Chapter 64: Fierce and Bloody Siege

  A violent explosion sounded in the city of Maqin, and house after house collapsed. The Qinghai Army guarding the city suffered heavy casualties. An even more severe crisis came from the city wall, which was already on the verge of collapse under the impact of the Chuanxi Army's armor-piercing shells.

  "Boom!" After a dull sound, the city wall of Maxi City finally failed to hold on under the continuous and intense bombardment of the Sichuan Army. A breach of about 20 meters long appeared in the west wall of Maxi City. When the dust settled, this breach clearly appeared before everyone's eyes.

  "Bad, the city wall has been blown down!" The soldiers of the Qingma Army had a bad feeling in their hearts. Even fools know that after the city wall was blown down, they lost their last protection. The city of Maqin would be exposed nakedly in front of the Chuanxi Army like a girl stripped of her clothes.

  "Damn it! All units, attention, prepare to resist the attack of the Western Sichuan Army. The Admiral has ordered, as long as the city is safe, we will be safe!" Colonel Wei Yuan of the 15th Regiment of the Green Horse Army shouted loudly. The remaining soldiers of the 15th Regiment, facing the artillery fire of the Western Sichuan Army, began to gather together. They had long expected that there would be a moment when the city wall would be breached, and behind the city wall, 50 meters away, they had also built a simple defensive line. However, under the intense artillery fire of the Western Sichuan Army, this defensive line had been almost destroyed, and it was hard to say how much effect it could still have.

  "Order the 20th and 21st battalions, each to dispatch half of their troops, to prepare to support the battle in Western City!" Commander Lu Haoran of Qingma Army's Maren City ordered. After the city wall is breached, they will definitely suffer the most violent attack from the Chuanxi Army, and what follows will be the most brutal moment. Whether they can hold on depends on heaven's will. However, Lu Haoran himself also knew that the hope of defending Maren City was extremely slim.

  At the moment when Maqin City was blown up, the soldiers of the 11th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army let out a thunderous cheer. The attacking power of the artillery battalion of the 10th Brigade far exceeded their imagination. Now that they have also clearly realized that they are also members of the Western Sichuan Army, they are even more proud. Now, after the artillery performance is over, it's their turn. Although the defenders inside Maqin City were once their friends and comrades, now under the circumstances where each has its own master, they can only draw their swords against each other.

  "The Eleventh Brigade's First Battalion is ready to attack!" Commander Ma Qi of the Eleventh Brigade of the Sichuan Army ordered with a face full of excitement. The power of the Sichuan Army's artillery had given him a huge shock. In just a short period of time, they had blasted down the walls of Maqin City and inflicted heavy casualties on the defending Qinghai Army, leaving him completely stunned. At the same time, he was even more convinced that abandoning the Qinghai Army to join the Sichuan Army was a wise decision! With such a powerful army, unifying China would be just around the corner!

  "The brothers of the First Battalion, Maqin City has been breached, now it's our turn. We can't let the artillery brothers look down on us, we must show them the prowess of these horseback men!" shouted Ding Zhongming, commander of the 11th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army. Seeing Bai Meng directly become deputy brigade commander due to his military merit made him extremely jealous. He knew that in the Western Sichuan Army, military merit was the main reason for promotion. And when the Western Sichuan Army merged with the Ma family army, they would inevitably form multiple cavalry units, and he would have plenty of opportunities then. Now getting more military merit would guarantee his future promotion.

  "Kill! Charge into Maqu City!" The cavalrymen of the 11th Brigade's 1st Battalion, with guns on their backs and sabers in hand, shouted loudly as they charged forward under the support of artillery, their morale extremely high.

  At this time, the artillery put the target of the bombardment squarely on the city of Maqin, with the aim of inflicting maximum casualties on the defenders.

  "Charge!" Ma Qi gave the order to charge.

  "Charge!" Ding Zhongming shouted loudly, and the thousands of cavalrymen from the 1st Battalion of the 11th Brigade, under his personal leadership, launched a fierce attack on Maqin City. The war horses galloped forward, kicking up large clouds of dust.

  On the city wall of Magin, there were no longer any defending troops. The soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 11th Brigade could launch a charge with confidence and would not encounter any resistance. Within a few minutes, they had already charged to the foot of the city wall of Magin. However, the breach blown open was only twenty meters wide, causing many soldiers to be blocked outside and unable to launch a charge in time. A small number of cavalrymen rushed through the breach, but what greeted them were indeed bullets from the Qing army.

  The soldiers of the Qing Ma Army hid behind simple defensive fortifications and eliminated the soldiers of the 11th Brigade who rushed in from the gap with their rifles. The sound of gunfire, like stir-frying beans, kept ringing out at the gap. Most of the soldiers who charged into the city were shot dead, and the few remaining ones did not even reach the Qing Ma Army's position before falling to the ground.

  However, these casualties did not intimidate the soldiers of the 11th Regiment of the Western Sichuan Army. Instead, they stimulated their bloodiness. Some soldiers simply dismounted and fired at the Qing army at the gap in the city wall, covering their advancing comrades.

  The battle was extremely fierce, and the casualties of both the Chuanxi Army and the Qingma Army were rising rapidly. However, due to the narrow pass, the large forces of the Chuanxi Army could not be deployed, and the Qingma Army gained a great advantage.

  The eleventh brigade of the Western Sichuan Army launched a fierce attack, with heavy casualties. However, at the same time, the Qingma Army also suffered significant losses. Although the artillery fire of the Western Sichuan Army was not as intense as before, almost every minute there were several shells exploding in the city of Maqu, but the direction of the artillery fire was deliberately avoided to avoid harming their own people. The 15th battalion of the Qingma Army, which was responsible for defending the west gate, had already suffered more than half casualties, and they had been severely damaged in the previous artillery fire. In the subsequent battle, although they successfully resisted the attack of the first battalion of the eleventh brigade of the Western Sichuan Army and inflicted heavy casualties on them, their own losses were also significant.

  "General, our troops have suffered heavy casualties and need reinforcements!" Wei Yuan, the commander of the 15th Regiment of the Green Horse Army, found Lu Haoran and requested support.

  "I'll give you 500 men, and you must hold off the Western Sichuan army's attack!" Lu Haoran hesitated for a moment before agreeing to Wei Yuan's request.

  "Thank you, General! I guarantee to complete the task and hold our position!" Wei Yuan said loudly.

  The arrival of the reinforcements greatly increased the firepower of the Qing Ma Army, and the 11th Regiment of the Western Sichuan Army launched several charges, but they were all repelled, leaving a large number of corpses on the ground.

  "Charge! Charge in!" The commander of the 1st Battalion, 11th Regiment of the Western Sichuan Army, Ding Zhongming, was standing right next to the gap, shouting out orders. Several times, bullets flew over his head, extremely dangerous.

  In the distance, Ma Qi saw that the first camp was being suppressed at the pass, and his face also became somewhat solemn. It seems that Maqin City is not as easy to take down as he imagined!

  "Commander Zhou, the resistance in Majing City is still very fierce. Can I withdraw my men first and then have the artillery bombard it again?" Ma Qi found the commander of the 10th Artillery Regiment of the Western Sichuan Army, Zhou Nan, and made his request.

  The Eleventh Brigade does not have its own artillery at present, so it needs to ask the Tenth Brigade's artillery for help. Ma Qi's tone is also very polite.

  "Alright, no problem!" Zhou Nan agreed to Ma Qi's request without any hesitation.

  "Wooo!" A desolate bugle call sounded from the 11th Brigade of the Kansai Army, it was the order to retreat.

  "Damn it! Retreat!" Although Ding Zhongming was extremely reluctant, he had no choice but to give the order. After retreating and counting their numbers, they found that his first battalion had lost three or four hundred men in the previous attack.

  "We won! We repelled the invasion of the Western Sichuan Army!" Seeing the Western Sichuan Army retreat like a tide, the Qingma Army erupted in cheers. However, they seemed to have rejoiced too early.

  "Adjust the firing direction, within a range of 50 to 100 meters behind the city wall, rapid fire for 10 rounds!" The commander of the artillery battalion of the Tenth Brigade of the Sichuan Army, Zhou Nan, gave the order. From the soldiers who retreated from the Eleventh Brigade, they had already learned about the defense of the Qingma Army.

  The gunners immediately adjusted the direction of the artillery according to the provided parameters. Those ammunition handlers even took off their clothes, carrying shells with bare hands.

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