Yang Zhen saw Pan Xi taking the order with determination. He nodded to him first, then turned his eyes to the faces of Liu Lin and An Yingchang, looked at them both, and said:

"Liu Bingshi, An Du pointed out that in this defensive operation of the East City, your two troops will also guard the section of the city wall that is about to collapse. Has the circular barricade that you were asked to build behind that section of the city wall completed?"

When the entire city was undergoing major barricade repairs, Yang Zhen had ordered the two of them to be responsible for rebuilding that section of the city wall, and building an additional ring barricade behind the newly built city wall, just in case this shortcoming in the East City was discovered by the Qing Dynasty.

breakthrough.

Now, the newly repaired city wall was indeed discovered by the Qing Dynasty, and it was almost penetrated by the Qing Dynasty's heavy artillery. Under such circumstances, once that section of the city wall was breached, the fortifications behind the wall were crucial.

.

"It's done!"

As soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, Liu Lin and An Yingchang replied to Yang Zhen almost in unison.

"How many courses have been completed?"

"How many? This -"

Liu Lin and An Yingchang probably didn't expect that Yang Zhen would ask them how many fortifications they had built. They looked at each other in confusion and didn't know how to answer.

At this time, Qiu Zhenhai spoke.

"Just one. Just like what the governor said at the time, behind the newly built city wall, Liu Bingshi and An Du pointed out that they commanded the men and horses, and used wood to block the horses, sandbags, and ice walls to build a four or five-foot-high earthen fence."

Qiu Zhenhai answered Yang Zhen's question while recalling his latest inspection of that fortification.

"I'm afraid one line is no longer enough. You should add another line behind it as soon as possible! In short, we must ensure that even if the Qinglu horse infantry breaks through that section of the city wall and enters the city, they must die in front of your fortifications, and they must not be allowed to break through again.

!”

Qiu Zhenhai listened to what Yang Zhen said, looked at Liu Lin and An Yingchang, and then the three of them clasped their fists and bowed together, and said to Yang Zhen: "I obey my orders!"

Seeing this, Yang Zhen turned around and waved to Ma Keqing, who was standing behind him, to come forward. Then he took his usual ax from his hand and looked at the faces of the Dongcheng defense generals one by one.

Seeing Yang Zhen acting like this, everyone held their breath.

"Pan Xi!"

"The humble position is here!"

"In this battle, in addition to the grenadiers you command, Liu Bingzhi's troops and An Yingchang's troops and horses are all under your command! Anyone who refuses to obey the command before the battle can use this ax to directly

Behead him in public display!”

As soon as Yang Zhen said these words, everyone was shocked.

Yang Zhen had always treated Liu Lin, An Yingchang and others with courtesy and rarely said such harsh words. When these words came out, everyone immediately felt the tense atmosphere of the impending war.

While Qiu Zhenhai, Liu Lin, An Yingchang and others were surprised by this and looked shocked, the young man Pan Xi showed an unusual calmness. He slowly stepped forward and walked away from Yang.

Yang Zhen took the ax in his hand, bowed to Yang Zhen and said:

"I humbly obey my orders!"

It was just such a plain sentence, without a single extra word, but it was called Liu Lin. An Yingchang's heart sank.

They immediately realized that if their subordinates, or even themselves, really acted in a hurry and fell into the hands of this young general, this young general would really behead them in public.

When they thought of this, Liu Lin and An Yingchang suddenly became many times more energetic. They immediately followed Pan Xi, clasped their fists and bowed to Yang Zhen, and said again: "I humbly obey my orders!"

For Yang Zhen, it is really a matter of life and death. Who cares if you are a military commander or a loyal commander of the Ming Army? You are asked to rush forward. When you push forward, do you dare to be greedy for life or afraid of death?

If you hesitate, your head will be taken immediately.

After Yang Zhen passed over Qiu Zhenhai, the commander-in-chief of Dongcheng's defense, and issued a series of orders, he turned his head and looked at Qiu Zhenhai again, and then said to him:

"Lieutenant General Qiu, I leave this place to you at Zhenjiang Gate. Although the focus of Qinglu's attack is not here, we cannot take it lightly. You are still the commander-in-chief of Dongcheng's defense, and you will lead the other troops stationed in Dongcheng as reserves.

"Once the part of the city wall guarded by Pan Xi and others collapses and the Qinglu horse and infantry rush in, you have to lead other troops to the rescue. Don't be careless!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Yang Zhen is Qiu Zhenhai's niece and son-in-law. He usually respects Qiu Zhenhai very much and rarely talks to Qiu Zhenhai like this.

So since I said this at this time, it means that there is something in the words and it means something profound.

When Qiu Zhenhai heard this, he naturally heard something unusual and knew that Zhenjiang Fort's defensive operations had reached a critical moment.

If you defend it this time, you have defended it. If you fail to defend it this time, then everything will be over.

Therefore, he quickly and solemnly agreed.

In fact, Yang Zhen didn't want to be so detailed. Since he had handed over the Dongcheng defense affairs to Qiu Zhenhai, taking too much control would make people feel that he didn't trust Qiu Zhenhai enough.

However, whether we can hold that section of the east city wall is really of great importance.

It has to be said that Yang Zhen had indeed focused his defense on the west side of the city because there was a long and deep trench built by the Qing captives there, and behind the long trench and long fort was the Qing captive camp in the west of the city.

Between the siege fortress built by the Qing Dynasty and the west wall of the Zhenjiang Fort, except for the frozen moat at the foot of the city wall, there was an open and relatively flat wilderness, which was very suitable for horse and infantry assaults to charge the city.

In contrast, to the east of the city of Zhenjiang Fort is the wide Yajiang River. Although the river surface is now frozen and covered with snow, the river surface itself is still much lower than the river bank on the Zhenjiang Fort side.

If the Qing Dynasty army set out from the Weihua Island camp in the east of the city and stormed the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort, the first obstacle they would encounter when crossing the river on the ice was the gap between the river bank and the river surface.

Although there are many gentle slopes on the long river bank that you can ride your horse up, the impact speed will inevitably be affected and reduced when you get ashore.

Moreover, once the soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty land ashore, they will be completely covered by the cannons at the top of the city and even the flying generals.

Therefore, in Yang Zhen's view, that place was the mortal enemy of the Qinglu, but any Qinglu troops who had experienced the Songshan offensive and defensive battle would not easily launch an infantry attack on the city from that direction.

Therefore, Yang Zhen focused his defense on the Tangshan Gate area of ​​Xicheng, and arranged Zhang Chen, Li Lu, Yang Shen and others there.

The defense operations of Dongcheng were handed over to Qiu Zhenhai, and he was given unified command of Pan Xi, Yu Haichao, Liu Zhongjin, An Yingchang, Liu Lin and other miscellaneous soldiers.

Originally, this was an opportunity for Qiu Zhenhai to accumulate merit and qualifications.

In Yang Zhen's vision, after this battle, Qiu Zhenhai can take charge of his own affairs and be entrusted with the important task of being the commander-in-chief of one party.

However, now he found that he might have been a little too optimistic before.

On the one hand, the Qinglu generals who commanded the heavy artillery bombardment of the city learned wisely and did not launch an overwhelming and indiscriminate bombardment. Instead, they identified the weak points of the city wall and carried out targeted attacks continuously.

As a result, there is a huge risk that the newly built city wall will be defeated.

On the other hand, Qiu Zhenhai did not participate in the brutal Songshan City defense battle last year. To be more precise, Qiu Zhenhai led the navy outside at that time and was not in Songshan City.

This also means that compared to commanding naval operations, Qiu Zhenhai has always been separated from the defense operations of the city, especially the use of long and short-range firearms that Yang Zhen is good at.

If the east wall of Zhenjiang Fort is not in great danger, according to Yang Zhen's arrangement, as long as Qiu Zhenhai obeys his orders, there will be no major problems.

However, since the newly repaired city wall now has a great risk of being defeated, it is different.

Even if Yang Zhen wanted to be a hands-off shopkeeper, the current severe situation would not allow him to do so.

Yang Zhen had arranged the defense of the east city, and night had fallen. After Liu Zhongjin commanded the heavy artillery at the top of the city to start bombarding the Qinglu artillery array on Waihua Island, Yang Zhen took the others accompanying him down to the city and left.

The group had just returned to the camp gate and dismounted their horses. Before entering, they suddenly heard a dull sound coming from the direction of Tangshan Gate in Xicheng.

Yang Zhen took the horse and immediately stood there, motionless, listening carefully.

The sound of the noise did not sound like the roar of heavy artillery being fired, but more like the sound of houses collapsing. However, this sound was mixed with the rumbling sound of cannons at the east gate of the city, and it sounded a bit unreal.

"What noise? Did you hear it? What noise?"

"It sounds like, it sounds like the sound of a house collapsing. Could it be that something happened over there at Ximen -"

Ma Keqing, who was following Yang Zhen and was about to take the reins of the horse from Yang Zhen, heard Yang Zhen's inquiry and hesitated to express his worries.

However, before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of rapid horse hooves in the distance, and someone was galloping over with a torch.

The sound of horse hoofbeats attracted Yang Zhen's attention. When he turned around to look, he saw Li Shouzhong riding a torch from the direction of Tangshan Gate with an anxious face.

At the same time, Li Shouzhong, who was galloping on his horse, saw Yang Zhen outside the gate of General Zhengdong's camp, so he galloped up and arrived in a blink of an eye.

"Captain, Commander, the urn at Tangshan Gate has collapsed. The urn at Tangshan Gate has collapsed! Vice General Zhang asked me to report to the Commander-in-Chief, and ask the Commander to go to Tangshan Gate in person!"

Li Shouzhong rode his horse to a place not far from Yang Zhen, got off his horse, saw the ceremony, and immediately reported Ximen's situation and his purpose.

"Oh?! How big a hole did the outer urn city collapse? Is there any danger in other locations?"

"There is no danger in other locations for the time being. Only in front of the urn city outside Tangshan Gate, more than ten feet wide collapsed! Vice General Zhang and Vice General Li were worried that they would disrupt the governor's plan, so they hesitated for a while, not knowing whether to block or not.

Ask the young one to come and invite the governor!"

"That's good, let's go, you will lead the way to Tangshan Gate!"

After saying these words, Yang Zhen got on his horse outside the camp gate, took his entourage, and followed Li Shouzhong in the direction of Tangshan Gate.

In his opinion, the collapse of the urn outside Tangshan Gate was a matter of time.

As long as the heavy artillery of the Qing Dynasty did not stop bombarding, the Waierngcheng that protruded outside the city would inevitably be unable to withstand it over time.
Chapter completed!