Either that or they have now been abandoned by Shanchanhou Mansion. In both cases, no matter which one it is, there will be no reinforcements for them. Although the morale of the defenders in the city was still barely calm, there was an aura of despair from top to bottom. Although the official army was repelled after the initial offensive, it did not launch a full-scale attack. Every day they just bombarded the city with cannons.
In the actual offensive, it is at best to organize small groups of troops to climb the city. At most, after the city wall was blown down, a troop raid was organized. But this kind of raid is more about killing and injuring the defenders, rather than destroying the city in a short period of time. After getting over the initial tension, the current situation is not tense. But for the defenders in the city, this killing tactic with blunt knives was not as good as a quick fight.
Today, the officers and soldiers under the city were mobilized frequently. Even though the defenders in the city understood that the last moment had arrived, they still breathed a sigh of relief from top to bottom. The long and painful suffering and desperate protection of these six months are finally coming to an end. If it weren't for the defenders in the city, they would have been the last dead soldiers of the pseudo-emperor. Shanchanhou dispatched military attachés at all levels, all of whom were experienced in actual combat.
After being bombarded by artillery every day for half a year, the defenders in the city may have collapsed long ago. But even so, from Gao Zhicong, the fifth brother of Shanchanhou who was sent by Shanchanhou to assist in commanding military affairs, but actually became the highest commander of the city's defenders, he was still the lowest-ranking corps commander, to the most ordinary soldier, his mentality was very different. Almost collapsed. They all hope that the decisive battle will come sooner, so that it can also be a relief.
As for the houses in the city, except for the original Nanning Military Preparation Department Yamen, which temporarily served as the pseudo-emperor's residence. The rest were basically dismantled completely in order to plug the gaps created by the cannon. Although Nanning City is the seat of the government, it is located on the border. After passing the boundary of Nanning Prefecture, it is Annan. Therefore, there are not many people in the city. More of a fortress.
Even if all the houses are demolished, it will not be enough. It can be said that except for food and grass, everything is lacking in the city now. The southern periphery of the city was lost, and even the water source in the city was somewhat insufficient. The defenders have persisted until now and have not collapsed, so they can be considered determined. Now that they realized that the general attack of the army was imminent, the defenders in the city felt a sense of relief.
And under the almost non-stop bombardment of hundreds of heavy artillery weighing several kilograms for more than an hour. Within just half a year, the North City Gate, which was crumbling after being bombarded by these cannons, became even more dilapidated and could collapse completely at almost any time. But the fierce bombardment of hundreds of heavy cannons was actually nothing more than a cover-up. Cao Rui's real killer move is not in the open, but underground.
In the past six months, Cao Rui has not just concentrated heavy artillery bombardment on the city here. That was just to attract the attention of the defenders at the top of the city. He used all his real skills underground. He dug more than ten tunnels toward the north city. It's just that Nanning City is right on the Yongjiang River, and the groundwater level is really too high. As the tunnel was dug deeper, groundwater surged upwards, directly destroying the tunnel.
If the digging is shallow, it will be easily discovered by the defenders. From the site selection to the excavation progress of these tunnels, Cao Rui personally selected and supervised them. In order to dig a tunnel under the north city wall, he even sent people to cut down all the surrounding trees to support the tunnel. Even with such painstaking efforts, the tunnel excavation progress was not only extremely slow, but it took only half a year to dig out three tunnels.
After the tunnel was dug, Cao Rui ordered his people to fill it with almost all the gunpowder seized from Wuzhou. Originally, Cao Rui's preparations for the general attack were three days later. But after receiving the notice that the emperor had arrived at Jingjiang Mansion, Cao Rui had to advance. Under the cover of artillery fire, the soldiers in the tunnel were connecting sections of artillery pieces and carefully conducting final inspections before the explosion.
When a seventh-grade military attache who led the team received a signal from his subordinates that there was no problem, he quickly exited the tunnel with the soldiers. At this time, the soldiers holding torches and preparing to light the fire had already arrived at the entrance of the tunnel. As the military attache exited the tunnel, he nodded to Cao Rui, who was sitting by the tunnel in person. Cao Rui's raised hand slashed downwards without any hesitation.
As Cao Rui lowered his raised hand, Cao Rui's soldiers holding torches pointed the torch at the cannon that had been connected and sprinkled with medicine. As the cannons in the bamboos that were specially placed on the walls of the tunnel for fear that the groundwater would wet them were ignited, Cao Rui, who was holding his sword, looked somewhat nervous. The soldiers behind him were holding swords and guns in their hands.
When there were three loud bangs in succession, tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder exploded rapidly, completely destroying the northern city wall that had been crumbling under the shelling for less than half a year. Cao Rui, who personally took command, mobilized his elite troops and immediately swarmed in through the gap. The garrison in the city was supported by the pseudo-emperor who spent a lot of money every year, and there were also many desperadoes summoned by the pseudo-emperor and people from the world hired with huge sums of money.
Even some gangsters or gangsters who have been recruited. There are also those guards around him who are not weak in skills and are not willing to be outdone. Facing the swarming officers and soldiers, no one actually lowered their weapons. Under the command of the military attaches sent by Shanchanhou and the last confidants who followed the puppet emperor, they started a tough street battle with the officers and soldiers who invaded the city. Even spears and euphorbias are still resisting.
It took a full midnight and a whole day of fighting on the second day, and at a heavy price, before Cao Rui finally captured the city. The so-called confidants of the pseudo-emperor in the city either died in the final street fighting or committed suicide, but none of them was willing to surrender. On the contrary, when the false emperor raised his troops, the civil and military officials of the surrendered court tried their best to survive, and were searched out one by one.
After the false emperor died, the new emperor was supported by those people. Before the officers and soldiers invaded his business, they killed his concubine, prince, and princess, and set fire to his so-called business. He took his so-called queen and his eleven-year-old prince with him, dressed in dragon robes and tied a jade seal around his neck, and threw himself into the sea of fire. By the time the officers and soldiers discovered him, he had been burned to the point where only broken arms and limbs were left.
Even if the false emperor was not caught, not even a few of the former false emperor's important ministers and confidants were caught. At a certain price, Cao Rui became so angry that he even wanted to order the massacre of the city to vent his anger. Fortunately, the people around him were still sober. They knew that if they really did something like that, no matter how great their previous military exploits were, the imperial court would definitely not spare them.
After some hard persuasion, Cao Rui gave up his original idea. However, the angry Cao Rui still ordered that more than a hundred captured military attachés from Shanchanhou Mansion be pulled out and beheaded, which relieved his hesitation. Cao Rui, who barely calmed down, ordered his subordinates to seize the time to eliminate the remaining scattered troops in the city. On the one hand, they seize the time to torture the captured personnel and find the whereabouts of the coffin of the false emperor.
Although he was extremely angry before, he even lost his mind and wanted to massacre the city to vent his anger. But after all, Cao Rui was still sober about certain things. He knew the court and exactly what the emperor wanted now. Therefore, as soon as the city was broken, he ordered to find the coffin of the false emperor at all costs. And just before this matter was implemented, I didn't even think of writing a memorial to report the victory.
As for whether the coffin of the false emperor would be smuggled out of the city, Cao Rui was still confident. Before the so-called death of the false emperor, he had already surrounded the entire city of Nanning. Not to mention a coffin, not even a bird can fly out. He was sure that the coffin of the former false emperor must still be in the city. So when the city was destroyed, he ordered to dig three feet into the ground to find it, regardless of the fact that the remaining enemies had not yet been eliminated.
Only after interrogating the captured personnel and breaking many of the riding whips, they still did not find out where the coffin of the false emperor was hidden. The only useful thing those people confessed was that the coffin of the false emperor was buried by his confidants. Those who participated in the burial either committed suicide or died in street fighting. Or they were simply silenced.
As for them, outsiders in the eyes of these false emperors, they have no idea of the real situation. Even after seeing the new emperor being installed, they knew that the false emperor had passed away. However, they did not know whether the false emperor died or escaped, and they were even confused. They really didn't know where the false emperor was buried. No matter how many whips are broken, they still won’t know.
The helpless Cao Rui could only send people to dig three feet into the ground of the fake bank and tear the entire bank into eight pieces. But still nothing was found. Cao Rui stood on the east wall, the only intact building in Nanning City, and looked at Nanning Fucheng, which although it was not big, was still the seat of the government. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. If the remains of the false emperor were not found for a long time, he didn't know how to explain it.
Looking at the city, there were soldiers who were still searching everywhere. They had already searched the place several times. Cao Rui gritted his teeth and said to the deputy beside him: "Except for the wounded soldiers, bring in all the people who can be transferred into the city. Even if I dig through the entire city of Nanning, I still have to find them. Those captured will continue to be interrogated. Don't be afraid of death, they will die anyway when taken to Jingjiang Mansion."
"Don't target only those officials who have been found. Those who found the false emperor's concubines, as well as the false emperor's so-called palace maids and eunuchs, must also be severely interrogated. Use the severe punishments that should be used. As long as you can pry open their mouths, you can use any method. I don't believe it. He is a dead man with a heavy coffin, and he can still go to heaven and earth? We must not withdraw the troops until he is found."
The military attache next to him looked at Cao Rui's gritted teeth expression when he said these words. After hesitating for a moment, he still said: "Sir, do you think the so-called death of the false emperor is just a pretense? He is not dead at all. The so-called death is just a way for him to escape. So, we I just searched the whole city and couldn't find the coffin of the false emperor or anything else."
Regarding the military attache's persuasion, Cao Rui said with a cold face: "Are you scolding yourself or mocking me? We are indeed a little later than the puppet emperor. But when we first arrived in Nanning Mansion , all the captured people confessed that the false emperor was in Nanning City. After we surrounded Nanning, the prisoners we captured also confessed that the false emperor was still in Nanning Mansion at that time."
"Less than three days after he fled into Nanning City, Zhao Wushu had already cut off his escape route to Dali. Unless he wanted to escape to Annan, there was no way to go. It was those Shancanhoufu faction in Dali that The military attaches who came here all arrived at Nanning Prefecture via a detour from Annan. They had served as Guilin Prefecture Princes and had gone to Annan many times. He and the Annan people had always been mortal enemies."
"When the Guilin County Prince's Palace was powerful before, the Annan people might not dare to say anything. But now that he is at the end of his rope, will the Annan people still have any taboos against him? Maybe he fled to Annan the first day, and the second The people from Tianannan can kidnap him and send him to the court. How dare you think he has the courage to flee overseas via Annan?"
