Night Battle at 2:27
The cannon battle continued, and three of the Huihui cannons had already been destroyed. The artillery general saw the steam-powered cannons on the city wall through his telescope and hastily ordered concentrated fire at the most threatening target - the enemy's cannons. The gunners nervously adjusted their sights, loaded iron shells into the breech, and a thousand gunners pulled the lanyards. Five massive iron balls flew through the air, with power far surpassing that of stone cannonballs. However, the accuracy of the Huihui cannons was clearly inferior to that of the steam-powered cannons. None of the five iron shells hit their mark: three sailed over the city wall and destroyed several civilian houses inside the city; two struck the parapet, destroying a section of brickwork and injuring more than ten defending soldiers.
Mr. Peng ordered the loading of incendiary shells for a counterattack, but unfortunately there was only one large cannon. Even with high accuracy, it couldn't withstand the attack of multiple cannons. Another round of artillery fire began, and the steam-powered cannon hit and destroyed another Huihui cannon, but itself was also hit by an iron shell.
The power of the counter-attack was also enormous, and the iron ball smashed directly onto the cannon body, causing the steel cannon to fly sideways instantly. Several artillerymen who were loading nearby were shocked and flew up with it. The rolling cannon then rolled on the city wall, crushing more than a dozen soldiers who couldn't dodge in time into meat patties. Peng Changzhu happened to be on the path of the rolling cannon and was unable to dodge in time, and he was about to lose his life under the cannon.
Liu Ziguang was quick and agile, grabbing the old man's collar and pulling him up with a swift motion. The cannon continued to roll on the city wall, crushing everything in its path until it finally came to a stop due to loss of momentum. The area along the way was now a bloody mess, the steam pipe had been severed, and white high-temperature steam shot out from the broken end. The cannon's chamber had also been damaged, rendering it useless.
Mr. Peng's fright had slightly subsided, and he rushed to Liu Ziguang with a bow: "I owe you three lives now, this kindness will be repaid." Liu Ziguang waved his hand: "It was just a casual effort, no need to mention it. Let's hurry up and repair the cannon instead."
The old man didn't say much, inspecting the damage to the cannon. Fortunately, the steel-cast cannon wasn't damaged too badly, the brass-made chamber was bent, and the steam pipe was broken, all of which had spare parts. He ordered people to quickly repair the cannon, and once the firepower was restored, the cannon began to wreak havoc again. The northern gate's city wall, being empty, was not as thick and sturdy as usual walls, and several sections had already collapsed, burying the crossbows inside.
The defensive firepower was weakened, and the Qing people's small Huihui cannons took advantage of the opportunity to approach and fire, throwing stone balls onto the city tower, causing the bow and arrow men to dodge and hide. Peng Changzhu quickly pulled Liu Ziguang into the enemy building.
The grain carts covered with quilts approached the moat, and the infantrymen hiding in the carts shouted out, putting their shields on their heads, holding earth-filled sacks in both hands and throwing them into the moat. The corpses that were shot down were also pushed into the river by their companions. Everything was for the sake of attacking the city. The Qing emperor had given a death order: retreat, behead!
The sandbags were filling the moat too slowly, so an officer had an idea and ordered the soldiers to push all the grain carts into the river. Under a hail of arrows, the stubborn Qing infantry finally used the grain carts, collisions, sandbags, and corpses to fill in a section of the moat. A tall, imposing figure emerged from the cart, unfolded a large flag with a loud rustling sound, and the three characters "Jianrui Camp" appeared under the dim light of the gas lamps on the city wall.
The Jianrui camp is the cloud ladder soldier, the bravest and most casualty-prone. The soldiers took out the folded cloud ladder from the car, tied it up segment by segment to a sufficient length, and then a team of people carried it to the city wall, while others used bows and arrows to shoot flying tigers onto the city wall, climbing up along the rope. The iron guards shot arrows desperately, but there were too many enemies, and several thousand-man teams were sent up one after another. The city was densely packed with people, and the archers shot upwards at the city head, while the small recoil cannons fired shells continuously. The situation is extremely critical.
To avoid harming their own people, the Huihui cannons had extended their trajectory and began attacking buildings within the city. Fireballs and stone projectiles flew over the city walls, causing small fires and casualties inside the city. At this critical moment, the boiler under the city wall suddenly malfunctioned, with pipes leaking air, rendering the steam-powered crossbows useless. The crossbowmen could only pick up their weapons and stab at the Qing soldiers climbing up the walls from outside through the shooting ports.
Cries of killing shook the sky, every few seconds there was a loud explosion in the city, and arrows flew like locusts. It would be great to have rolling logs and rocks, but Peng Changzhu despised weapons without technical content the most.
"Bring the fire dragon!" He gave a loud order, originally not wanting to use such a cruel weapon. Soon a large bronze tube was pulled up onto the city wall, behind which were soft leather hoses connected to a large jar, with several people using bellows-like objects to add pressure to the jar. In front of the soldier holding the bronze tube, below the standard, one person held a torch close to the mouth of the tube, and someone in the back pressed a switch. A fire dragon spouted out, it was an ethanol flame thrower. The city below instantly boiled over, a sea of flames, extremely tragic. On top of the city wall, there were still people continuously pouring down strong fire oil from buckets, throwing torches downwards, the fire spread, many cloud ladder soldiers were burned to death jumping into the moat, even more people were covered in flames, running wildly everywhere, and instead ignited even more people, the smell of charred human flesh wafted out.
Hell, it's simply hell. The cruelty of war shocked Liu Ziguang, it was a massacre, a slaughter. However, this is the nature of war, if you don't want to be slaughtered by others, then you have no choice but to slaughter others.
The amount of ethanol was not much, just saved a little emergency and stopped spraying. The boiler and steam cannon were in urgent repair, the human-powered catapults in the warehouse were pulled up to the city wall, this weapon did not rely on steam engines to operate, can be temporarily used as the main force.
Two chariots were parked by the city gate, ready to block the swarming infantry once the gate was broken. Many of the Iron Guards defending the city had been injured or killed, and many workers climbed onto the city walls, continuing to operate the weapons in resistance. This was their home, where they worked and lived. If the city fell, even if they were not slaughtered, becoming refugees would be a tragic fate.
"It's indeed a strong fortress." The Qing Emperor sighed, but under the iron hooves of the great Qing army, even the strongest city would eventually fall. "They won't be able to hold on for much longer."
The drums sounded, and this time it was five thousand-man infantry teams, without any cover, carrying cloud ladders towards the city wall. The road across the moat had been cleared, and now even with human wave tactics, the city could be taken.
It has come to this, it's a matter of willpower now. The emperor brought 100,000 troops, among which 20,000 were civilians, and there were also 30,000 cavalrymen who couldn't be used for siege warfare. There were 5,000 artillerymen and their supporting troops, leaving 45,000 infantrymen, nearly 10,000 of whom had already been lost in the battle outside the city. This is a huge number. The first pass of the Southern Dynasty was so difficult to attack, even if it was taken, there would be no strength to march south for the time being.
The people on the city wall didn't know this, and Liu Ziguang knew even less. He only thought of his 500 brothers, who had no obligation to die for the iron factory or help it resist. Yet at this moment, abandoning the city would leave a lingering sense of unease in his heart. People's hearts always lean towards the weak; seeing the iron factory on the brink of disaster, he couldn't help but want to lend a hand.
Liu Ziguang was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle in the enemy's building, when he inadvertently gazed northward and suddenly saw strange flames appearing in the Qing army's camp in the distance. It didn't seem like a fire for lighting, but rather someone intentionally setting fires. He hastily grabbed a pair of binoculars to observe, and through the lens, he saw some horsemen moving quickly, wherever they went, the fire spread, and there were enemy rear guards operating! Liu Ziguang couldn't help but feel delighted, placing great importance on special warfare, wondering when this group of people had been dispatched.
Boss Peng also learned from Liu Ziguang's example and observed for a while, but was surprisingly puzzled. It seems that this old man is not one of his people.
As he pondered, the Qing army's cloud ladder soldiers had already appeared on the city wall. After climbing up, they quickly removed the shields from their heads and wielded their knives to slaughter the defending troops ferociously. Liu Ziguang secretly cursed his bad luck, dropped the telescope, grabbed his long knife, and charged out. A fierce battle ensued at the top of the city gate, with each cloud ladder soldier being a fearless tough guy. The Iron Guards and workers defending the city didn't dare to retreat half a step either. Both sides were engaged in close combat, and no one shot arrows anymore. The cloud ladder soldiers below accelerated their climbing speed, and gradually more Qing troops appeared at the top of the city gate. The banner of the Jianrui Camp also emerged on the city gate.
Liu Ziguang focused on taking down the fierce and ferocious cloud ladder soldiers, cutting down over a dozen people in a row, but his speed at cutting down people was ultimately not as fast as the soldiers' speed at climbing the cloud ladders. The Qing army grew more numerous, already forming a local advantage.
A chaotic mixture of footsteps echoed outside the city, reinforcements had arrived. The slave army, which had rested for half a day, charged up to the city gate from the horse path. The addition of 500 elite soldiers quickly changed the course of battle. These brothers were well-fed and well-rested, and they donned brand new plate armor from the warehouse, wielding top-notch knives and guns produced by Lianfeng. Their appearance was greatly transformed, and they seemed like an elite force. The cloud ladder soldiers were suppressed once again, either being hacked to death on the city wall or falling off and splattering on the ground below. The banner of Jianrui Camp had barely been planted on the city gate when it was thrown down. The cloud ladder was also set on fire and burned away.
The addition of the 500-strong Shengli Army was also a treatment of symptoms rather than the root cause, as the city's defensive weapons were being consumed too quickly and many technical devices had begun to malfunction. The Qing army's new round of attacks continued almost without pause, with infantrymen crawling up ladders like ants, completely ignoring their falling comrades beside them.
The fire at the Qing army's camp seems to have caused no trouble, and the advance is unaffected. However, His Majesty the Emperor is extremely enraged that someone managed to sneak in and burn their grain supplies. How can they be replenished in this cold weather? A thorough investigation must be conducted, and the perpetrator of this arson must be caught.
The boiler pipe was finally fixed, and the steam Gatling gun, which had been silent for half a day, once again unleashed its power. In the night sky, the sharp whistling sound of Katyusha echoed, and in the face of the surging infantry, there was only continuous shooting, shooting, and shooting. The steam Gatling gun, foot-powered Gatling gun, and hand-pulled crossbow all harvested lives together.
Five thousand-strong Qing troops were defeated, and the moat is now truly a river of blood, turned into red water, not the dark red color of washing ore, but real blood red.
The steam cannon has not been repaired, so it can only be left to the Huihui cannon to wreak havoc. The city is filled with cries and wails, many houses have been destroyed, and there are countless scattered fires. The iron factory has already done its best. There are tens of thousands of workers in the factory, with several thousand people distributed in external business offices and branch factories. Here, there are only 100,000 people, half of whom are family members. There are officially 10,000 Iron Guards, but during the daytime rebellion, they killed each other, resulting in 3,000 deaths. The slaves also killed 300 people. Several hundred core members of the rebellion were arrested, leaving only 5,000 to 6,000 people who can fight. After the last round of defense, more than a thousand people died or were injured, and now the military strength is very tight.
The retreating Qing cloud ladder soldiers were shot and killed by the supervising troops, and the remaining few thousand people hid in the broken tower cars, avoiding bows and arrows behind the collision cars. The cloud ladder was gone, and there was no way to attack. Retreating again was afraid of being killed by their own people, and for a time, it was difficult to advance or retreat.
The emperor was enraged, and he vowed to raze the city after breaking in. Another five thousand troops pressed forward, and the technical weapons were almost exhausted, leaving only the cloud ladder and human wave tactics. The Huihui cannons retracted their trajectory, continuing to bombard the city walls. Five thousand infantrymen carried the cloud ladders, shouting as they charged forward, gathering with the remaining soldiers, repeating the assault on the city.
Mr. Peng gave orders with a resolute expression, the fierce fire and arrows continued to be supplied forward, the city had already begun to dismantle houses, preparing to use beams and bricks as rolling logs and stones. Anyway, it was going to be a bloody battle to the end.
The old man was directing the rolling of logs to be sent to the city wall, when a soldier came running and crawling over to report: "Report... Lord Factory Master, a large cavalry has been discovered outside the south gate!"
