Such a trivial matter as dozens of captives being released could not alarm Yuan Chonghuan, the commander of the Jingnan Army. After all, as the leader of an army of 200,000, Yuan Chonghuan had too many tasks to deal with every day.

Since two days ago, the Praetorian Guard has launched a full-scale counterattack from the inner city, and fighting is taking place outside almost every inner city gate.

In fact, the Praetorian Guard did not dispatch many troops, and only a few hundred troops were dispatched outside each city gate, and the total number of troops dispatched was only 5,000.

However, because of the large number of barricades and barracks, the anti-thief army is also very scattered, with one barricade guarded by 100 people, and a barracks and fort with 5 or 600 people. Yuan Chonghuan regarded the entire outer city as a battlefield and let the Praetorian Guards fall into the quagmire of the entire outer city, so as to achieve the goal of delaying time and waiting for changes in the provinces. And his strategy and defense method also made it impossible to concentrate the anti-thief forces, and he could not give full play to the strength advantage of the 200,000 army.

Therefore, in local battlefields, the number of Praetorian Guards is basically the same as that of the anti-thieves guarding the barricades, and even the number of Praetorian Guards is even higher. Moreover, the Praetorian Guard, both in terms of equipment and combat will, far surpasses the anti-thieves, so every battle can be won. In just two days, from the Sanshan Gate of the inner city to the Golden Gate, the Praetorian Guards launched an attack from eight city gates, all of which captured seven or eight barricades of the anti-thieves, and pushed the battle line from the inner city wall outward for more than a mile.

Every time he wins, he will capture a lot of prisoners and take them back to the inner city to carry out the ideological transformation of everyone equally, and after the reform, they will be released.

Therefore, after two days of fighting, the Janissary front advanced more than a mile, and the losses of the anti-thief army were not large. Therefore, in the eyes of many high-level anti-thieves, the battle situation can still be maintained, after all, there are still many barricades and camps in the outer city, as well as a large number of troops.

However, it wasn't until the third day that a battle broke out outside the stone gate of the inner city, which shocked Yuan Chonghuan and the other high-ranking anti-thieves.

As mentioned earlier, in order to prevent Li Yan's Zhishui Division stationed at the Longjiang Shipyard from launching an attack along the Qinhuai River, Yuan Chonghuan ordered the construction of three barracks in the area outside Shichengmen and Qingliangmen, and built a fort on the south bank of the Qinhuai River, trying to block Li Yan's Zhishui Division from attacking along the Qinhuai River with barracks and forts.

Yuan Chonghuan's arrangement did play a role, since the camp and fort were arranged, in the past two months, Li Yanzhi has been repelled several attacks in a row, successfully blocking Li Yanzhi to the north of Mochou Lake, and defending the occupied outer city territory.

But Yuan Chonghuan didn't know that the reason why Li Yanzhi didn't break through the defense line was not because he couldn't, but because he didn't feel cost-effective. Because the defenders of the entire inner city of Nanjing, excluding the conscripted Xiangyong, only had more than 10,000 people, including 4,000 Praetorian Guards in the hands of Hong Chengchou and more than 6,000 Fujian Praetorian Guards in the hands of Li Yanzhi.

The number of troops is too small, even if he can break through the anti-thief defense line, Li Yanzhi is not sure to drive the anti-thieves out of the outer city, and if the casualties are too large, I am afraid that it will affect the inner city, so from beginning to end, Li Yanzhi just attacked and harassed, and did not think about a full-scale attack.

And now, with Zhu Youzhen entering the inner city with 90,000 troops, the troops defending the city are already very sufficient. And with the addition of Zhang Shize's 8,000 Praetorian Guards, the elite army has also reached 20,000, and it is time to launch a counteroffensive.

So this time, Li Yanzhi is no longer an attack, but an all-out attack.

In order to destroy the anti-thief defense line in one fell swoop, Li Yanzhi even ordered five sea ships carrying thirty Hongyi cannons to sail into the Qinhuai River and reach the gate of Shicheng.

Although the Qinhuai River is wide, it is too narrow and shallow compared to the three-masted sea boats, and the three-story deck of the pointed bottom sea ships with towers as tall as a building cannot even turn around in the river. When they arrived outside the Shicheng Gate along the Qinhuai River, all the sea boats touched the bottom of the river and ran aground in the Qinhuai River, unable to move again.

However, the distance of the sea ship is enough, because at this time, the five sea ships are less than three miles away from the three barracks and batteries of the anti-thief, and they are within the range of the Hongyi cannon, and the Hongyi cannon is installed on the deck of the sea ship, and the top deck of the sea ship is almost as high as the inner city wall, and it has a condescending advantage to bombard the anti-thief camp battery.

Thirty Hongyi cannons opened fire one after another, firing huge projectiles at the anti-thief battery, and compared with the turbulent sea, the sea ships stranded in the Qinhuai River were almost motionless, and the hit rate of the shots increased several times.

After more than a dozen rounds of bombardment, the anti-thief fort was bombarded with holes, and most of the more than 100 artillery pieces that Yuan Chonghuan had painstakingly mobilized were destroyed, and the anti-thief gunners on the fort suffered heavy casualties and fled in a hurry.

The anti-thief fort is located outside the Sanshan Gate, three miles away from the Shicheng Gate, and the anti-thief army is all ordinary artillery, and the distance of three miles is beyond their range, and it is impossible to fight back when beaten alone.

Faced with this situation, the anti-thief generals of the three camps also led their troops to attack, trying to destroy the five Praetorian Guard ships. They sent dozens of river boats along the Qinhuai River towards five sea boats, trying to set fire to them.

Faced with this situation, Li Yanzhi naturally prepared for a long time, mobilized more than a dozen river boats in advance, blocked them dozens of feet away from the sea boats, and then scuttled them into the Qinhuai River, completely blocking the river channel, and the river boats of the thieves could not rush in front of the sea boats at all, let alone set fire.

Faced with this situation, the anti-thief general in charge of the command was in a hurry and led more than 15,000 people to kill by land. However, Li Yanzhi sent 5,000 troops to line up on the banks of the Qinhuai River to cover the sea boats in the river.

On the bank of the Qinhuai River, there was a fierce battle between 15,000 rebels and 5,000 Praetorian Guards. Because of the large number of buildings, the forces of both sides could not be deployed, so they could only line up along the streets along the banks of the river and fight each other.

In this case, the troops on both sides engaged in the frontal battle are only a few hundred, and the remaining troops cannot be placed at all, and they can't even see the battlefield, only the sound of fighting can be heard.

The equipment, combat effectiveness, and even the will to fight of the Praetorian Guards are far from being comparable to the anti-thieves who have just formed the army. When the two sides first came into contact, they fired at each other with firearms, and at close range, there were more than 100 casualties on both sides. However, for the Praetorian Guard, this casualty was completely bearable, and under the command of Li Yanzhi, the Praetorian Guard soldiers in the rear quickly made up for it and continued to shoot at the rebels. On the other hand, on the anti-thief side, the morale has dropped sharply, seeing that there are great casualties in the front, the anti-thieves behind hesitate and are reluctant to step forward.

"Rush up, there are many of us!" The anti-thief generals shouted, whipping their men and driving them forward.

"Bang Bang Bang"

"Bang Bang Bang"

The firearms were fired one after another, and at every moment soldiers on both sides were killed.

Under the persecution of the generals, the anti-thieves unexpectedly broke out with great combat effectiveness, and they did not collapse for a long time. The reason why this is so is because the anti-thief generals all know that once the Praetorian Guards break through the defense line and go south from the Stone City Gate, their own side is very empty, and they will be directly killed by the Praetorian Guards into the hinterland of the outer city, and it will be very troublesome at that time.

"Get on the gun!" Seeing that he was caught in a scorching battle, Li Yanzhi couldn't bear it anymore and was determined to fight a white-knuckle battle in close combat!

Under his orders, the Praetorian Guards loaded their muskets with spears, and then shouted and rushed towards the rebels on the opposite side.

The anti-thieves in the front row of "Bang Bang Bang" opened fire one after another, and from time to time the charging Praetorian Guard soldiers were shot and fell, while the others continued to rush.

Seeing the Praetorian Guard's desperate killing, the anti-thief firecrackers in the front row panicked. Most of the firearms in their hands were produced in Foshan, Guangdong, and the quality was no worse than that of the Praetorian Guards, but there were no spears, and once they were approached by the Praetorian Guards, they would be slaughtered unilaterally.

Seeing this situation, the anti-thief generals who commanded the battle hurriedly mobilized spearmen to step forward and replace the musketeers in the front row.

However, the streets along the river are already narrow, with tens of thousands of soldiers on each side, and they are very crowded, and it is really difficult to change formations in a short time.

The anti-thief pikemen hurriedly stepped forward to replace the musketeers, but it was impossible to form a neat queue.

A series of explosions suddenly sounded in the anti-thief array, and countless anti-thieves were turned on their backs. There were more than a dozen grenadiers in the Praetorian Guard, who threw grenades into the anti-thieves when the two sides were about ten paces apart.

Originally, the array was too late to be arranged, and when it was blown up by a grenade, at least dozens of people were killed and wounded, and the rest of the thieves were confused, and many people didn't know what to do.

While the thieves were in shock, the Praetorian Guard soldiers rushed into the anti-thieves' formation, stabbing at the thieves with their spears.

Almost instantly, the anti-thieves in front collapsed, in the face of the offensive of the Praetorian Guards, the anti-thieves in front scattered and fled, but in the deep narrow streets, one side is the Qinhuai River, the other side is the courtyard walled houses, the front is the fierce and vicious Praetorian Guard, and the back is their own accomplices, they dare not fight, there is nowhere to retreat, and in desperation, countless anti-thief soldiers can only jump into the Qinhuai River. The thieves are all Jiangxi people, living in the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, most of them are familiar with the water, and the Qinhuai River naturally can't drown them, but this is a cold winter, they are wearing thick cotton clothes, jumping into the river The cotton clothes are soaked in water and heavy like iron, and the water nature can not play two points.

"Kill!" The Praetorian Guard soldiers roared angrily, rushing towards the forward, and the anti-thieves were directly collapsed by the beating, and the anti-thieves in front fled, and the anti-thieves in the back naturally fled, and the 15,000 anti-thieves collapsed in an instant.

The anti-thief generals roared angrily, trying to stop their men from fleeing, but the defeat was like a mountain, and they could no longer recover, so they had no choice but to join the ranks of the escape.

Li Yanzhi refused to give up on the defeated anti-thieves, and led his troops to follow the anti-thieves to launch a fierce attack, driving the anti-thieves to rush into the three camps. There were still thousands of thieves in the three camps, and the number of anti-thief soldiers in each camp was no less than that of Li Yanzhi's men, but in this situation, no one was willing to resist, and they all abandoned the camp.

Successfully won the three camps, Li Yanzhi did not give up, and directly led the army to kill the east gate of the outer city Jiangdong. As for the three anti-thief barracks and forts, the defenders of the inner city went out of the city to receive them.

There are 10,000 anti-thief defenders at Jiangdong Gate, but most of them are camped under the city, and there are a small number of troops on the city wall to defend them, the weather is cold, and the enemy army is in the city, so there is no need to leave too many people in the city.

The news of the defeat outside the Stone City Gate had already spread with the rout. Knowing that the Praetorian Guards were coming towards the Jiangdong Gate, the anti-thief general ordered to defend the camp, and in order to prevent the collapse of the middle of the camp, he even ordered that the rout soldiers should not enter.

In the face of the strict defense of the Jiangdong Gate against the thieves, Li Yanzhi did not force the attack, but ordered to transfer five Hongyi cannons from the rear, and then bombarded the camp of the thieves.

The sea ships in the Qinhuai River are about five miles away from the Jiangdong Gate, which is already beyond the range of the Hongyi cannon. The Hongyi cannons were too heavy to be unloaded from the ship, and it took two hours before the five Hongyi cannons were transported and then bombarded against the anti-thief camp.

The anti-thief camp wall is naturally far from being compared with the city wall, as long as it is hit by the Hongyi cannon shell, it will collapse in one blow, just half an hour, but after five rounds, the anti-thief camp wall has been knocked down dozens of zhang long.

Li Yanzhi immediately ordered an attack on the rebels in the camp, and 5,000 Praetorian Guards soldiers rushed into the camp and engaged in a fierce battle with the rebels.

The camp under the city was captured, and more than a thousand thieves on duty on the city wall were frightened. Seeing that the Praetorian Guards were killing along the stairs of the city, they did not dare to resist, and fled along the city wall into the distance, and the Praetorian Guards easily occupied the Jiangdong Gate.

Jiangdong Gate is an important city gate in the outer city of Nanjing, there is an urn city, there is an arrow tower corner tower on the city wall, if the anti-thief is defended, even if there are only 1,000 people, it is not easy for the Praetorian Guard to attack it, I don't know how many casualties to pay. However, seeing that the camp under the city was breached, and more than 10,000 accomplices were killed and fled, the thieves in the city were frightened and did not dare to resist directly.

The news that three camps were lost, Jiangdong Gate was lost, and more than 40,000 troops were defeated soon reached Yuan Chonghuan's ears, which shocked him greatly.

In order to prevent Li Yan's direct naval division at Longjiang Shipyard, Yuan Chonghuan stationed heavy troops between Jiangdong Gate and Sanshan Gate, relying on barracks and forts, and built a solid defense line by taking advantage of the topography of Mochou Lake on the Qinhuai River, but in less than a day, the entire defense line was broken through by Li Yan's direct department, and more than 40,000 subordinates collapsed. After Li Yanzhi captured the Jiangdong Gate, he would continue to attack the outer city at any time, and to the south of the Jiangdong Gate, his own troops were very empty, although there were barricades and forts, but they were all defenses for the inner city, and the Praetorian Guard could attack from the rear......

"I'm afraid that the outer city area south of the Qinhuai River will not be able to hold it, and the order will go down, and the defenders of the big and small taming elephant gates, the big and small De'an gates, the Fengtai gates, and the Jiagang gates, all retreat, withdraw across the Qinhuai River, and build a defense line along the Qinhuai River at the upper gate, and block the enemy army south of the Qinhuai River!" After careful consideration, Yuan Chonghuan made a decision.

In order to prevent the situation from collapsing, they had no choice but to retreat and cede the area south of the Qinhuai River to the Praetorian Guards. Although a small part of the outer city area has been lost, it is not a bad thing that your own forces have shrunk.

I hope to exchange space for time, hold the remaining area, and hold on until the arrival of Huguang reinforcements. Huguang has rebelled and surrendered to Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces may also be soon. As long as it holds out for another two months, there will inevitably be a food shortage in the area controlled by the Praetorian Guards, and if the Zhejiang soldiers attack behind it again, the Praetorian Guards will inevitably collapse, and then it will be the time for their own large-scale counteroffensive! Yuan Chonghuan thought secretly.

ps: I wish you all a happy new year, a happy family, and all the best!