As soon as the morning dawned, hundreds of warships of the British and French forces formed battle formations.

For the ship-side gunboats, their battle formation is a crazy one-line horse.

I saw that the gun doors of each ship were opened, and the muzzles of thousands of ship guns were exposed, and the black hole seemed to swallow the whole world.

"Fire! Gentlemen! The captain commanded loudly.

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

……

Knock knock......

The rumbling cannon fire was shocking and continuous.

In the blink of an eye, countless shells roared towards Dinghai County, exploding above and below the city wall, raising clouds of fiery red mushrooms.

This was the largest artillery bombardment launched by the British and French forces on the county town of Dinghai so far, and in just half an hour, tens of thousands of shells were poured onto the city wall, and even the solid city wall made of reinforced concrete began to crumble in a large area at this moment.

The officers and men of Shanghai who were hiding in the anti-artillery shelters covered their ears tightly, but they were still shocked to the point that their eyes were starry.

Soon the entire city was filled with smoke, and crumbling cement ash filled every corner, causing visibility to drop dramatically, less than a few meters.

On the drum tower in the center of the city, Zheng Guohong's telescope was gray and black, mixed with the glow of fire, but he couldn't see clearly.

"Report, the head of the city is completely suppressed by enemy artillery fire, and the enemy is completely invisible in the firing range of the artillery regiment!"

Zheng Guohong's brows suddenly squeezed into a Sichuan shape, which was clearly a signal for the enemy to launch a decisive battle, and bombarded Dinghai County with all the naval artillery firepower to suppress the firepower of the Shanghai army on the city. At the same time, it created fire and smoke, so that the Shanghai artillery regiment could not see the number and location of the attacking enemy.

"Order all units to prepare for battle, I'm afraid the enemy army is about to storm the city on a large scale! Let them be careful. Beware of enemy sneak attacks! ”

Although Zheng Guohong had already guessed that the British and French forces were going to attack the city on a large scale today, he did not know the specific tactical actions of the other party, so he could only see the moves.

However, it is said that such a large-scale artillery bombardment by the British and French forces is also the result of the final negotiation between Ergin and Gro. At this moment, they not only learned that the Shanghai army had invented defensive weapons such as water radium and ground radium, but also learned that the Shanghai army already had advanced rear-loading rifles and rear-loading artillery.

In the face of these new weapons and equipment, Erjin was not only not intimidated, but strengthened his determination to storm Dinghai County.

This is because. As the supreme commander of the coalition forces, Ergin must know how strong the combat effectiveness of the Shanghai army is, so he knows that the Shanghai army has powerful weapons and equipment. But they had to engage in war with it and reassess the overall combat effectiveness of the Shanghai army, and only in this way could a new strategy be formulated for this war.

From this point of view alone, Ergin is undoubtedly an excellent commander. A true commander-in-chief.

Yesterday the British and French armies were still fighting each other. When the British attacked, the French watched the joke in the back, and when the French attacked, the British did not help.

But today was different, the British and French forces were operating at the same time, and the combined fleet on the sea provided strong artillery support to cover the British and French forces to carry out ground operations.

This time, Scott commanded 50,000 British troops to attack from the front of Dinghai East City, and they quickly rushed to the city under the cover of fleet fire.

A tall ladder was set up. Swiftly, British soldiers climbed up the ladder, and a large number of British soldiers aimed their guns at the head of the city. Provide fire cover.

A Shanghai army sentry braved enemy artillery fire to conduct reconnaissance and saw the enemy troops in the thick smoke of gunpowder.

"The enemy is coming!"

The sentry shouted a warning and was quickly killed by the heavy fire of the British troops below, but he had already managed to inform the rest of the Shanghai army.

"Ascend to the city for defense!"

As soon as the commander of the Shanghai army gave an order, a large number of Shanghai soldiers poured out from the anti-artillery holes, and they braved the enemy's artillery fire to climb the city as fast as possible.

"Fire!"

Bang bang......

Fierce gunfire rang out, and the heads of the city and the city fired at each other.

The Shanghai soldiers were defended by the city walls and suffered relatively light casualties, while the British soldiers under the city were unprotected and suffered heavy casualties.

However, this time, the British troops did not take half a step back, but under the supervision of their respective commanders, they lined up in a dense formation and kept shooting at the head of the city to cover the other British troops to continue to climb the city.

Although the soldiers of the Shanghai army have advanced patriotic rifles in their hands, the location of the head of the city is limited, one radish and one pit, and there are less than 500 firing ports on the women's wall in the east city, that is, there are less than 500 soldiers of the Shanghai army shooting each time, and the others either hide behind the women's wall to change the guns and ammunition of the shooting soldiers, or they can only stay in the anti-artillery hole to rest and wait for rotation.

Outside the city, however, was an open field, and the British troops lined up in twenty or thirty horizontal rows under the city, with nearly five or six hundred people in each row, forming a huge firing phalanx, with tens of thousands of bullets in each salvo, and the intensity quickly caused a large number of casualties to the Shanghai soldiers defending the city.

"Stray bullets with your hands!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, the officers of the Shanghai army defending the city decisively began to attack with stray bullets.

This is the first large-scale use of hand stray bullets in human history, and it is also the first time that the Shanghai army has openly used hand stray bullets since it was equipped with this weapon, and hand stray bullets will no longer be a secret of the Shanghai army.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hundreds of stray bullets were thrown down from the top of the city, and in an instant, it was like hundreds of small cannonballs exploding, and the British troops under the city were killed and wounded heavily, and blood flowed like a river.

"Keep throwing! Blow up these shitty foreign devils! ”

Wave after wave of stray bullets were dropped from the city, exploding in the British array, inflicting heavy casualties on the British army.

Scott could see clearly in the rear that although the "bombs" thrown by the Shanghai soldiers at the head of the city were not as powerful as conventional shells, their lethality was very huge, because the British troops under the city had to line up in a dense formation in order to provide dense fire cover for the soldiers who climbed the city, and after each "bomb" exploded, it could kill seven or eight British soldiers in an instant.

"Order the troops to withdraw!"

Scott gave the order decisively, and he guessed that this was another new weapon of the Shanghai army.

"Inform the fleet to shell the city immediately!"

"But the general, our troops have not been withdrawn yet!"

"What are you talking about? Immediately order the shelling, or I'll shoot you! ”

Scott angrily scolded the heralds beside him. He naturally knew that the British troops had not withdrawn from the city, but he also knew that the Shanghai soldiers at the head of the city had also not withdrawn, and it was the best opportunity for artillery bombardment.

As Scott had in mind. There are few soldiers in Shanghai, and one less dies. The coalition forces have a large number of soldiers, and in the case of weapons and equipment that cannot be taken advantage of, it is more cost-effective to exchange a British soldier for a Shanghai soldier.

The herald sighed, and in the face of the cruelty of the commander, he could only obey the order, and silently mourned in his heart for the British comrades who had not had time to withdraw.

The coalition fleet, having received the order, quickly opened fire. Indiscriminate shelling of Dinghai County.

Boom boom!

More than 1,000 shells exploded in an instant, whether it was the Shanghai soldiers defending the city or the British soldiers who had no time to withdraw. Instantly covered in artillery fire, drowned in the scorching fire and billowing smoke.

In this wave of fighting, more than 300 Shanghai soldiers were killed at the head of the city, and hundreds more were injured. The British army paid a huge price of more than 2,000 casualties.

"I'm a mud horse! Dog's day of foreign devils. It's so cruel! ”

On the Drum Tower. Zheng Guohong was deeply shocked when he saw the scene in front of him.

War is so cruel that everything is done.

After several rounds of artillery salvo fire from the combined British and French fleets, Scott once again organized tens of thousands of British troops to rush to the city, re-erected the ladder, and launched the battle again.

Similarly, the soldiers of the Shanghai Army in the anti-artillery hole also quickly boarded the city to defend.

There was a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides, resulting in casualties on both sides.

If the number of British troops who climbed up was small. The Huns used rifles to shoot, if there were too many. He greeted with a stray bullet, and a stray bullet killed a large area.

Scott was both shrewd and cunning, and at first the British troops who landed in the city were basically from the British mainland or Australia, and then Scott adopted the tactics of killing together, and let the Indian Sikhs take charge of the battle.

In this way, whenever Scott found that there was no hope for the soldiers in this Boden City, he would suddenly order the ground cover infantry to retreat, and then let the fleet artillery fire indiscriminately bombard.

Exchanging the lives of Indian Sikhs for the lives of the Shanghai soldiers, Scott felt it was worth it.

However, the Shanghai army was not stupid, after several bombings, the Shanghai army began to become more cautious, as soon as they saw the British army under the city to retreat, immediately began to evacuate to the anti-artillery hole, so that the British and French naval artillery fire only bombed the Indian Sikh soldiers who landed in the city, greatly reducing the casualties of the Shanghai soldiers themselves.

After more than a dozen rounds of fighting, more than 10,000 Indian Sikh soldiers were killed and wounded, and thousands of British soldiers who covered the city on the ground were also killed and wounded, while the Shanghai soldiers defending the city suffered only seven or eight hundred casualties.

Scott's tactic was to consume the strength of the Shanghai army, after all, the Shanghai army only had about 5,000 people, and seven or eight hundred casualties were not a small price.

However, Scott did not expect that the Indian Sikhs were not fools, and soon they found out that Scott had made them cannon fodder, and they were furious and went to Scott to ask for an explanation.

Scott had no choice but to let the British army and Indian Sikhs take turns attacking the city.

As a result, the casualties of the British native soldiers continued to expand, but Ergin did not stop Scott, but continued the attack, concentrating all the artillery of the British marines and suppressing the fire of the Shanghai artillery regiment.

Erjin was desperate to storm Dinghai County, so Zheng Guohong had to send troops from the other three gates of Dinghai County to reinforce Dongcheng.

The fighting between the two sides was at a high fever pitch from morning to night and from night to dawn.

The Anglo-French army had a large number of troops and could take turns to attack, but the Shanghai army was fighting fewer and fewer, the wounded were increasing, and the soldiers were getting more and more tired.

Such a battle lasted seven days and seven nights.

By the morning of the eighth day, the 29th Brigade of the Shanghai Army had dropped from a full strength of more than 5,000 to less than 2,000, and there were still 4,500 wounded.

The British and French forces were not having a good time, with more than 30,000 British casualties, of which the Indian Sikhs accounted for the majority, and the French casualties also reached more than 9,000.

"It's time!"

Elgin brought in Scott and Bronce and began to execute Plan B.

Plan B is based on Plan A, Plan A is a strong attack for seven days and seven nights, consuming the strength of the Shanghai army and attracting the strength of the Shanghai army to Dongcheng. Plan B is to continue to attract the attention of the Shanghai army with Scott leading troops head-on on the eighth day, and Bronce will lead the elite French army to make a surprise attack through the west gate of Dinghai. Strive to break the city in a war.

"We have paid such a big price, and this time we must succeed!"

Both Scott and Bronce swore a swear and each led their troops into action.

Dinghai County. The officers and men of Shanghai are extremely tired, but they are still holding on, because they all have a fire in their hearts that will never be extinguished.

"Brothers, congratulations, you have completed the task given to you by Lord Li to hold Dinghai County for a month, and now you have two choices, one is to abandon Dinghai County and retreat. The second is to stick to Dinghai County and live and die with Dinghai County! ”

At the head of the city, Zheng Guohong gave the officers and soldiers of the 29th Brigade a question to choose from.

This question is deceptively simple. It's actually very difficult.

Because the officers and soldiers of the Shanghai Army are different from other domestic Qing Army, Hunan Army, Huai Army and even the Taiping Army, the soldiers of other armies are just eating with their mouths, but in the Shanghai Army, it is not just as simple as being a soldier and eating food.

Every officer and soldier in Shanghai has received an education. The level of education varies from person to person. This is all due to the fact that Li Weiguo set up a chief of staff system in the Shanghai army, and the chief of staff of these armies only cares about the lives and thoughts of the officers and soldiers on weekdays.

"If we withdraw, will we be considered deserters, will we be punished?" A soldier from the Shanghai army asked.

Zheng Guohong replied: "Give up Dinghai County, the commander-in-chief will not blame you." Because you have completed the mission, it is the duty of the soldiers to obey orders and complete the mission. You are not deserters and will not be punished! ”

At this time, Chief of Staff Chen Cheng suddenly added: "But if you leave, the people in Dinghai County will be retaliated against by the British and French forces, we have killed so many foreign devils, don't expect them not to retaliate against us, this Dinghai County will probably be slaughtered." ”

As soon as they heard that the foreign devils might slaughter the city, the officers and soldiers fell silent for a moment.

Chief of Staff Chen Cheng smiled slightly and continued: "Of course, you can also continue to defend Dinghai County, the result may or may not be held, and you will sacrifice together with the people in Dinghai County." But you have done your best, even if you die in battle, you are still glorious martyrs, and the Commander-in-Chief will personally write everyone's names on the tablet and enshrine them in the Martyrs' Shrine, where they will be worshiped and revered for generations. ”

"If the foreign devils want to slaughter the city, then we can't retreat! The fathers and villagers of Dinghai County support us on weekdays, and we can't die without help! ”

"That's right, the soldiers of our Shanghai army are all backbone, why do you want to withdraw, isn't that afraid of foreign devils?"

The soldiers suddenly became angry and asked them to abandon the people of Dinghai County and retreat, they couldn't cross the hurdle in their hearts.

At this time, they had only one choice, that is, to defend Dinghai County and fight to the end.

This is exactly what Zheng Guohong and Chen Cheng want to see, at this critical moment, it is necessary to stimulate the fighting spirit of the soldiers, otherwise with these extremely tired soldiers, as well as the few remaining weapons and ammunition, they will not be able to hold on.

Zheng Guohong smiled at Chen Cheng, gave a thumbs up and said, "Gao, it's still the chief of staff!" ”

Chen Cheng said with a smile: "That's what I'm doing, and only at this time can I give full play to the value of our staff officers." ”

Zheng Guohong nodded and said: "Don't say it, usually I don't like you staff officers the most, talking to the soldiers all day long, so that the soldiers treat me as a devil, but treat you as a wet nurse, now it seems that it is really useful!" ”

On weekdays, Zheng Guohong did not deal with Chen Cheng, and after this battle, Zheng Guohong's attitude towards Chen Cheng changed greatly, as if he became a good friend in an instant.

"The enemy is attacking again!"

Zheng Guohong still wanted to talk to Chen Cheng more, but unexpectedly, at this time, the British and French forces attacked again.

The two didn't say much, and suddenly got busy, one commanding the battle, the other responsible for rear support, each performing its own duties, and cooperating tacitly.

After three hours of fierce fighting, the Shanghai army once again repelled the British attack, but because the soldiers were too tired, the casualties were getting heavier and heavier, and many soldiers were so sleepy in the battle that they were attacked by the enemy and incurred casualties.

"Oh no, Simon was attacked by the French army!"

Zheng Guohong was taken aback, and secretly said that it was not good. This is obviously the enemy's tactics of attacking the east and west, but unfortunately the east gate has been tight these days, and has to draw reinforcements from the other three gates, and now the west gate is the farthest from the east gate, and there is only one platoon of troops to guard, I am afraid it is dangerous.

"Chief of Staff, the East Gate is handed over to you!"

"Guard platoon, follow me to reinforce Ximen!"

Without waiting for Chen Cheng to respond, Zheng Guohong took the guards and rushed to the West Gate for reinforcements.

At the same time, Simon was attacked by tens of thousands of French troops under the command of Bronce, and the defenders with only one platoon were obviously too busy, and soon French soldiers climbed up to the top of the city.

When Zheng Guohong arrived at the west gate with the guard platoon, the city had already been lost.

Fortunately, the city gate is still there, and the Shanghai army at the west gate guards the jack gate, so that the French army outside cannot enter, and can only continue to climb the city from the ladder.

Zheng Guohong led the guard platoon to reinforce quickly, but it was a drop in the bucket, relying on advanced rifles and stray bullets to barely hold the city gate, but he could not drive the French troops who landed in the city down.

The soldiers around Zheng Guohong fought fewer and fewer, but the French army became more and more, and the situation was extremely critical. (To be continued......)