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The shelling of the Mawei Army continued, that is, the eastern gate of the city was subjected to the shelling of the Mawei Army. One hundred and twenty cannons spewed out tongues of fire and roared in succession, and the cannonballs were ruthlessly fired at the city walls, towers, and gates of Tianjin. After seven or eight rounds of continuous bombardment, the city wall was the most hit, and the city wall near the strong city gate on the edge of the Haihe River was densely packed with dozens of uneven pits, and the cracks on the city wall were as dense as a spider's web. It's no wonder that just this part of the city tower is the key part of the artillery fire, and it is really strange that at least 300 shells have been withstood during this period, and there is no reaction at all!

The city tower above the east gate was also shelled fifty or sixty times, the walls were cracked into more than a dozen large holes, the roof had collapsed more than half, and the rooms in the city tower were even more in disarray, and nearly 100 soldiers defending the city had died. The defenders in Tianjin didn't dare to stand on the city tower at this time, and they retreated to both sides, and even Fan Zhenlang, the chief military officer of Tianjin, who commanded the battle, retreated to the side, and the entire city tower was almost undefended.

Fan Zhenlang coordinated the arrangements of the defenders in the entire city, and the soldiers under the command of the patrol imperial history were also ordered by Jie Shu to be placed under his command, and he Fan Zhenlang was temporarily under his command. However, the total number of soldiers and horses in the city is only 16,000 people, but looking at the Mawei army outside the city that has surrounded Tianjin City, the number is definitely not less than them, and it is roughly estimated that there are about 20,000 people. The enemy army had 20,000 and they had only 16,000. Weaker in terms of troops. But they were the defenders. Sun Tzu's Art of War has clouds: ten rules to surround it. Five will attack, the doubling will fight, the enemy can divide it, less can defend it, and if it is not, it can be avoided, so the shape has not yet reached an irreparable situation.

According to common sense, their strength was not much less than that of the Mawei Army, and they were still the defenders of the city. Therefore, as long as there is enough food and grass in the city, it is easy to resist the enemy army for ten days and half a month. The location of Tianjin is very important, although the Qing court has only increased its defense facilities since the beginning of last year, but this Tianjin is where a garrison is located, and more importantly, Tianjin is a waterway wharf, and grain from all over the country has also been hit here, so the food and equipment in the city are enough to pay for three months, but there is no need to worry about this problem.

Fan Zhenlang really didn't worry about this problem, no matter what. The enemy attacked the city, and he just defended it with all his heart. As long as it is held for three days, the imperial army, that is, the reinforcements from the capital, will inevitably be able to go outside Tianjin. At that time, he will lead his army out of the city, flank the reinforcements from the capital, and finally join forces to completely defeat the enemy. It's just that the wish is beautiful, but the reality is so cruel. Fan Zhenlang didn't expect the artillery fire of the Mawei Army to be so fierce at all, and for half an hour, the artillery fire of the Mawei Army did not stop. The defenders on this side of the East City Gate will never be replaced after the second wave, and they will also look for death when they go up. In just half an hour, the soldiers under his command had suffered more than 1,500 casualties, and whether they were wounded or killed, it was impossible for them to continue to participate in the battle.

The Mawei artillery did not focus on the city gate section, the focus was on killing and injuring the defenders on the head, but in this way, the city gate was also hit dozens of times. The city gate was invisible at the moment, and after withstanding more than a dozen shells, the city gate could no longer hold on, and was completely shattered. Later, there were more than a dozen flowering bombs in the city gate hole, and at this moment, it was not easy to find a palm-sized fragment of the city gate in the city gate hole, and a dozen flowering bombs blew the wooden city gate apart, which was basically the end of the fragments.

However, the city gate was broken, and the Qing army was also panicked, how long did it take for the city gate to be breached, so many enemy troops could quickly kill in the city? There are already more enemy troops than them, and now it's a lot of over! The Qing soldiers panicked but did not affect Fan Zhenlang, Fan Zhenlang hurriedly ordered someone to push the Saimen knife cart over to block the east gate, and at the same time ordered the soldiers to demolish the nearby houses and take large pieces of masonry to block the city gate. The Mawei army was not ready to start attacking the city at this time, and they didn't care about these Qing troops blocking the gate with bricks and stones.

Prince Kang Jieshu, who arrived later, also learned the news that the city gate was blown up, and suddenly his legs and stomach were weak and he was about to fall, but fortunately, the subordinates around him reacted quickly, otherwise he would really be ugly. "Chief Fan, what's going on, how can the city gate be broken?"

"Lord Wang, just look at it yourself. The enemy's cannon is too sharp, and the cannon is simply powerful, and it is no exaggeration to say that this thing is the strongest and best siege weapon in the world! The city gate was blown up with holes, and the gate tower also collapsed, and the city gate could not withstand the bombardment of the shells at all, and exploded with a bang. However, his subordinates have already ordered people to hurry up and block the east gate, and the Mawei army will not be able to enter for a while. Fan Zhenlang pointed to the city gate not far away and said bitterly.

Jieshu also discovered the situation on this side of the city gate, and then "pedaled" to a four-story restaurant about 100 meters away from the city gate tower. From the clairvoyant mirror, Jie Shu saw the dozens of horsetail warships in the Haihe River in the distance, the cannons on them were still swallowing fire snakes, and one shell after another continued to pour down towards the city wall. Although the scale of the guns fired by these warships cannot be compared with the previous time at Dagukou, the scene of more than 100 cannons firing in a salvo is also quite shocking. Look at the gate tower of the east gate and the nearby city wall, it has been destroyed and does not look like it, and I don't know how long it can last. At this point, he could be regarded as realizing the huge difference between the Age of Firearms and the Iron Age.

As far as the current situation is concerned, it seems that it is only a matter of time before the city wall near the east gate is blown down, so the army in their city must also deal with it, otherwise it will be too late for Michel stationery to come in at that time!

"What now? If this continues, the wall will fall down in an hour, and when the Mawei army enters the city, won't we be finished? Jie Shu said anxiously, he couldn't help but be in a hurry at the moment, according to the current situation, they couldn't win this battle. Not to mention anything else, even this continuous artillery fire has greatly reduced the morale of more than 10,000 Qing troops, how can the troops with insufficient morale talk about victory?

"For the sake of the present. There are only two paths to take. First, the whole army went out of the city. Fight a counterattack by the Mawei Army, and if you fight well, you may be able to fight a beautiful battle. The second way is to break through from the north gate, and after the army breaks through, it goes straight to the capital. Fan Zhenlang said with a gloomy face.

"No, you must not abandon the city and flee. The imperial army must be rushing here at this moment, as long as we can hold on for two or three days, the Mawei army will be helpless against us. ”

"But there will be one more hour at most. This east gate will be the first to be broken, and when the horsetail army will attack the city, the army will be completely demoralized, how to resist? What about defending the city? Lord, when you are constantly interrupted, you will suffer from its chaos! Fan Zhenlang also shouted anxiously.

"Then counterattack, the whole army will launch a counterattack from all gates at the same time, and beat back the army of the Mawei Army besieging the city." Jieshu finally made up his mind and said.

"Lord Wang, the horsetail army of the other gates is just besieging the city. There was no large-scale offensive. So far, the Mawei warships, mainly on the east gate, have been firing. A few other doors outside. The Mawei rebels were shooting at the city with their muskets, and many brothers were killed and wounded by the rebels' muskets. Fan Zhenlang explained.

"No matter what, let's start to transfer troops, and if we don't do anything, I'm afraid we really won't be able to hold this Tianjin City!"

As Fan Zhenlang told Jieshu, at this moment, the life of the defenders on the city walls of Tianjin City is not easy, and the siege troops of the Mawei Army did not stay outside the city so honestly and did not move, but used rifles to shoot the Qing defenders on the city wall not far from the city wall.

"Take the squadron as a unit, disperse, three squadrons attack a city gate, if the enemy army goes out of the city, you will retreat, and if you don't go out of the city, you will snipe the Qing army at the head of the city! The other troops will stay where they are and stand by at any time, as long as the Qing army dares to take the lead out of the city, the whole army will immediately press on and destroy the enemy! ”

"Yes!"

At the beginning, Zeng Yangxing's order was this, and he didn't come for a long time, and this time he was able to lead the army north, which could be regarded as returning his wish.

"Bang Bang Bang"

"Bang Bang Bang"

"Bang Bang Bang"

It took only three minutes for the order to be delivered, and the troops that had been assembled outside Tianjin City were divided into squadrons to press up, and the gunfire soon rang out outside the city gates. Of course, the gates of this place had already been firmly closed, and the soldiers of the Mawei Army could not enter, but they were ordered to shoot outside. The soldiers who went north this time were all elite, and the thousands of squadrons were also the best, the most elite group of fighters.

At this moment, the three army squadrons outside each city gate, that is, three hundred people, were scattered, staring at the city head from a distance of one hundred and forty or fifty meters. As long as the Qing army dared to raise its head above the city gate, a series of mini bullets flew over, and many Qing soldiers were killed on the spot on the city. In this way, the soldiers of the Mawei Army only fired a few shots, and the Qing army at the head of the city did not dare to raise their heads at all. At this distance, the Qing army at the head of the city also had archery, and the head of the city was so high that the archers could shoot arrows from a distance of 100 meters, and a small number of them had relatively greater lethality. But the horsetail warriors didn't just stand there and let the Qing archers shoot at the target, and they still moved from time to time. In addition, there are a lot of Qing soldiers and archers here in Jinchuan Gate, but there are not many scattered to various city gates, no more than two hundred in total. There are so many archers, who are constantly leaning out of the gap in the archery team, and only these archers have been sent to the west by the bullets of the warriors.

At the same time when Jieshu and Fan Zhenlang made their decision, the troops outside the gates of Tianjin City received the latest order -- the whole army began to formally attack the city. The Mawei Army's way of attacking the city was different from that of other armies, and it had always been artillery first, but at this moment, except for the cannons on the battleship on the east gate, all the other cannons were quiet. Most of the cannons carried by the army were not unloaded from the ships, and were brought ashore with small three-pounder cannons, but twenty were placed outside each city gate. This three-pounder cannon is good, the biggest feature is that it is lightweight, and five or six soldiers can lift the cannon together.

However, the three-pounder cannon was not used to bombard the city gates, and there were other means of blowing them up. This method has been tried and tested many times outside Jinling City, and that is a major killer weapon of the Mawei Army - explosives packs! The soldiers of the Mawei Army outside Jinling City first let the army soldiers use rifles to suppress the Qing army at the head of the city, and then the demolition team assaulted under the city gate, put a bag of explosives on the side of the city gate, and with a loud "boom", the city gate was all shattered. Even the defenders hiding behind the city gate were also affected and suffered heavy losses.

At this moment, the army soldiers are preparing to repeat their old tricks outside Tianjin. Don't think it's old-fashioned, but it works. In later generations, a man once said that no matter whether it is a black cat or a white cat, the one that can catch a mouse is a good cat.

The army began to press on a large scale, and there were 3,000 troops outside each city gate, lined up in a neat long queue to press up, and more than 1,000 mini catapults were shot at the head of the city, and the Qing army at the head of the city did not dare to rise again. In order to ensure success, the Mawei Army generally blasted three teams at a time, and the three teams were divided into three directions to prevent accidents, but fortunately, these three teams successfully gathered at the city gate. Thirty explosives packs were then sent to the cave in the city gate, where they were placed.

"Boom!" The gate here is far inferior to the gate of Jinling City, the solitary gate of Jinling City has not been able to withstand the explosion of so many explosive packs, and here and there have withstood such a violent explosion, and this high gate has been reduced to fragments. There are also large pieces of masonry falling from the cave in the city gate. Thanks to the fact that the gate is all made of large stones, and the explosive bag is not as high as the later generations, the hole in the gate has not collapsed, but it is also full of cracks. According to normal development, this castle tower will not be a big problem in another hundred years, but now after the explosion, it is estimated that it will not last long.

"Up!"

"The gates of the city are broken, brothers, the accomplishment is at hand! Rush me! An officer of the Mawei Army yelled, and then rushed forward first.

"Kill!" The other Mawei soldiers also rushed up, quickly approaching the city gate and then pouring into the city like a tide.

"Boom"

"Boom"

"Boom"

Almost immediately after, the city gate not far away was also blown open by the Mawei Army, and the various units of the Mawei Army, like a flood lacking embankment, soon began to pour into the city in an all-round way. (To be continued......)