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The biting cold wind raged on the land of the north, and in the wind and snow, an earthen wall camp with a length and width of dozens of zhang was like a chess piece on a chessboard, and the endless earthen fortresses and ditches scattered outside the capital almost changed the topography of the capital. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, the Taiping army did not have any skills in fighting, and every time they went to a place, while attacking the city, they first had to look at the terrain to choose a camping site, and then they began to build walls and dig trenches, the walls were four or six feet high and one foot thick, and they were composed of adobe clods. The trench was three feet deep, and the soil excavated from the trench had to be moved two feet away, in case the enemy could easily fill the trench with the excavated soil.

Every time the Taiping army drove to a new land, regardless of the cold rain, they immediately dug a trench and completed it within one hour, which was almost their old job for the Taiping soldiers, because these soldiers were originally peasants, and they also dug soil at home. The defensive wall of the camp is called the sub-wall near the inside, and the soldiers stand here, and the outer layer of the wall is a fence to defend against horses, and then outside is a ditch to defend against infantry. At this time there were few artillery, the control of the artillery was small, and the defense was the more favorable side.

When they were in Jinghai, the Taiping army of the Northern Expedition was able to hold out in the field for several months because of this camp. Even the monk Lin Geqin confronted him with the same barracks. Although this method seems stupid, but this method is very effective, one after another, countless and countless ways to surround and countless ways to dig, all the way to the city has been so that the city is impassable, even if it is not attacked, it can trap the city to death, depending on how long the food in the city can last.

It's like the capital at this time!

Although the besieged capital has not yet been taken, it has been besieged into a "dead city".

Although the small bases under the city are continuous, there are several large bases between the small bases, which are the camps of the Taiping army. In a large camp in the west of the city, Zeng Lijing, who was in the big tent, was churning with anger.

Almost every day, the moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was annoyance. Now, as he looked through the faint morning light at the Wolong-like city walls less than a mile away, his anger churned even more violently, and his breathing became rapid.

How can this be!

When that kind of anger comes out from the bottom of his heart, he is more unwilling, the reason why he is so unwilling is very simple, Prime Minister Lin Cheng, who rushed all the way to the capital from Jinghai, seems to be grateful for his rescue, but these days he has transferred more than half of his troops, and even this capital is what he wants to take.

As for Zeng Lichang, it seems that he will only fight the capital on the orders of Prime Minister Lin.

"Hmmm......"

Listening to the muffled hum beside him, Liang Zuoshan could feel the muscles of the deputy prime minister trembling spasmodically, and the heavy humming between his nose could even stir up the cold winter air. The sun rose slowly, and the sunlight fell obliquely on his thick body, but it could not dispel the coldness in his heart.

"Deputy Prime Minister, there is no way to do it now, who made him higher than you!"

Liang Zuoshan sighed helplessly, he looked at the capital, this is making wedding dresses for others!

In the end, the bamboo basket is empty! However, his bitter sigh fell in Zeng Lichang's eyes, but Zeng Lichang snorted coldly.

"Hmph, don't think that Lao Tzu will just forget it!"

With a hateful curse in his mouth, he looked in the direction of the east of the city again, where was Lin Fengxiang's camp, what was his surname Lin doing?

Standing behind the earthen wall of the camp, Lin Fengxiang raised the telescope again. Every piece of masonry on the walls of the capital was clearly visible, most of them were mottled and scarred by the shells that had come and gone these days, but the walls still stood there, the last barrier between him and what he desperately wanted.

Last year, he led the Northern Expeditionary Army from Yangzhou all the way to the north, all the way to attack the city and plunder the land, and finally was blocked in Jinghai, originally he thought it would be difficult to hit the capital again, but Zeng Lichang led tens of thousands of people to smash the heart of the demon in the capital, not only relieved his Jinghai predicament, but also gave him the opportunity to hit the capital.

The city wall standing in front of you is the last layer of protection in the capital, and after a while, it will stand **** - no, lying on the ground, only waiting to be taken down by him Lin Fengxiang.

"Jihou, this should be about the same, right?"

When he put down the binoculars, Lin Fengxiang asked Ji Wenyuan beside him, last year he defeated the Qing Zhili Governor Naerjing at Linhao Pass, and the Qing court was shaken. To merit to seal the Pinghu Hou, and now Lin Fengxiang is naturally called "Hou", this is a characteristic of the Taiping Army, for these people who have never been officials, they have been sealed, what they care most about is their official position, so usually they not only want to hang the official position on themselves, but also only allow others to call them official positions, titles, not names. Even Lin Fengxiang, as the prime minister, also called Ji Wenyuan his title.

"Prime Minister, it is estimated that it will be these two days' work, and you will almost be able to dig up to the capital!"

Ji Wenyuan hurriedly replied.

"Well, nothing will happen, right?"

"Prime Minister, those people were pulled from the Xishan Coal Mine, and they have been digging coal for decades, how could something happen!"

Ten days ago, after discovering the coal mines on the mountain, he sent people to force all the miners on the mountain into a camp and ordered them to dig tunnels in order to blow up the thick walls of the capital. He pointed to the three fortifications ahead, which were closest to the wall.

"Prime Minister, as long as everything goes well, within three days, we will definitely be able to blow up the city wall and attack this city! When the time comes......"

"When the time comes, I have to kill this Qing demon and avenge the blood revenge of my Han people for two hundred years!"

Lin Fengxiang scolded hatefully, he had the idea of killing all the demons in the world, and then his eyes were staring at the earthen fortress less than half a mile away from the city wall, and his excited eyes seemed to have some ambition that was difficult to hide.

"Jihou, you personally watch this matter, you must let them do it faster, you know?"

"Yes, Prime Minister! Please rest assured, Xiaohou will let them dig through the tunnel as soon as possible! ”

In a piece of earth rampart between a broken wall that is only more than 100 zhang away from the wall, in a tent, more than a dozen Taiping soldiers in tattered clothes continue to winch from the ground into baskets of loess with a well winch, and the loess is then picked up by a soldier with a pick, and then picked out the big tent, and then made of adobe by water, these days, seeing that this palace fortress is larger than in the past, and a few feet higher, but no one has noticed that this earthen fortress is built of the soil underground.

"Click, click......"

A few meters underground, the sound of excavation was heard from time to time, and by the dim light of oil lamps, several miners in single clothes kept digging the tunnel with shovels, which were less than three feet high and wide, so that they could only move forward with their waists. They waved their shovels and dug forward little by little, just like in the coal mines in Xishan in the past, they used to be just a group of coolies in the mines, and they were still nested in the shank earlier, thinking about when the siege of the capital could be lifted, and then they continued to dig coal, but the Taiping army on the mountain changed their fate, making them from a group of coolies to soldiers of the Taiping army, but what they did was still the old job - digging tunnels, in the past they dug coal, but now they dig soil.

But who would have thought, now they have become the Taiping army's killer weapon to capture the capital, who let them be hundreds of miles in the vicinity, the best at digging the empty tunnel, since the construction of this earthen fortress, hundreds of soldiers and miners in the fortress have been working day and night to dig the tunnel leading to the city, and the soil dug out of the tunnel has been made into adobe for the siege of the city wall, although the tunnel has been dug for seven days in the city there is still no movement.

When hundreds of Taiping soldiers in the earthen fortress kept digging the tunnels leading to the city day and night, the soldiers of the Eight Banners on the city wall looked nervously outside the city, looking at the outer city that was dug into pockmarked faces, and their faces were full of bitterness.

"It's thanks to this group of desperate Han people, you see, this world is the master of such a war!"

Although he was wearing a trumpet and carrying a tasseled spear, for those six, there was no difference between being in this city and being in a teahouse in the past. As soon as he said this, there was only a chorus of echoes around him.

"But it's not, you see, there are not five hundred in the fort outside the city, but there are also four hundred, this group of long hair, what the hell is there is a siege, it is clearly a city repair,"

"It's not like digging two ditches around the city, four feet deep and four feet wide, and now we can be killed by the pit of our masters, if we go out of the city, we are not out of the city, but we are going to attack the city......"

"But no, these people, like his mother's shrunken turtles, want to trap our masters......"

Seeing that the earthen fortress outside the city is more than one day a day, and even the next city outside the city, the ditch outside the river, these "masters" who only know how to brag and slip birds on weekdays, their hearts are in a hurry, they are anxious to see the Taiping army surround the city, and even according to the appearance of a year and a half of hard work siege, how can they not be anxious, after all, the grain and grass in the city is only enough for a few months, and when the grain and grass are eaten, what should their families in the city do?

If there is no food, it will starve. They all understand these truths, but no one said anything, and no one wants to touch the mold at this time, and when the time comes, they will be charged with a crime of disturbing the morale of the army and cut off their heads.

"Hey, I said don't worry, big guys, isn't that Shengbao still leading tens of thousands of soldiers? It's Gui Liang, the governor of Zhili, don't you also point to the group brave, still come and see, as long as we hold on for two or three months, and wait until Gui Liang recruits tens of thousands of soldiers, when the time comes, we only need to give these people a flank inside and out, and worry about the undefeated bandits? ”

When the confident words came out, no one believed them, but the big guys were willing to listen to them, after all, it was hope!

"Hey, it's still inside and out, the earthen ramparts outside the city ......"

Before the words fell, the six in the city only felt that the city wall under their feet seemed to shake...... (To be continued.) )