Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 691 Entering Nantong

A few Qing soldiers blocked a long ladder on the city wall, stabbing with sharp long knives and sharp spears. From time to time, soldiers of the Lu army were stabbed and fell down screaming. He fought back with the weapon in his hand, watched the elite soldiers on the battleship, and saw that his side was blocked and could not climb the city, so he immediately bent his bow and set up an arrow, and called and shot them condescendingly.

Two Qing soldiers were shot down by arrows, and the Qing soldiers behind immediately filled in. The two sides fought endlessly on the city. One after another, Lu soldiers roared and rushed towards the city wall. Some of them were stabbed to death and fell. , but many more jumped onto the walls.

Just when the situation was about to be opened, there was a rush of footsteps, and the Qing soldiers from the brigade climbed up the steps on the inner side of the city wall. It was Liu Qingtai who dispatched troops from the south gate.

With the addition of this group of troops, the disadvantages of the Qing soldiers at the top of the city were gradually offset. Nantong's city wall was not wide, and now it was almost crowded with people cutting each other.

All of a sudden, the spears flew back and forth on the city wall, the sharp spears pierced the armor, the swords flew up and down, and the cold light flickered intermittently to cut off the hands and feet and kill people.

An opponent who was fighting was cut by the opponent at the same time. A Qing soldier was slashed through his throat with a knife. He fell on his back on the city wall and covered his neck with his hands. He wanted to scream, but he could only make a gurgle sound from his throat. Flowing out from between the fingers, the face contorted for a while, the body shook a few times, then suddenly froze and died completely.

On the city wall, people were chopped down and stabbed to death everywhere.

Soldiers of the Lu army roared together, and kept rushing up the city wall from the boats, and hacked and killed each other with the Qing soldiers on the city wall. Blood and flesh splattered, and blood mist rose from time to time. The dense crowd crowded the city, making it impossible for both sides to dodge. He could only frantically chop and stab the enemy with his sword and gun. The scene was tragic, and it was not an old soldier who could not bear such a fight.

The sound of the battle drums outside the city changed again, and the 1000 elite Lu troops immediately stood up. After a few words of mobilization from the generals, they waved the command flag in the middle and moved towards the canal to join the siege battle.

At this time, Zhang Mingzhen didn't know how many troops Xie Qian had invested in attacking the North City, but the 4000 elite Lu Army and 2000 dare-to-fight Gaoyuan Army had been invested in the attack on the East City. soldiers, but the advantage of the Lu army is still not obvious. On the contrary, a warship can no longer control the fire and burns on the canal.

For the Lu army, ships are the foundation of their foothold, which is why Zhang Mingzhen wants to attack the city with elites. If the Qing army is not consumed by the cannon fodder attack, but the Qing army is allowed to burn the warships, then the Lu army will suffer a lot. Without the boats, the army can only fill the river honestly, which is too time-consuming, which is in the hands of Duoduo.

Zhang Mingzhen put down the binoculars, listened to the shouts of killing coming from the city, and watched the new troops continue to go into the killing, suddenly turned his head and said to the general beside him: "If this continues, it will become a fuel battle. Order Xie Qian, Beicheng The offensive should be more violent, and don't let the Qing soldiers deploy troops to support Dongcheng."

"No!" A chess and card officer heard the order, clasped his fists in response, then immediately turned around, rushed to the side of the horse, got on the horse, and galloped away.

Zhang Mingzhen looked back at the generals around him, and then ordered: "Order Ruan Jin, let him lead people to break through the collapsed place, attack from the left to the city gate, and open the city gate! Liu Shixun, you take five hundred Superintendent, cut down the suspension bridge for this superintendent."

"No!" A hulking black-faced general behind him immediately responded, flicked his cape, and turned to dispatch troops.

On the turret of a warship, Ruan Jin was wielding a knife and directing the soldiers to climb the city to fight. Suddenly, he heard the chess and card officer come to deliver an order, and his eyes fell on the collapsed city wall.

It was a three-foot-wide slope, and many bricks and stones rolled into the moat. However, because the Lu army did not fill the river to attack the city, the Lu army could not flood into the city from here on a large scale, but it did rush into the city here. an important channel.

Ruan Jin got the general order, immediately beat the small drum, waved the flag, commanded that on both sides of the collapsed city wall, soldiers of the Lu army pressed in from both sides, and then ordered an elite soldier to step up the frontal onslaught from the warship facing the collapsed place. , forming a three-sided attack.

He himself also held a saber, and beckoned the guards to rush up the long ladder, and charged towards the top of the city.

At this time, the fierce battle at the city gate had already begun. Liu Shixun took five hundred supervisors and stormed the city gate, occupying a section of the city wall. On the suspension bridge, he stepped on the city wall with one foot, and as soon as he took out the short axe, an arrow shot him in the shoulder.

Seeing this, the Qing soldier wanted to shoot again, but just as he drew his bow and arrow, a stray arrow hit his throat, and he immediately fell to the ground clutching his throat.

As Zhang Mingzhen continued to increase his troops, there were not many Qing soldiers on the city wall. Although they had a geographical advantage, their advantage was not obvious under the action of buildings and ships. Stopped the continuous attack of the Lu army.

Especially at the collapsed place, facing pressure from three directions, the dead Qing soldiers rolled down the slope, and a high pile of corpses had already been piled up.

Seeing this, Liu Qingtai found that the Lu army had strengthened the attack on the collapsed site and the city gate, and quickly understood Zhang Mingzhen's intentions, but he understood, but his strength was not enough.

3000 Qing soldiers, focusing on defending the east wall. At the beginning, there were 500 people defending, 200 people in the north, and more than 2000 people in the other two gates. He has already transferred 200 people from the south, and there are only more than [-] people. Guarding the south gate, if you transfer now, you can only transfer the defenders of the west gate, but the west gate is no better than the south gate, there are Gaoyuan bandit troops outside the city.

At this time Liu Qingtai was being protected, when suddenly a Qing soldier beside him was shot down by an arrow. The situation was critical. He saw the soldiers of the Lu army waving their rattan badges and fending off several stabbing spears. Yuan Jun took the opportunity to thrust his long spear over, and the tip of the spear pierced the Qing soldier's abdomen, pushing the Qing soldier down to the commanding height of the slope, and then kicked the Qing soldier out, causing the body to roll down.

At this time, a general of the Lu army also came up the slope from the side. As soon as he jumped down, he beheaded a Qing army general. Instead, these Lu troops occupied the commanding heights of the slope, forming a spear formation and stabbing down. The Qing soldiers couldn't resist, and those who were killed retreated steadily.

Seeing this, Liu Qingtai didn't care much, and hurriedly ordered: "Hurry up, transfer 1000 people from Ximen."

A soldier got the order and hurried down to the city with a knife on his waist, but he was shot to death by the Lu army on Wangdou after only a few steps.

Seeing this, a personal soldier rushed down the city wall without ordering.

At this time, there was a loud "bang" at the city gate, and the iron chain holding the suspension bridge was cut off by Liu Shixun and others.

A few soldiers got up quickly, dragging Liu Shixun with a few arrow shafts inserted into his body, while many Gao Yuan soldiers who were sitting on the ground had already stood up, and they cheered loudly at the moment when the suspension bridge fell , Pushing the car that crashed into the city, it rushed down the city.

The leaky house was rained all night, and many Lu troops had rushed up to the collapsed site. They attacked from above, but the Qing soldiers turned to attack from their backs. After being stabbed a few times with long spears, they were afraid to move forward and did not dare to climb up.

At this time, the general Ruan Jin suddenly flew out the rattan badge in his hand horizontally, smashing the heads of several Qing soldiers, he immediately yelled, saw the opportunity and rushed down, slashed with his sword, covered in blood, the Lu army was attacked by the general Encouraged, all of them opened their mouths and yelled loudly, the Qing soldiers shrank their necks, and the soldiers of the Lu army rushed down with their weapons in hand to fight.

It rushed down at a high speed, coupled with the momentum, the Qing soldiers below were immediately pushed back a long way, and some Qing soldiers saw that they could not resist, turned around and fled back.

For a moment, hundreds of Lu troops rushed into the city from the collapsed place, but they did not chase after the fleeing Green Battalion soldiers. Ruan Jin pointed at his sword and shouted, "City gate!"

Lu Jun followed the street near the city wall and rushed to the city gate more than 200 steps away.

The first time Liu Qingtai saw him, his face turned pale, and he sat slumped on the ground. Several Qing soldiers hurriedly lifted him up, and a chief executive asked anxiously, "My lord, what should we do now?"

Liu Qingtai, a literati who voted for the Qing Dynasty, naturally has no integrity to speak of. He sighed and found an excuse for himself, "The country is in trouble, and it is time to employ people. If you can defend Nantong by death, you can die. But if it does not help, it will be a death in vain, not taken by the wise."

What he meant was that the city might not be able to be defended, but he didn't want to die, and even if he died, he couldn't change the fact that the city was broken, so he still wanted to leave a useful body.This is in line with the logic of the literati in the Qing Dynasty that those who know current affairs are heroes, seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

He pushed away and supported his personal guards, and said righteously to several generals: "Everyone, if you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about no firewood. The Qing Dynasty still needs us to serve. Nantong can't be defended, so it's better to leave some useful ones behind." Body, immediately break through!"

The officers of the green battalion were relieved after hearing this. The brutality of this battle has reached the limit of the green battalion soldiers. If the fight continues, they themselves have no reason to convince themselves.

Mr. Zhou Qian who was at the side heard that Liu Qingtai was going to break through, but he felt anxious, and said Duduo's words out loud, "My lord, Lord Yu, if you can't hold out for a month, you and your whole family will be killed." .”

Liu Qingtai didn't expect that when he uttered such a sentence at this moment, his face turned red, and he almost died of anger.

It just so happened that those who went to the west gate to transfer troops came back and fought with the Lu army who rushed to the city gate, but they said that they transferred a thousand people, but actually less than half of them came. Liu Qingtai knew that something must have happened, Thinking that the current difficulties will not be overcome, let alone guarding for a month.It was impossible to do this at all, and he was so anxious that he fainted immediately.

Seeing this, all the green battalion generals were stunned, and suddenly one of them said: "Your Excellency just said that if you keep the green hills, you are not afraid of running out of firewood. Let us break through immediately."

After a few people reacted, they set up Liu Qingtai, and immediately broke up with a bang. Mr. Zhou Qian stomped his feet and went down the city in a hurry.

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(End of this chapter)