I want to be emperor

Chapter 143 Fighting for the foundation of hegemony (subscription for the third update)
Zhang Malin's artillery not only smashed the city gate tower, but also directly blasted the city gate to pieces.

However, the defenders in the city were obviously prepared. They actually piled up a lot of debris and even gravel in the city gate, leaving only a small path for a few people to enter and exit.

At the same time, after breaking through the city gate, it was found that there was an urn city behind the city gate. You don't need to look at it to know that there are a large number of archers and other defensive facilities deployed on the walls around the urn city. , and finally died tragically at the hands of the defenders.

Under such circumstances, the rural protection army simply gave up the idea of ​​entering through the city gate, and continued to use the old method, the artillery suppressed the enemy's artillery fire, the musketeers and archers suppressed the infantry firepower at the top of the city, and then dispatched heavy armored infantry to capture the top of the city and clear the city gate. After the nearby city wall, that is, the enemy army in Wengcheng, a large number of ordinary soldiers were sent into the city through the city gate.

This set of siege campaigns had already been used by the Township Protection Army during the previous Nanyang City Battle, but it was actually not very useful.

After all, attacking the city with a [-]-jin field artillery can actually cause very limited damage, so it can kill the enemy, let alone scare the enemy.

When Cheng Cheng attacked Nanyang City, the artillery of the Artillery Brigade wasted a lot of ammunition, and in the end it only killed and injured dozens of people. The reason why the Ming army retreated at the head of the city was purely because of their poor morale, and dozens of people were killed and injured in the back city. The head just fell apart.

So whether this set of battles can be useful depends on how tenacious the enemy's fighting will is. Even if the opponent is not an elite army, as long as there are one or two thousand soldiers stubbornly resisting, the artillery of the Township Protection Army will not be able to exert too much power. strategic role.

In the end, it still has to rely on a large number of archers and musketeers to provide close-range fire cover, and rely on heavy armored infantry to rush to the top of the city to fight.

However, in the original Nanyang City, the defending Ming army did not have a large number of elite divisions, and they even had only two to three hundred ordinary soldiers.

The situation in Fancheng is similar now. According to the information before the war, the defenders in Fancheng had only 3000 people to death, of which there were no more than [-] soldiers.

To say five hundred is to overestimate the enemy as much as possible.

When the number of soldiers is not enough, it is impossible to rely on those guards who have not even tried their best in military training to resist the artillery fire of the rural protection army.

No, after the rural protection army fired long-range artillery fire at the west city gate for a morning, a large number of light artillery began to move forward at a distance of less than 200 meters at noon, and began to suppress firepower at medium distances.

At this time, the Ming army on the top of the city was actually still resisting, and from time to time they used the old artillery on the top of the city to fire back.

But when the archers and musketeers in the rural protection army stepped forward and began to suppress firepower at close range, the Ming army defending the city did not dare to approach.

The next thing is simple. First, fill up the moat, which is not good at all, and then dispatch more than 200 heavy infantry in heavy armor. With the assistance of a group of ordinary soldiers, they start to climb the city wall through the iron hook and long ladder. .

At the beginning, the Ming army on the top of the city performed well, and some soldiers led a group of sheep-like guards to resist.

But this kind of recalcitrance did not last long. When the soldiers who took the lead in the fight killed and injured more than a dozen people, when the heavy armored infantry of the rural protection army paid a certain amount of casualties and climbed to the top of the city, they began to rely on heavy armor to kill Special kill, and quickly defeated more than 20 Ming soldiers who dared to fight.

The remaining dozens of soldiers and more ordinary guard soldiers dispersed in a rush.

Because at that time, the heavy armored infantrymen of the Rural Protection Army who boarded the top of the city had already occupied a section of the top of the city more than ten meters long, and began to meet more friendly troops from their own side to the top of the city.

Facing hundreds of thieves from the Rural Protection Army who were wearing full-body armor and armed to the teeth, it was impossible for the Ming army on this section of the city to stop them.

They lack the fighting will to fight to the end, and they lack the heavy armored infantry who fight close to the heavy armored infantry.

There were no more than 500 soldiers in the Ming army defending the city, and these so-called soldiers did not mean armored soldiers. In fact, there were even fewer elite soldiers in heavy armor.

Not to mention the ordinary guard soldiers, most of the knives and spears in their hands are rusty iron knives and iron spearheads.

There is a huge gap between the two sides in terms of equipment and combat will.

Because when more than 20 soldiers who dared to fight were wiped out, the remaining people would naturally not have the courage to continue to resist, and most of them turned around and ran away.

At this point in the battle, it can actually be declared that the Battle of Fancheng has come to an end, and then the Township Protection Army will continue to climb to the top of the city step by step, expand the strength of the top of the city, and gradually occupy more of the city wall.

About two quarters of an hour later, the commando of the Township Protection Army who climbed to the top of the city successfully captured the area around the west city gate, cleared the defenders on the urn behind the gate, and cooperated with the soldiers of the Township Protection Army outside the city to remove the people blocking the city. Debris and gravel in door openings.

At about twelve o'clock at noon, a large number of soldiers of the rural protection army poured into the city through the west gate. Not only did they enter the city, but they even entered with a large number of [-]-jin light artillery.

Only half an hour later, a large number of enemy troops fled from the east gate, and the Ming army at the south gate, north gate and other places quickly gave up resistance and began to join the fleeing army.

In this regard, Wang Xiazi, who had been prepared for a long time, directly led the cavalry to chase after him.

Facing the thousands of Ming troops who escaped from the city, Wang Xiazi's cavalry troops didn't have to fight much, and the opponent surrendered by himself.

More than 1000 people fled in embarrassment, and most of them lost their weapons. How can they fight against [-] elite cavalry?
Can't fight, can't escape, this is their status quo!

Therefore, Zhong Wenshan, the deputy general who led the Ming army, surrendered decisively!
To surrender is to die!

The main battle in the city came to an end as the fled land surrendered under the threat of Wang Xiazi's cavalry.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the Township Protection Army had completely wiped out the organized resistance in the city and announced the complete occupation of Fancheng.

This also means that the Township Protection Army has fully captured the Xiangyang and Fancheng areas, and has taken control of the Hanshui Waterway.

The follow-up rural protection army can not only use the Baihe River to travel, but also transport the ordnance, food and grass in Nanyang Mansion to the south, and connect with Xiangyang Mansion and Nanyang Mansion.

You can also use the Han River to go to Yunyang, or go south to the Jianghan Plain.

The strategic situation opened up at once.

If he can still resist the counterattack of the surrounding Ming army in the follow-up, then Luo Zhixue can truly gain a foundation for hegemony.

In the evening of that day, Luo Zhixue was not in a hurry to enter Fancheng, but held a post-war meeting in the headquarters outside the city.

All the generals of the southward army and the people from the food requisition office were all present.

There are field army generals such as Wang Xiazi, Huang Dingquan, Li Dongshao, and Dong Mingjie, as well as generals from all over the military represented by Huang Guangmao and Xu Zhixian.

"In the next battle in the south, after many days of hard fighting, our army killed and seriously injured more than 200 people, and more than [-] people were lightly injured. The main casualties occurred in the Battle of Fancheng. In the Battle of Xiangyang, the enemy was in chaos due to a surprise attack. Due to the organized resistance, the casualties were not large, and the total casualties were within our estimate, or even better than our estimate."

"In return, our army captured Xiangyang City and Fancheng consecutively. In the two battles, the enemy had a total of 8000 people. Except for the hundreds of enemy troops who fled in an organized way at the east gate of Xiangyang City, the rest of the organized enemy troops were all captured by our army. Annihilate or capture."

"In this battle, our army killed more than [-] enemies, ignoring minor injuries, captured more than [-] people, and more than [-] enemy troops fled and disappeared."

"In addition, we also seized more than [-] artillery pieces of various types. Among them, [-] artillery pieces are in good condition and meet the conditions for our army to use, all of which are short-barreled loose artillery pieces."

"In addition, more than 300 sets of various types of armor that are in good condition and usable have been seized, including more than 50 sets of high-quality iron armor that can be used by our army's heavy infantry."

"More than 200 bird guns and about [-] firearms of various types were seized."

"In addition, a large number of weapons such as knives, spears, bows and arrows were seized."

"The confiscation of all kinds of gold, silver and general materials is handed over to the Grain Collection Office."

After Huang Guangmao finished speaking, Chen Xingkai from the food requisition office immediately stood up, flipped through the account book in his hand and said:

"With the cooperation of the military, my food collection department has completed a preliminary inspection of Xiangyang Mansion, and the inspection of Fancheng is still in progress."

"According to the current statistics, we have accumulated a total of 1803 million taels of various cash seized from the official warehouses of Xiangwang Mansion, Xiangyang, and Fancheng, some recalcitrant officials, and gentry mansions."

"There is another 180 million catties of grain. The above-mentioned money and grain are mainly from the private property of the official warehouses of the two cities and the Prince Xiang's mansion, as well as the mansions of some recalcitrant officials and gentry. For the time being, it does not involve the grain stocks in the grain merchants in the two cities and the private property of the non-recalcitrant gentry and officials. , not including the assets of various commercial houses and other assets controlled by the recalcitrant officials and gentry."

"The assets controlled by some recalcitrant officials and gentry are more complicated. We still need to sort out and seize them one by one to avoid harming Chiyu across the board. At the same time, we also need to be lenient to some of the commercial firms that have cooperated with us."

"However, after subsequent investigations one by one, it is expected that a large number of assets will be seized, and the specific amount needs to be seen again."

"There is also good news. We seized a large number of iron materials, saltpeter, sulfur and other crude materials from the official warehouse and several workshops under the control of the former government. At the same time, we also controlled hundreds of various ordnance craftsmen."

"In addition, we also found a huge amount of strategic materials such as iron, gunpowder, saltpeter, and sulfur from the wharf warehouse in Xiangyang City. The amount is extremely large, enough for us to manufacture a large number of guns, swords and Ammunition, this batch of strategic materials can even meet the limit production demand of the Liqingdian Armory for more than two months."

Speaking of this, Chen Xingkai saw the greedy expressions of the generals present, even more greedy than when they heard about the money and food just now.

After all, the Rural Protection Army is actually not short of food for the time being, and there is no shortage of money in the battle of Nanyang City, let alone more gold and silver in the battle of Xiangyang City.

So the gold, silver, food, etc. can no longer cause Blind Wang and the others to be too shocked.

But the strategic materials related to iron and gunpowder are different.

Now the Rural Protection Army is extremely short of this kind of thing, and the Li Qingdian Armory in the rear is consuming a lot of strategic materials and raw materials every day.

If you can swallow this batch of supplies in the dock warehouse, then you don't have to worry about it for the next few months.

But when Chen Xingkai saw the expressions on everyone's faces, he chuckled and said, "However, this batch of goods belongs to Fenghe Commercial Company, and they are going to be sold to us."

(End of this chapter)