Under the onslaught of a night, Chen Yucheng looked at Gong Deshu, Liu Guanfang, Huang Wenjin, Li Shixian and other four people who were silent in the big tent, Chen Yucheng's heart suddenly fiercely seemed to be grabbed by someone, and the dense corpses appeared in front of him, and the blood that flowed out soaked the land, he had fought a battle of corpses and a sea of blood, but he had never fought such a battle now, and he had never even heard of such a tragic battle.

Chen Yucheng understands very well that this is not just a matter of casualties, once he wins and captures Ningxiang, then the Kingdom of Heaven will transform from the weakest among the three parties to a strong one, and he can even wave his army to unify the two Guangxi and Fujian, because almost all the mobile forces of the Chinese Empire are fighting on the east and west fronts, and Lin Haijiang's rear is not an ordinary emptiness.

For the victory of the overall strategy, Chen Yucheng can bear the partial sacrifice, even if all of them have more than 100,000 horses in it, as long as they can capture Ningxiang, everything will be worth it! In case the truth rumores, Lin Haijiang, the head of the Chinese Empire, is really in Ningxiang, then whether he is captured alive or killed, it will be an incomparably huge blow to the Chinese Empire, and perhaps the Chinese Empire, which seems to have a huge fleet and military power on the surface, will collapse because it is difficult for all parties to reach an agreement on the balance of forces.

However, last night's fierce battle also made Chen Yucheng extremely shocked, Gong Deshu, Liu Guanfang, Huang Wenjin, and Li Shixian, who participated in the siege, all suffered heavy casualties, and the corpses of Taiping soldiers in many areas were piled up in the trenches of the defenders.

After dawn, the Taiping army did not stop attacking, but began to learn Liu Guanfang's excavation method in the southeast, northwest, and northwest, using the first line of trenches occupied to approach the defenders' second line of defense in a roundabout way.

Lin Haijiang's eyes were full of bloodshot and stood in front of the defense map of the headquarters, pondered for a while, and said to Qi Mingxin and Wan Fujiang: "Our army took the initiative to abandon the first line of defense after killing and injuring a large number of enemy troops, and now the diameter of our army's defense has shrunk by nearly five hundred meters, it can be said that the strength and firepower are more intensive, but if the Taiping army maintains such an attack frequency, even if the positional defense is not broken, the soldiers will be dragged down by fatigue."

The Taiping army kept changing the flags of the attacking troops, and every time the flag was changed, a new army was put into the battlefield, Lin Haijiang pointed to the entire second line of defense and said: "Now the Taiping army will dig into the trenches and combine the frontal assault with the horse team's harassment, let us take care of one and lose the other, according to the speed of their excavation, it will not take the evening to get close to the front of our army's second line of defense, which shortens the distance of less than 30 meters at night can be said to be extremely dangerous, once the second line of defense is shaken or broken through a little, Then the entire line of defense can no longer be effectively defended, although the defense radius of the second line of defense is small, our army's strength appears slightly sufficient, and the firepower is more intensive, but once it is also broken through, our army does not even have the depth of counterattack, so the second line of defense we must use the steel surname defense. ”

Qi Mingxin hesitated for a moment and said: "Führer, according to the Taiping Army's digging speed, it is too dangerous for our army, the firepower of our army's artillery groups in four directions is not enough to deal with the enemy's excavation, and the small army's short attack has almost no effect, our army's strength is limited and cannot attack on a large scale, it can be said that the enemy's excavation is now the greatest threat to our army!" ”

Lin Haijiang looked at the position marked on the defense map, and the staff officers on the side kept running back and forth to change the coordinates of the positions of various enemy troops, Lin Haijiang pointed to the south of the city and said: "Liu Guanfang's headquarters of the Taiping Army in the south of the city was the first to excavate, right?" ”

Wan Fujiang stood aside and nodded: "Yes, the head of state, it was Liu Guanfang's department who took the lead in digging and advancing!" ”

Lin Haijiang nodded with satisfaction, hesitated for a while, and then Lin Haijiang let out a long breath and said: "It's 13:12, I order to concentrate all mortars and field artillery, and at 13:30, use incendiary shells to shoot two base ammunition to the south of the city, the ruler is from far to near, I want shells to fall on every inch of land." ”

Lin Haijiang said that in the end, his face had become hideous, Qi Mingxin and Wan Fujiang glanced at each other, and both of them looked a little excited, this incendiary bomb is the latest product of the Military Industry Department of the Imperial Scientific Research Administration, and most of them have gone out to the European and American battlefields to provide the Southern Federal Political Axe and Prussian Political Axe to the United States, although it has been issued to the regimental level of this attack, but no corps commander has ordered to use it so far.

September 5, 1861, 13:30 p.m.! As the flag in the hands of the artillery commander fell, more than 70 Krupp field guns began to fire covering Liu Guanfang, the headquarters of the Taiping Army in the south of the city.

The shelling used a special shell loaded in a yellow box, the warhead is slightly longer, painted with red paint, much lighter than the grenade, it can be said that no artillery has fired this so-called incendiary shell before, and the manual for the use of the shell does not specify the effect, but only reminds that you must pay great attention during the handling process.

The preparatory squad took out one shell after another, screwed the fuse, and handed it into the hands of the artillerymen, pushed the bullet into the chamber, closed the valve bolt, and pulled the fire to fire.

Incendiary bombs have always been a legend among artillerymen, and some artillerymen were previously dispatched to cooperate with the General Administration of Scientific Research to test incendiary bombs, and it is said that the test subjects were Indonesian natives who intended to resist armed resistance, but these artillerymen were given a gag order after returning to the army, and these artillerymen themselves were extremely reluctant to talk about the process of testing.

People are like this, the more they don't tell you something, the more they want to ask, and if it is published in the newspaper, they may not even read it.

In the sharp whistling, the Taiping soldiers still pressed their bodies to the side of the trench as before, holding their heads with their hands, and were unlucky enough to be blown up, and continued to dig alive, but this time the explosion seemed to be very muffled, and there was a hint of heat?

Suddenly a terrible scream sounded, the heat immediately spread in an instant, people covered in fire stumbled in the crowd, more people caught fire, at the beginning there were people who tried to use their clothes to extinguish and rescue their companions, but soon they were contagious by the fire on their bodies, and soon became a fire man, constantly screaming, running, convulsing, and finally burned to charcoal.

For a while, the natural disaster was burning, the ground was burning, even the water was burning, the heat in the air made people breathless, the Taiping soldiers who covered their necks and fell to the ground and convulsed were kicking their legs with purple faces, and their necks were scratched by themselves, they didn't know that it was because they were too close to the explosion point, the overheated air burned their throats, and the blisters in their throats led to the result of suffocation.

The chaos ahead is already hot and hot, which makes Liu Guanfang stunned, could it be that the surname Lin will not succeed in what kind of demon law? Is the heavenly fire punishing itself?

Liu Guanfang grabbed a military marshal whose face was so blackened that it was almost unrecognizable, and said, "How many people are there in front now?" ”

The commander moved his mouth slightly weakly, and one of the guards on the side cried: "My lord! More than 8,000 brothers in front of me didn't run out! We went in to save people, and hundreds of people got in! ”

Yes? Liu Guanfang's body shook, his chest seemed to have been smashed by a heavy weapon, his throat was sweet, and a mouthful of blood spurted out, and the knife player next to Liu Guanfang was flustered.

After the artillery bombardment of the south of the city was over, Lin Haijiang ordered to fire one and a half base ammunition in the remaining three directions, leaving only one-fifth of the stored incendiary bombs for emergency use, and sending the rest to the Taiping army on the opposite side.

Sometimes inflicting unbearable damage on the enemy may be an extremely effective way to solve the war!

When the night once again covered the land, the Taiping army's offensive had completely stopped, the Taiping army was not invulnerable, no matter how firm the belief, in the face of effective slaughter will completely collapse, it can be said that Chen Yucheng's four-way army is already on the verge of collapse at this moment.

Chen Yucheng looked at his listless subordinates, he knew that after the other party used a secret weapon this afternoon, the troops besieging the city had suffered huge casualties, plus the casualties last night, in just two days, Chen Yucheng's 120,000 troops besieging Ningxiang had gone to nearly 40,000 people.

Thinking of the machine guns and raindrops of artillery fire that night were like a chain of fire, Chen Yucheng's brows couldn't help but wrinkle, even so, the soldiers of the Taiping Army still moved forward, because they all knew very well that the survival of the Kingdom of Heaven was fought here, whether it was destroyed by the Qing Demon or by the Chinese Empire, the result was destruction, and there was no difference.

However, this afternoon, Lin Haijiang's secret weapon unexpectedly destroyed the last courage of the Taiping army, it can be said that Chen Yucheng's imminent victory was smashed, Chen Yucheng was originally going to use the approaching trenches to launch the final general attack tonight, as a result, those trenches have become the burial place of his subordinates, now every breath, you can smell a scorching stench, now no matter how to drive away, the soldiers will not enter those trenches full of charred and tragically dead brothers.

Chen Yucheng knows very well that there can only be two possibilities in this environment, one is that all the soldiers are excited to turn grief into courage and take Ningxiang in one go, but the current morale does not seem to have this possibility, and the other possibility is the collapse of the whole, military discipline is gone, once the remaining 80,000 troops lose control and become a rogue, then the destruction is not far away, it is very difficult to train the rogues into an army, but it is extremely easy for the army to become a bloodthirsty and plundering rogue.

It can only attack at night, this is the conclusion that Chen Yucheng finally came to, for this conclusion he took more than 6,000 people in, this tuition seems too expensive, how can the impact of this shelling be minimized? Chen Yucheng frowned and looked at the map on the cowhide, in the previous battle between the scouts, Chen Yucheng had captured a map of the scouts of the Chinese Empire, the map was so fine that the intersections of each village were marked, recalling that map, Chen Yucheng was very aware of the huge gap between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Chinese Empire.

What worries Chen Yucheng even more is the death of Gong Deshu and Huang Wenjin, Li Shixian was shot because he was wearing an official uniform, and now his life and death are uncertain, it is estimated that it will be enough to choke, Liu Guanfang happened to come to his own place to discuss matters can be said to have escaped a catastrophe, and the five tiger generals who beat the Qing army in half of the mountain actually lost two members here? Chen Yucheng had a feeling of incomprehension in his heart.

The 30,000 troops withdrawn from the direction of Huilongshan and Jinggang will arrive tomorrow, and Chen Yucheng is ready to join his 3,000 sword players to join the attack team, and let go tomorrow night, and strive to win the strongest second line of defense on the next journey.

Lin Haijiang, who was in Ningxiang City, looked at the location of his troops on the big map, and now what he was waiting for was Gao Qi's First Mountain Infantry Corps, whether Gao Qi could penetrate the back of Yiyang and attack Yiyang to close the back door of the strategic encirclement of Chen Yucheng's army, like an iron wall.

A large number of incendiary bombs can be said to have given the Taiping army a huge blow, compared to nearly 20,000 casualties, the psychological blow to the Taiping army is more serious, crowded in the trench lack of experience is the main reason for the Taiping army's heavy casualties, before Lin Haijiang was not prepared to use a large number of such unconventional ammunition in the country, but the Taiping army's crazy attack made Lin Haijiang finally make up his mind, only by defeating Chen Yucheng as soon as possible, can minimize the casualties of both warring sides!

At the same time, Lin Haijiang was also reviewing his own mistakes, he made a very subjective mistake, thinking that he had sufficient troops and advanced weapons, so he boldly carried out operations on the east and west fronts, you must know that fighting on the east and west fronts has always been a taboo for soldiers, and the two fronts that cannot support each other and even the transmission of intelligence are very inconvenient for the Chinese Imperial Army, which lacks experience in command personnel, has backward means of communication, and has basically the same mobility as the enemy, if it encounters a Changsha, it will be a huge disaster.

Lin Haijiang clearly realized his mistake, if Germany fought on two fronts during the First World War, the mobility of its infantry was similar to that of the French army, so the German army on the eastern and western fronts failed to hit the enemy with vital forces.

Fortunately, Lin Haijiang realized his mistake in time, his steps were too big, his ability was not proportional to his strategic ambitions, he ate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in two bites, and after a year of recuperation, he pushed the Manchu Qing Dynasty north, completely unified the Chinese regime in three years, and digested Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula within ten years, and then the reckless naval plan in Lin Haijiang's heart, competing with Tsarist Russia, enclosing a colony for the empire in Africa, and striving to pull the Middle East into the territory and seize the strategic resources that cannot be renewed in later generations. The positioning of the Chinese Empire is that of the international gendarmerie!

These are Lin Haijiang's ideals, and they are also what Lin Haijiang wants to do in his lifetime, to build a maritime empire, a maritime era that belongs to the Chinese nation, it is inevitable to use military force, for the sake of a powerful empire in later generations, Lin Haijiang does not mind that he is notorious, what can he do if he is pointed at by thousands of people?

Indonesia's indigenous people are known for their reproductive ability, but now the indigenous population of Indonesia is declining sharply, according to Lin Haijiang's estimates, ten years later, Chinese students in Southeast Asia can only prove what is the indigenous people of Southeast Asia through textbooks! The Americans' large-scale development of the west has wiped out a large number of Indian tribes, so what is it to do it in Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula by themselves?

Today, the Taiping army was burned with incendiary bombs, and the Taiping army has not made any moves until now, Lin Haijiang believes that the use of incendiary bombs is still extremely correct, it should completely shock the enemy, or the Taiping army is brewing a greater offensive, Lin Haijiang inspected the forward position today, the soldiers are very tired, and they are taking turns to rest, but the morale of the front line is extremely high, and the bullet casings in the trenches are shoveled out with shovels.

As long as there is a slight movement on the other side, there is a burst of guns and cannons beckoning over, there is no way, because guarding Ningxiang, the largest supply center on the eastern front, there is nothing but women, and everything else!

Lin Haijiang is a little embarrassed by a woman in advance, the army of the Chinese Empire is not so politically conscious at the moment, the students of the emperor [***] school can, but the following soldiers are not, Lin Haijiang is a powerful weapon to rectify the army with strict military law, but blind oppression does not seem to be a good way to solve it, at this stage in the country, Lin Haijiang does not think that it is necessary to follow the legion, but if it is said that if it is fought in a different place in the future, in order to ensure the health and combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers of the army, it is still very necessary to establish a perfect system with the legionLin Haijiang is very clear about this, but it is clear and clear, and the implementation is implemented.

That night, the Taiping army did not launch an attack overnight, and Lin Haijiang also slept peacefully, except for a few small-scale harassments and sneak attacks, it can be said that it was safe and sound, Lin Haijiang could only say that such silence was too abnormal!

Lin Haijiang didn't know that yesterday's artillery bombardment killed several important figures of the Taiping Army, three of the four generals were knocked down, the death of Gong Deshu of the Twist Army almost broke up, Chen Yucheng was busy all night to gather the various units of the Twist Army, appease the people's hearts, where is the energy to organize and continue the attack?

Originally, an order was issued to the besieging troops to desperately harass the defenders, so that the defenders were too tired to rest, but how could the besieging troops dare to carry out Chen Yucheng's military order similar to suicide? As long as there is the slightest disturbance on the opposite side, there will be a burst of artillery fire, and the machine guns will strafe every few minutes.

The act of teasing the defenders is equivalent to touching the bear's nose or kicking the tiger's butt when they are idle, it is purely an act of looking for death, so the people below will just deal with it and deal with it, so last night, whether it was the Taiping army besieging the city or the Chinese Emperor [***] team who defended it, they were relatively peaceful!

However, soon a relatively bad news came, that is, the Taiping army seemed to have increased its troops, and the scale of the increase was 30,000 or 40,000!

(To be continued)