Chang Qingyun felt very scared, and his crotch seemed to have a strong urge to urinate. Chang Qingyun forced himself to hold back, but his legs were so weak that he could no longer stand. Chang Qingyun suddenly recalled the fear he felt during Chengmai's defeat. Suddenly, a chill hit his forehead. He couldn't help but think of the humiliation of being forcibly shaved by the Australians. Suddenly, a terrible thought came to his mind. Will this humiliation happen again? What about once?
He looked around in a panic. As a staff member, he had no servants to use. A few servants could only serve him on weekdays. They would never work for him in times of crisis. It was really difficult to trust him with his life.
Finally, Yang Erdong did not forget the words "If Master Chang has any good intentions, you are the only one to ask!" He quickly dragged Chang Qingyun and ran all the way. There was a row of hidden soldier holes dug under the walls of the city wall - at that time, the city was built to prevent the enemy from long-range projection. Due to the awareness of weapons, masonry-reinforced caves were built on the inside of the wall. The defending soldiers could avoid the cannons and arrows of the attacking enemies in the cave, and they could also rest inside. It was equivalent to a barracks - Pulled him into the Tibetan Soldier Cave.
The sound of artillery continued dullly, and you could feel the city wall shaking under the bombardment of the artillery shells. The flame of the oil lamp in the alcove flickered in the vibration. Gradually, cannonballs passed over the city wall and landed in the city. The cannonballs shot into the city dragged white smoke and made a sharp whistle. When they hit the house, they smashed the house to pieces. When they hit the street, they immediately raised a piece of mud. If the gravel hits a person, it can break an arm or leg, or tear it in half and cause blood and flesh to fly everywhere.
Chang Qingyun and his servants sat on the ground in the Tibetan Soldier Cave, and there were some officers and soldiers guarding the city beside them. They all held their heads in their hands, covered their ears, and closed their eyes tightly, as if this could suppress the great fear caused by the shelling.
The iron ball with sizzling sparks fell from the sky, followed by a flash of fire. The blast caused by the violent explosion instantly rushed into the Tibetan Soldier Cave, extinguishing the oil lamps on the wall, and a burst of screams, curses and wailing immediately erupted from the cave. Voice. Chang Qingyun huddled tightly against the wall. At this moment, he could no longer feel the urge to urinate. He just hoped that this terrible time would pass quickly.
The city walls of Wuzhou were slowly crumbling like a castle in the sand under the continuous bombardment. The city walls were filled with smoke and flickering with firelight. Because the smoke from the artillery fire was too thick, Zhang Dapao ordered to stop shooting two hours after firing. On the one hand, it cools the body tube. On the one hand, let the smoke disperse a little for easier observation.
After more than ten minutes, the smoke on the city wall and the artillery position dissipated. Zhang Dapao used a telescope to observe the Wuzhou city wall after the first round of bombardment, and read out two lines of poetry taught to him by Zhang Bolin: "The wind is blowing, the clouds are flying, the cannon is firing to blast his mother!"
The results of the first round of shelling were good. The entire southern wall of Wuzhou City could no longer be called complete. The city tower had been blown down by the shells, leaving only ruins. The power of the 130 cannon is even greater. Each shot will blow away a large piece of the city wall, leaving countless small gaps.
The original defensive facilities such as towers, nests, horse-faces, parapets, and crenels on the city wall were riddled with holes under the gunfire. These traditional masonry fortifications were already very fragile after the invention of artillery.
The biggest problem is the wall itself.
The city walls in ancient China were almost always constructed of rammed earth for thousands of years. The thickness is at least 3 to 4 meters. Rammed walls are very thick and strong and can last for many years as long as they are properly maintained. Most of the city walls in the Ming Dynasty were built during the Zhu Yuanzhang era. Not only did most of the repairs last until the end of the Qing Dynasty, but even after the city bricks were removed, they are still a continuous mountain of dirt a hundred years later.
For such a city wall, it is impossible for traditional smoothbore artillery to directly open a hole in the wall. Even during the Revolution of 1911, when the Jiangsu and Zhejiang revolutionary armies attacked Nanjing, they mostly used various small and medium-caliber rifled field artillery pieces equipped by the New Army in the late Qing Dynasty. These artillery pieces had no effect on the Nanjing city walls. In the end, heavy fortress artillery was dragged in from the Jiangyin Fortress. The city wall was blown down, forcing Zhang Xun's braided army to abandon the city and leave.
The damage to the south wall of Wuzhou seems miserable, with many gaps made, but no section has collapsed. Zhang Dapao was not too surprised. When he was in the artillery training class, the instructor mentioned this: Don't underestimate the thickness of the city wall. In terms of the field artillery of the Fubo Army and even the artillery equipped by the siege artillery, there is no What kind of cannon can easily knock down a rammed earth city wall?
Even if they have the navy's 130 rifled guns, it is really difficult to break through the city wall. However, the artillery fire had at least completely destroyed the defense system at the top of the city. Through the telescope, he could no longer see any signs of active Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
According to the siege warfare offensive model trained by the Army in the past, the assault can be launched at this time. The infantry used ladders to climb the city, and the artillery and light infantry suppressed the defenders' counterattack at the top of the city. The city wall can be taken down with a single charge. However, the troops outside the south city were only "containment" - a feint attack on the south wall. In order to attract the enemy's attention, the real main attack direction was to the north, in an attempt to block the Ming army's retreat route to the north.
To be honest, Zhang Dapao couldn't quite understand the commander's "combat determination", according to Zhang Dapao's idea. If all the artillery firepower on hand, coupled with the cooperation of the West Detachment of the Pearl River Task Force, can be blown down a section of the city wall to open a breach wide enough, and then the engineers can build a pontoon bridge, the infantry can quickly enter the city through the gap. Defeat the enemy.
If he does this, Zhang Dapao will undoubtedly win the first victory in the Wuzhou Campaign.
But the battle plan was another one, a feint attack on Nancheng and the main attack on the north. At the combat meeting, Zhu Mingxia roughly explained the reasons for this combat determination.
First, the overall thinking of the Fubo Army has always been to fight a war of annihilation. Do not focus on the gains and losses of one city or one place, emphasize the war of annihilation, and do not advocate the war of defeat. Therefore, we cannot simply defeat the Ming army and let them flee to various parts of Guangxi.
Second, according to reports from intelligence personnel in the city, the Ming army was preparing to set fire to the city. According to predictions, once the Fubo army quickly entered the city, the Ming army, knowing that the city was about to be breached, would immediately set fire to it, and it was very likely that they would end up burning together with Wuzhou City.
Zhang Dapao knew that the Senate was both generous and stingy. When fighting and building, you don't hesitate to spend a lot of money, but when it comes to collecting loot after the war, you really have to spend every penny. It feels like you will lose money if you don't pick up the money when you go out.
If Wuzhou is to be beaten to a pulp and thousands of people die, the chief's face will not look good. Unlike the government, the first thing the chief wants is people. To the Senate, a ruined city was of no importance; the people were the most critical "trophy."
Therefore, Zhang Dapao's contribution can only be "auxiliary". Since you want to feint, you must make the feint powerful enough to make the enemy mistakenly think that the direction of the feint is the direction of the main attack - the momentum must be strong.
Although it was a feint attack, Zhang Dapao still planned to open several openings in the south wall of Wuzhou City, so that the Ming army defending the city in Wuzhou would be shrouded in fear of Fubo's army attacking at any time day and night.
So Zhang Dapao is not stingy with shells at all, just let Lian Qin nag, I have no intention of saving you shells. The first round of shelling alone consumed one-third of the siege artillery battalion's solid ammunition inventory. Zhang Dapao nonchalantly asked his logistics officers to go back to the 1st Brigade Joint Logistics Headquarters on Cheung Chau Island to ask for ammunition. The joint logistics troops were shocked. After collecting the ammunition, they went to the Translation Office and sent a telegram to the South China Army's Sanshui Joint Logistics Headquarters. After Hong Huangnan received the telegram, he was also shocked. Such a fight would destroy all the money in a few days. However, after sighing, he still approved the First Brigade's request for ammunition, and then conveniently sent another envelope. The telegram was sent back to Lingao; when the telegram reached the artillery shell factory, the workers gritted their teeth and continued to work overtime. They had been working overtime for several months and did not care about a few more weeks.
Any city wall has a common weakness, and that is the city gate. The city wall can be constructed of solid rammed earth, but the city gate can only be made of wood. Wood is really vulnerable to cannonballs, let alone 130 cannon shells that can easily penetrate a ship.
So Zhang Dapao ordered three 130-meter cannons to aim at Dezheng Gate, Nanxun Gate and Yangming Gate respectively, and the other artillery concentrated firepower to cooperate and strive to blast open the city gate.
All of a sudden, all kinds of cannons poured out their tongues of fire again, hitting the three city gates with large and small solid bullets. These cast-iron cannonballs hit the wooden city gates as if they were hitting thin paper. Yangmingmen was the first to be blasted open, and suddenly smoke billowed. After a while, through the telescope, Zhang Dapao saw that Yangmingmen was not the passage leading to the city under normal circumstances, but a thousand-year-old who had been bombarded. A mound riddled with holes.
Dezheng Gate and Nanxun Gate were blasted open one after another. Zhang Dapao knew what was inside the gate without even looking.
The Ming army blocked the door.
Blocking the gate is the ultimate means to make up for the weakness of the city gate, but it is tantamount to giving up the initiative at the same time. Since ancient times, the defenders have attached great importance to the initiative of going out of the city to fight, and from time to time send troops out of the city to harass, disrupt and destroy the siege's operations. subordinate. The Ming army, in particular, paid special attention to fighting for the city gate when defending the city. Not only would they set up a wall outside the city gate to protect the city gate when conditions permit, but when necessary, they would also organize small troops to rush out from the city gate to carry out counterattacks and disrupt the enemy's attack.
Once the city gate is blocked, it is tantamount to giving up the initiative and completely fighting to the death.
For these temporary city walls built with bricks, wood and mud behind the city gate, it was only a matter of time before 130 cannons were used to blast them down. However, the reason why a feint is a feint means that it is not a real attack. Zhang Dapao estimated that enough solid shells had been hit on the Wuzhou city wall. If the bombardment continued with such high intensity, all the solid shells in stock would be consumed by the artillery without waiting until evening.
Zhang Dapao ordered all artillery to stop bombarding the city wall, and the gunners cleared the barrels. Prepare for the next wave of bombardment.
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Will update next time Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 308
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The first volume of Lingao Qiming’s physical book is now available for pre-order! Please follow the WeChat public account
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The public account Lingao Qiming——
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The braggart’s message board;
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a word, senat popusque agn
