When Cao Yu heard that there was a fire on the river, he quickly turned around and looked around. As soon as he looked, he could see the air-conditioning.
There was not only fire on the river, but a large floating fire, and no one knew how many fire boats were coming slowly down the river. As he got closer and closer to the pontoon, Cao Yu could feel the heat wave from the ship hitting his face.
"Enemy attack! Fire attack! Run quickly..." Cao Yu roared loudly and ran towards the south bank of the Wei River.
This is not considered an escape, because the pontoon bridge cannot be moved, and there are no weapons on the bridge that can sink the fire ship. Cao Yu could only watch the fire ship slowly approaching. Apart from running away to report the news to his superiors, Cao Yu didn't know what to do.
In fact, there was no need for him to report. The garrison posts on the northern and southern cities of Tianjin Wei, as well as the sailors of the Shen family's sand ships on the river east of the pontoon, had all seen the incoming fire ship.
The alarm bugle wailed, and there was a commotion at the head of the city and the bow of the ship. The Shen family sailors who were sleeping in the cabin were all awakened, and they did not bother to dress or wash themselves. They were driven by the bowmen to lift the anchor and row the oars, and started the sand boat downstream.
But on the way downstream, Dashun's army had already piled up many mounds by the river. Archers had already climbed onto the mounds. When they saw a sand boat approaching, they fired rockets from a high position.
Looking from a distance, I saw countless flaming arrowheads like shooting stars, drawing perfect parabolas in the sky, and then landed on the sand ship that was the first to approach.
The Shen family's sand ships are all sea-going ships with huge hulls. Each ship can carry four to six thousand stones of cargo, and there are four or five masts on the deck. There was a weak south-westerly wind on the river now, so the masts were hoisted with sails and cloth sails, all made of flammable materials. It was shot by a rocket and quickly burned. From a distance, it looks like a blazing fire ship, which is very scary.
Seeing the rocket ignite the sailboat, bursts of cheers rang out from the mounds on both sides of the Wei River.
However, the sand ship with its sails ignited did not stop moving forward, but continued to sail forward, as if it did not notice that there was a fire above its head...
At the same time, as fire ships hit the Wei River pontoon one after another, the pontoon began to be set on fire.
Wu Xiang and Cao Youyi, who specifically commanded the defense of the city, were both veteran generals. Of course they knew to prevent the enemy from attacking the pontoon bridge with fire. Therefore, fireproof mud has been applied to the pontoon for a long time. It has been raining continuously in the past few days, and the wood of the pontoon has been saturated with moisture, making it difficult to ignite. But they were hit by burning fire ships. After being roasted by a nearby fire for a while, even the wood coated with mud finally began to burn.
Not long after, the bridge across the Wei River turned into a burning fire dragon.
Outside the east and south walls of Tianjin Weinan City, when the darkness and morning fog were dispersed by the sun, the soldiers guarding the city also screamed in surprise.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Immediately, the alarm horn sounded one after another.
Outside the city, tens of thousands of infantry and cavalrymen with Dashun battle flags had already formed up. The civilians pushed shield carts, crash carts, or simply carried straw bags filled with dust. Driven by the soldiers, they moved forward huffing and puffing.
Compared with the Dashun army that had been attacking the north city for three days, the Dashun army attacking the south of the city was obviously much more orderly, and their armor coverage rate was more than 10% higher, making them look like an elite force.
The people responsible for defending Nancheng were less than 6,000 people from the left division of the Overcoming Army led by Zhu Chunjie and Wang Zhou. This division just switched defenses from the front line of Tianjin Weibeicheng to Nancheng yesterday evening. In the previous three days, the Zuo Division had been fighting in Beicheng for three days and three nights. The original 6,500 troops were supplemented by nearly 500 troops during three days of fierce fighting. There are now less than 6,000 people left, and a total of 1,000 casualties, including more than 500 killed in battle alone, which is really a heavy casualty!
Moreover, the entire division was extremely exhausted and wished they could sleep all day and night without doing anything.
But I didn't expect that after only one night of defense change, I would have to face another fierce battle.
Moreover, during the battle in Beicheng, the left guard was supported by 2,000 armored cavalry led by Wu Sanfu himself - this armored cavalry was composed of Zhu Cihong's bodyguard battalion and the dragon cavalry battalion adapted from the Han general. Although I don’t have much actual combat experience, I don’t have enough training either. But after all, they are all strong men with strong body and armor protection. Under Wu Sanfu's use, even if he dismounts and fights on foot, he is still very powerful!
However, these 2,000 armored cavalry did not switch to the south city, but all stayed in the north city. Now that the pontoon bridge has been burned down, these 2,000 cavalry will not be able to support Nancheng's defense for a while.
The person who was left by Zhu Cixang to take charge of the overall situation in Nancheng was Wu Xiang, the military and political guard commander of the Fujun Marshal's Mansion.
When he learned that a large number of enemy troops had appeared outside Nancheng, he was sitting in the former General Military Office, now the Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion.
This is now the most important place in Tianjin Acropolis, even more important than Emperor Chongzhen’s palace! Because all the gold and silver worth more than 4 million taels of silver brought by Zhu Cihong from Beijing are now stored here!
Soldiers gather with pay. As long as this gold and silver looted from Beijing is not lost, Zhu Cihong's new army to overcome difficulties can be maintained. If the number of troops does not increase, the "deposit" of more than four million taels will be enough to support the new army for more than two years.
Now we have money, soldiers and combat power. If this money is lost, what will Zhu Cihong do to save the Ming Dynasty? Even the power to protect myself is gone.
Therefore, the treasury of the Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion is now jointly managed by the Military and Political Guards chaired by Wu Xiang, the Military Affairs Office (Zhu Cixang's office) chaired by Fatty Bi of Bijiu City, and the Camp Affairs Office chaired by Soy Sauce Huang and Su Laomi. Down.
Among them, the military battalion directly under the military and political guards is responsible for the security of the treasury, the Military Affairs Office is responsible for auditing accounts and approving expenditures, and the Battalion Affairs Office is responsible for the cashier and accounts of the treasury.
In order to protect the treasury, Zhu Cihong also left all the more than 300 golden-armored warriors in the guard camp of the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion to Wu Xiang. In addition, there are personal barracks under the jurisdiction of the military and political guards.
At this time, there were nearly 700 soldiers in the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion.
In the Tianjin Governor's Yamen, the palace where Emperor Chongzhen lived, there was also a battalion of more than 300 soldiers sent by Zhu Cixiang.
In addition, there are about 1,000 Jinyi Guards under the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion, all of which are deployed in Nancheng.
In other words, at this moment in Tianjin Nancheng, in addition to the 6,000 officers and soldiers of the Zuo Division who defended the four walls, there were also three battalions of personal guards and one Jinyi Guard, with a total strength of more than 8,000 people.
With 8,000 men in hand and the city of Tianjin Wei, Wu Xiang was quite confident when he heard the news that the pontoon bridge was burned and the Dashun Army was about to attack the city.
Immediately, he ordered the two-flag golden-armored guards, and he was also neatly dressed. Surrounded by about a dozen old servants who were about the same age as him, he rode out of the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion in a grand manner. Prepare to go to the city in person to supervise the battle.
But not far after leaving the Fujun Generalissimo's Mansion and turning around a crossroads, an old servant who was following Wu Xiang suddenly screamed in surprise.
"The thieves! The thieves have entered the city!"
Wu Xiang, who was sitting calmly and calmly on the horse, was startled when he heard this. When he looked forward carefully, the hairs all over his body stood up. If it weren't for the fact that he had been a soldier for half his life, the old man might have fallen off the horse. .
The bandits...the old camp of the bandits has entered the city! How can this be! ?
Hundreds or thousands of people, all in blue clothes and white hats, all holding sharp blades, like menacing gods, were in front of Wu Xiang.
This made Wu Xiang's old heart tremble with fear! There must be another traitor in Tianjin Acropolis! Let the old camp of rogue thieves come in!
What a good thing!
