Shaoguan's urgency made Shen Youlong realize that he seemed to be too precautionary, and if he had allowed Australians to enter Guangzhou to stand by earlier, this situation would not have occurred.

Although the Australian Army is strong in combat, it is impossible to march quickly without modern means of transportation.

In order to let the third company's Wei Yan headquarters quickly arrive at Shaoguan for emergency relief, Shen Youlong also worked hard, and requisitioned carriages and horses from all over the way to help the marching army transport supplies.

In this way, after the expansion, the actual number of the third wing, which had reached one battalion, could not reach within three days, and even if it could arrive, it would not have any effect on the current situation of the battle, because the march was too tired to take part in the battle.

Even if the Australian Army has strong firepower as a backing, it does not dare to take too many risks, after all, the opponent has 150,000 men.

The total number of the third company is only about 500 people, and most of these 500 people are new recruits, and they have never even been on the battlefield.

Wei Yan is the supreme commander of the third company, even he has never been on the battlefield, what this battle means to him, and whether the third company can be justifiably expanded is of great significance.

Although this participation in the war was only to help Shen Youlong resist Zhang Xianzhong's attack, the Ministry of Defense and the Army Command had already regarded this as a test of his commanding ability, as well as his ability to adapt and command on the battlefield.

You must know that if a soldier is found to have no combat command ability, then the road to promotion will be completely hopeless for him, and the reason why He Yu is so favored is entirely because he can command operations well in every battle.

There are not many people who can have this ability, except for a few locals, even the garrison battalion, which is known as the strongest army in Australia, has not actually participated in actual battles.

Australia's army is small. But what is most lacking is combat practice, the kind of combat that captures the indigenous people in the homeland is not practiced at all, and the real combat effectiveness is still needed to go to Southeast Asia or the Ming battlefield.

This time is an opportunity for Wei Yan and the third company, an absolutely not small opportunity, if they successfully defeat Zhang Xianzhong, then their names will shock the Australian military circles. Defeat more than 100,000 people with a few hundred people. Such a battle victory can definitely go down in history.

In the face of such an honor, Wei Yan could not let it go, before setting off, he had already studied the situation of Zhang Xianzhong's army, and at least 1120,000 of the 150,000 people were non-combatants.

And the tens of thousands of troops that can fight are divided into various hills, basically fighting separately, and they do not pay attention to fighting, that is, they are the first to rush into the city, because only those who rush in first will capture the most booty.

To put it bluntly, these people are a bunch of robbers, not an army at all. To besiege a city is to rob the riches.

In order to support Shen Youlong, Liu Dongshui, who is the Minister of National Defense, has shipped nearly 200 coffee mill machine guns and 100 26-pounder guns from China.

Under the forced march, Wei Yan's troops finally arrived thirty miles away from Shaoguan City before dark. And set up camp for a short rest, and the five-day journey had exhausted many soldiers. It can be said that they hardly slept during these five days.

Whether it was dark or daylight, they were on the road, dividing into three shifts every day and driving in shifts to finally get here.

The main reason for resting here is not to cause the discovery of Zhang Xianzhong's troops, so as not to join the battle too early.

Thirty miles was a piece of cake for Wei Yan's troops, and it only took an hour to force a march to reach it.

The troops stopped to recuperate, while the fighting continued on the side of Shaoguan City. Zhang Xianzhong has been attacking the city for nearly seven days, and he has not been able to capture it, and there are cannon fodder dying every day, although he doesn't care about whether those cannon fodder are alive or dead, but there is no way to go on like this.

But judging by the last few battles. The opponent's stockpile of gunpowder should be running out, and the fact that the opponent has already begun to start fighting with weapons such as bows and arrows is enough to explain the situation. As long as you hold on for a few days, you will definitely be able to break through the city and march like Guangzhou.

Zhang Xianzhong already had his victory in his hands, thinking about how to enjoy and loot in Guangzhou, and at the same time hated the defenders in Shaoguan City, once he broke through the city, he must kill the people inside without leaving a piece of armor.

After several days of fighting, Zhang Xianzhong lost nearly 10,000 people, and such huge casualties must be counted on the defenders in Shaoguan City.

At five o'clock in the morning the next day, Wei Yan's troops marched in the dark, and after a night's rest, the troops had recovered a lot of combat effectiveness. He was going to give the other party a sneak attack, what kind of scene was it when a hundred 26-pounder cannons were fired at the same time, Wei Yan hadn't seen it yet, but it was sure that it must be very gorgeous.

The light of the fire after the explosion alone illuminated the dark night, and the loud explosion accompanied by the terrible sound of sweaty feet made people shudder.

The Australians came, and the way they came was a little special, and the defenders in Shaoguan City knew that only the old Australians could have such firepower to strike at the enemy.

That cannonball is money, although they also fired a lot of cannonballs in the early stage to stop the other party's attack, but their hearts are very painful, it is money.

The sudden attack made Zhang Xianzhong's battalion chaotic for a while, and he didn't know how to deal with the battle at all.

Zhang Xianzhong, who was holding the two beauties, was already dressed at this time, looking at the shells that kept falling into the camp, and helplessly said to the guards beside him, "Retreat, all retreat." ”

If you don't retreat here, you can only be blown up, and I originally thought that the gunpowder of the Ming army defending the city was not much left, and I waited until the day to fight, but I didn't expect the opponent's firepower to be fierce, and it almost made people a little unbearable.

Zhang Xianzhong did not give the order to retreat, and he must retreat to a safe place to investigate.

Judging from the power of the artillery fire, these people are not the defenders of the Ming Dynasty, at least not the Liangguang ones.

Being able to make such a judgment also shows that Zhang Xianzhong does have a certain strength, at least he has studied in this regard, otherwise he can't stir up the storm in the troubled times at the end of the Ming Dynasty, even if he retreats, he can give up the wealth of Guangzhou.

And Wei Yan showed a smile of relief on his face after a battle, this time the test for himself should have passed, and the expansion should be fine. (To be continued......)