That night, Guiziliu's rebels were as powerful as a rainbow, and the fire in the capital ignited their morale. The power Yi Xin had accumulated throughout his life appeared in front of the world like a violent tsunami.
The chaos in the city was not over, but it was also in complete chaos outside the city. The leader of the Kaizi Ma, Hao'er, led thousands of cavalry from the Yongding River defense line and quickly approached the capital. The closer they got to the capital, the more serious the situation became.
The sky has dawned in Sijiucheng, the firelight shines for miles, and there are flying ash in the air like butterflies!
As soon as Hao'er's cavalry reached halfway, they could already vaguely see the outline of the capital city wall, but they found bursts of killing sounds coming from the northwest!
"It's over at Xishan... It seems to be over at Xiyuan... It's broken... Sir, it seems like it's over at Xiyuan Airship Camp!"
Ouch! Xiao'er patted his thigh and said, "Quickly...rescue Xiyuan..."
The two major airship camps in the capital, the Xiyuan Airship Camp and the Nanyuan Airship Camp, were also attacked by thugs at this moment!
There were elaborate works of Guiziliu in Sijiu City, and there were also outside the city. Thousands of thugs launched an attack on the Xiyuan and Nanyuan camps. The defenders stationed in the camps were suddenly caught off guard.
"Fire...fire...there are enemies to the south..."
"The airship took off in an emergency... took off... transported ammunition... transported ammunition..."
During this period, the imperial airships were operating at almost full capacity. As long as the weather permitted, they would go up to the sky to conduct reconnaissance on the rebels. If possible, they would also snipe and drop some bombs.
However, the mechanical precision of this era is far less than that of the 21st century. Maintenance must be carried out after each mission, and some steam engines also need major repairs.
In addition, it was cloudy tonight and the weather conditions were not good, so the airship did not take off to participate in the battle!
Now it became a living target for the rebels. The thugs who came from all directions quickly tore a hole in the defense line, and more and more rebels entered the camp.
"The ones who are captured alive...these people who control the airship are all technical soldiers...it is the Holy One's destiny to be captured alive..."
"There's an airship over there about to take off... rush over and capture..."
Later film and television blockbusters could not capture such a wonderful scene. An airship was swaying slowly into the sky, and the people on the pod were anxiously throwing sandbags and cutting ropes!
The thugs surrounded it from all sides, grabbed the rope and began to climb up. The airship was only three meters high, but it was actually held in place by these thugs like a tug of war.
Bang bang bang... The bullets were fired, forcing those on the airship to dare not cut the ropes. Hundreds of people below were pulling more than a dozen ropes to desperately fight against the buoyancy of the airbag.
More thugs held daggers in their mouths and pistols in their waists, and climbed up along the ropes, one after another, like monkeys.
Guiziliu knew how powerful the airships were, and he was determined to capture a few of them, so many of the craftsmen he sent were martial arts masters with very agile movements.
I saw the first few rushing to the edge of the pod under the suppression of firepower on the ground. As soon as they probed their heads, they were hit by a row of bullets inside.
Bang bang bang... A bullet flew past his bald forehead, leaving a bloody groove. However, the gangster ignored the pain and raised his hand to pull out the revolver from his waist without aiming. He turned his wrist up and Shooting randomly.
The brief fire suppression attracted the attention of the soldiers on the pod. At this time, the opposite side found an opportunity. Two gangsters turned over, pulled out their waist knives and began to kill at close range.
The narrow area of the pod quickly became a mass of killings. One moment, a thug fell to death, and another moment a soldier was thrown to the ground. However, in the end, there were more and more thugs, and soon the only ones killed on the pod were those wearing clothes. Worker in blue greasy overalls.
"Damn it, listen to my orders... From today on, this airship belongs to Xinjun! You all obey and fly the airship, and I guarantee that you will be guilty and not guilty!"
Without the protection of soldiers, these operators would not risk their lives to be loyal to Emperor Tongzhi. They would not do it for anyone. The airship soon fell into the hands of the rebels.
This was a big deal. For the first time, the rebels had an air strike force. They took out rifle bullets from the pods and started firing at the defenders on the ground.
When the cavalry commanded by Xiu'er arrived, the airship's heavy machine gun had already been loaded with ammunition, and without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger on Guaizima.
Ta da da...ta da da...
"It's so enjoyable... It's so enjoyable... Hahaha... These grandsons have always been suppressing us in the sky and beating them. Today we can also suppress and beat them..."
"This kind of thing created by the Chinese is really interesting...it's really interesting..."
Boom...boom...
Not everyone is soft-hearted. The Yulin New Army who were resisting in the workshop couldn't resist at first sight. They ignited the ammunition in the workshop, and the remaining airships that were being repaired were blown into parts.
The thugs and rebels who rushed in also suffered heavy casualties!
The two airship bases, Xiyuan and Nanyuan, were captured at three o'clock in the morning. The rebels only captured one airship, and all the remaining airships that Zai Chun spent a lot of money to buy were blown up!
The short-lived air force of the Qing Dynasty completely died on this night!
Xiao'er saw that there was no point in continuing to fight. Under the heavy machine gun fire from the sky, his brothers suffered heavy casualties. He cursed, "What a fool... disperse... return to the capital at night... This is a bloody battle." How did you achieve this kind of virtue?"
The lonely airship slowly increased its height and flew towards the Yongding River. In this dark night, it was not expected that the airship could kill many imperial troops. In fact, as long as the airship could appear over the Yongding River, the morale of the imperial army would completely collapse.
The Xiyuan base flew not far from the Yongding River, and the distance of four or five kilometers was reached in a short time. By this time, the front line of the Yongding River was already red-blooded, and the last wave of Guiziliu's cross-river offensive overwhelmed all the reserves.
There were boats and floating corpses everywhere on the river. People were almost pushing the boats forward among the piles of corpses. There were mountains of corpses on the Marco Polo Bridge, and the voices of the rebels shouting even overshadowed the gunshots.
"Lower the height...shoot at Hunjun's army..."
Ta da da...ta da da...
Suddenly, a rain of bullets poured from the sky and swept the wounded soldiers camp, reserve force, and civilian camp, and panic suddenly broke out.
"What's going on? How can the imperial airship hit our own people..."
"Listen carefully...the capital has been breached...the airship has been captured by us...surrender...Emperor Tongzhi is dead...dead!"
At this point, the war has completely collapsed!
The airship is the trump card in the hands of Emperor Tongzhi, and it is also a weapon that boosts morale. This treasure has been captured by the rebels. Can the capital be recovered?
There was no loyalty anymore, and no military order anymore. The civilian camp was the first to flee, wishing their parents could give them two or three more legs.
Then the reserve and wounded battalions also collapsed, and they fled north aimlessly!
The machine gunner who was firing in the fortification suddenly found that there was no ammunition around him. "Where is the ammunition... Why haven't you sent ammunition..."
When I turned around, I saw that the troops in the rear area were completely defeated, and no one was sending ammunition to them anymore!
