The Luocheng city wall in the outer corner of Jiangling has once again become a fierce battlefield of repeated struggles.
Under the intersecting arrows of the Taiping army and the official army, among the temporary barriers set up across the narrow aisle of the city, one after another spears were thrusting fiercely outside; people continued to fall to the ground and be dragged away again. Someone immediately came up from the bench without hesitation.
At this time, suddenly a dozen jagged cupping pots were thrown from the back row of the Taiping Army, and in a flash, there was a stream of fire and flames, blooming among the crowd of officers and soldiers on the opposite side with almost nowhere to go. Burning and scorching the screams of these officers and soldiers, there is no escape from the sky, and they rushed and jumped from both sides of the city wall in a panic.
Then, with the re-blow of the whistle, these peacekeepers will take advantage of the momentum to push open the barrier barriers, and drop a lot of group cards covered with damp cloth to crush the burning ground and corpses. Under the cover, stepped on these uneven temporary passages, and continued to chase and kill the fleeing figure in the distance with weapons.
I saw them chasing and killing these defeated officers all the way to jump into the city or kneel down to beg for mercy, and they kept surpassing one after another incomplete arrow towers and guard towers; they also used throwing firearms to throw away the remaining officers and army again and again. Driven out and forced out, killed and captured, on the relatively spacious wall.
It wasn't until I approached another city head and gatehouse that I re-encountered the line of officers and saber players neatly lined up in the open; at this time, the peace soldiers in the offensive also replaced the front row rotation relay with their weapons. It is more suitable for the hooked short spear and thin-bladed stabbing sword to be used in the mountains and narrow areas.
I saw them in an orderly block and the fierce movement of knocking and slashing, and the screams and curses they caused; the shield wall composed of the opposing players and the sharp blades has been pulled and pulled open with all their hands. Many gaps came, and the crossbowmen from the rear team pierced and shot arrows, knocking the exposed bodies to the ground.
Then the remaining official saber players couldn't hold on for long, so they screamed. Because there are also peace soldiers who lie down and hide under the hook spear, crawling and rolling under the blind spot of their licensed sight;
They were all wielding sharp and narrow stabbing swords and short knives one after another, piercing the lower legs and lower bodies that were not covered by the officers and soldiers from the bottom up, or severing and chopping off their soles and tendons.
Among the large swaths of blood sprinkled and poured on the ground, the temporary array of these officers and soldiers was like a wall of soil that had been knocked open and smashed. Many corpses and wounded were quickly left behind. Turned around and ran away.
At this time, there was an officer and general who was wearing a black cloak and two armors. He personally took a smaller and more refined guard, and detoured from the other side of the gate tower to face it;
I saw that Kong Wu, who was born to him, was sturdy and leading the way. He held a three-pointed gun and swung his head and head, and suddenly knocked down and overturned the first few peace soldiers who had rushed out of the queue. He shouted loudly in his mouth. Writing:
"Wu, the dirty-footed thief, do you dare to fight with your grandfather Li family..."
But at the same time, on the three-storey gate tower and on the edge of the inner wall, as if responding to his words, many officers and soldiers with bows and arrows protruded from the panes, cornices, and crevices of each place. The figure came; seeing that the intruding Taiping soldier was shrouded in all directions.
However, one step faster than their actions and orders is that they dragged a long arc of smoke in an instant, skimming the peacekeepers into the formation and descending from the sky, smashing the tile roofs, wall panels, window slats of the gate towers, or It is the kerosene tank and poisonous smoke ball that shattered and spattered directly on the inner wall of the rammed earth and the crevice.
Amidst many exclamations and screams, only a few of these pre-ambush archers hurriedly shot the arrows in their hands, and were overturned, knocked down, and scorched by the sudden blows of the burning objects. And Burning have scrambled to escape from the hiding place. It's like a honeycomb that has been roasted by a fire.
At this time, the Xuanzang general had also dropped the door spear that was not good for melee combat, and took a thick-backed square-headed knife to smash a piece of silver wheel, cut off and beheaded several hook-pointed spearheads, and plunged back into it. When it came to the Taiping soldiers, they fought hard; they still shouted from their mouths:
"Children, don't panic, don't be confused, the grass thief's firearm can't be imagined when it's close..."
"The rest will gather soon and let me kill these maidservants... Don't let them have another chance..."
Then he couldn't help showing a certain expression of suspicion and horror before he finished his words; because from these blocked grass thieves’ rear team, they were once again thrown out with a sharp whistle some balls and little balls with sparkles. tank.
"Beware of firearms, put them down and step them out"
The general could not help screaming loudly, and withdrew back to the crowd, personally caught one with the cloak and wrapped it up.
Then I saw the objects thrown by the grass thieves slamming on the helmets and shoulder blades of the officers and soldiers who could not dodge, and when they cried and rolled to the ground, they were trampled and kicked for many times, but they were not broken and burned. With a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, there was a roar that exploded beside him, and it was instantly overturned on the spot and hit the sharp edge of the gatehouse wall, involuntarily spouting a mouthful of blood and passing out on the spot. As the saying goes, it is a unique result.
With the extremely dull sound and air waves spreading, one after another burst of fire and smoke splashed out underneath them and between their legs and feet, and then completely enveloped them.
In an instant, these clusters of officers and soldiers who had been drowning and fighting together were as if they had been emptied of foundation buildings; among the bloody mess radiated by splashes, they collapsed and dented in pieces.
In the blink of an eye, there was not much figure left to continue standing, and his face was gray and his mouth and nose were stained with blood, staring blankly at the surroundings in disbelief.
And among the corpses that turned upside down, although there are many still alive officers and soldiers, they are holding the bloody legs and feet under the armor or the bloody lower body, constantly crying, screaming, Moaning.
. . . . . . .
"What, Luocheng's North Point Gate has also fallen..."
And the Shannan East Road Jiedu that resides in the inner city makes Liu Jurong sternly shouted;
"What did the Heyang army guarding the northern part of the city do for food? It is also known as the strong soldier in the north. Isn't it time for the hedgehog to gather the troops and get it back..."
"It's true that these sneak attacks are too fierce, and they are especially good at defending against formations..."
The general who came from and Yang Jun argued bitterly:
"General Zhang Du led the Erlangs to fight back and forth for a long time, and they were exhausted. They were scattered several times and frustrated. They need a little buffer to reorganize..."
"It's not good, the Pingyang Army at the South Central Gate is also in a hurry, requesting the battalion to send troops quickly to respond and support..."
A Yuhou rushed to report.
"It's unreasonable, they are not the few outside the city, the good and the bad are united under the state, guarding and catching soldiers..."
Liu Jurong couldn't help but scolded again.
"Pingyang Soldiers are not the four thousand people who claim to be the most sophisticated armor, but they also defend the enemy by taking advantage of their location; how can they even be unable to withstand a momentary attack by thieves..."
"But it was the Liu Bingshi who led the troops and attacked the thieves. He was seriously injured by the thieves' firearms during the battle at the head of the city. The army was very frustrated on the spot and rushed to abandon it..."
This Yuhou explained in a hurry.
"The remaining digits, Dutou and Lang will not give way, so they petitioned the commander to send troops to support quickly, and send people to take care of the follow-up situation..."
Then, Liu Jurong raised his hand and looked towards the south of the city. There was another plume of smoke that was newly lit up, curling up in the sky, like an invisible mockery and provocation to him.
"Then the Qingzhou army who went to the east corner to recapture the door, why haven't they taken it down yet..."
Liu Jurong couldn't help asking again.
"These thieves are really cunning..."
A Qingzhou army general who was present at the scene responded quickly.
"Not only did they prepay for an ambush in the city under the city, they also set fire to many civilian houses... so that the army was blocked in the follow-up and the front team was unable to use all their strength, so they had to retreat and reorganize..."
Do these Qingzhou troops think that everyone else is stupid, and they can say that it is difficult to overcome the enemy in front of themselves, but they are too blind to talk. Liu Jurong suddenly felt tired and haggard and pressed his abruptly beating forehead, trying to maintain his sobriety and calmness.
Why did I send to retake the Nanjiao Gate and Dongjiao Gate for a long time and have not made any progress? Instead, they have repeatedly made breakthroughs on the edge. He faintly felt that he had fallen into the battlefield rhythm and exchange tactics dominated by the opponent.
Thinking farther, why is there so many twists and turns when hitting a grass thief entrenched in the Jiangling area in this area? It is clear that after such a long time, the grass thief in the periphery should also be cleaned up. almost.
These military formations are stern and quite powerful, but they have never heard of grass thieves before, but where did they come out? Could it be Huang Ni's elite who turned his head and killed him? But he had only heard of Huainan before. Once the army was out of battle, they would defeat the main force of the grass thieves in succession; it was said that they had beheaded tens of thousands and captured tens of thousands, and forced down several grass thieves.
Even Huang Chao, who was the head of the grass thieves, was unable to resist the Huainan soldiers for a while and went south to Jiangxi; where did these grass thieves come from. Could it be that the news ahead was wrong or that the Huainan army had falsely reported the thief, which caused the main force of the grass thieves to flee to their side.
You must know that according to the tacit understanding and agreement reached in the book by the Gao Linggong and Gao Shixiang who used to be friends with him; it is defined by the observing emissary of Eyue who was invaded by the thief.
In the east, Jiangdong, Liangzhe, Xuanzhen, Fujian and part of the Jiangxi boundary are the approximate areas for the Huainan Army to fight against thieves. The westward Hunan, Jingnan, Shan (nan) East and most of Jiangxi are the basic categories for him and Cao Quanzhu to fight against thieves.
Therefore, he had gone against the normal state of wide-ranging thieves and spared no effort to drive his subordinates to fight for the restoration of Jiangling, in order to grasp the principle of this Jingnan Jiedu envoy, as well as the well-connected water and land pivots and the prosperous land; in order to chase after him In the process of suppressing thieves, or negotiating with the court for benefits and rewards, gain more initiative and freedom of advance and retreat.
It is also because of the hard work of his army and tooth soldiers in the town that they have accumulated corresponding casualties and exhaustion; the so-called reason is that they cannot pass through Luzhen at the end of the strong crossbow; therefore, they need to take turns to arrange for them to carry out plundering activities in Jiangling City. , As a reward for venting and disguised.
This is a tradition that he cannot impose a change as a commander. Therefore, he would hand over the peripheral guards and city defenses to the guest and state soldiers. Now it seems that in the face of these sudden thieves, this arrangement is obviously a serious failure and miss.
Moreover, since these thief forces have appeared here upright; that also means that several divisions have been assigned to the south to recover the lost ground, including the three thousand loyal military troops led by Zhou Yanling, and the elite Huaizhou soldiers under Li Hanzhi; With the arrangements in Tanzhou City that are ready to submit and the court anyway, they can no longer count on it.
In addition to those Shannan local state forces that have been defeated or defeated outside the city, it can be said that at least one-third of his plan to recover south this time has been relied on, that is, he has gone. But at least compared to those who are subordinate to the army, whose performance is very different between the tailwind and the contrarian; the tooth soldiers and most of the camp soldiers who are living in the inner city are still intact and can be especially good for a fight.
So a choice of where to go was also put in front of him by the change of the situation; whether to fight or not to fight, or how to persevere in this intrusive chaos. At this time, in the direction of Yacheng where the Jiedu Envoy Mansion was located, there was another burst of rapid killing.
Liu Jurong couldn't help but sighed heavily, he no longer had to make a choice. (End of this chapter)