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"What's going on? Why did the earthquake happen suddenly? In the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion, Niu Jian, the Governor of Liangjiang, asked in a panic.

"Your Excellency the Governor, it's not an earthquake, it should be a firearm of the Xinhua Army." Hangzhou General Qi Ying said.

"Firearms? Are the firearms of the Xinhua Army so powerful? Niu Jian looked a little unconvinced. The Xinhua army had carried out heavy artillery bombardment during the attack before, and they all knew it. However, the artillery bombardment of the Xinhua Army obviously did not have such great power.

"I don't know, but it must be the battle made by the Xinhua Army, these outcasts of the Celestial Empire, there are too many strange things." Qiying sighed. Before, the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty did not take the Xinhua Army seriously at all. No one would have thought that the Xinhua Army would make such a fuss. Not only did they take Guangdong, but they also launched a fierce attack on Jiangning, and if it didn't work, all the south of the Yangtze River would have to fall, in that case, half of China would be gone. And this undoubtedly also posed a mortal threat to the Qing Dynasty.

"No need to guess, someone should report it soon." Jiangning General Dezhubu said.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a Qing army general came to tell him what had happened.

"General, something is wrong. The Xinhua army blew up the southern city wall with gunpowder, and the city walls near the city gate were blown down, and now the Xinhua army has entered the city, and the brothers are resisting. Please make a decision as soon as possible. The Qing army general said.

"What? The walls were blown down? How is this possible? The high-ranking officials of the Qing army in the governor's palace all exclaimed. The main reason why they decided to defend Jiangning was that the strong walls of Jiangning gave them a lot of confidence. But now. The battle had just begun, and the Xinhua army blew up the walls of Jiangning and stormed the city.

"General De, didn't you say that the walls of Jiangning are very strong enough to withstand the attack of the Xinhua army? How did it become the way it is? Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, asked. The reason why he ordered to defend Jiangning at the beginning was that Dezhubu thought that Jiangning's city defense was very strong.

"Your Excellency. I didn't expect the Xinhua Army to blow up Jiangning's city defense so lightly. Now is not the time to talk about this, we have to send troops to block the Xinhua army immediately. Otherwise, Jiang Ning will really be finished. Jiangning General Dezhubu said.

Dezhubu bowed his hand to Niu Jian and the others. Walk away quickly. He is the general of Jiangning, with 20,000 eight banner soldiers in his hands, and he has full authority to command the operations in Jiangning City. Now he left the Doge's palace in a hurry. It is to deploy the defenses of the city. Originally. Dezhubu thought that even if the Xinhua army wanted to break through Jiangning, it would take at least ten days and a half months. But now, the strength of the Xinhua Army's offensive far exceeded his expectations.

"General Qiying, what do you think? Will Jiangning still be able to hold on? Zhejiang Governor Liu Yunke asked in a low voice.

"Lord Liu, it's hard for me to see it. In my opinion, three days at most. Jiangning is about to fall. "Jain is even more pessimistic. They fled from Hangzhou to Jiangning, unexpectedly. In the end, there is still no escape, and it will still fall into the hands of the Xinhua Army. They were all high-ranking officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and it stands to reason that they should be martyred, but none of them want to die like this. Otherwise, he would not have abandoned the city and fled in the first place. Therefore, even if they fall into the hands of the Xinhua Army, they will definitely not give up their lives. Isn't there a saying that it is better to die than to live?

Although the voices of Liu Yunke, the governor of Zhejiang, and Qiying, the general of Hangzhou, were very small to China, they could hear the silence in the hall at this moment. After hearing this, Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, and Sun Shanbao, the governor of Jiangsu, their faces were even more gloomy, as if they could drip water.

When the Xinhua Army blew up the city wall in the south of Jiangning, thousands of soldiers of the 4th Brigade crossed the blown up city wall and entered the city of Jiangning. After many years of fighting, the Xinhua Army has already summed up a set of effective street fighting tactics. Compared with the Xinhua Army, the Eight Banners are more chaotic and initiate charges, and their tactics are completely looking for death. A few shells or grenades of the Xinhua Army passed, and they beat these Eight Banners soldiers to the head, leaving behind the corpses in one place and then retreating. As for those who have just been recruited, they are even more unbearable. Although they had the courage to fight to the death, their attacks did not have any tactical essentials at all. Carrying a broadsword and spear, he bravely attacked the Xinhua army, but was knocked to the ground by the bullets fired. When the blood of their companions splashed on their bodies, it cooled their feverish brains. In particular, the mortars of the Xinhua Army began to fire rapidly, the shells exploded in the crowd, and the human body was constantly torn to pieces, mixed with bone chips and blood of minced flesh, which made these villagers who had never seen the world very panicked and quickly collapsed.

Although, in order to drive the Xinhua army out of Jiangning, the Jiangning general Dezhubu invested tens of thousands of troops. However, in the end, not only did it not stop the Xinhua Army from entering Jiangning, but it made the gap bigger and bigger. When the six infantry battalions of the 4th Brigade of the Xinhua Army entered Jiangning through the bleed-up city wall, the flames of war burned in the city.

"Bang!" A crisp gunshot rang out, and a Qing soldier who was hiding on the roof of a house and trying to fire a cold arrow was shot, and the body rolled on the roof a few times before falling to the street, splashing a cloud of dust.

After attacking Jiangning City, the Xinhua Army began to use squads and platoons as units to gradually clear out the Qing troops in the city. In addition, the various infantry battalions concentrated powerful forces to attack the Qing army's defensive line. Mortars, which have a fast rate of fire and can shoot in a curved manner, have played a great role in street fighting. Often, a few mortars were able to destroy the resistance of the Qing army.

Although, on the narrow streets, the Qing army was also able to inflict certain casualties on the Xinhua army. But overall, compared to the huge casualties of the Qing army, the casualties of the Xinhua army were much smaller.

After the 4th Infantry Brigade entered Jiangning, Brigadier General Liu Zhongming soon threw the 35th Infantry Brigade into the siege. After all, there were tens of thousands of Qing troops in the city. Although their combat effectiveness is low, there are too many of them, and in order to defeat them, the Xinhua army will have to invest a considerable amount of troops.

Jiangning is a big city, and there are hundreds of thousands of people living there. The two infantry brigades of the Xinhua Army were thrown into the city, which was nothing. Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army was rubbish after all, and the two infantry brigades of the Xinhua Army were enough to fight them and retreat.

Some officers and men of the Qing army, in a desperate situation, had no choice but to surrender to the Xinhua army. However, their surrender was not denied. The Xinhua Army accepted their surrender. Whether it is the Green Battalion or the Eight Banners, as long as they lay down their arms and surrender, the Xinhua Army will take all the orders. These prisoners of war will be used to build roads and other infrastructure in the future. It is more useful to keep them alive than to kill them.

When more and more Qing soldiers found that they could surrender to the Xinhua Army without dying, more and more people chose to surrender to the Xinhua Army in order to escape with their lives.

After a day of fierce fighting, the Xinhua army took control of a small half of Jiangning, and the Qing army, which was annihilated by the Xinhua army that day, exceeded 20,000 people. Among them, some of them are Eight Banner soldiers, but more of them are those who are brave and deceived by the government with their enthusiasm. Among the 20,000 Qing troops, very few were actually killed by the Xinhua army, and most of them chose to surrender to the Xinhua army.

After the sun went down, the Xinhua army stopped its offensive and began to consolidate the area it had occupied. In order to prevent the Qing army from counterattacking at night, Brigadier General Liu Zhongming, commander of the Xinhua Army, deliberately strengthened his defense. However, at this time, did the Qing army still have the courage to attack the Xinhua army? They had been frightened by the fierce offensive of the Xinhua Army during the day, and if the Xinhua Army did not take the initiative to attack, they would have been thankful.

"General De, we have already lost half of Jiangning, if we continue like this, it won't be long before the Xinhua Army will hit the Governor's Palace, right? What should we do? Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, asked with some concern.

"Lord Governor, it seems that we have to prepare for the worst. The combat effectiveness of the Xinhua Army is unprecedented. It seems that the legend that even the foreigners are not their opponents, that is true. Jiangning General Dezhubu said.

"Could it be that we have to surrender to the Xinhua Army?" Jiangsu Governor Sun Shanbao said with some despair.

"No, we still have a way. I'm going to break out tonight. Jiangning General Dezhubu said. Now that he knows, sticking to Jiangning is really a dead end. If you want to survive, or not be captured by the Xinhua army, you can only risk breaking through.

"Breakout? Jiangning is surrounded by the Xinhua army on all sides, where do we break through from? Zhejiang Governor Liu Yunke asked.

"The Yangtze River in the north has been blocked by the navy of the Xinhua Army, Zhongshan in the east is also under the control of the Xinhua Army, and the south is the main force of the Xinhua Army. The only direction we can break through is to the west. Tonight, Ben will lead a large army to break through from the west, hoping to fight his way out. As long as we can escape from Jiangning, we have a chance to live. Dezhubu said.

The other high-ranking officials, after a little hesitation, agreed with the plan of General Jiangning Dezhubu. After all, staying in Jiangning, the best ending is to be captured by the Xinhua army. It may be dangerous to break through, but as long as you can successfully escape, there is still a chance to live. Of course, it is not known whether the imperial court will blame them. However, this is not in the mind. First of all, we must not be caught by the Xinhua army.

"Since there is no objection from everyone, then it is decided. Tonight, I will set out with a large army. When the time comes, everyone will take advantage of the chaos to flee Jiangning. Dezhubu said.

"Why not act together?" Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, asked.

"If you act together, the goal is too big. Disperse your actions, and everyone will live in peace! Dezhubu said. (To be continued......)