Although the trench trap of the Zhejiang Army caused the Japanese pirates to lose hundreds of people, except for the Tanghulu Japanese pirates at the bottom of the trench, the other Japanese pirates were very excited. They had been through many battles and knew that this was the last struggle of the Zhejiang Army. After crossing this trench, the Zhejiang Army would let them slaughter them!
Besides, it was just a trench three meters wide and two meters deep, and it was not that difficult to deal with.
The Japanese pirates had captured many counties, and the trenches in front of any of them were much wider and deeper than this one, and some had more than one trench. The trenches in front of the Zhejiang army were nothing to them.
"This ditch is only about two meters deep. You guys jump in carefully, cut off the spear heads, clear a space, throw in a few shields, and place them diagonally at the bottom of the ditch. We'll jump over using the shields."
An experienced team leader in the vanguard of the Japanese pirates shouted and pointed to three Japanese pirates, asking them to jump in carefully avoiding the spearheads, chop off a piece of the spearhead, clear a two-meter-wide path, then have people throw shields into the ditch and build a simple slope for the Japanese pirates to step on and jump out of the trench.
The nearby Japanese pirates followed suit and soon built a dozen slopes in the trench using shields for passage.
Of course, the Zhejiang Army would not sit idly by and watch the Japanese pirates calmly deal with the trenches. During the process, they fired two rounds of muskets, taking the lives of many Japanese pirates. In particular, the Japanese pirates who were clearing the spears and building shields in the trenches were given special care, resulting in the loss of two groups of Japanese pirates before they built a shield slope at the bottom of the trench.
In addition, the Zhejiang Army, which had just fired their muskets, also took this opportunity to load all their muskets and spare gun barrels with ammunition.
"Brothers, kill, charge, charge, chop these bastards who can only fire muskets into pieces!"
The Japanese pirates built their shields, shouted ferociously, and jumped up on the slope of the shield.
A dozen shield slopes formed an attack channel for the Japanese pirates.
Originally, the Zhejiang army's formation was next to the Grand Canal, and the area in front of the formation was not wide, so the Japanese pirates could not deploy their troops. Now they could only attack through these dozen shield slopes, which made it even more difficult for them to deploy. The vanguard of more than 2,000 Japanese pirates stretched for fifty or sixty meters in front of the Zhejiang army's formation, like a ferocious giant python.
Seeing the Zhejiang Army's last line of defense - the trench, with more than ten bloody paths paved by shields, the Japanese pirates who came to reinforce were all excited. Like sharks smelling blood, they stepped on full stamina and rushed forward madly.
In just a few breaths, they successfully joined forces with the vanguard of the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirate team stretched for one hundred and thirty to forty meters long.
About 100 meters in front of the Zhejiang army's formation, there used to be a temporary dock, which was slightly wider. Many Japanese pirates gathered here, accounting for nearly half of their troops.
Viewed from a high place or from a distance, the six or seven thousand Japanese pirates charging into the battle line looked like a giant python with a bloated belly after having just swallowed a huge creature. The area one hundred meters in front of the Zhejiang army's formation was its bloated belly.
"Baka! Baka! Get out of the way, get out of the way, everyone, get out of the way, let me charge forward!"
Hojo Michisan, who came from behind, also arrived with his retainers and bodyguards, and arrived at the tail of the giant python. He brandished a Japanese sword, shouted loudly, and rushed forward unreasonably, clearing a path.
All the Japanese pirates knew that this Japanese chief had a bad temper, so they quickly gave way to him. Hojo Dosan, with his retainers and personal guards, rushed forward.
Although the Zhejiang Army had powerful firearms, their numbers were limited after all, while the Japanese pirates were too numerous. Although they could only rush towards the Zhejiang Army's positions through a dozen shield slopes, their attack was continuous. Although many Japanese pirates fell, many of them successfully broke through to the front of the Zhejiang Army's formation, wielding their weapons to stab and chop the Zhejiang Army behind the wall.
"Hahahaha, the matter has been settled. The Zhejiang Army is finished!"
When the Japanese chieftains such as Xu Hai who were supporting the rear saw this, they looked at each other and couldn't help laughing triumphantly.
The entire Japanese pirate army was filled with an atmosphere of joy and victory.
Compared with the joy of the Japanese pirates' victory, a depressing and heavy atmosphere filled the air above the Suzhou city in the distance.
At this time, the sky was already half light and half dark, and the visibility was much better than at the beginning of the battle. They could vaguely see the fierce fighting situation in Fengqiao Camp from the high city wall.
At this moment, they also saw that the second wave of Japanese pirates attacking Fengqiao Camp had already rushed to the front of the Zhejiang Army, and the third wave of Japanese pirates who came to support had also joined the second wave of Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates attacking Fengqiao Camp stretched for more than 100 meters, and there were so many of them that they were like ants and could not be counted.
Not to mention, the Japanese pirate army behind them was also slowly moving towards the Zhejiang army camp.
In addition, it can be seen that among the Japanese pirate army, there are still some murderous Japanese pirates who have broken away from the Japanese pirate army and rushed towards the Zhejiang army's position.
The densely packed Japanese pirates were like whistling chariots, ruthlessly crushing towards the Zhejiang Army's positions, while the Zhejiang Army's positions were like a praying mantis that stretched out its arms to block the chariot without knowing its own limitations. The outcome was already doomed.
"Alas, the Zhejiang Army is finished..."
"I thought they could resist a little longer, but I didn't expect it to be over so soon..."
After a large number of Japanese pirates rushed towards the Zhejiang army, the people on the city wall began to sigh.
"The Zhejiang Army only has 2,000 people in total. They were able to repel a wave of Japanese pirates. There were too many of them. At the beginning, there were 4,000 to 5,000 people, and another 4,000 to 5,000 were reinforced. The fact that they can resist until now has far exceeded expectations."
When someone heard someone complaining that the Zhejiang Army was finished so quickly, someone immediately spoke up for the Zhejiang Army, which aroused a lot of resonance.
"Oh, this is strange, this is strange. Look, the Zhejiang Army's position is about to be breached by the Japanese pirates. Why haven't Lord Zhu and his men ridden their horses and run away? If they don't run away now, it will be too late..."
Someone on the city wall noticed that there was not even a single horseman running away from the Zhejiang army's position, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"That's right. Not a single Zhejiang soldier escaped. Didn't they have more than a thousand horses?! If you keep the green mountains, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood. If you take a step back, you will have a broader sky. Lord Zhu will not be so desperate that he wants to live and die with the position, right?"
Others also noticed this and kept shaking their heads.
"Which one? When Lord Zhu was calling on the common people to open the city gates, he said that they would fight the Japanese pirates to the death. If the Japanese pirates came, they would first step over the corpses of the Zhejiang army. I didn't expect that Lord Zhu was not just talking, but was serious. He actually swore to fight the Japanese pirates to the death..."
Someone murmured.
"What do you mean by being unable to let go?! A real man should do what he should do and not do what he should not do! This is what an official of the Ming Dynasty court should be like! We should do the same too. As long as Suzhou City is here, we will be here. Even if Suzhou City is gone, our bodies will be here too!" Shang Wei, the governor of Suzhou, could no longer bear it and scolded angrily.
"Yes, yes..."
The officials seemed to be educated, but they did not agree in their hearts. They would not do anything stupid with their lives as they had precious lives.
"What a pity..."
I don't know who started it, but soon sighs were heard on the city wall, and even Shang Weiwei was no exception.
Seeing the Japanese pirates swarming towards the Zhejiang Army's position like ants, everyone observed a moment of silence as if they were attending a memorial service.
If nothing unexpected happens, a lot of paper money will be scattered outside the city tonight to comfort the souls of Zhu Ping'an and the Zhejiang Army...
"Kill, charge!"
"Silver woman, just ahead!"
"Kill him, kill him, kill him..."
A large number of Japanese pirates shouted and killed ferociously, and rushed towards the Zhejiang army one after another, eager to kill.
"The great thing is done, the Zhejiang army is finished, get ready for breakfast!"
Xu Hai and other Japanese chieftains sat in the rear, watching the brave Japanese pirates advance forward, with smiles on their faces as bright as flowers.
At this moment, a big change happened!
“Boom!”
A loud and violent bang suddenly sounded, the sound was like a thunderbolt, the force was like a mountain collapse and the earth shook. A huge deep pit of black fire exploded about a hundred meters in front of the Zhejiang army's formation, and a seven or eight meter high cloud of earth, rocks and gunpowder mixed with smoke was raised.
In an instant, the ground shook as if a dragon was turning over, and the city of Suzhou in the distance seemed to be shaking.