"Why does the emperor want to attack the city at night? The visibility is poor at night. The defenders are high and our army is low, which is not conducive to attacking the city!" Li Yan, a strategist who rarely appears in public, stood next to Li Zicheng and asked in confusion.
Li Zicheng held up his clairvoyance and said as he looked: "Liu Wenyao's vanguard has come into contact with our army. Although Xiyao won, he told me that these Shandong soldiers are quite capable!"
"Secondly, Wang Yongji, the governor of Ji and Liao of the Ming army, led 5,000 Guanning troops and suddenly appeared in the Yutian area, and Wang Yongji's 1,000 vanguard troops have already arrived near Sanhe! These people did not take the initiative to attack our army after encountering it on the road, but avoided it whenever possible. I am afraid that the night will be long and dreams will arise, so I ordered Zongmin to attack the city overnight!"
Li Yan thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, who is leading Wang Yongji's vanguard troops?"
"Li Xingzhong!"
Hearing this name, Li Yan gave up all his plans to persuade or induce surrender.
Li Xingzhong's father was Li Rusong, and Li Rusong's father was Li Chengliang, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty.
Regardless of whether Li Chengliang really kept the enemy to himself, at least there was no problem with Li Rusong's branch.
"Although the Guanning Army was Wu Sangui's army, many of its generals were loyal to the Ming court. According to Wang Chengyin, the general of Xuanfu, Li Xingzhong was the deputy general of the Central Army of the Governor of Ji and Liao, with more than a thousand men under his command, and his combat effectiveness was not bad!"
As Li Zicheng spoke, he put down his clairvoyance, and the worry in his eyes grew more and more intense.
Liu Wenyao, Wang Yongji, and later Wu Sangui.
Although the people who tried to persuade Wu Sangui to surrender had not yet met him, Wang Yongji's behavior made the problem clear.
What’s worse is that the army is running out of food and fodder.
Food and fodder cannot be limited in supply. There must be enough reserves to stabilize the morale of the army.
In addition, plague broke out in the army.
All these things added up, each one gave him a headache.
So he made up his mind to blow up the city wall today at all costs!
As the gunpowder under the city wall was ignited, the entire sky darkened.
After a brief period of calm, the power of the gunpowder explosion was released.
boom!
As smoke and dust rose into the sky, everyone within a few kilometers of Fuchengmen was affected by the explosion.
The defenders on the city wall only felt a flash of fire and the sound of thunder, and then the earth began to tremble.
Some people who were close to the city wall even fell directly from the top of the city wall, and their lives and deaths were unknown. Some people were directly stunned by the explosion and lay on the ground motionless.
More people had their ears bleeding from the sound of the explosion and just stood there in a daze, holding their weapons.
The Shun army under the city is even worse off!
They had no time to hide, and no place to hide.
The shock wave generated by the explosion spread in all directions without paying attention to anything. The Shun army that was close to it was directly turned into pieces and annihilated under the wheels of history.
Those who were a little further away were blown away by the shock wave and then fell heavily to the ground.
Some were thrown to death, some lay motionless on the ground, and some vomited blood and wailed in a low voice: "Hurry up and save me, I'm not dead yet!"
However, no one paid any attention to them.
Everyone looked at the once indestructible city wall, the wall that had blocked the Shun army for five or six days.
More than thirty meters west of Fuchengmen, a gap nearly twenty meters wide appeared.
Although the city wall collapsed, the bricks and adobes were still there, and the entire gap had turned into a small mound.
Seeing this, the Shun army, which was ambushing in the distance, immediately stood up and rushed over howling.
"Kill! Charge into Beijing and capture Zhu Youjian alive!"
"Those who surrender will not be killed, but those who resist will be executed immediately!"
"Open the city gates and welcome the rebel king. When the rebel king comes, we won't pay taxes!"
Countless Shun troops moved rapidly in the darkness and rushed towards the gap.
The situation of the Ming army defending the city was not much better. In addition to those who were stunned and fell off the city walls, some were buried in the soil because of the collapse of the city walls.
The defenders, who had never seen such a situation, were immediately panicked. This city wall was their confidence and courage to resist the bandits. Once the wall collapsed, their courage to resist also collapsed.
The defenders looked at each other, all standing there at a loss.
Some even tried to turn around and run away.
Lieutenant General Li, the guard at Fucheng Gate, shouted, "Stop right there!"
He snatched the match from the artilleryman, pointed the loaded gunpowder outside the city, and reached out to light the fuse.
boom!
After the cannon fire, Lieutenant General Li yelled, "Those who run away will die! Pick up your weapons and fight with me to serve our country! Kill!"
He picked up the scattered spears on the ground and reached out to knock down a Shun soldier who was climbing up.
The Shun army next to them was not willing to be outdone, and they raised their muskets and bows and crossbows to fire back at Lieutenant General Li.
Lieutenant General Li was not afraid. He looked for cover and ordered the defenders to join the battle.
Seeing this, the fleeing Ming army stopped and rushed towards the Shun army that were climbing up with red eyes.
The attack and defense of the capital began again.
The Shun troops near the gap rushed towards the gap, while the Shun troops far away from the gap continued their daytime work: prying bricks and digging walls.
The defenders on the city wall continued what they had done during the day, killing people, setting fires, and guarding the city walls!
As the first wave of Shun troops fell, the second wave of Shun troops attacked while the defenders were loading gunpowder and ammunition.
They crossed the moat, stepping on the bodies of their companions, and climbed up the collapsed city wall.
Although the defenders on the city fought back desperately, the Shun army that rushed up was too large in number, and the artillery and muskets were being refilled with gunpowder, which caused the Ming army, which relied on firearms, to suffer an instant loss.
Dozens of Shun soldiers climbed over the collapsed city wall and rushed into the city.
"Cannon number one, fire!"
boom!
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
