Chapter 301 Attack and Defense of Nandu
On the ninth day of November in the second year of Chongzhen, the weather was sunny
Just after midnight, war drums were beating outside Ande Gate. On top of the Ande Gate tower, Qin Liangyu, dressed in military uniform, was holding up a telescope to look at King Fu's army advancing in formation one after another three miles away.
Qin Liangyu ordered his son Ma Xianglin and his younger brother and nephew to guard the eight city gates and walls that stretched for twenty miles from Jiangdong Gate to Shangfang Gate due to the south wind.
He personally stationed himself at Ande Gate: "The rebels are about to attack..."
Qin Liangyu's daughter-in-law, Zhang Fengyi, stood beside her and immediately turned around and shouted sharply: "Get ready at each artillery position, check the firearms, and go to the city as soon as the siege equipment is received."
.
"News from the inner city of Nanjing. Nanjing has mobilized 1,700 artillery pieces of various types this time. There are 400 red cannons alone. Fifty red cannons and one hundred general cannons have been placed at Andemen. Turtle Dove Three thousand cannons."
Listening to Zhao Xin's report, Chen Cao couldn't help but sweat for King Fu. In the era of cold weapons, with such powerful firearms guarding a city wall more than ten meters high like Ande Gate, the disadvantages of both the offensive and defensive sides would soon be reduced. appear.
Even if he handed over all the Shenwu cannons he carried to King Fu, if he could not break through the Ande Gate at once, the casualties would only increase suddenly.
"By the way, Lord Fu, after taking the oath, Prince Fu announced in front of more than 100,000 people that you are the 'Commander of the Army and Horses of Fengtian Jing Nanxing Camp', Zhang Gaoping is the Commander-in-Chief of the Left, and Li Wanchang is the Commander-in-Chief of the Right."
Chen Cao sneered: "You are trying to put me on top."
"Prince Fu has given an order for you to launch an offensive against Qilin Gate."
Huang Chunyao's fan is a display item in winter, and it is the same now: "The guard of Qilin Gate is Wei Guogong and a group of distinguished relatives. They are trying to test it."
"What to fight with?" Chen Cao frowned: "All one hundred artillery in our army have been given to King Fu, what should I use to fight with? Besides, our army does not have any siege equipment. Zhao Xin, go and reply to King Fu personally. , tell King Fu about our situation."
.
"Now that the emperor is unruly and has harmed the late emperor, who was not in the right position, you, the distinguished ministers, have bestowed the grace of the country and the dynasty in the world. For the livelihood of the Ming Dynasty, His Highness, King Fu, imitated Emperor Chengzu and offered peace to heaven, so as to restore peace to the world. You, etc., have not yet Open the city quickly, His Highness Prince Fu will certainly treat you well."
'Dong dong dong...'
Several cannons were fired in a row, and more than a dozen stone bullets fell around the shouting cavalry, which frightened him into hurriedly turning around.
Zhu Changxun had seen this a long time ago and couldn't help being furious. He immediately ordered Li Wanchang, commanded by the former army, to launch an attack on Nanjing City.
'Dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...'
'Dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...'
'Dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong...'
The two sides launched a fierce artillery battle from the beginning. The attack distances of Shenwu artillery and Hongyi artillery were exactly the same. However, Chen Cao only carried flower bombs, and Nanjing only received a limited number of flower bombs. It was absolutely impossible to use such extravagant bombs. Blossom·Bullet is used in the initial artillery battle.
When the artillery shells exploded on the city wall and city head of Andemen, King Fu's army outside the city cheered. It was obvious that although the stone bullets fired by the Northern Army were at the same distance, after several rounds of volleys, Li Wanchang's former army was The casualties are negligible.
Only the destruction of two Shenwu cannons made him feel a little distressed.
"Mom, it's too dangerous here, you'd better go down first." Zhang Fengyi reached out to pull Qin Liangyu.
Qin Yiming nodded and said: "Aunt, leave this to my nephew. You go down first. Firearms don't have eyes."
Unexpectedly, Qin Liangyu waved his hand and said: "Life and death are determined by destiny. How can we be frightened by the rebels' firearms? Hurry back to the command post. If you dare to mess up again, don't blame me for my military law to deal with you."
After more than a dozen rounds of artillery battles, three thousand men from two battalions of the former army launched a charge carrying various siege equipment.
Seeing this, Qin Liangyu drew out his long sword and shouted: "The rebels are attacking the city, prepare their crossbows and muskets..."
"Kill..."
The shouts of killing shook the sky, and three thousand people rushed toward Andemen like ants.
As soon as the vanguard rushed to the moat, the bows, arrows and crossbows on the city head were fired. The siege troops who had been prepared immediately held up large shields and bucklers and other defensive weapons, and filled the moat with wooden planks and sandbags as soon as possible.
After hundreds of casualties, the river-crossing bridges that could allow four people to walk side by side were built. When Qin Liangyu saw this, he shouted: "Prepare the muskets..."
"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...'
A three-stage volley fired, and the power of the turtle-dove's musket knocked down the soldiers holding shields under the city at such a close range.
"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...'
Another three-stage volley fired, and there were only a handful of soldiers under the city who could hold up shields.
Although the turtle-footed muskets are extremely powerful, there are only five hundred turtle-footed musketeers under Qin Liangyu's command in Andemen. In addition, there are only soldiers armed with three-eyed guns, matchlocks, shotguns and other miscellaneous firearms. Even so, they are condescending. , after fighting together, the three thousand people in the vanguard were completely stunned before they could put up the siege ladders on the city wall, and they all had no choice but to retreat.
Even if they retreated, the bows and crossbows caused a lot of casualties to them.
Li Wanchang saw that the number of soldiers who had retreated was less than a thousand, and he became furious immediately. However, although he was angry, his reason quickly returned to him. This situation happened several times in Fengyang at that time, but in the end they still won. Fengyang.
"Vanguard Battalion, stop the team and prepare to attack again."
The first attack was also a test. The purpose was to see how the defense on the city was. However, 3,000 people were driven back within half an hour after going up. As a result, 2,000 people were killed or injured. From the top of the city, Judging from the defensive strength, it is not easy to defeat Andermen.
"Immediately send someone to inform the prince and ask for an order to send troops to attack other sects."
"yes..."
Qin Liangyu saw clearly the movements of King Fu's army from a high position with the help of a telescope. When he saw tens of thousands of people moving separately towards Xiao Ande Gate and Fengtai Gate, he immediately judged that the rebels were going to divide their forces.
"Immediately send an order to the guards of Xiao Ande Gate and Fengtai Gate. However, whether the rebels are feinting to attack, we must use all our strength to repel them and let them know the pain."
"yes..."
.
Chen Cao rode his horse forward, circled around the Qilin Gate, and then returned to the front of the formation. On the top of the city, Xu Hongji stood in front of him. Although Chen Cao had placed 120,000 troops outside the Qilin Gate, those soldiers were still there. Camped three miles away, motionless.
Even in front of Qilin Gate, Chen Cao only brought more than a thousand people here for a formality like an outing and then stopped making any moves.
Even so, Chen Cao's formation still made Xu Hongji and others guarding Qilin Gate restless.
Jin Yozheng still had a shadow on Chen Cao's new army. During the battle at Chen Cao's mansion outside Zhengyang Gate, he went with tens of thousands of management soldiers, but was defeated by more than a thousand people. He was also beaten. He took off his clothes and threw them on the roadside.
It was also because of this incident that Jin Yuzheng was laughed at by his relatives in Nanjing for several years. This time when Chen Cao came again, he was the most active, not to defend Nanjing, but to show his hatred for Chen Cao. , and he is also the person who will never rebel.
"It is also a good thing not to attack, lest we confront him head-on, and no one will know if he is dead."
Xiongwu Hou Zhou Rui said nonchalantly, things have reached this situation. Even Xu Hongji resigned from the Nanjing garrison at the beginning of Chen Cao's rebellion. If it hadn't been for the emperor's strong advocacy, Xu Hongji might have been without an official now. To put it mildly, these nobles who have a grudge against Chen Cao are not willing to take the initiative to provoke Chen Cao now. Even the brothers of the You family have been abandoned in Hangzhou. They still have a clear idea of how much they weigh.
Xu Hongji didn't scold Zhou Rui, he just frowned and looked at Chen Cao who stopped his horse not far from the door. When he raised his telescope and looked over, he realized that Chen Cao had already raised his telescope and looked at it. On their side.
"awesomeness..."
After reading it, Xu Hongji put away his telescope and unconsciously repeated the words that Chen Cao had accidentally said to them.
It wasn't until Chen Cao rode away with his guards that the honorable ministers at Qilin Gate let out a big sigh of relief. They had vaguely heard the sound of cannons from the southwest before, and they thought the rebels were going to attack from many aspects, but they didn't expect them at this moment. There is nothing to do here.
.
"Did you hear the intermittent sound of cannons? Maybe the prince is already leading his army to attack."
Although he was more than thirty miles away, Zhang Gaoping still seemed to hear the sound of cannons, perhaps it was his own hallucination.
At the pre-war meeting in the tent, there were hundreds of people ranging from generals to guerrillas.
"After nightfall, launch an attack on Shangyuan Gate. First, let the night climb up the city. The forward battalion will be responsible for the main attack. The firearms battalion will attack from the side and strive to capture Shangyuan Gate before tomorrow's twilight time."
When attacking Nanjing, the best place to choose city gates is the three gates of Yuejiang, Fengyi and Dinghuai in the north. These three gates are the inner city wall of Nanjing, especially Yuejiang Gate, whose gap is close to the remaining veins of Lime Mountain. Compared with the starting point of Lion Rock in the inner city, the height of Yuejiangmen is only eight meters. Compared with the 12-meter-high Fengyi Gate and Dinghuai Gate, Yuejiangmen is the best choice.
"At the end of the day, the general thought that he was going to make a surprise attack."
One of the generals spoke. Zhang Gaoping looked over and shook his head: "You want to say cross the Qinhuai River and enter the inner city and the outer wall?"
"Exactly."
"Don't think about it, Tan Ma reported. The Northern Army sank hundreds of flower boats at the mouth of the Qinhuai River entering the city in front of Dinghuai Gate. The river was blocked. In addition, 20,000 heavy troops were stationed at Qingliang Gate, even on the two-bank walkways connected to Waikou City. They are all sealed. If we force the attack from Dinghuai Gate and Qingliang Gate, we will be attacked from the inside and outside by the inner city and outer city."
