No matter how powerful Xiang Yong is, he is only flesh and blood, and when he encounters such a stubborn enemy, Wang Xinyu, who has always paid attention to artillery, is naturally unceremonious, and ordered to set up four 64-pounder mortars and ten 32-pounder mortars, and use flowering shells to launch a fierce bombardment of the Chenzhou city wall. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Fourteen mortars were aimed at a point on the city wall, and first a row of solid shells used for calibration fell and smashed on the city wall. In the first round of fire, most of the shells were missed, and the sixty-four-pound and thirty-two-pound shells fell in the moat, stirring up columns of water that rushed to the sky. Some shells fell in the city, and a large number of houses fell in an uproar. Other shells landed in the open space outside the city, smashing deep pits one after another.

A few shells hit the wall, and the heavy sixty-four-pound and thirty-two-pound shells smashed into it, and the wall immediately cracked, and the part of the wall where the bullets were hit, and the debris and earth flew everywhere.

In the second round of shelling, it was still solid shells, but the hit rate of this round of shelling was significantly improved, and nearly half of the shells hit the city wall, making a loud sound of stones cracking and bricks shattering. A cannonball hit the cauldron where the gold juice was boiling, and the iron pot immediately shattered, and the foul-smelling gold juice splattered in all directions.

There were also shells that hit the millstones, and the huge stones immediately turned into rubble and sprang around like shrapnel. A cannonball smashed into the wolf's tooth slap and was smashed to pieces along with the winch and the wolf's tooth slapper.

A few minutes later, the Ming army fired a third round, again with solid shells.

It wasn't until the fifth round of test firing that flowering shells filled with black [gunpowder] were replaced.

The gunners, who had undergone four rounds of correction, hit the target very accurately, with the exception of a few shells that missed due to the change in wind direction and speed. Rows of cannonballs fell on the city, and one after another exploded, and the city wall, which had been smashed by solid shells, shook violently, and the bricks outside the city wall were blown away, revealing the rammed earth inside. A large part of the battlements of the female wall at the head of the city collapsed, and sandbags, stones, and wood piled up at the head of the city flew into the sky one after another. The lime bottle was shot, and it broke under the action of the shock wave and shrapnel, and the lime burst and scattered on Xiang Yong's body.

"Boom" a shell fell in the fire oil tank at the head of the city and exploded, a piece of fire oil tank burst, the fire oil flowed all over the ground, and when the fire of the explosion occurred, the city head was ablaze.

After three rounds of ordinary flowering shells smashed over, Wang Xinyu ordered to replace them with solid shells and continue to bombard.

In fact, for the destruction of the city wall, the combination of solid cannonballs and flowering cannonballs is the best effect. Because of the structure of the city wall, the outside is made of solid bricks or blue-striped stone, and the inside is filled with rammed earth. Flowering shells could hardly destroy the solid shells, and solid shells could not bring down the walls. Only by breaking the shell with solid shells, and then bombarding with flowering shells, blasting the rammed earth, can the city walls be damaged in the shortest possible time.

In this way of shelling, except for the perverted city walls of Xiangyang, Beijing, Nanjing, and Wuchang, which are made of glutinous rice and stones, ordinary cities can be blasted open.

Solid shells fell on the top of the city, and the bricks and stones shattered and peeled off from the rammed earth. After more than ten rounds of shelling, the barrel was also cooled, and the artillery bombardment continued, which shattered this section of the city wall, and the bricks and stones of the city rolled down, and the fragile rammed earth inside was exposed under the cannon of the Ming army.

Wang Xinyu ordered that the four 64-pounder mortars be replaced with flowering shells filled with new explosives, and the remaining 32-pounder mortars were still ordinary flowering shells.

A row of flowering shells accurately landed on the devastated city wall, the cannonballs smashed on the rammed earth and exploded, the powerful new explosives flowering cannonballs made an explosion like the sky and the earth cracked, the huge fireball collapsed, the rammed earth was blown up into the sky, like a torrential rain, a city wall collapsed, and a large gap was exposed in front of the Ming army.

Behind the gap, a brick wall was being built by the villagers!

"Tartars need to plug the gap! Bombard with field artillery! Wang Xinyu put down the binoculars and ordered.

When the mortar artillery of the Ming army bombarded the city wall, the field artillery of direct fire was always aimed at the position of the gap, and the Ming army had long prevented the Qing army from blocking the gap. After blasting open the city wall, seeing Xiang Yong who was blocking the gap with bricks behind him, the direct fire artillery of the Ming army unceremoniously smashed the overwhelming shells.

The makeshift brick wall could not withstand the shelling at all, and after a round of shells, the brick wall cracked and collapsed, and the busy villagers behind it suffered heavy casualties.

"Attack! After 100 steps to the gap, stop moving! Wang Xinyu gave an order.

The Ming army launched an attack, with the sword players of the Yue army and the Fujian army in front, followed by the bombardiers of the Qiongzhou army, and advanced towards the gap in the city wall.

"The thieves are coming! Get ready for battle! Bai Yongfu, the general of the Qing army, shouted.

When the Ming army was shelling just now, Xiang Yong, who was hiding in the Tibetan soldier cave, walked out of the Tibetan soldier cave one after another, climbed up to the head of the city, or lay on the roof, or hid behind the collapsed brick wall, picked up the bird gun, aimed at the Ming army that was advancing towards the gap, and only waited for the Ming army to enter within 50 steps, and then opened fire.

Who knew that when the Ming army reached a hundred paces away, it stopped advancing and waited in formation.

Bai Yongfu was taken aback and shouted anxiously: "Not good! Minggou is going to fire again! ”

Before the words fell, the roar of cannons was heard outside the city again, and puffs of white smoke rose from the artillery positions of the Ming army, and solid cannonballs and flowering cannonballs fell into the city like hail, smashed on the city walls, and smashed on the ruins of brick walls and houses.

Xiang Yong, who had just been ambushed and was about to give the Ming army a head-on attack, was shelled again and suffered heavy casualties.

"Kill the dog!" As soon as the cannon fire stopped, Li Tianzhi was the first to jump up and roar.

"Come with me, brethren! Kill the dog! Ma Jiuyu, the general of the Fujian army, also jumped up, "Rush!" We, Geng Jiajun, don't lose to the people of the Shang family! ”

"Kill the dog!" The 500 Cantonese troops and 500 Fujian troops who were responsible for attacking the gap shouted, holding a shield in one hand and a broadsword in the other, and the tide generally poured up to the gap.

The remnants of Xiang Yong shot from the top of the city, behind the ruins of the brick wall, and on the roof, the birds roared, spewed tongues of fire, and streams of white smoke rose in a row, and bullets continued to penetrate into the crowd.

Xiang Yong nervously reloaded gunpowder bullets, blocked by the hand-to-hand soldiers in front, and the bird gunners were able to shoot a second round.

After paying the price of more than a dozen casualties, the Cantonese and Fujian armies rushed over the filled moat and rushed to the gap, and the soldiers on both sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. At the same time, the rifled gunners of the Qiongzhou Army, who followed behind, carried out accurate sniping kills on Xiangyong's bird gunners. The crisp sound of rifled guns continued to sound, and Xiang Yong was shot one after another.

"Kill the dog!" Li Tianzhi slashed over one Xiang Yong with one sword, and then slashed the head of the second Xiang Yong to the ground.

The sound of killing at the gap shook the sky, and nearly 1,000 Cantonese and Fujian troops who pressed up slashed the enemy like tigers. The bombardier of the Qiongzhou Army in the back also followed in time, pulled off the pull ring, and the grenade emitting green smoke fell in the rear of Xiang Yong, blowing up a ball of fireballs, blowing up the flesh and blood of the reinforced Xiang Yong.

In addition, 2,000 Cantonese troops and more than 1,000 Fujian troops carried simple ladders, taking advantage of the bloody battle between the two sides at the gap, and climbed up from the city walls on both sides of the gap.

There were not many Xiangyong left at the head of the city, and the Ming army climbed to the top of the city without much effort.

The Ming army that climbed to the top of the city annihilated the remnants of the enemy at the head of the city, and the birdmen and archers behind climbed the city, condescendingly, and shot at the Xiangyong in the city.

The elite main forces of the Ming army wearing red uniforms rushed into the city one after another, and the sword players threw bombs in front of them, and then charged; The musketeers followed, constantly firing at Xiang Yong who emerged.

"Defeated!" Bai Yongfu sighed in despair.

The gate of Chenzhou has been taken by the Ming army, and the elite ironclad cavalry rushed into the city, trampled along the street, and Xiangyong, who was blocking in front of the Ming army's iron cavalry, was knocked away, trampled into flesh, and was cut off by the sabre. Three hundred horsemen swept all the way, leaving mutilated corpses all over the streets.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Bai Yongfu left Xiang Yong, who was still resisting bravely, in the city, and fled from the north gate with more than ten personal soldiers, and did not dare to turn back, and fled all the way to Hengzhou.

Xiang Yong, who had lost his command, did not know that the Qing army commander had fled, and was still resisting spontaneously. Originally, these Hunan Yong were not the Green Camp Qing Army, they were the Lian Yong of the Hunan gentry organization, they would not serve Bai Yongfu, they only knew that they were loyal to their masters. Because of the propaganda of the Qing court, once the army captured Hunan, the first people to kill were those gentry who had taken refuge in the Qing court, so these Lian Yong were all willing to go out for their masters and dare to fight.

If Xiang Yong is against the Shangyue Army and the Fujian Army, he can still fight, but when he encounters the most elite Qiongzhou Army, it is like being cut by someone, it is purely a gift to the head, and the two sides are not opponents of the same level at all.

After the elite Qiongzhou army entered the city, Xiangyong's resistance gradually weakened. Under the combined attack of rifled guns, flintlock guns, ironclad soldiers, iron cavalry and bombardiers, Xiang Yong was nothing but bravery, and their bravery could only be sent to death in vain.

After all, people are always afraid, and when the Xiangyong rushed to the Ming army without hesitation, they were thrown down in a pool of blood, but they couldn't even hurt a single hair of their opponents, and they began to feel fear.

"Stop fighting, let's surrender!" Finally, Xiang Yong put down his weapon and knelt on the ground to surrender to the Ming army.

With the surrender of the first person, the morale of the other Hunan warriors collapsed like an avalanche. The Xiangyong in the city gave up the street fighting, knelt on the ground one after another, and surrendered to the Ming army.

Chenzhou City was finally taken down, and in this small city, the Ming army actually paid the price of more than 5,000 casualties! However, most of the casualties were the Guangdong army and the Fujian army, as well as some of the people, and the Qiongzhou army, the main force of the real Ming army, had almost no casualties. And Xiang Yong's stubborn resistance left a deep impression on Wang Xinyu.

Of the more than 15,000 Xiangyong in the city, only more than 700 fled after Bai Yongfu, and the rest were all annihilated. In total, more than 8,000 Hunan warriors were killed and more than 6,000 were captured.

"You and the others are all Han Chinese, why do you want to work for the Tartars?" Wang Xinyu walked up to the captured Xiangyong and questioned them.

The Xiangyong who were kneeling on the ground did not speak, but someone secretly raised his head and glanced at it with resentful eyes. These Xiangyong are all relatives and friends of the same village, and many of the Xiangyong who died in battle are their family members, relatives and friends. Because of this, relatives and friends who used to grow up together died on the battlefield, so they can arouse the hatred of other Xiangyong, can make them fight to the death, and stimulate the blood in their background.

Now they are defeated, defeated by the absolute difference in strength, and have become prisoners of the Ming army. But so many relatives and friends who have played together since childhood have died on the battlefield, it is impossible to say that they have no hatred in their hearts.

Wang Xinyu said: "On the battlefield, swords and guns have no eyes, and dead people are normal!" You've killed quite a few of us, too! If you have a grudge in your heart, you should not resent us, you should resent the Tartars! If it weren't for the Tartars, would your relatives and friends come here and die in vain? ”

Finally, a Xiang Yong spoke: "My lord, the Qing Dynasty has pacified the world, and the people who have been in war for many years can easily live and work in peace and contentment, why do they still want to fight?" We are not here for the court, but for our master! The officers and soldiers of the imperial court said that if you capture Hunan, you will kill all the Hunan gentry! ”

"Yes, we are not for the court, but for ourselves!" Several other Xiang Yong also spoke.

Wang Xinyu said: "Kill all the Hunan gentry? That's all the deception of the Tartar court! As long as it is not a gentry who takes the initiative to take refuge in the Tartars and serve the Tartars as tigers, why should we kill? There are also many scholars in our army! You are all Han Chinese, and my Wang will not kill Han people indiscriminately! You can survive, but you have to go to the mines for a while! ”

But in any case, these captive Xiangyong cannot be used in a short period of time, and they need to be educated and transformed for a period of time before they can become their own people.

The captured Xiangyong was then sent to Guangzhou, where he boarded a ship and was sent to work as a miner in the Qiongzhou Iron Mine. A group of previously captured Eight Banners soldiers who were working in Qiongzhou were replaced and sent to Guangzhou by ship. These Eight Banners soldiers have undergone more than two years of labor reform, and as long as they undergo a period of training in Guangzhou, they can be incorporated into the Ming army.

Chenzhou fell into the hands of the Ming army, and Guangdong's door to Hunan was opened.

Wang Xinyu sent a messenger, 600 miles to send a letter to Bai Wenxuan, who was stationed in Yongzhou, asking Bai Wenxuan to send troops to Hengzhou and join the Qiongzhou army in Hengzhou.

Hengzhou, an important town in southern Hunan, is located in the south of Nanyue Hengshan Mountain, and is a traffic artery. Hengzhou to the south can enter Guangdong, to the east can enter Jiangxi, to the west can enter Guangxi, to the north, is the flat terrain of the central Hunan water network plain, the Xiangjiang River flows through Hengzhou, detour Guangxi, through the Ling Canal, from the Pearl River water system to enter the Yangtze River water system of the Ming army water division, must pass through Hengzhou. As long as Hengzhou is captured, the Ming army's naval division can go down the river and reach Changsha and Yuezhou.

At present, the Ling Canal has not yet been completed, and can only be passed by small boats. But even if it's a small boat, it can make a big difference. More than 90 percent of the Ming army's logistical supply relied on water transportation to reduce logistical pressure. Therefore, after the capture of Hengzhou, not only the two armies will meet, but also the Ming army can give full play to the convenience of water transportation. (To be continued.) )