weaving

Chapter 1457 Call for Uncle to come and reinforce us immediately!

The battle on Wednesday was progressing very smoothly.

He attacked a position about ten steps west of the northeast corner of the wall of Zhuxian Town. This area had been breached last year, and the newly rebuilt wall was not very sturdy due to the hasty construction.

Tong Shoushan found out about this and then relayed it to the Earl of Yongning through Liu Jinhai!
Not to mention this newly built village wall, which is more than ten steps long, even the old village walls built in the early years, even if they were made with lime mortar mixed with glutinous rice soup, might not have been able to withstand the intense and concentrated bombardment.

When Zhou Sanping began shelling at the North Gate, he ordered his soldiers to sneak up to the base of the wall of Zhuxian Town under the cover of shields, braving the rain of arrows shot down from the wall.

However, they dared not actually get close to the base of the wall, since the cannonballs fired from the cannons had no eyes and could not distinguish between enemies and friendly forces, and would indiscriminately wipe them out.

When they were fifty paces away from the base of the wall, the three hundred soldiers in the middle of the White Tiger Camp stopped and crouched on the ground, waiting for the war drums to sound for the charge!

Thirty paces behind them, another three hundred soldiers crouched on the ground in the same posture, serving as the assault force for the second wave of the attack.

The remaining central soldiers were positioned on the left and right flanks of the second wave of the assault; they were the final assault force.

The bandits on the wall were initially attracted by the commotion at the North Gate. They all craned their necks, wanting to see how the battle was going. It could be said that the battle at the North Gate was on the minds of almost all the bandits defending that direction.

Little did they know—they were the ones the government troops were eyeing!
…………

It was exactly 4:45 noon.

About a hundred paces east of the north gate of Zhuxian Town, fierce artillery fire bombarded the stockade walls like demons, even more intensely than at the north gate itself.

This round of shelling lasted for a full fifteen minutes before it finally stopped.

The bandits on the wall were stunned. Many fell to the ground, their cries of agony echoing throughout the entire village. Even at this moment, they still did not realize that their side was the main direction of the government army's attack.

Pan Jian, the junior leader in charge of command here, suddenly saw the collapsed stockade wall. This scene made him realize what was happening, and he hurriedly shouted, "Quick... report to Uncle, the government troops have broken in! Tell Uncle to come and reinforce us immediately!"

It's too late, we're going to miss it.

While Pan Jian was calling for reinforcements from his uncle Gao Yigong, the soldiers of the White Tiger Battalion of the Brave Army had already stormed into Zhuxian Town through the breach in the collapsed stockade wall.

Commander Cheng Haishan led the first echelon to storm Zhuxian Town. They did not fight the bandits in the town. As soon as they entered the breach, they rushed straight towards the north gate.

They even managed to leave the bandits who tried to intercept them behind!

Zhou Sanping led the second echelon of soldiers through the gap into Zhuxian Town. He did not rush to the north gate, but instead divided his three hundred soldiers in two and charged towards the east and west sides of the gap.

Clearly, he is trying to seize control of this breach in the stockade wall!

…………

Pan Jian watched as the soldiers in front of him rushed forward, and there was no way to stop them.

Now, he could only be thankful that his uncle, Gao Yigong, had received his report and was able to send reinforcements in time, which would have stopped the hundreds of government troops who had just charged forward. Since he couldn't stop the government troops from attacking the north gate, he had to recapture the breach and block the government troops behind, preventing them from rushing into the town.

It was with this ulterior motive that when he saw the tactics of the government troops behind him, he immediately realized that they also wanted to seize control of the breach.

"Go! Block the breach! Kill the government soldiers!" Pan Jian shouted.

He had over two thousand rebel soldiers on his side, and was in a favorable defensive position. In theory, they should have been more than capable of dealing with the government troops who were smaller than him.

Unexpectedly, the government troops launched an extremely fierce artillery barrage, which not only caused heavy casualties among his men, but also blasted a hole in the stockade wall that was about fifteen steps wide.

Suddenly, Pan Jian's advantage as the defender vanished.

Without the protection of the stockade walls, the two sides could only engage in hand-to-hand combat at the breach, which completely tipped the balance of power in favor of the Yongyi Army.

After all, in close combat, the difference between wearing armor and not wearing armor will become immediately apparent.

The advantage has been reversed.

With the indomitable spirit of the Yongyi Army, how could they possibly be defeated?

…………

Gao Yigong had 11,000 bandits. Because he did not know the direction of the government troops' main attack, he deployed 3,000 bandits at the north gate, and 2,000 bandits on each of the east and west sides of the north gate.

The remaining four thousand bandits were stationed as a reserve force on the wide street inside the North Gate, ready to provide support to various locations at any time.

When he heard the booming cannon fire from the east and west sides, seemingly one strong and one weak, he secretly guessed that the main attack direction of the government troops might be the eastern stockade wall.

However, since the war had only just begun, neither Pan Jian in the east had requested reinforcements nor sent any battle reports. Gao Yigong was also afraid that his guess was wrong, so he did not send troops to reinforce Pan Jian's troops stationed in the east in time.

However, he still ordered 500 bandits to be stationed in the east. Even if the main attack of the government army was not in the east, he had a reserve force of 3,500 men, which would be enough.

In Gao Yigong's view, no matter where the government troops attacked, it would not be able to break through in a short time. If either the east or west side could not hold out first, they would always ask him for help, and then it would still be in time to send troops over.

But he never expected that the secret, known only to a few core members of the rebel army, would be discovered by the government troops. This was beyond his expectations.

So when Gao Yigong received the news that "the eastern wall of the stockade had been bombed down by government troops," his heart immediately skipped a beat. He punched a pillar of the gate tower and roared, "Send the order to have Gou Shiwu lead his troops to the east. Transfer them all over there. Even if it kills you, you must plug the gap."

As the command flag was passed, the large band of bandits on the wide street also sprang into action. Relying on their familiarity with the streets and alleys, they quickly divided into small teams and rushed eastward at an extremely fast speed.

Gao Yigong still felt uneasy. He grabbed the lieutenant who had just suggested that reinforcements be sent to the east and shouted at him, "Liu Chengbao, you stay here. I'm going to check the east."

Before Liu Chengbao could reply, Gao Yigong had already leaped up, called to Wang Erniu and dozens of his personal guards, and "thump thump thump" they rushed down the stockade wall and galloped eastward on horseback.