Although Tang Hui was tangled, seeing the infantry protecting the thieves getting closer and closer, he finally ordered troops to be sent to the top of the city, but this time only some artillerymen who controlled light artillery and musketeers and archers were sent.
As for those heavily armored elites who were specially used for close combat, they didn't go up anymore.
Tang Hui couldn't just watch the rebel army rush to the bottom of the city wall and climb to the top of the city without any loss...
But the result is not too good...
After the Ming army's light gunners and other soldiers climbed onto the city in fear, the first thing they saw was the dead and wounded lying almost all over the city...
Then he began to load ammunition with great anxiety, preparing to bombard the thief infantry who was about to enter the range.
However, as soon as those damn security guards saw the Ming soldiers coming to the city again, the infantry stopped again, and then the rebel artillery fired again...
This time there was no need for Tang Hui or other generals to give orders. As soon as the rebel artillery opened fire, hundreds of Ming army long-range soldiers who had just reached the top of the city scrambled to escape down the city wall...
It's just that the speed of escape was not as fast as the flying speed of the cannonballs. As the cannonballs came intensively, dozens more people suddenly fell into a pool of blood.
After a while, the defenders repeated their old tricks, allowing the infantry to continue to advance. But this time, no matter what Tang Hui and other defending generals thought, the ordinary soldiers would not go to the city again no matter what. …
The enemy's security forces made it clear that they wanted to lure them to the top of the city and then use artillery to kill them. No matter how stupid or brave they were, they couldn't continue to go to the top of the city so stupidly.
Must go?
The hundreds of dead and injured lying on the top of the city are an example!
In fact, most of the dead and injured were not dead, and many were injured by shrapnel. These people lay wailing and struggling to climb down. It was as miserable as it was.
The Ming army didn't even dare to send people on a large scale to collect the injured. Only a few people went up to pull some injured military leaders or people they knew and were better at for treatment.
After the Ming army put on a posture of refusing to go to the city again no matter what, Luo Zhixue immediately said to Zhang Malin on the side: "The artillery unit is ready to cover the infantry!"
Then he said to Xu Zhixian: "Instruct the 1st Infantry Brigade and the 5th Guards Brigade to attack!"
The Ming army defending the city had been beaten down by their own artillery fire, and they did not even dare to go up to the top of the city. This was the time for the infantry to launch a general attack.
Dong Mingjie of the Fifth Guards Brigade in front received the order and immediately ordered the army to start pressing forward.
His fifth garrison brigade, together with the first infantry brigade next door, will attack the northern section of the city wall on the left and right at the same time, with the north city gate as the dividing point. The first infantry brigade is responsible for the left side, and the fifth garrison brigade is responsible for The brigade was responsible for the right side.
However, the main attack direction will undoubtedly be on the left side of the northern city wall where the 1st Infantry Brigade is located.
Not only the Baoxiang Army knew this, but the generals of the Ming Army on the opposite side could basically see it as well, as long as they were not blind.
The section of the city wall where the Baoxiang Army conducted repeated shelling before was the left side of the north city wall.
The 1st Infantry Brigade, which is responsible for attacking in this direction, also has more heavy armored infantry.
However, the task of the Fifth Guards Brigade is not light. They need to launch an attack on the right city wall to contain more Ming army forces and create favorable opportunities for the First Infantry Brigade's attack.
When the Fifth Guards Brigade rushed forward, Li Chengyong of the First Infantry Brigade also ordered the troops to move forward.
"The light gunners and musketeers step forward to suppress the enemy's firepower at the top of the city. The assault battalion is the main attack. Try to rush forward in one go!"
Assault camp, this is not a regular establishment in the Baoxiang Army, but for this Zhongxiang attack battle, Luo Zhixue specially mobilized heavy armored sword and shield soldiers, heavy armored spearmen, and strong musketeers from all parts of the First Division. A force formed specifically for siege operations totaled more than 500 people.
These people, even musketeers, temporarily wore full-body cloth face armor to increase their protection.
And those heavy-armored sword-and-shielders were even more powerful, wearing double armor!
Under the cover of friendly forces, they began to head towards the city wall.
The distance increased from two hundred meters to one hundred meters, and they continued to advance. Some auxiliary troops who were not wearing heavy armor but were carrying ladders began to jog, trying to rush to the city wall in advance to set up the ladders. Let the heavily armored soldiers climb the top of the city as soon as they arrive at the city wall.
At this time, the Ming army generals on the top of the city also realized that this time the rebels were really serious. They were no longer like the previous times, only getting closer to 30 to 40 feet before retreating. ,
Tang Hui shouted: "The bandit army is coming, hurry up, all the heavy armors are on the top of the city to prepare for battle!"
"Fire up the artillery. Where are the archers? Why don't you let go of the arrows?"
Not only Tang Hui was shouting, but other Ming army generals who understood the battlefield situation were also shouting.
However, most of the ordinary soldiers were reluctant, let alone rushed to the top of the city!
Many soldiers thought this was another conspiracy by the rebels.
As soon as they reach the top of the city, the bandit army will definitely open fire, and they will be dead by then.
So you still have to be steady, slow down, don't rush too far forward, just walk up slowly from behind. After the people who go up first are bombarded, the people behind them can naturally get down again. The walls are hiding.
There are many ordinary soldiers who think this way, which makes them slow to set up defenses on the city. At this time, the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Brigade and the soldiers of the assault battalion attacking the city have already launched the final charge. .
Bad thing...
The bandit army is really going to charge forward!
Many Ming soldiers who had just arrived at the top of the city saw the dense crowd of rebel soldiers under the city wall, and then they realized that the adults above had not lied to them. The rebels were really going to attack the city.
Many Ming soldiers, under the command of middle- and low-level officers, began to hurriedly load light cannons, or shoot with blunderbuss or bows and arrows.
But they are too late!
The light artillerymen and musketeers of the Baoxiang Army had opened fire in advance and began to provide medium and close fire support for the siege troops.
A large number of shrapnel and bullets fell on the city walls, stirring up a little dust, and also killed a large number of exposed Ming soldiers.
Under the city wall, the soldiers of the assault battalion had already crossed the moat, and the soldiers at the front carrying the ladder had erected the ladder.
Although there were Ming soldiers on the top of the city trying to push away the ladders with long poles, others were throwing rocks down and using bows and arrows to carry out defensive operations.
But it still couldn't stop the thieves from leaning one ladder after another towards the battlement. When the ladder approached the battlement, the iron hook on it directly hooked the battlement, and no matter how hard the Ming army defenders pushed it, they couldn't push it away.
Immediately, someone rushed to chop the iron hook with a knife, but to no avail.
He leaned out and looked under the city wall again, and saw a few rebel soldiers climbing up the ladder.
The leading thief soldier looked extremely strong, wearing an iron helmet on his head and a full set of heavy armor. The thief soldier was holding on to the long ladder with one hand to climb, and with one hand he was holding a small buckler above his head. , biting the back of the steel knife directly in his mouth.
A Ming army soldier threw down a stone. However, this heavy-armored soldier of the rebel army was extremely powerful. The small shield on his head was not straight, but tilted. Although the stone hit the round shield, It just slipped to one side.
The gray thief soldiers are still climbing up!
When this heavily armored swordsman, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, appeared on the top of the city, several Ming soldiers in front of him were frightened.
A Ming army soldier tried to stab him directly with a spear, but he missed the stab and was knocked away by the other party's knife. Then he saw this soldier striding forward and stabbing the armored man with a knife. None of the Ming soldiers were killed.
After this Ming Army soldier who dared to resist immediately was hacked to death, several nearby Ming Army soldiers did not dare to move forward for a while. Instead, they kept retreating...
The strong thief-protecting heavy-armored sword-shielder didn't stop. After scanning the front with his eyes under the helmet, he directly moved towards the side with his giant shield. He once again used his shield to swoop away the long lines of the Ming army. Spear, once again the sword passed and another Ming army incident occurred.
At this time, a Ming soldier on the side looked over with a long knife, and successfully slashed the shoulder of the protector.
But there was a reaction force from the iron sword in his hand, which almost broke his sword. Looking closely, he could only see a small gap in the armor of the thief guard's shoulder.
At this time, the Bao thief army didn't even turn around to look. They just swung back the long knife that had just killed a Ming army soldier, and disemboweled the Ming army swordsman on the spot!
When he wanted to go forward and kill again, he saw that several other Ming soldiers had turned around and ran away in a hurry.
At this time, there were several armored soldiers of the rebel army behind them who came to the top of the city. Soon, there were four or five heavily armored soldiers of the rebel army in this small area.
Looking around, soldiers from other assault battalions opened the gap nearby, and dozens of heavily armored soldiers from the assault battalion of the security forces rushed up in a short time.
And more soldiers are still climbing up the city.
As more and more armored soldiers protecting the thieves rushed to the top of the city, the Ming army on the top of the city reacted instinctively for the first time and suffered a large number of casualties. They soon did not dare to move forward anymore. There were even many Ming soldiers turning around and running away on the spot.
However, the collapse and escape of these ordinary Ming troops did not mean that the Ming army was completely defeated.
In fact, some Ming soldiers, led by generals, tried to resist or even counterattack.
Especially the elite heavy armored infantry that Tang Hui had high hopes for, although after several setbacks there were only about two hundred left.
But these two hundred people were worthy of being an elite force composed of the personal soldiers and servants of the generals. When other Ming soldiers did not dare to step forward to counterattack, they rushed forward and wanted to take advantage of the rebel army to attack the city. When the foothold was unstable, the soldiers protecting the thieves were directly driven off the city.
At this moment, the difference between the heavily armored elite infantry and the ordinary guard soldiers was also vividly displayed.
Among the thousands of Ming troops present, some ran away, some hid, and some even pretended to be dead or surrendered.
But only the elite of the Ming army dared to launch a large-scale counterattack.
As a result, they were bombarded by the elite musketeers in the assault camp at close range...
This temporarily organized assault battalion not only has traditional melee units such as sword and shield soldiers and spearmen, but also musketeers!
Moreover, these musketeers directly belong to the first musketeer post of the 1st Infantry Battalion under the 1st Infantry Regiment.
In the Baoxiang Army, he is the musketeer with the oldest qualifications, the longest training time, and the most combat experience!
