The city walls have been around for thousands of years, and as the ultimate symbol of fortifications, their mission was gradually brought to an end after the advent of modern artillery. But at this moment, Chen Yucheng was still a fortified city, and although he had the advantage of artillery, he must also take into account the defensive ability of the Zhaoqing city wall and its blocking effect as an obstacle.

The day after the artillery crossed the Xijiang River and was in place, the New First Army's offensive officially began, and at five o'clock in the morning, the Taiping Army's artillery position at the East Gate took the lead in roaring.

Nearly 300 new Western artillery pieces were concentrated at the east gate, and Chen Yucheng wanted to use this overwhelming firepower advantage to break the Qing army's will to resist. This method of warfare was used hundreds of years ago when the Jin army attacked Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jin army built more than 1,000 trebuchets to throw stones and other objects towards Kaifeng City day and night, and in the end the stones outside the city were almost exhausted by the Jin army, and the will to resist of the Northern Song Dynasty forbidden army completely collapsed, and there was the shame of Jingkang surrendered by the Northern Song Emperor.

Dense shells exploded on the city wall of Zhaoqing, and soon the city wall of the east gate was shrouded in thick smoke and dust, accompanied by the light of fire rising into the sky, and the ancient body of the city wall of Zhaoqing trembled in the artillery fire.

The shelling lasted for half an hour, and when the shelling stopped bombarding the city wall, the soldiers on the Taiping army's attack position at the forefront found that the Zhaoqing city wall had been bombarded with five gaps, and the city wall of Zhaoqing really failed to block the bombardment of the Taiping army's artillery of various calibers.

A low trumpet sounded, and the soldiers in the sortie positions raised their battle flags and began to pour like a tide towards the gap in the collapsed wall, while the artillery began to extend the shelling back.

The rifled artillery that the Taiping Army now possessed was capable of hitting several kilometers away. In addition, this artillery position was set up after crossing the Xijiang River, and it was closer to Zhaoqing City, so almost the entire Zhaoqing City was within the range of the Taiping Army's artillery.

When the infantry of the Taiping army rushed through the gap in the wall. Under the inner city wall, the long-awaited Qing soldiers were killed, although they were all gray-faced, but their eyes were fierce, and they each raised their swords and guns to frantically come up to plug the gap.

The soldiers of the Taiping Army were stunned, they did not expect that the Qing army did not collapse under such a fierce shelling, and they also protected themselves well, and in a hurry, the company that rushed to the front could only raise their bayonets and start hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army.

The vanguard company fought hand-to-hand in the gap. The follow-up troops did not continue to advance, and they began to line up under the command of the officers, forming columns of gun formations. Prepare to wait for the forward company to retreat and begin to advance neatly.

Although the vanguard company fought fiercely in hand-to-hand combat, the Qing army on the inside of the city wall had the advantage of numbers after all, and they also met Chu Yong, who was known for his fierce hand-to-hand combat.

After more than half of the casualties. The soldiers of the vanguard company heard the whistle of retreat. They alternately covered and exited the gap, and the Qing army was in hot pursuit, seemingly unwilling to let go of the Taiping army, but when their figures appeared on the collapsed ruins on the outside of the city walls, they were greeted by a dense barrage of bullets.

The Taiping army outside the city wall had already completed the whole formation, and they were lined up in a horizontal column thirty people wide, and there were as many as seven or eight columns in the vertical column, walking in a neat pace. The Taipings began to advance towards the gap in an array of guns, but this time they advanced slowly. Alternate fire while walking for cover, this tactic is another type of infantry barrage tactic.

The Qing army was quickly suppressed back, but fortunately there was the ruins of the collapsed city wall as a cover, and the steep slope of the ruins formed at both ends became an obstacle, and the Qing army retreated to the inner side of the city wall, ready to wait for the Taiping army to appear again at the highest point of the steep slope of the ruins.

But this time, they didn't wait for the Taiping army to appear, but waited for dozens of black iron bumps. In addition to maintaining the suppression of fire, the grenadiers in the queue began to throw the newly equipped grenades towards the gap in the city wall.

After a burst of explosions and smoke, the Taiping army accelerated to the top of the ruins of the city wall, the soldiers in the front row quickly fired downward, and the grenadiers in the back row, after throwing the second round of grenades, quickly alternated forward, squatting on the ground with bayonets raised to cover the soldiers behind to continue to advance.

In this way, the gaps everywhere were torn apart by the tactics of the Taiping army alternately covering the advance, and as more and more Taiping soldiers poured in, the Qing army in the east gate section of the city wall gradually lost control of the city wall.

When the apricot yellow banner of the Taiping army was planted on the dilapidated city tower at the east gate, the Qing army's artillery hidden between the houses in the city suddenly opened fire. Solid shells bounced and ploughed through the Taiping army's array of guns, but no one retreated, and they still advanced in a neat array.

The artillery guide at the head of the city hurriedly waved a flag outside the city to report the position of the Qing artillery in the city, and soon the Qing artillery fire was suppressed by the Taiping army's artillery fire, and the position of the Taiping army's vanguard team was finally stabilized.

From the fierce battle in the early morning to noon, the Taiping army basically cleared the Qing army in the area of the east gate, relying on the city wall to establish a simple defense line, a large number of sharpshooters deployed on the city wall, condescendingly control the intersection of each street.

Because the Taiping Army used advanced rifled muskets, it was possible to realize sniper tactics, so as early as the beginning of the establishment of the Shanghai Martial Arts School, Xiao Yungui introduced the concept of sniper tactics. Although sniper tactics have not yet formed the concept of special operations, there are a large number of soldiers with good marksmanship in each of the newly formed units of the Taiping Army, and their role is to maintain a large number of casualties to the enemy on the battlefield.

After the Taiping army took control of the East Gate, the two sides entered a brief period of respite, and the Qing army did not collapse as in the past, and they retreated behind the street entrances, relying on the barricades and houses to continue to resist stubbornly. After a brief lunch, the two sides adjusted their deployments and prepared for the next round of fighting.

After Chen Yucheng saw that the east gate fell into his hands, he let the light eight-pounder cannon enter the city, and after the sappers cleared the mines and obstacles on the road of the city gate, they opened the east gate that was filled in by the Qing army, and the artillery team deployed twenty eight-pounder guns to the city wall. The follow-up troops also began to enter the city, preparing to take over the vanguard and continue the attack in depth into the city.

The Qing army on both sides of the east gate and the north gate launched a charge along the city wall, but was quickly suppressed by the Taiping sharpshooters and artillery at the head of the city.

The muskets that occurred at the intersections of each street were at a disadvantage to the Qing army, the muskets of the Taiping army had a long range and high accuracy, and the Qing army's bird guns and guns were completely suppressed, and they could only rely on the cover of the houses in the city to launch a short assault to carry out hand-to-hand counterattacks, but in hand-to-hand combat, the Qing army could not take advantage of it at all, and the Taiping army's skillful bayonet and tactics always made the Qing army retreat and return in the end, and the Qing army's results were only by rushing out of a certain room by surprise to succeed in the sneak attack.

Despite the overall superiority, Chen Yucheng was very annoyed, and when he broke through the city walls, the Taiping army lost hundreds of soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and then suddenly under the attack of Qing artillery, killing more than 400 people and wounding more than 500. Later, more than 100 soldiers were killed and wounded in the counterattack of the Qing army, and the Taiping army suffered considerable losses in this kind of life-for-life fighting of the Qing army. By the end of the morning, the Taipings had lost almost a battalion of troops, and occupied only a corner of the eastern gate.

As the follow-up troops marched into the city, the Taiping army began a difficult street battle, and the Taiping army began to sweep the street by item by street in a squad platoon, while the Qing army cunningly hid in the street corner, in the house or on the roof, from time to time to release cold arrows, hidden guns, and sneak attacks to create trouble for the Taiping army.

In the afternoon, the Taiping army began to find the trick of street fighting, and they also began to climb the roofs of various houses, condescending to control the streets, and cooperated with the friendly troops below to continue to advance house by street.

The soldiers on both sides were killed, and the people in the city were killed, and many people died from the accidental injuries of both sides.

In the evening, the Taiping army had to stop, the Qing army gradually could not resist in the street fighting, the Taiping army's superiority in strength and firepower became more and more obvious, and the Qing army had begun to surrender to the Taiping army. The treacherous and cunning Jiang Zhongyuan ordered the fire, and on the most prosperous main street in Zhaoqing, the Qing army set fire to the houses along this street, and the skyrocketing fire quickly blocked the Taiping army's advance.

I have to say that Jiang Zhongyuan's cunning is that he also saw the direction of the wind, and the fire he lit did not develop towards the urban area controlled by the Qing army, but burned towards the east gate of the Taiping army. In order to defend Zhaoqing, Jiang Zhongyuan did not hesitate to burn the city to block the Taiping army, which was really the last madness.

Many of the people who hid in the house and did not have time to escape were burned alive in the house, and the people who escaped lost their homes and property, and the Taiping army had to use manpower to guide the people to temporarily resettle in the city, so as not to be burned in the sea.

At nightfall, the Taiping army finally managed to control the fire, but the city under the control of the Taiping army was a piece of rubble, and the Qing army was ready to continue to resist stubbornly on the other side. Chen Yucheng stood at the head of the East Gate and saw most of the burned Zhaoqing City, gritted his teeth and said angrily: "The main attack force will continue to clear the remnants of the enemy tomorrow morning, and the remaining guards of the gate will hold their positions and not let a single demon out of the city!" (To be continued......)

PS: Due to my negligence, there were mistakes in the first few chapters, it was Chen Yucheng who commanded the Battle of Guangzhou, not Li Xiucheng, and it was changed from this chapter, and the previous mistakes were not easy to modify due to the VIP chapter, please forgive me.