Chapter 266 No retreat at all
Xu Chengqing never expected that the city gate of Wujin, which he was holding on to, would be destroyed after the rebels shelled it. When he was sent to block it, he was hit by the rebel artillery again. Now, even the city gate dare not be sent to block it. Blocking.
Looking at the broken limbs and scattered human organs at the gate of the city, Xu Chengqing, even though he was mentally prepared, felt like his heart was in turmoil. His lieutenant couldn't help but vomit when he saw this.
Swallowing hard, Xu Chengqing said: "The rebel artillery is very sharp. I don't know what kind of artillery it is, but it can shoot so far and be so powerful."
The essence of field artillery is that it can shoot flatly, but the recoil it brings is also amazing. Although Chen Cao warned Lin Liangcai and others about the recoil, the spring device produced was unsatisfactory due to technical problems. Once the gun was fired, the gun carriage had to take seven or eight steps back. , so that the artillery had to dig blocking holes and then use manpower to resist the huge recoil.
Chen Cao never ordered an attack on the city. The biggest reason was that there was no news from the rear. At this moment, his troops were caught in the middle. The Longwu Army had not yet arrived to clear Jiangyin. If he rushed to attack the city, once the situation in the rear deteriorated, he would be in trouble. This side became the arrow on the crossbow machine, and had no choice but to draw it out of the chamber.
However, not attacking the city does not mean that there is no action. The artillery troops carrying a large amount of ammunition have been bombarding Wujin City all day and night. Even if they want to block the city gate, they have to ask the field artillery for permission.
Although the ammunition of the wheeled artillery was small, only ten rounds, after three rounds of shelling, due to the strong psychological shock, the officers and soldiers guarding the city did not dare to touch it after seeing the scattered corpses of their comrades. Bad luck.
"Report..."
Chen Cao quickly asked the messenger to report the matter.
"Sir, General Song has led his army to conquer Gaoqiao, and the enemy has now retreated to Wuxi."
There is a delay in the news, but now that Song Che has broken through Gaoqiao, the siege of Wuxi can be easily solved. Now the only thing Chen Cao is waiting for is the Longwu Army, which has not arrived for a long time. According to the marching schedule, there are only The Longwu Army with a small number of war horses could not arrive at least before sunset, but after sunset it was no longer suitable for large-scale operations.
.
You Shiwei withdrew. Although he withdrew, it did not mean that he had failed. After the army had eaten away Gao Qingnian's troops in Changjie, the officers and soldiers of the Second Division could only rely on the official channels centered on the county government. There were only less than 3,000 people left out of more than a thousand people.
You Shigong had previously planned to persuade Cao Shixiu to surrender, so that Cao Shixiu would not engage in a trapped beast fight, but he found that the army at the end of its rope actually chose to fight to the death, with no sign of surrender at all.
At the critical moment, Chen Degong's army rushed to Wuxi, and the officers and soldiers of the First Division who followed them muddied the waters in Wuxi like a new force. You Shigong had to choose to withdraw his troops and horses to help Chen Degong. In this way, The remnants of the Second Division, who had been prepared to die, breathed a big sigh of relief.
After fighting for a whole day and night, we had already lost our confidence. Even the reinforcements from the First Division were of no avail. They could only guard the county government office. Moreover, the guard regiment had no ammunition and only pursued with bayonets. Enemy forces are also not a realistic idea.
You Shiwei knew that their opportunity had passed, so he had to order the entire army to retreat, and the direction was Suzhou. His mission was to disrupt Chen Cao's rear and cooperate with the Guangxi chieftain wolf soldiers and Yunnan Mufu soldiers coming from the south. The horses attacked Songjiang together.
"General Soldier..."
A messenger walked up to Song Che and said: "The remnants of the enemy troops have been eliminated, and they are heading to Xushuguan..."
Song Che frowned. His intelligence was that Zuo Liangyu's troops had taken action. The Second Division was attacked and came for emergency reinforcements. Now most of the army and troops have withdrawn to Xushuguan. Could it be...
Song Che no longer dared to continue thinking about it. The defense of Suzhou was now only responsible for the security regiment directly under the Dingwu Army. Huang Degong only had more than a thousand people under his command. His more than a thousand people were not enough to see the huge Suzhou.
"Quick, send the order quickly. All the troops of the First Division will be ready and report the news to the Duke. In addition, we should also tell the Duke all the movements of our army and ask the Duke to make a decision."
"yes..."
"Military seat," Feng Zhongping came to Song Che: "The second division has been crippled. There are only more than 3,000 people left, and every one of them is a tired division."
Song Che heard this and went to the county government office in person, where he saw Cao Shixiu who was already a little exhausted.
"Military seat... humble position..."
"The second division is great..."
Song Che interrupted Cao Shixiu's words, and then settled him down: "You can rest here, but as soon as the necessary equipment is in order, move towards Suzhou..."
Cao Shixiu raised his eyebrows with difficulty: "Military seat, is it possible?"
Song Che frowned and nodded: "I hope I'm wrong...you better cultivate yourself..."
Feng Zhongping naturally did not think that Cao Shixiu would be scolded by Chen Cao for losing so many men and horses, but the foundation of the Dingwu Army was now in the hands of the First Division.
Song Che shook his head after hearing his thoughts: "Not only did Cao Shixiu have no fault, he actually made merits... Just imagine that with a new army holding on to such a small county town, it is a great merit to be able to fight to the death without retreating until the end."
Although he said it again, the horse he dismounted did not slow down at all. On the contrary, he accelerated his pace. Song Che was worried that he would not return reinforcements in time and lose Suzhou. This would be a failure to Chen Cao's great hope.
.
"The rebels have retreated...the rebels have retreated..."
On the Wujin city wall, the officers and soldiers shouted loudly. This was the third time they had repelled the attack of Chen Cao's army, so they seemed particularly excited.
However, Chen Cao, who was two miles away, was very calm on his horse. Those who were repulsed were only the surrendered guards, and there was no loss to the Dingwu army itself.
"Report...my lord, Longwu Army Tang Commander-in-Chief has sent someone here. The Longwu Army is still fifteen miles away from Wujin."
Chen Cao became energetic and unconsciously raised his buttocks to stretch his somewhat stiff body: "Send the order to Tang Kainian. 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. At this moment, his brows were furrowed. Whether Wujin could defend the city or not was directly related to You Shiwei's troops attacking from the rear. Therefore, his task was to drag Wujin as long as possible until reinforcements arrived in Nanjing.
"How long will it take for the Duke's reinforcements to arrive?"
The general next to him raised his hand and said: "This morning's news is that the 100,000 Beijing troops led by Song Ninghou and others have just passed through Lucheng Town, Zhenjiang Prefecture. Even the vanguard will not arrive until this evening."
Xu Chengqing hammered the top of the parapet so hard that his hands turned red: "I am worried that Wu Jin will not be able to defend this evening."
The general said: "Don't worry, sir. Look two miles away. The rebels suddenly transferred most of their troops. Now it looks like there are less than 20,000 people at most. There are still 70,000 troops in Wujin City, plus the elite." The Beijing camp has 100,000 soldiers, which is enough to put down the rebel army in front of us."
Perhaps the generals overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Beijing troops, or perhaps the new auxiliary troops who were repulsed in the first three waves of siege battles gave them courage, so that the officers and soldiers who now have an absolute advantage in numbers have underestimated them. Chen Cao's troops.
Xu Chengqing was self-aware, and the imperial court transferred thousands of miles from Yulin, Shaanxi Province, to Yulin veterans from all battles as a raiding force to attack the rebels' rear from Zhongxi. The purpose was to retake Suzhou, and 50,000 troops from Guangxi and Yunnan came north. There is no way to arrive in less than two months. From the time when the imperial court's military order was issued to now, we may be able to catch up.
"Our army...can only..."
Before Xu Chengqing finished speaking, a messenger ran up the city wall in panic: "Chief soldier, something happened. Rebels appeared at the north gate, numbering about 50,000."
"fifty thousand?"
Xu Chengqing was suddenly frightened. Before the reinforcements arrived, his 70,000 people were really not enough to defend the city. If he went out of the city to fight in the field, he did not have enough confidence. He knew the guards of Nanzhili very well: "Quickly , quickly sent an additional 20,000 people to reinforce the North Gate, the rebels are preparing to attack the city."
The thunderous explosions came from the distant sky. Chen Cao looked at the somewhat panicked Wujin City Wall in the distance with a smile, and then said with a smile: "The new year of the Tang Dynasty is here, and the general offensive is about to be launched. We delayed it in Wujin for two days, and the time valuable."
Tang Kainian's military training methods are the true inheritance of the profound Chen Cao. From the elite of the first division of the Dingwu Army, to now he has become the commander of the army. Without two brushes, he really would not be able to take over as the commander-in-chief of the Longwu Army. One position.
"Artillery cover, engineers advance, blow up the city wall..."
As the order was issued, the new Longwu Army, which already had sufficient combat experience, ignited twenty Shenwu cannons under skilled operations, and under the cover of the artillery, the engineer battalion sent people to move toward the north gate of Wujin City Wall. , using a large amount of explosives to blow up the city wall of the north gate.
The city wall made of rammed earth was an absolutely strong city in the cold weapon era. It was even stronger after being wrapped with stone bricks. However, under the attack of artillery, every time a bomb exploded, the Wujin city wall would fall. There is less rammed earth, and the gravel wall sections wrapped in rammed earth are also exposed.
The Longwu Army's artillery did not blow up the city tower. Their targets were all the lintel of the city wall in the center of the north gate. As long as the lintel was blown down, the city gate would be exposed to broad daylight.
After the North Gate offensive started, Chen Cao immediately ordered the artillery to launch a general attack on Wujin City in front of him. After hundreds of rounds were sent out, the smoke of the battlefield had filled the entire Wujin, and even Chen Cao could not see clearly what was on the opposite side. What happened to the city wall?
The silence only lasted for more than ten seconds before there was a huge muffled sound. Even on the horse, you could feel the trembling of the earth. Chen Cao guessed that Tang Kainian had succeeded, so he turned around and drew his sword and shouted: "All troops, advance tactically..." "
Xu Chengqing was fished out of the wasteland by his subordinates. His head was buzzing at the moment. Although they also had artillery, the striking distance was really touching, so they could only be beaten passively.
Before Xu Chengqing could react, an orderly soldier ran over in panic: "It's a disaster, Commander... It's a disaster...
Most of the north gate wall collapsed, and the rebels entered the city..."
