I have a cornucopia

Chapter 210 Song of Hell
Just as Xia Wanchun finished speaking, there was a strange loud noise coming from the west direction of the city.

They both looked over there hurriedly.

Then I saw a section of the originally intact city wall not far south of Tongsi Gate suddenly collapse outward.

At the same time, a shell pierced through the dust and smoke in the sky, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, and instantly crossed the entire old city of Yangzhou, even piercing through the Wenchang Pavilion on the way, and finally landed under the east city wall, causing a splash of blood and flesh among a team of civilians transporting supplies...

"How many things did Shi Daolin leave behind?"

Xia Wanchun said angrily.

This was a huge siege gun, the same as the twenty-four-pounders they had on the walls.

Zhang Guowei bought a total of 24 such cannons from Macau, and later imitated 16 more, all of which were placed in Nanjing and Yangzhou. Shi Kefa took eight of them to attack Fengyang City, but they were not actually used much.

The reason is that it is too powerful and has a long range, which could easily damage the imperial city inside the city.

Of course, it was mainly because his generals opposed it. Of course, they couldn't use such a weapon that was not conducive to their work. If they could easily capture Fengyang, how could the 200,000-man army play the game of fighting against the enemy? Besides, if they really blew Fengyang, wouldn't they have to rush in and fight? Why fight for something that can be solved by siege? So after arriving in Fengyang, it was thrown into a warehouse to collect dust, and was eventually seized by the Qing army. The reason why it was used now was because it was too difficult to transport. Shi Kefa transported it by water in the autumn, but the Huai River was still frozen at that time!
and so……

"No, they captured Xuyi!"

Xia Wanchun screamed.

Indeed, it is impossible for these huge cannons to come through the mountain road of Qingliu Pass.

The only way for land transportation is through Xuyi.

So Xuyi, which Liu Zhaoji had been defending, was eventually captured.

Of course, this is no longer important.

At the breach, shouts of killing were heard from outside, and the heavily armored soldiers in the city were already rushing to reinforce. These heavily armored soldiers were actually Gao Jie's servants. After all, this required extremely strong cold weapon melee skills, and only Gao Jie's servants in the city were capable of doing this. Xia Wanchun didn't care about Li Xiangjun, and shouted to Chen Zilong. The latter looked at the Qing army outside, and there was no great danger here for the time being, so he signaled Xia Wanchun to reinforce the west wall.

Xia Wanchun immediately called for a group of people who were resting to practice.

They headed straight for the gap in the west of the city.

Li Xiangjun, who was once again left unattended, followed behind.

At this time, the Qing army outside had already rushed to the gap and were fighting with the defenders who also rushed to the gap to guard it. The eight siege cannons continued to bombard the two sides of the gap. Although the shells would certainly injure the Qing army by mistake, these first wave of attackers were originally dead soldiers. Their mission was to pave the way for the back with their own lives. Death was normal, and survival was an accident. These were genuine Eight Banners Manchus, so they had no choice but to go at this time. These fierce dead soldiers quickly overwhelmed the defenders, but the latter's desperate resistance also bought time for the heavily armored soldiers. They rode their horses and galloped over, quickly dismounted and rushed towards the enemy with the friction of steel.

When Xia Wanchun arrived with the militia, the melee between the two sides had already begun.

But the Qing troops outside continued to pour in.

They squeezed their companions in front from behind, while the latter were entangled with the heavily armored soldiers.

Behind the heavy armored soldiers, reinforcements from the city defenders were also arriving.

The pressure from both inside and outside made the gap densely packed, but no one considered anything else. At this time, there was no other choice but to kill the enemies around them. It was impossible to escape, and it was actually difficult to turn around. The only thing they could do was to raise their weapons high and slash wildly, and then leave the rest to their armor...

"Up to the city wall!"

Xia Wanchun shouted.

His militia was equipped with firearms and could only gain an advantage by climbing up the city walls.

But just as he finished speaking, a cannonball whizzed past the city wall, stirring up broken bricks and smashing down. The militiamen dodged in chaos, but several of them were still hit.

"Come on!"

he shouted.

Then he climbed up the ladder set up by the civilians as quickly as possible. The militiamen were no longer afraid and quickly climbed up the ladder. Just as Xia Wanchun climbed onto the city wall, another cannonball whizzed past their heads, but fortunately it was a little higher and did not hit the broken parapet in front.

He instinctively lay down, then raised his pistol and pulled the trigger at the Qing troops in the gap.

Now there is no need to aim.

Just hit any place you want, there are so many heads there.

"Lie down and shoot, don't come up all at once, reload the bullets below, load three!"

He suddenly realized the advantage and turned around and shouted to the militia behind him.

Then he took a turtledove gun from a militiaman, lay on the ground with his shoulders, roughly facing the gap, then turned his head and pulled the trigger. As the matchlock fell, the flame sprayed upward from the ignition port, but the front muzzle was accompanied by the spray of flames, and three bullets were fired, hitting the dense Qing army below. The militiamen behind him were in high spirits, all crawling forward on the city wall, and then shooting at the gap, while the militiamen standing on the ladders on the inside of the city wall kept passing the loaded turtledove guns up and passing the finished ones down. The militiamen below leaned against the city wall and loaded as quickly as possible to supply the shooters above. This method minimized casualties.

After all, everyone on the city wall was lying down, so unless they were unlucky enough that the shells went right through the parapet, attacks from outside were basically ineffective against them.

The gap is already a sea of ​​blood and corpses.

Countless dead bodies piled up.

Both sides even had to stand on the corpses and hack and kill.

But the Qing army was better in hand-to-hand combat after all, and this time they fought with all their might, attacking with unprecedented madness. Of course, Xia Wanchun and others did not know that this was because Yang Feng had already gone south, and the Qing army did not have much time left.

The defenders were pushed back into the city little by little.

But at this moment, Xia Wanchun turned his head inadvertently, and was stunned, because Li Xiangjun had stood on a pile of ruins next to the gap without knowing when. Amid the defenders who kept rushing forward on both sides, she was still staggering because of her weak body, like a swaying flower in the flood...

"Drive the Jianlu out and don't let them hurt Miss Xiangjun."

Xia Wanchun yelled to the people below.

The defenders who were pouring into the battlefield were also looking at Li Xiangjun in amazement, as she was obviously singing something.

Of course, no one could hear what she sang.

She didn't have Yang Feng's speakers, and she was weak to begin with. In such a noisy battlefield, she was probably lucky to be able to hear herself, but the effect she brought was obvious. Her risking her life to report the news had long been known to everyone, and she was already well-known. Coupled with this righteous act, she could be said to be a favorite of the city. At this moment, she was on the battlefield, and even the Qing army's shells and arrows could take away her fragile life at any time. But she was still like a weak little flower in the torrent, bringing a ray of light to this hell of blood and fire, allowing people to see a little light in the sea of ​​blood and corpses...

"Kill, kill Jianlu!"

"Kill Jianlu!"

……

Everyone was shouting wildly.

Everyone forgot the fear of death and rushed forward, stepping into the sea of ​​corpses and blood ahead.

"Sugar bomb!"

Xia Wanchun heard a shout from behind. He looked back and saw Zhang Guowei's staff member Zhang Huangyan crawling over with a wooden box on his back. He opened the box and took out a sugar bomb from it.

As for the name of the Infinite Karma Fire that Yang Feng gave it, it was too embarrassing and basically no one called it that.

Sugar bombs are the standard name.

This thing is extremely precious, mainly because it is dangerous to make and requires experienced craftsmen. There are not many left, and they are all in Zhang Guowei's hands. They can only be used with his consent.

Xia Wanchun took the sugar bomb, but asked for another one, holding it with both hands at the same time. Zhang Huangyan quickly took out a disposable lighter and lit it. Xia Wanchun stood up suddenly, roaring and rushing forward amid the whistling of bullets and sharp arrows. In front of him was the slope of the collapsed city wall, which was very steep, so he almost crashed down. The Qing soldiers who were climbing up and attacking below were all stunned. They saw a man holding two torches rushing down from above, and even rushed into their midst in the blink of an eye. Before they could react, Xia Wanchun threw the sugar bomb. The sugar bomb, like a torch, instantly hit the most densely packed Qing army, hit a Qing soldier's shield and exploded. The flying nitrate sugar splashed like a rain of fire, sticking to the Qing army's cloth armor and burning.

Almost at the same time, the second sugar bomb he threw exploded above the Qing army's heads, and a rain of fire fell down.

At this time, Xia Wanchun had already turned around and was climbing up like crazy.

The surrounding Qing troops finally woke up.

They immediately stabbed his back with their spears.

But the forged steel plate armor he was wearing had extremely high defense, and this attack was completely ineffective, but instead pushed him faster.

He threw a rope over Zhang Huangyan's head. At this time, Zhang Huangyan was actually only in his twenties. Although he was much older than Xia Wanchun, he was still considered a young man. Xia Wanchun grabbed the rope amidst the stabs of spears behind him and walked up the steep slope. However, he was soon stabbed by the Qing army's spears. Fortunately, it was on the leg. After all, there was no protection behind his half-armored legs. He was dragged up by Zhang Huangyan with a scream. At the same time, two militiamen on both sides also rushed down. These two dead men, like him, directly crashed into the Qing army. In the stabs of spears, they threw the sugar bombs in their hands with all their strength towards the densest part of the Qing army. The sugar bombs exploding in the sky finally made the Qing army below chaotic...

Their fear of this thing can be said to be deep-rooted.

Behind these strange weapons that stuck to the body and burned and could not be torn off, more and more of them appeared. However, the devil-like man seemed to have reached a critical point. The Qing army, which was originally pressing forward, suddenly seemed to have received some order, and screamed and turned around to flee.

The ones behind also started to turn around.

"Kill, Jianlu is defeated!"

"The Jianlu were defeated!"

……

With countless excited roars, the defenders in the city rushed forward frantically, pushing the fleeing Qing army, and in a blink of an eye rushed to the highest point of the gap...

Clear your mouth.

"Okay, you've done your best."

Yang Feng said as he looked at Liu Zhaoji, who was covered in wounds and kneeling in front of him to apologize.

Xuyi was also blasted open by siege cannons.

Liu Zhaoji was originally with a group of defeated soldiers who had withdrawn from Fengyang. After retreating to Xuyi, they relied on the reinforcements from Huai'an to hold on. However, the Qing army made an extra-large sled, then installed the siege cannons in Fengyang, and quickly dragged eight cannons directly from the ice to Xuyi. This method was extremely fast, and Liu Zhaoji was caught off guard and the cannons blasted through the city wall. His subordinates were originally a group of defeated soldiers, and they fled directly after the city wall was blasted open. He escaped only with the desperate cover of his servants, but he was also seriously injured.

By now in this war, most of these former military leaders have been killed.

Huang Degong has also been found.

He was also seriously injured in the melee after the fall of Chuzhou, but was rescued by several of his trusted associates and hid in the nearby mountains. Then he disguised himself as a refugee and fled over the mountains and rivers to the river. He eventually fled to Hezhou and found a fishing boat to cross the river to Dangtu.

Of course, because he was delayed in receiving medical treatment during his escape, he was said to be dying, and it is hard to say whether he can survive.

However, it was useless for the Qing army to capture Xuyi.

Prince Yang is here.

The sky in Huainan cleared up.

However, the dark clouds on the other side were already pushing over with lightning and thunder.

"He Yuncong is in urgent need.

Li Zicheng divided his troops into three groups and entered Huguang. He surrounded Xiangyang, Li Laiheng had reached Chengtian, and Tian Jianxiu was heading towards Suizhou. It has been confirmed that his troops have more than 150,000. In addition, according to the secret report obtained by He Yuncong, He Jin and Sun Shoufa's troops of tens of thousands had passed Hanzhong.

Three hundred thousand is indeed a claim, but more than two hundred thousand is the reality.”

Zhu Dadian said.

"What did He Yuncong say?"

Yang Feng said.

"Him? He said he wanted the regent to prepare early. It seems he can't hold on any longer and is planning to flee without a fight."

Zhu Dadian sneered.

Of course, He Tengjiao's choice was normal. Li Zicheng certainly did not go south to Huguang. He and the Huguang gentry who supported him behind the scenes really did not need to fight Li Zicheng for the sake of downstream interests. At that time, Huguang had just begun to recover its vitality and did not have the ability to fight desperately. In the past few years, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Zuo Liangyu and Dorgon had tossed around there in turn. Most of the places were in ruins. It was only after Dorgon was defeated last time that peace was restored. But in just half a year, they could only clean up the ruins.

Desperately?

Will the downstream gentry give money?

Why should we let the people from Huguang carry the line for them without paying them?
"These days are so chaotic. If you don't stab us in the back, you're already a good friend."

Yang Feng said.

Zhu Datian was speechless.

Indeed, this fucking world is in chaos.

There were several imperial courts alone. Nanjing was said to be the regent, but in fact it was just a symbol, a symbol that allowed all parties to recognize that they belonged to the same regime, but in fact it had no real power at all. Ma Shiying had to consult the local elders' councils before issuing any orders. He would only issue an order if the majority of the elders' councils agreed. Sometimes, a government order would even be delayed for a month or two.

The appointment of local officials must also be preceded by consulting the local elders council.

If they strongly object, I have no choice but to replace them.

In this situation, the essence is that everyone is on their own, taking care of themselves, and not harming their neighbors is already enough to be friends.

Of course, it is hard to say whether this state is good or bad. Anyway, the gentry in eastern Zhejiang are very happy, as if they were in a prosperous era. But it is very painful for officials. For example, for the famous corrupt official Zhu Dadian, it is very difficult for officials to make money in this state...

Even if you want to make money, you have to kneel down.

It's a 30:70 split.

Seventy percent belong to the elders.

(End of this chapter)