1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3907

After observing a moment of silence before the bodies of the fallen soldiers, Shi Chengwu ordered that the bodies be transported away from the battlefield overnight. He also telegraphed Jiujiang to prepare coffins and other necessary items, and to arrange the funerals for the fallen soldiers locally.

According to military procedures, the remains of these fallen soldiers will be transported to Jiujiang for encoffining and then sent back to their respective hometowns for burial as soon as possible. If their hometowns are not within the territory controlled by Haihan, or if there are no family members to receive them, they will be sent to the garrison of their respective units and buried in the local military cemetery.

Regardless of where they are ultimately buried, their memorial tablets will be placed in the local Martyrs' Shrine for worship. After the capture of Nanchang, a Martyrs' Shrine will inevitably be built there as well, and they will have a place there as well.

Furthermore, the subsequent distribution of compensation and posthumous recognition of war merits will certainly be implemented one by one. For a captain like this company commander who unfortunately died on the front lines of the siege, the Ministry of National Defense will most likely posthumously award him a higher rank and position, and issue a commendation notice to the entire army.

Besides their own casualties, the Haihan Army also recovered more than two hundred sets of remains of Ming soldiers in the Zhangjiang Gate area they had already occupied. However, this is only a portion of them; it is believed that many more are buried in the collapsed ruins of Zhangjiang Gate.

These remains of Ming soldiers naturally did not receive such careful handling. The remains were moved to a certain place under the city wall outside Zhangjiang Gate and piled up. After being counted, most of them were arranged to be cremated on the spot.

Shi Chengwu climbed to a high point on the city wall near Zhangjiang Gate to survey the current battlefield area.

Although the Haihan Army has opened the Zhangjiang Gate as a breakthrough point, due to the fierce resistance of the defending troops and the complex environment of the surrounding streets, the current breakthrough into the city is not large, only about a hundred feet.

In the distance, one can see many torches moving about in some streets and alleys. It is the city's garrison and laborers taking advantage of the nighttime ceasefire to quickly build barricades and block roads leading to other areas of the city.

The construction site could be hit with mortars, but the effect would be difficult to observe at night, and sustained bombardment would be impossible. Shi Chengwu did not want to waste precious mortar ammunition.

The area advanced slightly further north along the city wall. They have already controlled about half of the area between Zhangjiang Gate and Desheng Gate on the city wall, and it is expected that it will only be a matter of time before they can open up the remaining half of the route.

Although the city's defenses at Yonghe Gate in the east and Jinxian Gate in the south had not yet been breached, the commanders at both locations stated in their telegrams that the city would definitely be breached within the next day.

Presumably, at this time, the two city gates are also under construction overnight to reinforce the city defenses that were damaged by the intense shelling today.

After nightfall, neither side launched any new battles, but neither side rested either. Both sides quietly redeployed troops and replenished supplies to several battle zones.

The Haihan Army, which is heavily reliant on logistics, especially needs this respite to replenish the ammunition and supplies consumed in the battle today. Troop transport ships shuttled back and forth between the two banks of the Gan River almost all night long.

At dawn the next day, Shi Chengwu arrived early at the temporary barracks at Zhangjiang Gate, had breakfast with his troops, and then summoned the main officers to deploy the day's combat mission.

At the same time, Zhao Mingyu and Ding Baoguo, two local officials, one a civil official and the other a military official, met again.

After two days of fierce fighting, both men knew that Nanchang was in imminent danger. If the defending soldiers had not fought desperately yesterday, more than one city gate would have fallen.

The Haihan army had deployed heavy troops outside the city on both the southeast and northwest sides, and the Gan River formed a natural barrier on the northwest sides, making it difficult for the defending troops to abandon the city and retreat even if they wanted to. "Lord Ding, if I am fortunate enough to survive this battle, I will definitely write to the court to request commendations for you and the soldiers who defended the city!"

"Lord Zhao, I had many misunderstandings about you before. Now I apologize. After this battle is over, I will host a banquet to celebrate the victory with you!"

The two men looked at each other and smiled, having finally reconciled. However, they both knew that given the current state of the battle, defeating the Haihan army and protecting Nanchang was an impossible task, and they might not even be able to save their own lives.

But both men were determined to die for their country. Even though they knew the future was bleak, they were not afraid and secretly planned to live and die with Nanchang.

At dawn, You Zhiyuan's troops outside Jinxian Gate in the south of the city fired the first shot of a new offensive. Almost simultaneously, the Haihan Army from the other three directions also opened fire, with dozens of cannons once again bombarding the city walls.

The defenders knew they couldn't withstand the bombardment head-on, so they could only cower under the city walls and wait for it to end, while leaving a few observation posts on the distant city walls to keep an eye on the movements of the Haihan army outside the city.

However, the Haihan army's bombardment today was clearly not just to destroy the defensive forces on the city walls. With the booming of cannons, infantrymen carrying rafts for crossing the river and siege ladders appeared in several directions outside the city, obviously intending to start the formal attack on the city under the cover of artillery fire.

The moat outside Nanchang was not wide. If there was no suppressive fire from the city walls, it would not take too long for the attacking side to cross the waterway.

In the days leading up to the siege, the Haihan army had collected some rafts and small boats. Only when the defensive firepower on the city walls was almost completely destroyed did they put the prepared tools into battle.

This movement, of course, did not escape the watchful eyes of the defenders. However, the city gates that were under attack had been cleared of everything, not only the towers but also the battlements. There were hardly any decent shelters on the city walls, making the defenders easy targets for the enemy's firepower. It was extremely difficult to stop the Haihan army from approaching the city walls.

The temporary fortifications erected on the city walls under cover of darkness last night were also unable to withstand the first round of artillery fire today, and soon collapsed along with the defending troops who returned to the city walls.

Of the several city gates that were under heavy attack, the first to fall was not Desheng Gate in the north of the city, which was attacked jointly by Shi Chengwu and Ha Jianyi's troops, but Jinxian Gate in the south of the city.

Just half an hour after the start of the battle, the vanguard of You Zhiyuan's troops had already planted the red and blue flags on the city wall of Jinxian Gate.

Xu Kaiyuan's troops followed closely behind and quickly occupied Yonghe Gate in the east of the city.

Although the defending troops inside the city did not give up the fight, the fall of several city gates greatly dampened their morale.

The breakthroughs in the east and south of the city forced the defending forces to shift their defensive focus to those two directions, which relieved a lot of pressure on the Deshengmen area in the north of the city.

Soon Shi Chengwu's troops also captured the last city wall beacon tower between Deshengmen and the city, and helped the friendly forces outside Deshengmen clear the obstacles.