In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 238 The city becomes the only way to survive

"what happened?"

"Look..."

"No, that's the reinforcements from the thief army. The thief army's cavalry has arrived."

"Why did our cavalry go south?"

As the rumble of horse hooves and a long black dragon came from the east, the Ming army under the wall finally realized that something was wrong. Especially when they saw Cao Bianjiao leading the cavalry south, they all panicked.

In addition, countless Chinese troops on the west city wall were cheering loudly again. The arrival of reinforcements made the remaining 4000 Ming troops no longer have any fighting spirit. On the contrary, the morale of the Chinese troops soared. Even strong women and young men dared to carry swords. The gun rushed forward.

After all, no matter how powerful the army is, it cannot withstand the blow of being directly abandoned by its general at a critical moment.

Just as the Ming army under the wall was planning to flee, and the Ming army on top of the wall was also planning to kill them with all their might and then escape, Sun Chuanting held a sword and killed them in time.

"Don't be confused, don't panic. I will advance and retreat with you today to live and die together. Everyone listen to my orders and continue to attack. The only way to survive is to attack the city. Kill!"

Sure enough, everyone saw that Sun Chuanting did not run away, but actually committed suicide. The morale of the army that was about to collapse stabilized again, and they began to attack the city again.

After all, these people are veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles. They know that the city wall is the safest without the cover of the cavalry. Once they escape, they will definitely only be massacred by the cavalry.

However, the speed of the chariots and cavalry was too fast, and there were too many piles of corpses, rolling wood, and rocks at the base of the city wall. The chariots did not dare to approach and could only run over dozens of steps away, unable to hit Ming Ming who had not yet climbed up the wall. Army, but the cavalry behind the chariot bent their bows close to the debris, shooting arrows as they passed.

For a moment, arrows rained down like rain. The Ming soldiers under the city wall were hit by arrows and fell to the ground in swarms. They kept screaming and had no place to hide. They could only pick up their shields to resist. The Ming soldiers were climbing on the ladders. They were all hit by arrows in the back and fell down one after another.

Some bold ones waved their weapons and tried to rush towards the cavalry who were just around the corner, but were knocked away by the galloping horses.

When all nine thousand cavalry passed by the filled-in moat of the southern city wall, almost half of the nearly three thousand Ming troops under the wall fell, and only a few thousand were still standing.

Some had several arrows stuck in their bodies and were already lying on the ground lifeless. Some had not hit their vital points. They wanted to get up but couldn't, so they could only lie on the ground and howl.

"Sir, climb up quickly..."

Sun Chuanting was protected by more than twenty confidants with their bodies, but he was not hit by the arrow.

But seeing countless soldiers lying on the ground wailing in pain, I felt great sadness in my heart, but I could only urge with tears: "Quick, climb up quickly, don't worry about the wounded first..."

The uninjured Ming army had no choice but to quickly climb up the ladder to the top of the city, no longer caring about the injured brothers on the ground. However, there were some strong men who did not want to abandon their best friends and forcibly carried him on their backs. Climb up the ladder.

There were also some wounded who had a strong desire to survive. They climbed up from the ground with difficulty using their weapons, and then slowly climbed up the ladder.

At this time, Haber led seven thousand Mongolian cavalry, drew an arc in the distance, turned around and charged over again.

The chariot stopped in the distance and did not continue to come. Xue Gui led more than 1000 dragoons directly around to the north gate and entered the city. Then he dismounted and divided into two groups and fought along the east and west walls.

The veterans and young women trapped in the south city wall have retreated along the stairs to the center of the city and the east and west city walls, and are firmly guarding the entrance to the stairs and the corners on both sides of the south city wall.

Obviously Niu Sao and Zhang Han saw that the Ming army not only did not escape, but instead tried desperately to occupy the southern city head, they also knew that these Ming troops had become trapped beasts with no way out.

At this time, it is not cost-effective to compete with them for the head of the south city. It is most appropriate to avoid their edge and give the head of the south city to the other party.

Anyway, their reinforcements have arrived, but the other party's cavalry has escaped. Even if they occupy the southern city head, it is just a turtle in the urn.

When Hubbell and his cavalry rumbled past the city again, those who were able to climb to the top of the city had basically already climbed up, so they did not shoot any more arrows at the wounded lying on the ground.

The Ming army on the wall was hiding behind the wall stacks. It was easy to overshoot with random shots and accidentally injure one's own people in the city. Haber had no choice but to retreat to the West City with his cavalry to rest temporarily.

"Lord Governor, what should we do now?"

At this moment, there are nearly two thousand Ming troops on the city, including some lightly wounded. Almost everyone is looking at Sun Chuanting, the backbone.

"There is no water or food at the top of the city. If you stay here, you will definitely die. If we retreat down the wall, we will be overtaken by the opponent's cavalry within three miles. So we can only continue to attack and risk death to survive!" Sun Chuanting held the sword and said, With a determined face, Dao still did not forget to capture Guihua City at this time, which shows his great determination.

Of course, this is also a helpless move.

Everyone also understands this truth. If they want to survive, they can only continue to charge and capture the entire naturalization.

However, with the addition of more than 1000 dragon cavalry, even if the two thousand Ming troops were brave enough to die, they could only be trapped at the south city head. They could neither rush down nor continue to capture the east and west city walls.

After all, the east and west walls of the city were only so wide, and only one or two hundred dragoon spearmen and spearmen could hold it tightly, making it difficult for the Ming army to move forward.

The two stairs to the lower city are equally narrow. Facing the dense rain of arrows from the archers, they will also die as many as they come.

What's more, Zhang Han also asked craftsmen to bring over more than 20 French cannons and more than 200 firecrackers that had just been built.

Although Lin Rui took away the remaining more than 100 red cannons, the newly cast French cannons, and the firearms battalion last year, after a winter, the craftsmen who cast cannons and make firearms will naturally not be idle. With.

The reason why there was no defensive position at the top of the city was because a cannonball fired would not kill as many enemies as a bucket of dung or a piece of wood thrown down, but it would be in the way.

After all, a cannon requires several people to operate it, and the opponent does not have long-range attack weapons, so the cannon is not of much practical use and instead takes up space.

Seeing that the attack was blocked, Sun Chuanting also knew that continuing the attack would only lead to the death of his brothers in vain, so he had no choice but to order to hold on until dark, and then try to break out of the city. Every one he could escape was one, after all, he could only wait for death if he stayed at the top of the city.

"Mr. Zhang, sister Xiuyun, how is the situation?"

After the commotion subsided, Zhang Xiuying also came to the outer city from the inner city to inquire about the situation of the battle.

"Back to the empress, the Ming army's cavalry has fled, and the remaining infantry are all trapped at the top of the city by our army, unable to move. All we need to do is ask the fifth concubine to dismount with the archers, stand inside and outside the city wall, and fire thousands of arrows. , they can all be shot at the top of the city.

You can also ask craftsmen to carry the cannons to the east and west city walls, and then use cannon fire to clear the way, gradually advance, and destroy them! "

Zhang Han replied unhurriedly, obviously he had countless ways to deal with the Ming army on the city.

Lin Xiuyun waved her hand and said: "Why bother? Just pile the firewood under the city wall as I said, and one fire can kill them all."

"Can you make them surrender?"

Hearing what the two said, Zhang Xiuying breathed a sigh of relief, then thought about it and asked.

After all, everyone is Han, Rui Lang can even give those traitor soldiers a chance, so if these Ming soldiers are willing to surrender, she is also willing to give them a way to survive.

"This, my subordinate has just ordered someone to try it. The other party refused to surrender. It seems that they plan to escape after dark. After all, we have no defense outside the city. The cavalry and chariots will be restricted at night, so we can always escape."

Zhang Han explained helplessly.

"Hmph, if you want to be beautiful, there are still two hours until dark. If you don't surrender, just burn them to death." Lin Xiuyun snorted with an evil look on his face.

At this time, Zhang Xiuying also heard the painful groans coming from outside Nancheng from time to time, so she asked: "What's going on? Why are there so many people screaming outside?"

Others also didn't know what was going on, and they only thought that those Ming soldiers who were injured by rolling logs and thunder stones were not dead yet.

Habeier came over at this time and explained: "They were the Ming soldiers who were shot by us just now. Many of them had no vital injuries, but they didn't have the strength to climb up to the top of the city, so they could only stay under the city wall and wait to die. "

"Let's do this. Sister Xiuyun is responsible for preparing to set the fire. Mr. Zhang will continue to persuade them to surrender. Let's discuss with them first. We can send people to treat the wounded outside the city first. If they still refuse to surrender, we will have no choice but to set the fire."

Zhang Xiuying thought about it and said, even though the ants were still alive, she didn't believe that these Ming soldiers would rather be smoked to death and burned to death than surrender.

And they have enough manpower. Under the cover of archers, setting fire is undoubtedly the fastest and easiest way.

(End of this chapter)