In order to launch a general attack on Zhenjiang, in addition to the traditional artillery bombardment, the Chinese army also used small-caliber mortar artillery on a large scale for the first time.

In order to deal with the Taiping army and the Qing army, which were more and more fond of digging trenches, the Chinese army also thought hard about formulating some targeted tactics and weapons.

Among the more important ones was the improvement and extensive use of grenades and grenade shotguns, in addition to the development of grenades and small-caliber mortars.

The grenade is not a new thing in the Chinese army, and it has been used in the early years, but it is affected by factors such as the excessive weight of the grenade, the low explosive power, the inconvenient use of the arquebus fuse, and the high dud rate.

The actual combat effectiveness of the guide grenade was very limited, so the early grenades were often only used in defensive battles, and a small number were also assigned to the soldiers of the auxiliary defense forces engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

After 1856, the Linde Machinery Factory optimized the design of the grenade, increased the number of fragments of the grenade, and redesigned the arquebus delay fuze, which greatly improved the reliability and convenience. However, the weight is still relatively large, and it is difficult for ordinary line infantry to carry and use these grenades to launch offensive operations when fighting.

Therefore, at present, the application of these grenades in regular combat is mainly used in defensive operations in fixed positions, and is not used much in offensive warfare, and is mainly used by soldiers of the auxiliary defense regiment who frequently participate in hand-to-hand combat.

However, in the face of the city wall of Zhenjiang and the trench system outside the city wall, this simple grenade ushered in their spring, in order to overcome those trenches, the Chinese army also dug traffic trenches, and then the soldiers of the auxiliary defense regiment could use the cover of the trenches to accurately throw one grenade after another into the trenches of the Taiping Army twenty or thirty meters away.

Under this tactic, the actual combat effectiveness of the grenade is quite good!

The same tactics are actually not only hand grenades, but also small-caliber mortars!

As early as 1854, after encountering Lin Chengting's trench defense tactics for the first time, Lin Zhe asked the rear Ordnance Bureau and Linde Machinery to design a portable small-caliber mortar together, and drew a pattern and some ideas for the mortar in his memory.

The barrel was made of iron, thick and heavy, and the shell fired weighed about nine pounds, with a smoothbore barrel. This is not the key, the key is the shells, which turned out to be the kind where the medicine bag and the shells are separated!

In fact, there is no essential difference between this mortar cannon and the large-caliber mortar guns such as 32-pound, 48-pound, and 64-pound that are used on a large scale in the Chinese army, at most the caliber is smaller, the weight is lighter, and the corresponding range and the power of the shells are much smaller.

Although this nine-pounder mortar gun, named 1856, had one or another defect, it was also a relatively emergency weapon for the Chinese army, which urgently needed curved artillery fire to deal with the trenches of the Taiping Army, so it was purchased on a large scale, and several nine-pounder mortar battalions were specially established.

And now, these nine-pounder mortars and grenades are directly deployed in the trenches dug by the Chinese army, and then they are close to the Taiping Army trenches not far from the bombardment, so as to cover more soldiers of the auxiliary defense army in the rear to charge Zhenjiang!

Although the generals of the Chinese army are more concerned about the casualties and losses of the soldiers, in fact, they only care about the soldiers of the regular army, and they do not care much about the deaths and injuries of the soldiers of the auxiliary defense army.

In addition to the low cost of raising the army and the lack of heartache when dying, this is also related to the fact that most of the soldiers of the auxiliary defense army are captured Taiping or Qing soldiers.

Lin Zhe and other important civil and military members of the Chinese army are not philanthropists, they leave many prisoners behind, and they feed these prisoners every day, in order to send these prisoners to the battlefield as cannon fodder at a critical moment, otherwise you think that the military rations of the Chinese army are all dropped from the world, and these captive soldiers can't eat them for free.

Don't you see that those old and weak captive soldiers who are not qualified to be cannon fodder are also incorporated into the auxiliary defense force, but the prisoners who can only go to do coolie work only have one dry meal a day?

Three meals a day, a full meal comes at a price!

And that price is life!

Watching the thousands of soldiers of the First Auxiliary Defense Division rushing towards Zhenjiang brandishing swords or muskets, Lin Zhe and other senior generals who were watching the battle in the rear completely ignored the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army who fell during the charge!

Half an hour later, the soldiers of the 1st Auxiliary Defense Division just couldn't hold it and finally retreated!

For the large number of casualties among the soldiers of the First Auxiliary Defense Division, these senior generals turned a blind eye, but instead showed regretful expressions one by one: "It's a pity, I was almost able to rush to the city!" ”

"That is, if Lieutenant Colonel An works harder, his first assistant defense division will be able to rush to the top of the city, it's a pity!"

"This time, the casualties of the First Auxiliary Defense Division are not small, let them slow down first, and transfer the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division to rush!" Lin Zhe also put down the binoculars at this time, and then said expressionlessly: "This time, you must rush to their city, and those who retreat will be severely punished!" ”

With the order issued, a group of soldiers who were still wearing Taiping Army uniforms or civilian clothes slowly stepped forward from the position of the Chinese Army, which were the soldiers of the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division.

Interestingly, the soldiers of the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division were still soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a few days ago, and after Li Xiucheng's defeat, not only himself, but also tens of thousands of Taiping Army officers and soldiers were captured.

Now, these soldiers, who were soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a few days ago, are rushing towards their former comrades-in-arms!

The Chinese army is not too worried about whether these soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Force will rebel in battle, or simply defect to the enemy, at least so far, many soldiers of the Chinese Auxiliary Defense Force have not appeared to defect to the enemy on a large scale, and there are quite a few deserters.

In order to increase the combat strength and loyalty of the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army, the Chinese army is a combination of grace and might, on the one hand, there is a sufficient supply of food, in this year it is actually quite difficult to have enough to eat, many middle and lower class people have never eaten enough in their lives......

Except for a few elites in the Taiping Army and the Qing Army, most of the rest of the ordinary soldiers were actually a group of bitter haha, hungry with yellow faces and thin muscles, and they could be tired to death after running a few hundred meters.

Now that they can eat enough, they will care whether they work for Hong Xiuquan or Lin Zhe, as long as they can eat enough, they don't care about anything.

In addition to the abundant food supply, the Chinese army also gave additional rewards to the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army, including bounties for killing the enemy, replenishment into the regular army, and the opportunity to study in the camp academy.

All these measures have greatly strengthened the loyalty of the auxiliary defense force, especially the several auxiliary defense divisions trained in the early days of the Chinese army.

In addition, the Chinese army implements an extremely strict military law system, and if the front of the battle is broken and flees, the supervising team behind will not be soft and dare to shoot directly.

This can be seen from the fact that the soldiers of the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division tried to retreat quietly, and then the regular army soldiers who were supervising the battle in the rear did not hesitate to shoot, and the Chinese army did not show any mercy in killing deserters and routs.

After the gunshots rang out, the dozen or so soldiers who tried to turn around and flee were killed on the ground.

At the same time, as the commander of the Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division, which had just been formed for two days, Lieutenant Colonel Gao Bojun led more than a dozen officers and cavalrymen behind him to ride past the rear row, and the specially lengthened whip in his hand continued to draw at the soldiers who tried to turn around.

"It's all lined up for Lao Tzu, if anyone dares not to go up or turn around and run away when the next charge comes, these people just now are role models!"

"If you retreat without an order, you will be killed!"

After a long time of being busy with a group of officers, Gao Bojun was able to put the more than 4,000 captive soldiers in front of him in order, and he was still scolding while riding on the horse: "Damn, I was appointed to take you dogs, Lao Tzu is considered to have been moldy for half his life, wait a minute, if you fight unfavorably, let Lao Tzu lose face in front of His Majesty and the generals, Lao Tzu will let you lose your life!" ”

The scolding Gao Bojun really felt that he was very unlucky, he was originally the commander of an infantry battalion major of the Third Division, and his qualifications were deep enough, and it was estimated that it would not be long before he could be promoted to lieutenant colonel as the commander of an infantry regiment.

But a few days ago, when he faced Li Xiucheng in Danyang, he was a little unlucky, and when he launched a counterattack, he advanced too fast, and the guide was partially counterattacked by the Taiping army, and in the end the infantry battalion he led killed and wounded more than 60 people.

You must know that on that day, there were more than 18,000 people in the 3rd Division, 1st Regiment of the 5th Division, 1st Auxiliary Defense Division, and 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and the total casualties were only more than 400 points, and his battalion suffered more than 60 casualties.

Don't think that being promoted to lieutenant colonel, or even serving as the commander of a division, is a good thing, but for a senior major in the regular army who is about to be promoted to lieutenant colonel, this is undoubtedly a derogatory.

In today's Chinese army, officers who generally think they are talented and have a great future do not like to serve in the auxiliary defense force, even if they are the commanders of the auxiliary defense divisions.

The current Gao Bojun is counting on waiting for his Ninth Auxiliary Defense Division to perform well, so that the generals above will know that I, Gao Bojun, are still capable, so quickly transfer me back to the regular army!

Just when the Chinese army outside Zhenjiang City was about to launch the second large-scale attack, inside Zhenjiang City, Wu Ruxiao unfolded a letter of paper amid the rumbling cannons, which was a letter of persuasion sent by the Chinese army envoy outside the city.

In this letter of persuasion sent by the Chinese army, Wu Ruxiao promised that if Wu Ruxiao was willing to lead the people to surrender, then the lives of Wu Ruxiao and other Taiping generals could be guaranteed, and the rest of the Taiping army officers and soldiers would also be treated preferentially.

At the same time, there is also a letter of persuasion signed by Li Xiucheng, saying that he Li Xiucheng has already attached himself to Greater China, and persuading Wu Ruxiao to also know that he is lost, give up resistance as soon as possible, and join my Great China Yunyun! (To be continued.) )