Yangzhou City

Shi Kefa, who was born as a civil official, put on a suit of armor and appeared on the tower of the north gate, looking at the Qing army scattered all over the mountains outside the city, and a chill rose in his heart.

Just ask who is not afraid, after a big war, thousands of people died in battle, leaving a bunch of orphans and widows, as a literati who has read the books of sages, he is not afraid of death, and it is the greatest glory of people and ministers to repay the king when he dies.

What Shi Kefa is afraid of is that Yangzhou will be difficult to protect, let the thieves go south and disturb the king, that is, he will be ashamed of the world and become a sinner through the ages, and he will take the success or failure of his reputation too seriously.

There are no capable generals around Shi Kefa, only one Xu Dingguo still has some achievements, but fortunately, Wang Lanping discussed with him yesterday and asked Zheng Sen, the chief soldier of Huai'an, to lead the whole army into Yangzhou to rest, which added a lot of confidence to Shi Kefa, although Zheng Sen's more than 10,000 people were disabled and defeated, but they were also veterans who fought hard with the Red Flag for more than a month, and their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of Yangzhou soldiers.

At this time, on the upper floor of the North Gate City, Shi Kefa, Xu Dingguo, and Zheng Sen looked at each other.

Shi Kefa said uneasily, "General Xu, have you checked the city defense?" ”

Xu Dingguo hadn't opened his mouth yet, but Zheng Sen said, "The enemy has already approached the city, and now I just want to get up to check the city defense, it's too late."

Zheng Sen is divided according to the theater of operations, he should be under the jurisdiction of the Yangzhou Governor, however, in fact, Zheng Sen's Huai'an Army is the champion army Wang Lanping's troops, Shi Kefa only occupies a name, all along, Zheng Sen looks down on Shi Kefa's strategic deployment, this is mainly because Shi Kefa heard that the Qing army called, all the garrisons on the periphery of Yangzhou were withdrawn into Yangzhou City, which exposed the flank of the Huai'an Army. It also made Zhenghongqi at that time have no worries at all, and calmly attacked Zheng Senbu.

Zheng Sen fought alone in Huai'an and lost half of his men. He couldn't swallow this anger, so he didn't have a good temper with Shi Kefa at all.

Shi Kefa was embarrassed, although he was a supervisor, but at the moment, he had to count on Zheng Sen to guard Yangzhou, so he could only swallow his anger.

It is still Xu Dingguo's general knowledge and busy talking. "Rest assured, Yangzhou City is impregnable"

Zheng Sen raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, "There is no commander Wang to attract the strength of the enemy army outside the city. Yangzhou City has long been surrounded by heavy sieges, solid as gold, there is no impregnable city in the world, attack is the best defense"

Xu Dingguo was also displeased. "General Zheng. Why do you speak so harshly, in the face of the big war, you still focus on the overall situation"

Zheng Sen said, "The overall situation is important? Why don't you listen to the commander of the king, Shi Lao, you have already made up with him, if the Qing army comes to attack the city, you must send troops out of the city to meet the enemy, and you can't just stick to the city wall. The city wall is not a natural danger, and it can be defended for a while. I can't keep it."

Last night's celebration banquet, Wang Lanping in the camp, convened the main generals of the champion army before Shi Kefa's Yangzhou city defense will make a discussion on the future war, set a policy, Wang Lanping means, Yangzhou City is the foundation of this battle, can not be lost, if the Qing army first take the city, the champion army will fight to the death to save, if the Qing army first take the champion army camp, Shi Kefa must not go out of the city to support, be careful of the enemy's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, as long as the Yangzhou army does not move, Kong Youde will never be defeated with Wang Lanping outside the city.

And Wang Lanping also suggested that no matter how many troops the Qing army has, as long as he comes to attack the city, he must attack the enemy outside the city, and he must not be attacked by human soldiers in the city, then it will appear passive, and no matter how much strength he has, he will not be able to exert it, not to mention that the artillery of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty in the Qing army is extremely sharp, and the feeling of being bombed every day in the city is enough to make the morale of the whole army completely dissipated in the shortest possible time, and there is no power to fight back.

But early this morning, Shi Kefa received a report from Tanmalai, saying that the 30,000 Qing troops were less than 20 miles away from the city, and as soon as he was nervous, he completely threw Wang Lanping's words outside the clouds, but did not send a single soldier out of the city to set up a formation, and once again ordered people to block the city gate with earth and stones, making a desperate defense that the enemy could not enter and did not want to go out.

Zheng Sen was very annoyed by this, so that the news of Yangzhou City and the camp of the champion army would be completely cut off, but he could not go out of the city without permission, because he did not receive Wang Lanping's order, and even if there was an order, he would not know.

Shi Kefa said, "General Zheng still has a prejudice against the old man, but the old man doesn't care, it's all to serve the court, it's just that the opinions of the war guards are different, and at the moment of the great enemy, you and I should still abandon the past suspicions and unanimously resist the enemy, what do you say, General Zheng"

Zheng Sen took a long breath, but the wound on his chest made him frown, "What else can I do, there are Qing troops outside the city, the west gate and the north gate are all besieged, and there are also small groups of Qing troops at the east gate and the south gate, and even the messenger has not been sent, so I can only fight with my back."

Xu Dingguo said, "General Zheng doesn't need to worry too much, each gate of this Yangzhou city is equipped with 30 cannons, 200 muskets, and the help of the Divine Fire Crow, it is difficult for the Qing army to approach the city wall."

Zheng Sen has also heard of Xu Dingguo, this person is a veteran, whether it is defending the city or field battles, he has experience in battle, and he is running Yangzhou's city defense, and it is expected that it will not be much worse.

This Xu Dingguo's mouth said that the Shenhuo flying crow is a firearm, made of bamboo strips and cloth as the material, made into a kind of big bird appearance, just like a big kite, but much more than a kite, but the power of this thing is not only with the help of the wind, mainly by its tail loading gunpowder push, set up at the head of the city, set the angle, according to the approximate distance to fly to fill the gunpowder, and then ignite the gunpowder lead, this thing soared into the sky, towards the direction of the set.

This thing is generally only used for water warfare, the crow is filled with a large amount of gunpowder inside, once it lands, it immediately causes a fire, used to burn the enemy's ships, and later with the update and iteration of gunpowder, this thing is also slowly used in the city defense, it is another sharp weapon for the Ming army to guard the city, the crow takes off from the city, falls into the enemy formation, the gunpowder burns out quickly, causing an explosion, and the sharp metal weapon filled inside bursts around, as long as the flight angle does not deviate, it is better than a cannon.

However, the only disadvantage of this thing is that it depends on the direction of the wind, and after the gunpowder pushes, the fire crow is easily affected by the wind direction and changes direction at any time, and may turn back to its position in a large circle in the air.

But there's no wind today, and the Divine Fire Crow can blow it up wherever it goes.

Zheng Sen said to Xu Dingguo, "Yes." I have heard of General Xu's ability, and I will definitely help in the future. Living and dying with the general"

Shi Kefa was overjoyed, and each looked at the two of them and said, "Yes, yes, the enemy is now, just like this, General Zheng, you have fought viciously with the thieves for a month." Tell me where the other side will attack first."

Zheng Sen said, "This was not expected. The biggest disadvantage of trapping the lonely city is that it is too passive, and the enemy can fight as much as he wants. What I'm most afraid of is that they're just besieging the city. If we don't attack at all, and only bombard the city with artillery, then we won't even have room to fight back, and how long can the strong walls last? Therefore, I still mean that, it is better to let my people go out of the city to meet the enemy, and disrupt his formation before the Qing army is fully assembled. Storm their artillery positions and slow down their siege. Then wait for the battle on the side of the commander Wang to end, and then break the enemy back and forth, which should be the best policy."

It is absolutely impossible for Shi Kefa to agree, the Huai'an army is now an important link in the defense of Yangzhou, in case it is surrounded by the Qing army after leaving the city, the consequences will be even more difficult to control.

Shi Kefa said, "General Zheng, my military order has been issued, don't mention the matter of attacking the enemy in the city, you only talk about the strengths that the Manchus rely on when fighting, although the old man is the governor of Yangzhou, he has never fought against the Manchus, and he is ashamed to say a word, I don't know the depths."

Shi Kefa depreciated his identity so much, Zheng Sen also felt a little uneasy, and arched his hand, "The superintendent is serious, he is young and vigorous in the next place, and he speaks more intensely, so let's do it, since the superintendent's intention does not change, then this north gate will be handed over to the last general, lose the north gate, and come to see you in the next place."

Helpless, Shi Kefa is an official who crushed people to death, even if Zheng Sen was unwilling to do so, disobedience on the battlefield was something that must not be done, but after he learned of Shi Kefa's strategy of fighting and defending, he immediately sent people to find an opportunity to go out of the city to see if he could send the news from the city to Wang Lanping.

Up and down the city, more than a mile apart, both sides are within the range of artillery, but no one preemptively opened the artillery, artillery is not a bow and crossbow, you can shoot repeatedly, this guy will not use it indiscriminately until the last resort, first, the barrel can not be used for a long time, and the continuous firing of more than ten cannons can stop the heat dissipation, otherwise it must be blown up, second, the projectile is limited, who knows how long this siege will last, this long-distance artillery bombardment, the lethality is too small, the artillery of this year is not a landing flowering bomb, A shot is just a big iron ball.

The main target of the artillery is not the soldiers, but the siege equipment of the opponent, without which no amount of soldiers will do anything to rush to the city.

It was nearly noon.

Two cavalrymen came from the Qing army's formation, stood by the moat, and shouted loudly at Shi Kefa and others on the city gate.

"The king of the south of the Qing Dynasty, persuade the Yangzhou guards, the eight banners of iron cavalry attack are all overcome, those who sacrifice the city will not die, those who dare to go against the sky, when the city is broken, the chickens and dogs will not stay"

Shi Kefa was furious when he heard this, "How dare the traitor and thief be Ming, no one is there, someone comes, and the arrow is killed, and the old man is not subject to the alliance under the city"

Suddenly, arrows rained down, and two Qing soldiers were shot into hedgehogs on the spot.

"Slow!" Zheng Sen hurriedly shouted, but unfortunately it was too late, "Hey, Inspector, why are you killing them?" ”

Shi Kefa said, "The old man, as the master of the Ming Dynasty, how can he be humiliated like this, so what if he kills him?" ”

Zheng Sen shook his head and sighed, "Supervisor, why bother with this kind of idleness, killing them will only prompt the enemy army to attack the city immediately, and there is no room for maneuver."

When Shi Kefa heard this, how could he feel that Zheng Sen had negative thoughts, so he said, "What, if I don't kill it, won't Ao Bai attack the city?" ”

Zheng Sen said, "No, but you can buy more time, so that Wang Dushuai has time to rescue."

Xu Dingguo on the side also felt that Shi Kefa's move was really not worth it, he was a dignified and high-quality official, but his mind was so small, and the outcome of Yangzhou was really unpredictable, but he couldn't be as blunt as Zheng Sen, he didn't have the champion army behind him.

Shi Kefa couldn't listen to others mentioning Wang Lanping in front of him, as if there would be no life without that kid in this world, so he waved his hand, "The old man is the boss, and he ordered all the guards to prepare to meet the enemy, and those who dare to take a step back will be killed."

After that, he took Xu Dingguo and Pegasus to the West Gate, which was Xu Dingguo's defense area.

Outside the city, Ao Bai saw that the messenger was killed by random arrows in the city, and couldn't help but smile, "The mantis arm is used as a car, and the order is given, ready to attack the city"

When he was young, hundreds of men, women, and children in tattered clothes were driven to the front of the battle from behind the battle by a group of Qing troops, crying and shouting again and again.

Ao Bai glanced at Yangzhou City, which was determined to win, and said lightly, "Beat the drums, attack the city!" ”

Knock knock!

The war drums of the army came from the Qing army's array, and then the war drums on the west gate also rose and joined together, it seemed that this Ao Bai was going to attack in two places at the same time.

Hearing the drums is a signal to march.

More than 2,000 soldiers of the Eight Banners carried the people captured from outside the city, pushed the ladder, broke the city cone, and walked towards the city wall.

Zheng Sen gritted his teeth and shouted, "The enemy army is coming!" (To be continued.) )