianhu, hurriedly transferred a battalion of gunners and ordered them to quickly arrive along the trench, and then set up a platoon of guns on the city based on a team. The cannon town also raised the muzzle of the cannon slightly, and smashed the gun directly at the head of the city, instead of smashing it on the city wall as before. The firepower of the Taiping army was much more dense than that of the Qing army in the city, and coupled with the suppression of the artillery, the Qing army in the city was immediately pressed and unable to probe. The gunners of the Qing army were also unable to probe, as long as they poked their heads out, they would be pressed back so hard that they could only fight to feel the cannon indiscriminately, such shelling, for those Taiping soldiers hiding in the trenches, it could be said that there was no threat.

The political envoy Dong Yingkui and others had already gone down to the city, but no one dared to go back to rest, they gathered together, and constantly sent people to the city to investigate the movements outside the city, so that the people of Wuzhou found that what these big officials in the city like to hear most now is the word "peace" shouted by the soldiers who rushed from the city.

Many years later, when the people in Wuzhou City celebrate the New Year, the first thing they say when they meet each other is not "Wishing you prosperity" or "Happy New Year", but "I wish a safe New Year"

WANG Fu. The minister and his subordinates leisurely looked at the smoke of Wuzhou from a distance, they were cavalry, and they were not needed in the siege battle, plus the physical loss of yesterday's battle was also large, so this will be a rest in the rear. The injured were carried to the river sailor warship for treatment, and the uninjured sat cross-legged on the hillside, munching on the reward meat sent from above, while laughing and betting on when Wuzhou City would be able to go down.

WANG Fu. Most of the minister's subordinates were Mongolian soldiers, and the Mongols were good at wine, and he was also good at wine, so he specially asked the iron commander of the second town for dozens of jars of wine, and one of them took a big bowl and drank it there. In yesterday's battle, more than 1,000 cavalry from the two towns killed more than 2,000 Hui cavalry. The minister was even more defeated by Ma Xiong, the main general of the Qing army, and his son Ma Chengyin, and there were dozens of Hui soldiers who died under his spear. Although it is still a little inconvenient to speak, the matter of toasting can be understood without words. Brave people have always been admired and respected.

WANG Fu. The minister didn't know how many bowls of wine he drank from the Mongolian soldiers, and no matter how much he drank, he would be a little dizzy. However, he was still very excited and watched the battle under Wuzhou City. It was also the first time he had seen the Taiping army attacking the city, and he didn't expect that the siege could come up with so many tricks. The siege of the second town made Wang Fu. The minister is very unfamiliar, no longer the ant attached to the siege city he is familiar with, nor is it the kind of brave man in double armor who climbs the city, and he doesn't need any crash cars and arrow towers, but simply uses a trench to approach the city, and then suppresses the defenders on the city with the help of the cover of the trench. Judging from the current situation, the Qing army in Wuzhou City has basically been oppressed by the second town and has no power to fight back, but how did the second town break Wuzhou City, Wang Fu. Chen was still curious. After all, after so long of artillery fighting, the city walls of Wuzhou are still standing without any signs of collapse. As long as the city wall is there, no matter how much the moat in the second town is dug, it will be white-arched. To attack a city and attack a city, you must take the city before it can be done.

It's not just Wang Fu who is curious about how the Taiping army attacked the city. Chen, the Mongolian soldiers under him were also curious, and the Qing troops in Wuzhou City were even more curious. The vat under the city wall showed that the Taiping army did not dig tunnels into the city, and their trenches did not dig under the corners of the city walls, but stopped at a distance of twenty or thirty paces.

How did the Taiping army attack the city? Is it just shelling? How long is this going to be? And how many potions and cannons can they withstand?

After the Qing army in the city found that the Taiping army did not seem to have any powerful backhand, they couldn't help but have a little confidence again, Wuzhou is also an important town in Guangxi, the Ming army and the Qing army have strengthened the city wall, and the city wall is not easy to collapse with artillery alone. Now although the defenders in the city are insufficient, there are more than 3,000 people, plus those thousands of Wuzhou young and strong, as long as the city gate is not lost, the Taiping army wants to attack it, I am afraid that it will have to pay much more casualties than the defenders. And the Taiping army under the city is only more than 10,000 people when it is full, how much loss can this manpower withstand?

However, just when the Qing army had a little confidence, suddenly, an earth-shattering sound suddenly sounded in their ears, and then the ground under their feet shook instantly, like an earthquake. Many Qing soldiers only felt a flower in front of them, and the whole person couldn't stand and fell to the ground, and then the top of their heads was like a meteorite, and countless rubbles and city bricks smashed at them.

Dai Liangchen, who was discussing the matter of defending the city with his subordinate leader, was also alarmed by this loud noise, and before he could react, he shook his body and fell to the city wall. A piece of rubble was raining down, and if it weren't for a guard on his body, he might never have known what had happened.

When the earth-shattering sound disappeared, the air was so dusty and yellow that it was impossible to see what was happening, and all that could be heard in my ears was the sound of coughing and screaming. I don't know how long it took, Dai Liangchen took a long breath, and then pushed away the guard who had fallen on top of him who had been smashed by rubble, and struggled to get up from the ground, but was surprised to find that the originally connected city wall in front of him had opened a big gap.

The second town used the coffin blasting method used under Xinhui City, and this time they broke through the gateway to Guangxi, the important town of Wuzhou

Author's note: The next chapter is the anti-theft chapter. In order not to affect the reading of genuine subscribers, Bones tries to put the anti-theft chapter late at night, so that it will not affect everyone's reading. (To be continued.) )