Just when there was a terrible hand-to-hand battle at the head of Lu'an City, the artillery fire of the Chinese army in the rear also began to shift the muzzle, so as not to kill or injure the soldiers who were fighting with the Taiping army.

At the same time, a battalion of soldiers of the 7th Infantry Regiment had already put away their rifles and rushed to the head of the city, and like the soldiers of the Allied Defense Army, they were going to attack the enemy directly at the head of the city, and climb up to the head of the city to establish a solid position at the head of the city.

As for the other two infantry battalions, they continued to be under the city, suppressing the Taiping army at the head of the city.

When the soldiers of the Royal Army also rushed towards the head of the city like the soldiers of the Allied Defense Army, it also means that the Chinese army has invested the last strength in this siege battle, and if it cannot break through the enemy's defense at the head of the city, it will be a huge morale blow to the Chinese army.

In the past, the Royal Army rarely climbed the city wall directly to fight, at most it was to provide fire cover hundreds of meters outside the city wall.

Even in the first battle of Yangzhou, the Royal Army directly launched an attack, but it was also built on the Yangzhou city wall was blown out of the gap, and the attacking troops did not need to climb up to the top of the city for hand-to-hand combat, but used the most skilled line fire to attack the position of the gap, which was not too difficult.

Today, however, is different!

These Royal Army soldiers will climb the ladder to the top of the city, just like the soldiers of the Allied Defense Army, and use their bayonets to engage in the most brutal hand-to-hand combat with the Taiping enemy.

More than 600 people from a battalion belonging to the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Royal Army in front of them attacked the city, and then climbed the long ladder.

At this time. Many of the officers watching the battle in the rear were worried one by one, and every time they saw a soldier being smashed and falling down a long ladder. It's all about making their hearts tight.

It was not easy to climb to the top of the city, because the number of troops on the top of the city was scarce at the same time. In the face of the counterattack of the Taiping army, which had absolute superiority in strength, the royal army at the head of the city suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

Looking at the royal army soldiers who were constantly falling in front of him, a colonel took a deep breath and walked into Shi Qingxuan's side: "General, if you continue to fight like this, I'm afraid that the second battalion of the seventh regiment will be disabled!" ”

The implication is that he hopes that Shi Qingxuan will order the Seventh Regiment to retreat and avoid the current tragic casualties!

But Shi Qingxuan's face was grim, and he didn't answer his words, but said to the herald beside him: "Order the Seventh Regiment to let them not stay." Launch an all-out offensive now! ”

"Order the Eighth Regiment again, go forward two hundred meters, and provide fire cover for the Seventh Regiment!"

"Get the 9th Regiment ready to reinforce the front at any time!"

This time, Shi Qingxuan was determined to take Lu'an in one fell swoop, even if he paid a certain amount of casualties from the Royal Army.

War, how can there be immortals, even if the value of the soldiers of the Royal Army is much more expensive than the value of the soldiers of the Allied Defense Force, but when necessary, even the soldiers of the Royal Army need to fight to the death.

If you have been concerned about the casualties of the Royal Army. With only the 14th and 17th Auxiliary Defense Divisions, I am afraid that they will not be able to win Lu'an for several more months.

In this situation, it is no longer the time to consider casualties, and it is necessary to take Lu'an City in one go. Even if it costs a certain amount of money, it will not hesitate.

Otherwise, if it is defeated this time, the morale of the army will fall to the bottom, and there will be no hope of taking Lu'an City in the future. Even if you grind slowly in the future, you can take down Lu'an City, but when that time comes, you can grind Lu'an Cheng down. It is estimated that the northern Jiangsu side has already been fighting.

As a high-ranking general of the Empire, he is the only lieutenant general in the field army. Shi Qingxuan is very clear about the current situation of the empire, which now seems to be at war on all sides, and there are good news on all fronts, but the threat facing the Chinese empire has not decreased, but is getting bigger and bigger.

If a large number of main forces of the Qing army go south to counterattack, the Chinese army must reintegrate its forces and gather more troops to fight to the death with the Qing army, so as to win in one fell swoop, break the backbone of the Qing court, and lay the foundation for hegemony in Kyushu.

So he Shi Qingxuan can't continue to drag on Lu'an's side!

The other middle-level officers naturally understood Shi Qingxuan's worries and plans, but now they only saw the huge casualties on the front line, and it was difficult for them to sit still.

After this battle, even if Lu'an is won, the casualties of the Royal Army may be nearly a thousand, maybe the casualties of thousands of people in the battle of tens of thousands of people are nothing, but the meaning for the Royal Army is different.

Since the beginning of the Yongying era in Yuyao County, the Royal Army has encountered casualties in each battle, but it is as little as dozens or as three or five hundred, and the actual casualties are quite small, and when the previous attack on Yangzhou, the casualties of the Royal Army did not exceed 1,000.

Now look at the situation in the head of the city of Lu'an and the west of the city, one after another Royal Army soldiers have fallen, even if the casualties in this battle are not broken, but five or six hundred is certain, at least now the second battalion of the Seventh Infantry Regiment responsible for the battle in the city will be 100% finished.

Although the combat power of the Royal Army of the Chinese Army far exceeds that of the domestic monarchs, it is not a heavenly general, but their weapons are more advanced, and the formation and tactics are more advanced, but they are still human beings, and the soldiers will still die or be injured when they are hit by enemy bullets.

The greatest advantage of the Royal Army over other domestic armies is that although they are also suffering heavy casualties, they show no signs of collapse, not even the slightest panic.

It's as if not only the fallen comrades had nothing to do with them!

They crossed the corpses of their comrades, walked into the long ladder and climbed up with guns in one hand, and climbed up the escalator with one hand, and from time to time soldiers were hit by stones or bows and arrows, bullets and fell, but they did not retreat, and the soldiers behind still climbed up on their own!

Time passed minute by minute, and it didn't take long for the first Royal Army soldier to climb up to the top of the city, only to see that after he went to the top of the city, he saw four or five Taiping soldiers on the left and right in front of him, not screaming and screaming like those soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army, but directly put the Minnie rifle in his hand, directly pulled the trigger and fired the preloaded bullet, and a Taiping soldier who was rushing towards him three meters away fell in response.

Immediately afterwards, he did not load, but directly stabbed forward with the rifle that had been loaded with bayonets, and in an instant, another Taiping soldier fell.

At this time, although he was still expressionless, there was no joy after killing the enemy, and there was no fear when facing heavy encirclement, but the few Taiping soldiers on the opposite side looked at him, as if they could see a trace of ridicule in his expression, so that they couldn't step forward to launch a counterattack.

And just as they were stunned, two more soldiers of the Royal Army climbed up to the top of the city, only to see that they first fired the bullets from their rifles, and after each of them hit one person, they stood in a row with their bayonet rifles and the soldiers who were the first to go to the city.

As one Royal Army soldier after another climbed up the city, they formed a small horizontal formation and advanced on both sides.

As a large number of Royal Army soldiers poured into the city, the Taiping army also realized that something was wrong, and a large number of leaders began to drive the soldiers to launch a counterattack.

Wielding spears or steel knives, they rushed at the Chinese army one after another, and then fell under the bayonets of the Chinese army one by one.

As the battle continued, almost every minute with soldiers on both sides killed or wounded, and the soldiers of the Royal Army of the Chinese Army, with the cooperation of the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army, began to advance to the heads of the cities on both sides after stabilizing the positions at the head of the city, so as to open up the larger head of the city to receive more soldiers to enter the city.

The Taiping army resisted desperately, trying to fight back and drive them off the city!

In the small space at the head of the city, the soldiers on both sides were crowded, each fighting with bayonets, spears, and long knives and shields, and soldiers on both sides fell in every encounter.

Slowly, the city head of the fierce battle between the two sides was already covered with corpses, and the soldiers who climbed the city wall behind could hardly find a place to stay, and the blood of the dead and wounded stained the entire city head.

After the Seventh Infantry Regiment paid a lot of casualties, they finally took a section of the city wall of several hundred meters, and as long as this wall is used as a gap, where their own army can continue to reinforce it, so as to completely take Lu'an City.

So he ordered very quickly: "Let the Eighth Infantry Regiment also go up, and the Ninth Infantry Regiment is ready to attack!" ”

Unlike Shi Qingxuan, who was smiling, Chen Yucheng looked at the soldiers who were constantly retreating, closed his eyes and sighed deeply: "It's not that the soldiers don't need to die, but it's really unsustainable!" ”

In order to counterattack and recapture the occupied city, Chen Yucheng sent a large number of elite troops, and these troops could be regarded as fighting to the death, attacking one after another.

However, the Chinese army on the opposite side was too strong, and they occasionally fired shots, but more often they simply used bayonets to engage in hand-to-hand combat with their own side.

And this hand-to-hand combat between the two sides also made Chen Yucheng know a very important situation, that is, the Chinese army is not as bad at hand-to-hand combat as rumored, on the contrary, their hand-to-hand combat ability is more than the elite of the veterans under their hands.

Why, because the hand-to-hand combat training of the Chinese army is not just that the bayonet training is the same few tricks, it is basically stabbing and stabbing, but there are not as many tricks as swords and shields, and this simple and pure bayonet tactics training is actually very convenient.

And these soldiers of the Royal Army have generally been trained for many years, and they have a very good grasp of bayonets, while the soldiers of the Taiping Army on the opposite side are mainly sword and shield soldiers, long knife light infantry, pikemen and the like, and they must not have received professional training in anti-bayonets, so the Chinese soldiers have no reason to fail with a bayonet.

I can't fight from a distance, I can't beat hand-to-hand combat in close combat, plus the city has been occupied, things have come to this point, Chen Yucheng knows that Lu Ancheng, who has been holding on for more than two months, is going to lose it today! (To be continued......)