Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 377 Blow Up Jining City (2 in 1)

In Jining city.

Lai Nao sat in the main seat with a smug look on his face, with a beautiful woman beside him pouring wine for him.

"Today the bandits attacked Jining and returned with great defeat. I sent people to do a rough count and found more than a thousand bandit corpses and more than a thousand wounded. This is a great victory." Yi Yonggui said with a smile.

Lu Guonan also laughed and said, "Haha, in Jining City, there are more than 22,000 defenders, and more than 20,000 civilians have been recruited. After some training on the city walls, these civilians will become elite soldiers who dare to fight. It depends on the strength of the Zhou thieves' attack on the city today. It won't be a problem for us to defend the city for two or three months. By then, the regent will definitely send a large army to help and annihilate the enemy at the foot of the city in one fell swoop."

Lai An shook his head and said with some disdain: "If it is so easy to defend a city, why are cities like Jinling, Wuchang, Jingzhou, Huai'an and Xuzhou so vulnerable? In the final analysis, it is because the defenders have ulterior motives. If they had defended to the death, I dare say that Meng Ze would still be in Zhejiang now. No, he would have been dead by now!"

Yi Yonggui replied: "Wuchang, Jingzhou, Xuzhou, these cities all surrendered without a fight. The thieves in Nanjing opened the city gates and Nanjing fell, and the Zhao thieves sneaked into Huai'an. Speaking of which, it seems that the Meng thieves have not attacked many cities since they started their rebellion. In my opinion, the Meng thieves are not good at attacking cities!"

"Hahaha, let's let the enemy army fight each other under Jining City. Come, let's drink!" Lai Nao drank the wine in one gulp, then looked at the woman who was pouring wine for him, and said with some dissatisfaction: "Jining City is so big, can't you find a better-looking woman? How can I have fun with such a thin and weak woman? Go, change me a stronger one."

…………

Outside Jining City, the Zhou army camp.

Zhao Yongping accepted Bai Yongfu's suggestion and decided to use gunpowder to blow up the city, but the generals had different opinions on the location of the bombing.

Bai Yongfu suggested digging a pit under the city gate, placing gunpowder there, and blowing up the city gate, imitating how the king blew up the Jinchuan Gate. Moreover, Jining City would definitely not react in time, and the army would surely be able to break the city if they rushed in.

Gao Jinku simply pointed out that the entrance to the city gate was not wide enough and he was afraid that it would be blocked by the defenders suddenly.

Zhao Yongping pondered for a long time. When the king blew up the wall of Nanjing, he used thousands of kilograms of gunpowder. Although the wall was not blown open, a small hole was still created. This showed that the king's method was still effective. Therefore, after careful consideration, Zhao Yongping decided to give it a try. He piled most of the army's more than 20,000 kilograms of gunpowder under the wall to blow up Jining City.

Although Bai Yongfu felt that something was not right, he did not object. If he really could not blow up the city, he could just lay siege first and then attack the city after more gunpowder was transported up from the rear, which would be a good opportunity for the Yuyuan Army to arrive.

Zhao Yongping ordered the Zhou army to surround the city on all sides, instead of surrounding three sides with one side left open. Since the defenders in the city decided to fight to the end, Zhao Yongping decided to completely annihilate the Jining defenders.

The Zhou army surrounded the city from all sides, and worked all night to build shield carts, cave houses, and trench bridges. Tens of thousands of civilians worked together for two days and two nights, and they built hundreds of shield carts, hundreds of ladders, cave houses, and hundreds of trench bridges.

November 23rd, weather: cloudy.

In this battle, Zhao Yongping used all his strength. Except for the heavy armored troops deployed in the south, which did not participate in the battle, the rest of the army besieged Jining from all sides.

"Boom!" A low and heavy drum sound rang out. The sound penetrated the air and shook the hearts of the soldiers of both armies on and off the city.

Then there was a sudden sound of rapid drumbeats, and the war began.

At the same time, more than 60 cannons began to fire in turns, smashing into the south wall of Jining, and the air was filled with smoke.

Yi Yonggui, the general of Linqing on the city wall, hurriedly sent someone to ask Lai Nao for help, saying: "The enemy's artillery is all at the south gate, and the main attack direction must be from the south. Please send reinforcements as soon as possible."

Yi Yonggui squatted uneasily under the battlement, occasionally looking out to observe the scene below the city. Compared with Linqing, Jining City had taller walls and a wider moat. Overall, the defense of Jining City was quite complete, but the Zhou army was densely packed with soldiers and horses, with a large number of men and artillery, and Yi Yonggui felt a lot of pressure.

At the same time as the artillery bombardment, the various towns of Zhou army that had already lined up under the city, under the roar of the officers in the front row, pressed towards the city wall in a black mass.

The defenders on the city wall shouted: "The enemy has advanced 300 steps, fire the cannon!"

When the Zhou army entered the range of the artillery on the top of the city wall, the siege troops immediately quickened their pace and rushed towards the city wall. However, along the way, soldiers were hit by bullets from time to time and died instantly.

On the way to the city wall, the Zhou army left behind corpses one after another, and the blood dyed the ground red. After a while, the defenders on the tower shouted again: "The enemy has advanced a hundred steps, archers, release arrows!"

The power of arrows was obviously not as strong as that of artillery. Most of the arrows were blocked by shield carts and shields. Occasionally, some of the arrows hit soldiers, but were blocked by the armor on their bodies. Unless they were really unlucky, they would be shot in vital parts such as the neck and face.

However, the firing speed of arrows was much faster than that of artillery. Arrows were shot from the top of the city wall like raindrops. The closer the Zhou army got to the city, the more powerful the arrows became.

"The enemy is near the city. Throw logs and stones. Don't let them climb the city walls!"

The Zhou army launched attacks on Jining from all directions. The drums beat to the sky and the sounds of fighting could be heard everywhere in the city.

"Shoot!" The Zhou army finally advanced to the edge of the moat. Archers immediately shot arrows at the top of the city wall to cover the soldiers attacking the city. For a moment, some Qing soldiers on the top of the city wall were hit by arrows and fell down with screams. This made the archers on the city wall dare not shoot recklessly at the bottom of the city.

The musketeers also began to line up and shoot at the top of the city. There was a continuous crackling sound, and the bullets hit the battlements, making a sound of breaking stone.

As the trench bridge was built across the moat, the Zhou army in the cave house immediately pushed hard towards the city wall.

As soon as the cave house was leaning against the wall, stones, rolling logs, dung and hot oil from the city wall came down one after another.

The smoke of gunpowder filled the entire city wall. Arrows flew in the smoke from both inside and outside the city. The entire moat was stained with blood from both sides. In such a tragic attack and defense battle, Zhao Yongping, Bai Yongfu and other generals remained calm. Years of war had made them accustomed to this kind of tragic battlefield.

Bai Yongfu whispered: "If we force an attack, I'm afraid there will be heavy casualties!"

Zhao Yongping agreed with this and nodded, saying, "Since ancient times, when attacking a city, if the defenders were determined, like Zhang Xun in the Tang Dynasty and Lu Wenhuan in the Song Dynasty, they could only rely on piling up lives or surrounding the city to cut off its food and grass. But now it is different. No matter how strong the city wall is, it will eventually collapse under the bombardment of artillery day and night."

Bai Yongfu laughed and said, "How about as thick as the one in Jinling City?"

Zhao Yongping was stunned, and responded with a smile: "It will eventually collapse after bombing for a year or so."

After saying that, Zhao Yongping continued to look at the battlefield, and saw the strong soldiers in the cave first smashing one or two bricks at the bottom with a sledgehammer, and then using a pickaxe to expand the range.

On the tower, Lai Nao hurried over. Under the cover of his shield, he poked his head to look down and said angrily, "You rats, it's not that easy to dig down the city wall. Throw tung oil at me and set it on fire!"

Jars of tung oil were thrown down and the fire burned fiercely, but the Zhou army had more than one cave house and more than one excavation site. The burned cave houses were immediately pushed into the moat by the soldiers, and then replaced with intact cave houses to continue digging the city wall.

In this way, one side was destroying the wall while the other side was transporting new equipment. By the time of the third hour, several holes about ten feet wide and half a foot deep had been dug under the city wall.

Zhao Yongping chose a location in the south city, next to the city tower, and filled it with gunpowder. He saw two coffins placed in the cave house. Under the cover of the wooden boards above, the defenders had no idea what was unusual in the cave house. Instead, they thought that the Zhou army was still trying to continue digging the city wall.

The battlefield was still filled with shouts and screams until the gunpowder was loaded. The nearby Zhou troops retreated one after another, and the defenders on the city wall were somewhat confused.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a roar of thunder, as if foreshadowing a shocking scene that was about to happen. Zhao Yongping looked up at the sky and murmured, "I only hope that God will protect me and help me capture Jining!"

A slight hissing sound was heard, which was the sound of the gunpowder fuse being ignited.

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by an earth-shattering explosion, the whole world seemed to be shaking, and the area below the South City wall instantly turned into a horrifying scene. A huge shock wave tore through the air, and countless pieces of rubble, bricks, and soil were thrown into the air, forming a huge dust column that rushed straight into the sky.

Under the dark clouds, the originally solid city wall was torn into a huge gap like paper, and smoke and dust filled the air. On the battlefield, everyone stared at the shocking gap in amazement.

Bai Yongfu laughed excitedly, "Hahaha, the city is broken!"

Zhao Yongping was also very excited. After a rough look, he found that the gap was nearly ten feet wide. Jining City was broken.

The Zhou army soldiers cheered and waved their weapons to celebrate this historic moment, while the defenders in the city fell into complete chaos and panic, with screams and howls coming one after another.

Those defenders who happened to be at the bombing point were all blown into the sky by the gunpowder, and almost no one survived.

Just after the gunpowder exploded, the sky seemed to be shocked and a light rain began to fall.

Yi Yonggui stood on the city wall and witnessed all this happening. His heart was trembling and he was stunned. He didn't react for a long time. He never thought that one day the city would be breached like this.

At this time, the cries of several Eight Banners soldiers were heard. It turned out to be Lai Nai. He was hit on the head by bricks and stones falling from the sky, and his head was bleeding on the spot. Yi Yonggui walked over in a daze, squatted down, and tried to pull Lai Nai up, but he was limp all over and motionless. Yi Yonggui put his hand on his nose, and it was obvious that he had no breath. Lai Nai died on the city wall in such a trivial way.

While Yi Yonggui was still checking whether Lai Nao was alive or dead, Zhao Yongping outside the city had already ordered Gao Yi's heavy armored troops to advance towards the gap.

There was only the sound of rapid drums, and five thousand elite and heavily armored soldiers silently moved towards the gap. Taking advantage of the panic of the defenders, the heavily armored soldiers swarmed in. The defenders had no time to react and had no intention of resisting. Many Qing troops on the city wall abandoned their positions and fled into the city.

Dragged by his personal guards, Yi Yonggui hurried down the city wall and ran wildly towards the north city.

The one guarding the North City was Lu Guonan. He listened to the deserter's words in amazement. He felt insulted. This man was so afraid of death that he even dared to lie to him with such words.

What did it mean that the Zhou army asked the giant spirit for help, and that the giant spirit knocked down the city wall with one punch? Hearing this, the man from Lu was furious, and he immediately pushed down the fastest deserter and chopped him to death.

Not long after the chopping was over, more and more defeated soldiers came towards the north city, saying all kinds of things. Some said that General Man was killed by Zhou's army, some said that Yi Yonggui was also dead, but the most common saying was that Zhou's army had asked for help from ghosts and gods, and was no match for mortals.

With so many people saying this in unison, Lu Guonan was not sure whether the Zhou army had asked for help from ghosts and gods, but looking at the terrified looks of these defeated soldiers, Lu Guonan was certain that the South City had indeed been breached.

Lu Guonan was extremely anxious when he thought of this. At this time, the defenders on the tower shouted to Lu Guonan excitedly: "General, the enemy soldiers have stopped attacking the city!"

Lu Guonan hurried up to the city and saw that the Zhou army had stopped attacking. He must have received the message and stopped attacking. Although the army under the city retreated, they lined up directly opposite the city gate, as if to prevent the defenders from escaping.

Lu Guonan cursed inwardly, thinking that they were leaving no chance for survival. He immediately sent fast horses to the east and west to contact the defenders on both sides to see if anyone on either side could escape.

In the south city, heavily armored troops rushed in and killed their way into Jining City. Countless soldiers and horses outside the city rushed into the city. There were only a few resisters. Only the more than 300 Eight Banners subordinates of Lai Nuo either forced or organized the Green Camp soldiers to resist.

Just when Lu Guonan was extremely anxious, Yi Yonggui came galloping over from the south under the protection of his personal guards.

Seeing this, Lu Guonan hurriedly asked how the South City was breached. Yi Yonggui seemed to have just reacted. He said with a frustrated look, "The Zhou army outside the city must have used gunpowder to blow up the South City. I smelled a strong smell of gunpowder. Lai Nao was also hit on the head by a brick and died on the spot on the city wall."

Lu Guonan's mind raced, and he said to Yi Yonggui, "We can't hold Jining anymore. We can't stay here any longer. We have to leave."

Upon hearing this, Yi Yonggui shook his head and said, "The Zhou army surrounded the city from all sides, determined to capture us all in one fell swoop. We can't run away, so we might as well surrender."

Yi Yonggui's guards were horrified. Was their general also hit on the head by a brick? Could they say such a thing in public? Then several guards put their hands on their waist knives and were nervously on guard against Lu Guonan.

Lu Guonan laughed and said, "Since General Yi doesn't want to leave, I won't force him to do anything. Let's just go our separate ways."

For Lu Guonan, since the Zhou army surrounded the city on all sides, it meant that they wanted to annihilate the defenders. But for him, he was unwilling to surrender when he was desperate and his life and death were in the hands of the enemy.

(二合一大章哦，算了，反正俺说二合一，小伙伴们都不信我╮(?6?1?0?7w?6?1?0?6)╭)