Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 144: Climbing the City
Under the central army's banner, Li Chengdong's expression changed drastically, and he stared closely at the yellow flames roaring from the top of the city in the distance.

Du Yonghe and other generals also stood up in shock, looking at the city wall in the distance with astonishment. When they saw the shells hit the army formation at the river crossing, everyone's heart twitched violently.

The shells first plowed a few channels in the army formation, and then the entire army suddenly collapsed. Then, cannon fire rang out from all sides of Guangzhou City. For a moment, it seemed that there were gunfire sounds everywhere.

More than a thousand soldiers fled back to the front of the battle formation, all with panicked expressions. It was not until then that the scouts in the army found out the situation outside the city.
"General, we have received reports of cannons being found on the north, south and west sides of the city wall. Each side of the city wall has two cannons. According to the soldiers who have fled back to the east city, there should be more than ten cannons."

"The scouts found three iron and stone bullets fired by the Ming army at the riverside, each weighing about one pound."

The scout replied respectfully, and as soon as the scout finished speaking, Du Yonghe said
"The bullet weighs one pound, so it should be similar to the battalion artillery in our army, which should be small cannons weighing about three to five hundred pounds."

Sixteen cannons are not a lot, just the number of cannons for a battalion of soldiers.
Li Chengdong's army alone had thirty or forty such small cannons, but they did not bring these cannons with them during this rapid raid.

In fact, even if Li Chengdong and others brought these artillery, it would be useless. The Ming army had the city walls to rely on and was in a commanding position.
These small cannons are basically useless in sieges, and it is even more impossible to use them to blast open the city walls.
Unless it is a red cannon weighing thousands of pounds, other small cannons are basically unable to shake the city wall.
For a city as big as Guangzhou, even if ordinary small cannons bombarded it for half a year, they probably wouldn't be able to break through the city walls.
“Why are there so many artillery pieces in Guangzhou?”

Li Yuanyin looked at the blood-stained shells on the ground with a solemn expression, while Du Yonghe beside him said

"These cannons are definitely not from Guangzhou. If they were used to defend the city, they would not have used small cannons weighing several hundred kilograms. These cannons must have been brought by the imperial guards."

Li Chengdong's expression became even more gloomy when he heard this. When the attack happened that day, he was a little timid, which allowed the Ming army to retreat safely into the city. Who would have thought that they even brought artillery?
Now he really regrets it. If he had made up his mind to charge at that time, perhaps the emperor in the city and Guangzhou City would have been his military exploits.

Du Yong, Li Yuanyin and other generals were all looking at Li Chengdong at this time. Although they had already figured out the number and caliber of the artillery,

But these cannons are not disposable items. They still have to face the reality that the Ming army has more than a dozen cannons to defend the city.

"What are the casualties among the troops?"

Li Chengdong looked at the soldiers below and spoke in a deep voice.

"More than 1,200 people returned safely, and there were 200 to 300 wounded."

Li Chengdong's face darkened when he heard this. Seeing that the Ming army had few arrows, they were ready to take Guangzhou in one fell swoop, so they sent more than 1,700 people this time.

The Ming army's artillery raid alone killed and injured 500 to 600 of his men, not counting the casualties on the other walls.

"General Luo, General Ma, and General Yan have all sent people to ask whether we should continue the siege," the envoy said respectfully, bowing his head.
Upon hearing this, Du Yonghe and other generals' faces changed slightly. They looked at Li Chengdong with an expression that seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
Li Chengdong ignored their expressions. He glanced at the black city wall in the distance, then at the blood-stained shells on the ground. His face was grim, and he suddenly spoke:

"He wants to scare off my 7,000-man army with a few cannons. He is dreaming."

"Tell Luo Chengyao and his men to continue attacking the city."

Li Chengdong turned his head and looked at the generals, and continued to speak

"Equip the soldiers who are attacking the city with armor, drive all the civilians captured from behind to the front, and let the soldiers hide among the civilians and cross the river in batches."

"The Ming army's artillery will be useless once we get to the city. I want to see how many people these Ming court artillery can kill."

"Du Yonghe, you lead 2,000 men to attack the city. You must capture Guangzhou today."

"Tell the men that after they capture the city, they will be allowed to plunder for three days."

Although Li Chengdong's face was calm, his eyes were violent, and he was obviously not as calm as he looked.
Du Yonghe was also shocked when he saw Li Chengdong's expression, so he had to bow his hands and agree. Li Chengdong was obviously very angry. If he disobeyed his order at this time, he might really kill people to establish his authority.

As the drums in the army sounded again, thousands of civilians were driven to the river bank. This time, no one put their shields in front of them. A group of armored soldiers, divided into groups of 100, mixed in with the civilians and followed them across the river.
The situation on the battlefield was just as Li Chengdong had expected. The Ming army saw the Qing soldiers hiding among the people and could not tell who was a soldier and who was a civilian, so they had to bombard them with artillery.
Although there are enough gunpowder shells in the city for the time being, the artillery of this era cannot fire continuously. If it is used intensively, it is likely to explode at any time.

The Qing army dispersed the crowd and crossed the river in small groups at a time. The artillery on the top of the city fired seven or eight rounds, but only killed and injured hundreds of civilians.

After dozens of Qing soldiers were injured, more than a thousand Qing soldiers finally crossed the river. The soldiers carried ladders and approached the city. At this time, the artillery on the top of the city finally lost its effect.
Dong dong dong

A series of ladders were placed on the city wall. The leading Qing soldiers held up their shields and climbed up the ladders, heading towards the city wall.

"Smash it for me"

The soldiers on the top of the city wall kept shouting, and the young men with gongs and drums beside them saw the ladder climbing up to the top of the city wall, and their faces were filled with fear. They picked up stones from the battlements and threw them at the Qing army below the city wall.

Bang, bang, bang! The stones hit the shields and bounced off. Some of the Qing soldiers below the city were knocked to the ground with blood on their heads, while others used their shields to protect their heads and continued to climb up the city wall.

Arrows flew all over the city walls, and the whizzing sound of arrows mixed with various shouts and screams made people want to escape.
"push"

On the top of the city wall, Pershing shouted to several young men on one side. The young men held wooden poles in their hands and hit a ladder with a thud. The young men turned pale and screamed, pushing forward with all their strength.

Xu Wu and other young men stood in a line holding spears on one side, looking at the battlements on the top of the city with nervous expressions. When they saw the flying ladder being pushed down, everyone's expression relaxed.

But there were too many Qing troops under the city wall. Previously, the Qing army had driven civilians to carry a large number of flying ladders across the river. Now, almost all the places on the top of the city wall were full of flying ladders built by the Qing army.

As soon as the young and strong men pushed down one ladder, another one immediately came up against the city wall. The young and strong men on the top of the city wall were also in a state of confusion. Except for the beginning, they could still follow orders. After pushing a round of ladders, they saw the ferocious soldiers holding knives and rushing towards the city wall. The young and strong men on the city wall were suddenly in chaos.

Some desperately pushed the ladders with their hands, some smashed stones randomly, and some ran back in panic, but were chopped down by the imperial guards. There was chaos on the top of the city.

In this chaos, some of the Qing troops below the city finally began to climb up to the top of the city wall.

Almost all the soldiers at the front were wearing armor. After they jumped onto the top of the city wall, they began to hack and kill the young men who were throwing stones and rolling logs at the battlements. Blood splattered everywhere, and the young men at the city wall were immediately defeated.

"Listen to my command, stab"

Xu Wu and other spearmen stood in the middle of the corridor on the city wall. There were shouts of killing everywhere on the city wall. The Qing army that climbed up the city wall kept swinging their swords and killing people. The air was filled with the smell of blood.
Xu Wu held the spear tightly in his hand, but his mind was blank. He had no idea what to do. Looking at the row of spearmen beside him, they were exactly the same as him.

They didn't flee not because they were so elite, but because they were all frightened and didn't know what to do.

"Stab!"

Xu Wu watched a Qing soldier holding a knife and jumping onto the city wall. Suddenly, Pershing's shout rang in his ears. He almost subconsciously raised his gun and stabbed forward.

puff
Xu Wu only felt his hand stagnate slightly, as if it had stabbed something. He subconsciously looked up and saw that the tip of the spear had pierced the neck of the Qing soldier who had jumped onto the city wall.
The Qing soldier stared at Xu Wu in front of him with bulging eyes and a distorted expression. Xu Wu panicked and subconsciously pulled back his spear.
pop

The spear was withdrawn, and blood suddenly spurted out of the soldier's throat. He made a hoarse sound, and fell down from the city wall while holding his throat.
Xu Wu looked at the red blood on the tip of the snow-white gun, and suddenly felt a sense of fear, and felt that he had lost all his strength.
"Put away your guns, and stab!"

Pan Xing was wearing leather armor, holding a long sword and roaring, and the flag in his hand was constantly waving, but Xu Wu and others did not move.

Those who had thrust their spears were dazed as they stared at the blood on the tip of their spears, while those who had not yet thrust their spears were terrified, dropped their spears, and ran back.
Xu Wu and other young and strong men were stunned and scattered, but the Qing army below the city was not. Soldiers kept jumping up the ladders to the top of the city. As soon as they got to the top of the city, they held long swords and slashed forward.
"I fuck you"

Pan Xing roared, ignoring Xu Wu and the others, and joined forces with another imperial guard who was leading the civilians, and rushed towards the Qing army that had jumped onto the city wall in front of them.

Pan Xing and other imperial guards formed a battle array in twos and threes, fighting the Qing troops rushing up the city walls.

Fortunately, only the first group of Qing soldiers who climbed the ladders were wearing armor, while the more than 300 imperial guards on the top of the city were all wearing armor, so they could barely resist the Qing army that surged up to the top of the city.
Here, Pan Xing and other imperial guards were fighting with others. Some Qing soldiers saw that these people were wearing armor, so they subconsciously avoided Pan Xing and others and rushed towards Xu Wu and others who were holding spears in the back.

A short and strong Qing soldier took a few steps forward, approached him, and chopped down with his long sword.
Seeing the long sword coming, Xu Wu subconsciously dropped the spear in his hand and retreated backwards.

But the short and strong Qing soldier had an indifferent expression. He took a step forward and slashed at Xu Wu's chest with the long sword in his hand.
Tsk
A huge force hit Xu Wu, and he was knocked to the ground. Although the long knife hit Xu Wu's chest, it did not cut into him, but slashed to the side, leaving a shallow cut in Xu Wu's abdomen.

Xu Wu was stunned at first as he looked at the blood gushing out of his abdomen, and then his eyes suddenly turned red. He roared and rushed towards the Qing army soldier in front of him. The Qing army soldier was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground. The two of them immediately wrestled with each other.

Xu Wu was tall and strong, and he had been moving goods at the dock all day, so he was naturally quite strong. He quickly overpowered the short and strong soldier.

He kept shouting, but his hands were tightly gripping the soldier's throat, as if he wanted to crush his neck.

The short and strong soldier kept struggling, but he had no chance against the frantic Xu Wu. His face became paler and paler, and his struggle became weaker and weaker. Finally, he stopped moving.
But Xu Wu still held the short and strong soldier tightly. When he saw that the other party did not move for a long time, he collapsed to the ground.
He looked around blankly, only to see shouts and cries of killing everywhere on the city wall, swords and blood flying everywhere, and crowds of human figures everywhere.
Xu Wu saw Pan Xing being pinned to the ground by two soldiers. One soldier was about to stab Pan Xing in the throat with a knife.
Seeing Pan Xing struggling, Xu Wu suddenly shouted, his eyes red, picked up the long sword dropped by the short and strong soldier, and rushed towards the Qing soldiers in front.
Shouting, killing, screaming

There was chaos on the city wall. Soldiers on both sides of the wall were fighting each other. There was chaos everywhere on the top of the city wall.

After an unknown amount of time, the shouting and screaming on the city wall finally died down. The Qing army left behind a hundred or two hundred bodies and finally slowly retreated.

Thanks to I am a speedboat, you know too much, 20240330238-ac for the reward

Thanks to Xingyue Youxia, Qingtian Bairi, Qingyin Wu Luohua, Fengchui Flirting, Han Nan, Gangshuo, Huatian Fan Decu, Rulong, Late Autumn Blues Heart Song, Wanna Fly Fish, Guwu You Zai, Lyra Saint Seiya, Tianxia Shenxian and other classmates for their monthly tickets
Thanks to Mo Lanyun, I am optimistic about you 23434, Wen Di, Catch a singing cicada, New Kahovka, Background board, Feathers all over the sky, Nalu, I smile at the sky with my sword, Zuimeng Baisheng, Huanzhiyi and other classmates for their recommendation votes

Thank you for your support, thank you


(End of this chapter)