Dominate the Country

The battlefield was filled with gunpowder smoke.

The Qing army artillery on the outskirts of Chenzhou first spurted out flames, first the Portuguese six-pound cannon, then the Portuguese twelve-pound cannon, and then the general cannons with ten-pound, fifteen-pound and twenty-pound shells cast by the Qing Dynasty itself.

The sound of cannons rumbled and the smoke billowed.

The lonely Chenzhou prefecture city stood on the land of eastern Henan. The four gates outside the city had been completely flattened, leaving no houses. The Qing army built complex earth slopes, trenches, tunnels, breastworks, and fortresses on the flattened land. However, with the sudden loss of Zhoujiakou and the departure of Agui with his troops, the panicked Chenzhou defenders, even with the complete defense system of Chenzhou City, decided to abandon the outer positions when the vanguard of the Fu Han Army approached the city yesterday evening. Concentrate troops to defend the positions outside the city - inside and outside the moat + artillery area, and the city itself.

With the help of the Portuguese and the efforts of the missionaries and Qing craftsmen in Beijing, the performance of the heavy General Cannon has been improved step by step under the heavy reward. The General Cannon with 10-jin bullets is slightly inferior to the Portuguese 12-pound cannon in range, while the General Cannon with 15-jin bullets has already surpassed it a little. Finally, the most powerful General Cannon with 20-jin bullets. The range is more than 5 miles. Although it cannot reach the legendary red cannon's "erosion for 10 miles" and "no stopping, every shot, erosion of dozens of feet, no life", the performance is much better than the original version of the Wucheng Yonggu General Cannon.

On the fort outside Chenzhou City, there is a 20-jin bullet General Cannon on the left and right, followed by the 15-jin bullet General Cannon, the 10-jin bullet General Cannon, and even the Portuguese 12-pound cannon. Each gun position on the fort is closed and semi-closed, with strong defense and attack firepower.

The Qing army gunners in the turrets were also very skilled in clearing the barrel, resetting, loading the powder bag, loading the ammunition, and adjusting the elevation of the barrel.

After the dull roar sounded from the barrel, the solid iron balls hit their targets with lightning speed. Their target was not the artillery of the Fu Han Army, but the Fu Han Army infantry lined up behind the artillery. These people were five miles away from the wall of Chenzhou. This distance was relatively safe in their cognition, because few artillery could hit here, and even if they could, it was the last of the strong crossbows and could not cause much damage to them. Moreover, they did not dare to line up too far away from the artillery position, because they were afraid that the Qing army's cavalry would suddenly come over, and it would be difficult for the artillery guards to stop the large number of Qing army cavalry.

A very important issue in the battle of Chenzhou is that Chen Ming still does not know the exact location of the Qing cavalry led by Agui.

Last night, Agui divided his troops again and again, and groups of cavalrymen interspersed and intertwined, making people dizzy. The chess pieces buried in the secret camp could not be tracked on horseback in the middle of the night, and the final result was that they were missing.

Therefore, not only Chen Kaishan in Tangzhuang, but also Gao Yuanhou, the commander-in-chief of Chenzhou, had to be cautious.

Soon, two 20-jin iron balls let the Fu Han army five miles away know that this place was not safe either. The whistling iron balls created a not-so-terrifying but very deterrent killing in the Fu Han army formation. The Fu Han army's infantry formation had expanded the interval as much as possible, but the two 20-jin iron balls that crossed the entire formation diagonally knocked down five people like a rotten wood, bounced on the ground several times, and finally stopped after changing direction and rubbing against several people.

And those soldiers who were hit and rubbed were killed instantly, and those who were stuck were either dead or disabled.

Any soldier who was hit by a shell would have his arms and legs taken away even if he didn't die, and he might not be able to survive in this era. Even though the medical conditions of the Fu Han Army were the best in the entire world, the technology was limited, and no one could guarantee that every disabled soldier would survive in the end.

It was very difficult to use shells to hit cannons. After the Qing army's artillery first gave the Fu Han Army a warning, it still set its sights on the artillery positions of the Fu Han Army.

The left and right artillery positions outside the west city of the Qing Army each fired two rounds, and only after firing twenty shells did they achieve a hit result - a 15-jin shell bounced and hit the rattan frame and sand bags placed outside the Fu Han Army's artillery position, raising a large cloud of dust.

But even such a result was quite amazing! Even if the Qing army artillery may have accurately measured every area outside the city of Chenzhou, and even each artillery had conducted a certain amount of test firing on each area, it was only a theoretical "point and shoot".

In actual combat, a problem of wind direction, a problem of the hardness of the land in different seasons, or the flatness of the land, as well as a slight difference in the quality of gunpowder, the effect of the storage and preservation of the powder bag, and other reasons can clearly affect the accuracy of the cannon. Now, after firing so many shells, only one hit, maybe it was a lucky bullet!

Chen Ming is still in Zhoujiakou. The 1st Garrison Division and the Imperial Guard Brigade were sent to attack Chenzhou City, with Gao Yuanhou, the second commander of the 1st Garrison Division, as the commander-in-chief.

After Chen Erbao stayed in Lingnan, the 1st Garrison Division was led by Gao Yuanhou. Gao Yuanhou was the battalion commander of the reconnaissance battalion under Chen Ming at the beginning. The reconnaissance force can never be expanded. It is different from the military police force and even the artillery force. Gao Yuanhou left the reconnaissance system very early. He was the head of the Imperial Guard Left Camp, then the head of the Imperial Guard Brigade, and now he has replaced Chen Erbao as the head of the 1st Garrison Division.

Because he had been in Lushan for a long time, among the senior generals of the Fu Han Army, Gao Yuanhou had a lot of experience, but he had the least military achievements.

Chen Ming put the First Garrison Division [missing the Fourth Brigade, staying in Lushan] and the Imperial Guard Brigade on the front line to attack Chenzhou City, which also meant to increase his military achievements.

As the Qing army's supply base on the eastern Henan defense line, Chenzhou's garrison fortifications and current military strength will obviously not cause too much trouble to the First Garrison Division and the Imperial Guard Brigade.

The Qing army's artillery turrets are very threatening. But when the Fu Han Army's hot air balloon rose, the dark camp had already sent Chen Ming the layout map and the exact spacing map of Chenzhou. The Fu Han Army's twelve-jin cannon could completely cross the walls of Chenzhou and directly hit the arsenal of Chenzhou and their barracks, the artillery positions in the city and other key positions.

Chen Ming did not think that the Qing army in Chenzhou could really withstand the fierce attack of the First Garrison Division and the Imperial Guard Brigade. Even if the 1st Garrison Division lacked the 4th Brigade and the Guards Brigade lacked a regiment, the latter still had a total force of 16,700 to 17,000 people. Whether it was artillery or soldiers, they far exceeded the Chenzhou Qing army!

Zong Weifeng stood in front of the battle array with a little uneasiness. Behind him was the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 21st Brigade of the 1st Garrison Division, which had already formed a battle array.

The Lushiying garrison, who had been secretly communicating with the Fu Han Army for a long time, surrendered cleanly with his troops during the Qing army's offensive against Xuzhou last year. Then the "discussion" of merit, Zong Weifeng's merit was still very good. At the beginning, he transported a lot of urgently needed medicinal materials to the blockaded Lushan, which was a credit to Chen Han. So after a year of study, Zong Weifeng first served in the recruit camp, and then went to the new 21st Brigade as a deputy regiment commander and battalion officer.

The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 21st Brigade of the 1st Garrison Division has a total strength of 553 people, and there are only seven of Zong Weifeng's old brothers. This is a brand new unit, and it has no connection with the Lu's Camp.

Just like Zong Weifeng now, he is no longer a small soldier in the past, but a battalion officer of the Fu Han Army.

The Second Regiment is a security force guarding the southwest corner of the battlefield. The southwest position is the main direction of the Fu Han Army's attack on the city. The two artillery batteries on the left and right of the west wall of the Qing Army tightly blocked the front. If they rushed to the center, they would be the biggest fool in the world. The attack angle of the Fu Han Army is the narrow space on the west side of the west wall of Chenzhou, but not out of the corner. Because if they go out of the southwest corner of the city, they will be attacked by the right artillery battery outside the east city.

Zong Weifeng's camp is the outermost camp of this regiment. Since entering the position yesterday, they have been alert and guarded against possible attacks from the Qing army. As a result, there was no attack!

Then they are also on full alert today. This alert was so alert that Chenzhou City was in danger.

Zong Weifeng watched the hot air balloon rise up. The weather in Chenzhou was very good today, and the wind was not strong. It was a good time to raise a hot air balloon. As for whether the true identity of the hot air balloon was exposed, he didn't know. But it was a fact that the Qing army's arsenal and artillery positions in Chenzhou City were destroyed. The huge explosion sounded like an earthquake, and the moat outside Chenzhou City was like a three-foot-high wave, and there was a red-black cloud rising like a huge mushroom.

The morale of the Chenzhou defenders dropped instantly.

Even the two artillery platforms outside the city wall became "lack of energy".

If Chenzhou City had not only a wide moat, but also a very solid city, the attacking force of the Fu Han Army might have captured the city in one fell swoop.

"Boom boom boom..."

The sound of artillery rumbled, and shells fell on the artillery platforms and the city walls. The corner towers in the southwest corner of the Chenzhou city wall were collapsed by the cannons, and the assault troops carried long ladders to rush into the moat.

The array of the attacking troops was very scattered, because the Qing army's cannons could fire buckshot. Although the firing angle can only reach part of the left turret's gun position on the westernmost side. But the impact surface is too narrow, and a shotgun shell can almost cover the impact surface completely.

But it is also a gain and a loss!

The prisoners lined up at the front all looked ashen, holding a small wooden shield in their hands, blocking their chests.

They lowered their heads, and from a higher angle in front, they could only see the red tassels jumping on their helmets. The Fu Han Army equipped them with helmets and armor, and at first glance, they thought they were all Fu Han Army. But there was no red uniform under the armor.

The purpose of the Fu Han Army doing this was to save their lives as much as possible, and these prisoners were asked to put a pair of long ladders on the moat.

"Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding..." The horn sounded, and the assault troops began to advance. The prisoners at the front shed crystal tears from the corners of their eyes, and were threatened and driven by the swords and guns of the Fu Han soldiers behind them, and ran towards the moat like crazy.

In wartime, if you become a prisoner of war, you are like a pig or sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Their luck is very bad, and they have to do the job of "filling the pit". The "surrogate death" behavior they need to endure is very inhumane and inhumane in terms of "fairness and justice", but how much "fairness and justice" can there be in wartime? If these people are not used to block the cannonballs, will the precious lives of the Fu Han Army soldiers be stained with the Qing Army's cannonballs?

At first glance, there are only six or seven hundred attacking troops, but in fact there is only one team of Fu Han Army soldiers.

"Charge..." A loud shout rang out, and the prisoners of war began to run with long ladders. Many people did not allocate their physical strength well, and they ran out of strength halfway, and then they were soon knocked to the ground by the people behind them.

All the prisoners knew that if they wanted to survive, they had to put the long ladder on the moat. This was the premise. Within the range of the Qing army's shotgun shells, any slowness was fatal. The slower the speed during this period, the more they would seek death.

The attack position of the Fu Han Army was built through the tunnels left by the Qing army, only three or four hundred meters away from the moat. It was a very close distance, and the closer places were filled by the Qing army.

"Boom boom boom..." The cannons on the left and right artillery platforms of the Qing army fired at the same time, and the gunpowder filled the artillery platforms. One by one, the shotgun shells scattered in the air like a large net. The Qing army's musketeers also appeared on the top of the city, and rows of bullets were fired at the assault troops!

When the big net and the rain of bullets fell, it was the time to harvest human lives. Blood plasma, screams..., the charging prisoners were knocked to the ground one by one, and the long ladders were abandoned on the ground...

The first wave of attacking troops suffered heavy losses.

Not only the prisoners in front, but also the Fu Han army soldiers in the team behind, lost more than 30 people.

The Qing army in the fort seemed to be injected with chicken blood, and the firing speed suddenly increased to a higher level. The impact of each shotgun shell on the attacking troops was too heavy. In addition, a team of Qing army musketeers emerged from the left fort, and fired at the attacking troops of the Fu Han army at the defensive fortifications around the fort - breastworks and earth mounds.

Although this wave of Qing army and the Qing army on the top of the city ended the offensive of the Fu Han army, they also suffered heavy losses and were beaten by the cannons of the Fu Han army.

"Da Da, Da Da..."

The crisis always comes inadvertently, and a large group of Qing cavalry appeared in the southwest corner of Chenzhou at some point.

When the second wave of prisoners continued to attack the streets, the third wave of prisoners finally threw 20 long ladders into the moat. No Qing soldiers in the left fort came out to shoot, and no Qing soldiers on the top of the city dared to stand there and shoot. The third wave of prisoners finally succeeded.

Starting from not far in front of the attack position, all the way to the moat, a layer of prisoners fell within a distance of 100 feet.

In this era of volley shooting and killing with "violent soldiers", shotguns are really disgusting.

"Send a signal flare quickly, the Qing army cavalry is coming!"

Three red signal flares rose from the southeast of Zong Weifeng's camp. That was the first signal sent by the scouts sent out by the second regiment, and it was also the last signal!

Two thousand Manchu and Han cavalry slipped past the edge of the second regiment's guard position and attacked the camp behind the Fu Han Army's artillery infantry position.

They did not attack the Fu Han Army's infantry and artillery positions, but rushed towards the camp where they were eating and the guard force was the most lax. Zong Weifeng reacted instantly-this Qing army cavalry was not specifically to rescue Chenzhou, they were just here to make a profit.