I

"Boom boom boom!"

The Eight Banners of Manchuria, which was about to fire a heavy arrow, was suddenly blown over by more than a dozen missiles.

"Exploded" is an adjective because it is less powerful and relies entirely on the exploding shrapnel to injure people. The most disgusting thing is that it is mixed with lime and chili powder. Not only the Eight Banners soldiers who are shooting heavy arrows suffer, but even the follow-up troops climbing the ladder can't open their eyes.

"Crush again!"

Obai covered his mouth and nose and stood behind the carriage and yelled.

"Boom boom boom!"

Just when Obai reorganized his charge, the artillery on the city sounded again. But it was Dorgon who suddenly invested a large number of troops on both sides of the northern city wall. Just now, the Datong Army stopped firing and was also adjusting the shooting direction.

The Qing generals who often attacked the city under artillery fire were very keenly aware that the Datong Army's city-defending artillery seemed to be focused on defending the gap in the city wall.

So the Eight Banners soldiers abandoned their carts and ran quickly carrying simple ladders.

Since the Manchu and Qing tunnels had been dug very far forward, when the Datong Army adjusted their artillery positions, thousands of Eight Banners soldiers had already rushed out of the artillery firing range. The artillery of the Datong Army could only hit the tail of the enemy troops.

It was not that the defenders were negligent, but that the tunnel digging method to attack the city had worked. The forty or fifty days of tunnel work before the Manchu Qing Dynasty was not in vain.

Of course, they rushed to the city so quickly that they could not carry a real siege ladder.

A real ladder has to be pushed like a cart, and its speed is not much faster than a cart.

"Bang bang bang!"

The angle of the artillery was unable to shoot, and the gunmen on the city wall opened fire one after another.

These Eight Banners soldiers rushed out of the artillery range, but they were not really close to the city wall. They could not attack them with rolling wood or falling rocks, so they could only use firecrackers or bows and arrows.

At the cost of more than 300 people, thousands of gunmen ran horizontally, carrying simple wooden ladders and rushed to the gap in the city wall.

Tens of thousands of enemies couldn't hit them. In other words, these Eight Banners soldiers covered their mouths and noses and didn't pay attention to the explosion of ten thousand enemies. Anyway, the explosion is not very powerful, and you are not afraid of shrapnel after wearing double-layer armor. As long as you can withstand lime and chili powder, you will only be injured by shrapnel. Those who are killed on the spot are all unlucky ones.

Finally, the Eight Banners soldiers attacked the earth and stone platform where the city wall collapsed, and the Eight Banners soldiers behind also fired stabbing arrows.

"Bang bang bang!"

They were met with a volley of fire cannons. With the cooperation of thousands of enemies, this round of Manchu and Qing offensive failed again, and the survivors who rushed forward fled one after another.

"kill!"

Obai hacked a defeated soldier to death, led the charge lamely, and climbed up as fast as a normal person.

The fire gun soldiers had already retreated to reload their ammunition, and the rattan players and pikemen quickly replaced them, poking at the enemy at the edge of the earth and stone platform.

This position is very narrow and cannot accommodate many musketeers. If they are all replaced with flintlock guns, they will definitely be able to stand more.

The rattan players of the Datong Army squatted and raised their shields to protect their whole bodies. If they stood, they would easily get their legs chopped off. The pikemen followed closely behind, thrust their spears above the shields, and killed the Eight Banners soldiers who tried to climb up.

Ao Bai was shot twice, but he dodged in time and was not hit in any vital parts. After wearing double armor, he even suffered only minor injuries.

This guy was extremely ferocious. Seeing that he was about to be knocked down, he reached out and grabbed a shield, trying to pull off the shield hand as well.

The rattan player could only give up his shield and slashed at Obai's left hand holding the shield with his sword.

The middle finger and ring finger of Obai's left hand were cut off on the spot, and his whole body fell from the simple wooden ladder.

"Boohoo!"

The Manchu archers at the rear fired heavy arrows diagonally upward from close range.

In an instant, more than a dozen spearmen were hit by arrows, and a few heavy Manchu arrows actually penetrated the shields of the Datong Army.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than 20 bullets were thrown down by the enemy, and they were thrown at the Eight Banners soldiers gathered in the rear. All the firecrackers also moved to the city wall and shot at the Eight Banners soldiers below.

At the same time, the Han army's flag-fire gun soldiers from Wuzhen Chaoha camp also shot at the Datong army on the earth and stone platform.

After the fighting, this place has finally turned into a millstone of flesh and blood, and the number of casualties on both sides is rising sharply.

After being hit by heavy arrows and fire cannons, the Eight Banners soldiers in the front row took the opportunity to rush onto the earth and stone platform, and the offensive and defensive sides were in a complete melee.

However, the death rate in close combat has become smaller. Everyone is wearing armor, and the enemy cannot be hacked to death even if it takes a long time. Instead, it was firecrackers and tens of thousands of enemies, constantly causing damage to the enemy's follow-up troops. The enemy's stabbing arrows were also constantly being thrown, and they were always able to hit several Datong troops in the rear.

Siege battles were also breaking out on the east and west walls.

The Eight Banners soldiers pushed the carts and ladders and quickly approached the city wall. They were not severely bombarded by artillery because most of the artillery was transferred to the north city.

…

The reinforcements of Li Zheng, Xiao Zongxian, and Lu Xiangsheng were already approaching the Manchu camp.

But it's difficult to attack. It's all a circle of trenches and earthen walls.

This is not because Dorgon has learned his lesson and plays dumb, but this has always been the case in the Qing Dynasty. Huang Taiji especially liked to do this. Once he felt that he could not break the city quickly, he would build his own camp to be impregnable. In many cases, Ming reinforcements would be used to attack his camp, and the siege battle would be a defensive battle against the reinforcements.

After suffering hundreds of casualties, Li Zheng decisively stopped the attack and said: "We can't attack hard like this, otherwise we will suffer heavy casualties, and we may not be able to defeat it."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "In the huge city of Gaizhou, it is impossible for the Tatars to dig trenches and build earthen walls everywhere in just two months. Even so, the enemy is storming the city, and it is impossible to fortify everywhere."

Xiao Zongxian analyzed: "Our army has attacked the enemy camp in the north, and there must be heavy troops defending the north. The east of the city is one of their withdrawal channels, and there must be heavy troops. Going to the south of the city is of little use. It is just crossing the river into the city to help the small army. Hu is just guarding the city. How about the west of the city?"

Li Zheng said: "To prevent us from coming to help from the sea, the Tatars have built many forts along the river and coast in the west of the city. I'm afraid they are also heavily guarded!"

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said: "Sea ships can reach the mouth of the Daqing River, but they will be stranded if they sail further inside. The Qing army built artillery shells to prevent us from using small boats to transport food from the Daqing River into the city. We don't use the Daqing River either, but Land to the north of the Daqing River. When you see the trench walls, seize them, and also seize the Tatar forts along the river. There will definitely be no defense against an attack by more than 20,000 people there!"

"But if we go around, we can't block the Tatars' retreat," Xiao Zongxian said. "As long as the casualties are not too heavy, the Tatars can retreat calmly."

Li Zheng supported Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion and said: "You can't make a big fat man out of nothing. This battle is not for the total annihilation of the Tatars. As long as we hold Gaizhou, we will win. Moreover, even if the Tatars are defeated and want to leave, they must leave something behind." .If we don’t feed us, will the Tatar army be able to escape?”

Of course, what is left behind is the rear-cutting troops. This is what the army must do if it wants to evacuate.

Li Zheng is the reinforcement coach. Once he has made a decision, he must execute it.

The reinforcements made a circle from the sea to the north and camped for several days, but then left with more than a hundred casualties. They had to circle again by the sea.

"Your Highness, the enemy has withdrawn, do you want to pursue it?" Suksaha asked.

Dorgon shook his head: "Don't pursue, concentrate on attacking the city. The enemy in the north will definitely not be able to attack, so they will pretend to withdraw to lure us to pursue."

…

The battle in the north of the city was mainly carried out by the Two Blue Banners and the Bordered Red Banner, while the remaining Eight Banners troops attacked the east and west of the city.

Here the fighting was the fiercest and the casualties were the heaviest.

Nurhaci's grandson and Hauge's confidant Yi Bilong said: "Your Majesty, we can't continue fighting like this. The east and west sides were fighting lively, but not many people died. Only our side was in a dangerous battle. Mandahai knew the pros and cons and never refused. How can we contribute, only we warriors of the two blue flags are fighting desperately. This is Dorgon borrowing the help of the Southern Barbarians to deliberately weaken the strength of the two blue flags!"

Hauge waved his hand and said: "Since we are on the battlefield, we should use our full strength and not get involved in the internal grievances of the Eight Banners."

Ye Bilong said anxiously: "We are using all our strength, but Mandahai with the red flag is attacking the same city wall as us. Are the soldiers with the red flag using all their strength? A tough battle is fought with two blue flags!"

"Don't talk nonsense," Hauge scolded, "You are just too preoccupied with your thoughts to fight the war well. When is it? The Southern Barbarians have three cities in Liaodong. If they don't make efforts to capture Gaizhou today, how many days will it take? We won’t even be able to keep Shengjing in the next year!”

Yi Bilong stopped talking and could only retreat silently.

After retreating to his brother, Chao Haer said: "Sixteenth brother, you know what kind of temper the prince is. No matter how hard you try to persuade him, it's useless."

Ye Bilong sighed: "Brother Thirteen, having said that, but... the two blue flags cannot withstand such a fight."

According to the original historical trajectory, Chao Haer should have died during the siege of Jinzhou, but he is still alive and well now. He and Ebilong are half-brothers. Ebilong is the grandson of Nurhaci, and Chaohar's mother is someone else.

Their father was very good at giving birth and gave birth to sixteen sons in total, and several of them died fighting for the Manchus.

Ye Bilong's waist knife was very famous and was still there until the end of the Qing Dynasty. As an imperial envoy, Seshang'a conquered the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Xianfeng gave him the Nibi Long Yao Dao Zhuang Xing. The tooth plate attached to the handle of the knife was engraved with the four characters "Shen Feng Holds Victory". When Qianlong sent Fu Heng to pacify Jinchuan, he also gave him this sword to go on an expedition.

While the two brothers were whispering, Dorgon ordered the soldiers of Mandahai with red flags to step up their attack.

Mandahai did not dare to disobey the military order, so he had to send troops pushing carts and ladders to the north wall to attack the city. The pressure on Hauge's two blue flags suddenly dropped sharply.

At the gap in the city wall, corpses had piled up.

The two sides have been strangled so far, and the Datong Army has only retreated four meters on the earth and stone platform, at the cost of more than 300 deaths.

As for the Eight Banners soldiers who attacked the gap, thousands of them were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. Most of the injured were blown out by tens of thousands of enemies.

Oboi, the first warrior in Manchuria, became lame even though his leg injury healed. Now, two fingers on his left hand were cut off, and his body was injured in seven or eight places, but he was still fighting there.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than ten thousand bullets were thrown down by the enemy. The Eight Banners soldiers who were climbing the earth platform finally couldn't bear it anymore and were blown up and collapsed on the spot.

"kill!"

The Datong officer who led the team to guard the gap was named Li Fuguo. He took the opportunity to order a counterattack, and the defensive position immediately transformed into a charge.

"Well……"

Obai's eyes widened, and then he fell down and was stabbed in the throat by Li Fuguo.

The Eight Banners soldiers in Tushitai were killed and the Datong Army once again fully controlled the gap in the city wall. The Manchu Qing had to organize a new attack.