Master Yuan, start!

"Hurry up and send the order to the artillery team to deploy and prepare for battle!"

"Yes!"

"Brother Huafu, since your 3rd Regiment has not been fully transported to Jianghuai, can I borrow your artillery?" Looking at Feng Guozhang on the side, Sheng Fei showed a confident smile.

As the National Defense Army moved at full speed, late at night, a total of nearly 100 cannons from the two towns were aimed at Xuzhou City from all directions.

The gunner is in position, and all we need to wait for now is time.

Along with the first ray of sunshine in the sky, the hot air balloon flew over Xuzhou City, and the approximate distribution of houses was memorized by the balloon soldiers.

After returning, they immediately ran to the artillery position to report the situation, and after receiving the firing information, the artillery commanders also rubbed their hands, waiting for the final firing order to be issued.

As the battle approached, Sheng Fei found that his palms were covered with sweat without him noticing, but everything was ready, and no matter what, it had to begin!

"Fire!" Sheng Fei said softly in the front-line command tent.

The sound was only heard by the adjutant beside him. Even Feng Guozhang and a group of combat staff who were a little further away could not hear it clearly.

"Yes, sir!"

The adjutant immediately ran out of the tent, took an object from his waist and fired it into the sky.

With a "swish", a dazzling light flashed in the sky of this ancient battlefield.

"fire!"

Artillery positions ranging from several miles to dozens of miles apart saw the light in the sky that symbolized the order. At the command, hundreds of cannons roared towards Xuzhou City.

Amid the deafening roar, the Hunan Army in the city had no idea what was happening. They only heard a few loud thunderclaps from the horizon. Just as they were about to look up at the sky, they found that the wooden houses began to tremble and shake, and then collapsed with a loud bang!

Although the 90mm caliber recoil-mounted field gun has become outdated in Europe, after all, it can only fire one round per minute, which is far from meeting the firepower needs of European armies.

You should know that the French Schneider company has begun to develop the M1897 75mm recoilless field gun, commonly known as "Miss France" and "Italian Gun". The firing rate of this gun can reach an astonishing 15 rounds per minute.

However, for the Chinese battlefield, especially the siege battlefield, the large-caliber recoil gun was just right.

Compared with firing all the cannons at once, bombarding one shell at a time not only saves ammunition but also instills fear in people.

The ammunition loaders waited for the gun carriage to reset, stuffed the ammunition into the barrel, tightened the bolt, covered their ears, and watched as one shell after another hit the blue brick-covered city wall.

As the earth shook and rocks crumbled, Zhu Hongzhang, who was in charge of Xuzhou City, couldn't help but curse.

"Outrageous! Outrageous! Do you think I'm Hong Xiuquan? Bombarding the city of Tianjing!"

Thirty years ago, he witnessed with his own eyes the bombardment of artillery shells on the Nanjing city wall, and the Hunan Army in the Ji Camp rushed to the gap, shouting and slaughtering the Taiping rebels in the city.

He could never have imagined that 30 years later he would face the dilemma of siege again, but this time he was inside the city instead of outside.

"Where are the artillery? Where are the artillery?! Hurry up to the top of the seventh wall and blast them back! Lu" san Si 2

The artillery on the city wall had already returned fire, but how could a fixed target hit a moving target?

Thanks to the scattered artillery organization and the one-minute interval between firing and retreating guns, the National Defense Army artillerymen changed positions after firing two shots, making it impossible for the Hunan Army aiming at the top of Xuzhou City to find a target.

The defensive fortifications in front of the city were destroyed by artillery fire, and the pre-built chevaux de frise were also blown to pieces, leaving only a lonely moat surrounding the city.

The new Hunan Army soldiers hid in fear behind the city walls or bunkers, trembling, but the old Hunan Army soldiers had already started cursing.

Since they captured the city of Tianjing, they had never suffered such hardships. In suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Bandits, they had always relied on cannons to bombard others, and there was absolutely no reason for them to be bombarded in vain.

After patting the yellow dust raised above his head, the Hunan Army officer was unwilling to sit and wait for death, so he took the initiative to run to Zhu Hongzhang and ask to go into battle.

"General, please leave the city! You can't stay here and get beaten like rats!"

Zhu Hongzhang's face turned ashen. There was only one isolated city, Xuzhou, north of the Yellow River. He didn't want to defend it, but he couldn't bear the guilt of abandoning the city and fleeing.

"Okay, take a battalion of cavalry out of the city and find a way to eliminate a few artillery positions. If you are defeated, withdraw immediately!"

Since he was defeated in an artillery battle, Zhu Hongzhang could only use manpower to solve the problem.

The thunderous sound of cannons lasted for an hour. When the rumbling sound subsided, a slight gap appeared at the south gate of Xuzhou City.

Behind the door were hundreds of cavalrymen ready to go.

They are all elite soldiers of the Hunan Army. Now they are riding on their horses, full of anger, just waiting for the city gates to open, and then they are ready to gallop away to reap the lives of the National Defense Army.

"Fuck him! I can't even lift my head up! Chop him off!" The leader drew his sword and stepped forward, making bold statements.

"Yes!"

The rest of the people pulled up the reins and were ready to go.

However, just as they spurred their horses for a dozen meters and had not yet left the area of ​​the city gate, they heard a loud noise coming from the front, followed by a burst of yellow smoke.

"There's an ambush, there's an ambush!"

The Hunan Army that rushed out first thought they had encountered an ambush and artillery fire, so they hurriedly pulled the reins and tried to escape to the side, but after the horses had run a few steps, they stepped on some soft ground.

San saw the horse's hooves sink down first, as if stepping on clouds and touching a ball of cotton. The horse's legs bent, as if it was going to lie down on the ground and fall into a deep sleep.

However, just as the horse's knees touched the ground, there was a sudden loud bang from the ground, the earth cracked, and sand flew everywhere. The horse let out a scream and fell straight to the ground with a "bang".

The dust in the sky dissipated, and a pit that was more than ten feet wide and more than a foot deep appeared.

In the 4th pit, people and horses whose legs were blown off were wailing and neighing helplessly, as if asking if the land god had come to take their lives and why there was a bomb on the ground.

However, worse is yet to come.

Shrouded in the yellow smoke from the mine explosion, the Hunan Army soldiers who had been wailing loudly just now felt as if someone was strangling their throats. They felt as if their chests were burning and breathing was extremely uncomfortable.

But in just a moment, the man had difficulty breathing and was suffocated to death by the toxic smoke produced by the explosion of the yellow explosive mine.

Sheng Fei, who saw this scene through the telescope, couldn't help but sweat in his palms, as if he had just experienced a big battle.

The artillery positions of the National Defense Army in the south of Xuzhou City, after discovering a large cloud of yellow smoke, also turned their guns and fired fiercely at the cavalry that were staggering at the south gate of the city!

"We'll take Xuzhou without any more setbacks," Sheng Fei said calmly, putting down his binoculars. He then summoned his staff officer and said, "Pass on my military order. Go to the gates of Xuzhou late at night every day and plant mines to trap them inside the city!"

"it is good!"

"It exploded!"

"The Earth God is truly extraordinary!"

Seeing that all the cavalrymen who had just run out of the city were blown to the ground, the staff and officers at all levels behind Sheng Fei also began to shout in unison.

After so many days of confrontation, the National Defense Forces finally breathed a sigh of relief today.

This epoch-making war concept is so unsurprising.

The smoke produced by the explosion of nitroglycerin and TNT is yellow, and in a broad sense they can both be called yellow explosives.

Compared with TNT explosives, which are mainly composed of trinitrotoluene, nitroglycerin explosives are more unstable and will explode with just a little more force.

Therefore, TNT explosives, which must be detonated with a detonator, came to prominence and remained the mainstream explosive of choice for all countries until before World War II.

There is nothing else but safety.

However, compared with nitroglycerin explosives, TNT explosives also have a small disadvantage, that is, at the same weight, its explosive power is not as strong as the former.

Therefore, after being able to produce TNT explosives independently, Yuan Shikai did not forget about nitroglycerin explosives, a powerful weapon.

Therefore, there is a toxic landmine code-named "Tudigong".

Landmines appeared as early as the Song Dynasty, but they have been ignored because gunpowder was not powerful enough.

But with the advent of nitroglycerin explosives, landmines no longer just serve the purpose of disturbing the enemy or scaring their horses, but have become a legitimate killing weapon!

Nitroglycerin is extremely unstable. Once buried in the soil, it will explode with the slightest force, not to mention if someone rides by on horseback. Even if a person walks on it, it will definitely explode.

Sheng Fei never thought that this battle could be fought so easily. The more he came into contact with Yuan Xiangcheng, the more he felt that the chief instructor was simply a military god.

He came up with one brilliant idea after another and quickly applied them on the battlefield, achieving decisive results.

Dog sledding in winter, hot air balloons at Shanhaiguan, and now mines buried at the city gate during the siege of Xuzhou

963101-monthly fee 9

Unlike the Taiping Army who used the trick of "burying coffins and blowing up walls" to defeat all opponents in the South, it seemed that the chief instructor always had a new way to defeat the enemy.

"Will the Chief Instructor be able to do the same when we fight foreigners in the future?"

Thinking of this, Sheng Fei has begun to look forward to fighting with European and American armies.

...U

The cheers from outside the city could not reach Xuzhou, but the wounded soldiers with broken limbs could.

Zhu Hongzhang was stunned for a moment when he looked at the Hunan Army soldier whose left leg was blown off. He couldn't understand how a living person who was just fine just now could become such a bloody appearance in the blink of an eye.

"General...General," the injured Hunan Army soldier forced himself to bow and begged Zhu Hongzhang, "Give...give me a quick death."

Zhu Hongzhang looked at the injured Hunan soldier and found that his skin was red all over, and there were several bloody marks on his neck where his fingernails had scratched him.

"General, the enemy is too treacherous. We will die if we leave the city now." The injured Hunan Army soldier endured the severe pain of his broken leg and called out to Zhu Hongzhang, "Ask... ask for help from General Xian. If the reinforcements don't come, the... the army will not leave the city!"

After saying this, before Zhu Hongzhang could react, the injured surrendered soldier stretched out his hand, grabbed the sword of the soldier who was helping him over, and slashed it across his neck, causing his head to tilt.

Seeing this, Zhu Hongzhang's eyes were bloodshot and he wanted to rush to Yuan Xiangcheng and tear him to pieces.

However, reason told him that asking for help seemed to be the best way.

When it was dark and the National Defense Army's artillery fire subsided, Zhu Hongzhang wrote a tearful document under the dim candlelight and immediately sent someone to deliver it to the telegraph office in the city.

Amidst the ticking sound, the message for help was transmitted along the telegraph line all the way south.

The telegraph lines outside Xuzhou City were interrupted for a period of time after the war broke out, but they were restored to normal after a few days.

Zhu Hongzhang, who was born before the Opium War, did not notice anything unusual about the telegraph. He just thought that the telegraph, like the machines in the machinery bureau, would occasionally malfunction, and as long as it could be used normally, there was no need to pay attention to it.

...

A few days later at noon, a telegraph messenger rushed into the Hunan Army headquarters with a worried look on his face, and said bluntly that he would not stop until he personally delivered the telegram to Zhu Hongzhang, the admiral of the Jiangnan New Army's infantry.

"In the past, you could just hand it over to me. Why do you have to hand it to me personally this time?"

Zhu Hongzhang was puzzled, but still took the telegram.

He muttered to himself, but when he saw the contents of the letter, he suddenly opened his mouth wide, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Hongzhang seemed to have lost his energy and spirit, and he didn't even notice the paper slipping from his hands.

"General, General!"

Seeing Zhu Hongzhang's sudden change, one of his deputy generals hurriedly stepped forward to support him, while another deputy general picked up the telegram that had fallen on the ground.

There were only eight big words written on it.