Night Owl led the way, leading his suicide squad to climb up to the top of the city wall, grabbing the rope. Just as they were about to reach the top, they suddenly heard bursts of strange laughter coming from the city wall.
Then Yemaozi and the others felt their hands loosen, and the taut ropes suddenly broke, and the suicide squad fell down like dumplings under the city.
Amid screams, fires were lit up on the city walls to illuminate the sky. The officers and soldiers defending the city laughed heartily in glee, while throwing boulders and wooden planks down the city walls to beat the fallen.
In fact, the insider who had high hopes for the team was labeled as a "suspected collaborator" during the first round of investigation by the internal liaison team. The intelligence team would arrange special personnel to secretly follow all suspects, but he was caught red-handed as soon as he made his move.
As the old saying goes, force can defeat skill. In the face of organizational capabilities that transcend the times, all evil tricks are exposed.
Then, they used the same trick to send the pirates who were trying to steal the city away...
In the darkness, the suicide squad suffered heavy casualties. They didn't care about the night owl's life or death, and fled back to the ship.
Finally, Zeng Yiben counted the number of people and found that more than 30 people were killed, including Ye Maozi. Although the loss was not large, the continuous setbacks made him very embarrassed.
Without looking at the gloating expressions of Pepper Old and the others, he tapped his pipe heavily and ordered in a hateful voice:
"Tomorrow we will gather our army and attack the city from all four sides! My people will attack from the east, so you guys can each choose a side to attack!"
Pepper Lao and the others did not object, after all, they were not here to watch the fun. In addition to waving flags and shouting, they also had to go down to contain the government troops.
These sea masters are extremely smart and know when to take it easy and when to fight desperately. After all their tricks failed, "blooming in all directions" is the most effective way to attack the city.
Because Chaozhou is a large city with a circumference of more than ten miles and surrounded by water on three sides. The pirates are numerous and powerful, and can give full play to their military strength and attack in multiple places, thus diluting the already weak defense force. They can also rely on the fleet to maneuver quickly, making the defenders feel stretched and unable to focus on one thing while paying attention to another. Once a gap is opened, they can quickly concentrate their forces and charge into the city.
Things had come to this point, and they couldn't just sit there without shedding any blood, so they each chose a direction and returned to their ships to discuss with their men how to attack the city tomorrow.
~~
The battle situation on the second day was indeed different.
The battle first broke out at Guangji Gate. Zeng Yiben was fearless and ordered his warships to approach the river bank at the risk of running aground, and used the ship's artillery to concentrate on bombarding the city walls.
The cannons of his pirates were obviously more powerful than those of the government troops on the city walls. At such a close distance, even on a floating boat, they could still maintain a high hit rate.
Amid the roar of cannons, shells whistled and hit the walls of Chaozhou City. Fortunately, the walls of the Ming Dynasty were thick. If it were the shoddy construction of Japan, it would have been smashed down by this row of cannons.
Even so, the officials and civilians defending the city were still suppressed behind the arrow stacks and could not raise their heads. The cannons they set up on the top of the city were paid special attention by the pirate gunners with superb shooting skills, and many of them were destroyed.
In fact, it is useless if it is not destroyed. Firing a cannon is a very valuable skill that cannot be mastered in a short period of time. In Zhao Hao's marine police force, except for the gifted Chu Liuxiang, most gunners have to study theory for a long time and practice repeatedly to improve their hit rate.
Although the wealthy families all have cannons hidden in their homes, it is inconvenient to practice firing cannons in public. First, there is no place, and second, it is too conspicuous. Therefore, the main purpose of their cannons is to ward off evil spirits and protect the house. Do they really use these things to kill the enemy? It is pure wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, after suppressing the defenders on the city wall with artillery fire, Zeng Yiben's main force began to land in large numbers. After unloading the prepared ladders and other simple siege equipment, the pirates rushed towards the city wall with a roar.
At this time, the artillery on the ship showed no intention of stopping. Although solid shells had limited casualties on personnel, the pirates' momentum of taking the risk of accidental injuries in order to take the city wall in one go was still truly astonishing.
"Today's pressure is very high..." On the city gate tower, Wu Chengen looked through the peephole at the pirates rushing in like a tide, and his scalp tingled. He had fought against the Japanese for many years and defended the city dozens of times, but he had never seen such a big battle.
Looking at the soldiers and civilians defending the city who were suppressed by the artillery fire and dared not raise their heads, he could not help but become more worried: "These people are only slightly stronger than ordinary people. If they are overwhelmed in momentum, they will really become a mob!"
Zhao Shouzheng was wearing a handsome set of mountain-patterned armor that he got from somewhere. Upon hearing what he said, he adjusted his tiger-head helmet that had been shaken crooked, and strode towards the door.
"Master is in danger!" The guards rushed forward and tried to pull Zhao Shouzheng back.
"Don't touch me." But Master Zhao said in a deep voice: "This is Zhao Daqi's moment!"
"This..." The guards froze when they heard the order, and watched him push the door and walk out.
"What is he going to do?" Wu Cheng'en stared blankly at Master Zhao who suddenly rushed out as if possessed.
"Who is Zhao Daqi?" The guards were filled with questions.
Everyone saw Zhao Shouzheng walking steadily down the city gate tower amidst the flying shells.
Then he drew the sword from his waist and shouted to the officers, soldiers and militiamen lying under the arrow stacks:
"Be brave! If you stand up to meet the enemy, you will die alone. If the city is destroyed, your whole family will die. Everyone knows which is more important! So you have no choice but to join me in fighting the enemy to the death and defend our homeland!"
A scholar from Chaozhou prefecture who served as his translator shouted out Mr. Zhao's powerful mobilization in Chaozhou dialect. Although the tone sounded quite funny, the effect was still good.
Soon, the impulsive young man stood up, and then more and more people followed suit, ready to meet the enemy.
Mr. Zhao struck while the iron was hot and shouted out the loudest voice of this era.
"After this battle, all the participants will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver, those who died in battle will be compensated with 1,000 taels of silver, and the disabled will be provided with a pension and a funeral!"
The soldiers and civilians on the city wall were immediately filled with anger. The militiamen howled and picked up stones and wooden planks, throwing them at the pirates who were preparing to set up ladders below the city wall.
The government troops and the gunners and archers of various families also set up their muskets, drew their bows and arrows, and shot towards the city.
Thanks to the endless large-scale clan fights, Chaozhou militiamen are much better at shooting and archery than they are at cannons. Plus, there are so many pirates under the city that they don't need to aim too much to hit their targets!
The pirates finally suffered a large number of casualties, but the wealthy Chaozhou City was right in front of them, so how could they give up so easily? Under the command of the leader, they raised their shields, held the ladders, and began to cling to the city walls.
What greeted them was spoonfuls of boiling vegetable oil. The pirates on the ladders had their heads scalded and fell down to the city with screams.
At this time, oversized Thunderbolt fireballs were dropped from the city walls. The barrel-sized gunpowder barrels exploded above the crowd, countless iron pieces and broken porcelain pieces flew everywhere, and the pirates within a few feet were blown into bloody corpses.
Fireballs were thrown down one after another, completely frightening the bandits to death. They retreated again, leaving behind hundreds of corpses...
~~
Seeing that the attack on the east city wall had finally been repelled, Master Zhao had not yet breathed a sigh of relief when a messenger came running in with a report that the other three city walls had also been attacked by the enemy army.
Moreover, the attack on the western city wall was particularly fierce, as if that was the real main attack direction of the bandits.
"What?" Master Zhao didn't expect that this was a feint attack, and he was so anxious that he wanted to take people over to support.
"Don't be impatient, Mr. Dong." Wu Cheng'en tried to persuade him, "The enemy is making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. It may be a trick to mobilize our tired soldiers. If we transfer our troops there, what should we do if they attack us again? Will they rush back here? We will be exhausted."
"What if the west city wall is lost?" Zhao Shouzheng said anxiously.
"Pan Butang is there." Wu Chengen said calmly, "Did he ask us for help?"
"No." Zhao Shouzheng was stunned.
"Trust the judgment of a minister. It won't be too late to wait until he asks for help." Wu Cheng'en gave him a reassurance.
In fact, the real situation was that there were only 10,000 soldiers and civilians in the city, and they had to guard the four long walls. The manpower was really stretched. After barely completing the deployment, Wu Chengen only had 1,000 reserve troops left. These 1,000 people were used as emergency aid in the most urgent situation. How could he play out this only trump card as soon as the war started?
Therefore, he had no spare energy to support the other three city walls. He could only pray that Pan Jixun, Pan Zhongzan who was responsible for guarding the south city wall, and Liu Zixing who was guarding the north city wall, three old men, were still strong and could serve as two veteran generals.
Fortunately, the three experienced and prestigious old men did not disappoint. They used the limited forces at their disposal to tenaciously resist the enemy's attack.
Especially on Pan Jixun's side, the length of the western wall he was responsible for guarding was no less than that of the eastern wall, and the attacks he endured were even stronger than the latter. However, he played an extraordinary ability to preside over large-scale river works, and carefully invested only half of the troops on the eastern side on every inch of the wall. He calmly deployed troops according to the intensity of the enemy's attack, and even maintained the combat effectiveness of the defenders on the wall through rotation. He always maintained a state of tension and relaxation, so that the sea lord Zhu Liangbao and Jiao Lao who attacked from outside the city paid a heavy price, but they were still unable to attack the top of the city.
The two sides fought fiercely until dusk, and Zeng Yiben finally called off the battle.
When the leaders of various factions met on his ship, they found that they had all lost hundreds of people.
The heavy losses did not make them retreat, but instead aroused the gambling nature of these desperate men. They had only one idea in their minds - to capture Chaozhou City, loot it, and recover all the losses with interest!
On the city wall, Zhao Shouzheng was very happy, thinking that he had won a great victory. He ordered the slaughter of pigs and sheep to reward the soldiers.
Wu Cheng'en was not as optimistic as Mr. Zhao. The tenacity and brutality of the pirates far exceeded his expectations. No wonder the armies of Fujian and Guangdong provinces joined forces to suppress them, but still made them more rampant.
I'm afraid the next attack will be even more fierce...
Now it depends on whether my wife can convince Lin Daogan.
Yes, Zeng Yiben will come to his senses soon and retreat obediently.
No, then we can only continue to fight hard, which is really in line with the saying in Southern Fujian: '30% is determined by fate, 70% depends on hard work'.
Alas, it is hard to predict good or bad luck...