Not long after, Tianjing City issued an edict, conferring Zhang Lexing the title of King of Guoyang and the General Manager of the Henan Marching Army.

The Taiping Army in Luzhou began to attack in the direction of Fengyang Mansion, conquering Dingyuan and Huaiyuan, and advancing towards Fengyang City.

The Nian Army also began to attack in the direction of Sizhou.

Two-thirds of the entire Anhui has fallen into the hands of the Taiping Army, and the remaining one-third is also undergoing the baptism of war.

Outside Yangzhou City, Qishan and the Governor of Water Transport Fuji commanded more than 15,000 troops and attacked Yangzhou City day and night.

All the people in Yangzhou City were in arms. Zeng Lichang sometimes even asked strong women to go to the city to help defend.

There were corpses everywhere on the city wall, and the old and weak who buried the corpses couldn't keep up.

The attacking party leads with the strong people, and the defensive party also leads with new soldiers, so the people who die in the end are basically the common people.

"Sir, let Lei take some people to charge." Lei Yicheng, the former deputy censor of the capital, said as he cupped his hands beside Qi Shan.

Because he lost Guazhou and was left in the army to perform meritorious service, he was eager to fight. Seeing that the bandits' defense was getting weaker, he volunteered to fight.

I hope that I can be reinstated to my original position with military honors.

"Master Lei, please be patient. Look at what that is."

The location where Qi Shan and others were standing was on a high ground and they could see the entire west gate of Yangzhou.

One kilometer away from the city wall, hundreds of Qing soldiers surrounded an exaggerated cannon and were struggling to move forward.

"Sir, is this a powerful and invincible general cannon?" Everyone squinted and looked at that place.

Excitement flashed in his eyes.

It was just because it was too far away that I couldn't see clearly the cannon. The cannon was surrounded by a group of people, like a group of ants pushing a stick forward.

"This cannon was cast by the Huai'an Prefecture under my command. It weighs fifteen thousand kilograms. It will knock down the city wall today." Qi Shan said angrily.

Seeing that victory is imminent, if Yangzhou can be recaptured, it will be a great achievement for Qi Shan.

He can also give an explanation to the imperial court.

The cannon was finally pushed into range.

The soldiers of the Qing army began to prepare nervously.

On the top of the city, Zeng Lichang also looked at the cannon with his binoculars.

The thick barrel can almost fit a person into it.

"Blow up that cannon for me." Zeng Lichang called to the commander of the artillery team on the top of the city.

"Commander, it's too far. The artillery on top of our city can't reach the enemy at all." The commander of the artillery team said helplessly.

"boom……"

There was a loud noise, and a cloud of smoke rose around the cannon.

Zeng Lichang's body shook.

The huge cannonball hit the city wall with strong kinetic energy. For a moment, the people on the top of the city felt as if they had encountered a ground cage and rolled over. Some people even had weak legs and fell to the ground.

After a while, several city walls were knocked down. Xu Shuanglai, the commander-in-chief of Suzhou Town, was a fierce general. He took the opportunity to build a pontoon bridge, put up a ladder, and climbed to the Paoma Tower of the attached city.

It turned out that Zeng Lichang felt that the city of Yangzhou was narrow, so he built a building with planks beside the road. It was about two to three feet wide and as high as the city. It was called Paoma Building.

When Zeng Lichang saw the Qing troops ascending to Paoma Tower, he immediately ordered the wooden building to be set on fire.

For a moment, flames soared into the sky, and the Qing troops gathered on the horse racing building. They had to do it one by one.

Many soldiers jumped from the building and died or were injured.

Xu Shuanglai was also injured and fell from the building.

The Qing army retreated, but the city wall had collapsed in many places, making the defensive work more and more difficult.

"Why haven't the guards arrived yet?" Zeng Lichang asked the deputy general beside him.

According to the agreement, the Taiping Army in Yangzhou dragged the main force of the Qing army under the city, and the escort army would send a large army to encircle them.

Yuan Wei led an army of 10,000 people, who had just crossed the canal and was heading west.

He told his soldiers to slow down and conserve their strength so they could jump straight into battle.

This time, Yuan Wei brought out the two main detachments - Jiangbei First Detachment and Jiangbei Second Detachment.

Dong Liang's order to him was to take over Yangzhou City and at the same time take the opportunity to severely damage the Jiangbei camp of the Qing army.

Because the main enemy the escort army faced after taking over Yangzhou was also Jiangbei Camp.

This Qishan is known as a dog-skin plaster, a Xiaoqiang who cannot be beaten to death.

Jiangbei Camp has been defeated many times, but it has always stood there.

"Commander, the general will send someone to the east to check."

Today's attack by the Qing army was very different from the past. Not only did they use this super cannon, but the charging soldiers were also fearless of death.

Zeng Lichang suspected that the Qing army was about to launch a general offensive.

Sure enough, at this time Lei Yicheng led his troops and rushed up again along the pontoon bridge built by Xu Shuanglai just now.

The one who rushed ahead was obviously Minzhuang. They rushed across the pontoon holding the ladder.

Following behind were the regular soldiers of the Qing army.

"Bang bang bang..." The Taiping troops on the top of the city fought back with muskets.

However, the density of firepower was obviously not enough, so the civilians began to climb up the ladder.

Behind the Qing army, where Zeng Lichang could not see, a group of unarmed people were kneeling on the ground. Most of these people were old and weak, women and children, and they were the family members of this strong group of people.

The Qing army threatened the lives of their family members and asked those strong men to charge into the battle. If anyone backed down, all his family members would be executed immediately.

"Block the gaps..." Zeng Lichang mobilized his troops and blocked several holes in the city wall that had been blown up.

Soldiers from both sides fought in the ruins of the gap, and the blood made the city bricks slippery under everyone's feet.

Many people were already red-blooded. Those Minzhuang people were originally forced by the Qing army to attack the city, and now they tried their best on the life-and-death battlefield.

"The city is broken..."

The cheers of the Qing army came from a gap in the city wall.

The Taiping troops there finally couldn't stand it any longer.

Most of the soldiers and horses in the old camp were taken away by Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang.

Zeng Lichang had too many new soldiers, and his fighting will was not as good as the veterans who came out of Guangxi.

Zeng Lichang also left 500 old battalion soldiers and horses in the city as a general reserve force.

"Shuai Zeng, send the reserve team up." His subordinates advised.

Zeng Lichang was a little hesitant. He didn't feel bad no matter how many new soldiers died, but the veterans were his thorns in the side.

At this time, the Qing army suddenly retreated with a request for gold.

On a hillside to the west, Qi Shan was furious.

Seeing that the city was about to be breached, a troop of soldiers and horses suddenly appeared from the north of the city.

This group of people was large in number, carrying red flags, and surrounded them in an orderly column toward the west of the city.

Naturally, Qi Shan could not watch his men being cut off by the enemy, so he quickly ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops.

"Sir, this is the Red Flag Army entrenched in Jiangbei."

"Red Flag Army?" Qi Shan naturally knew about the existence of this army.

But this was his first close and direct contact with the opponent.

Previously, it was fought by the local militia in Huai'an and the patrol Red Flag Army of Yanyun Yamen.

"Report..." At this time, the soldiers sent to investigate also came back to report.

"Sir, there are nearly ten thousand enemies coming, almost all of them are musketeers."

Qi Shan frowned, hesitating whether to retreat or not.

The key is, can we still retreat at this time?

"Reinforcements are coming!"

…

At this time, bursts of cheers erupted from the top of Yangzhou City.

The Taiping soldiers who had just experienced a life-and-death battle cried with joy.

The soldiers seemed to be brought back from the brink of life and death.

They all know about the existence of the Red Flag Army. They are neighbors and they usually have some exchanges.

"After the order is passed, the columns will change into horizontal formations. The first detachment will charge forward, and the second detachment will continue to advance in column and outflank the Qing army's right wing. Do not fight with the opponent."

It was very easy to break the siege of Yangzhou, but it was not so easy to severely damage the Qing army.
To be continued...