With the addition of the first 2,000 recruits, the Taiping army's strength in Chishang Province quickly became abundant. XsHuotXT

Soon, Chen Wu took a batch of newly made siege equipment, went south with the personal guards, and arrived at Chishang Mansion in person. The Taiping army's attack on Chishang Province was restarted after a period of delay. In just one week, the Taiping army captured Jiaode County with unimaginable efficiency, and finally surrounded Chishangfu City, turning it into an isolated city.

Although there were no reinforcements outside, chaos and panic inside the city, and the morale of the army was low, the castle guards of Ikegami Province had no intention of opening the city and surrendering. While stepping up the training of the people, he ordered people to rush to make all kinds of rolling wood and stones for defending the city, and made up his mind to defend it to the end.

After failing to persuade them to surrender, the Taiping army had no choice but to launch a fierce attack.

One by one, the stone throwers were pushed to the front of the battle and began to bombard the defenders of Chishang Province, and then a large number of soldiers began to fill the river. This batch of newly produced siege weapons used the drawings provided by Chen Wu, and both accuracy and power were higher than the average level of the empire. Under the vigorous operation of the soldiers of the engineering battalion, these stone throwers caused heavy casualties to the defenders at the head of the city.

As the moat filled in a passage, the army ascended to the top of the city and fought the defenders.

Because of the experience of capturing large cities such as Longshan, Wu'an, and Yuyang, coupled with the powerful siege equipment provided by Chen Wu that was impossible for ordinary rebel forces, the Taiping army's attack on Chishangfu advanced steadily. Although there must have been bloody battles and battles during the period, the shape shì was leaning towards the Taiping army day by day.

During this period, the weather was not beautiful, and it rained for three consecutive days, forcing the Taiping army to suspend the attack. But the reduction of external pressure is not necessarily a good thing for Chisuefu, because it means that there is room for internal contradictions to erupt.

Before the siege, the Taiping army had already fired many arrows into the city, and also sent a brigade of soldiers to shout for surrender. All the civil and military officials in the city already knew that if the Chishang Mansion resisted to the end, all those who opposed the Taiping army would be beheaded and their homes were confiscated. The fact that the city guards of Chishang Mansion were willing to die did not mean that other defenders and officials were also willing to accompany him to the funeral.

What's more, in order to recruit enough people, Chishang Mansion did not hesitate to offend the nobles and families in the city and force them to contribute people and efforts.

Previously, the Taiping army was attacking fiercely, and the defenders were nailed to the city, and it was difficult to make any trouble. Now that there are three short days, a captain and several nobles in the city secretly connect in tandem, preparing to raid the city guard mansion at night, and then open the city to let the Taiping army enter the city.

Unfortunately, the night raid ultimately failed.

The city guards of Chishang Mansion heard the wind in advance and transferred the defenders at the head of the city back in time. After a fight, the captain who plotted to do it was killed along with several nobles. However, this internal strife with nearly 100 casualties severely shook the morale and military strength of the defenders of Chishang Mansion.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Chishang Mansion can't support it for too long.

After besieging the city for more than half a month, the Taiping army suddenly added a round of attacks in the evening when the defenders were exhausted. This group of the most elite Taiping Battalion soldiers made the defenders of Chishang Mansion, who had already relaxed their vigilance, suffer a big loss. The morale that was originally supported by one breath could no longer be supported after it was discharged, and the swarming Taiping army took advantage of the chaos to seize a complete section of the city wall.

The fall of Chishang Mansion has thus entered the countdown.

As the defenders fled, the Taiping army that attacked the city opened the city gates, and the army rushed into Chishang Mansion. Considering that it was already dark and the army was not familiar with the terrain of Chishangfu, the Taiping army postponed the offensive. After dawn on the second day, they separately seized the city defense camp and the city guard mansion.

After resisting for a long time, the remnants of the resistance of Ikegami quickly collapsed as the castle guard of Ikegami Prefecture hanged himself.

Among the five prefectures in Songjiang, the two prefectures of Yuyang and Chishang in the west all fell under the control of the Taiping army!

When the news spread, the officialdom and even the center of the entire Songjiang were once again greatly impacted. Since the passage to the south has been completely opened, the army of the Kingdom of Oman, which has suffered a thwart offensive under the fortress of the South Peak, is also very excited. Someone was urgently sent to contact Chen Wu and urged him to go south as much as possible.

It's a pity that the secret envoy's request was rejected again by Chen Wu without hesitation on the grounds of "just conquering Chishang Mansion and suffering heavy losses".

Although the army of the Kingdom of Oman was anxious, it was helpless.

Although Saladin angrily slammed his cup and vowed to give Chen Wu a good look after defeating the Nanfeng Fortress, at least before the Nanfeng Fortress was broken, he had nothing to do with Chen Wu in Songjiang County. He could only order the secret envoy to try his best to continue to lure and persuade Chen Wu.

………

Owning the territory of the two provinces greatly increased the manpower and material resources that could be mobilized in the hands of the Taiping army.

With the second batch of 2,000 recruits joining the combat sequence, the current military strength of the Taiping Army has reached about 10,000. Although only half of them were veterans, and there were many wounded soldiers who were wounded in the capture of Chishang Fuzhong, the number of this army completely exceeded that of the official army of Songjiang County.

Even if you count the garrison brigade that is being reorganized in Dengzhou, the number of people on both sides can be basically equal!

In this regard, Chen Wu could only say that the Taiping Army had a great advantage.

Following what was done in Yuyang Mansion, it didn't take long for the Taiping army to take initial control of Chishang. Subsequently, in order to deter the other three prefectures of Songjiang, all those who resolutely demanded to resist the Taiping army in the deliberations of Chishang Prefecture were pulled out and beheaded for public display, and all their family property was confiscated. The few who asked to open the city to welcome the Taiping army into the city were vigorously promoted by Chen Wu, even if a few of them did not have much ability. But in order to make a gesture, these people were still openly pushed out and vigorously promoted.

Those who fought against the Taiping army ended up dead and annihilated; Those who welcome the Taiping Army will be able to further sit in a high position!

The two treatments of Chishang Mansion have served as a clear warning and example for the rest of the three prefectures in Songjiang.

Faced with the unhindered march of the Taiping army in Songjiang County, as well as the obvious acceleration of high-speed expansion, the officials of Dengzhou could not sit still. After the governor Chi Chang lost his temper several times, he had to summon the general of the Protector Army, Gao Gaozhou, one after another, to ask him about his countermeasures. However, although the official army of Songjiang still has a strong strength, they are burdened with a heavy burden, and the orthodox identity of the official army also determines that they cannot be as reckless as the thief army, and there are too many things to consider.

Seeing that the Taiping Army had redeployed troops and there were faint signs of pointing the next target to Wushan Province, Gaozhou, who was under great pressure, finally came up with a plan that was enough to reverse the defeat.

That is, when the Taiping army attacked Wushan, desperately in danger of losing Dengzhou, the first garrison brigade of Dengzhou sitting in the county town was transferred out, and if it was not enough, the city defense battalion of the closed city government was also counted, and the nest was dispatched to cut off the back road of the Taiping army, and annihilated the main force of the Taiping army attacking Wushan!

It's an all-or-nothing strategic showdown.

As soon as the 1st Garrison Brigade moved, Dengzhou no longer had a reliable military force to defend it. The reorganized garrison brigade has only just taken shape, and it is simply not enough time for a month or two to form a combat force. In the unlikely event of the failure of this outpouring of the nest, the vitality of the entire Songjiang official army will be completely wiped out. As long as the Taiping army recovers from the victory, it will be able to sweep down in a month and capture the entire county of Songjiang.

Corresponding to this huge risk, if the war is won, it can only contain the aggressive offensive of the Taiping army. The thieves sit on Yuyang, Chishang, and Daqingguan, and have the ability to recruit troops to fight again - the current Taiping Army is no longer the kind of thieves who completely collapsed after losing the first war, but an army that already has a certain foundation!

Is the Gouda State option viable?

At present, it is the only plan that Songjiang can maintain the situation and even turn the defense into an offensive.

However, the risk is too great, and the possible benefits are not proportional to the consequences of failure!

Wei Chichang was too old, eight years older than the emperor of the empire, Qianyuanji. If he was forty years old, in the face of the plan of giving up the defense of Dengzhou and attacking the nest, most likely he would choose to give it a go. But as he grew old, he began to become conservative, forward-looking, and worried.

He pinned his hopes that Songjiang County would continue to hold out like this until the rest of the empire pulled out their forces to rescue them—just like the Taiping army had done when they were in Taiping County, and was driven away by the city guards.

As long as he can hold the one-third of an acre of land in Dengzhou, Wei Chichang will be satisfied.

Because of this, in the face of this last detailed counterattack plan carefully planned by Gaoda Prefecture that may reverse the situation, Wei Chichang finally chose to abandon it.

This was a great disappointment for the state of Gouda.

When the news reached Wushan, Meng, the guardian of Wushan City, was also very disappointed. Wei Chichang rejected the plan of Gundam State, which was not only a conservative decision, but also indirectly abandoned Oshan. Without reinforcements from Dengzhou, relying only on the city defense battalion of Osan and the remaining half of the infantry of the 3rd Mixed Brigade, their fate would be the same as that of Chishangfu.

However, no matter how disappointed he was, Cheng Shimeng was also the city guard of a mansion and a landlord appointed by the empire.

Before the last step of the matter, he refused to give up. What's more, the cards in Cheng Shimeng's hand are far better than those in Chishangfu.

Although the city defense battalion in Osan Province was only half the normal size, i.e. 500 men, they also had the 3rd Mixed Brigade to guard against the crossing of the border by the Haikou (the latter assumed the duties of part of the city defense battalion).

Even if the 1,500 cavalry of Ling Jie's westward march suffered an unprecedented defeat outside Yuyang City, losing more than 1,000 horses and horses, and only fled back to 300 cavalry in panic, Cheng Shimeng still had 300 cavalry in his hands, and there were still 500 cavalry in the Closed City Mansion.

In this situation, the Taiping army is the big problem, and Haikou can't take care of it anymore. Once the Gaozhou side agrees and issues an order, the 500 cavalry of the Sealed City Mansion will be transferred to Wushan Mansion and join Cheng Shimeng's hands. In this way, Osan Mansion will have nearly 800 cavalry.

Although this mobile force is much weaker than before, it is still not negligible.

What's more, in addition to the cavalry, the 3rd Mixed Brigade also had two infantry corps, each with a wing stationed at Osan and Blockade. All combined, there are 1,500 officers and troops in the entire Wushan Mansion City, plus 800 cavalry!

These cavalry, whether they are stationed in the city for sneak attacks, or put outside the city to harass and sneak attack the Taiping army's rear roads and grain routes, have a very big threat.

Cheng Shimeng believed that even if the governor was unwilling to take the risk of sending the First Garrison Brigade, he could inflict huge casualties on the Taiping army with the strength at his disposal!