Like the Pengze battlefield, the Taiping Army of Anqing also established two field defense lines outside the city. The second line of defense was directly built under the city wall, almost fighting side by side with the defenders on the city. It also directly built a defense line with a moat far away from the city wall. At the same time, thanks to the help of the neighboring Anqing River, the moat in Anqing is more than three meters wide on average, and is more than half a meter deep, which is extremely difficult to cross. .

The Taiping Army also spent much more effort on the second line of defense than the first line of defense. In addition to being stronger than the first line of defense, it also built more dense bunkers and artillery fortifications, which can effectively offset many of the Wu army's artillery advantages.

But it is still a pity that when Lin Fengxiang personally presided over the construction of this city's defense line, he still seriously underestimated the artillery intensity of the Wu army. He did not know that the Wu army under the command of the genius spy Zhang Dejian had long reported the fortifications in important towns of the Taiping Army to Hubei. The Wu army had long tried and developed and developed countermeasures for such fortifications, specifically used to fight against cities such as Anqing and Suzhou, Hangzhou, etc. that were deployed in Anqing. So...

Therefore, the Taiping Army soldiers guarding this line of defense were destined to end in tragedy. After completely suppressing the defenders above and below the Taiping Army City with fierce long-range artillery fire, the Wu army infantry first stepped forward with the door panel and quickly built a simple fortification next to the moat. Then the Wu army mortar cannon with an extremely large caliber stepped forward and advanced to the fortifications that could avoid bullets and fired calmly, shooting out the giant 210mm caliber shells in parabola, and blasted the Taiping Army defense line opposite the moat.

The weight level of the 210mm caliber shell is 68 pounds. The bigger the shell, the stronger the impact. At the same time, the more explosives can be contained inside, and the more powerful it produces during the explosion will naturally be. After such shells hit the dense areas of the Taiping Army bunkers, the huge explosion power not only immediately swept away the Taiping Army soldiers on the surrounding ground, but also often blow up the nearby Taiping Army bunkers directly and buried the Taiping Army soldiers in it. At the same time, the flames and poisonous smoke generated by the explosion of the picy acid explosive also obstructed many Taiping Army bunkers shooting holes and ventilation openings. They either forced the Taiping Army soldiers in the bunker to abandon the fort and flee, or suffocate the Taiping Army soldiers in the bunker to death.

The terrifying explosions that had never seen before came to the second line of defense of the Taiping Army, like thunder and fire, leaving one huge crater after another on the second line of defense of the Taiping Army. The Taiping soldiers in it could not hear the explosion, because their eardrums were either bleeded or were directly shaken. All they could see was the sprinkled soil and the flames soaring into the sky, as well as the yellow-green smoke and companions who fell in the pool of blood. Their despair screams were completely submerged in the explosion. Many Taiping soldiers fled from the wall defense line and escaped from the bunker because of their excessive fear. The positions were full of panic soldiers, and the bridgehead position, which was attacked by the Wu army's mortar cannon, quickly fell into a dilemma that no one dared to defend.

It was only after the firepower of the Wu army's mortar cannon extended to both sides of the bridgehead position that some Taiping soldiers who were lucky enough to escape the shelling returned to the bridgehead position under the punches and kicks of the superior generals. However, doing so was destined to be useless. The Wu army's assault team had already rushed over with a vine shield that could withstand circular bullets, and directly used grenades to seize the bridgehead position, protecting the subsequent army's crossing the river. The Wu army's infantry brigades crossed the river one after another and started a position battle with the Taiping army.

During this period, the Taiping Army on the city wall extended a helping hand in time and fired on the city wall to suppress the Wu army's charge. However, the Wu army's long-range artillery fire also arrived, risking the danger of accidentally injuring friendly forces to cover the top of the Anqing Ximen City, effectively suppressing the firepower of the defenders on the city. The Wu army soldiers under the city wall took the opportunity to scatter left and right, and quickly launched an operation to remove the Taiping Army bunker with the broken fortifications left by the Taiping Army as cover.

Liu Guanfang, a general of the Taiping Army who volunteered to guard the main battlefield of Ximen, has been risking his life to stay on the city to command and supervise the battle. Originally, Liu Guanfang also expected that the second line of defense could cause considerable casualties to the Wu army. However, after seeing the terrifying power of the Wu army's super-large caliber mortar cannon and the bitter and sour grenades that the Wu army soldiers seemed to be inexhaustible, Liu Guanfang's dream was completely lost. However, Liu Guanfang still refused to give up the city's position. Not only did he flatly reject the suggestion of letting the city's position guards return to the city to escape, he also ordered the shooting of his own deserters, and had a plan to use the city's defenders to consume as much as possible the Wu army's strength and ammunition.

Liu Guanfang's cruel decision did cause a lot of trouble to the Wu army. Given that the Taiping Army was defending and retrenched, the Wu army soldiers could only blast and remove the remaining Taiping Army bunkers under Anqing City one by one. In addition to consuming more ammunition, they inevitably increased casualties, and fought more harder than expected.

Fortunately, Liu Guanfang was willing to exchange Wu's troops and ammunition with the defenders at the city's positions. The Taiping soldiers guarding the second line of defense were not so generous. As time went by and casualties increased rapidly, they could not bear the fear of death. The Taiping soldiers still began to flee on their own one after another, and then gave up their positions in groups. The Taiping soldiers on the city could not stop them even if they shot.

The victory or defeat of the battlefield under the city was a foregone conclusion. The Wu army commander Cao Yanzhong turned his attention to the most important South Gate battlefield. Fortunately, the Wu army's advancement on the auxiliary battlefield at the South Gate was also quite smooth. There was no big problem in clearing the remaining enemies outside the city before dark. The Wu army's plan to attack the city at night can basically ensure that it will be carried out on time.

"It depends on the evening."

Although the progress was still smooth, Cao Yanzhong was still a little worried, because Cao Yanzhong could see that the Anqing Taiping Army did not bet too much on the fortifications outside the city wall, and left enough strength to guard the city wall defense line. At the same time, the Wu army scout also found that the Taiping Army on Linghu and Jixian Pass was actively preparing for a night battle. The real test of the self-army was still behind. Whether it could win Anqing Jiancheng in one battle is still a huge unknown.

There is no way to worry, and no one can turn back when things come to this point. Cao Yanzhong can only order the front army to clear away the remaining enemies outside the city as soon as possible, clear out obstacles to siege, and at the same time, he set out to arrange night battles, and was mentally prepared to face a hard battle early.

At about six o'clock in the evening, the Wu army successfully cleared the remaining enemies outside the two gates in the southwest, forcing the enemies guarding the second line of defense to flee to the camps of the two gates in the northeast. At the same time, the main brigade of the Wu army was basically ready for night battles. Cao Yanzhong then ordered the withdrawal of the already exhausted infantry front team and the main force of the siege led by Huang Yuanbao to enter the position. At the same time, the Wu army's artillery and navy also seized the time to do the final pre-war inspection, preparing to bombard the top of Anqing city after dark to cover the infantry siege.

At the same time, taking advantage of the interval when the Wu army withdrew the front team to rotate the siege troops, the Taiping Army in Anqing City was also catching up on the preparations for the night battle. It also withdrew from guarding a tired army during the day, rotated the main army to go up the city, inspected the defending equipment, and prepared in an orderly manner like the Wu army to welcome the real decisive battle at night.

"Quick, hurry up, check your weapons, dry food, water hyacinth, and water hyacinth are all filled. You will definitely fight for one night tonight, don't expect to sleep and rest."

"Liu Jiandian, Prime Minister Lin is here."

While busy, taking advantage of the afterglow of the sky, Lin Fengxiang also seized the time to visit the Ximen City again, personally inspected and inspected the preparations for the night battle of the Ximen Taiping Army. Liu Guanfang, who was urging soldiers to prepare for the war, stepped forward and saluted, saying: "Prime Minister Lin, I will not have any problems here. The city is too dangerous. Please go down to the city quickly."

"It's okay, I'll take a look and leave immediately."

Lin Fengxiang waved his hand and thanked Liu Guanfang for his good intention of worrying about his safety. He insisted on patrolling the city wall. As a result, Lin Fengxiang was very satisfied that the night battle arrangement of his own army was prepared very well, and there were almost no omissions. Only then did Lin Fengxiang nodded with satisfaction, accepted Liu Guanfang's repeated requests, and went down to the city to return to the command center to coordinate the overall situation.

The situation was not critical. When Lin Fengxiang and others went down the city, of course they wanted to take steps near the city tower. As a result, when Lin Fengxiang was surrounded by people, a loud noise suddenly came from the Wu army formation in the distance. The accompanying soldiers also thought that the Wu army suddenly fired the cannon. While using their bodies to protect Lin Fengxiang, they forced Lin Fengxiang to squat down to avoid the cannon.

However, strangely, no shells flew over. On the contrary, the Taiping soldiers next to the stack of arrows were gloating and shouted: "The gunpowder of the demon soldiers exploded, killing their own people."

"Is there such a good thing?"

Lin Fengxiang was of course very happy when he heard this, so he hurried to the side of the arrow pile to check the situation. As a result, he raised his telescope and saw that there was indeed smoke in the crowd on the Wu army's position in the distance. The Wu army soldiers gathered to prepare for war were in chaos. Several Wu army soldiers were lying on the ground. It was obvious that the Wu army soldiers made mistakes during the preparations and accidentally ignited the gunpowder that led to an explosion.

"God's Father bless you, a good omen." Lin Fengxiang smiled gloatingly and was very happy that such a mistake could occur in the Wu army before the decisive battle began, and he would hurt his morale by himself.

"Fuck! Unlucky! What did Huang Yuanbao eat? Why did this happen?!" At the same time, the Wu army commander Cao Yanzhong was cursing because the Wu army that suddenly made a mistake was not only the army that was responsible for the main offensive task, but also the direct army brought by Huang Yuanbao from Daye.

The picture turned back to Anqing City, and was gloating about the Wu army's mistake and his morale was lost. Of course, Lin Fengxiang was delayed a little by the arrow bush, and by the way, he observed the situation under the city that he could not see before and was blocked by his personal soldiers and could not approach the arrow bush. Under the city wall, of course, was Lin Fengxiang's previous blind spot.

The situation below the city wall shocked Lin Fengxiang. In addition to the many terrifying craters, there were also corpses of soldiers from both sides everywhere, as well as broken fortifications that were bombarded by the Wu army's artillery fire, and...

And the sudden burst of fires between the two small groups were even more shocking, making Lin Fengxiang unable to help but remember the dark and windy night of the past. He personally took the scout to inspect the enemy's city defense layout. On the city wall, there was also a small flame that suddenly burst out...

Bang! Bang! Lin Fengxiang heard two sounds first, and then, Lin Fengxiang first felt like something was drilling into his neck, and then something was drilling into his right eye socket. The blood-red liquid flew over Lin Fengxiang's left eye vision.

"With the truth of that year." This is the last consciousness in Lin Fengxiang's life.
Chapter completed!