Chapter 284 A tough nut to crack
When the first fire oil tank exploded under Fang Qinghua's command, almost three hundred cans of fire oil flew into the sky. With the huge flames and explosions, the entrance to the north city of Qiantang County and most of the north city were plunged into chaos. Huge sea of fire.
"what's going on?"
Wang Xiaojie couldn't help but stand on his war horse. Inside the telescope, the sky-high flames and black smoke indicated that his opponent had used fierce fire oil.
Even Chen Cao saw clearly that his opponent really used fierce fire oil.
The two brigades of the Shenwu Army that had been charging just now were ordered to stop outside the city and were not allowed to enter the city. No one could withstand this fire.
The soldiers of the Guard Army and the 32nd Brigade rushed out of the city gate one by one with their bodies on fire, rolling on the ground and wailing. The smell of burning smell suddenly filled the entire Qiantang County.
The fire not only burned both sides, but also ignited the houses in Beicheng. At this moment, Beicheng, Qiantang County, was already a sea of flames.
A messenger rushed to Wang Xiaojie in panic and said in a trembling voice: "Army... army... military seat... our army... the thirty-second brigade... is gone... all gone... ."
Wang Xiaojie almost fell off his horse. With the help of his own soldiers, he sat firmly on the horse and said, "Quick, go and report to the Duke."
"How's the 32nd Brigade doing?"
Facing Chen Cao's initiative to ask, the messenger who came to report the news hesitated, but was scolded, and then knelt down on one knee: "Only 573 people from the 32nd Brigade escaped from the city. More than two hundred of them were severely burned, and the rest were burned to varying degrees; from brigade commander Fang Thanh Hoa down, everyone was killed."
Chen Cao clenched his fists to stop the attack, waved the order to the soldiers to go down, and then let out a long breath: "Send the order, stop the attack, and the whole army returns to camp."
"You Shigong's magical operation is a typical killing of one thousand enemies and eight hundred losses." After Chen Cao returned to the camp, he summoned officers at all levels for a meeting. Of course, it was also to appease Wang Xiaojie: "This fire has also been damaged. Qiantang North City, if this fire is not rescued in time, it will spread to the entire Qiantang County, hehe..."
Chen Cao did not show any signs of blaming Wang Xiaojie for the annihilation of the 32nd Brigade, which made Wang Xiaojie even more embarrassed. However, even Chen Cao did not mention this matter now, and he himself was indeed embarrassed to take the initiative to talk about it. .
Huang Chunyao shook his fan, and then said: "Although the war god's military force suffered heavy losses, the Qiantang defenders are also having a hard time. If we attack Qiantang tonight, we may be able to capture Qiantang tonight or early tomorrow morning."
"When will reinforcements from Shanghai arrive?"
Xin Zhao replied solemnly: "My subordinates left early. The time difference is four days. Counting the days, we should arrive as soon as tomorrow afternoon."
Chen Cao didn't dare to stay in Hangzhou. After all, Song Che and Xu Chengqing in Wujin were always at war with each other. Besides, he didn't get much from the actions in Nanjing. If he didn't solve the trouble in Hangzhou in time, it would be delayed for a long time. Chen Cao was also worried that the progress on King Fu's side was not going too smoothly.
"How's it going with King Fu?"
"No news yet."
Chen Cao nodded thoughtfully, then stood up and straightened his robes: "Transmit the order..."
Everyone immediately stood up and looked at Chen Cao.
"After dinner, the Twelfth Division and the 20,000 garrison troops launched a general attack on Qiantang."
"yes..."
.
Although the fire in Qiantang North City was prevented from spreading by Wang Chong and others, the fire still burned nearly 90% of the North City to white ground. Countless ashes piled up in the city, and all the homeless people were gathered in the South City.
You Shigong was commanding the defense together with Mu Qishan at the moment. Looking at the North City which was full of broken bricks and tiles, You Shigong's brows twisted into the Chinese character "Sichuan". It was not that he was distressed, but that the North City was now white, and the city wall and The city gate has been damaged beyond repair. If the rebels break into the city, they can only fight in the north city without even a bunker.
"This general will quickly deploy the city defense to prevent the rebels from attacking the city at night," You Shigong said without saying hello to Mu Qishan, and turned to look at Xu Yong: "Xu Youqi, your troops will join Wang Qianshi immediately. Let’s defend the North City together and block all the Juma stuff at the city gate. Also, send people to pile up the broken bricks and rubble and block it inside the city gate so that the rebels have no chance to come in.”
Although Xu Yong was a little reluctant, he did not dare to disobey You Shigong's military order at this moment, so he handed over and left. Mu Qishan then said: "I will dispatch a battalion of firearms troops here to assist in defense. I will temporarily go to the county government tonight. If we rest in this area, the rebels will definitely launch an attack tomorrow."
Just after midnight, You Shigong, who had just fallen asleep leaning against a pillar in the county government office, was woken up by the soldiers, and then learned about the rebel attack on the city.
When You Shigong left the county government office, the shouts of killing were accompanied by the sound of gunshots. He and Mu Qishan headed towards Beicheng non-stop.
Wang Chong's Guard Army was once again pushed back from the city wall. With a flash of fire in the dark night, his soldiers were killed. The Guard Army, which had long been frightened, could no longer stop it. Abandoning the defenses on the city wall, and after killing and injuring more than a thousand people, Wang Chong didn't care about Xu Yong at the gate of the city, and ran back with his people.
The city gate was blocked by piles of rubble. The guard troops on the outside were carrying it, and the rest directly put up ladders and jumped onto the city wall. Wang Xiaojie and Yuan Shizhong were outside the city gate, but in order to prevent the defenders inside the city from using heavy fire again In this attack, he specifically ordered that as soon as they entered the city, the troops should be dispersed in company units and must not be crowded at the city gate.
"General You, do you still have the fierce fire oil under your command?"
You Shigong shook his head: "Throw all the three hundred cans out, and the rest are in Hangzhou City. Now we can only fight with them."
There were indeed only a few who attacked the city in the middle of the night. Many of the soldiers had night blindness. It was hard to say whether the flickering torch light could illuminate the place, let alone guide the direction of the firearms for the Yunnan soldiers under Mu Qishan.
"Run quickly, the city gate is opened..."
I don't know who shouted something, Mu Qishan was immediately excited and immediately ordered a thousand men under his command to block the city gate.
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
This time, a fierce musket exchange broke out between the two sides at the gate of the city, causing immediate casualties.
Wang Xiaojie looked at Huang Zhong, the commander of the 33rd Brigade, with a serious look on his face: "Fight according to the third part of the military order and training code."
Huang Zhong was excited. The third part of the Military Order Code was created by Chen Cao combined with the volley tactics of the British Empire. In the past, when the soldiers still had plate armor, there was nothing wrong with using this kind of tactics, but now all armies All military uniforms have omitted plate armor. Although it is much lighter, it is exposed that it is completely unable to defend against enemy firearms or arrows.
The combat method in the third part of the Military Order Code is a platoon attack. Each unit is lined up with platoons as the basic units, forming at least ten horizontal rows. Commanders at all levels stand at the front of the horizontal rows and approach to shoot, thus Fight the enemy.
It's just that this method of warfare was because the matchlocks and flintlock guns at that time were not very accurate and could only be effective within thirty steps. However, Chen Cao's flintlock guns used refined fire. ·The medicine, distance and accuracy have been greatly improved. In addition, the rifling engraving technology in the flintlock barrel has become more and more perfect, and the accuracy has also been greatly improved.
Therefore, the volley-style combat method improved by Chen Cao is to stop fifty steps away from the enemy, that is, outside the maximum killing range of the matchlock gun, and rely on concentrated fire fighting methods to deal with the enemy in front of him.
Of course, this tactic is only applicable when the opponent also has all firearms. However, the opponent's current firearm is a turtle-dove musket that is comparable to a flintlock gun, so Huang Zhong behaved like this after hearing Wang Xiaojie's instructions.
"Revenge for the 32nd Brigade..."
Huang Zhong shouted, and the soldiers behind him shouted in unison.
"There is an order from the military seat. According to the third part of the military order and code of conduct, the entire army attacks..."
As soon as the whistle sounded, the 33rd Brigade began to line up in platoons, and then slowly moved towards the north city gate, while the 20,000 garrison troops began to climb from the city walls on both sides, and some held large shields to rely on Manpower is needed to tear down the dilapidated city walls.
"shot..."
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
With neat steps, the soldiers of the 33rd Brigade walking in front fell one by one, but as long as one fell, the people behind him would leave their own ranks to replenish them, and so on one by one.
Because the soldiers of the 33rd Brigade did not hold a torch at all, Mu Qishan and You Shigong were unable to see clearly what kind of formation the other party would use to attack.
"Archers prepare to throw arrows..."
Boo hoo hoo... hoo hoo hoo...
Thousands of arrows were launched into the air, and then fell down according to inertia. Countless soldiers of the Thirty-three Brigade were hit by the arrows. However, because the arrows could not directly hit their vital points, many soldiers reluctantly pulled out the arrows without caring about the wounds. How to move forward.
Of course, there were also people who fell. If we counted carefully, there were two to three hundred people who fell to the ground after being hit by arrows.
After several rounds of projectiles, You Shigong relied on his extraordinary eyesight to finally see clearly the situation of the rebels. Those people were walking towards them in neat lines without cover, but the gun in their hands kept He held it motionless in his hand.
"This is?"
Just when You Shigong was puzzled, he suddenly heard a shout from the opposite side with a gun raised. You Shigong suddenly felt that the soul of the dead was coming, and immediately pulled Mu Qishan back.
"The front team raised their guns..."
"put..."
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...'
