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"The 32nd Brigade defended the west of Gangning, the 33rd Brigade defended the east of Gangning, and the 34th Brigade defended the south of Gangning. The 4th Brigade and the 35th Brigade, as the main troops attacking Jiangning, seized the time to rest and recuperate. In addition, the 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigade was ordered to speed up the march, and by tomorrow morning, it must rush to Jiangning to take part in this battle. Brigadier General Liu Zhongming, commander of the Xinhua Army, said. Originally, he thought that he would not use the heavy artillery brigade to go out. But later, considering that Jiangning is one of the few fortified cities in the world, the city walls are not only high, but also very thick. Relying on 75mm field guns alone, it is estimated that it will not be able to gnaw.

In addition, the power of the 105-mm howitzer is much greater than that of the 75-mm field gun, and it can also cause greater psychological pressure on the Qing army during the shelling. In addition, the 1st Fleet of the Xinhua Navy fiercely shelled Jiangning City from the Yangtze River in the north, which undoubtedly created an embattled situation for the defenders of Jiangning. As a result, the Qing army in the city was even more frightened, and more favorable conditions were created for defeating the Qing army.

"Yes, General!" A junior officer saluted, walked briskly away from the commander, and went to give orders.

When the order reached the brigades, the Xinhua Army quickly moved into action. The brigades, as ordered, began the operation. Go to the designated location. When the Xinhua army surrounded Jiangning City, the Qing soldiers in the city turned even pale. From this point on. Jiangning has been surrounded by the Xinhua army, and they have no other way but to defend it, even if they want to escape, they have no chance.

"Your Excellency the Governor, now that the Xinhua army has surrounded Jiangning, we have nothing but to defend it. There is no other way. Fortunately, we were already prepared, and we had stored a large amount of food in the city, enough for 100,000 troops to feed for three months. When the time comes. Reinforcements from the imperial court must have arrived. Jiangning General Dezhubu said.

"General De, although the army has food, what about the common people? Jiangning was besieged, and the connection with the outside world was completely cut off. Don't forget. There are still 500,000 people in the city. Count the words of these ordinary people. The food in the city can only meet the needs of one month at most. Suzhou Governor Sun Shanbao said. The hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in Jiangning City can't care about their lives or deaths. In the past, Dezhubu advocated closing the city gate and prohibiting the common people from leaving the city, in order to use these ordinary people as a shield to prevent the Xinhua army from unscrupulously shelling Jiangning and blowing Jiangning into ruins. In that case, those ordinary people will not have food to eat. It's going to make a big mess. If it is strict, it will cause problems in Jiangning's defense.

General Jiang Ning's face was a little ugly. He hadn't thought about this problem before, and only thought about using the people in Jiangning City as human shields to prevent the Xinhua Army from violently shelling Jiangning. But now it seems that such a strategy is not entirely an advantage.

"Even if it's only a month, the imperial court must be able to make a decision." Dezhubu said stubbornly.

"Your Excellency the Governor, General De, although the common people in the city have no food, there is still a lot of food in the official warehouse and the homes of those rich families. It's a big deal to open a warehouse and put grain, and then borrow grain from those rich households. At a critical juncture, they can't just ignore it, right? Liu Yunke, the governor of Zhejiang, said. Although, the opening of the warehouse and the release of grain require the order of the imperial court. But at this time, who can control so much. As for those rich people, do they dare not listen to the orders of the government?

"That's right, Lord Liu's advice is very good, and this official will adopt it. As soon as the supply of food in the city was insufficient, they opened warehouses to release grain people, and then let the rich families lend their food. All the consequences will be borne by the official. Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, said. He can still tell which is more important. As long as Jiangning can be defended, it will be a great achievement. As for other minor issues, Emperor Daoguang would definitely not care too much.

The Hangzhou general Qiying did not say a word, he was obviously not very optimistic that the Qing army would be able to hold Jiangning for a month. Today, the Xinhua army stormed Zhongshan, but it used hundreds of artillery pieces. Such a power alone made the Qing army in Jiangning City unable to resist.

On the morning of March 16, the Xinhua army's attack on Jiangning, as the Qing generals had expected, began as scheduled. Including the 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Xinhua Army, which arrived only last night, was also engaged in the battle. The direction of the Xinhua Army's main attack was to the south of Jiangning. Although there is naval artillery support in the north, there is artillery support from Zhongshan in the east. But the southern side is flat and easy to attack. What's more, for this offensive, the Xinhua Army concentrated a heavy artillery brigade and 4 brigade-affiliated artillery battalions of 75-mm field guns, and artillery preparation was already sufficient.

At half past seven in the morning, Brigadier General Liu Zhongming, commander of the Xinhua Army, gave the order to attack. The commander of the 2nd Heavy Artillery Brigade gave an order, and 90 105-mm howitzers were the first to fire. Subsequently, 72 75-mm field guns were added to the shelling.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "Dense cannonballs flew towards the southern wall of Jiangning City, and many cannonballs crossed the city wall and exploded in the city. A small number of shells exploded on the city wall, stone chips flew everywhere, and the Qing army on the city wall suffered heavy losses.

The walls of Jiangning were so strong that it would be almost impossible to completely collapse them with artillery. Even if it can be destroyed, I don't know how many shells will be consumed. Even the Xinhua Army can't afford it. After all, after taking Jiangning, the Xinhua army had to continue to attack westward, and along the Yangtze River, there were still a large number of fortified cities to attack.

"Boom!" A cannonball exploded on the city wall, and the female wall was torn apart in the explosion. The rubble hit the bodies of the Qing soldiers lying on the city wall, causing scars on their bodies. However, no one dares to raise their heads, and if they do, they may lose their lives.

The artillery deployed by the Qing army on the city wall also began to counterattack. However, they could not reach the position of the Xinhua Army at all, but because of the artillery fire, they led the powerful counterattack of the Xinhua Army, and were soon destroyed by the Xinhua Army.

The artillery shells exploded around the Qing army, and the shock wave generated by the explosion could tear the human body apart lightly, and the scattered shrapnel was even more wanton harvesting the lives of the Qing army. In this hellish battlefield, human life seems so fragile.

The houses on the side of the city wall were also damaged and even caught on fire. Although the artillery of the Xinhua Army deliberately targeted the city wall, it was simply impossible to completely hit the city wall. Fortunately, the civilians fled before the fighting began, so the casualties inflicted on ordinary civilians were not significant.

Half an hour after the shelling of the Xinhua army was carried out, there was already a river of blood on the city wall south of Jiangning. Of the thousands of Qing troops guarding the city wall, there is not one in ten. Stumps and broken arms are everywhere. Some timid soldiers were even more frightened, or lying on the ground vomiting, as if they had seen Shura Hell.

After the shelling ended, the officers and men of the 4th Brigade of the Xinhua Army launched an attack. The six infantry battalions lined up in a skirmish line, quickly approaching the Jiangning City Wall, and only stopped when they were a kilometer away from the Jiangning City Wall.

The Xinhua army launched an offensive and attracted the attention of the Qing army. Those Qing soldiers who were originally hiding under the city, under the reprimand of the commanders, had to take up their weapons and run up the city wall, ready to resist the attack of the Xinhua army. However, just as they rushed to the city wall, the shelling of the Xinhua army began again.

"Whew! Shout! Shout! There was a terrible whistling sound in the sky, and the cannonballs slashed through the air with a sound that almost burst people's eardrums.

"Ah, the shelling of the Xinhua army has begun again!" The soldiers of the Qing army shouted and fled to the city. Those who moved a little slower were sent to hell by the heavy shelling of the Xinhua army.

This kind of behavior of the Xinhua Army made Jiangning General Dezhubu and others very dissatisfied, and they cursed the Xinhua Army for their shamelessness.

Subsequently, the 4th Brigade of the Xinhua Army continued to advance and stopped less than three hundred meters from the city wall. The snipers of each squad stepped forward again, and then used their rifles to clear the remnants of the enemy on the city wall.

At the same time, the sappers of the 4th brigade were dispatched. It is not so easy to blow up the walls of Jiangning. Two squads of sappers, carrying 400 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder, rushed towards Jiangning City. The Qing army on the city wall was either blown up by the artillery fire of the Xinhua army, or was suppressed by the snipers of the Xinhua army, and it was impossible to stop the movement of the sappers of the Xinhua army. In addition, although they saw the sappers of the Xinhua Army approaching the city wall of Jiangning, they did not know what these sappers wanted to do.

400 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder, all buried under the south gate of Jiangning. The sappers of the Xinhua Army dug a large hole in the ground under the city wall with a sapper shovel, and then buried the smokeless gunpowder inside. Then he lit the long fuse and quickly fled. The whole process took a full fifteen minutes.

Three minutes later, an earth-shattering sound came from the south gate of Jiangning, and the entire Jiangning City seemed to be shaken, giving people a feeling that the earth was shaking.

"Did there be an earthquake?" The people in Jiangning City raised questions one after another.

However, in the violent explosion, the south gate of Jiangning has completely collapsed, and the entire city gate tower has collapsed. 400 kilograms of smokeless gunpowder caused the city wall of Jiangning to collapse nearly 100 meters. Jiangning City, which was regarded as impregnable by the Qing army, was breached in less than an hour under the attack of the Xinhua army.

"Order the 4th Brigade to attack the city and destroy the Qing army in the city. The 35th Infantry Brigade, ready for reinforcements at any time! "Seeing that the walls of Jiangning had been blown down, Brigadier General Liu Zhongming, commander of the Xinhua Army, immediately gave an order. The city is broken, and the next step is to destroy the Qing army in the city. (To be continued......)