Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 179: Failure of bombing the city

Meng Jun received the news from Lekedehun on the second day after arriving at the inner city of Jiangning. After receiving the military report that Lekedehun had landed in Chizhou, Meng Jun decided to launch an attack on Jiangning the next day.

The Meng army has built a large number of shield carts and tunnels, but as for siege towers and ladders, they are scarce in number. Jiangning City is too tall and big, and Meng Jun cannot afford the casualties caused by the ants climbing up the city. He has decided to follow the example of the Taiping Army and blow up the city.

Meng Jun stationed Wang Fugui's troops in Wuxing Town at the foot of Zijin Mountain to closely monitor the Zijin Mountain camp and Ke Yongsheng's troops.

Purple Mountain Camp.

Deputy General Wang Yongsheng looked at the Meng army camped at the foot of the mountain and asked General Ke Yongsheng in confusion: "General, why don't the Meng army attack us?"

Ke Yongsheng was also a little confused. Logically speaking, this should be the first battle of the attack and defense of Jiangning. The Qing army occupied Purple Mountain and was in a dominant position, so the enemy could not attack the city with all their strength.

If the Meng army occupied Purple Mountain, the artillery could directly bombard the inner city. Under continuous bombardment, the city would inevitably be in chaos. However, Ke Yongsheng was not in a hurry. Since the Meng army had sent a town of soldiers to station at the foot of the mountain, he could be regarded as tying down a part of the Meng army's forces. It would be better if they did not come to fight.

Thinking of this, Ke Yongsheng sneered and said, "Wait and see what happens. Keep a close eye on the situation down the mountain. Duo Luo Beile is about to arrive. It is Meng the bandit who is anxious, not us."

At the front of Jinchuan Gate in Jiangning, as the war drums sounded, the attack and defense of Jiangning officially began. The soldiers of the army slowly approached in a scattered formation, pushing shield carts and carrying pontoon bridges.

The loyal soldiers rushed towards the city wall like a surging tide. In front of them was a wide moat. Here, the loyal soldiers could only advance and not retreat. They began to build pontoon bridges, connecting one pontoon bridge to another. From time to time, soldiers were knocked down by the bows and arrows and muskets on the city wall and fell into the moat.

As time went by, the pontoon bridge gradually extended to the left and right, becoming wider and wider, and finally, the pontoon bridge was completed. The vanguard of the service army stepped onto the pontoon bridge, holding shields and taking the lead in approaching the city wall.

The soldiers of the Service Army behind him were retreating the tunnel carriage at the top of their lungs, arrows and stones from the city walls were raining down, the pontoon bridge was shaking on the water, but the Service Army was crossing the bridge at a fast and rapid pace, the slower they went, the more dangerous it was.

As the tunnel vehicle approached the city wall, the defenders on the top of the wall threw stones and logs down like raindrops, hitting the tunnel vehicle so hard that it swayed left and right, as if it would fall apart at any time.

For a moment, the wall was filled with thick dust and smoke, making it almost impossible to breathe. The soldiers in the tunnel carts pushed forward with difficulty, bearing the stones and wood that kept falling on their heads. Some places in the tunnel carts were broken open, and the soldiers inside fell to the ground with a miserable groan. But other soldiers immediately stepped in and raised their shields to block the gaps.

At the same time, arrows from the city wall shot towards the tunnel carriage like locusts. Many soldiers were shot and fell to the ground. Their blood dyed the river red, but the tunnel carriage finally arrived under the city wall.

As several tunnels reached the base of the wall, a large number of soldiers rushed up from behind with hoes in their hands and waved them vigorously towards the base of the wall.

As the pontoon bridge was built, the Meng army archers began to move forward and shoot arrows at the top of the city. However, the Qing army had battlements for protection and was in a dominant position. When the two armies shot at each other, even though the Meng army archers had shield carts and shields for protection, the casualty ratio was still extremely ugly.

After experiencing several battles, Chen Changgong has been promoted to general flag. At this moment, he holds a bow and arrow with the arrow on the bowstring, his eyes fixed on the Qing soldiers who may show their heads at any time on the top of the city wall. He holds his breath and concentrates, and instantly loosens his fingers, and the arrow flies out like lightning.

As the arrow hit the target, Chen Changgong showed a proud smile on his face. He shouted to the people behind him: "This is the eighth one. Remember this, this is a military achievement!" Before he finished speaking, he quickly pulled out another arrow from behind and aimed at the enemy on the city wall again. At this moment, Chen Changgong was full of confidence. He was an archer.

The Qing army on the top of the city had also felt the threat from here. Not only did the archers shoot crazily at where Chen Changgong was, but the musketeers also shot at this place.

Chen Changgong was hit so hard by the intensive attack that he couldn't even lift his head. He cursed inwardly: "You have no shame in using your numbers to defeat the few."

…………

Meng Jun looked at the bricks being thrown out from time to time and couldn't help but feel excited. The gunpowder was already prepared, more than 500 kilograms in total. He just didn't know whether this gunpowder could really overturn a huge city like the Taiping Army in history, as easy as peeling off a piece of paper.

Although Hong Chengchou was fully prepared, he still came to the Jinchuan Gate in person to watch the battle, and military reports were delivered to Hong Chengchou from time to time.

Hong Chengchou asked the messenger in confusion: "The enemy army is not going to climb the city wall, but is going to dig through it?"

"Reporting to the Governor, yes, the enemy troops did not climb up the city walls like ants. They just dug desperately at the base of the city walls," the messenger answered without hesitation.

Hong Chengchou signaled the messenger to retreat. He muttered to himself, "What does Meng Jun want to do? The thickness of Jiangning City is so great that it will take more than ten days or half a month to dig through it."

Two and a half hours had passed, and the soldiers who were digging the wall had been replaced one after another. More than 1,500 soldiers had fallen under the city, while the defenders of Jiangning City were estimated to have suffered no more than a hundred casualties.

Lin Shiqi asked nervously: "Commander-in-chief, is it almost done?"

"Then blow it up," Meng Jun said gritting his teeth.

As several gunpowder boxes began to be transported to the foot of the city, the defenders of Jiangning City were confused and uncertain, but they believed that they had to stop the enemy. The Qing army archers fired wildly at the soldiers transporting the gunpowder boxes with their muskets, but with the blocking of shields, the gunpowder was successfully accumulated in the cave entrance.

The soldiers of Meng's army put down the fuse and lit the fire. The soldiers around them hurriedly ran back for fear of being accidentally injured by the gunpowder. Only to see the fuse reach the end with a loud bang.

Meng Jun and other generals excitedly raised their telescopes and looked at the scene of the Jiangning city wall. Until the smoke dissipated, Jiangning City remained standing, but the gap at the base of the wall where the city was bombed had more than doubled. However, there was still a long way to go before the city wall could be destroyed.

Meng Jun frowned, something was wrong, why wasn't the power as strong as he imagined? At this time, Lin Shiqi slapped his thigh and said to Meng Jun urgently: "Commander-in-chief, Jiangning City is too thick. Let's blow up the city gate directly and blow up the Jinchuan Gate. It's much better for the army to rush forward than to climb the wall."

"Okay, prepare the gunpowder immediately and let's explode it again," Meng Jun ordered urgently without having time to think too much.

The loud noise scared the Qing army on the wall. After the smoke and dust cleared, they found that a large gap had been blown in the entrance of the cave. Ma Degong saw the army below the city digging frantically towards the city gate. He turned pale with fright and quickly sent someone to report to Hong Chengchou urgently.