Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1158 Breaking into Xuanhua
In the early morning of the next day, the sky was bright, the east was white, and the camp of the anti-Qing rebels came alive.

In the camp, the gang leader picked up the steamer, the hot white air spread out, and there were big white steamed buns. Regardless of the hot hands, the soldiers each took one, made a bowl of hot soup, and squatted in the corner eat and drink.

Wang Dou led more than 20 men from Shun Township Castle. He was sitting on a cart in a corner of the camp, while the others were squatting around and eating. After a while, as the sun came out, the drums of war in the camp Finally, "Dong Dong Dong" sounded.

The artillery outside the city, following the sound of the huge war drums, followed by a roar.

The soldiers of each battalion gathered like ants, began to pick up weapons, push equipment, and quickly formed a formation outside the battalion.

More than 20 men in Shun Township Fort stopped eating and drinking at once, stuffed all the remaining buns into their mouths in a hurry, looked out of the camp with their cheeks puffed out, and saw the soldiers from other camps leaving the camp one after another, feeling a little bit in their hearts Excited and anxious, they all cast their eyes on Wang Dou, but Wang Dou finished the steamed buns and drank the soup leisurely, then stood up, clapped his hands and said: "On the battlefield, you must have blood. But you have to be calm, if you are hot-blooded, you probably won’t live long!"

"Copy guys, go out and line up, look at my back flag, don't get lost!" After Wang Dou finished speaking, he first put his hands behind his head, supported the back flag, and then picked up a round shield of bread, Then he walked out of the camp, and more than 20 men also carried their weapons and carried a climbing ladder, and followed him out of the camp.

The drums sounded continuously for about two quarters of an hour, and the five thousand rebels in the Northern Camp had already formed their formation outside the city.

These [-] soldiers and horses were dressed in mixed armor, most of them were wearing turbans and jackets, and only a very small number had cotton armor and helmets.But these cotton armors are not so good, they look like they are old stuff, probably because of the anti-Qing war, the old frontier soldiers found them out of the boxes and put them on.

In terms of appearance, this group of people didn't look like a regular army, but they looked like local bandits in the wind, and they did have the murderous look of local bandits.

Wang Dou and others lined up in the left corner in front of the army formation, and there were quite a few more than 20 people, but in the entire army formation, it was just a small square.There are hundreds of such small squares around them, and they become very small in the entire big formation.

The banners were flying, and the formation was silent. Wang Dou saw his old boss, Chen Du, riding a horse and leading seven or eight cavalry troops, rushing out of the formation, patrolling in front of the city, probably spying on the defense of the Qing army in Beicheng.

This time the army attacked from south, north, and west at the same time, besieging and leaving the east city behind. It is said that the three directions are the main attack, which made Wang Dou somewhat confused.

However, there are more than 4000 green battalion soldiers in the city, and General Jiang has invested nearly 2 people. There must be a reason for him to attack from three sides.

Leaving the east city untouched is an old trick of besieging three and missing one. It is to prevent the defenders in the city from falling into despair and die with the army, and leaving one side is to give the defenders in the city a chance to escape.

The Mongols often used this method in the past. After the people in the city abandoned the city and fled, the cavalry chased them down and killed all the fleeing people on the way to escape.

This time, the elite soldiers of Datong did not participate in the siege of the city. Perhaps General Jiang was thinking of attacking from three sides, forcing the defenders to abandon the city, and then chased them down with [-] cavalry.

Wang Dou was thinking about it, and after watching for a while, Chen Du had galloped back to the main formation, and after a while, the battle drums of the army formation were beating again.

Almost at the same time, there were waves of shouts of killing faintly coming from the direction of the west city and the south city, which made Wang Dou a little impatient, and he couldn't let others go to the city first.

At this moment, Chen Du, who had returned to the Chinese army, boarded the high platform, waved the flag, and the drums of "dong dong dong" sounded again.

The sound of the drums this time, from slow to urgent, calm and powerful, inspiring.

The Qing army at the top of the city heard the sound of the drums, and Hao Xiaozhong's eyelids jumped up involuntarily following the rhythm of the drums. Green battalion soldiers wearing red-topped hats and coats on the city wall were densely packed at the top of the city. With a bow and an arrow, he looked vigilantly and uneasy at the rebel army who suddenly moved forward outside the city.

"Break down the city, grab money and food!"

It's not a catchphrase, but it's more inspiring than restoring Daming.

The vanguard of the rebel army, a general wearing rusty iron armor, drew his knife, raised it above his head, and yelled loudly.

From his attire, we can tell that he must have been a general of the Ming Dynasty. This time Jiang Xiang rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, and many old people from the Ming Dynasty in the north stood up.

The rebels from three directions started to attack Xuanhua almost at the same time. The vanguard of the rebels in the front row, under the cover of artillery, rushed towards the city like a tide.

There are about 2000 forwards in Beicheng. The swords and shields carry the climbing ladders in front, and the archers and gunmen behind are responsible for suppressing the city.

On the city wall, arrows from the Qing army rained down on the top of the city. The soldiers charged forward with shields and wooden boards, shooting arrows, shells, and cannon stones. The soldiers who charged in front kept falling.

When the soldiers rushed within fifty steps, some soldiers began to erect planks on the ground to form a wooden wall, and the archers began to shoot arrows at the top of the city.

After all, the Qing army had few people, and they had to defend the city walls on three sides. Once the people dispersed, the Qing army at the top of the city was slowly suppressed by the city.

Hao Xiaozhong personally commanded the battle at the top of the city. This time the rebel army was well prepared. He shouted again and again, "Fire the cannon, suppress the rebels below the city for me!"

At this time, when arrows were fired at the top and bottom of the city, the first wave of troops to ascend the city had already carried ladders and shields, and approached the city wall from under the large net of intertwined arrows.

In order to form a continuous attack, in the rebel formation outside the city, the horns and drums were raised again, and Chen Du on the Wang chariot shouted, "Ladder, goose chariot, and siege cone!"

The flag was waved, and the follow-up siege troops, pushing heavy equipment, began to advance slowly.

During nearly half a month of preparations for the siege, the rebels had used trench-filling trucks to push the soil to fill up a large section of the moat.

The arrows at the top of the city were as fast as the wind, and the rolling trees and thunderstones kept falling down, and soldiers of the rebels continued to fall. However, despite the relatively large casualties, the soldiers of the rebels still fought bravely under the encouragement of heavy rewards, and everyone wanted to get a thousand taels of silver. Award.

Wang Dou's position was on the left side of the city wall, and the arrows were not as dense as those at the city gate. He did not lead his subordinates to the front, but was a bit slower. He still maintained calm and accurate judgment during the charge. .

Although he hasn't fought a war in the past ten years, as a member of the frontier army, these battlefield experiences have been engraved in his bones.

After the first group of rebels who approached the city wall were knocked down by the rolling logs and thunderstones on the city, Wang Dou held up the shield in one hand and resisted the ladder in the other, and led the team with only [-] people left to rush to the bottom of the city.

The corner of the wall is a blind spot for the defenders on the city. He rushed to the bottom of the city and immediately shouted: "Hang up the siege ladder!"

Several men quickly picked up the ladder, hung the iron hook at the top on the wall brick, and supported the lower end with wooden stakes.

Wang Dou immediately bit his sword, held up the shield in one hand, and climbed up the ladder with the other, followed by two men.

The Qing army on the city, seeing a new ladder being built, immediately raised the log, but just as they were about to smash it down, a sharp arrow from the wall hit their chest, and the Qing army died at the top of the wall. body fell.

The men in the city followed Wang Dou's instructions last night, no matter where they were, they just stared at the wall pile on the ladder. Another Qing soldier poked with a gun, and was immediately hit by a bludgeon and fell to the top of the city.

Taking advantage of this gap, Wang Dou jumped onto the city wall, and his team became the first rebel army to ascend the city.

The cheers under the city caught Chen Du's attention. Holding a binoculars, he saw a small officer with a banner on the broken wall on the left. He was one of his former subordinates. He had already stabbed a Qing soldier to death. The corpses of the Qing army were thrown from the top of the city. He immediately put down the binoculars and ordered: "Order the archers to suppress the sides of the fourth climbing ladder on the left, and send a team of hundreds of households to ascend the city from now on!"

Chen Du's order was conveyed, and hundreds of arrows were shot at both sides of the siege ladder, killing less than half of a group of Qing troops who wanted to drive them down. His subordinates also boarded the city wall and occupied a section of the city wall with him.

At this time, the ladders and goose carts, which were more convenient for siege, were already close to the city wall, and the battering ram began to hit the city gate.

After the cheers erupted in the North City, the West City also remembered a burst of cheers, and it could be judged that the people over there had also climbed the city wall.

Hao Xiaozhong's face began to become heavy. If this continues, the city may not be able to defend for long. He immediately grabbed a soldier and said with red eyes: "Go, let all the members of the Fan family go to the city to participate in the defense."

The eight imperial merchants want to run foreign trade. They have been doing business in the Mongolian land for many years. In order to protect the caravan, they have special guards. These people are no worse than the green battalion soldiers. go down.

Hearing the words, the soldiers immediately turned around, but they collided with someone, and it was none other than Fan Yongdou.

When Hao Xiaozhong saw him going to the city, he thought he had not ordered, so Fan Yongdou brought people to the city to help in the battle. He was about to be overjoyed, but Fan Yongdou looked like he was dead and had nothing to love, and cried: "Hao Junmen , No good! The east gate was opened, and the rebel cavalry rushed into the city!"

Hao Xiaozhong's eyes almost popped out, and he was shocked and said: "Sure enough, I still lost to the inner thieves. Didn't I ask you to closely monitor the situation in the city? How could this happen? We will all die now!"

Fan Yongdou cried and said, "I have been sending people to closely inspect and investigate carefully, but I didn't expect that bastard Geng Tang would open the door to Jiang Youguang!"

(End of this chapter)