Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 272 The Rise of Prime Minister Li! (ask for subscription, ask for monthly pass)
On the third day of July, outside the west gate of Fuliji, the artillery positions of the Huai Army of the Ming Dynasty were located.

The 24-pound red cannon and the [-]-pound soaring cannon have been pushed or carried into two newly repaired forts.The shells and gunpowder were all transported and placed in the designated positions in the fortress, and all the gunners were in place, nervously waiting for the order to load and launch.

In fact, these two fortresses were rebuilt with the vehicle base that caused Gerstai’s Eight Banners cavalry to be smashed and bloody. Two new ring-shaped forts were piled up in the front position.Among them, the one built first is far away from Fulijiximen, about two miles away.The other one was much closer, only a little over a mile away.

The fortress farther from Fuliji was filled with twelve catties of red cannons, a total of eighteen cannons, all of which were cast in Nanjing and then painstakingly transported to the front line in Huaibei.

And in the fortress that is relatively close to Fu Liji, there are 24 catties of sky cannons, that is, mortars, which are used to launch flowering bombs, and the number is also eighteen.Although the projectile fired by the 24-jin mortar is very heavy, it is twice as heavy as the [-]-jin red cannon.But mortars are also much lighter because of their short barrels and thin walls.However, it is still inconvenient to carry. The gun mount of this thing has no wheels, so it has to be pulled by a large cart, and it also took a lot of effort to transport it from Puzikou.

These 36 cannons were originally prepared for strong cities like Fengyang and Xuzhou, but these two first-class strong cities in the Huaisi area were taken lightly and fraudulently.Now it was the turn of the cannonball, but it was Fu Liji, a small but strong earth enclosure.

And behind these two artillery fortresses, [-] officers and soldiers of the Huai army from the [-] battalions in the north and south of the Huaihe River have already formed square formations one after another, and each has prepared the long ladders for climbing the city. With bated breath they waited for the victorious end of the decisive battle that would determine their own lives and the lives of many generations of their children and grandchildren.

It is no exaggeration to say that this battle for Li Zhongtang to take over Huaixi was a battle for the Huaixi people to restore some of their former glory.

After this battle is won, the Huaixi warriors will become shareholders of the Ming Dynasty again!
And this war is also of great significance to Li Zhongshan and Li Zhongtang!

If this battle is fought well, they will be able to successfully regain the source of troops in Huaixi.With this source of troops next to Nanjing, Li Zhongshan can become the man who holds the emperor and orders the princes in the Ming court!

At the same time, the new Ming Dynasty, which has Huaixi soldiers, will become a powerful force that can keep pace with Western Wu and Northern Qing, and divide the world into three parts!
Li Zhongshan confidently walked into a very strong command post built between two artillery fortresses. This command post was less than two miles away from the west gate of Fuliji. It is also possible to see the entire battlefield outside the west gate of Fuliji.

There are already many officers waiting in the command post, full of people.Seeing Li Zhongshan coming in, they all stood at attention and saluted.Wang An, Wang Quan, Luo Dawei, Shang Shuying, and several staff officers from Jiangbei Governor's Office are all waiting for the arrival of the generals.

The previous days of rain have ended, the weather has cleared up, but the ground is still a little muddy, and in the early morning, the battlefield is still filled with mist like a veil.

Through this gauze-like mist, Li Zhongshan could still clearly see the west gate and earthen wall of Fuliji, which had been surrounded by his Huai army for more than ten days. To be precise, the west gate of Fuliji had disappeared. There was only one hole left, and it was blocked with straw bags and sacks.The wall of Fuliji is made of rammed earth, two feet high and two feet thick.Sheep and horse walls and crenels were also built on the wall, which can be deployed for defense.

Now there are a lot of colorful flags planted on the city wall of Fuliji, and there are some soldiers patrolling vaguely, but there are not many people, and they should all be squinting in the market town!
Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan asked again: "Gestai still hasn't replied?"

For the past two days, he had people post letters of persuasion into Fuliji every day. Although he knew that Ge Sitai could not surrender, he still had to do superficial work.

"No," Wang An said with a smile, "Gestai can probably see Mu Zhan's soldiers and horses now, why is he willing to surrender to us?"

It turned out that Mu Zhan was still prudent and slow-moving, crawling slowly!

This is not because Li Zhongshan can't drive Mu Zhan away—Xuzhou has already been taken by Zhou Chang, and the family members of Xuzhou's Green Camp have also been controlled by Zhou Chang. As long as a little is sent to Mu Zhan's army, the hearts of Mu Zhan's troops will be restored. There will be chaos.

It's just that Li Zhongshan ordered Zhou Chang and Ma Weixing to block the news and keep Mu Zhan from knowing, so that he could continue to climb to Fuliji.

There are so many colorful flags on Fu Liji, probably because Gerstai wants Mu Zhan to know that he is not finished yet, he and his men still have horse meat to eat, so they are still full of energy and ferocious, just wait for Mu Zhan Zhan climbed over the Sui River, and when everyone joined forces, they were not afraid of anything.

And Mu Zhan's troops have now climbed to the position where they can see Fu Liji, so Gestai can see the [-] troops slowly climbing up when standing a little higher.
Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan snorted and said, "Since he wants to be a loyal man of the Qing Dynasty, let's fulfill him!"

"Should we fire the gun now?" Wang An asked.

Li Zhongshan nodded: "Fire. Hit hard!"

"Yes!"

Wang An bowed his hands and saluted, then took a red command flag from a soldier beside him, handed it to an artillery staff officer who followed from Guangdong, and then ordered: "All the cannons in red clothes should fire immediately, and concentrate their firepower to bombard Fuli. Set to the right of the west gate!"

"Decree!" The staff officer took the red flag and turned to leave the headquarters.

Li Zhongtang guessed right, Ge Sitai was standing on the tower of the north gate of Fu Liji at this time, looking north at Master Wang!

Master Wang came a bit late!
More than [-] people formed five large square formations, one next to the other, and slowly climbed on the plain north of Fuliji. It seemed that they could not climb ten miles in a day.

The reason why Mu Zhan wanted to set up five large square formations was, of course, that he was afraid of the impact of groups of Ming army cavalry around him.

Mu Zhan's life is really suffering now. He obviously left the Jiangdong camp with [-] elite cavalry, but somehow there is no cavalry left to use now!Moreover, they were bullied by thousands of uneven Ming army cavalry. They did not dare to put on an army form, but dared to wrap the luggage and artillery in a square formation, and then marched slowly.

Seeing Mu Zhan's army crawling all the way, Gerstai remembered the time when he followed Dorgon to fight Hong Chengchou. That's how Hong Chengchou crawled all the way to rescue Zu Dashou in Jinzhou.In the end, an inattentive person took the back road, Zu Dashou was not rescued, and he himself became a wrapped slave (don't think that Hong Chengchou has any courtesy, he is a wrapped slave)!
Wait, why did you think of such an unlucky thing?Ge Si Tai thought it wrong, if Mu Zhan is Hong Chengchou, then I will become Zu Dashou?Then the [-] Qing Heavenly Soldiers will be wiped out?

This is impossible!

"boom boom"

As soon as Gerstai thought it was impossible, the soles of his feet trembled, accompanied by the roar of the earth shaking and the mountains shaking!

"Dutong. It's the cannon in red!"

"Dutong, go down to the city to avoid the guns!"

As soon as the Goshhas of Gerstai heard the gunfire, they rushed forward to help their boss under the city wall to avoid the shells.However, he was pushed away by Gerstai. The old man stomped and said, "Why are you panicking? The rebels are attacking the city wall to the west, and the old man is on the wall to the north. What is there to be afraid of?"

There is no need to be afraid. At least until the city wall to the west of Fuliji is bombarded by the red cannons of the Ming army, there is no need to be afraid.

"Hurry up, go and give orders to the leaders of the [-]st from the left, [-]nd from the left, [-]st from the right, and the [-]nd from the right. Let them be ready to send Eight Banners warriors to block the gap!" Gestai was not so confused as to really believe that relying on Fu Liji's city wall Can withstand the fierce bombardment of more than a dozen red cannons!
It is only a matter of time before the city wall is bombed down!

And once the city wall collapses, the real decisive battle will begin!

There are tens of thousands of Ming troops besieging the city now, with several times the strength advantage. If the Ming army rushes in, it will be an end!

Gestai turned his head to look at the reinforcements who were still slowly crawling on the plain, and complained a little in his heart: Mu Zhan, Mu Zhan, can't you hurry up?Rescuing soldiers is like putting out fire!If you don't hurry up, I will be burned to death. For the sake of the Qing Dynasty, hurry up!

The power of eighteen red-clothed cannons aiming at a place of twelve catties is quite astonishing. I only saw the side of the west gate of Fu Liji, which was constantly hit by shells. It was said to be shells, but it was actually a solid iron ball, which was hit by shells. The gunpowder burst out, and more than a dozen hit the earthen wall of Fu Liji at high speed.The city wall of Fuliji is not comparable to that of Nanjing City. The base of the house is made of huge stones, which is hard!Fuliji is just a rammed-earth enclosure, and the waterproof foam is just enough, how can it withstand so many cannons being aimed at close range?

The city couldn't bear it at that time, the clods on the wall fell straight down, and the shells hit the wall and produced a lot of dust, which covered a large part of the city wall in an instant, and the city wall could be seen clearly at first The wobbly flag, then gradually blurred, and soon there was only smoke and dust left.
Standing in his headquarters, Li Zhongshan just stared coldly at the city wall covered in smoke and dust. After watching for a while, he turned his head and said to Luo Dawei: "General Luo, it seems that Fu Liji won't last long. You go to take over the battalions in the east of the city. Arrange two battalions to block the east gate, and everyone else will cross the Sui River, and put on a posture to stop Mu Zhan's troops, and at the same time, be ready to pursue!"

"Yes!"

When Luo Dawei saluted, there was already a staff officer who was sitting at a nearby desk taking shorthand, and had written the order according to Li Zhongshan's words.Wang An took it and looked at it, nodded to express his satisfaction, and returned the note with the order to the staff officer, asking him to copy a copy for the file.When the staff officer finished copying, Wang An had already fetched the seal of the supervisor, and used the seal for the two identical orders.In the end, he took one of them, plus a troop transfer token, and handed it to Luo Dawei, who asked him to take it to the east of Fuliji to dispatch troops.

Seeing Luo Dawei leaving, Li Zhongshan said to Wang Quan again: "Quan'er, after the bombardment of the sky is over, you lead the infantry of the Shanzi Battalion to take the lead. Xi brothers go in."

"Yes!"

"Shuying!" Li Zhongshan ordered Shang Shuying again, "Go to Yongziying and together with Chang Yong, take the family members of the green camp captured in Xuzhou to block Mu Zhan. Once the sky cannon is fired, release the family members and let Mu Zhan know Xuzhou is gone."

"Yes!"

Li Zhongshan's skill in using soldiers is really getting better and better. This time, he not only used clever tricks such as "luting the enemy to go deep", "surrounding the spot to fight for aid", "stealing the house", and "three missing one", but now he has to give it to the Qing army. It's all about attacking one's heart!

At the right time and at the right place, put the most suitable bad news to Mu Zhan and Gestai—Mu Zhan's army will surely collapse when they learn that Xuzhou has fallen.When Gestai's army was blown down and the enemy broke into Fuliji, they learned that the reinforcements had collapsed. Naturally, they also collapsed.
"Dutong, look quickly, the rebels in the east of the city have retreated!"

"It must be that Manager Mu's army is approaching!"

"Thank goodness."

When Luo Dawei led most of the troops in the east of Fuliji City and started to move towards the north bank of Sui River, every one of Gestai's Gorhashis seemed to see the hope of victory, and they almost cheered.

Gerstai also felt hopeful, his old eyes were a little moist, and he kept saying: "It's saved, it's saved. Now it's saved!"

As if to save them from the front, the artillery of the Ming army that had been rumbling non-stop before also stopped abruptly.

The noisy battlefield suddenly became quiet like this.

Gestai vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he quickly ran to the watchtower at the northwest corner of the city wall of Fuliji, where the view was very good, and he could clearly see the battlefield in the west of the city.But as soon as he walked halfway, the sound of marching drums sounded outside the city.

Then someone let out a heart-piercing roar: "The traitor's pikemen and pikemen are coming up!"

Then Gustai heard someone in the city shouting: "The wall has collapsed, the wall on the right side of the west gate has collapsed, quickly block the opening!"

The city is broken?Gerstai's head buzzed, and he felt even worse.

He didn't run anymore, he stopped quickly and looked towards the right side of the west gate.At this time, a gust of wind blew away some of the smoke and dust covering there, revealing a gap that was thirty steps wide and formed by the collapse of the wall!

At this moment, the blocking troops arranged by Gerstai had already rushed over the gentle slope formed by the collapse of the wall with their carbine guns.

But just as these people rushed halfway, the sky suddenly exploded with a bang!
How did the sky explode?Gerstai didn't respond for a moment, and then several dazzling fireballs suddenly appeared near the breach in that section of the city wall.

"Flower bomb!"

Has anyone more astute figured out what's going on?

It turned out that the flowering bullets of the Ming army fell.

Of course, the blooming ammunition these days is poor in accuracy, and the fuze is not very reliable. It is either bombed too early or simply bombed, and very few of them are fired just right.But today, there was still a 24-jin flowering bomb that fell impartially among a group of Eight Banners soldiers carrying carbine guns on top, and exploded with a bang.

Although it is only black powder deflagration, it is a 24-jin explosive bomb after all, and one bomb can explode an unknown number of fragments. In addition, the projectiles in the bomb body are flying all over the sky together. The shrapnel and lead bullets form an airtight The big net beat all the Eight Banners soldiers covered by it to a bloody mess, killing and wounding them all!
Now eighteen skyrocketing cannons are firing at the same time, and the shells fall one after another, blasting out fireballs one after another. This scene is really frightening. Those Eight Banners soldiers who are about to carry their carbine-rejecting guns to rush forward to block the opening are also very scared. Cowardly, not only did no one dare to jump into the sea of ​​fire, but they also ran away one after another.

Gerstai was also pushed down by his own soldiers, and a fellow threw himself on top of him, as if he was going to use his body to help him block the shells.

I don't know how long this round of shelling lasted. Anyway, it was quite a long time for the Eight Banners soldiers who were bombed.And when the shelling stopped, the Eight Banners soldiers who were dizzy and blocked the door were still quite brave. They raised their carbine-rejecting guns, raised their waist knives, carbine guns and shotguns, and rushed towards the gap together.

But what awaited them was a rain of accurate and ruthless bullets. Almost all the Eight Banners soldiers who rushed up the gap were killed and fell down in the fatal gap.

However, the Eight Banners soldiers of the four battalions responsible for blocking the entrance did not give up. In the next quarter of an hour, there were still a steady stream of people carrying carbine-rejecting guns and holding various weapons to fill the gap.

And what awaits them, without exception, is the accurate musket shooting!

When Gestai realized that the situation was wrong, the leaders of the four battalions had already filled the gap in the city wall with 300 people. The corpses of the Eight Banners soldiers almost blocked the gap.

And when this kind of battle of sending people's heads to fill in the gaps finally could not continue, the pikemen of the Shanzi Battalion, wearing breastplates, arm armor, and iron helmets, had already shouted and charged.

But this is not the scariest thing that happened on the Suishui-Fuliji battlefield today.

The most terrifying thing happened on Mu Zhan's side. When Mu Zhan had just adjusted his formation and formed five square formations, preparing to fight against the Ming army's attack, what the Ming army pushed out was a group of women, old people and children.
What's going on here? Mu Zhan thought that the Ming army had also learned the unique skills of the heavenly soldiers of the Qing Dynasty—when using ordinary people as a shield, Shang Shuying had already appeared among those "ordinary people" on horseback, and shouted loudly: "On the other side! Qing soldiers, don’t shoot. They are all family members of the Xuzhou Lvying! Xuzhou has been occupied by the Da Ming soldiers! Now, under the order of the general Zhongtang, return them to you!”

Mu Zhan also heard this in the middle army, and was immediately dumbfounded.

Co-authoring "Home" was stolen!
The family is gone, how can we fight this battle?
Those Eight Banners soldiers and the green battalion soldiers sent by Jiangdong Daying are okay. After all, they have no family members in Xuzhou, but what about those Xuzhou green camps?Their family is gone, and their family members were detained by Li Zhongshan, what should they do?
He was worried about the Xuzhou green battalion soldiers. A phalanx formed by the Xuzhou green battalion suddenly became chaotic, and some people shouted: "Don't kill my family members, we are willing to surrender."

(End of this chapter)