Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 198 The Imperial Army's Raid

the next day.

Fu Cha Mingliang rested for a night, and immediately deployed his troops to prepare for the siege the next day. He did not have much time, and had to attack Chongqing as soon as possible, otherwise the reinforcements from Chongqing would only increase.

If Chen Gui gave up the three cities in northeastern Sichuan and took his main force down the river, he would only have one or two days. If he missed the opportunity, he would completely lose the chance to capture Chongqing.

Yesterday, while setting up camp, Fu Cha Mingliang sent people outside the city to recruit hundreds of laborers, because he also wanted to build bamboo platforms and bamboo frames to attack the city, but most of the soldiers he brought were from the north, and their bamboo craftsmanship was not as good as that of the people in Shu.

Moreover, Fu Cha Mingliang's soldiers were all elite and not too many in number, so they would naturally not be wasted on things like building bamboo platforms and bamboo frames.

While sending people to build bamboo platforms and bamboo frames, Fu Cha Mingliang also began to use cannons to bombard the city gates and walls. Unfortunately, the effect was not ideal. The main city of Chongqing is also a big city, and the city walls are all made of stone slabs.

As for the city gate, the wooden door was broken down in just a few hits, but the gate hole had already been blocked by sacks filled with sand, so it was useless to break down the city gate.

On the city wall, Ai Lao San saw Fu Cha Mingliang sending people to build a bamboo platform, and couldn't help but sneer: "He is a famous general, but he thought he had some new tricks, but he can only imitate others."

"You actually know idioms?" Han Yuanxiao looked at Ai Laosan in surprise.

Ai Lao San said with some pride: "I have not seen you for three days, so I will look at you with new eyes. We have not seen each other for several months. I will naturally change and improve. Hehe, all of us Buddhists need to learn to read and write. I have a special liking for idioms, but I haven't learned much yet."

"Great!" Han Yuanxiao couldn't help but praise him, but he was laughing in his heart, and his originally nervous mood relaxed.

Han Yuanxiao naturally knew Ai Laosan, who was nicknamed Lao Gao and had no real name. After all, he was the leader of the fifth row of Yuanshan Village, in charge of external negotiations and internal law enforcement. In terms of status, he was higher than Lao Nian and Lao Piao.

When Han Yuanxiao went to Fobao, he prepared gifts for these powerful figures and visited them in person to get to know them.

Unfortunately, Ai Laosan could not read, and like the third row leader Zhou Shoushan, he was somewhat resistant to Chen Gui's idea of ​​universal reading at the beginning, so the two were marginalized by Chen Gui.

It seems that it is impossible not to be marginalized. After all, whether you are in power or commanding an army alone, it will be a bit troublesome if you can't even understand the documents.

In addition, given their status, it was impossible for them to serve as deputy generals to others, so they could only stay in Fobao to retire. Of course, Chen Gu did not treat them unfairly. Their monthly salary was more than 20 taels of silver, which was increased along with the monthly salary of Lao Nian and Lao Piao.

Han Yuanxiao looked at the laborers who were building the bamboo frame, frowned and said, "Should we shoot to disperse them?"

"No need!" Ai Lao San looked at the bamboo rack a hundred meters away and said, "He is just imitating others. He is not Xi Shi after all. Fu Cha Mingliang wants to learn Chen Jue's methods, but he doesn't have our rifles.

So what if we let their musketeers climb up the bamboo platform? They will just be courting death. Don't worry, although these one thousand men under my command are new troops, they will have no problem fighting a battle to defend the city.

Why massacre these local people?
These people will have to pay taxes to us in the future, they are our own people, and we don't have many bullets, we can't waste them on these people, we have to keep them for fighting the imperial court's Qing soldiers." Hearing the word "bullet", Han Yuanxiao's eyes flashed with envy and greed. He had the manufacturing technology of rifles, and he also provided Chen Gu with a lot of rifles, but unfortunately he didn't have the technology of bullets. He tried his best to get them before, but he couldn't get them now. It shouldn't be so difficult, but he didn't dare to do it.

Chen Jue is now at the peak of his power. If we tamper with the craftsmanship of bullets now, and if Chen Jue finds out, we will probably be killed without a burial place.

The ten bamboo platforms gradually took shape until they were finally completed. Fu Cha Mingliang did not send anyone to climb up the platform. Instead, he asked the laborers to quickly build the bamboo frames. Only after enough bamboo frames were built did the Qing army finally move.

The movement of the Qing army frightened Han Yuanxiao and Ai Laosan, because Fu Cha Mingliang's movement meant that the entire army was mobilized. The two were so scared that they hurriedly urged the soldiers defending the city to move.

A large number of his musketeers climbed onto the bamboo platform. Although the muskets no longer had much lethality and accuracy at a distance of a hundred meters, they still posed a certain threat to the defenders. For example, if they were hit in the face, they would definitely cause injuries or even death.

Secondly, the siege troops carried bamboo frames and ladders and moved towards the city wall in a dispersed formation.

The main city of Chongqing as a whole looks like a turtle's head. Chaotian Gate is on the turtle's mouth, so it is impossible to deploy troops. However, Tongyuan Gate is located on the turtle's neck, with the most open terrain, almost two kilometers long, and can accommodate more soldiers to attack the city.

This full-army attack was so powerful that the defenders on the city wall also reacted and began to meet the enemy, with the rifles of the Fobao New Army firing.

In the battle to defend the city, the mentality of these soldiers who had never been on the battlefield was relatively stable, and they performed normally. Even when shooting against the musketeers on the bamboo platform, they could achieve one out of two hits. When shooting at the siege troops under the city, they had a hit rate of 70%.

After one round of volleys from one thousand new troops, five or six hundred Qing soldiers fell. Fu Cha Mingliang's heart bleeds. These more than ten thousand soldiers are all elite soldiers, half of whom are Eight Banners soldiers. The losses in the siege with Chen Kui's army are too great.

Fortunately, his surprise attack strategy worked, and the soldiers had advanced to within a hundred meters of the city wall. The bandits defending the city finally reacted and after being hit by a round of bullets, they had now advanced to about fifty meters. Even if Chen's army's shooting speed was faster, another round of bullets would allow the soldiers to get close to the city wall.

As long as they can climb up the city wall, their soldiers are all elite and will definitely have the upper hand in a cold weapon fight with the defenders.

Plans are often good, but unfortunately they cannot keep up with changes, just like how people do business in later generations. No matter how you calculate it, the plans you make before starting are usually profitable, but once you really enter the business, 99% of them lose money.

Just when Fu Cha Mingliang was expecting his soldiers to climb up the city wall, dense bursts of bird gunfire were heard from the wall, followed by the explosions of detonators and bombs.

What made Fu Cha Mingliang most desperate was the last cannon shot. One cannon shot actually caused a large number of besieging soldiers to fall down. There were a total of twenty cannon shots, and at least five hundred besieging soldiers fell down.

"What is that? What kind of cannon is that?" Fu Cha Mingliang roared.

"Cluster cannon!" Woshibu said in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)