To conquer a heavily garrisoned city like Yangzhou City, which had been reinforced with various fortifications for a year and reinforced with numerous artillery pieces, it was naturally impossible to defeat it in one rush.
If they charge directly without any preparations, the charging troops may be beaten into a hornet's nest by dozens of field guns and hundreds of shotguns from the Ming army on top of the city.
Therefore, Hao Bainian had made adequate preparations before launching the general offensive. During the nearly ten days of shelling, more than 5,000 rounds of grenades were fired, and tens of thousands of solid artillery shells weighing more than five kilograms were fired.
Bombardment was only one aspect. The main purpose of bombardment was to suppress the artillery of the Ming Army, kill some of the Ming Army, and lower the morale of the Ming Army. At the same time, the Third Army also carried out large-scale civil engineering operations, with trenches extending in all directions.
There were also tunnels, and they even dug large trenches to allow some of the heavy howitzers to fire at close range, and then built a howitzer firing position less than 300 meters away from the city wall.
In the previous preparation time, they built a lot of civil work, filled in the moat, dug tunnels and buried a large amount of explosives.
Using explosives to blast city walls has been a common method used by the Tang Army to conquer cities. Since it is facing a large-scale fortified city and artillery cannot directly destroy the city wall, the Datang Army will always choose to blast it.
And now, the blasting of Yangzhou City was successful. The violent explosion directly caused the collapse of this section of the city wall. Although the city wall was very thick and high, even after it collapsed, it was like a hill. But even if
Rugged bricks and stones are easier to climb than straight walls!
The soldiers of the assault battalion, who had been prepared in advance, immediately moved forward after the explosion was successful. They had to quickly climb to the top of the ruins and resist the Ming army's counterattack, opening a passage for the following army!
At the same time, tens of thousands of soldiers participating in the charge at the rear also followed up. With so many people, it was naturally impossible for them all to squeeze into the blasting point. Instead, they launched an attack on almost three walls. This was to share the burden.
Pressure on the main attack point.
Of course, if you are lucky enough, these troops attacking the flanks can also climb to the top of the city to open a gap.
But now, what both sides are most concerned about is not the ordinary soldiers who are rushing over with long ladders, but the Tang Army assault camp that rushed over in advance and is already less than thirty meters away from the blasting point!
After the soldiers of the assault battalion jumped out of the trench one after another, they quickly ran towards the ruins of the city wall that were still filled with smoke and dust. Although they were all wearing heavy armor, and more than half of them even wore heavy full body armor, they could
The soldiers selected into the assault battalion are almost all the most elite sword and shield wielders in the army.
Quite a few of them are still soldiers!
As the scale of the Tang Army gradually expanded, the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, which was composed of standing soldiers from various chieftains, was also disbanded, and the most elite soldiers of nearly a thousand people were redistributed.
, coupled with the elite sword and shield soldiers selected from the military, they were organized into four independent assault battalions!
Its organization is different from other units of the Tang Army. It adopts an organization that focuses on close combat, with heavy armored sword and shield soldiers as the core, supplemented by a small number of archers, grenadiers, and spearmen.
The number of people is also relatively large, each assault battalion has about 600 people, more than half of the soldiers are equipped with full-body armor, and the rest are in half-body armor.
The assault battalions participating in the battle this time were actually the First Assault Battalion and the Second Assault Battalion, a total of two assault battalions.
The combat missions of these assault battalions are still the same as before, with the core of storming and ascending the city!
When the two assault battalions rushed up, although the Ming army hurriedly fired shots and fired artillery, not many could be fully prepared in such a short period of time. At the same time, in the walls on both sides of the ruins, the Ming army soldiers
The quantity is also limited.
It is impossible for them to deploy tens of thousands of people in a section of the city wall. Even if they wanted to do this, they would not be able to fit on the city wall!
What's more, the Ming army on top of the city is now suffering the most violent firepower ever given to the Tang Army!
Almost half of the artillery in the Tang Dynasty Army was aimed at the nearby area, and the musketeers from an infantry regiment of the Fifth Infantry Division followed behind the assault battalion, and then about 100 meters away from the city wall.
Line up and fire at the city head from a distance of 60 meters!
Even if they do this, they will inevitably be killed and wounded by the Ming army, but in order to cover the assault camp, these sacrifices must be made.
To capture Yangzhou City and defeat the 100,000 Ming troops in the city, it is absolutely impossible without paying a certain price.
Whether it is Hao Bainian, the commander of this battle, or Li Xuan in Jinling City at the rear, they have already made certain estimates of the casualties. As long as they can capture Yangzhou and defeat the 100,000 Ming troops in the city, even if there are seven or eight casualties,
Thousands or even tens of thousands of people, it's all worth it.
Because once the Ming army in Yangzhou City is eliminated, it is almost impossible for the Ming Dynasty to assemble such a large-scale new army further north.
The battle continues!
On the top of the city, Zhao Donggang personally fired the cannon, hitting a square formation of the Puppet Tang rebels outside the city. He watched with his own eyes as the cannonball rolled in the square formation of the Puppet Tang rebels, killing and wounding more than ten people.
Talent just stops.
But now, he had no joy in killing the enemy, because he found that the Puppet Tang thief army on the opposite side was getting closer and closer, and there were more and more of them, and the gunfire power of the Puppet Tang thief army was getting stronger and stronger.
And when a large number of musketeers from the puppet Tang rebel army arrived at the city wall, their volleys of gunfire were enough to kill and wound anyone who dared to stand upright at the top of the city.
However, these are not what he is most concerned about. What concerns him the most and worries him the most is that the assault camp of the puppet Tang rebel army has already broken through his own fire interception and climbed to the top of the ruined city!
Although the adults had dispatched many soldiers to resist, they still could not resist the advance of the Puppet Tang thief army's assault camp!
Moreover, Zhao Dong pessimistically believes that our friendly forces may not be able to drive these thief assault camps off the city. Once the puppet Tang thief army is allowed to gain a foothold at the top of the city, they will quickly attack both sides.
The city wall on the side is pushed forward, and then it is enough to occupy the city head that is dozens or even hundreds of meters wide.
At that time, a large number of infantry from the puppet Tang rebel army in the rear will be able to rush in continuously through this gap.
By then, Yangzhou will be finished!
Zhao Dong was only a low-ranking officer in the Ming army, but he could still see the risks involved. Naturally, other senior generals in the Ming army could also see it, even more clearly than Zhao Dong.
"Quick, go up and block it, we must not let them rush up!"
A Ming army commander shouted for his soldiers to quickly rush to the ruins to resist the puppet Tang rebels. Although his soldiers were not many, only more than 300 people, they were all armored men.
This heavy armored force under the commander of the Ming army is also one of the many temporarily formed heavy armored troops in the Ming army specifically to deal with the assault camps of the puppet Tang rebels. These heavy armored troops are usually deployed in
Behind each section of the city wall, they can avoid artillery attacks. When a battle breaks out, especially when the assault battalion of the puppet Tang rebel army rushes up, they will immediately board the city to resist. Well, even if the city wall has become
ruins
The Ming army commander also climbed up the ruins at this time. The collapsed city wall almost turned into a hill made of sand and stone. It was rugged and difficult to climb, let alone lining up on it. So what he saw was,
On the top of the ruins, the soldiers from both sides were almost fighting independently. At most, there would be some small cooperation between three or two soldiers!
Those soldiers were all soldiers who had been at the nearby city wall and rushed over immediately, but the fight was extremely difficult. No, it couldn't even be said to be difficult. It should be said that they had no power to resist.
Facing the thieves of the Pseudo-Tang Assault Battalion who were wearing heavy armor and with only two eyes exposed, these ordinary Ming soldiers were simply unable to resist, even though they were border soldiers with good qualities in all aspects.
This is equipment and physical crushing, and has nothing to do with the strength of one's personal martial arts.
Looking outside from the top of the ruins, I saw densely packed soldiers of the Pseudo-Tang rebel army climbing up, numbering no less than a thousand!
And further behind, there are still many pseudo-Tang bandits running towards them!
This small gap has already attracted thousands of puppet Tang rebel troops to swarm in. As the first batch of supporting troops, the number of our own troops is only three hundred.
Even though there are many friendly troops coming from behind, I still have to support myself until they arrive!
When the Ming army commander rushed up with a group of Ming army heavy armored infantry, the melee combat between the two sides broke out violently again!
Both sides were wearing heavy armor, so the fight was barely evenly matched. Of course, the armor still had protective properties, but in such a short and intense battle, it was almost negligible.
After a fierce battle, they finally killed half of the dozens of soldiers from the Puppet Tang Assault Battalion who had climbed to the top of the ruins, and drove the rest away.
But soon, they saw the puppet Tang bandit army, and they all threw out a bunch of small black dots!
Seeing this small black spot, he secretly said something bad!
As a veteran general who had fought many battles with the puppet Tang rebels, he could recognize it at a glance. This was the explosive bomb of the puppet Tang rebels!
Facing such explosive bullets at close range, even if you are wearing heavy armor, it is of no use at all. There is only one way to avoid death!
Ever since, I heard him yelling urgently: "Get down, everyone, get down, this is a bomb!"