"Boom boom boom boom..."
Just after launching a new round of fierce attack, before they were halfway through, the Ming army on the other side began to be covered by artillery fire. The artillery shells flying from the front and overhead severely curbed the Qing army's offensive.
Especially in the area controlled by the Qing army near the west bank of Ma Shiqiao, there were explosions everywhere, and fire flashed frequently, almost never stopping.
Even though it was nighttime and there was not even a trace of light in the sky, the Ming army's mortar troops, in conjunction with the spearheads on the frontline observing the impact point of the projectiles, were still able to fire the shells more accurately using the moonlight.
The houses on the east bank of Ma Shiqiao have been requisitioned by the Ming army as bunkers. Light-weight Folang machines that can fire continuously are deployed on many buildings. As long as the barrels have cooled down, they will fire violently on the other side.
Regardless of the upright Eight Banners soldiers or the Han army's lackluster troops, as long as they appear on the road of Fuchengmen Street, they will be hit by a storm of artillery fire.
At the bridgehead of Mashi Bridge alone, the Ming army deployed ten small Folan aircraft, combined with mortars and a large number of musketeers, and twenty tanks blocking the road on the east bank, the entire bridge could be blocked.
From the north of Ma Shi Bridge to Chaotian Palace, there are three bridges in one temple. There are two bridges south of Ma Shi Bridge to Fengcheng Hutong, which is parallel to Fuchengmen Street. These five bridges, without exception, are still in the hands of the Ming army.
There are two bridges further south with similar conditions. However, the Qing army focused its attack mainly on the Mashiqiao area, because it was a main road and easy to pass, which was very convenient for the Eight Banners soldiers to attack.
Zhou Yuji deployed all his mobile troops along the Cao River. Once this line of defense was broken through by the Qing army, the entire line might collapse, thus endangering the safety of the imperial city.
As for the west bank of the Cao River, they could only wait until the Donglu troops entered the city and suffered heavy losses before retaking it. Now they had to reluctantly give up. The area had turned into a sea of fire, even though the cries for death and calls for help were endless.
Many people have died tragically under Donglu's sword. In order to avoid being slaughtered by Donglu, it is not uncommon for men, women, old and young to jump into the river to escape. You can survive by swimming to the east bank, otherwise there is only one end.
For these people, the Ming army would save them if they could. If they were unable to help, they would provide fire cover to prevent the people from being shot by arrows fired by the Donglu on the other side.
But after Donglu appeared in the west of the city, most of the people instinctively crossed the Cao River eastward and took refuge on the east bank, or hid near the city head and were protected by the defenders. Those who were slow to react also welcomed their own It's fate.
"General Rong!"
"How's the battle going?"
"Our troops have repelled the fourth Donglu attack, killing and wounding about as many people as the predecessors. All the bridges from Chaotian Palace to Fengcheng Hutong have not been lost!"
The person responsible for holding on to the Ma Shiqiao area was Lin Baoguo, a former Yongwei Battalion general and current commander of the 4th Brigade of the East Palace Guards. After seeing Zhou Yuji coming to inspect the front line, he hurriedly stepped forward to report the battle situation.
In Lin Baoguo's view, it can be defended for now. Once the Donglu continue to increase their troops through the cave, it will be unknown, and they need to make early plans.
His fourth brigade belongs to the second batch of trained troops, and its combat effectiveness is slightly lower than that of the first three brigades, mainly because there are fewer veterans supplemented by the Brave Guard Battalion, and only a part of the brigade is stationed here. .
Fortunately, the unit was equipped with a large number of tanks in time and had strong artillery support. Otherwise, with only a small number of veterans and a large number of recruits to resist the fierce Donglu attack, Lin Baoguo would have to be prepared to sacrifice his life for righteousness.
"There is no need for you to attack. I will ask you to lead your troops to stay here until dawn. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already ordered that until dawn, he will send the airship troops to fight and bomb the Donglu on the other side!"
"……really?"
"nature!"
"Very good! Very good! Commander-in-Chief, please rest assured. The general will definitely lead his troops to fight to the end, as solid as a rock!"
Even the generals of the East Palace Guards have rarely seen airships put into combat and have never practiced with ground troops.
However, the reputation of airships has long been known among the generals. As long as the airship can go into battle, there is no need to actually kill Donglu. Even showing up can greatly boost the morale of the troops.
Lin Baoguo had been looking forward to it for a long time. When he got the promise from his boss, he was immediately excited and excited. It was a veritable weapon in the fairy world!
At present, Lin Baoguo estimated that Donglu would organize an attack every quarter of an hour. Facing the enemy's tidal offensive, he felt a little guilty, let alone his new recruits who had never killed anyone.
With such waves of charges, no one dares to guarantee whether they can last until dawn. If there is the excitement of airships going into battle, it will be very different.
Therefore, Lin Baoguo quickly ordered soldiers to follow the Caohe defense line to let everyone know the exciting news in advance.
With the help of airships, even if the west bank of the Cao River cannot be successfully recovered, the east bank can still be held.
The tank that the prince asked the Academy of Sciences to research was a bit stupid, but it was indeed a good object.
Compared with those vulnerable vans on the battlefield, this tank, which is covered with iron armor from all directions, can be said to be invulnerable to Donglu's attacks.
Most of the recruits who had never fought in actual combat and whose minds were already in a daze relied on this thing to gain confidence and fighting spirit, and were able to survive when the Donglu attacked in large numbers.
A certain prince knew the advantages and disadvantages of the "Da Ming Tank" very well, and chose a modular power solution during the research and development process according to local conditions.
The so-called "modular power solution" means that if it is used in field operations, a natural animal-powered engine with a very high mileage will be installed.
If you are fighting in street battles and it is only short-distance combat, remove the power box and use human power instead!
As for the most fatal steering problem of four-wheel vehicles...
Very easy to solve!
Use someone to carry it!
That's right!
People lift tanks!
Is it surprising? ? ?
Surprised or not? ? ?
Is it irritating? ? ?
Twenty strong men can definitely lift a tank, let alone make this thing turn.
The Daming tank adopts two driving modes, wheel suspension and axle suspension.
The latter works on a similar principle to a four-wheeled carriage, requiring differential gears and torsion bars to achieve steering.
The former is different. There is no axle, but a single wheel is used to achieve steering. You will know this if you have seen shopping carts in supermarkets...
Each wheel is equipped with a steering device, which can adjust the angle with the car body at will.
If it doesn’t work, our Ming Dynasty’s tanks can still be carried by people!
You can criticize this thing as being crude and ugly in appearance, but what cannot be ignored is that this thing is invulnerable and is equipped with a small Franc machine that can fire rapidly.
The three crew members are all capable of firing muskets and are equipped with ten grenades. Even if the ammunition is used up, the lid can be closed so that the braids outside are helpless against this "turtle shell".
How about it?
Are you angry? ? ?
This kind of thing is now deployed at the bridgeheads on the east bank of Xizhimen Street in the north and Chaizi Hutong in the south. The Ming army relied on this thing to withstand the Qing army's onslaught during street fighting.
Even though steam engines are currently unreliable, a certain prince still regards tanks as artifacts for street fighting because they can provide cover for his own soldiers at any time.
There were at least two hours until dawn, and Zhou Yuji knew that no matter what method he took, he had to make sure that his troops persisted until dawn.
The biggest difficulty now is that the connection with Ni Chong of Fucheng Gate has been interrupted. Judging from the fact that the defenders near the city gate continue to fire artillery towards the west bank of the Cao River, the city head should not have been lost yet.
His Highness the Crown Prince's decision was extremely wise. First of all, it was necessary to prevent the Fucheng Gate from falling. After all, it was impossible for Donglu to completely cut off all the passages to the Fucheng Gate, and the upper parts of the city wall were connected to each other.
Secondly, we must defend the defense line on the east bank of the Cao River, continue to counterattack the Donglu's continuous attacks on the defense line along the river, and consume their effective strength until dawn.
Finally, when reinforcements arrive, the Wang Division can gradually compress the area controlled by the Donglu through bridges along the river in order to divide, surround, severely damage, and even annihilate it.
The first two are what Zhou Yuji needs to do immediately. The airship will arrive after dawn, explaining that it is not too late to decide the strength and direction of the counterattack based on the battle situation.
Since there were many troops at the city head on the west side of the inner city, Zhou Yuji was not too worried about losing the city wall before the city wall completely collapsed.
The base of the city wall is made of rammed earth, and his men are stationed on the top of the city. Even if Donglu exposes it through tunnels, it will have little effect.
The only thing that made Zhou Yuji uneasy was that the Donglu might use the troops sneaked into the city and the troops outside the city to implement internal and external pincer tactics against the defenders at the top of the city.
The most reliable method at present is to continuously transport troops and ammunition to the already endangered Fuchengmen defenders through the northern and southern walls of the inner city to help them hold on until dawn.
Zhou Yuji already knew Donglu's strength and deployment through the captured Donglu wounded soldiers.
Judging just now from the corpses of the Donglu who were killed and the objects seized, it was the Zhenglan Banner of the Eight Banners and the red and yellow banners of the Han Army that attacked Fuchengmen.
From the examination of the corpses, it can be known that there were not a few Eight Banners soldiers who entered the city through the cave this time, perhaps as many as thousands.
Once this happens, and the number of Eight Banners troops that have already entered the city exceeds previous estimates, it will be an unprecedented and brutal test for the entire East Palace Guard, which was established recently.
In Donglu's battle sequence, the troops with the lowest combat effectiveness were Sanshun Yigong's troops. At present, Xushun Gong Shen Zhixiang's troops had been defeated by the Japanese army, and Sanshun Wang's troops did not take much advantage.
The Four Banners of the Han Army, which was higher than its combat power, only suffered slight losses during the previous siege, and the Eight Banners, the most elite, suffered minimal losses. Tonight, it was the real showdown between the main forces.
According to relevant intelligence, the Zhenglan Banner was owned by Hauge, the eldest son of Emperor Taiji, and the corpses of Donglu killed on the battlefield were all wearing blue armor, indicating that the stubborn enemy who attacked Fuchengmen was Hauge.
This determined opponent is a fierce and cruel opponent. Zhou Yuji does not dare to be careless or procrastinate at all. He must go all out to avert danger.
The troops on the northern front were handed over to Wang Yuncheng, an old subordinate, and the troops going south were commanded by Wang Zhilun, a warrior who also came from the Yongwei Battalion.
The most important Fuchengmen Street in the middle road is headed by Lin Baoguo. Judging from the current battle situation, it is quite safe, but we must not underestimate the enemy, otherwise we will suffer heavy losses.
The biggest problem at the moment is that these three brigade commanders are not leading all the soldiers of their headquarters, and the three troops participating in the war are not organized troops.
In addition to the Donggong Guards, there are also Yamen servants from Dongchang, Jinyiwei, Shuntian Prefecture, and drafted men. The composition of the various departments participating in the war is simply diverse.
The military strength is reasonable, but the actual combat power can only be dominated by the East Palace Guards. Others can't be counted on. It's lucky if they don't turn around and escape.
If the Cao River had not been a barrier, I am afraid that at this moment, thousands of Donglu would have been killed at the foot of the imperial city.
Now that the weather is getting colder and there is a chill at night, even if there are people in Donglu who know how to swim, they will not choose to swim across the river.
Once a cold or fever occurs, its combat effectiveness will drop rapidly and it will become a liability.
Considering that most of the people who knew the water in Donglu were concentrated in King Sanshun's team, Zhou Yuji chose to have his troops focus on guarding all the bridges along the river and set up sentries along the banks to monitor them.
At this time, all the bridges that the Qing army could reach were densely covered with a layer of corpses of Qing soldiers, some of which were still alive.
For these seriously injured Donglu, no matter how close the Ming army on the other side was, they would not shoot them. They would just watch quietly and let these bloodthirsty and indiscriminate killings die of pain.
Each bridgehead was blocked with tanks, and small Folang machines were erected on the roofs on both sides to carry out cross-fire attacks on invading enemies. Mortars were deployed at the rear, supplemented by cavalry for protection.
This is how the East Palace Guards train in peacetime, so that they can be carried out in an orderly manner during wartime. The factory guards who could walk sideways before the war can only fight on the side at this time.
Seeing that the final victory was about to be won, all the soldiers of the Qing army, including the two banners of the Han army, were not afraid of death for the sake of the silver mountain just around the corner.
However, due to the lack of horses and heavy weapons, with only the bows, arrows and swords in their hands, plus a few captured Ming army firearms, they were unable to break through the fire net for the time being, let alone shake the Ming army's defense line on the other side.
The greatest threat to the warriors of the Qing Dynasty was not the guns and arrows, but the Frankfurt machine and the two types of explosive objects, one large and one small.
Even if double armor is approved, they will be suddenly shot during a charge. Many people are injured by iron balls smaller than soybeans, and then become sluggish, and eventually die tragically under Man Ming's firearms.
Those damned barbarians seemed to have explosive objects that they couldn't throw away in their hands. They were flying over one after another like huge hailstones, and there was no end to them.
Even the Zhenglan Banner warriors under Hauge suffered heavy losses in firearms during this battle. They only attacked Ma Shiqiao and hundreds of them were killed.
The distance between the two sides was less than 200 steps, but the Qing army with the Zhenglan Banner as the main force could not rush through. Like a wild boar whose head was pressed by a hunter, it was pinned down on the west bank of the Cao River by the Ming army on the opposite side.
In order to leave the Dog Tartars nowhere to hide, the Ming army on the east bank chose to directly destroy the houses on both sides of the bridge, causing fires and thick smoke to fill the air.
If they didn't want to regain the lost ground, the East Palace Guards wouldn't even plan to keep the bridge, so that the Donglu would be completely unable to rush to the east bank through the nearby bridge.
"Why haven't you crossed this river yet?"
After Jueluo Baishan received the order from the emperor, he rushed directly to the front line of Fuchengmen without stopping, and immediately entered the city through the underground cave. He wanted to take credit, so there was no delay at all.
"Hui Ye, my subordinates have killed four times in a row, with no less than hundreds of casualties. They are reorganizing to make a comeback!"
Ajibai was also very helpless. The dog barbarian on the opposite side was extremely stubborn. After trying to persuade him to surrender to no avail, he had no choice but to fight hard. However, despite repeated attacks, he failed to succeed.
Although Ajibai is the first-class Mele Zhangjing of the Zhenglan Banner, he still has to nod and bow in front of the first-class Mele Zhangjing of Jueluo Baishan.
The other party is a general with a yellow flag and a direct servant of the emperor. Even if he comes and asks for help, he cannot show the slightest dissatisfaction.
"...Wait for me to see!"
When Jueluo Baishan arrived at the front line, he saw Ajibai who looked ashamed and his armor was damaged. He guessed that the other party had been fighting hard for a long time, so he stopped blaming him and insisted on seeing to believe.
From the telescope, you can see that the Ming army on the other side is heavily fortified, and the artillery on the roof is still firing with fierce firepower.
Looking back, what made Jueluo Baishan feel embarrassed was that neither his own troops, Zhenglan Banner, nor the Han Army's troops actually had artillery...
