There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 444 Bombing the City
Using coffin boards to blow up city walls was not a far-fetched idea; the Taiping Army used it decades later when attacking Nanjing.

The specific principle is also very simple: because the coffin board is airtight enough and can hold enough gunpowder.

Moreover, it took two consecutive bombings to finally collapse the Nanjing city wall.

The Han army is using it now purely as an experiment to see if it's feasible.

If it's not feasible, it's just a waste of a coffin; if it is feasible, this method can be used even if the city can't be captured later.

On the city tower late at night.

Yinghe, Tiebao, and Kang Jitian were discussing the specific plans for the battle by the light of an oil lamp, looking around a map of Xuzhou.

The British and the Qing dynasty's hasty southward journey resulted in insufficient logistical supplies. Moreover, the Qing dynasty was already in dire straits in the north, with uprisings breaking out in major provinces and prefectures, making it impossible to collect much grain.

Therefore, they cannot maintain a prolonged stalemate with the Han army in this battle. Even if the Qing army can plunder gentry and civilians without restraint to replenish their military supplies, such a short-sighted approach is certainly unsustainable.

In Xuzhou City, several prominent and influential families have had their homes ransacked by Yinghe on charges of treason.

These wealthy and powerful families were unlucky; aside from a few innocent people, many of them were indeed planning to defect at the last minute.

The former prefect of Xuzhou, Yang Hu, was a lackey of the Han Banner Army, but he was still a scholar and had some sense of shame.

In order to appease the people, they did not go too far with these opportunistic wealthy and powerful families.

But the newcomer, Yinghe, was from the Manchu Eight Banners, which is to put it bluntly, he was a Tartar. Tartars are shameless.

Historically, before the First Opium War began, the British hadn't even had time to land on the Guangdong coast. To prevent the coastal people from defecting to the British, the Manchu bannermen of the Qing dynasty simply massacred the coastal villages, shocking the British who landed.

Instead of fighting the enemy, they slaughtered their own people first. This absurd and abstract operation could probably only have been done by the Manchus.

"General, Xuzhou is surrounded by mountains on all sides and backed by the natural barrier of the Yellow River, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. It has been an important town between the north and south since ancient times. If the Southern Army launches a strong attack on Xuzhou, it will inevitably pay a heavy price. Therefore, the Southern Army will definitely not launch a strong attack in this battle. Instead, it will adopt various methods to gradually conquer it." Kang Jitian said, gesturing back and forth on the map.

Yinghe and Tiebao did not have much objection to Kang Jitian's statement.

In their view, Xuzhou's terrain was indeed very difficult to attack, as it was surrounded by mountains, and the only direction that wasn't a mountain was backed by the turbulent Yellow River.

Tie Bao also said, "However, although the Southern Army will not launch a direct assault, they will employ two tactics: siege and siege from underground. The former aims to demoralize the enemy, while the latter aims to breach the city walls. Before Commander Ying led his army south to Xuzhou, Xuzhou had already been besieged by the Southern Army for two months, and the morale of the troops was generally low, even extremely dangerous. Therefore, even if Commander Ying wants to play a slightly more cautious game in this battle, he should at least fight one battle with the Southern Army and cannot afford to lose."

Kang Jitian nodded in agreement: "Lord Tie is right. If Marshal Ying wants to protect Xuzhou as much as possible, the most urgent task is not to arrange defenses, but to boost the morale of the army. Moreover, we don't have much food. Even if the gentry and righteous people donate, we can't hold out for a long time against the Southern Army. We must fight a battle to make the Southern Army retreat."

Yinghe listened to their suggestions, pondered for a moment, and was about to speak: "Then let's find an opportunity to send the Soren troops..."

"boom!"

"Boom! Rumble!"

A sudden, loud bang was heard, and the entire city tower shook violently, accompanied by falling sand and gravel.

earthquake! ?

The three of them had the same thought almost at the same time, and they rushed out of the city wall one after another.

As soon as he stepped out of the city gate, he saw all the guards standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly ahead.

The three were very confused. They followed the gaze and were stunned.

Just a dozen meters ahead, the ramparts of the city wall, illuminated by the firelight, showed several large cracks. The city wall at the source of these cracks had completely disappeared into the darkness.

To be precise, it didn't disappear, but completely collapsed.

The light emanating from the surrounding braziers made it clear that the outline of the complete city wall was gone.

The collapsed city wall even fell down, burying the moat outside the city. Under the moonlight, the moat could be clearly seen to have been divided in two by the collapsed city wall, forming a slope that was not too steep.

The city wall collapsed? What happened?

Not to mention these three, all the Qing soldiers who saw this were first startled awake, then looked bewildered, and even forgot to run away.

The Qing army was bewildered, and the Han army camp outside the city was equally confused. Many Han soldiers were suddenly awakened by their officers and ordered to prepare to launch an attack on the city that very night.

They were still assembling and forming ranks when a loud bang suddenly came from the direction of Xuzhou City, followed by a rumbling sound like an earthquake collapsing.

There was an earthquake, what's going on?
Without giving the soldiers and officers time to react, Yang Fang immediately issued the order to attack the city: "Relay my order, the walls of Xuzhou have collapsed, the entire army is to attack the city immediately, and we must take Xuzhou before dawn!"

The brief military order was met with disbelief from all the town commanders.

No, the Xuzhou city wall collapsed. How did that happen?
Could it be the "earthquake" from earlier?
How did Yang Shuai manage to create an "earthquake," or is it some other special firearm? What strange things has the firearms manufacturing bureau in the rear come up with?
Although it was incomprehensible, Commander Yang had already given the order. The Han army were all professional soldiers, and obeying military orders was their instinct. Moreover, if the city walls had really collapsed, then Xuzhou would no longer be a large city that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

On the city wall of Xuzhou, Yinghe, Tiebao, and Kang Jitian also noticed the Han army's large-scale movements.

In the dead of night, the Han army camp was already brightly lit, clearly preparing to launch an attack on the city.

In the previous two months, although the Han army had occasionally launched some probing attacks, they were all minor skirmishes and never made such a big commotion.

Adding to the "earthquake" just now, could it be that this "earthquake" was caused by the Han army outside the city?
Wasn't it said that the Han army was only good at firearms? Why are they resorting to sorcery?

While Yinghe was still in a daze, Tiebao was the first to react: "General, quick! The Southern Army is about to attack the city! Quickly order all battalion commanders to prepare to defend the city! Also, use the cannons!"

Yinghe was reminded by Tiebao and quickly recovered. Having led troops for more than half a year, he was not really flustered by the sorcery of the "earthquake".

"Woooooooo~~!"

On the city wall, the Qing army had already sounded the bugle.

The Qing troops from each section of the city wall gathered and rushed over, and even many Eight Banner Qing troops inside the city were hurrying towards the collapsed section of the city wall slope.

To be fair, the Qing army in the north was indeed much stronger than the Qing army in the south.

The fact that this wave of troops did not collapse in the face of battle, but instead had the courage to assemble and fight, is something that most of the Qing army in the south could not do.

Of course, it wasn't just that the Qing army in the north was more elite (and less corrupt). It was also because the main force of these Qing troops had been fighting the White Lotus Rebellion and the Shanxi rebels for almost a year.

Regardless of their combat effectiveness, their morale was certainly not that bad, and they had never seen the Han army before, only heard about the achievements of the Southern Han army.

Unfortunately, the Han army's battle records were generally exaggerated, unlike anything that an army of this era could achieve. Therefore, many of these records were selectively taken as exaggerations by the puppet Qing regime, or local officials shifted blame for the defeats.

Whether it's true or not, only God knows.

After all, during World War II, people also liked to write war reports haphazardly, to the point that even Puyi's stepfather, Hirohito, couldn't hold back and said, "The American Saratoga has been sunk by you again!"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

This is the rallying cry for the Han army. Although it is late at night, the difficulty of assembling the troops is greatly increased, and if not handled properly, it may even cause chaos and an explosion.

However, the Han army was no longer a feudal army. Instead, it had been reformed by Nie Yu using modern systems. Even its basic drills were modeled after those of modern armies, and it had long lost the high-pressure, loose discipline of feudal armies.

The tens of thousands of Qing troops brought by Yinghe had indeed been on the battlefield, fighting against the White Lotus Rebellion and the Shanxi rebels. Their combat strength was much stronger than that of ordinary Qing troops, and there were even the notoriously fierce Solon troops among them.

No matter how strong their combat capabilities are, the gap in basic military skills remains, and it cannot be bridged simply by having been on the battlefield.

Just look at the troop assembly under the cover of darkness; the speed and efficiency of the Han army compared to the Qing army are simply not in the same league. On the Qing army's side, several Manchu Eight Banners officers were still shouting and cursing, while the soldiers were pushing and shoving each other as they ran towards the collapsed city wall.

On their way there, many Qing soldiers were still unaware of the situation.

On the Han army's side, the vanguard was already advancing steadily with siege engines such as cloud carts and trench bridges, carrying torches.

The artillery battalion was also quick, having already pushed their cannons to the earthen gun emplacements behind the trench.

Although it was night, the Han army artillerymen were very familiar with the process. They pushed the gun carriages onto the gun emplacements and secured them. They didn't need to aim much, relying purely on muscle memory and the light from Xuzhou City.

Insert the shell and load the gunpowder.

"Ignite the fire, fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The Han army's cannons fired a salvo.

Although the Han army had less than 10,000 troops, Bai Nan led the Second Division northward, bringing with him most of the Second Division's artillery.

If we add the twenty cannons that Yang Fang brought with him, the Han army now has a total of thirty large-caliber cannons.

Of course, compared to the Qing army's red-coated cannons, their numbers were actually somewhat insufficient.

After all, the British brought nearly 50,000 troops south with them, and while the number of cannons wasn't huge, there were still several dozen.

However, it doesn't matter that we have fewer cannons than the Qing army, as long as our firepower is strong enough.

Thirty cannons bombarded the area, requiring almost no aiming.

"Bang! Crack! Crack!"

Most of the shells missed, but five shells were lucky: two hit the city wall and three hit the parapet.

Moreover, because the Qing army received an emergency mobilization order from Yinghe, the Qing soldiers behind the parapet were standing very tightly and densely at this moment.

With that, three cannonballs came down, and the parapet of Xuzhou City couldn't withstand them at all; they were directly smashed by the shells.

The shells, still carrying momentum, continued to pound the Qing soldiers behind them who had no time to dodge or even react.

Even though it was still dark, the Eight Banners soldiers wearing cotton armor were smashed to pieces by the high-speed cannonballs, their flesh and internal organs flying everywhere, and even splashing onto the faces and mouths of their comrades.

"Ugh~"

"Run!"

"Those barbarians have opened fire!"

The three sections of the city wall that were hit by the cannonballs instantly fell into a small state of chaos.

So what if they were Eight Banner soldiers? They were people too, and people are afraid, especially now that it was nighttime, the time when the soldiers' spirits were at their most tense and excited.

This is a common problem in any era. Soldiers who fight on the battlefield year after year face immense psychological pressure, knowing they could die at any moment.

This kind of pressure can be suppressed by strict military regulations under normal circumstances. But at night, when everyone is most tired after a long day and military regulations are most relaxed, problems are most likely to arise.

Now, this is how it is for these Eight Banner soldiers. First, they were awakened by the Han army's coffins blowing up the city walls, and then they received orders from Yinghe to assemble in the middle of the night without any rhyme or reason.

Before they could even assemble, the Han army suddenly opened fire.

The first shot hit the parapet, killing several of them.

That's right, three cannonballs that hit the parapet killed no more than a handful of Qing soldiers.

Yinghe noticed the commotion among the soldiers and reacted quickly by sending his personal guards to quell it. At the same time, he ordered the artillery: "Fire! We can't let the Southern army keep firing at us. Counterattack! Fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

With a series of orders issued, the Qing army also opened fire.

Nearly thirty cannons on the city wall facing the Han army camp also opened fire.

then……

That was it; it was so dark at night that it was impossible to see whether the target had been hit.

Compared to the Han army, the Qing army had more cannons, but their cannons were less powerful and had a shorter range. They were also firing at moving targets, and their aiming depended entirely on the torchlight outside the city. They couldn't see where the cannonballs were landing at all.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Qing army had barely fired its cannons when the Han army followed suit.

This time, they didn't aim at the Qing army's artillery positions because they couldn't see them. Instead, they continued to bombard the walls of Xuzhou to cover the attacking troops ahead.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Qing army then quickly loaded and fired their cannons.

The two artillery units exchanged fire, bombarding each other relentlessly, with neither side aware of the outcome.

Fortunately, the riot occurred on the city wall, and most of the soldiers were still conscious, so it was quickly suppressed.

Outside the city, the vanguard of the Han army, under the cover of artillery from the rear, had already pushed siege equipment to the foot of Xuzhou.

Upon arrival, I discovered that the Xuzhou city wall had indeed collapsed, and had even formed a steep slope that I could climb.

The Han army commander leading the troops was overjoyed: "Haha, it really collapsed! Men, follow me and charge!"

"kill!"

"Kill the Qing dogs! Kill the Tartars!"

"May the Great Han Dynasty be victorious! May His Majesty be victorious!"

Dozens of Han soldiers, carrying long spears, led the way and charged up the steep slope.

"Bang bang bang!"

Halfway up the slope, a gunshot rang out.

Three Han soldiers in the front row were shot down on the spot and rolled down the steep slope.

The commander was startled at first, and hurriedly shouted, "Shieldbearers, advance! Hold the line! Spearmen, retreat!"

"Where's the musketeer battalion? Replenish their ranks."

(End of this chapter)