Wang Sanwu did things simply, after giving the order, he quickly took people away, and then gathered troops to go to the inner city to set up defenses, and handed over all sections of the outer city walls to the head of the militia troops.

Not to mention anything else, after Feng Zicai took over the defense of the West Gate, while summoning his old troops to rush over, he began to reorganize the militia units that had been left on the city walls, but turned a blind eye to those who had already come to the moat and began to throw sandbags into the river.

This point shows that he is different from others, because when Feng Zicai reorganized the militia troops, the city walls in the south and north have crackled, most of them are the sound of guns and earth cannons, and there are also the sound of arrows breaking through the air, obviously the defenders of those city gates began to use the original long-range weapons on the city head to attack those poor people outside the city, only Feng Zicai did not make any big moves.

Feng Zicai's so-called reorganization did not disrupt the original militia unit's squad and platoon companies, he just gathered these squad and platoon company commanders and assigned them different tasks.

First of all, Feng Zicai used the excuse that the space on the head of the city is limited now, but there are too many people, not to mention that the targets are too big to huddle together, and they also involve each other, reducing the space for maneuvering, so he plans to withdraw half of the people, let this part of the people go down to rest, and the other half of the people stay here for defense.

Secondly, he also asked the part of the people who stayed on the city wall to throw away their weapons, and then concentrate on manipulating long-range weapons, such as those bows and arrows, crossbow arrows, guns, earth cannons, etc., to put it simply, the part of the people who stayed on the city wall, their task is to shoot arrows and shoot guns from afar, as for melee defense, let others do it.

The reason for this arrangement is that the ostensible excuse is to arrange manpower reasonably, reduce the number of guards at the city gate, and reduce losses. But the main reason is because Feng Zicai is not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of these militias.

Don't look at the morale of these militiamen, the spirit is also very good, and the machete in his hand is also made of stainless steel, but Feng Zicai, who has been fighting for a long time, can see at a glance that these people are just vain.

Most of these people are small citizens who have only been temporarily recruited for a few months, and it is only because of the great benefits that the elite army has given them that they are willing to work hard, but being willing to work hard is not the same thing as whether they can fight.

In other words, in Feng Zicai's opinion, these people are very popular. That is because they have not encountered a real hard battle, and they still have some unrealistic expectations for war, once they see blood and fight fiercely, they will soon collapse, in other words, they can fight a good fight, but they can't fight a bad war.

It was when he saw the expressions of these people that Feng Zicai immediately understood Wang Sanwu's arrangement. It turned out that he was not optimistic about these people either, so he took people to the inner city, and if he wanted to replace him, he would also do the same. Because mixing with these militias will only pull back.

After understanding this, Feng Zicai simply treated these people as people's husbands, or stronger people's husbands. Intending to let them only do some work such as transporting the wounded and supplies, the main force of the real city gate defense, he planned to continue to let the more than 10,000 people he brought out be responsible.

Of course. As he himself said, there was only a limited space on the city wall, and not too many people could be placed, so after his men came, he only recruited 3,000 people to go to the city, and the others demolished the nearby houses with other militiamen under the city wall, so as to avoid fire and trouble when the city was attacked.

This thing is very easy for his people to do, you must know that when the Taiping army and the foreigners partnered to attack Huai'an, he did it, and at that time he was the west gate of defense.

At that time, in order to prevent fires, almost all the houses under the city walls were demolished by them, but later after the Taiping army failed and Huai'an City was stabilized, many wooden houses and thatched huts sprung up under the city walls.

The only difference is that these new houses have very few houses, most of them are small stalls and shops rebuilt by the local people, who exempted them from a single qiē harsh tax during the reign of the Jingwu army, and also encouraged business, so these ordinary people engaged in these things near the city gate, and spontaneously made a small commodity market.

Because most of them are thatched wooden houses, it is much easier to dismantle than the last time, you must know that the last time the house was demolished, many of them were brick and wood structures, and the difficulty of demolition was much more difficult than these thatched houses.

And at that time, the common people were not allowed to demolish the house, they had to do it brutally to demolish the house, but this time it was different, as long as they gave the reason, the owners of these houses actually took the initiative to help demolish the house.

This situation even made the soldiers who rushed over to the demolition a little uncomfortable, especially those soldiers of the former Qing Army who participated in the forced demolition operation last time, and they felt a little unfamiliar with this change.

But a certain new owner said it well: "Tear it down, tear it down, tear it all down!" As long as you can defeat the Qing dog, you can also admit it by smashing the pot and selling iron! ”

When the man said this, the militia who came to help naturally applauded loudly, and their morale was even more high, and those subordinates who originally belonged to Feng Zicai were still confused, but they were very happy to see that they didn't have to bother much.

I also can't complain that these people who originally belonged to Feng Zicai's subordinates were confused, because when the Jingwu Army entered the city, they were required to stay in the barracks and not go out at will, and after the Jingwu Army turned against the imperial court, they were strictly guarded, almost isolated from the outside world, and I don't know what happened in Huai'an City in just a few months.

Of course, they didn't know that after the Jingwu army entered Huai'an, it exempted all the people in the city from the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, including shop taxes, which were not only exempt from taxes, but also encouraged business, and there was also a cheap grain policy for those who were willing to serve as soldiers or workers for the Jingwu army.

The small citizens are short-sighted and don't understand the big truth, they know that when the Jingwu Army is there, their lives are much better than before, and those big masters basically don't dare to speak up, don't say they dare to bully people at will, and they even walk on the street.

Of course, to be able to make the citizens of Huai'an recognize the Jingwu Army so quickly, in addition to those real benefits, it is also inseparable from the efforts of the political and industrial cadres of the Jingwu Army.

The Jingwu Army has a special political agitation department, which is still within the scope of the work of the military police, and this political agitation department does not do anything else, but specializes in different political mobilization according to different situations.

For example, after entering Huai'an City, before they turned their faces with the Qing court, these political cadres just posted big-character posters everywhere, painted big red slogans, and organized storytellers to tell jokes about the Jingwu Army, and publicized the policies of the Jingwu Army and past combat examples. praised the elite army to the sky, blowing it into the first in the world, and the political agitation was mainly boastful.

After the Jingwu army turned against the Qing court, their wind direction changed, and they began to focus on the black Qing court and saying bad things about the Qing court, that is, the Qing court was extremely dark, and constantly talked about the black history before the Qing court.

Like the ten days of Yangzhou, the three massacres of Jiading, etc., that is a must-talk. There are even more poignant little stories that are slightly exaggerated in combination with reality. Such a series of blows and scares, coupled with a real change in living standards, soon made those ordinary people who were not very literate recognize the Jingwu Army, and also recognized the brutality of the Qing court.

Not to mention that people with low education are easy to fool, especially the political work cadres of the elite army are not all nonsense, and six or seven percent of them are true, which is true or false, plus talk about the prospect of a better future...... Not to mention anything else, those young people in Huai'an City first became hardcore supporters of the Jingwu Army and Li Yongji. And those who have previously received the benefits of the elite army, because they are afraid of the Qing court's counterattack, will also take the initiative to stand up and defend the fruits of victory at this time.

At this time, the elite army will properly show its military might. For example, let the elite troops of the Jingwu Army carry guns and walk in a queue a few times, let them see the majesty of the Jingwu Army, and then organize some people with relatively high ideological consciousness to go over to see the military exercises of the Jingwu Army, that is, to fire artillery. A few rounds of platoon guns can calm down these uninformed people at once.

After that, these people with higher ideological consciousness became brainless fans of the Jingwu Army after they returned. became the director and clerk of the first batch of street offices, and after becoming petty officials, they worked harder.

Then, after the army of Monk Greenqin arrived outside the city of Huai'an, the Jingwu Army talked about the weakness of the Qing army, and at the same time distributed new machetes and other cold weapons to the common people who were interested in the Jingwu Army, and also talked about the vast sea of people's war.

In this way, after the people in Huai'an City who were in the heart of the Jingwu Army were dizzy, they struck while the iron was hot, and with the help of the directors of the street offices in various places, they organized a team from door to door, so that they could become a little more organized and have more confidence in their hearts.

Of course, because the time is still short, so these policies are just good-looking, at least these non-governmental teams because the training time is still short, and they have not gone through bloody battles, it is impossible to really play a big role, but in terms of psychological comfort, they are very useful.

For example, this kind of house demolition behavior, not to mention that after demolishing the house, you can actually ask the Jingwu Army for a loss fee, even if the Jingwu Army does not give money, they will often be rewarded by political work cadres, and then touted by the people around them, and gain enough fame and face, so they are naturally willing to do it.

In any case, this kind of popular will of the people quickly infected Feng Zicai's original subordinates, and seeing the enthusiastic support of the people, they also seemed to vaguely feel that they were doing good deeds, and they seemed to belong to the righteous side, and their mood naturally improved.

Not to mention those demolition teams, the city wall of the West Gate has already arrived in time for three thousand original Feng Zicai's elite subordinates, although most of these people are from defeated soldiers, but their combat experience is incomparable to ordinary people, and they are real veterans.

"The military situation is urgent, the salute is exempt, you quickly bring people over to set up defenses!" Feng Zicai, who was armed with a machete, pointed to a few officers with Suizhou, "Ding Kui, you take a thousand people over to get the big shield over there and organize the sword and shield hands; Zhao Laosi, you bring a thousand people over to help guard the city, and use all the firearms for me first!" Qian Fa, hurry up and take two hundred people to count the Rolling Wood Thunder Stone, and you, Zheng Madman, you take the rest of the people to be my own soldiers, and go learn how to use grenadiers from these people first! ”

After the order was given, these people quickly took the order and left, and immediately afterwards, Simon also began to be lively, and all kinds of guns and earth cannons began to roar, spraying murderous bullets and shells.

The difference is that although most of these people who operate guns and earthen cannons are those militiamen, it is the group of people brought by Feng Zicai who aim and shoot, that is to say, the militia left on the city wall is only the one who fights, and it is Feng Zicai's headquarters who really dominates these defensive weapons.

Because of this, when these defensive long-range weapons at the head of the city were dominated by Feng Zicai's people, the accuracy increased greatly, and the people outside the west gate were building pontoon bridges on the moat. There were heavy casualties immediately, after all, Feng Zicai and these people are the ones who have really fought and really know how to defend the city, which is different from those militiamen who have only been trained in a hurry for a while.

The people who filled the moat outside the west gate were not high in morale, they had not been attacked before, and they were still trembling and could do things, but now as soon as they were attacked, they immediately threw down the things in their hands, and ran back crying for their father and mother.

However. Before they could run back, they heard a crackling sound, and the guns of Miao Peilin's subordinates also fired.

Not only did the spear-carrying troops of the Miao army fire, but their archers also began to shoot arrows, and these people wanted to say that they couldn't shoot anything else, but they were still very accurate in shooting these people who ran towards them.

This burst of guns and bows and arrows killed a group of people in front of them again, and stopped the momentum of the people's escape for a while, but there were still many people who continued to rush forward with shouts.

And then. I saw that the cavalry troops in the vanguard of the Miao army suddenly began to draw their waist swords in unison, and then urged the horses forward, constantly shouting for the death of those who retreated.

Seeing that the other party still didn't listen, the group of cavalry laughed fiercely for a while. With a shout, he urged the horse to speed up and rush towards the group of fugitives who continued to flee.

How can a man run as fast as a horse, so these cavalry quickly catch up with the fleeing people, and then bend skillfully. Chopped down from behind one by one, and soon chopped melons and vegetables to kill these people on the spot.

The bloody scene shocked those people at once, and everyone didn't dare to run. They all squatted in place and trembled, neither daring to move forward nor retreat, so to speak, they were in a dilemma.

At this time, another brightly dressed cavalryman galloped over and began to shout: "Those who advance live, and those who retreat die!" They are so far away and there are not many firearms, what are you afraid of? Give it all to me, on! Otherwise, they will all be beheaded! ”

Hearing the cavalry officer's shout, the man who was squatting in place picked up the sandbag shovel again, walked back to the moat, and then continued the pontoon operation to fill the moat in fear.

The idea of these people is very simple, to fill the moat, but to withstand the long-range attack on the city wall, how to say that there is still a little luck not to die, but if you retreat, the army of people gathers, there is no place to run, retreat will die, there is still a way to live forward, as long as the brain is not dizzy, you know how to choose.

Seeing that those people came back to fill the moat again, Feng Zicai stopped the continued firing and shooting, and instead asked everyone to sit down and rest.

It's not that Feng Zicai has a kind heart, he doesn't have that kung fu, it's really that he sees that there are too many people on the other side, and they are determined, and the performance of the weapons on his side is not good, bombarding some people at such a long distance, the cost performance is too low.

Even if your own people are tired and half dead, and at the same time waste a lot of valuable ammunition, it is impossible to stop the other party from filling the moat, rather than this, it is better to let the other party fill the river safely, and you should seize the time to rest, and wait for the next real siege battle.

After all, in the next real siege war, it is impossible for those people to come in handy, so those people are just cannon fodder consumables, used to consume their own ammunition and morale, if you really fight those people, you are in the hands of the other party.

On the contrary, if it is left alone, then once the attack is launched, the role of these people will be invalid.

Because siege warfare is different from others, it is often particularly tragic, if it is still mixed with the people, once these moraleless people retreat, the morale blow caused is very large, and it can even cause collapse, so when the real siege is struggling, the people can not continue to bring, but to put it behind.

Of course, this is also a scoring situation, if the other party does not have many people, their own weapons are sufficient, and there are many personnel, you might as well fight, but the other party obviously caught tens of thousands of people to come, and there is no shortage of consumables such as people, and your own city defenders and weapons and ammunition are not much, and the other party can't afford to consume, that is to say, it is impossible to eliminate the other party's people in advance, forcing the other party's soldiers to fill the moat, so they don't fight the people.

In addition, it is not to ignore the other party at all, but to reduce the intensity of the attack, not to crack and fire all the indiscriminately, but to continue to fire little by little, to give these people a continuous pressure.

In this way, you can not only reduce the frequency of use of your own guns and earth cannons, reduce the probability of exploding, increase the attack effect, but also make those people unable to finish their work, and at the same time, this is equivalent to telling the besieging party a message: We are elite, don't underestimate us, we must fight here and be aware of the dead first!

In the end, there was another reason, it was Feng Zicai who found that the sharp foreign cannon of the Jingwu Army did not fire. This is also a signal, that is, the other side does not think that those people have the value of firing!

Sure enough, as soon as the other party did this, the people were slow to talk, and even Miao Peilin found that things were not good.

"The other party is a veteran." Miao Peilin, who also has a lot of siege experience, sighed to his subordinate Wang Jinkui, "It seems that there will be a tough battle to be fought next." ”

"The chief village master, then we ......" Wang Jinkui wanted to speak and stopped, "Are we still fighting?" ”

"Phew!" Miao Peilin spat on the ground, "It's all this time, and you have to fight." If you don't fight, you have to fight. Sue sù brothers, cheer up, there are not many people on the other side, and as soon as the moat fills in a way, attack it for me immediately! ”

It was during this last leisure time that Qian Fa on the city wall suddenly came to Feng Zicai to speak, but his words had a different meaning.

"My lord, the soldiers and horses of the imperial court are powerful, and this time it seems that they are in earnest. Even if we can hold it, it will be tragic, and the brothers will probably suffer heavy casualties. If you want me to say, now that you have control of this gate. It's better to give it away, and it will be a great achievement when the time comes. ”

"Hmph." Feng Zicai glanced at Qian Fa, "Is it your own meaning, or is it someone else's meaning?" ”

"This ...... It's what everybody means. Qian Fa paused. My lord, we were forced to surrender to Shorthair, and I think the imperial court will surely understand our suffering. We are not to blame. But if we really fight with the imperial court, it will be different. On the contrary, if we sacrifice the city gate, we can make up for it, and the lord can still be trusted by the imperial court, don't you say? ”

"Confused!" Feng Zicai said coldly, "Either you don't descend, since you do, you can serve the new master well, otherwise, you are a capricious villain, no one looks down on you, and no one can really trust you." ”

Speaking of this, Feng Zicai eased his tone slightly, and then continued: "Moreover, you still can't see it clearly? Do you think the Qing court has a few days to live? Hmph, the 300,000 troops outside look good, but they are actually a rabble, and they are also the last strength of the Qing court. But if you look at the elite army, what kind of attitude do you have towards these people? In the face of this 300,000 army, people didn't pay attention to it at all, otherwise, how could it have passed so long and still hadn't sent reinforcements? ”

"That's right!" Qian Fa nodded, "It's me, in the face of the 300,000 army, they have already poured out, why aren't they worried at all, and haven't sent reinforcements over after so long?" ”

"There is only one explanation, that is, to show the enemy weakness, and use Huai'an City as a bait to lure the other party to attack!" Feng Zicai said, "Monk Greenqin is good at cavalry, and the Jingwu army is mainly firearms, if it is a field battle out of the city, the victory or defeat is unpredictable, but if the other party is allowed to attack the city, it can just give full play to the firearms advantage of the Jingwu army and eliminate the opponent's cavalry advantage." If you want me to see it, the Jingwu Army wants to use Huai'an City as a grinding plate to grind the last blood of the Qing army, as long as the 300,000 army is defeated, and then take advantage of the Northern Expedition, who in the world can stop them? ”

"This, this ......" Qian Fa was stunned, "but if that's the case, they should send more people, how can they be so many...... No, how can they trust you to defend here? ”

"If I'm expecting it right, it's giving me a chance." Feng Zicai glanced back and turned around again, "Although the elite army in the city is elite, there is a shortage of numbers, if they are all scattered in the outer city, they will inevitably disperse their forces. On the contrary, if they gather in the inner city, they can form a fist and exert their full strength.

If it were me, I would do the same, that is, bring all the troops into the inner city, and then release the Qing army into the outer city, so that I can reduce the contact area, lean against the walls of the inner city, and use their powerful firearms to concentrate fire.

You see, although the gap between the inner and outer cities of Huai'an is large, they are within the range of the opponent's firepower, and after the Qing army enters the city, it will inevitably be chaotic, and the advantage of the number of people will be minimized, but the firearms of the elite army can exert the greatest power. After a long time, when the Qing army can't stand the loss and decides to retreat, they can just rush out, maybe they will turn the tables in one fell swoop. ”

"Aren't we cannon fodder, then?" Qian said, "Whether we hold it or not, it's useless?" ”

"Not really." Feng Zicai said, "The outer city of Huai'an City is also very wide and strong, plus there is enough food in the city tower, and there are wells inside, so it can be said that every section of the city wall is a stronghold. Our troops can hold on to this section of the city for a month or two, and if they cooperate with the inner city, they will be attacked from inside and outside. The losses of the Qing army here must be higher.

Therefore, this is our chance, if we can keep it, it will prove our loyalty and value, and in the future, the Jingwu army will treat us as their own people, if we can't hold it, or as you said, open the city and sacrifice the gate, then we will lose the trust of the Jingwu army, and we will inevitably be eliminated by them in the end. Therefore. If it's really for the sake of a good future for everyone, we have to stay here! ”

"But my lord." Qian Fa frowned, "I believe in your ability, and I also believe in the combat power of the brothers, if we defend with an iron heart, we will not miss, but other city gates may not." You see that they are still fighting so well, and at first glance, they have no experience, and they miss in those places. And then what if they occupy those gates? At that time, people will not attack the inner city, and it will be okay to be trapped alive. ”

"Trapped alive? Hmph, first of all, the inner city must have plenty of food and grass, and it will be no problem for a year and a half. Secondly, you should be a dead man in other elite armies? Feng Zicai pointed to the radio intercom next to him, "You see, the Jingwu Army has such a powerful weapon for transmitting sound for thousands of miles. Even if they are besieged, they can easily talk to people outside. And they also have something called a bicycle, which you've seen before. The speed is not much slower than that of mules and horses, not to mention that they also have a large number of artillery.

If you want me to say, once the Qing army occupies the outer city, it will be in the hands of the other party, and their reinforcements can rush over, together with the elite army in the inner city, to blossom inside and outside, and then this Qing army will still run? ”

"This is not appropriate, the Qing court has 300,000 troops, and it is completely possible to station part of it in the city and part of it outside the city, and then the army outside the city will resist the reinforcements of the Jingwu army, and the troops in the outer city will besiege the inner city, which is not difficult for them."

"You're stupid." Feng Zicai simply rolled his eyes, "Do you think they can fight such a battle?" Or can we fight such a battle of internal and external obstacles? ”

"Yes." Qian Fa scratched his head, "It is not ordinarily difficult to besiege the inner city and block reinforcements." If the imperial court, no, the Qing army also has this kind of thing that transmits the sound for thousands of miles, but they don't have it, and they belong to different places, they fight for their own battles, once one of them loses...... Ah, I see! ”

"Looks like you've finally figured it out." Feng Zicai nodded, "This method of flowering inside and outside is not something that anyone can fight, and fighting two sides of the battle at the same time is not something that ordinary people can play, and one bad is a complete collapse."

The Jingwu army has sharp firearms, there are city walls inside, reinforcements outside, morale is high, and the order is unified, on the other hand, the Qing army is completely opposite, so before this battle has started, I know that the Jingwu army has won, and the reason why they are engaged in internal and external flowering is that eight out of ten - nine times out of ten they want to annihilate them all, rather than just fighting a rout.

You know, if it's a wilderness, everyone will run away if it fails, but if there is a city behind it, even if it only occupies the outer city, and the inner city has not yet been occupied, they will also run into the city first, which is human nature!

When the time comes, the Jingwu army can besiege Huai'an City, which is full of a large number of Qing troops, they have an elite army inside, and there are also Jingwu troops outside, and the final result can only be surrender, at least most people will be like this.

So you see, the more this time, the more we must try to prove our worth, show our prestige, and let the elite army accept us. Otherwise, when Li Yongji ascends the throne and becomes emperor in the future, there will be no place for us in the new dynasty! ”

"Shhh...... What a big deal. Qian Fa took a sharp breath when he heard this, "So, they are using the entire Huai'an City as a grinding plate, and they want to eat all the 300,000 troops?" So, what about the people in the outer city? Once the Qing army entered the city, they ......"

"What else can I do?" Feng Zicai narrowed his eyes, "I can only suffer from breaking my family, but this qiē is caused by the Qing army, and it is not an elite army, which can just increase their hatred of the Qing court, and at the same time give the Qing army an unstable factor." ”

"That, that......"

"So, they absolutely can't help but resist." Feng Zicai said again, "Therefore, they must make a show, defend the outer city, and absolutely not take the initiative to give up." At this time, our role comes, if we don't fight well and fail, that's our best, no way, no one can blame the head of the Jingwu Army, don't you say? ”

"It's so ruthless!" Qian Fa took a deep breath again, "So, we, we must not sacrifice the city?" ”

"Yes."

"But no one in the Qing army sees through this?" Qian Fa asked again.

"Maybe there is, maybe not, but at least their commander Monk Greenqin didn't see it through, otherwise he wouldn't have attacked the city." Feng Zicai sighed, "This may be the authorities' fans." In fact, if we hadn't been in contact with the Jingwu Army, and had been under house arrest for so long, and listened to so much propaganda and education, I had time to calm down and think slowly, I wouldn't have thought of this. ”

"Then we can only fight with the imperial court?" Qian Fa glanced at the black head outside the city, stretched out his tongue and licked his lips, "The imperial court is really hopeless?" ”

"Hey, hey." Feng Zicai touched the machete in his hand and patted him on the shoulder, "I don't know what will happen in the future, but at least as far as the current situation is concerned, we have no other way to survive except to follow the Jingwu Army and fight the Qing Army to the end."

If we do the opposite, not to mention that these militias do not agree, the Jingwu army can shoot us from a long distance, and the traitor charge of letting the Qing army enter the city and wantonly burning and looting the people will also be added to our heads, which will not be washed away for a lifetime, and even bring disaster to our descendants.

So, if you ask me if there is any hope for the Qing court, I don't know, but I only know one thing, that is, since we can't see through the front, don't think about it, let it go, and fight for the future! ”

"Yes, sir!" Qian Fa hugged his fist excitedly, "Let it go, fight for the future!" (To be continued......)