Dragon Sea Empire

The Marine Corps led by Yang Qi launched the first attack on Wuchang City that night. The moat was basically filled by the collapsed city wall, and the Marine Corps easily rushed into the city through the big hole in the collapsed city wall.

However, Yang Qi's troops were blocked by Yuecheng in the Zhonghe Gate. Huguang Governor Lin Yu finally obtained more than 1 taels of silver from the Chu Palace, and organized a selection team-the Death Squad, holding a gunpowder barrel And fireballs, fire bricks, fire sickles and other explosive and incendiary firearms were thrown at the heads of the Chinese Army Marines without thinking. During the battle of Zhonghemen that night, the artillery fire outside the city could not support because of the darkness At that time, the Marine Corps was blocked by the Ming army at the Zhonghe Gate because it did not organize fire cover well, and more than a hundred people were killed or injured.

Mai Dahai decisively ordered the marines to retreat.

The Chinese Army's first attack on Wuchang City failed because the Marine Corps was too impatient and underestimated the enemy.

On the third day when the Chinese Army launched a general attack on Wuchang City, that is, the day when Yang Qi’s marines failed to attack the city for the first time, fierce fighting also began at Wusheng Gate in the north.

In the direction of Wushengmen, the Chinese army had no artillery support, and the Ming army basically did not. All the heavy firearms that the Ming army could fire were concentrated on the inner wall of Zhonghemen Yuecheng. The Chinese army infantry fired a burst of rockets. Afterwards, the embankment of the moat began to be blasted, and at the same time, all the houses outside Wusheng Gate were violently demolished.

Most of the soldiers in the Luzon Battalion are mixed-race Luzon Chinese and natives. After they join the Chinese Army, they can officially become naturalized civilians under the rule of the Chinese king. They can share the land just like Chinese immigrants. Joining the Luzon Battalion, they are the best hunters in the mountains and good gunners in the army. The Luzon Battalion is serving as a cover mission under the Wusheng Gate. They are arranged in three rows of bursts about a hundred steps away from the city wall. Shooting knocked down the soldiers of the Ming army on the city wall, and the Taiwan native battalion kept throwing the grenades that ignited the fuse on the top of the city. The soldiers of the Ming army were all hit one by one.

The blunderbusses of the Ming army can still hit something within fifty paces, but beyond a hundred paces, they can basically aim at that and fail to hit that. There were only a few hundred musketeers in the army, and they had not yet undergone strict round-fire training. In addition, the bird guns in their hands were the worst arquebus guns they could get from the Ming army, so they couldn't compete with the city in terms of firepower. The Chinese army outside the country confronted.

Therefore, under the cover of their own firepower, the Chinese army outside Wusheng Gate spent a day pouring countless bricks and tiles into the moat against the dismantled door panels, and at the same time blasted the embankment of the moat. Two channels were opened up.

On the fourth day of the general attack on Wuchang City, the Li civilian battalion and the cavalry task force rushed under the city wall and began to poach corners outside the Wusheng Gate.

The Ming army organized soldiers, ignoring the threat of exploding grenades thrown on the walls by the natives of Taiwan, and rushed to the battlements desperately, braving the hail of bullets and throwing down rolling stones, fireballs, fire sickles, fire bricks and even whole barrels of gunpowder.

The cavalry battalion retreated to the side of the moat, and also began to form a salvo formation, shooting fiercely at the top of the city to cover the comrades in the Limin battalion who were digging the foot of the wall.

On this day, except for the Wusheng Gate, preparations for blasting began, and the Chinese Army launched a larger-scale siege operation in the direction of Snake Mountain.

On this day, the large battleships that had been stranded in Anqing for many days, the Galenic giant ships "Longxiang" and "Longteng" each carrying ninety cannons, arrived at the Wuchang River. At that time, they were stranded in Jiangxinzhou because they were not familiar with the waterway. Now, they arrived late, just in time for the Chinese army's second general attack on Wuchang City.

In the past four days, the Ming army under Chen Daoheng in Hanyang has been silent and unable to move. The cruiser Lancang and five gunboats have been monitoring the movement of Hanyang City.

Early this morning, when Wuchang City on the opposite bank was enveloped by artillery fire from the Chinese Army, officials including Chen Daoheng and Zhou Qiyuan gathered at the top of the city to watch the battle. One rare thing has been kept: a monocular telescope made by the Portuguese in Macau. This thing was actually sold by a Portuguese businessman to Hu Yingtai, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi before Macau was occupied by the Chinese company. This time Zhu Shishou led the army to aid Jiangnan. Hu Yingtai gave him the telescope.

Now this spotting telescope has been handed back and forth among more than a dozen Ming Dynasty officials and military officers, and those who got it greedily put their eyes on it and looked hard.

"The Haikou Army has added two more warships, which seem to be even bigger than the original two," Qin Bangping, the governor of Shijie, was almost hanging half of his body outside the city wall. Reported to a bunch of civil servants behind him: "It's firing, and they're firing, it's really... his grandma's, it's really strong, it's full of explosive bombs, and it blows up a large piece... It's moving, they're moving,"

"What's moving,"

"The infantry of the Navy Bandit Army have begun to attack the city. They always do this: first bombard with artillery fire, and then let people rush up...My God, what is this,"

From a distance, two fire dragons can be seen spewing fireworks like clouds and fog, rising into the sky, and pulling out two thick black smoke in the air. The first actual combat shooting of the rocket-"Tianlei".

Many soldiers of the Ming army guarding the head of Hanyang City already shouted "Fire Dragon, Fire Dragon," while knelt down and kowtowed in the direction of Wuchang City. This was something beyond the imagination of ordinary soldiers.

The civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty in the low city of Hanyang were not as superstitious as ordinary soldiers, but they were completely shocked, and they could clearly see this thick rocket flying over the Snake Mountain and the Yellow Crane Tower. , disappeared after the northern foot of Snake Mountain.

A local official in Hanyang shouted: "This, this is shooting rockets at the Chu Palace,"

There was a rumbling sound, and a thick smoke rose from behind the green forest at the northern foot of Snake Mountain.

"This, this is really daring," an official exclaimed in a low voice.

"The pirate army is attacking the city, my God, they are still pushing small cannons up,"

"There is another small boat docking, and the pirate army has sent more troops to the shore. The city of Wuchang is worrying."

"The infantry of the Navy Bandit Army is in order. After advancing dozens of steps, they stop and regroup once. Oh, they quicken their pace... they charged and went to the city, ah, they poured in,"

Qin Bangping, the governor of Shi Jie, was anxious, and talked about the slang words popular in the army. Zhou Qiyuan asked: "Master Qin, what do you mean poured in?"

"Oh, it just rushed in, the pirate army has entered the city, I hope the Moon City of Zhonghemen can still be useful,"

Yang Qi organized his troops very carefully this time. He first sent people to occupy the commanding heights of the slope formed after the collapse of the city wall, and shot at the Ming army's Yuecheng defenders with a dense volley of guns. Then, he organized people to carry five six-pound light field guns to Tupo, condescendingly bombarded Yuecheng with shotguns, beating the defenders to death and wounding them: Then, the Sailor Marine Corps sent more than a dozen daredevils to rush under the city wall of Yuecheng, blasted with gunpowder barrels, and destroyed the temporary building inside the Zhonghe Gate. Yuecheng blasted a gap of tens of feet.

So far, the defense system of Wuchang city wall has been broken by the Chinese army.

At the gate of Wusheng, several men dressed as the Ming army but holding fine flintlock pistols surrounded Fuzhou general Zhang Ji.

"General Zhang, it's time, get your men out," said a burly, medium-sized man inside.

Zhang Ji looked around and saw that his personal guards were silently standing aside, looking at him beggingly.

Zhao Shoubei, who was in charge of contacting the Chinese army inside, said: "Master Zhang, they have already planted explosives and are about to blow up the city. We can't wait to die here."

Zhang Ji looked at the spies of the Chinese army with gloomy faces, and the man said again: "We have seen the signal from the brothers outside the city. The explosives have been laid, and we will wait for an order. If you Jiangxi soldiers don't leave, We brothers have to go, so as not to be blown to pieces when the time comes, "

The city wall to the east of Wushengmen, which Jiangxi soldiers were in charge of, was also raining bullets at the moment, but Jiangxi soldiers were hiding under the city or under the crenels, and rarely probed back to fight back. They only occasionally lowered their heads and threw a gunpowder bag down. The army has dug four or five large holes in the corner that can accommodate several people, and it has been filled with gunpowder. The soldiers of the Chinese army who are still carrying gunpowder are all accompanied by their comrades holding the door panels; beside the moat, And the musketeers of the Luzon Battalion kept shooting at the top of the city to cover them.

All of a sudden, the scattered counterattacks from the top of the city disappeared, and someone released a signal firework under the city wall. All the Chinese infantry brothers who participated in the cave city and planted explosives all rolled, crawled, and burned their buttocks to the other side of the moat. Run, the farther you are from the city wall of Wusheng Gate, the better.

The Wuchang local guard soldiers who were in charge of the city wall west of Wushengmen didn't know the situation at first. Seeing the enemy's sudden retreat, they poked their heads out and shouted. Those with experience in the battlefield immediately jumped out of their hiding place and rushed to the tower, looked around, and immediately shouted: "The pirates are about to blow up the city wall, and the Jiangxi soldiers have all run away. Brothers, go down to the city, run," he said While running, he rolled and climbed down the city wall, but he couldn't run far. Just when he stood still behind the Wushengmen gate, a series of loud noises erupted behind him, and the huge air wave rolled up countless earth, stone and bricks. , completely buried Yue Ling, deputy general of Huguang.

The Chinese military used a fuse to detonate the gunpowder buried under the city wall around Wushengmen. Five crypts on the city wall where the Jiangxi soldiers were located were detonated, and two crypts were detonated on the city wall where the Wuchang soldiers were. Only then did they all dissipate, and at this moment, Wushengmen stood alone among the collapsed city walls: the Chinese army's blasting only destroyed the walls on both sides of Wushengmen, but Wushengmen remained unchanged.

The Jiangxi soldiers had already run away, and the Wuchang soldiers were also stunned by the huge explosion during the explosion, and their battlefield commanders had already been buried in the rubble, and no one organized them to continue fighting. Therefore, when the charging Chinese army appeared In front of their eyes, the soldiers of the Ming army turned around and fled apart from surrendering.

The Chinese Army's general attack on Wuchang City reached noon on the fourth day, and the Zhonghe Gate was broken by the Marine Corps.

In the evening of the same day, Wusheng Gate was occupied by the infantry of the Chinese Army, and soldiers from the Li civilian battalion seized the Desheng Bridge.

On the fifth day, the flags of the Chinese Army were planted on all the gates of Wuchang City.

Wuchang City was captured by the pirate army - the Chinese army,