In Chaozhou City, the arduous battle to defend the city has entered the sixth day.

Both the attackers and defenders suffered huge losses, as if they were suffering in a purgatory of blood and fire.

Needless to say, the losses suffered by the attackers, as well as the defenders, mainly came from the cannonballs fired by the pirates from their warships.

Although the lethality of solid shells is limited, the experienced gunners can aim and shoot without any pressure at such a close distance, and basically hit nine out of ten shots. Under their continuous attacks from morning to night, the Chaozhou city wall has become riddled with holes, and a corner of the city gate tower has been blown down, almost sending away Mr. Zhao who was directing the battle inside.

The officers, soldiers and militiamen who were hit by the shells had their chests caved in and half of their heads smashed off, killing them instantly on the spot. Countless others had their hands and feet broken.

Later, the command center improved the tactics in time, leaving only observation posts behind the arrow stacks to monitor the enemy situation, and most of the soldiers hid in the hiding caves under the city wall. After the enemy began to attack the city, they came out of the hiding caves and returned to the city to defend against the enemy, which reduced the losses.

However, the pirates had several times more troops than the defenders, and they attacked from all sides at the same time. No matter how hard the defenders tried, they still let them kill them on the top of the city wall several times. The soldiers fought desperately, and at the critical moment, even Mr. Zhao's guards were pulled up, and at a heavy price, they drove the enemy back down the city wall.

Xu Wei counted the casualties last night and found that there were nearly a thousand casualties! Nearly three hundred of them were killed, and seven hundred were wounded and had lost their combat effectiveness.

Fortunately, the defenders had no way to retreat and had to protect their wives, children and the elderly. Otherwise, with such heavy losses, this hastily assembled army would have collapsed early on.

Of course, the fact that such an army composed of ** and militiamen can persist until today is definitely directly related to the strong leadership, calm and efficient command and organization of Mr. Zhao's team.

In particular, Mr. Zhao Erye was willing to brave the arrows and stones and stick to the front line from beginning to end, inspiring the soldiers with his own example. On the third day of the battle, he was hit by a brick and stone blown off by a shell and his arm was broken. His arm was hung on his chest with a splint, but he never left the front line despite the minor injury, which added a lot of appeal to his glorious image.

During the intervals between battles, Zhao Shouzheng was not idle either. He took off his clothes and provided food to the tired soldiers, and asked about their well-being, truly "treating the soldiers like babies."

Master Zhao expressed his deepest condolences to the injured soldiers, and asked the medical team composed of medical staff from Jiangnan Hospital to do their best to rescue every wounded soldier, and assured the injured and disabled that he would be responsible for them to the end.

As for the fallen soldiers, Master Zhao paid full pensions to their families on the spot, never breaking his promise. "Money bullets to clear the way, emotional offensive", these were all familiar to him when he built the dike in Kunshan, but how could the people of Chaozhou have ever experienced this? They were all moved to tears, whether they were the government or the people, they all expressed their willingness to die for Master Zhao.

Therefore, although there were heavy casualties, the morale was still unaffected, and the people in the city also signed up enthusiastically to go to the city walls, so the lost troops were quickly replenished... These were not dispatched by the major families, but the common people themselves took the initiative to sign up to defend the city!

In short, the people of Chaozhou City are united in their determination to defend the city and never let the pirates invade their homes!

But the pirates were also furious at the huge losses. In the five days of the siege, except for the first day, they lost thousands of people every day. The pirates did not have a medical team with superb medical skills, and being injured was basically equivalent to losing life...

Seeing that all the companies had suffered heavy losses, if they returned empty-handed, the loss would be huge. Zeng Yiben knew that if he did that, he would completely offend his peers, his subordinates would scatter, and he would no longer have a place to stand on the sea of ​​Fujian and Guangdong.

He ordered that except for the gunners and necessary sailors, everyone should go out to attack the city today. He would personally go aboard to supervise the battle. Anyone who retreated in the face of the enemy would be killed without mercy! Anyone who was afraid of the enemy and did not move forward would be killed without mercy! Anyone who shook the morale of the army would be killed without mercy!

"Everyone, show your determination to fight to the death. After you take the city, massacre the people for nine days!" Zeng Yiben shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What? Are you going to sink the boat?" Mr. Pepper was anxious. "That won't work. How are we going to get home?"

"I'm just a metaphor..." Zeng Yiben almost choked to death, and his murderous aura was half gone. He shouted with a dark face: "But before the city is captured, no one can return to the ship!"

"Okay! Let's fight them!" All the sea lords were ready to go, shouting loudly. They were like a group of gamblers who had lost everything and were ready to place all their bets on the day.

~~

After daybreak, artillery fire once again attacked the city walls, and it was more intense than usual, startling countless birds!

The soldiers defending the city had already become accustomed to this terrible sight. They hid in the soldier hiding caves, eating taro cakes brought to them by the women, and waiting for the whistle to go up to the city.

The sergeant in charge of lookout hid behind the arrow stack, watching the pirates land one after another in small boats, gathering in a large crowd at the riverside, and then, at the command of the leader, carrying ladders and holding shields, slowly pouring towards Chaozhou City from all directions.

Although their speed was slow, the oppressive feeling was extremely great, and they rushed straight to the city with murderous intent.

A sharp whistle sounded from the top of the city wall. The officers, soldiers and civilians wolfed down the steamed buns they had eaten without even taking a sip of water. They rushed out of the hiding cave and climbed up to the top of the city wall.

Just as they were ready to defend the city, the pirates had already arrived at the city gates and the fierce siege began again!

Unlike the battles of the previous few days, which were sometimes fast and sometimes slow, today's siege battle entered a fierce stage right from the start. Arrows were flying like raindrops, whistling shells were constantly fired at the top of the city, and rows of beams were quickly rolled down the ladders. The pirates suffered heavy casualties, but they continued to climb up fearlessly.

~~

Zeng Yiben went around to the west city wall to launch the main attack today. He gathered all his sharpshooters and had them rely on the high shooting towers made of sandbags and bricks, and use their sophisticated bird guns to continuously shoot at the defenders on the city walls.

The defenders on the city wall immediately felt the pressure, and people kept falling down from the city wall with screams. The archers on the city wall fought back desperately, but they were still being suppressed.

But what was strange was that the pirates who were frantically attacking the city suddenly retreated like a tide.

This made Pan Jixun feel very strange. He knew that something must be wrong, so he quickly risked being hit and looked down under the protection of his shield.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t look at it, but you’ll be shocked when you do!

I saw a high mound of earth rising at the base of the city wall.

He clearly remembered that during the attack a few days ago, the pirates had dug a deep hole there. At night, Pan Jixun wanted to send people down to repair it, but the pirates had set up an ambush outside the city. When they saw someone coming down the city, they rushed out immediately, making it impossible for them to do so.

The pirates actually filled up the huge hole and piled up such a thick layer of soil.

They obviously didn't have such kind intentions, so there was only one possibility - they buried gunpowder in the city walls!

"Hurry, hurry, let the troops from West Three, West Four... West Five withdraw to both sides and clear this area!" Pan Jixun roared at the top of his lungs.

The messenger immediately passed the order down. The officers, soldiers and civilians who were already familiar with the military orders, although they did not understand what was going on, still rushed to both sides like a tide and cleared a large section of the city wall near the mound.

Immediately afterwards, there was a loud earth-shaking noise, and the soldiers felt a fierce push and were knocked to the ground one after another.

The thick city wall trembled violently, and a huge amount of broken bricks and soil sprayed into the sky, and smoke and dust immediately covered the entire section of the city wall!

Pan Jixun was far away, but he was also shocked and fell to the ground.

The guards hurriedly helped the old minister up. Pan Jixun felt dizzy, his eyes were full of stars, and his ears were buzzing.

Pan Jixun bit his tongue hard to wake himself up, and opened his eyes wide to look towards the location of the explosion. He saw a break of nearly ten feet in length suddenly appeared on the city wall.

Suddenly, beyond the buzzing sound, a faint cry of killing seemed to come from the horizon.

"Kill!"

"The city has been breached, rush in, rob and kill everyone!"

While Pan Jixun told himself that this was not an illusion, he raised his head with great effort, and sure enough, he saw that the enemy army that had just retreated had come back again!

"Hurry, hurry and block the breach!" In a trance, Pan Butang couldn't tell whether he was on the bank of the Yellow River or on the top of Chaozhou City.

But it didn't matter, it was all about rescue. In this matter, he was second, no one dared to be first!

The officers and soldiers also knew that the most dangerous moment had arrived. They did not care about the bleeding ears and dizziness caused by the shock, and they all struggled to get up.

They carried the bamboo baskets that had been prepared long ago to the gap and threw them down. The baskets were filled with large stones. That was what Pan Jixun had prepared in case of a disaster when he saw a gap in the city wall.

It is better to be prepared.

The pirate in front had already rushed to the city wall, jumped into a gap that was only one meter high, and was howling as he prepared to charge into the city.

Then a bamboo basket filled with seven or eight large stones, weighing a total of four or five hundred kilograms, fell from the sky. The pirates hurriedly dodged in panic, and those who failed to dodge were hit directly into the city wall like cucumbers...

Basket after basket of rocks were thrown down, and the gap was gradually blocked. Zeng Yiben was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He jumped up and roared, "Find a way to unload those bamboo baskets!"

The pirates looked at each other, and someone quickly came up with a solution. They hooked the basket with an iron hook, and then pulled it down with a rope together.

But the defenders on the city wall had just managed to plug the gap, so how could they allow them to destroy it again? They would risk their lives to prevent another gap from appearing.

They fired arrows and muskets at the city walls, threw rocks, logs, and hot oil down the city walls like they were free, and even pushed the cannons that were in the way down the city walls, killing a large number of enemy soldiers.

But the temporary repaired gap was still a little fragile after all, and under the desperate and focused attacks of the bandit army, the bamboo baskets were constantly torn off and fell to the base of the city wall, forming a rocky slope for climbing!

The defenders had run out of bamboo baskets for storing stones, and it became increasingly difficult to fill them. In the end, they could only use human lives to fill the gaps.

The two sides fought repeatedly over this ten-foot-wide gap, and there was a real scene of corpses piling up like a mountain.