Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 205: Conquering Huaining

"Marshal, why don't you attack the South Gate? There's not even a city wall over there." Mr. Miao asked in confusion.

Lu Jin and a group of generals gathered outside the north gate, observing the top of the city with a telescope. When he heard the doubts of Mr. Miao, he explained immediately.

"The South Gate has been blocked by their ships. Even if the navy on those ships are no match for us, those broken ships are very troublesome. Even if there is no one guarding them and they are just left there, it is not easy for you to get past those warships and enter the city.

"If you don't believe me, think about it. How are you going to get past those broken ships?"

Tycoon Miao thought about it and it seemed to be true.
"How does the Marshal plan to break into the city?" Zhao Yong asked from the side.

Lu Jin raised his head from the telescope at this time, "I came here in person this time to try out the use of artillery. I have tried the power of artillery in battle before. You two didn't see it, but Mr. Miao should have seen it at that time. This eight-jin cannon can kill seven or eight people at a distance of two miles. A round of salvo from six cannons can kill a platoon of the enemy, and two rounds of artillery can kill a centurion. The power is considerable.

"Now that we have finished testing the battle formation, it is time to try attacking the city."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Miao immediately nodded, indicating that it was indeed as Lu Jin said.

Zhao Yong and Liao Yongan were a little surprised. They didn't expect that just six large muskets could be so efficient in killing the enemy. They quickly asked Mr. Miao beside them about the details of the battle that day.

After the three of them finished discussing with each other, Zhao Yong and Liao Yongan praised them again and again. Liao Yongan asked, "Then how can this artillery be used to attack a city?"

Lu Jin thought for a while and said, "If we had more cannons and ammunition, we could try to blow down the city wall directly. But the cannons we have now are small and the ammunition is insufficient. It's still a bit difficult to blow down the city wall. It's better to try to attack the city gate directly. If the enemy hasn't completely blocked the doorway, we should be able to open it directly from the city gate."

Upon hearing this, Liao Yongan and his men looked at each other and quickly reminded, "Marshal, the doorway is narrow and the number of troops that can rush in at one time is limited. If we go in through the doorway, it is easy for the defenders to counterattack and we will be stuck in the doorway and strangled by the enemy."

Lu Jin said, "No, we still have two howitzers. If the enemy dares to block the gate, we can just bombard them to death. The gate will not be able to stop our army. Once we occupy the gate and rush in, we can take the city."

"Yes, I have seen the power of those two small cannons. When our 12th Regiment attacked the enemy position, it was those two cannons that bombarded the enemy at close range and opened a gap. We can try this method." Miao Daheng also echoed.

"Then let's listen to the Marshal and give it a try." Liao Yongan and Zhao Yong looked at each other, also wanting to see what the artillery's capabilities were.

Lu Jin immediately gathered everyone together, took out the map of Huaining City sent by Bao Yu, and then asked everyone.

"You have seen the prisoners captured here, at least 12,000 people, plus those in the city in front of us, and the 4,000 surrendered soldiers from Tongcheng, adding up to at least 20,000. Now we have added several counties of land, and we will definitely expand the army after the war, at least three regiments.

"In the battle a few days ago, Han Qinglu of the 12th Regiment made great contributions. His troops were the first to break through the enemy's formation, seize the flag and persuade the enemy to surrender, which led to the rapid defeat of the enemy. Although he did not kill the general, he can be promoted for the merit of seizing the flag. After this battle, he can be promoted to the commander of the new regiment.

"There are still two positions missing. Among the thousand-household battalion officers present here, whoever dares to lead the troops to capture this city personally, I will grant him another position as a regiment commander!"

When the crowd heard this, some were surprised, some had guessed it, and some had their eyes lighting up. Before others could react, Lu Ding from the 11th Regiment of Zhao Yong immediately stepped forward, knelt on one knee, bowed, and asked for a fight.

"General, let me go. I will definitely take this city myself and will not retreat a single step until the city is taken."

"Okay then, let your camp go up and prepare first. I'll only give you half an hour." Seeing this, Lu Jin thought to himself, "As expected." With a smile on his face, he agreed on the spot.

"Yes." Lu Ding immediately agreed and left.

The others saw this and regretted that they had asked for the battle too late. This was a direct promotion to group commander.
Next, Lu Jin made consecutive deployments. Miao Daheng attacked the east gate, Liao Yongan attacked the west gate, and Zhao Yong's 11th Regiment attacked from the north gate. Lu Ding's combat battalion was the vanguard, and the east and west gates launched a feint attack at the same time to cooperate with the north gate.

After the three regiments had made preparations for the attack, Lu Jin called Yang Huan, Yu Tongyuan and Qin Jinglin over and pointed at the north gate of Huaining and said.

"Do you see the city gate?"

Seeing that the three of them nodded, Lu Jin asked again, "I plan to attack directly from the city gate this time. Yang Huan, you first use the 8-jin cannon to break the bridge pillars and lower the drawbridge. After the drawbridge is down, Yang Huan, your six 8-jin cannons and Qin Jinglin's two heavy howitzers will bombard the city gate together to blow it open.

"Then Tongyuan, you will lead two light howitzers to attack the city with the commandos. If there are any enemy troops blocking the city gate, you will fire to defeat them. Is that okay?"

The three of them thought about it after hearing this, and Yu Tongyuan was the first to say, "No problem, Marshal, just take care of it."

"Where are you two?" Lu Jin turned to look at Yang Huan and Qin Jinglin, only to see the two kids with troubled expressions. Qin Jinglin spoke first, "Marshal, when we sealed the bridge a few days ago, my two cannons consumed too much ammunition. Now I only have four grenades and four solid bullets, a total of eight ammunition. If I can't blow open the city gate, I have no choice. I don't know when the ammunition supply will arrive."

Lu Jin thought about it and thought that eight 155mm shells should be enough if they were only used to attack the city gate. "It should be no problem to just use them to attack the city gate. It will be enough to fire those four grenades."

After saying that, he looked at Yang Huan again, "What about you, can you finish it?"

"I'll try my best. The suspension bridge pillars are too thin. I'm afraid I won't be able to hit them with solid bullets. It would be better if I had the chain bullets that the Marshal mentioned."

"You are stupid. Anyway, this place is beyond the range of bows and arrows from the top of the city wall, and they can't hit you. You can just push the cannon to the edge of the moat and aim at close range before shooting." Lu Jin cursed speechlessly.

Yang Huan's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this, "Hey, this is a good idea, I understand, hehe!"

Lu Jin slapped him on the head, then looked at the three people and said, "Go and prepare now. The siege will begin in two quarters of an hour. When you hear the cannon fire, each unit will act accordingly."

After arranging this, Lu Jin shouted again, "Ye Sheng!"

"The end will be here."

"Take two battalions of cavalry and go around the south of the city. Don't get too close. If any defenders flee, you must wipe them out completely. Not a single one is allowed to escape!"

"Yes."

After Lu Jin gave a series of orders, all the units began to actively prepare. Miao Daheng and Liao Yongan at the east and west gates did not bring any heavy siege equipment, but they still had ladders for climbing the city walls. Although these things did not play a big role, they were enough for a feint attack.

While they were busy preparing, thick smoke billowed up from the top of the city wall of Huaining County, the capital of Anqing, emitting an extremely foul smell. It was the defenders on the top of the city wall who were boiling golden juice.
Han Jian, Yang Heng, Hao Rui and others covered their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs, frowning and looking at the Shengwu Army under the city in confusion.

Han Jian asked Yang Heng in confusion, "Yang Zhaomo, Huaining County is clearly missing a southern wall, why did the bandits avoid attacking the south and instead attack from the east, west and north?"

Yang Heng himself was still full of questions. He also wanted to know what Lu Jin was thinking, so he could only shake his head and say, "I don't know."

"Then according to Yang Zhaomo, when will the enemy attack the city?" Hao Rui also asked. Yang Heng covered his mouth and nose with one hand and pointed to the city with the other hand. Didn't that mean the attack had already begun?

Sure enough, several people looked in the direction of Yang Heng's finger, and saw that outside the enemy's formation in the north city, a camp of about a thousand people lined up forward in a column, as if they were ready to be the first to capture the city.

In front of that team of soldiers, there were ten horse teams, each with four horses in front and towing a strange cart behind. The long barrel on the cart emitted a shiny metallic luster.

"What is that? A musket!" Han Jian asked in confusion.

"It should be, right." Hao Rui, who had experience in Wanhu Mansion, was also a little uncertain. Although he belonged to the military officer system and had seen some firearms from the Yuan Dynasty, he had never seen such a strange firearm. However, judging from the structure of the field artillery vehicle, it was a very reasonable thing, and it was very smooth to tow and operate. He just didn't know how powerful this thing was.

Yang Heng even muttered to himself, "Could it be that the enemy broke our army's formation with this thing?"

Just as the three were wondering, they saw the artillery moving.

Yang Huan commanded his artillery team to pull out six eight-jin cannons and push them directly to the edge of the moat. The moat was only about fifty meters long. Using the cannons to hit the two wooden pillars on the opposite side from the shore was almost equivalent to shooting someone in the head with a gun. At this distance, there was no need to consider the trajectory, just aim and shoot.

Yang Huan assigned the duties of the six cannons. Four of them, in groups of two, fired at the bridge pillars, and the other two were each aimed at the bridge rope holes on the top of the city wall to break the ropes.

Qin Jinglin also ordered his men to load grenades and place them right in front of the city gate. As soon as the drawbridge fell, they could immediately open fire and bombard the city gate. Yu Tongyuan led two cannons in front of Lu Ding's assault battalion, ready to be the first to rush into the gate to clear the way for them.

This attack formation immediately alerted Han Jian and the other two on the city wall. Yang Heng even shouted, "Oh no! They are going to attack the city gate directly!"

"Attacking the city gate? How is that possible? Who attacks the city gate first? Don't they climb up the city walls like ants?" Hao Rui seemed unconvinced.

However, before Yang Heng could explain, he saw that Yang Huan had already set up the artillery array below the city. Seeing that all the artillery had been in place, Yang Huan looked at Lu Jin and raised the red triangular flag used for giving orders. Seeing Lu Jin nodded slightly, Yang Huan immediately waved the red flag in his hand downwards and shouted, "Fire!"

呲——

Boom boom boom boom——

The ignition fork was pressed towards the fire port, instantly igniting the fuse. With a hissing sound of gunpowder burning, the fuse ignited the powder bag, and a terrifying sound like thunder suddenly rang out from the muzzle in front.

Four iron bullets hit the pillars holding the suspension bridge almost straightly. Boom, boom, the two pillars were hit and wood chips flew everywhere. A huge gap appeared on each of them. In this situation, the two pillars would definitely not be able to withstand two more shots.

The other two cannons were also not idle, firing directly at the cable holes on the top of the city wall. Even at such a close distance, the two cannons did not miss. The iron bullets with a diameter of 100 mm hit the top directly, causing broken bricks on the top of the city wall to fly. A cable of the suspension bridge was broken on the spot. Such a fierce bombardment frightened the defenders on the city wall and made them tremble.

Han Jian was even more panicked and asked, "Are they attacking the drawbridge? Are they trying to attack from the city gate?"

Yang Heng said helplessly, "I just said they were going to attack the city gate directly."

Hao Rui also murmured, "I didn't expect the enemy's muskets to be so powerful and so accurate, almost like archery. But what should we do now? If they fire two more rounds, I'm afraid the city gate will be broken."

Yang Heng shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. We don't have any catapults or firearms to counterattack. Can we use people to resist the enemy's artillery? Let's arrange ambushes on both sides of the city gate and wait for the enemy to enter the city before launching a counterattack."

"This"

Before the three of them could continue discussing, the second wave of artillery fire soon came again. With another loud bang, another cable of the suspension bridge was broken on the spot, and the two bridge pillars on the opposite bank collapsed. With a loud bang, the huge suspension bridge suddenly slammed heavily on the ground on the shore, and the smoke and dust stirred up was like a thick fog.

Before the smoke and dust dissipated, two dazzling flames were seen in the smoke and dust at the bridgehead, followed by two loud bangs of cannons, and two 155 caliber iron-shell grenades flew straight towards the opposite city gate.

With two loud bangs of cannon fire, two large holes were blown in the city gate, revealing the inside of the gate.

Outside the north gate of Huaining City, there was smoke everywhere and the artillery was still firing. Yang Huan observed the target while directing his artillery team, "Aim at the middle of the city gate and break the bolt. Aim first and then fire."

Boom boom boom boom——

Six eight-jin cannons also joined in the bombardment of the city gate. Together with the two heavy howitzers, each round of salvo consisted of eight shells, which immediately smashed the city gate into pieces.

Hao Rui was mobilizing troops and preparing to ambush on both sides of the city gate. Once the Shengwu Army entered the city, he would use the terrain advantage of the gate to catch them off guard.

However, the Shengwu Army had not yet launched an official attack. They just fired at the city gate, killing many of the defenders who were mobilizing troops from the rear.

The rest of the defenders saw the tragic death of their comrades beside them and the loud noise of the grenade exploding in the doorway. The soldiers who had never seen a bomb in their lives almost wet their pants on the spot. They thought the Shengwu Army had some kind of magic and ran around the city screaming.

Boom——

After another loud bang, the broken city gate was finally blown open from the outside, and then thunderous shouts like tsunamis were heard outside.

Lu Ding was wearing two layers of heavy armor, holding a lance, with a sword hanging from his waist, and he led his battalion to rush towards the city gate while shouting.

And in front of them, Yu Tongyuan was leading the way with two light howitzers.

"Hurry up, stop them quickly, kill the bandits, and everyone will be promoted three levels and rewarded with five taels of silver." Hao Rui was still shouting inside the doorway, telling the soldiers not to run away.

When some soldiers heard such a high reward, they finally couldn't help but turn around and rushed towards the door with spears in hand.

But the doorway was full of white smoke, and even with one's eyes wide open one could not see the scene in front clearly. At this moment, two loud noises like thunder suddenly came from the doorway, and the shotgun shells loaded from the two light howitzers fired directly in the doorway.

The sound of the cannon produced a thick reverberation in the doorway space. The huge sound of the cannon echoed continuously in the doorway, almost deafening Lu Ding and Yu Tongyuan who rushed in.

But there are also advantages to firing at such a close distance. Dense shotgun shells gushed out of the doorway like iron rain, and the Yuan soldiers who were rushing forward were beaten into pieces on the spot, with their flesh falling everywhere. Dozens of Yuan soldiers who rushed over from behind were all killed on the spot. After the cannon sounded, no one could stand.

Such terrifying power stunned Hao Rui. Before he could react, he heard shouts and screams coming from the doorway. A general of the Shengwu Army with a red scarf on his arm, led thousands of soldiers and entered the city gate.

Huaining City can no longer be defended
(End of this chapter)