Anqing is located in the Jianghuai Plain in the key area, known as "the shield of Huaifu, the key to the Jiangjie", is the gateway to the south of the Yangtze River, an important town in ancient times, the Yangtze River in the south, the Huai River in the north, and the main road that controls the south to the north. Because it is an important stronghold of Caoyun, in addition to the six city gates of Anqing, there are also large-scale water gates in all directions. One is to provide convenience for water transportation, and the other is to discharge sewage in the city, and it is only used to open the waterway in case of flooding.

The largest of these is the Zhenhai Gate to the south. Due to its proximity to the Yangtze River, the Caoyun Wharf is located outside the city gate, and in order to facilitate the entry and exit of ships, it is equipped with a huge water gate. This water gate is called "Anyuan", there are three three holes, each hole is about one zhang high, about five feet wide, and the depth is up to more than 20 steps, the Yangtze River water is opened by a ditch on weekdays, and the small boats or small ships below the hundred materials will enter and exit the city from here.

After the Qing army approached, Huang Gongfu lowered the sluice gate, completely blocking the entry and exit of the water gate, and preventing the Qing soldiers from entering Anqing City.

The sluice is divided into two sections, one is an iron sluice, which is raised and lowered by a winch gate, and the other is a temporary addition, which is a heavy stone wall. This is the breakthrough point that Shang Kexi said.

After the Battle of Songshan, Huang Taiji was amazed by the firepower of the Denglai Sailors, and began to build Manchurian sailors. However, the Manchurians were limited to their own cavalry and archery, and the establishment of the sailor was not taken seriously in the Eight Banners. At the same time, because the time and funds spent on establishing the sailor division were indeed too long and huge, therefore, since the establishment of the Yizhou sailor division of the Qing army, it only added some rushing ships, patrol ships and multiple sentry ships. For the defense of the coastal zone, it is actually not beneficial.

After Yizhou was captured by the Ming army, the Yizhou naval division withdrew to the line of Ningyuan and was in a state of idleness.

When the calendar was responsible for preparing for the establishment of the water division, it was Shang Kexi. Shang Kexi before surrendering to the Qing army. He was a subordinate of Mao Wenlong, the chief soldier of Phi Island, who served as the deputy general of Guangludao, and had a lot of research on sailors and firearms, and was also one of the few figures in the Qing army who advocated vigorously developing sailors. However, due to the resistance within the Eight Banners, the sailor did not gain the approval of Dolgon and the others as Shang Kexi expected. Until now. The sailors composed of more than 100 ships under his command only served as a grain transportation team for the Qing army.

Therefore, Shang Kexi is also angry about this matter, and desperately hopes to prove the importance of the sailor with a big victory. For Anqing, he also worked hard to study. Within the Zhenhai Gate is the Xizhengfang City of Anqing, which is a well-known tea and rice trading market in Anqing City, where the houses are stacked, the roads are narrow, and there are many industries of the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River, which has always been the three regardless of the area in the city defense of Anqing. It is also the most scarce place to have troops. That is to say, as long as you open the water gate, you can drive straight into it and take the whole of Anqing.

Shang Kexi's Jianyì was allowed by Bolo. Wu Sangui wanted to remind one or two, after all, Huang Gongfu is also a famous veteran in the Ming Dynasty, although his official position has not been prominent, but he is a successful example of a civilian official turned a military general, and it is natural to be proficient in military affairs. Anqing's urban defense should not be unguarded against such omissions.

But look at the current battle situation, as well as the eagerness of Bolo and others to take Anqing and approach Nanjing in one go. Wu Sangui swallowed back when the words came to his mouth.

Shang Kexi gave an order, and the Qing army's sailors gathered from the Yangtze River channel to the river outside the water gate. He himself boarded the largest of them, and stood atop the tower to personally direct the battle.

Although the ships of the Qing Army's naval divisions were all medium-sized and small ships, they were uniformly equipped with bronze guns ranging from 50 to 500 catties. The river outside the water gate of Zhenhai Gate is narrow, but it is only about two zhang. The ships of the Qing army's naval division could only send a long snake formation to attack forward.

As expected, the Ming army at Zhenhaimen was still the same, bombarding the artillery at the head of the city from afar, and shooting with bows and arrows and firearms when approaching the city gate, but the power and density were far less fierce than those encountered at Kangjimen and Jixianmen. As you can imagine. The water gate was sealed, and the Zhenhai Gate had nowhere to attack and enter, so the Ming army neglected a lot of defense here, after all, Huang Gongfu only had 20,000 remnants in his hands, and he could not take out sufficient troops to defend the six city gates.

Now it seems that this Zhenhaimen is indeed the weakness of the Ming army.

But at present, the emphasis is on the word "fast", and the battle must be ended before the Ming army sends troops to reinforce Zhenhaimen. If Huang Gongfu found out that the Qing army's sailors had appeared and made adjustments in time, it would be worth the loss.

Therefore, Shang Kexi deliberately let the infantry attack once during the day, to find out the firepower configuration and general understanding of the Qingming army, and the main attack was selected between the dark night, taking advantage of the cold winter night when the moon was dark and the wind was high, the Qing warships slowly approached the water gate.

About 300 paces away from the water gate, the outpost ships of the Qing army touched the fishing nets laid in advance by the Ming army on the river, and the fishing nets were hung with bells.

"The Tartars are up!" The Ming army at the head of the city exclaimed, followed by a ping-pong firearm bombardment.

For such a situation, Shang Kexi was also prepared, and more than ten ships at the outpost immediately began to suppress the fire on the city, and the roar of dozens of Franc machine artillery suddenly made the Ming army on the city head cry bitter and dumb.

At this moment, eight small sampans suddenly came out of the cracks of the big ship, and the target was the water gate sealed by stone slabs outside the Zhenhai Gate. The sampan was loaded with a large amount of gunpowder, and with the dead soldiers of the two sailors, Shang Kexi's intention was to use these ships loaded with gunpowder to blow up the sealed water gate, and the remaining iron gate was not to worry, and then use the ships to carry a large number of foot soldiers into the Zhenhai Gate, and Anqing would have it at his fingertips.

But the Ming army was not defenseless, and when the eight sampans of the Qing army were about to approach Shimen, the Qing army on the ship exclaimed, "There is fire oil on the water!" ”

Shang Kexi was stunned, but then ordered his subordinates to continue to advance with the golden drum. At the same time, the Ming soldiers began to drop the lit torches from the top of the city, and the water was instantly a sea of fire.

In an instant, eight sampans were already ignited, and the gunpowder exploded, leaving the entire water with a little fire. Shang Kexi's heart was in his throat, and as soon as he turned around, he snatched the drumsticks of the drummer next to him, and beat them hard, urging the dead soldiers in front of him to continue to move forward.

But the smoke and fire blocked the front of him, and although Shang Kexi was anxious, he couldn't see what the situation was in front of. But as the light of the fire gradually weakened, the sound in front of him became smaller and smaller, and Shang Kexi's heart sank to the bottom.

But suddenly, there was a sudden loud bang at the water gate in front of him. Shang Kexi and the Qing soldiers of the water division were suddenly in good spirits, and they all looked up and looked forward, the firelight was blown away by the wind, and it was vaguely seen that the water gate sealed by the stone slab had revealed a huge gap.

Shang Kexi almost jumped up excitedly, and the man in his forties seemed to have returned to his youth all of a sudden, and waved his arm powerfully, "All the troops go forward and enter Anqing!" ”

The pro-soldiers beside him also wanted to persuade Shang Kexi not to take risks lightly, but at this time, Shang Kexi didn't care about these at all. The princes of the Han Eight Banners now sound good, but in fact, they are just domestic slaves of the Manchurians. As Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, who had defected to Huang Taiji at the beginning, are now obviously not as reliable as Wu Sangui under the command of Dolgon. I heard that there was also news from the center, saying that in order to unify the north and the south as much as possible, the Qing court intended to divide the Han kings, and divide the southwestern and southeastern provinces as fiefs to the Han kings, so as to inspire everyone to fight bravely and end the unification war. At this time, how can Shang Kexi not be moved, it is for the sake of future generations to seek a foundation, but also to take the lead and make immortal achievements!

All the light ships in the Qing army's naval division rushed to this water gate, and the slightly larger ships behind kept bombarding the city with artillery to suppress the Ming army's counterattack. But after the water gate was blown open, the Ming army at the head of the city obviously no longer had the will to fight, and the strength of the counterattack was much weaker than just now.

Thousands of Qing troops swarmed into the water gate, hurriedly twisted the iron gate, and marched towards Anqing City again. The ship cleaved the waves, and even didn't care about the fire on the water, breaking through the fragments of the lever sampan, howling and killing into the Zhenhai Gate.

Entering Zhenhaimen is still a wide waterway, Shang Kexi also has a guide to find around, this is the grain transportation road used for Cao Yun, but it has already become a transportation channel for the rich and wealthy families in the city, the entire waterway seems to be crowded, full of all kinds of boats, and the entire channel is almost blocked.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of shops on both sides of the waterway, but there is no human population for a long time, and you can still hear the shouts of the Ming army around you, obviously seeing the Qing army entering the city, it has been chaotic without a fight.

Shang Kexi's heart finally relaxed, first entered the important town of Anqing, and succeeded in the first battle, this great merit will be able to establish his position in the Qing army.

But a timid voice suddenly came from beside him, "Lord Wang, it's not right!" The guide opened his mouth with some suspicion.

"What's wrong?" Shang Kexi asked indifferently.

"Why does the villain think that the Xizheng Fang in this Zhenhai Gate has changed!" The guide kept looking around. "Lord Wang, please see, there seems to be a high wall behind this shop, but there was no such thing before! The villain has been in and out of Anqing City many times, and he has never seen it! ”

Shang Kexi's heart moved, and he immediately ordered the Qing army to throw torches at the fang markets on both sides, and the wooden buildings were immediately ignited. The fire is dazzling, the guide is right, behind the Fang market in the distance, there is indeed a high wall stored in zài.

"Lord Wang, please forgive me for my short-sightedness, but it seems that this Fang City has been transformed into an urn city!"

"Urn City!" Shang Kexi's heart seemed to be lit by a torch in an instant, and these two words made him suddenly break out in a cold sweat. (To be continued......)