Chapter 396 Attacking the Imperial City

"This is a strategic reserve. If you use it, you will lose it. Are you really sure you want to use it here?" Qian Tiandun questioned: "We can't make TNT in a short time, right?"

"Large-scale production is definitely not possible at this stage, but it can be prepared in small quantities in the laboratory. Trinitrotoluene is not a rare thing." When it comes to chemical issues, Qiao Zhiya can be regarded as an authority in the headquarters.

: "Sulfuric acid and nitric acid can now be produced in Shengli Port on its own. Toluene is a little more troublesome. It has to be extracted from the coal tar sent from Black Earth Port. Basically it can only be done in the laboratory, and the production capacity is very small. It is used for making detonators.

Mercury fulminate is not a problem, it was trial-produced last year, but the stability during use is not very good, and the chemical industry department is still trying to improve it."

"How does the cost of this thing compare to the earth-explosives currently used?" Yan Chujie immediately became excited. If the Haihan Militia can install TNT as a regular combat readiness material, then the tactics that can be used in battle will be richer in the future.

"It can't be compared for now. The cost of laboratory production is too high, and the output is very small. I also want to mass-produce this thing as soon as possible, but I'm afraid it won't be possible in the short term." Qiao Zhiya also seemed very regretful about this, but he was very disappointed.

He quickly brought the topic back to business: "I carefully observed the structure of the Peace Arch on the battlefield today. In fact, it is much easier to blow up the Peace Arch than to blow down the city wall. There are three door openings under this tower, and the stress-bearing structure is stronger than the city wall.

It is much weaker. As long as you find the right location for blasting, the amount of explosives required is actually not very large."

Yan Chujie shook his head and said: "The problem is how do you go over to the construction site to arrange explosive sites? Not to mention the defenders on the tower, there is a moat in between. Do you want the militiamen to carry rafts to fill the river? And ours

Engineers and soldiers may not understand things like force-bearing structures."

"Ordinary engineers definitely can't do this kind of technical work..." Qiao Zhiya looked at Yan Chujie and said, "Leave this matter to me personally!"

"It seems that you have already prepared a plan of action!" Qian Tiandun responded with a smile: "Then how do you need us to cooperate with you?"

"Send someone outside the city to pick up the things on the boat and deliver them over as soon as possible. I'll pick a few engineers who know how to use water. We'll start tonight. If everything goes well, we can probably finish the preparations in one day tomorrow." Qiao Zhiya said confidently.

said.

Three hours later, several figures slipped silently into the moat outside the Imperial City in the darkness. The moat of the Imperial City was only ten meters wide. There was originally a two-stage bridge outside the Peace Gate.

There are fixed piers on the bridge deck, and the inner section is a suspension bridge that can be raised. However, before the Royal Forest Army withdrew into the imperial city, they did not forget to remove all the fixed bridge deck. Now even if it can be

Even if the suspension bridge is lowered, it can't reach the river bank at the other end. At this time, the other side of the closed city gate should have been covered with wooden pillars supporting the top door, and maybe the other end of the doorway was blocked with stones, so they didn't need to

I was worried that the city gate would suddenly open and the defenders would rush out and arrest Xing Xing.

After slowly swimming across the river, these people climbed up the river bank, entered the gate of the Heping Gate of the Imperial City, put down their burdens, and swam back to the other side. These people were in the moat. After walking back and forth twice, I transported all the things I needed to the gate of the gate tower, and then lurked quietly.

After dawn, the troops of the Haihan Militia outside the city aimed several artillery pieces at the city tower, firing one every few minutes. Although the small-caliber artillery used by the army could only cause limited damage to such large buildings, However, the deterrent effect of this attack was very significant. Soon the defenders on the tower chose to evacuate this too obvious target position, leaving only a small number of sentries on the walls on both sides of the tower to monitor the enemy forces outside the city. trend.

Of course, the few people in the city tower cave were not idle. They were taking advantage of the bustle outside to dig holes in the city wall with hand drills and plant explosives. According to Qiao Zhiya's rough estimate, they needed to place dozens of explosives under the city tower. The detonation point can cause the tower to collapse after the explosion. It is not easy to make so many holes in the stone bricks by hand, but it is also a last resort. If you use a chisel to knock hard, the sound will be difficult to conceal. Passed by the defenders on the city wall.

The militia troops outside the city were not idle because of this. Except for some people who continued yesterday's forced demolition operations, various companies were ordered to start cleaning up some government agencies in the occupied areas. The six ministries under the South Vietnamese imperial court, Dutong Mansion, and Imperial College , Qintianjian and other institutions are outside the imperial city, and there are many things in these institutions that the executive committee is interested in. In addition, there are also the residences of various royal relatives and high-ranking officials in the city, which are naturally the focus of inspection. ——The material rewards issued by the militia after the war basically relied on confiscating homes in Hue city. Even if the Hai Han militia did not attack these places, the North Vietnamese army would not let them go after the city was broken, and the Military Commission would not let them go. The insistence on not cooperating with the North Vietnamese army to attack the city was partly due to the idea of ​​going into the city and eating alone.

With the guidance of the local leading party, the troops performing tasks basically no longer need to take chances by mistake, and the efficiency of house raids has become very high. Although the militia has strict regulations prohibiting soldiers from hiding personal belongings during this process , but everyone's enthusiasm for carrying out this kind of task is obviously much higher than that of forced demolition - watching boxes of gold, silver and jewelry being loaded and transported outside the city, thinking that after the war, they can get their own share As a bonus, almost everyone is as motivated as clockwork.

At the same time, it was not just the militia that was making a fuss in the city of Hue. Thousands of South Vietnamese skirmishers were doing the same thing in the other half of the city. Since the militia did not have enough troops to surround the emperor, The city, so some of the defenders can still maintain contact with the senior officials in the city on the other side of the imperial city. However, some of the troops that were dispersed during the previous attack on the city have become headless flies. At this time, as long as someone takes the lead in causing chaos, Immediately, someone will follow suit. The rebels did not let go of their courage at first. They just rushed into ordinary people's homes and looted them, but soon the riots escalated out of control. The rich families in the high-walled compounds were obviously more wealthy. , so it naturally became the main target of the rebels.

"Have our people begun to attack the west city?" Qian Tiandun put down the telescope and asked Yan Chujie with some doubts. In fact, there is no need to use a telescope. With the naked eye, you can see that there are bursts of black rising in many places in the western city.

Through the smoke, you can still faintly hear the shouts of killing carried by the wind.

Yan Chujie shook his head and said, "They are not our people."

"The North Vietnamese Army invaded on their own?" Wang Tom asked in shock. Yesterday, after he delivered the materials needed for blasting from outside the city, he stayed at the forward position and never left.

"Probably not. If they want to attack the city, they will at least give us a warning in advance." Although Yan Chujie is not sure what happened in Xicheng, he can guess to some extent: "Eighty percent of it was the South Vietnamese defenders who caused the chaos on their own.

Well, there must be a lot of people who want to take advantage of the chaos at this time. It’s better to let them make a fuss, so that no one will interfere with what we want to do.”

The level of trouble caused by the rebels in the city was far more serious than the Haihan officers imagined, so much so that the senior officials of the Ruan family in the palace had to order the surviving troops in the Xicheng area to quell the rebels - if these people were not stopped as soon as possible,

Then even if the Haihan people cannot capture Hue City in the end, the city will be destroyed in the hands of the rebels.

In the afternoon, an even more bizarre situation occurred in the city. A large number of people fled from the west city and poured into the eastern city area controlled by the Haihan Militia to escape the rebels. Although this area was already an "enemy-occupied area" to the local people,

Obviously, the social order here is better than that in the city controlled by South Vietnam's own army. Except for a few powerful families, ordinary people are basically safe and sound as long as they do not actively attack the Haihan militia, and they have not been looted by the militia.

-Of course, a large part of the reason for this is that the militia's military strength is really limited, and they can only give priority to looting the houses of large families pointed out by the leading party.

Most of the soldiers who made trouble in Xicheng had seen the power of the Haihan Militia, and actually gave up the pursuit of these people with a tacit understanding, and controlled their scope of action outside the Haihan Militia's defense line. A few did not watch.

After the budding rebels took rifle bullets from the militia, they quickly retracted their claws, not daring to provoke this difficult opponent again.

This unreasonable situation made the officers on the Haihan side dumbfounded. They should obviously be playing the role of unjust aggressors in this war, but why did the orange color change halfway through the war and become ordinary citizens?

The guardian of?

After nightfall, the engineering team that had been working under the Peace Gate for a day finally sneaked back to their own camp safely. When Qiao Zhiya returned to the headquarters tent, he collapsed on the chair, not even having the strength to change out of his wet clothes.

Upon seeing this, Wang Tom quickly asked the orderly to get dry towels and clothes, and together with Qian Tiandun, they helped him up and took off his clothes. After a while, Morgan also came in with a bowl of hot ginger soup: "Drink it.

You will feel better about this, this is a unique recipe taught to me by Major Gu Wei."

Qiao Zhiya changed his clothes, drank ginger soup, and slumped on the chair for a while before he regained his strength. He shook his head and said: "I have never been so tired since time travel. I was even more tired when I was digging sand to build a settlement in Victory Port.

It's easy now, I really underestimated the amount of work this time."

As Qiao Zhiya spoke, he spread his hands and showed them to everyone. Both palms were red, and there were blood blisters in several places. It could be seen that he was indeed very tired after the day.

"How much has been completed now? How about I take over for you? You can be responsible for technical guidance. I still have the skills to install explosives and detonators." Qian Tiandun volunteered.

"No need." Qiao Zhiya shook his head slightly and said, "Everything has been arranged, and I have brought back the blasting fuses. The explosives have not been used up, but the electric detonators we brought before crossing have basically been used up this time.

That’s right, if you ever do this kind of thing again, you’ll have to use an earthen detonator.”

Yan Chujie asked in a deep voice, "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"If the tower cannot be blown down, I, Qiao Zhiya, will immediately go back to Tian Duquan's laboratory!" Qiao Zhiya couldn't help grinning while swearing, because at this time, Morgan was using medical equipment to treat the blood on his hands.

Bubble.

"Everyone, let's prepare separately!" After Yan Chujie received the affirmative answer, he asked everyone to start preparing for the offensive that would be carried out in the next day.

"Wait a minute, do you want to notify the North Vietnamese Army?" Qian Tiandun asked.

Although the military advisory group sent by North Vietnam has been placed outside the city and has not even been able to enter the city until now, all the battlefield information they have learned comes from the oral descriptions of the liaison officer of the Haihan Militia, but it seems that they will launch tomorrow

It's time for a general attack, and it seems a bit unreasonable if we don't say hello to our allies.

Yan Chujie hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Then say hello to them, but it's too late today. Let's inform them tomorrow morning!"

In accordance with Yan Chujie's order, the liaison officer woke up the officers of the North Vietnamese Military Observation Group at dawn the next day and informed them of the upcoming general attack on the Imperial City today. The hurried military observation group sent people on horseback to circle to the west.

At the North Vietnamese Army station, when the news reached coach Zheng Bai's desk, nearly two hours had passed.

When Zheng Bai was making a scene in the camp and scolding the Haihan people for playing tricks, the Haihan militia's position outside the imperial city had entered the final stage of preparation. The demolition work for two consecutive days had achieved quite remarkable results. Outside the Peace Gate

An open space with a width and depth of more than 300 meters was cleared. Now this open space is densely packed with nearly 40 artillery pieces of different calibers, ranging from the 3-pound small cannon equipped by the Black Earth Port Special Operations Battalion to the assault rifle.

There are all kinds of 48-pound mortars specially designed for the city, covering almost all the artillery specifications currently installed by the Haihan Militia Army.

This situation has certainly attracted the attention of the defenders on the city wall, but they can only stare blankly now. According to the images captured from a high altitude by drones yesterday, the defenders in the city have already arranged a few of them on the other wall.

The cannon has been dismantled, but transporting it to the Peace Arch and re-erecting the fort is not a task that can be completed in a short time. And whether equipment such as bows and arrows or trebuchets are used in the city, their range cannot be

Arriving at the Haihan people's position. Therefore, the defenders had no practical response to the Haihan people setting up artillery positions outside the city.

At this time, in a private house only separated by a moat from the Peace Arch, Qiao Zhiya was waiting for orders from the headquarters. No one noticed that there were several black lines as thick as a little finger extending from this house into the moat.

The defenders never imagined that they were standing on top of a large explosive pack.

At nine o'clock in the morning, after everything was ready, Yan Chujie gave an order to Qiao Zhiya through the walkie-talkie. After Qiao Zhiya pressed the detonator, he heard a series of explosions coming from the downstairs of the Heping Gate, although it was not as good as the explosion of the outer city wall a few days ago.

It was such a large formation, but the effect of this explosion far exceeded the last one. The tower, which was more than ten meters high, began to collapse before the explosion ended. About five seconds later, the width of the tower

The tower, which was more than thirty meters long, completely collapsed into a pile of rubble. Dust and smoke flew up, completely blocking the sight of both armies.

After a few minutes, the dust dispersed, and the scene in front of them shocked both warring parties. Just as Qiao Zhiya expected before the action, after the city tower collapsed, both sides inside and outside the city could use this gap to attack each other.

From the artillery position on the Haihan side, we could clearly see the Nanyue Imperial Palace building about two miles away, as well as the panic-stricken defenders in the city.

"Aim at target No. 1 and fire!" Following the officer's order, the artillery on the artillery position began to roar one after another, and the shells flew over the collapsed tower with a scream, and hit the palace in the middle of the imperial city.

architecture.

Almost at the same time that the Peace Gate tower collapsed, the defenders in the imperial city began to lose the will to continue to resist, because anyone who is not blind can confirm that the surrounding city walls are no longer able to protect themselves and this shaky regime.

A large number of defenders began to flee to the west, because there was no trace of the Haihan people outside the city wall there, and they still had a chance to escape.

When the Haihan militia began to build a pontoon bridge on the moat, the defenders showed no resistance at all. The civilians confidently and boldly connected the wooden rows on the river. The militia infantry followed step by step. When the artillery shells returned,

While flying in the air, the soldiers of the militia had already rushed across the pontoon bridge and stepped on the ruins of the collapsed city tower.

"The city is broken! The Haihan people are coming in!"

Following the shouts of some defeated soldiers, the defenders in the city quickly lost their will to resist and began to flee. This allowed the militia to not encounter much resistance when entering the imperial city. Almost all the sober-minded defenders chose

They opened the city gates in the other three directions, which were the doors of escape for them.

"Disperse the companies and control the predetermined areas!" Yan Chujie can only issue combat orders to the officers through the walkie-talkie. After the Haihan Militia Army entered the imperial city, it was difficult to cover everything, so they could only occupy some important areas first.

The goal is to control the leading figures in the Ruan family.

However, it was not easy to capture the leader of the Ruan family among the rebellious army, and Yan Chujie did not want to pursue him too fiercely and cause a backlash from the defenders. After careful consideration, Yan Chujie decided to leave this piece of fat to the army.

North Vietnamese troops setting up a perimeter outside the city.

About half an hour after the Hai Han militia invaded the Peace Arch, the west gate of Hue City suddenly opened, and thousands of remaining soldiers rushed to the plain to the west, hoping to escape into the Truong Son Mountains.
Chapter completed!