Tang Hui hid on the battlements near the north city gate tower, frowning and looking at the gray bandits outside.
As for the taller city gate tower with a better view, he did not dare to go and could not go there.
That place was the key area for shelling after the rebels started their bombardment. A large number of two-and-a-half kilogram cannon shells by the rebels smashed the north city gate tower to pieces. On the spot, a large number of soldiers deployed on the city gate tower and even the watch and command personnel were mobilized. casualties of generals.
Now the city gate tower is in tatters, and there is no way to go up even if you want to.
If he wanted to observe the rebels outside the city, Tang Hui could only hide on the ordinary city walls like ordinary soldiers and observe the rebels outside the city through the battlements.
In his sight, there were at least tens of thousands of densely packed bandits outside the city, and the armor rate was very high. Especially those bandit soldiers holding spears or swords and shields, it looked like they were wearing heavy armor.
In addition, there are some bald thieves who are still wearing the uniforms of officers and soldiers, with white cloth strips sewn on their arms. They are carrying a large amount of sand, stone and planks to fill the moat.
Even Tang Hui knew that these thieves dressed as officers and soldiers were all officers and soldiers before, but they later surrendered voluntarily or became thieves after being captured.
But whether they are wearing gray military uniforms or officers and soldiers uniforms, these thieves and soldiers have one thing in common, that is, they are all bald...
Otherwise, why would anyone call the Baoxiang Army the Bald Army or the Monk Army?
"These traitors who surrendered to the thieves will definitely make life worse than death for these traitors after we wipe out the thieves." Tang Hui couldn't help but feel angry in his heart as he looked at the thousands of soldiers and traitors filling up the moat outside.
When the traitors were beaten before, these traitors ran away before they saw the traitors. After surrendering to the thieves, it didn't take long for them to become different people one by one, and they actually worked so hard to fight for the traitors.
While these damn traitors were filling the moat, the rebel artillery units outside the city continued to fire, and even musketeers and archers came forward to provide continuous fire cover.
The rebel infantry outside the city seemed strong, but they were within Tang Hui's expectations. Naturally, they would not be that bad if they could defeat Lu Xiangsheng's army.
However, the fierceness of the rebel army's guns and artillery greatly exceeded Tang Hui's expectations.
This time when the bandits attacked the city, they not only had a large number of light short robes, but also the famous two-and-a-half-pound long cannons among the bandits, whose firepower was quite ferocious.
The north city gate tower was beaten to pieces, thanks to the two and a half kilograms of artillery.
But if it was just like this, Tang Hui wouldn't look so ugly.
If the rebel army only has these light short robes and long cannons weighing more than two kilograms, then it will not pose any threat to the tall and thick city wall. As long as the defenders are careful and cannot resist, then the rebel army will not be able to do anything to them.
In the end, if the rebels want to attack the city, they still have to use infantry to climb the city and attack, sacrificing their lives.
Putting it away like this, Tang Hui still has some confidence.
After all, the bandit army has a small number of troops. To put it bluntly, the strength of the bandit army outside the city is now equivalent to that of the defenders inside the city.
If the security army, which has no strength advantage, wants to attack Zhongxiang City, it will easily kill and injure thousands of people. When the time comes, the rebel army will lose a lot and will naturally stop attacking or even retreat.
But what Tang Hui didn't expect was that in addition to traditional guns and cannons, the bandits also had a large, short-barreled artillery piece.
This thing looks inconspicuous, just a short and thick iron lump, but it can shoot an explosive shell with a curved trajectory that can land directly on the city.
And this made the Ming soldiers stationed on the city very uncomfortable.
Fortunately, the artillery fire rate of the rebel army is relatively slow, and the rate of duds is very high. Two or three out of ten rounds will not explode. Some of the exploding shells will directly set off fireworks in mid-air... ...Only 20 to 30% exploded after landing or exploded directly over the city.
However, even this caused huge casualties to the Ming soldiers defending the city. In the area of the city wall that was bombarded by the rebel mortars, the soldiers had to hide or simply flee down the city wall.
This also allowed the rebels to send people close to the city wall to fill in the moat.
Seeing the bandits' continuous bombardment and the many traitors who surrendered to the bandit continued to fill up the moat, Tang Hui felt that he was in danger.
If this continues, it won't take long for the rebel army to fill up the moat, and then they will rush up with a large number of siege equipment.
But despite knowing the threat, Tang Hui had no good solution.
"The rebel army's artillery fire is too fierce, Qian Xian, it can't go on like this!" There were also generals from the guard station who were worried, but they were just anxious.
Under the suppressed firepower of the rebels' guns and artillery, it was difficult for the officers and soldiers on the city top to fight back even if they wanted to use the various short robes deployed on the city head.
It was not that the Ming army had never tried to counterattack, using a large number of light cannons to kill and injure the rebel soldiers who stepped forward to fill up the moat. However, after this continued for a while, not many of the rebel soldiers were killed or wounded. Instead, hundreds of people on their own side were killed or wounded.
Tang Hui immediately gritted his teeth and said: "Prepare heavy armor, wait for the enemy to climb the city wall, and then go to the top of the city to fight!"
In this current situation, it was impossible to stop the rebels from filling up the moat and approaching the city wall. The only hope was to wait for the rebels to come over and fight them in close quarters.
Although the rebel artillery is fierce, as long as you hide behind the city wall, you can effectively avoid casualties. Once the rebel army sends troops to climb the city wall and attack the city, then the rebel artillery will naturally be unable to continue to suppress fire on the city head.
At that time, the defenders in the city can go to the top of the city to fight with the rebels at close range, blocking the rebels outside the city wall.
Hearing what Tang Hui said, the general at the guard station beside him looked at the surprisingly armored rebel troops outside the city. He also looked at the large number of his own troops hiding in the corner and shivering to avoid the bombardment. There were not many armored soldiers.
Want to rely on close combat to resist the rebel army?
Is this reliable?
However, regardless of whether it was reliable or not, they could only place their hopes on fighting at close quarters.
You can't just do nothing and wait for the bandit army to rush into the city.
While the defenders in the city were making preparations, the rural protection troops outside the city were also making various preparations step by step.
Attack the city directly?
I don’t have that idea for the time being, at least it’s impossible today.
According to the thinking of the generals of the Protecting Army, today's battle is just about shelling and filling in the moat. After filling in a wide enough moat, and after our own artillery kills enough enemies and further reduces the morale of the defenders, then the time has come The next day was the time to send out infantry to climb the city wall.
And with the support of the rural protection army, once the infantry is dispatched to climb the wall, it will be the final general attack!
Ever since, today, the rumbling sound of artillery inside and outside Zhongxiang City has not stopped for a whole day. The Baoxiang Army continued to bombard with field artillery, light turbans and siege mortars, while firing back and adjusting their position. , almost the entire northern city wall was covered and bombarded.
They also focused on shelling the north city gate tower area and the city wall area where the Ming army deployed a large number of traditional artillery on the left and right sides.
Under the cover of the artillery bombardment, the Fifth Guards Brigade successfully filled in a large section of the moat after suffering more than a hundred casualties.
In the evening, after the shelling of the Baoxiang Army stopped, Zhang Malin, the artillery director responsible for directing today's shelling, also found Luo Zhixue: "Today, we fired a total of nearly 500 rounds of 18 kilograms of grenades, two kilograms A thousand rounds of semi-solid ammunition and more than a thousand rounds of light shotgun.”
"The intensive shelling completely suppressed the enemy's stubborn resistance on the northern wall. By the afternoon, few of the enemy troops on the northern wall continued to resist on the wall, and most of them hid behind the wall."
"According to our estimates, this shelling killed at least about 500 enemy troops. Half of the results were achieved in the first half hour of the shelling. In addition to the enemy's precautions, the effect of the shelling weakened. , we also reduced the intensity of our shelling."
"Our early shelling mainly covered the city gate tower and the enemy's two main city-head artillery positions, killing a large number of enemy archers and gunners."
"Under the cover of the artillery unit, the 5th garrison brigade did not encounter much fire counterattack during the stage of filling in the moat. There were only sporadic counterattacks from the enemy's bows, arrows and guns. "
"Through today's bombardment, we have completely suppressed it, and even dispelled the enemy's confidence in engaging us in long-range fire confrontation on the top of the city."
After hearing this, Luo Zhixue nodded slightly and said: "The artillery unit, especially the mortar unit, did a very good job today. We will continue to work hard in the future and do a good job of fire cover without being arrogant or impetuous!"
Zhang Malin couldn't help but grinned when he heard Luo Zhixue's praise: "General, don't worry, our artillery unit of the Baoxiang Army has been battle-hardened for a long time. Today's scene may seem big, but it can still be fought in Yuzhou." The battle is stressful."
This is indeed true. The artillery unit seems to be the protagonist of this Zhongxiang Offensive Battle, but in fact it has been conducting a steady shelling. From beginning to end, they have not even suffered a single shell from the enemy. They have encountered any danger and suffered no casualties. nothing……
It can be said that it was very easy to fight.
On the other hand, in the Battle of Yuzhou, the field artillery troops faced the threat of enemy cavalry and fought very nervously. In order to prevent the enemy cavalry from approaching, the artillerymen at that time did not care whether the artillery would explode or not. It maintains a super high rate of fire for shelling.
After the enemy cavalry retreated and was pursued by our own cavalry, Zhang Malin and other artillerymen breathed a sigh of relief.
Compared with the intense bombardment at that time, today's bombardment can be called a "walk".
Luo Zhixue said: "Have a good night's rest, and prepare ammunition for tomorrow. If nothing else happens, we will attack the city. By then, if your weapons are heavier, you must expel the enemy from the top of the city in advance. You must not let it go. They affect the early advance of our own infantry. After the infantry attacks the city, your artillery units must also cover the rear and the walls on both sides to block other enemy reinforcements."
Zhang Malin said: "In tomorrow's battle, our artillery unit will definitely live up to your high expectations, General!"
