The heavy artillery fire lasted for nearly half an hour, and the city wall of Fushun was blown out of a huge gap, and the defenders in the city hid behind the city walls on both sides, although the casualties were large, but they did not lose their combat effectiveness under the artillery.

But in front of the gap, no one dared to stand.

The artillery fire was so fierce that if it was not protected by cover, it would not have been blown up in a while.

"The third-line troops are ready." Li Ran saw in the telescope that the city wall had blasted open a gap more than ten meters long, and immediately gave an order.

"Report to the battalion commander, the third-line troops are ready."

"Attack." Li Ran waved his hand and said, "The artillery barrage is coming into cover." ”

"Yes."

The herald conveyed the order, and soon the 20,000 men of the third-line troops, armed with melee weapons, went to the gap.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

20,000 people roared and rushed to the gap, and the artillery behind began to shoot at the front to cover the front, so that the Qing troops in the city could not raise their heads.

But 20,000 cannon fodder troops rushed into the gap, and the Qing troops on both sides of the city wall suddenly jumped out.

At such a distance, any artillery cover and any shooting are false, and only the real sword and real gun are real, and the cannon fodder troops directly collide with the Qing army to start a bloody and cruel white-knuckle battle.

The two sides were wrenched together and fought each other, and people kept falling to the ground and never getting up again.

But for every soldier of the cannon fodder unit who fell, more Qing soldiers fell. First of all, the formation of the Qing troops was completely empty, and under the suppression of artillery, the Qing army could not form a formation at all, and when they rushed up, they were already scattered.

Although cannon fodder cannot be directly supported, it can organize the Qing army to discharge a dense formation.

In the formation, the Qing army suffered very badly. Also in terms of equipment, the armor of the Qing army is not as strong as the plate armor on these cannon fodder troops, and the weapons are not so sharp.

In close combat, the Qing army often had to cut several knives before a charging cannon fodder soldier could be killed, but the soldiers of the cannon fodder unit could often kill the Qing soldier with one blow.

At the same time, after months of training and brainwashing and education, these cannon fodder units are very crazy in one battle after another, and they don't care what their lives are safe, they just fight hard with the Qing army.

These cannon fodder troops were incorporated into the Eight Banners of the Manchu Han Army, and they had been oppressed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty for a long time, and the resentment in their hearts was only slightly provoked.

The 20,000 cannon fodder troops became more and more crazy in the strangulation, and they fought all the way into the city, and tens of thousands of Qing troops were killed and retreated.

After the cannon fodder troops rushed into the city, Li Ran immediately ordered a general attack. The third battalion soon entered the city, and the performance of the third battalion in street battles was often inferior to that of the cannon fodder troops, not only because of the lack of experience, but also because of the lack of brazen momentum.

Most of the Shandong army is only suitable for field battles, and in field battles, it is not individual fighting, but team cooperation. Many soldiers did not even experience personal combat.

Despite this, the entry of the 3rd Battalion into the city had a remarkable effect.

Thinking that the 3rd Battalion had brought long-range strike capability to the cannon fodder troops, the musketeers continued to shoot hordes of Qing troops in some wide streets, while others followed the cannon fodder units to tackle intractable enemies in the alleys.

In terms of the momentum of individual fighting, it is not comparable to killing these cannon fodder troops, but the combat technology possessed by the Shandong Army is incomparable to that of these cannon fodder troops.

Twenty or thirty pikemen and a few musketeers combined to block a street.

The fierce battle has been continuing, and it is surprising that these Qing troops did not run, but resisted desperately, the situation was very abnormal, but even if these Qing troops resisted desperately, they could not reverse the outcome of the Shandong army's recovery of Lushun.

Fierce street fighting lasted from dawn until noon. The third battalion began to seize control of the city gates, and after repeated battles, they finally controlled the eastern, southern, and northern city gates, leaving only the west gate still in the hands of the Qing army.

The Qing army in the city fought fiercely until noon, and there were already heavy casualties. Nearly 40,000 Qing troops were annihilated, and only more than 10,000 Qing troops were still stubbornly resisting in Xicheng.

Li Ran knew that these Qing troops must be waiting for support from Shenyang.

After all, it has been a morning, and the Qing army in Shenyang has definitely received the news, and it will not be long before the cavalry of the Qing army will reach Fushun.

As long as these Qing troops could still control a city gate, the Qing army would be able to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Shandong army to launch a counteroffensive.

But the third battalion obviously would not give these Qing troops a chance, and after attacking Fushun, the artillery of the third battalion also advanced, and at this moment most of the artillery had advanced to the west city gate.

More than 10,000 Qing troops resisted stubbornly at the West City Gate and were soon shelled.

The Qing army under the shelling quickly scattered with its heads in its arms, and still had some experience in dealing with the artillery of the Shandong army in the fight with the Shandong army.

However, as soon as the Qing army dispersed, the assembled cannon fodder troops immediately launched a fierce attack.

Now the Qing army is finished, and in the absence of a dense formation, it is very unfavorable for white-knuckle warfare, because it is almost divided.

One person has to deal with the blades of several people, even if Guan Gong is possessed, it is useless.

Moreover, these Qing troops did not have any geographical advantages to rely on, and in less than half an hour, these Qing troops were drowned in the frantic attack of the cannon fodder troops.

Seeing that they could not resist, more than 5,000 Qing troops fled out of the west gate in embarrassment, mounted their horses and fled in the direction of Shenyang. Li Ran did not chase after him, but quickly began to arrange defenses in Fushun and clean up the Qing army in the city.

The third battalion began to erect artillery on the city gates, and the 20,000 cannon fodder troops lost more than 1,800 casualties in this battle.

More than 4,000 people were injured.

Those who could still participate in the war began to break open the door door from house to house, and the Manchu Tartars in the house were arrested, and if they were Han Chinese, they were specially concentrated and placed in other places.

The Manchu Tartars who were caught were all pulled to repair the gaps in the city wall.

Sweeping up the remnants of the Qing army, liquidating the Manchu Tartars in the city, arranging the city defenses, counting the casualties, destroying the number of enemies, counting the goods and so on, all of them were reached at once.

Li Ran led the third battalion to attack Fushun, and the task was to nail it in Fushun like a nail.

The means of clearing the army are very simple, search the city!

More than 10,000 people searched from house to house and street to alley in the small city of Fushun, and as long as it was full of people, they were all arrested.

However, only an hour later, 50,000 Qing cavalry appeared under the city of Fushun.

But this hour was enough for the 3rd Battalion to arm. The Qing army outside the city had no siege equipment and could not fly up the city wall, so the defensive pressure was very small.

That gap is simpler, with artillery around it, which one dares to rush up?

Even if some people rush in, it doesn't matter, and the third battalion is not insufficient in the city, which is enough to cripple and destroy the 50,000 Qing soldiers.

Duoduo heard the report in Shenyang that the Shandong army suddenly attacked Fushun, and hurriedly transferred 50,000 cavalry to support Fushun.

When the time comes, 50,000 iron cavalry will rush, and the Shandong army will definitely ignore it.

But before the siege, Li Ran took this into account, so when he attacked Fushun, he pulled all the baggage into Fushun City.

The 3rd Battalion had no cavalry cover at this time, and was easily harassed by cavalry in the field.

Although the cavalry could not charge the infantry in a tight formation, it had a mobility advantage that the infantry did not have, so it was very easy to be disturbed during the march.

The reason why Li Ran dared to fight out of the mountains was entirely because he had a high mobility surname when using a sled, and he didn't have to worry about being disturbed by cavalry under a sudden attack.

After attacking Fushun, if a cavalry rushes out, it is not afraid, after all, the third battalion can completely line up in a tight formation under Fushun City, as well as artillery, and the third battalion that arrives in Fushun no longer needs to march, so it is naturally not afraid of cavalry disturbance.

However, after the combat soldiers were put into the siege battle, the baggage and artillery had to be transferred to the city in time, otherwise a cavalry would be drilled out, and the baggage and artillery would be destroyed by the surname.

After the Qing soldiers outside the city tried to get close to the city wall, they were immediately shelled.

As soon as the shells appeared, the Qing army rushed away, far away from the city wall, and saw that there was nothing to take advantage of, so they stationed outside the city.

Naturally, the cavalry was not used to attack the city, but they had to trap the Shandong army in the city and wait for Sheng Jing to transfer troops to attack Lushun.

If the Shandong army in the city rushes out, their opportunity will come, as long as they are outside the city, the Shandong army cannot leave Lushun to attack other cities.

…… Liaoyang!

The atmosphere of war completely enveloped the city.

The most elite 1st and 2nd Cavalry Battalions, 1st Infantry Battalion, 1st Artillery Battalion, and 1st Infantry Battalion and 2nd Cavalry Battalion of the Liaodong Army have been assembled in Liaoyang.

The 12,000 cavalry, 28,000 infantry, and 30,000 cannon fodder troops had been assembled in early December, but had been waiting for the arrival of the two cavalry battalions in Shandong.

At the end of November, Zhao Yan ordered Qin Zhiyuan to lead his troops to Liaodong and lead the 3rd and 4th cavalry battalions to Liaodong to cooperate with the winter offensive.

Qin Zhiyuan has been released to command the army, and Zhao Yan's personal guard captain has been replaced by the original deputy captain Hong Furen, Hong Furen does not have the military talent of Qin Zhiyuan, but he is stable and conscientious.

At the beginning of December, Qin Zhiyuan boarded the ship with 8,000 cavalry, arrived in Lushun on the 8th, rested for a week, and then set off for Liaoyang.

In late December, Qin Zhiyuan arrived in Liaoyang with 8,000 cavalry.

Seeing that the troops had been assembled, the Liaodong General Staff immediately launched an all-out winter offensive, which was to attack the Taizi River crossing on December 23.

The total strength of the assembled force reached 88,000, and the Qing army on the other side of the Taizi River was directly defeated under the shelling, and the sappers quickly laid cushions on the frozen river.

20,000 cavalry were the first to cross the river, and the infantry behind also crossed the river on sleighs and carrying huge baggage.

"Hit Shenyang for the Spring Festival." This sentence became the slogan of the whole army, and after crossing the Taizi River, they rushed straight towards Shenyang.

(To be continued)