Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 170 Battle of Zhenjiang (3)

Although Wu'an Town has mostly new recruits and its overall combat effectiveness is not high, the morale of the soldiers is high, and they have been trained for a long time and have sufficient food and wages. Even so, Zhao Yongping has a feeling that this battle will not be easy.

However, the reality was much more cruel. The defenders occupied the advantageous terrain and they launched a fierce counterattack on Wu'an Town with bows and arrows, wooden planks, stones and artillery. Many soldiers of Wu'an Town fell in a pool of blood in the first confrontation.

"Throw the kerosene cans and burn this siege tower!" an officer on the top of the city wall shouted. After hearing the order, the Qing soldiers guarding the city threw the kerosene cans they had prepared at the siege tower.

I saw several kerosene tanks drawing an arc in the air and landing accurately on the siege tower. As the rockets shot over, the kerosene splashed everywhere and quickly burned after coming into contact with the wooden structure of the siege tower. The fire grew bigger and bigger, thick smoke billowed, and the raging flames licked the tower body, making crackling sounds.

The Meng army in the siege tower panicked and tried to put out the fire, but the fire grew bigger and bigger and could no longer be controlled. Some soldiers were burned and screamed in pain, while others desperately fled to the bottom of the tower.

As the fire spread, the siege tower began to shake, and finally collapsed under the heavy load. The huge tower body hit the ground, causing a cloud of dust. The originally aggressive Meng army soldiers saw this and their morale was immediately frustrated, while the defenders on the top of the city cheered.

Zhao Yongping looked at the tragic scene in front of him and couldn't help feeling anxious. Although Ningwu Town failed to break into the city yesterday, they climbed up the wall several times and caused heavy casualties to the Qing army. However, the fierce battle had lasted for two hours and the soldiers who climbed the city could hardly hold on for a moment.

Some soldiers were even so frightened by the bloody scene that they completely lost their courage, dropped their weapons, turned around and fled in a panic, but were soon executed on the spot by the ruthless supervision team, and their heads were hung high on the battle flag as a warning to others.

Just as the battle was tense, a messenger rushed over and said to Meng Jun: "Reporting to the governor, the troops of Bai Tongzhen in the south city have attacked the city wall. Bai Tongzhen requests the governor to attack the east city immediately."

Meng Jun was delighted when he heard this and praised: "Bai Tongzhen is indeed a veteran general. Report back to Bai Tongzhen as soon as possible. I know about this."

As the messenger galloped away, Meng Jun ordered: "Changlin Town, attack!"

The messenger quickly passed down the order, and the rumbling drumbeats became rapid again.

The soldiers of Changlin Town held sharp weapons in their hands, with determination and courage in their eyes.

With a burst of passionate war drums, the attack began. The Wu'an Town troops along the way made way. These soldiers looked at the Changlin Town soldiers with strange expressions, some ashamed, some relieved. Changlin Town rushed all the way to the city wall, and still had few casualties. It was not until they began to climb the city wall that casualties gradually began to appear.

The defenders on the city wall fought hard. They fought back with stones, hot oil and bows and arrows, trying to stop the attack of the Meng army. From time to time, Meng army soldiers were shot down by the defenders. There were layers of corpses under the city wall, but the Changlin Town Army was well-trained and had experienced many bloody battles. They risked casualties and withstood the attacks of the defenders and continued to climb the ladders. Some soldiers had already climbed onto the city wall and engaged in close combat with the defenders.

The battlefield was filled with deafening cries of killing and flashes of swords. The bravery of the soldiers climbing the city walls put the defenders in a passive position. Several parts of the city walls were climbed up, but Zhenjiang City was tall and the number of climbing soldiers was less than the defenders. Although they were caught in a fierce battle and barely maintained a small area, they were unable to expand the results of the battle.

There were corpses piled up on the top of the city wall, and the sounds of fighting, roaring, and weapons clashing resounded throughout the city wall. Zhenjiang City was in chaos.

Commander Zeng Daowei knew that Meng Jun disliked him, and his pride would not allow him to be servile to a warrior, so he simply stayed on the other side, with only two aides and a group of Jinyiwei guards around him.

Zeng Daowei looked at the cruel battlefield. Although his eyesight was not good, the roaring sounds, and the smell of blood mixed with the smell of gunpowder kept drilling into his ears and nasal cavity.

The battlefield was different from what he had imagined. There were not too many strange strategies, no burning of Bowang Fort or burning of rattan armor soldiers like in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There was only an upright army, with the outcome of the war decided by the soldiers' charge.

"Commander-in-chief, look at the murderous aura rising to the sky. If he enters Nando, wouldn't the country be overthrown?" The staff beside Zeng Daowei looked around and whispered to Zeng Daowei.

Zeng Daowei's heart moved, as if he was thinking about something. These days, he basically couldn't see any generals he wanted to see. If he didn't get rid of Meng Jun, he was afraid that the Ming Dynasty would really be overthrown. But he knew that now was not the time. If he couldn't capture Nandu, wouldn't he be doing something stupid that would make his relatives sad and his enemies happy?

Thinking of this, he whispered to his staff: "Walls have ears, don't say that again!"

The battlefield was still tense. As time went by, the damage to the siege equipment became more and more serious. Meng Jun frowned. Didn't Bai Yongfu say he would climb the city wall? How come there was no change in the city after so long?

Thinking of this, Meng Jun immediately ordered Xia Wanchun to go to the south to find out what was going on.

Just as Xia Wanchun was walking for a while, several cavalrymen from the south came running to Meng Jun and said urgently: "Reporting to the Grand Commander, Bai Tongzhen said that the South City could not be captured, and the army has stopped the siege."

Meng Jun suddenly felt speechless, sighed and said: "Sound the horn and retreat."

The Meng army’s main tent.

Zhao Yongping said to Meng Jun with some shame: "Commander-in-chief, I feel ashamed of your trust. I failed to attack the city and damaged the morale of the army."

Meng Jun comforted him: "Although Wu'an Town has been training for a long time, it has never fought a major battle. This is normal."

At this time, Bai Yongfu walked in hurriedly with a frustrated look on his face and said, "Damn it, we've already entered the city, and the Qing soldiers are about to collapse, but the commander of the South City actually poured kerosene all over the top of the city and had people throw a pile of wood. The fire was so severe that even the city gate tower was burned down. The soldiers were simply suppressed by the fire." After saying that, Bai Yongfu was so angry that he took off his helmet and put it heavily on the table.

Qian Biao and Wang Fugui both had gloomy looks on their faces, and Qian Biao's face was covered in blood. It was obvious that he had personally arrived at the front of the battle to command.

Meng Jun also sighed when he heard this, and then asked: "Who is the commander of the South City?"

"His name is Wang Yuan. He's from Shanxi and is a deputy general," Bai Yongfu replied.

"What are you afraid of? If we can go up to the city once, we can do it a second time and a third time. He can still use kerosene to burn it every time," Qian Biao said aggrievedly.

Everyone talked about it. Although they felt frustrated about today's siege, they still had great confidence in breaking through Zhenjiang City. However, Meng Jun knew that if they could not break through Zhenjiang City again, the defenders might have lost confidence and then climbing the city would not be as smooth as it had been in the past two days.

…………

into the night.

Meng Jun slept with his clothes on. The occasional artillery sounds in the past two days had made Meng Jun somewhat accustomed to the sound. Just when Meng Jun was dozing off, he heard hurried footsteps and Meng Jun immediately opened his eyes.

Yu An called out from outside the tent: "Grand Commander!"

Meng Jun immediately sat up and said, "Come in."

"Grand Commander, due to the bombardment of the east city, a large gap has been opened in Zhenjiang City." Yu An said excitedly to Meng Jun.

"Let's go and see"