Standing on the tower of Guide Gate City, looking at the entire city of Guangzhou, black smoke curls into the sky, gray fog is shrouded in the ground, I don't know what the scene was last night.

"Stranded? It's a self-defeating ......."

Li Shi shook his head and sighed.

Last night, there was the impact of Han Zaixing's "merchant army", learning from Li Shi's soldiers to release a platoon of guns, and there were bribes from An Jinzhi and others, each guerrilla was 1,000 taels of silver, and the guerrillas of the three battalions of the Guangdong left-wing town mark guarding the southern city, that is, the Dongguan town mark, thought that Li Shi's soldiers had entered the city, and the general trend had gone, so they got the silver again, and ran away with all their subordinates.

He Tenglin, the commander-in-chief of the left-wing town, did not come to Guangzhou, and only half of the left, center, and right battalions brought by the three guerrillas came, and the total number was less than 1,000. The reason why he didn't come with all the troops was also very simple, Guan Yuan was loyal to him, and only let half of the people come to help defend the southern city.

There is an example of Shaozhou Town, of course Guan Yuanzhong can't trust the green camp. Not only can't he trust Zuoyi Town, but even Chang Tong, the deputy general of the Guangzhou City Guard Association, can't be trusted. Although these two officers with troops were banner men like Bai Daolong in Shaozhen, their soldiers had close contacts with Li Shi's industry and could not be relied on at all. That is, Zhang Wenhuan's reorganized bidding, and Yang Lin's supervision in Zhaoqing can still be relied on. These two places are close to 10,000 people, if they can arrive before Li Shi breaks the city, and he can lead 6,000 or 7,000 people with his banner soldiers, he may not be able to defeat Li Shi under the city.

Guan Yuanzhong's prediction was very correct, not only did the left wing town run, but most of the city defense association was scattered, Chang Tong took the remnants of the two or three hundred soldiers to retreat to his own co-ordination, and the staff leader who was guarding with the flag soldiers felt that it was difficult to support the soldiers alone, so he had to flee back to the flag man area.

This was not the same as the Qing army's attack on Guangzhou sixty years ago, when the enemy was the most obvious enemy, and at this time Li Shi's power was everywhere in the city, especially the merchants and the patrolmen of Nanhai County. The ordinary people in Guangzhou City did not think that Li Xi was an enemy, and Li Xi was against the imperial court, and he would not kill them.

But Guan Yuanzhong and the banner people are different, they eat the hardcore crops of the Qing court, so they can only be tied to the Qing court.

Li Xi learned that the military standard attacked the general's yamen, and deliberately asked Shang Jun to stop it, and ordered them to retreat to the south of Xicheng, this order was issued in a timely manner, the military standard was hastily organized, and it was late at night, it was impossible to capture the general's yamen, and if they did not retreat early, a large number of banner soldiers were going to wrap their dumplings, and then sealed the Guide Gate to the south, and then regained control of the Taiping Gate.

At dawn, Li Xian set foot on the Guide Gate, which belonged to him, and asked the prisoners to bring letters. The letter said, Lao Guan, I think we have an acquaintance, give you and the banner people a way to live, as long as you quit Guangzhou City, I won't embarrass you. But Guan Yuanzhong was always silent, and the bannermen blocked the streets and alleys of the bannerman area with horse-drawn carriages and bricks, putting on a posture of guarding the city.

The structure of Guangzhou's city is somewhat unique, the Song Dynasty has three cities, the east and the west, and the Ming Dynasty opened up the three cities, expanded the north and east of the Song city, and built the south city at the same time. However, when the southern city was repaired, the southern wall of the Song city was retained. Qing Shunzhi from the south of the east and west to build two more city walls until the Pearl River, called chicken wing city, strictly speaking, Guangzhou city from south to north has three layers.

The south city that is passed by the Taiping Gate is only the commercial area of Guangzhou City, which is a bit similar to the meaning of the town of the city, but the area of the south city is not large, and the north city is still the main body.

Originally, Guan Yuanzhong wanted to defend even the southern city, but not only did he have too few credible soldiers, but Li Xian's internal response was too powerful. Not to mention the loss of the Taiping Gate, the Guide Gate in the southwest of the North City was not controlled, so it had to retreat back to the Qiren District.

Beicheng is the so-called old city, the flag area is in the northwest corner, the whole area, the southeast is the Guangzhou General's Mansion, the northwest is the Guangxiao Temple, now Guan Yuanzhong has withdrawn all the flag people to the north of Huiai West Street, tens of thousands of people are crowded in the narrow area between the general's mansion and the Guangxiao Temple, want to delay time by the high wall barricades, there is not only the flag armory, but also the flag warehouse, to grain rice and rice, to have knives and guns.

Guan Yuanzhong didn't leave, and Li Xi felt a little tricky. Counting the new soldiers, he only had seven or eight thousand men under him, and he threw himself into street battles, fighting against the banner soldiers who still had a strong will to fight, and even if he could win, the losses would be very large. There are still many stubborn Manchu officials in the city of Guangzhou who are organizing their men to resist stubbornly, and Yang Lin in the west and Zhang Wenhuan in the east will definitely come to help, and they will arrive within three days at the latest. When the time comes, before the banner man is resolved, he will have to be attacked on three sides, which should be the basis for Guan Yuanzhong to be trapped in a corner.

"The banner man is holding on to the state of mourning soldiers, I'm afraid it's a little troublesome."

Fan Jin personally went to the front line to observe the enemy's situation, and the result made him frown, his worries were both public and private, and Li Shi understood.

"If you can't learn Lao Mei's precision strikes, use Maozi's chengguan tactics."

Li Shi set a strategy, understanding is understanding, the war is together, the casualties are incalculable, Fan Jin listened to Li Shi's arrangement, without a trace of hesitation, and followed Jia Hao and Wu Ya to organize manpower.

The flower tower of the Six Banyan Temple, Guan Xiaoyu looked from the top floor, the gray and heavy fog covered the south, Li Shi's soldiers should come from the fog, and Fan Jin would also come. Looking back at the beams and pillars in the tower, Guan Xiaoyu found a suitable position, hanging a position that could allow others to see his face clearly, and when Fan Jin saw it, he should be sad, with this hope, it seems that death is not terrible...... From under the tower, the harrier shouted, "Women are up too!" We are not Han Chinese! Li Shi wants to occupy the city of Guangzhou, and we all have to die! Not a single one left! If you want to live, fight for your life! ”

The tone of Ma Harrier's shouting, Guan Xiaoyu on the tower could imagine his gritted teeth and fierce face.

The sound of gunfire drifted from far south and the battle began.

At this moment, not only the wooden fence blocks the street, but also piles up horse-blocking carriages that refuse horses and tiles and even remove wheels, building a very primitive barricade.

Behind a barricade, one or two hundred flag soldiers were red-eyed, bowed down, nervously observing the other side of the street through the gap, they had not closed their eyes all night, killing Han people in the first half of the night, and moving things to build barricades in the second half of the night. The thrill of killing and the fear of being killed mixed together made them extremely excited, and now that the enemy appeared, they forgot their fatigue.

Zuo Ling Guizhen is still motivating his subordinates: "Although the muskets of the thief army are powerful, there are few people, and they are only good at long-distance battles. In the first battle of Shaozhou, Hunan teenager Yue Zhongqi almost took advantage of this to defeat Li Shi! ”

He was also convinced of his words, "Although our Han Army Banner is not as good as the Full Banner, hand-to-hand combat is still stronger than these Southern Barbarians!" What's more, this is a street and alley, and the thieves can't gather guns, and bows and arrows are better than muskets. Our women are all in battle, and the thief army is not as many as us, so it should be easy to wait for reinforcements to come for two or three days! ”

His subordinates echoed the chorus, and they were all resentful in their hearts, if it weren't for those damn Han ghosts, how could the gates of the southern city and the old city be lost!

"It's coming!"

Someone screamed hoarsely, and a group of "blue jackets" poured out of the shadows of the street opposite.

There was a loud bang, more than a dozen archers opened their bows and arrows, got up and shot sharply, just popped up, a few gunshots rang out from the left and right, and several people's heads exploded, all of them had a gun hole on their foreheads and faces, a big hole in the back of their heads, and their brains squirted out with eyeballs.

"Sharpshooter! Damn it! Lie on the roof! ”

Everyone was drenched in this burst of bloody slurry, and those who knew the details screamed.

"Wait for the thieves to rush forward before they move!"

Gui Zhen wiped away the red and white sticky things on his face, wanted to vomit but couldn't, and numbly gave orders.

The expected crowd did not arrive, but only a few heavy footsteps approached, and the bannermen were confused when they looked through the cracks in the barricades. Then he saw three lonely figures with rattan signs approaching, and did not stop until they were less than twenty paces away.

"What is this for? Scolding? ”

Gui Zhen frowned, ready to greet his shotgunner, the rattan can block the arrow, but he can't stop the shotgun, he also has a mountain splitting cannon in this barricade, and he is confident that he can control anything.

Then what they saw was beyond all expectations, and after the three men stood still, they lit the flint, and they could see the little sparks that jumped up, and then the three of them strode sideways, and their arms were suddenly raised.

No one paid attention to what they had thrown out, and their attention was attracted by the revealed figures of these three people, the silver iron armor reflected the cold morning light, and these three people were wearing heavy armor similar to that of foreigners from head to toe!

The crisp sound of the bell behind him drew the attention of Gui Zhen and the others back, and a flag soldier also screamed, he was hit by something.

"Are these guys trying to throw rocks at people......

The banner soldier looked at the black mass of things under his feet, covered his head and muttered.

"Stone...... Not good! Hide! ”

Gui Zhen's eyes were straight, many survivors of the first battle of Shaozhou fled to Guangzhou, he heard these people talk about the strength of the thief army, one of them said...... Before the details could be extracted from the memory, he subconsciously shouted, boom boom three times, and the space where Gui Zhen and the group of flag soldiers were located was torn apart by the storm made of steel and gunpowder.

Hundreds of pieces of cast iron exploded, and the two hundred or so people behind the barricade, even if they didn't receive shrapnel, were shocked by the shock wave.

"Kill those three!"

Ignoring the wounded soldiers who were howling miserably, Gui Zhen howled, and then ignored the sharpshooter on the roof in front of him, and asked his subordinates to release arrows and guns, and those three people threw another wave of explosive mines, just let them lose it like this, let alone two hundred, two thousand people will be finished!

This time, everyone had experience, and the explosive thunder that fell next to him kicked away, and then immediately fell to the ground, and finally there were not many casualties. The three ironclad men on the opposite side were washed away by a wave of bows and arrows and muskets, one fell to the ground, and the other two dragged him back.

"Finally repellent......"

Gui Zhen took a breath, but looked at the corpses and wounded in one place, this was caused by three people, and he couldn't help but feel sad and bitter, and his previous full self-confidence also began to leak rapidly.

The sharpshooters began to exert their power again, and the bannermen were fired a few more people, and they were so frightened that they clung to the barricades, not daring to move for half a minute.

"Hold it down, let's get started."

On the opposite side of the barricade, Cai Fei looked at the extent of the damage to the iron armor on the three grenadiers, and waved his hand to give the order, and a twelve-pound cannon was pushed out of the rear street, forty or fifty steps away, straight at the barricade in front.

"Cannon!"

"Artillery!"

"General Cannon!?"

Behind the barricade, Gui Zhen and his subordinates' eyes also bulged high as if they had been blasted out by sharpshooters.

"Shameless! Vile! ”

Gui Zhen was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, he was too bullying, and dragged the cannon to the city to bombard people, when had you ever heard of such a thing!?

"Bow and arrow! Cannon! Hit it! ”

Gui Zhen was so anxious that he shouted repeatedly, but even he didn't dare to move, and the others were even more frightened by the sharpshooters and the throwing thunder, and they didn't dare to raise their heads and move a little, just hoping that the thieves would rush up and fight hand-to-hand.

"Withdraw! Enter the left and right rooms! ”

Gui Zhen is very decisive, the city wall can't stand the bombardment, this barricade is hopeless.

He took the lead, and after the others fought, the crowd just dispersed left and right, and the thud followed by the loud bang almost simultaneously entered the ears, and then the heavens and the earth were turned upside down.

Looking at the figures and broken bricks and wood chips flying in the sky, Cai Fei followed his subordinates and smiled, the general secretary ...... No, the king of heaven is really a god, the sharpshooters and grenadiers suppress, the twelve-pound cannon is close to bombardment, what barricade can stop it?

"Don't move!"

Seeing that his subordinates were about to rush forward, Cai Fei stopped drinking.

"Cover left and right, push the cannon to the side of those barracks, and strive to dismantle a row of cannons!"

Cai Fei emphasized the tactics that Fan Jin and Zhang Hanwan explained layer by layer.

"In today's battle, artillery is the protagonist, and the task of our infantry is to protect artillery."

At the same time, at several other street corners, the winged sentry commanders looked at the barricades that flew into the sky, and they all explained to their subordinates like this.

"They're going to shrink in? Then use artillery bombardment, row by row to demolish houses! The old city renovation project was done ahead of schedule, killing two birds with one stone! ”

This is the urban management tactics that Li Shi explained to Fan Jin, first suppress the opponent's infantry, and then push the cannon to the front and bombard, not to mention the barricades, most of the banner people are long barracks erected by rammed earth walls, aimed at the side, one cannon is a row, and there are as many dead as you hide inside.

Looking from the distance of the flower tower, the cannon roared, and the smoke and dust were everywhere, but he didn't hear much shouting and killing, and Guan Yuanzhong was not at all steady. At least twenty or thirty cannons were roaring one after another, and the originally anticipated plan seemed to have come to naught in the face of such a fierce cannonball.

"My lord! It's so miserable...... Hundreds of our brothers retreated into the barracks, trying to flank the thieves as they rushed through the streets, but unexpectedly, they ...... Unexpectedly, the side wall hit with a shot, straight through the entire barracks, hundreds of people ...... Hundreds of people were either smashed to powder by shells or crushed to death by collapsed roof tiles and wall pillars! Oh my lord! ”

Ma Harrier was ordered to go to the front line to observe, but was pulled by a retreating leader, and when he looked at it, it turned out to be Gui Zhen, a brave general in the battalion, with a red and white face at the moment, and his eyes almost rolled white, so he shouted incoherently, obviously frightened, and couldn't help but smoke coldly.

There was another bang in the distance, as if a large row of houses had collapsed, and a large group of flag men were rushing to the sky, and the horse harrier's heart sank.

"Gather elite soldiers and retreat to the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, maybe there will be a chance to ......"

Ma Harrier secretly made a decision, the Six Banyan Temple not only has a flower tower, but also a flag warehouse nearby, gathering enough manpower, no longer affected by the old and weak women and children and the brave rout.

"What are we going to do? Horse collar urging!? ”

Gui Zhen hugged Ma Harrier's leg and shouted.

"If you don't want to die, let others die! If you have a little guts, you should rush out and kill! ”

Ma Harrier kicked Gui Zhen away, spat disdainfully, and turned straight away.

"Good...... Good...... I'll die in front of you, and I'll die for you old men! ”

Gui Zhen shouted hatefully, turned around and rushed into the smoke and dust, stopping the fleeing banner men.

(To be continued)