Chapter 208 Hit Luzhou again

Liu Yaoben's surprise attack on Anqing Mansion can be said to have once again created a miracle in the history of the Xingtian Army. In the heavy rain, he traveled 300 miles in the rain for three days and suddenly appeared outside the city of Anqing Mansion. The government was caught off guard and did not organize any effective resistance at all. He captured Anqing Mansion.

When the news reached Nanjing, it was already three days after Anqing Mansion was conquered by Liu Yaoben. Ding Qirui was stunned and killed him. He did not expect that Xing Tianjun would do such a shocking thing, and easily controlled the very important Anqing Mansion along the Yangtze River in their hands. So he did not dare to neglect. Seeing that the weather began to clear up on this day, Ding Qirui hurriedly sent people to Jiujiang Mansion. Han and Guangmei, the generals who were sitting in Jiujiang Mansion, immediately led their troops down the river. They defeated Anqing Mansion and expelled the thief army that occupied Anqing Mansion. In addition, he gritted his teeth and made Huang Degong, who ran to Chuzhou to catch up. He went to Chizhou to lead 5,000 soldiers from Chizhou. At the same time, he attacked Anqingfu in the west and cooperated with Han and Guangmei to recover Anqingfu.

After hearing the news, Han and Guangmei, who were sitting in Jiujiang Mansion, were also scared to death. He led troops in Jiujiang to deal with Xing Tianjun in Huguang. Suddenly, Anqing Mansion behind his buttocks was lost. In this way, Xing Tianjun hit a nail behind him, making Jiujiang now facing the enemy. Once Xing Tianjun was attacked, Then it will be difficult to protect Jiujiang.

After receiving Ding Qirui's order, Han and Guangmei did not dare to neglect it. They immediately ordered 10,000 soldiers and horses guarding Jiujiang Mansion. They began to go down the river by boat and rushed to Anqing Mansion.

At the same time, Xiao Tianjian has led his troops to retreat to Dingyuan County. At this time, the magistrate in Dingyuan County has just collected more than 20 million yuan of soldiers under the command of Ji and Kong Zhenhui. As soon as he heard that the Xing Tianjun army has returned to Dingyuan County, even if half of these defeated soldiers have run away, the rest have no fighting spirit. Xiao Tianjian is only Sending troops to the city and roaring, the defenders in the city immediately opened the gate and went out of the city to surrender to the Xingtian Army. Li Ruming, the county magistrate, had no choice but to take out of the city and surrender to the Xingtian Army.

At this time, the heavy rain that had lasted for more than half a month finally stopped. Xiao Tianjian then stopped and began to rest in Dingyuan County, waiting for the news from Liu Yaoben.

To be honest, although Xiao Tianjian sent Liu Yaoben to attack Anqing Mansion, he was not relieved. When he led the troops to evacuate from Luzhou, he had been thinking about Liu Yaoben's situation. It was not until a few days later that an exhausted subordinate of Liu Yaoben rushed to Dingyuan County to report that Xiao Tianjian and Liu Yaoben and others The Renma's surprise attack was successful and he successfully captured Anqing Prefecture. Xiao Tianjian put his heart in his stomach and was also overjoyed. He immediately ordered the soldiers to rest and replenish the supplies. Five days later, he attacked Luzhou Prefecture again.

As the weather cleared up, the road quickly resumed traffic, and a large number of materials quickly began to be urged by Li Fusheng and Liu Xiyao, who are responsible for providing material transportation to the main force, to transfer from Fengyang Prefecture and Suzhou to Dingyuan County. The road from Fengyang Prefecture to Dingyuan County was suddenly crowded with a crowd. All kinds of vehicles and soldiers and people who transported materials began to pour into the Xingtian Army camp in Dingyuan County.

This attack on Luzhou, because the weather was not good, Xiao Tianjian consumed a large amount of grain under Luzhou, and a batch of gunpowder was also scrapped because of moisture. In the short term, a large-scale supply must be carried out to restore combat effectiveness, so this is responsible for There is no doubt that the logistics department of logistics support and the troops are under great pressure.

Li Fusheng and Liu Xiyao sat in Suzhou and the other in Fengyang Mansion. After the sky was sunny, they were busy with four feet and almost did not sleep. Day and night, they urged to dispatch a large number of soldiers and help the people, and the materials transferred from Henan to Dingyuan County to replenish the army.

At the same time, Liu Bao once again transferred more than 10,000 horses and rushed to Dingyuan County from all over Henan to gather. This time, he attacked Luzhou City. After Liu Yao's division of troops, Xiao Tianjian only had less than 20,000 horses left. With these horses, it is not enough if he wants to capture Luzhou and fight Nanjing City, so Xiao Tian Jian had to continue to strengthen his strength. Fortunately, the pressure of the officers and soldiers in the north decreased a lot during this period, and the situation in Henan gradually stabilized, so that part of Liu Bao's troops could be pulled out, and Yan Chongxi's Shanxi army also pulled out a group into Henan, some of which took over Shanzhou, and some also He rushed to Nanzhili to participate in this battle against Nanjing. As for Luo Rucai's side, Xiao Tianjian sent an order to him to gather troops and start to go down the Yangtze River and attack Nan Zhili from Huguang, forcing Ding Qirui to take care of his head and tail. At the same time, he should also take Liu Yaoben, who is now occupying Anqingfu, contain the strength of the officers and reduce Light up the pressure of Liu Yaoben.

After all, when Liu Yaoben attacked Anqing Mansion this time, the soldiers he led were all lightly loaded and did not carry any heavy guns, and the gunners were only armed with 40 or 50 paper shell bombs. Although he could replenish grain on the spot after attacking Anqing Mansion, and he could also get some artillery from Anqingfu, but the firepower was still It is not strong enough, and Xiao Tianjian can predict that Liu Yaoben will soon face the counterattack of the officers and soldiers of Nanzhili after capturing Anqing Mansion. Maybe there will be a fierce battle waiting for them, so it is very necessary for Luo Ru to contain the officers and soldiers of Jiujiang Mansion and relieve the pressure of Liu Yaoben in Anqing Mansion.

As long as Liu Yao is guarding Anqing Mansion, it is equivalent to inserting a nail in the heart of Nanzhili, so that Ding Qirui can't concentrate Nanzhili's troops to deal with the Xing Tianjun. After such a mobilization, Xing Tianjun is equivalent to marching towards Nanjing on both sides at the same time, so they can greatly shorten the problem of Nanzhili. Process.

On June 15, Xiao Tianjian's main force had replenished relatively sufficient grain and bald materials in Dingyuan County, so under his order, the army was pulled out again and rushed to Luzhou City again.

Wu Dapu, the governor of Luzhou, had already learned about the destruction of Anqing Mansion at this time. He lamented the cunning and fierceness of Xing Tianjun. A few days ago, he was still lucky and felt that he had made a great contribution this time. In a short time, Xing Tianjun may no longer be able to launch an attack on Luzhou City.

However, it took not many days to learn that the Xing Tianjun rushed to his Luzhou City again, so Wu Dapu suddenly became more nervous. He hurriedly ordered the whole city of Luzhou City to be under martial law again, closed all the gates, and dispatched troops to once again make a posture to defend Luzhou.

But this time Xiao Tianjian did not give him a chance, and after the weather cleared up, Tiangong would no longer fill in any trouble for Xing Tianjun. On June 17, a large number of Xingtian soldiers returned to their previously established Dashu Mountain camp again. At this time, although the camp here However, it has been destroyed by the officers and soldiers, but the officers and soldiers did not completely destroy it. Soon, with the efforts of the army, the camp was restored. This time, the strength of the Xingtian Army increased to more than 30,000, together with a new heavy artillery battalion transferred from Henan, which made the firepower of the Xingtian Army much stronger.

During the period when the Xing Tianjun withdrew, it took only more than ten days. When the officers and soldiers in the city left the city, they carried out a liquidation of the local people and killed many people who had helped the Xing Tianjun. As a result, instead of deterring the people around the local area, it aroused more people's anger.

The arrival of Xing Tianjun once again made the local people rush to help. In a short period of time, thousands of people gathered together to surround the northwest of the whole Luzhou City.

After Xiao Tianjian led his troops to come here this time, he did not talk nonsense with Wu Dapu and other officials and defenders in Luzhou City. Even if almost all the cannons in the army were set up and aimed at the west wall of Luzhou City and the West Gate Building, the continuous bombardment began. The firepower intensity of this bombardment even exceeded that of the top. From the morning of the 18th, the firepower of Xiangyang City was not stopped for almost a moment. The shells fell on the wall like hail, causing the bricks and stones flying on the wall. In a short time, more than a dozen of all kinds of cannons displayed by the defenders on the west wall were basically lifted off. In the sky, the defenders on the wall were corpses everywhere. In just one day, the neat city walls were bombarded and more than half of them collapsed. In some places, the city bricks were even directly removed by the heavy artillery of the Xing Tianjun, revealing the main structure of the rammed earth wall below. On the whole western wall, there were all kinds of craters, and some streamers even flew into the city wall. Inside, it fell into the city, and some houses in the city collapsed. The whole Luzhou city fell into extreme panic.

How have the defenders ever seen such a scene? The soldiers escaped from the city wall by bombardment and hid trembling at the foot of the wall. They trembled with the fall of the shells and trembled. They did not dare to climb the wall. Wu Dapu even offered a reward for recruiting dare-to-death guards of the city wall, but under such a bombardment, few soldiers dared to recruit. And few.

Such a shelling lasted for three days. The next afternoon, the five-story Ximen Building collapsed under the volley of heavy artillery. A group of officers and soldiers hiding under the city were also buried under the ruins in an instant. A Qian, who was sitting on the west gate, was even more bombarded. Even the fragments of the body could not be found.

A large number of people and people began to set up pontoon bridges on the wide moat under the cover of the cannon fire of the Xing Tianjun. Xing Tianjun, who has had countless experience in attacking the city, is now quite familiar with this. They have a clear division of labor. Some people are responsible for covering the people who build bridges, some people are responsible for dispatching people, and some people are responsible for the periphery. The cutting of timber and some people are specially responsible for transporting all kinds of materials, which has nothing to do with the staff under Xiao Tianjian's command. These staff officers are not only the planners of the siege, but also the organizers and implementers. The clear division of labor also ensures the smooth development of various affairs. Even the gangs are very clear about themselves. What are you going to do?

Xiao Tianjian generously took out a lot of food this time, which made the temporarily organized gang to cook. After completing the task assigned to them, Xiao Tianjian can pick up the big bowl and eat. Now Daming is the most indispensable one in Daming. I'm afraid it's hungry people. Some people are fed, and they are full, and may even eat a piece of oily fat. For a large number of hungry people, this is undoubtedly a great ** power. Even for this piece of fragrant fat, people are willing to do it, so they dare to help the people work hard. He was ordered to open the passageway for the Xingtian Army to attack the city.

At the same time, in addition to some soldiers who will lead the people to set up pontoon bridges, a large number of soldiers will build a large number of siege equipment in the Dashushan barracks, ready to attack the city.

And Wu Dapu, the magistrate in the city, was also fierce. Seeing that the thieves outside the city were sharp, the artillery fire was sharp, and now he sent people up to death, so he simply blocked the West Gate, West Water Gate and the North Gate with big stone strips in the city to prevent the Xing Tian Army from entering the city from the gate, and he personally took his servants and lived in the west of the city. Inside the door, take control of the defense here.

He is very clear about the robustness of the city of Luzhou Prefecture and the width and depth of the moat outside the city. Since Xing Tianjun has concentrated his troops to attack the west gate, as long as the gates in other places are not opened and the suspension bridges are not released, the Xing Tianjun will not have no chance to attack the city from other places, so he has basically gathered all the troops in the city. When he arrived at the west of the city, he temporarily gave up this time to prevent the Xingtian Army from setting up a pontoon bridge to fill the moat. When the Xingtian Army attacked the city wall, it was not too late for him to lead his troops to personally attack the Xing Tianjun.

Wu Dapu is a relatively smart person and knows a little about how to use troops. In this case, it can be said that it is understandable or even very wise for him to make such a choice.

In his opinion, it is basically impossible for Xing Tianjun to blow up the five-foot-thick wall with a cannon. It is basically impossible to pile tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder in ten days and half a month. The thick city wall of Luzhou is their support, and Xing Tianjun probably doesn't have so many gunpowder shells to destroy the wall. He defends Luzhou City and does not There is no hope.

The preparation for the shelling took only three days. As Wu Dapu thought, Xing Tianjun really couldn't stand such a high-intensity consumption. In three days, the heavy artillery battalions almost destroyed more than 30% of the ammunition reserves. No matter how much the ammunition is worth, they are only operated from gunpowder workshops and craftsmen all over Henan. The cost here is quite huge. In three days, although they almost peeled off the bricks outside the west wall of Luzhou City, revealing the main body of the ramming wall covered with bricks, and the main body of the city wall is also pitted, it is far from hurting the wall.

Therefore, considering that a large amount of ammunition may be needed to continue to attack Chuzhou and Nanjing in the next step, Xiao Tianjian ordered to stop such a high-intensity shelling operation and turn it into a sporadic launch to deter the people of Luzhou defenders from climbing the city to kill and bury the trenches and build pontoon bridges.

In just three days, Xing Tianjun's harvest was not small. The people who helped the war gathered more and more. Many people even traveled from dozens of miles away in order to have a few full meals. The number of people reached 30,000 to 40,000. So many people started work at the same time, transporting earth, rocks and wood back and forth, making a moat finally It was filled in, forming a solid channel, and several other pontoon bridges were also set up, basically communicating with the channel of the siege.

In the shelling of the defenders in the past few days, they could not stop the Xingtian Army's bridge operation and filling the trenching at all. They could only hide in the wall and dare not rise, so the shelling operation still played a considerable role.

On June 21, under the order of Xiao Tianjian, all departments of the Xing Tianjun began a formal attack on Luzhou City. A large number of soldiers will push all kinds of newly created attack tools on the spot, and several people rushed to attack Luzhou City.

At this time, under the supervision of Wu Dapu, the defenders finally began to climb the dilapidated city wall, and transferred dozens of messy artillery from the other three walls. They set them on the wall and began to bombard the Xing Tianjun under the city.

The war was in full swing. The sound of artillery in the city and down the city did not stop for a moment. The shells criscrossed in the sky outside Luzhou and fell on the heads of their respective enemies. The artillery fire of the Xing Tianjun could obviously suppress the artillery fire of the officers in the city, and the accuracy was far higher than that of the officers' cannons. From time to time A garrison's cannon was hit by a bullet and was overturned into the interior of the city wall, causing the officers to run around the city.

But after all, the Xingtian Army was a strong attack on the city. Under the counterattack of the officers and soldiers on the first day, the losses were not small. The two pontoon bridges set up were destroyed by the officers and soldiers, and many offensive tools were also destroyed. Nearly 200 soldiers were killed or injured, but they failed to attack the city wall.

Then Xiao Tianjian launched a fierce attack on the western wall for three consecutive days. However, because the wall was too solid and the defenders still had a certain morale, their three-day attack failed to make progress, and the number of lost soldiers was also increasing day by day. It can be seen that in this era, firearms have gradually replaced cold weapons. In this case, but it can't completely gain an overwhelming advantage in the tough battle.

However, Xiao Tianjian is not in a hurry, because he knows that Luzhou City will definitely be broken this time. Everything is just time. He also has a killer mace in his hand that has not been sacrificed. As long as he sacrifices this magic weapon, Luzhou City will definitely be taken down by him.

At the same time, Liu Yaoben, who was in Anqing Prefecture, was facing a very severe test, because the officers and soldiers of Jiujiang Prefecture and Chizhou killed the city of Anqing Prefecture at this time.

(After watching the reward today, it really makes me look awesome! I haven't seen so many rewards for a long time! So just give me a 5,000-word chapter to repay the brothers! Today, I would like to thank feng41501 for the reward of the two brothers who don't drink the northwest wind! I'm dizzy! Han and Guang are actually forbidden words! How can I write this! Han and Guangmei are also real generals in history!)