Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 83: Night Attack on Yangzhou

Although the 5,000 defenders in Yangzhou City cannot be called elite, they are considered veterans with rich experience.

The enemy troops at the east gate attacked fiercely, so Ji Quan ordered the elite sword and shield soldiers in his army to climb up the city wall, with spearmen following behind and crossbowmen supporting them, using the military formations developed from military books to cooperate in defending the city.

The Huaiyin army was approaching the city aggressively. Cannons roared from large and small warships, blasting the city walls into pieces.

After several rounds of artillery fire, the Huaiyin army quickly launched an attack under Zhang Yuan's command.

"Mend the wall, mend the wall!"

Ji Quan shouted loudly, and the messengers and flag bearers around him began to pass on orders.

Soon, the defenders of Yangzhou, holding large shields, used sandbags, earthbags and large stones to block the gaps in the city wall.

Almost at the same time, ladders were set up on the large fighting ship of the Huaiyin Army below, and the soldiers of the Huaiyin Army began to climb up quickly.

This large ladder connecting the warships is almost impossible to push by hand, and the top of the ladder is wrapped with iron sheets and steel spikes to prevent it from being damaged by the enemy.

Ji Quan naturally knew this, so he ordered his soldiers to throw kerosene to set the warships below on fire.

Zhang Yuan had already prepared for this.

Zhang Yuan had considered this issue long before the war. He applied for military funds from Fang Yong and wrapped a layer of raw cowhide on the fighting ship responsible for the main attack to prevent fire attacks to the greatest extent.

Now this move has indeed worked.

When kerosene fell on the warship, it could not spread and burn immediately due to the barrier of rawhide, which gave the soldiers enough time to put out the fire and the warship was saved.

Boom, boom, boom!
Another round of artillery fire came, and the defenders on the city were beaten so badly that they could not raise their heads. The soldiers of the Huaiyin Army took the opportunity to climb quickly up the city.

"Quick, quick, stand up! The enemy's artillery can't hit us. Use the rolling logs to fight the enemy!"

Ji Quan yelled, but few people actually obeyed his orders and stood up.

Even many of the messengers around him who were responsible for delivering messages did not dare to stand up.

Ji Quan gritted his teeth and was the first to stand up.

The accuracy of artillery in this era was still very poor. In most cases, it could only attack city walls to have a deterrent effect. Unless one was extremely unlucky, it would not hit people directly.

With Ji Quan taking the lead, the situation has improved a lot.

When the soldiers saw that the valuable commander had stood up, the fear in their hearts was lessened a lot, and they all stood up one by one.

"To the enemy, kill!"

……

Ji Quan walked down the city wall with the help of his men.

His legs became softer than noodles.

During the defense of the city just now, a cannonball hit the pier in front of him. If it had been a little higher, it would have taken him away.

After descending the city wall from the east gate, Ji Quan turned to the north gate. The attack at the north gate was a little slower, but still very severe.

After Ji Quan arrived, the morale of the defenders at the North Gate was greatly improved, and the situation was temporarily stabilized.

Ji Quan divided the 5000 defenders in the city into two parts and had them guard the east gate in turns. The east gate had more defenders because the enemy's attack was fierce.

But even so, compared with the tens of thousands of bandit troops, the number of these defenders is far less.

The day passed like this, and on the next day, Zhang Yuan launched another siege on the city. This time, the main attack was on the north gate, and the east gate was a feint attack.

With this change, they almost broke through the city wall.

Fortunately, Ji Quan reacted in time and temporarily asked the soldiers who were resting yesterday to press forward and withstand the offensive. He then made rapid adjustments and managed to barely stabilize the situation.

In the setting sun, Ji Quan looked at the retreating enemy troops, his eyes full of fatigue...

On the other side, Fang Yong marched by land and quickly approached Yangzhou.

On the way, we passed the border of a county, which was also familiar to us, called Jiashan County.

Previously, the Great Xi God of War Mao Cheng had passed through this county when he went to Yangzhou to take up his post.

This county was still nominally under the control of the Daxi court, but the gentry and officials in the county had secretly defected to Fang Yong.

They registered the land under Fang Yong's name, and almost all the land outside the county belonged to Fang Yong.

When Fang Yong led his troops past, the people in the fields looked at Fang Yong's army curiously.

The 50,000-strong army was so dense that they could not see the end of it. The people were inevitably a little scared, but they did not run away because the flags and clothing of this army were different from those of the government army.

They didn't recognize the words on Fang Yong's army flag, but as long as it wasn't the word "guan" or "xi", it was fine.

If they are not government troops, there is no need to run.

This is the survival experience summed up by the people of this land through practice.

Fang Yong rode the big chestnut horse in the center of the army. Because the horse was taller than the other horses, Fang Yong's appearance was seen by the people.

"Is it General Fang?"

"Yes, it really looks a bit like him!"

The people were talking about it.

Fang Yong's appearance is about 40% similar to the statues sold in Xue's shop in the city.

Suddenly, a boy ran over boldly and shouted at Fang Yong:

"Hey, big brother, are you General Fang?"

Fang Yong smiled and waved at the boy.

The boy waved back.

Fang Yong has good eyesight and can see the mud spots on the boy's face.

Although it was dirty, there was flesh on its face, not just skin and bones...

After marching all the way, Fang Yong led his troops to the west gate of Yangzhou that evening.

It was already late at night, and Fang Yong did not choose to attack at night. He simply sent people to guard the bridge and ordered them to set up camp and rest.

At this time Li Sheng came to ask for orders.

"General, it is already late at night. Our army has just arrived. The enemy is unaware of our arrival and must have let down their guard. Please give me three thousand elite soldiers. I will lead them to attack the city gate at night, which will surely be very effective!"

After hearing this, Fang Yong thought for a moment and said:
"I can give you three thousand elite soldiers, but you must act with caution. If things become impossible, withdraw quickly. Our army is much stronger than the defenders in Yangzhou. It is only a matter of time before we capture Yangzhou. Don't lose your life because of this."

"Yes!"

Li Sheng nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Li Sheng assembled three thousand elite soldiers, put on light armor, took small ladders and grappling hooks, and quietly moved towards Yangzhou City under the cover of night.

It was also a coincidence that at this time in the city, Ji Quan, Wei Yinghong and Lin Ruhai had not rested.

In the Lin Mansion, the three of them divided the silver extorted from the seven major salt merchants.

Each family received 140 taels, totaling million taels.

The three of them each received 100,000 taels of money to provide for their families.

The remaining three hundred thousand taels of silver were used to motivate soldiers and recruit young and strong men.

The other 800,000 taels were handed over to Wei Yinghong.

"I hope this money can persuade the governor of Huizhou to send troops to rescue us."

Wei Yinghong said with a sigh.

Wei Yinghong immediately asked his son to sneak out of the city at night with the silver bills and go to Chuzhou to ask for help from the governor of Huizhou.

The Marquis of Huaiyin suddenly rebelled, leaving Yangzhou isolated and helpless.

The number of defenders in the city was too small to stop the enemy's attack.

It is obviously unrealistic to wait for the imperial court to send troops to rescue. For now, the only option is to hope that Chuzhou, which is closer, can send troops to rescue.

However, for the governor of Huizhou, although Yangzhou and Chuzhou are closely related, sending troops without the order of the court would mean taking on great responsibility, and the correct choice was to sit back and do nothing.

Wei Yinghong knew the ins and outs of this, so he had no choice but to use silver bills to open up connections, hoping to impress the Huizhou governor.

He must understand the principle of "the lips and the teeth are cold"...

On the other side, Wei Yinghong's son took the silver bills and rushed to the west gate under the protection of a dozen personal guards, preparing to leave the city from the west gate to Chuzhou for help.

(End of this chapter)