Zhaoqing's geographical location determines its importance. Since the 43rd year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi moved from Wuzhou, Guangxi to Zhaoqing. It was not moved to Guangzhou until the 11th year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, which lasted 182 years.
This is exactly the case, according to the Qing Dynasty's deployment of troops. The closer you get to Zhaoqing, the more flood troops are stationed on the roads around Zhaoqing. There are sentry towers every two to six kilometers, with various flags flying on them, which looks very majestic.
In fact, there are only a few to dozens of Green Camp soldiers placed in these sentry towers according to their geographical importance, led by General Manager and General Qian respectively. At that time, Zhang Zhishan and others were also the general Qian who led these flood troops, so they knew the specific situation.
Green camp is divided into towns as the highest strategic unit and camps as the basic unit.
The official ranks of the green camp from high to low are: Admiral (province/standard), general (town), deputy general (association), participating general (battalion), guerrilla, commander, garrison (local), general (station), Take the total. 1
As the anti-bandit army marched all the way to Zhaoqing, these sentry towers were either touched by the scouts who had been allowed to do so in advance or they surrendered directly. Seeing so many troops of the bandit suppressing army approaching, the defenders were stupidly preparing to fight without the defenders.
Zhang Rui's approach to the surrendered flood soldiers was to take them all to Zhaoqing City. On the one hand, it can protect the news from leaking out so quickly, and on the other hand, if the siege does not go smoothly, they can be used to take over.
Due to the rapid advance of the bandit suppressing army, the defenders in Zhaoqing City did not react until the bandit suppressing army approached.
Zhaoqing City once served as the "accompanying capital" and palace of Yongli in the Southern Ming Dynasty, so its defensive properties are naturally not bad.
I saw that its city wall had a circumference of 742 feet and a length of eight feet, a thickness of one foot and a half, and a height of two feet and two feet. The city had four gates, namely Songchong, Zhennan, Duanxi, and Chaotian.
The entire city wall is equipped with moats, water gates, suspension bridges, urns, city towers, enemy towers, turrets, watchtowers, general towers, horse paths, crenels, parapets, and a series of defensive equipment such as lacquered wood, ring crashes, forks, and flying hooks. and defense facilities.
There are also more than 20 large and small forts and many barracks in the city. In the western section of the north city wall, there is the Piyun Tower, which can overlook the inside and outside of the city and monitor the enemy's situation.
At this time, the bandit suppressing army came from the west. The school ground outside the city to the west of Zhaoqing City was captured by the bandit suppressing troops before they could fully react, and nearly a thousand Green Camp soldiers were captured again.
According to those captured Green Camp soldiers, there were less than 2,000 defenders in Zhaoqing City at this time.
When the bandit-suppressing army approached Duanxi, the west gate of Zhaoqing City, they could see a large moat, which was directly connected to the Xijiang River.
The speed of the bandit suppression army's advance was completely beyond the understanding of the Qing army. At this time, Zhaoqing deputy general 2 Zhong Shengjia, who was standing on the city wall and looking down, couldn't help but worry. Although Zhaoqing City has complete facilities, there are too few soldiers to defend the city.
"It would have been better if we hadn't mobilized a large number of troops and left before. Even if the rebel bandits come back with twice as many troops, we won't worry." Zhong Shengjia said with a hammer on the female wall.
"General, it's okay. Although these rebels are powerful, they are just newbies with little siege experience and cannot withstand many casualties. As long as we can severely injure their troops, the danger of siege will naturally be solved. ." General Li Guangli, who was following Zhong Shengjia, consoled him.
"Where is the prefect Niu Fenfang? I asked him to find more people to help defend the city. Has he done so?" Zhong Shengjia looked at the bandit suppressing troops gathering under the city through the female wall and looked at the people around him. asked
"We have already found them, but the city wall to be defended is too long, so the manpower we have found will have to be sent elsewhere." Zhou Dasheng, another general beside Zhong Shengjia, replied.
"Where are the others?" Zhong Shengjia was very annoyed that he didn't see Niu Fenfang.
"Back to the general, Magistrate Niu went down to the nearby City God's Temple to pray for blessings. He will probably be back soon," Zhou Dasheng said.
"Pray for blessings? How long has this been going on? And..."
"Forget it, let's not talk about it. Let the brothers work hard and when this battle is over, they will all be rewarded." Zhong Shengjia said loudly
"Thank you General."
People around Zhong Shengjia knelt down and thanked him.
"Well, pay attention, the rebels are on the move. When they get close to Baizhang, let the cannons on both sides fire." Zhong Shengjia gave the order.
"Yes, General." The flag officer next to him immediately knelt down and went back to convey the order.
There are two towers at Duanxi Gate in Zhaoqing City, each with two cannons inside, for a total of four. The artillery is a fixed cannon and difficult to move. Even so, it is still a rare weapon for defending the city.
General, something seems to be wrong with the rebels. "Li Guangli pointed to the bandit suppressing army outside the female wall and said.
Zhong Shengjia, who was still discussing with the people around him, quickly looked over when he heard Li Guangli's words. I saw sixteen large ladder trucks slowly pushing towards the city wall, and then the ladder truck stopped about 110 feet away from the city wall.
Behind the tall ladder truck were arrow-blocking vehicles, artillery, and siege vehicles. Then came the prisoners who were preparing to carry soil to fill the moat.
At this time, the drums of the bandit suppression army sounded.
A piece of the baffle of the stopped ladder truck was exposed, and rows of muskets were seen emerging from it.
Because the distance was too far, Zhong Shengjia and others only saw the ladder truck of the bandit suppression army stopping, and they also saw a figure in front of them, but they didn't know what they were doing or why they stopped.
"Dong..."
"Dong dong..."
"Dong dong dong..."
The drumbeat began to beat faster.
"Bang..."
The musketeers arrayed on the ladder truck fired their first salvo.
As soon as Zhong Shengjia heard this voice, the pores on his body stood up involuntarily. He immediately shouted nervously: "Everyone, please take shelter."
Just as Zhong Shengjia finished shouting, the musketeers of the bandit suppression army had already fired their second shot.
"puff…"
"Puff..."
"Puff puff…"
At this time, many defenders on the city wall were knocked down by bullets before they understood what was going on.
Many people only saw that the ladder truck, which was slightly higher than them, had just stopped, and were killed just like that.
Especially the gunners in the turrets on both sides. Zhang Ruike named them and wanted to concentrate his firepower on them first.
When the musketeers of the bandit suppressing army fired their third volley, the arrow-blocking vehicle was in action. As the arrow-blocking vehicles advanced one by one, the captive soldiers hiding under them and carrying sandbags forward discovered that everything was not as dangerous as they imagined, and nothing was shooting at them.
Indeed, because the gunners were hit hard by the gunners of the bandit suppressing army. No one can go up there to load ammunition and fire cannons, so there is no danger.
As for the archers, they could only shoot randomly. It was better not to shoot at all than to risk the danger.
