The thousands of Royal Army soldiers were not very fast, but as in the usual battles, their formations were not chaotic in the course of their advances, and there were many more Allied Defence soldiers accompanying the Royal Army soldiers in the attack, and the formation of these Allied Defence Corps soldiers was so scattered that it required the officers to shout from time to time to maintain the basic formation.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, the distance at this time is already very close to the city wall!

At this time, the Taiping army at the head of the city could no longer continue to avoid artillery fire, but ventured to probe from the city wall, and stretched out arquebuses, smoothbore foreign guns and even space weapons from the pheasant moats.

At this time, the officers outside the city walls who were directing the advance of the troops had already drawn their sabers, and the major of an auxiliary division was drinking the command to charge.

Commanding more than 1,000 soldiers of the Allied Defense Army under his command, they carried a long ladder and ran directly to the foot of the city wall.

At the same time, on the other side, a lieutenant company commander of the Royal Army had already raised his command knife: "All stop moving forward, raise your guns and aim!" ”

Immediately after that, the command knife was waved: "Shoot!" ”

There were other infantry companies that fired at the same time as this infantry company, and for a time there were bullets flying everywhere on the city, thousands of rifles fired in unison, and the dense bullets hit the city, and it was not that the Taiping soldiers who were located in the pheasant moat were hit and fell backwards.

With the approach of the attacking Chinese army, the Taiping army at the head of the city also launched several small caliber mountain splitting cannons from the hidden anti-artillery holes, and after several cannon shots on the city head, the shells flew to the various units of the Chinese army outside the city.

A solid-ball shell smashed directly into the phalanx of a Royal Army infantry battalion. directly smashed the flesh and blood of the soldiers in front of the three columns.

But even so, the soldiers of the Royal Army were not moved in the slightest. Hard resistance to the enemy's shells and bullets is the most basic requirement of modern line infantry.

The soldiers were unmoved. But it made the officers who commanded the battle heartbroken, the commander of the 7th Infantry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Liang Qiushi's face was slightly wrinkled, this burst of artillery bombardment, at least let him lose more than 20 people, although the number was not large, but it was still enough to make him feel heartache.

The soldiers under his command are all veterans who have fought for several years, and more than 20 people were lost by a burst of shelling!

But despite the heartache, he still let the troops continue to use the progressive fire mode, gradually approaching the city walls!

The same shelling, compared to the side of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Royal Army, only made the officers feel a little heartache. But the 14th Division, which accompanied the attack, was much worse.

Because their two hand-to-hand combat regiments were not lined up in three rows, but in a relatively close phalanx, after being shelled by solid shells, they were hit by shells and walked out of the bloody path, only a few shells, but dozens of people were killed and wounded, and more importantly, these soldiers of the auxiliary defense army were captured soldiers of the Qing army or the Taiping army not long ago.

It was impossible to continue the battle in spite of enemy fire and bullets like the soldiers of the Royal Army, and a single burst of artillery bombardment caused a riot in the 14th Auxiliary Division, with a large number of soldiers crying and shouting. Some people even wanted to turn around and run away, so that several officers in command of the battle were in a hurry, on the one hand, they were in formation, and on the other hand, they had to directly cut down those soldiers who fled without permission.

The strictness of military discipline in the Chinese army is not a lie. In normal times, it is very strict, and those who do not obey orders during the battle, and those who retreat without permission are basically killed on the spot.

Several young lieutenants led the gendarmerie on horseback and slashed more than a dozen deserters with swords in succession. It can be regarded as suppressing this wave of deserters, and then the soldiers of these auxiliary defense forces launched a new attack under the orders of the officers!

However, the reason why the Chinese army failed to take Lu'an in the first few attacks. It is not without reason, which is of course due to the weak will to fight of the troops of the auxiliary defense division. It is also related to the large number of Taiping defenders in Lu'an City and the perfect defense system.

Although Chen Yucheng's troops have lost troops in the battle with the Chinese army in the past two months, and there are less than 100,000 people left in the 200,000 army, most of these 100,000 people are deployed in Lu'an City, so that there are nearly 60,000 defenders in the city.

Although most of them are ordinary young and strong refugees, they can survive in the army of 200,000 people until now, and Chen Yucheng is not doing nothing, and he will always train one or two properly, so these 60,000 people cannot be regarded as simple young and strong refugees, it should be said that they are young and strong with certain military qualities.

In addition to these young people, the 5,000 elites that Chen Yucheng brought from Nanjing were also among them, playing a leading role as the backbone.

In addition to the large number of people, the Taiping army in the city was not short of supplies, they swept through most of the northern Anhui region, in addition to carrying a large number of young and strong, but also like locusts crossing the border, taking away all the food that could be taken.

Now there are at least enough food reserves in Lu'an City for 60,000 troops to eat for a year.

In terms of weapons, although it is impossible to have Mini rifles and new foreign cannons, there are also many old-style arquebuses, in addition to several hundred smoothbore foreign guns, and there are also about 20 old-style guns of various calibers and styles.

Although the cold weapons cannot be as unified as those Chinese troops outside the city, there is no shortage of swords and spears!

There is food, guns, and enough troops, which made Chen Yucheng dare to hold Lu'an for a long time.

Relying on the firearms in his hands and a lot of bows and arrows, coupled with traditional tools to defend the city, such as stones, giant trees, boiling oil, etc., Chen Yucheng's troops were able to thwart the many attacks of the Chinese army in a row.

And this time they played equally well, braving the artillery fire of the Chinese army and daring to return fire, so that the soldiers of the auxiliary defense army who rushed to the front suffered heavy casualties.

But today it was different, they didn't retreat!

Because today it is not only the Allied Defense Army that is attacking, but also the Royal Army!

I saw that the soldiers of the 14th Auxiliary Defense Division in front had attracted a large number of thieves to probe from the top of the city, and then use arquebuses. Muskets, bows and arrows and other weapons attacked the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Force who were rushing towards the city walls. Liang Qiushi sneered: "Just waiting for you to come out!" ”

In order to attack the city, the Chinese army also carefully studied the Taiping army in the city. These Taiping troops also have relatively unique characteristics, which are somewhat different from the enemies that the Chinese army has encountered in the past.

First of all, they did not have many elite regular soldiers, and they did not dare to engage in large-scale hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese army, so they did not dig a trench under the city, and then waited for the Chinese army to approach for hand-to-hand combat, so they could only stick to the city wall for passive defense, and it was precisely because of them that they could hold for so long, otherwise they would have had face-to-face hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese army, and the Chinese army would have taken Lu'an a long time ago.

What is the purpose of the assistant defense division in the Chinese army? Used as cannon fodder. And two of the cold-weapon infantry regiments, also known as hand-to-hand combat regiments, are used for hand-to-hand combat.

Although the soldiers of these auxiliary defense forces were all prisoners, the captured soldiers who could be selected to join the hand-to-hand combat regiment were at least young and middle-aged, and under the strict military discipline of the Chinese army, although hand-to-hand combat was far from being comparable to the regular infantry of the Royal Army, it was much better than these homeless people.

However, Chen Yucheng fought a defensive battle at the head of the city and relied on the city wall for defense, which caused the auxiliary defense army, an army dominated by cold weapons, to be close to the city wall for hand-to-hand combat, and it would be hit by the long-range fire of the Taiping army. Arquebuses and muskets, as well as bows and arrows, are not comparable to the Mini rifles, but they are not something that these cold-armed infantry can compete with.

With this in mind, it was very important to get the Royal Army soldiers close to cover when making a siege plan for this time. Instead of just acting as a warlord as before, supported by artillery fire.

This time, they approached directly to a position 100 meters away from the head of the city and suppressed the enemy forces at the head of the city. Thus covering the soldiers of the Allied Defense Army to ascend to the top of the city.

At the same time, in order to imitate the soldiers of the Allied Defense Army who climbed to the top of the city and were driven down, the 7th Infantry Regiment carried out fire cover. You also had to climb to the top of the city and rely on muskets to shoot. The main thing was to engage in hand-to-hand combat with bayonets, to capture and secure the position of the city's head in the enemy's counterattack.

According to past experience, once the Royal Army was allowed to climb the city to establish a solid defensive line, limited by the width of the city, it would be difficult for the Taiping Army to break through the Royal Army's defense line even if it was one after the other.

Once the direction of the city is firmly established and the gap is opened, then more Royal Army soldiers will rush up to completely sweep the city head and occupy the city wall.

After occupying the city wall, then it can basically be declared that the city has been taken, and the next step is just the final battle to enter the city, usually there will be no stubborn resistance, the enemy will either surrender or be killed or flee, and few can continue to resist in the city. Even if the enemy, like the Qing army in Yangzhou, continued to resist stubbornly in the city and tried to fight street battles, the Chinese army would not hesitate to carry out a fire attack and directly burn down the entire city.

China's urban buildings are basically brick and wood structures, this fire will burn up a whole street or even the entire urban area, when in Yangzhou, the Chinese army and the Qing army fought, but the Xicheng District of Yangzhou City burned down.

The 7th Infantry Regiment carried out fierce fire suppression in the direction of the city, although the rate of fire of their rifles was not fast, and the momentum was far from being comparable to the artillery bombardment, but at a distance of 100 meters, with the accuracy of the Mini rifles, they could basically achieve accurate aiming, and the hit rate of hitting the enemy on the city wall was quite high.

Hundreds of Taiping soldiers had to fall on the city, although the Taiping army occasionally fought back at the Royal Army outside the city, causing a certain number of casualties, but this did not make the 7th Infantry Regiment retreat.

When a soldier fell, the soldier in the back row walked up automatically with a blank face, then raised his gun, aimed and shot according to the officer's command!

The Seventh Infantry Regiment is like a levee in a flood, no matter how the Taiping Army counterattacks, but it stands firmly at a position of 100 meters outside the city, continuing to load, aim, and shoot the action, and what is quite strange is that in the entire horizontal phalanx, except for the shooting orders of the officers from time to time, the soldiers are silent, and the soldiers of the Auxiliary Defense Army who are charging and climbing the wall in front of them shout loudly, and the pain ** forms a great contrast.

In the Royal Army, except for the final bayonet charge stage, the soldiers generally do not speak, and the officers do not speak indiscriminately, so when the line is conducted, only the footsteps and gunshots of the Royal Army can often be heard. But it is rare to hear the same shouts as those of the cold-armed troops.

The 7th Infantry Regiment was silently reloading and firing as if it were a leisurely march to eat. The soldiers of the 14th Auxiliary Defense Division in front of them were much more exaggerated.

The soldiers rushed upwards with loud shouts and all sorts of gimbled slogans. There are also some wounded soldiers who have been knocked down by the fire from the city head are screaming and wailing, and sometimes some people will make up for the wounded soldiers because the wounded soldiers next to them are screaming too miserably, so as to end the pain of the wounded soldiers.

The shouts of the soldiers were accompanied by the loud shouts of the officers, and a second lieutenant on horseback arrived at the head of the city, jumped off his horse and dismounted, and then brandished his saber to drive the soldiers under him to climb the long ladder and attack the city.

And at this time. A heavy arrow suddenly flew down from the top of the city, and the arrow went down from top to bottom, directly through his chest, so that the second lieutenant, who had just graduated from the army military academy not long ago, fell straight backwards before he could give the next order.

Only two eyes were left to look at the gray sky without closing!

In front of the second lieutenant's fall, a number of long ladders were already erected outside the city wall, and several hand-to-hand combat regiment soldiers wearing cotton armor and holding shields directly bit steel knives and held shields above their heads with one hand. Then the earth scrambled towards the city.

These sword and shield soldiers wearing cotton armor and holding shields are specially set up by the Chinese army for siege hand-to-hand combat, and they are adapted from the trap camps in the previous auxiliary defense forces, and most of these trap camps in the past were excellent in martial arts. It is composed of strong soldiers, but this kind of trapping camp is not a regular formation, and the soldiers in it are not limited to sword and shield soldiers. The equipment is not uniform, and the training is not uniform. It's just that the soldiers in it are more brave.

Due to the frequent encounters of the Chinese army in the fortified city, it was often necessary to wait for the head of the city to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy army during the siege. In principle, each infantry regiment of the Auxiliary Defense Army has a company with about 100 people, and if it is an auxiliary defense division, there are about 300 sword and shield soldiers.

These 300 people are basically the backbone of each auxiliary defense division, whether they can break through the enemy's defense line and establish a city-head position basically depends on them, and most of the others are made up.

In fact, the Chinese army still attaches more importance to these sword and shield bearers, and will not say that it does not pay attention to the pikemen, ordinary light infantry and even musketeers of other auxiliary defense divisions.

I saw that the dozen or so sword and shield men led by them climbed up quickly, but when they were halfway up, the Taiping army at the head of the city was suppressing the fire of the Chinese army, risking death to cut the hook and lock of the long ladder, but the hook and lock of these long ladders were all iron, and they could cut it for a while, so they shifted the target and wanted to cut the long ladder itself directly.

At the same time, someone was carrying a stone and trying to smash it down the long ladder!

When dozens of catties of stones fell down the long ladder, I saw that although the top of the sword and shield hand had a rattan card to protect the top of his head, it still did not block the impact of the stone, and smashed his whole head and broke the blood flow, and then the whole person just fell, and then hit a sword and shield soldier who was climbing up below him.

As a result, several people were affected by this chain reaction, fell directly from mid-air, fell to the ground with a pop, and then disappeared.

But at the same time, several sword and shield hands of the other long ladder are climbing all the way fast, the top sword and shield hand is Niu Gao Ma Zhuang, at least 1.85 meters tall, with thick and powerful arms, and the Taiping army on the top also threw a stone down to him, but the rattan card on his head is placed diagonally to let the stone roll down the other side.

After dodging the stones thrown from the city, he quickly climbed to the end of the long ladder, and then jumped from the top of the city, let out a strange scream, and pounced on the Taiping troops on the city like a tiger.

But as soon as he rushed up and slashed a person, he was stabbed in the waist with a spear by a young Taiping soldier, so that before he had time to think about why he was hit by a half-old child, it was because of his slow movement, the shield in his hand failed to block a long knife, so that the long knife was directly slashed on his body.

Even though he was wearing cotton armor, so that he didn't let the long knife directly hurt him, the huge impact still didn't make him stand firm, and soon spears and long knives came one after another, and after a few breaths, he was already covered in blood, and he couldn't stand down anymore.

But when he fell, there were already several sword and shield men of the Chinese army who climbed up the long ladder to the top of the city! (To be continued......)