Chapter 266: There is no retreat to speak of

Xu Chengqing never imagined that the Wujin he was holding on to was actually destroyed by the rebels after the rebels shelled together, and when he was sent to block it, he was hit by the rebels' artillery again, so that now he didn't even dare to send people to block the city gate.

Looking at the stumps, broken arms and scattered human organs at the city gate, Rao was mentally prepared Xu Chengqing also felt that his heart was overturned, and his lieutenant couldn't help but vomit when he saw this.

Swallowing his saliva vigorously, Xu Chengqing said: "The rebels' artillery is very sharp, I don't know what kind of artillery it is, it can hit so far, and the power is so huge." ”

Although Chen Cao reminded Lin Liangcai and others of the anti-recoil, the spring device produced was unsatisfactory because of technical problems, and the artillery had to take seven or eight steps back when the gun went down, so that the artillery had to dig the blocking pit and use manpower to resist the huge recoil.

Chen Cao never ordered the siege of the city, the biggest reason is that there is no news from the rear, at this moment his department is sandwiched in the middle, the Longwu army has not yet arrived to clear Jiangyin, if you rashly attack the city, once the situation in the rear deteriorates, your side will become an arrow on the crossbow machine, and you can only be disemboweled.

However, not attacking the city does not mean that there is no action, and the artillery units carrying a large amount of ammunition have been shelling the city all day and night, even if they want to block the city gate, they have to ask the field artillery if they agree.

Although the wheeled artillery had only ten rounds of ammunition, after three shells, due to the strong psychological deterrence, the officers and soldiers defending the city did not dare to touch this moldy head after seeing the scattered corpses of their comrades.

"Newspaper..."

Chen Cao hurriedly asked the herald to report the matter.

"Grandpa, General Song has led the army to break through Gaoqiao, and the enemy army has now retreated to Wuxi."

The news is lagging behind, but now Song Che has broken through Gaoqiao, so the siege of Wuxi is also easy to capture, and now the only thing Chen Cao is waiting for is the Longwu army that has not arrived for a long time, according to the marching distance, the Longwu army with only a few war horses can arrive at least before sunset, but after sunset, it is no longer suitable for large-scale operations.

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You Shiwei withdrew, although he withdrew, but it did not mean that he failed, after the army had already encroached on Gao Qingnian's headquarters on Changjie, the officers and soldiers of the Second Division could only rely on the official road centered on the county government, and there were less than 3,000 people left of more than 8,000 people.

You Shigong had planned to persuade him to surrender before, so that Cao Shixiu would not fight the trapped beasts, but he found that the army that had reached the end of his rope had actually chosen to fight to the death, and there was no sign of surrender at all.

At the last moment, Chen Degong's army rushed to Wuxi, and the officers and soldiers of the First Division who followed it muddied the water in Wuxi like a new force, so that You Shigong had to choose to withdraw his troops and horses to help Chen Degong.

After fighting for a day and a night, they had already lost their confidence, even if the men and horses of the first division rushed to reinforce it, it would be useless, they could only hold the county office still, and besides, the guard regiment had no ammunition, and it was not a realistic idea to just pursue the enemy with bayonets.

You Shiwei knew that the opportunity that belonged to them had passed, so he had to order the whole army to retreat, in the direction of Suzhou, and his task was to disrupt Chen Cao's rear, and cooperate with the Guangxi Tusi wolf soldiers who came from the south and the soldiers and horses of Yunnan Mufu to flank Songjiang.

"General Soldier..."

A herald walked up to Song Che and said, "The remnants of the enemy army have been cleared, and they are going to Hushu Pass..."

Song Che frowned, his intelligence was that Zuo Liangyu's department had made a move, and the second division was attacked and rushed to urgently reinforce it, and now most of the officers and troops were withdrawn to Hushu Pass, could it be...

Song Che didn't dare to continue to think about it, Suzhou's defense was now only responsible for the guard regiment directly under the Dingwu Army, and there were only more than 1,000 people under Huang Degong's command.

"Quickly, quickly send the order, the first division headquarters is fully prepared, report the news here to Grandpa Guo, in addition, tell Grandpa Guo all the movements of our army, and ask Grandpa Guo to decide."

"Yes..."

"Military seat," Feng Zhongping came to Song Che: "The second division has been disabled, and there are only more than 3,000 people left, all of whom are tired divisions. ”

When Song Che heard this, he personally went to the county office, where he saw Cao Shixiu, who had already collapsed.

"Throne... Humble duty..."

"The second division is doing well..."

Song Che interrupted Cao Shixiu's words, and then settled him down: "Although your department is resting here, the necessary equipment is in order, and then immediately move closer to Suzhou..."

Cao Shixiu raised his eyebrows with difficulty: "Military seat, is it?" ”

Song Che frowned and nodded: "I hope I'm wrong... You're so self-reliant..."

Feng Zhongping naturally didn't think that Cao Shixiu would be scolded by Chen Cao for losing so many men, but the foundation of the Dingwu Army was now in the hands of the First Division.

Song Che shook his head when he learned of his thoughts: "Cao Shixiu is not only without fault, but meritorious... Imagine that with a new army to hold on to such a small county, it will be a great achievement to fight to the death and not retreat. ”

Although he said it again, the war horse that stepped down did not slow down at all, on the contrary, he also sped up his pace, Song Che was worried that he would not return in time and lose Suzhou, which was the hope of sorry Chen Cao.

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"The rebels retreated... The rebels retreated..."

On the city wall, the officers and soldiers shouted loudly, this was the third time they had repelled the attack of Chen Cao's army, and they were extremely excited.

However, Chen Cao, who was two miles away, was very calm on his horse, and it was only the Weisuo army that was originally attached to him that was repulsed, and there was no loss for the Dingwu army itself.

"Newspaper... Grandpa, the Tang general of the Longwu Army sent people to come, and the army of the Longwu Army is still fifteen miles away from Wujin. ”

Chen Cao's spirits were greatly lifted, and he unconsciously raised his buttocks and moved his somewhat stiff body: "Send an order to Tang Kainian, and after arriving in Wujin, launch an attack directly from the north gate." ”

"Yes..."

Xu Chengqing also received a military report that the rebel reinforcements were less than fifteen miles away from Wujin, and at this moment his brows had wrinkled into a Sichuan character, whether Wujin defended the city or not was directly related to the attack from the rear of You Shiwei's department, so his task was to drag the reinforcements from Wujin to Nanjing as much as possible.

"How long will it take for Grandpa Guo's reinforcements to arrive?"

The general beside him arched his hand: "This morning's news, the 100,000 Beijing battalion troops led by Song Ninghou and others have just passed through Lucheng Town, Zhenjiang Prefecture, and even the arrival of the vanguard will be this evening." ”

Xu Chengqing hammered the top of the women's wall, and his hands were red: "I am worried that Wu Jin will not be able to defend this evening." ”

The general said: "Don't worry, look at the two miles away, the rebels suddenly transferred most of the men and horses, and now there are less than 20,000 people at most, and now there are still 70,000 troops in Wujin City, plus 100,000 elite soldiers in Beijing, which is enough to level the rebels in front of them." ”

Perhaps the generals overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Beijing Battalion troops, or perhaps the new annexed army that was repulsed in the first three waves of siege battles gave them courage, so that the officers and troops who now had an absolute advantage in numbers had underestimated Chen Cao's troops.

Xu Chengqing was self-aware, and the imperial court transferred the veterans of a hundred battles from Yulin, Shaanxi Province as a surprise force to attack the rear of the rebels from Zhongxi, with the purpose of recapturing Suzhou, and the 50,000 troops from Guangxi and Yunnan came north and could not arrive in two months.

"Our army... Only..."

Before Xu Chengqing finished speaking, a herald ran up the city wall in a panic: "Chief soldier, something happened, the rebels appeared at the north gate, and the number was about 50,000." ”

"Fifty thousand?"

Xu Chengqing was suddenly shocked, before the reinforcements arrived, his 70,000 people were really not enough to watch, more than enough to defend the city, if he went out of the city to fight, he didn't have enough confidence, he knew too much about the guards of Nanzhili: "Quick, quickly send 20,000 people to reinforce the north gate, the rebels are ready to attack the city." ”

The earth-shattering explosion came from the distant sky, Chen Cao looked at the somewhat flustered Wujin city wall in the distance with a smile, and then said with a smile: "Tang Kainian is here, the general attack is about to be launched, we have been in Wujin for two days, time is precious." ”

Tang Kainian's method of training soldiers is the true biography of the deep Chen Cao, from the elite of the first division of the Dingwu Army to the head of the first army, if there are no two brushes, he really does not have the ability to take over the post of the chief soldier of the Longwu Army.

"Artillery cover, sappers advance, blow up the walls ..."

With the order issued, the new army of the Longwu Army, which already had sufficient combat experience, ignited twenty Shenwu cannons under skillful operation, and under the cover of artillery, the engineer battalion sent people to touch the north gate of the Wujin city wall, and blew up the north gate wall with a large number of explosives.

The rammed earth wall was an absolute fortified city in the Cold Weapon Era, and it was stronger when the stone bricks were wrapped on the outside, but under the attack of artillery, every time a blossom bomb exploded, a lot of rammed earth would fall from the Wujin city wall, and the broken stone wall section wrapped in the rammed earth would also be exposed.

The artillery of the Long Wu Army did not blow up the city tower, their target was all the city wall lintel in the middle of the north gate, as long as the city lintel was blown up, the city gate would be exposed in broad daylight.

After the offensive at the north gate began, Chen Cao immediately ordered the artillery to launch a general attack on the front of Wujin City, and after hundreds of rounds of flowering shells were sent out, the smoke of the battlefield had filled the entire Wujin, and Chen Cao couldn't see what the opposite city wall was.

It was quiet for only a dozen seconds, and there was a loud muffled sound, that is, the trembling of the earth could be felt on the horse, Chen Cao estimated that Tang Kainian had succeeded, so he turned his head and drew his knife and shouted: "The whole army, tactical advance..."

Xu Chengqing was fished out of the waste soil by his subordinates, and his whole body was buzzing at the moment, although they also had artillery, but the striking distance was really touching, and he could only be beaten passively.

Before Xu Chengqing could react, a herald ran over in a panic: "Woe to the chief soldier... Woe to you...

Most of the walls of the north gate have collapsed, and the rebels have entered the city..."