With a loud bang at the south gate of Yangzhou, Yangzhou City was finally broken by the Qing army. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

It was only six o'clock in the afternoon, an hour earlier than Bolo's previous promise.

And the method of breaking the city is also full of drama.

The initial Qing army's attack on the south gate was basically a one-touch collapse, and there was no artillery support, which largely paralyzed the defenders in the city.

The defender Stilwell even felt that even if the Qing army really attacked the south gate, without artillery, it would not want to break through the defense of the south gate.

The slackness of the defenders from top to bottom became one of the main factors in this breach.

Then, when the two armies were holding each other, they suddenly killed a "reinforcement army" of more than 2,000 people from the flank.

This "reinforcement" claimed to be sent by Huang Degong, the chief soldier of Luzhou, to support Yangzhou, plus this batch of troops, a quarter of the soldiers used the Ming army's own firearms, which was completely different from the equipment of the Qing army's Han Eight Banners.

Yangzhou City was trapped for two months, little information from the outside world is known, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, there is no reinforcement, except for Shi Kefa, Guo Sheng, and several important generals in the city know, did not inform the soldiers below.

Although Stilwell also knew that there were no reinforcements at all, his expression became in a trance as soon as he heard that the "reinforcements" had arrived: "What if reinforcements really arrive?" ”

This was Stilwell's first thought, and the coaxing of the soldiers below made it even more difficult for Stilwell to distinguish the real from the fake.

However, Stilwell is also considered to be battle-hardened, and he knows that no matter whether this army is a reinforcement or not, he cannot let it into the city at this time, otherwise the Qing army will soon be able to follow and kill.

Stilwell refused the request for "reinforcements" to enter the city, but he did not order the defenders of the city to attack the "reinforcements", and in order to protect the "reinforcements", he even agreed to their request to approach the city gate and assist in defending the city.

In fact, Huang Degong was in Luzhou at this time, and together with Ma Shiying, he was guarding against the eastward advance of Li Zicheng and Zuo Liangyu's coalition army, how could there be any extra troops to reinforce Yangzhou.

The "reinforcements" under the city of Yangzhou are just a ploy by Bolo in order to open the city gate.

Bolo took 500 self-made guns from the armory in order to arm this "reinforcement" in an attempt to deceive the city gates.

Although this "reinforcement" deceived the trust of the defenders in the city, Stilwell was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he insisted on not letting the "reinforcements" into the city.

If these people are really reinforcements, then cooperate with the defenders outside the city to jointly resist the Qing army, if they are liars, then with them outside, the Qing army is naturally not easy to launch a general attack, in short, in Stilwell's heart, this army outside the city must at least fight a tough battle to really gain his approval.

Just in case, Stilwell even ordered his cronies to closely monitor the army under the city, and directly greet the other party with grenades if there is any abnormal movement.

This seemed foolproof, but if Bolo dared to take this step, how could he not have a countermeasure, and the "reinforcements" not only carried 500 self-generated firearms, but also dragged a large wooden box in a horse-drawn cart.

In the wooden box, a full 200 catties of gunpowder were filled, and the gunpowder was used to blow up the city gate, not only Li Hongfeihui, but after Bolo retrieved a lot of grenades on Chongming Island, he once ordered the craftsman to open two and study them, and found that what was filled inside was only pure gunpowder (the grenade exploded, relying on the iron sheet fragments on the outside to kill, and the inside was not filled with steel balls and other lethal objects).

A small pound of gunpowder has such power after exploding, so what kind of power will ten catties or 100 catties of gunpowder have when they explode in a concentrated manner?

The first time he used a box covered with waterproof oil, he detonated fifty catties of black powder, and the effect was still fresh in his memory.

Therefore, this siege, Bolo's backup plan was to use gunpowder to blow up the city gates, and for the sake of insurance, he made two hundred catties of gunpowder this time..........

And in such a fierce battlefield environment, a wooden box will not attract the attention of the defenders at all.

Perhaps the south gate was not bombarded by artillery, or perhaps it was to leave a way out for the soldiers and civilians in the city, but the south gate was not blocked with sandbags like the north gate.

The explosion of two hundred catties of black gunpowder knocked down the city gate in an instant, not only that, but several defenders above the city wall who were relatively close to the explosion point were directly stunned by the huge sound, bleeding from the seven orifices, and their appearance was very terrifying.

The Qing army responsible for detonating the black powder also did not know the power of this thing, and in order to avoid the suspicion of the defenders on the city wall, they all gathered under the city wall to play cover, this time the big explosion, the flying wood chips, pierced more than a dozen Qing soldiers on the spot, and then the air wave generated by the explosion overturned dozens of people, and many people were stunned by the loud noise caused by the explosion.

For a while, on the city wall, outside the city gate, except for the wailing, there was no other action, and the "reinforcements" who blew up the city gate were suppressed by the effect of the explosion, and did not dare to move, or even dare to attack the city.

A soldier found Stilwell, who was not far from the city gate, and found that the other party was unconscious, and his ears were bleeding, so he quickly helped him up and called out loudly: "General, general, wake up!" Are you alright? ”

Stilwell had experienced several major battles, and was somewhat familiar with the sound of the cannonball's explosion, but this explosion was too sudden, and he was not prepared for a while, so he was stunned.

"What do you say? How I can't hear it! Stilwell shook his head, then asked aloud.

But he soon realized that his ears were deaf.

There was no time to lament what happened to him, so Stilwell grabbed a personal soldier and said loudly: "Listen to me, hurry up and send a signal to the superintendent, the south gate is broken!" In addition, organize a trap camp, plug the gap in the city gate, and the bombardiers should not be stingy with grenades and suppress the main forces of the enemy army twenty steps away from the city wall! ”

After explaining, Stilwell got up from the ground, drew his sword, and said loudly to the nearby soldiers who were still sleepwalking: "My generation of soldiers, we should take it as our responsibility to defend the land and resist the enemy, now that the thieves break the city, I will take the lead in the charge, live and die with the city, and all the soldiers will be killed with me!" ”

...............

The south gate of Yangzhou is only five or six miles away from the Yangtze River waterway, and Li Hongfei on the other side of the river also heard this loud noise, and also saw the rising signal flare.

"Guo Sheng has already sent a signal to break through, Zhang Chao, this officer ordered you to lead a battalion, and allocate another fifty Furlong guns and two hundred revolvers to quickly cross the river and meet Guo Sheng's special combat team. If this battle is fought well, the position of division commander of the second division of the Suzhou New Army will be yours. Li Hongfei promised Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao is a captain of the former Suzhou garrison, and he is also an old qualification in the army, and he is on the same level as Guo Sheng, but because he belongs to the old army generals and has no military merits, he can only be a regiment commander in the end.

After the restructuring of the new army, although Li Hongfei had a large number of troops in his hands, there were few leading generals, and now he was given a chance to make meritorious contributions.