Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 85: The Cowardly General

Twenty artillery vehicles roared in a continuous loop, and the shells blew holes into the city walls. The soldiers defending the city could not even raise their heads under the artillery fire.

Unlike Zhang Yuan's artillery which only served as a deterrent, Fang Yong's artillery, with the assistance of a gun carriage, was extremely close, and its accuracy was far beyond imagination.

Ji Quan had no way to deal with this and could only use a stupid method. He ordered his people to build another layer of defense with sandbags and boulders behind the city wall to block the artillery attack.

When the shelling stopped, the Huaiyin Army's ladders had already been set up on the city wall, and the soldiers of the Huaiyin Army were climbing up with all their might!

Ji Quan hurriedly ordered his men to use rolling logs and kerosene to fight the enemy.

The soldiers guarding the city lifted the rolling log and threw it down.

Some of the Huaiyin soldiers were hit by rolling logs and died of vomiting blood; some were contaminated by kerosene and turned into fire men, rolling down and wailing.

At this time, a new round of shelling began again.

The soldiers defending the city who had just appeared quickly lay down, and those who were slower were all turned into minced meat by the dense artillery shells.

This time, Lian Jiquan didn't dare to look up and lay obediently under the city wall.

After a long time, the shelling ended and a large number of Huaiyin soldiers climbed up again.

At Ji Quan's urging, the soldiers defending the city suppressed their fear and stood up to resist.

After finally resisting one wave of attacks, they were immediately bombarded.

"Boom boom boom!"

Back and forth!
It doesn't matter if the moves are old, as long as they are useful.

Under the cover of the artillery carts, the defenders on the city did not dare to fight with all their strength. In addition, due to their insufficient numbers, they were soon overwhelmed and were broken through by the Huaiyin army.

Ji Quan led his troops to fight back as hard as they could, but due to the double gap in equipment and numbers, they were still defeated.

Helplessly, Ji Quan could only call the soldiers who were on rest to come over to resist again.

This group of soldiers should have been on rest yesterday, but Zhang Yuan changed the tactics yesterday, so they had to be temporarily pulled into the battle.

And today, this group of people was called over again.

It can be said that this group of people are now exhausted to the extreme.

A group of demoralized soldiers forced their way onto the city wall and began the defense.

Their combat effectiveness has dropped by at least 20%.

But no matter what, these people are still human beings, and they did play a defensive role. After suffering heavy casualties, the Huaiyin army that climbed onto the city wall was eventually killed back again.

At the same time, below the city, the battering ram slammed the city gate violently, causing the gate to shake violently and even the bolts to tremble.

When the soldier reported this, Ji Quan was shocked.

"Quick, block the city gate!"

Ji Quan ordered.

The soldiers blocked the city gates with wood and sandbags, but this seemed far from enough.

Ji Quan said urgently: "Go to the rich families in the city and bring rocks here to block the way!"

The soldier looked hesitant when he heard this.

The wealthy families in Yangzhou city were not something that small pawns like them could afford to offend.

Ji Quan said anxiously: "Go to my house first, then go to Lord Wei and Lord Lin's house, go quickly!"

The soldiers followed orders and went forward.

Soon, the soldiers used wooden wheelbarrows to push a large amount of granite and blocked the city gate tightly.

"Boom boom boom!"

A new round of shelling began.

A messenger was riding a horse on the city wall when suddenly a cannonball hit him and tore the messenger and his horse in half.

Ji Quan was lying obediently on the city wall under the protection of his personal guards, avoiding the artillery shells. He was wearing a full set of heavy armor and his personal guards were also carrying round shields for defense. Theoretically, it was almost impossible for any accidents to happen.

Then, something unexpected happened.

Half of a horse's body flew over at an angle and hit Ji Quan.

The huge pressure instantly broke Ji Quan's arms and ribs.

"General, General!"

The guards shouted anxiously.

Ji Quan opened his eyes with difficulty, blood oozing from his mouth.
"I'm fine, continue to defend the city."

The guard said anxiously:

"Sir, let's send you down for treatment first!"

Ji Quan shook his head with difficulty.

"No, the enemy's offensive is too strong. If I go down, their morale will drop and we won't be able to defend the city!"

Ji Quan chose to command the team despite his injury.

Perhaps Ji Quan's tenacity infected the soldiers, and the morale of the soldiers defending the city suddenly increased. Niu Jin climbed up the city wall with a large shield and killed several government soldiers. More and more Huaiyin soldiers followed behind him, and they were about to occupy a part of the city platform, but at this moment, a group of fearless government soldiers rushed over.

They carried a wooden stake and hit Niu Jin hard.

Niu Jin was nearly two meters tall and had extraordinary strength, and he actually managed to withstand the impact.

But at this time, another group of soldiers rushed over.

This time Niu Jin couldn't hold on and was knocked down.

Fortunately, he grabbed the ladder while falling in mid-air, otherwise he would have been killed or injured.

The brutal battle continued.

As the sun gradually set, the Huaiyin army finally retreated slowly.

The defenders on the city did not cheer.

Because they no longer had the energy to cheer.

Niu Jin, covered in dust and dirt, came to Fang Yong to apologize.

"General, I am incompetent and failed to capture the city!"

The two-meter-tall man was covered in blood and knelt down in a panic.

Fang Yong patted Niu Jin on the shoulder.

"Why do you say that? Our army was able to climb the city wall several times on the first day of the siege, which is already a great achievement. Go back and recuperate. When you are well, you can help me to capture the city."

"Yes!"

Niu Jin answered loudly.

Fang Yong glanced at the generals.

"Zhou Shuan, you will lead the main attack tomorrow!"

……

In Yangzhou City, Ji Quan was carried down from the city wall by soldiers.

The severe pain in his arms and chest made Ji Quan grimace.

I thought to myself: This hurts so much. I should have told Lord Wei to surrender. What good is it for a general like me who has no talent to fight to the death? Hiss…

The men came to report the casualties.

The above numbers shocked Ji Quan.

Today, more than 700 people were killed or injured in Ximen alone, including nearly 300 deaths and more than 400 serious injuries. With the current medical level, it is almost impossible for these seriously injured to survive.

This does not include those who were slightly injured, as well as the casualties at the East Gate and North Gate. If all are counted, there would be more than a thousand people.

It's only been one day!

He only had five thousand men in total.

Ji Quan felt deep despair.

The strength of the enemy's offensive was far beyond his imagination.

Ji Quan was carried directly to the clinic to be treated by a doctor.

Fortunately, only his arm and ribs were broken, and his lungs were not injured.

Wei Yinghong rushed over after hearing the news.

"Master Wei, how is the recruitment going?"

Ji Quan asked impatiently.

Wei Yinghong shook his head in shame.

“Only less than two hundred people were recruited.”

Ji Quan was shocked.

"so little?"

Wei Yinghong said: "I don't know how the leader of the Huaiyin bandits has deceived the people. Now the people are saying that he is the real dragon emperor who has come to the world. They dare not join the army to resist. Even if I recruit people with three times the military pay, there are less than 200 people who will sign up."

Ji Quan became worried after hearing this.

"There are no reinforcements outside, and no guards inside. What should we do?"

Wei Yinghong was also frowning.

Ji Quan opened his mouth and wanted to say, "Let's vote," but in the end he couldn't say it.

To be honest, Ji Quan has self-knowledge. He knows that he is a cowardly, incompetent and spineless person.

But I only eat the emperor's food and serve the emperor loyally.

The Ji family has enjoyed the wealth and prosperity given by Daxi for generations, and has not yet reached the point of despair. How could he surrender easily?

Wei Yinghong sighed and said:
"I'll go find Ru Hai to discuss a solution!"

(End of this chapter)