According to previous training in city defense tactics, all city defenders can generally be divided into three echelons.

The first echelon was the first to guard on the city wall, the second echelon was on standby under the inner city wall, and the third echelon had just entered the city to hide as a reserve team.

Yang Shanxin's order actually meant that the first echelon waiting on the west city wall should be withdrawn to avoid artillery fire.

In addition, once it is determined that the enemy's siege focus is on the west gate, he can effectively dispatch the entire city's defense forces and firearms configuration.

The function of firearms is to block the enemy from outside the moat. Once they cross the moat, the city-climbing battle will involve hand-to-hand combat. If there are few defenders, a dangerous situation is very likely to occur.

Luo Longyun reminded that the enemy must not be allowed to board the city to kill them. The Republican Army's firepower advantage must be used to block the enemy outside the moat as much as possible. If a few can get under the wall and climb the city wall, the pressure on the city head will be reduced a lot.

.

This time the Taihu Allied Forces came in a hurry and were very short of large tools for attacking the city. After two days of consumption of artillery shells and bullets, there were not many left.

It was impossible for them to have time to fully prepare, and it was impossible to replenish their ammunition. The Shanghai army's arms were intercepted, which dealt a heavy blow to their side.

This shortcoming allowed Yang Shanxin and Luo Longyun to cope with it easily.

"Shh...boom..."

"Shush...boom..."

"..."

The first round of artillery bombardment commanded by Geng Zhongming began.

The cannonballs, with their sharp whistling sounds and smoke, crackled against the city wall and the military road in the middle of the wall.

There were also a small number of cannonballs that fell into the city.

The city wall is made of stone strips, bonded with lime mortar in the middle, which is stronger than any other city wall.

The inner layer of the stone wall is made of rammed earth, nearly two feet wide, and can be used to move gun emplacements and move troops and horses.

Geng Zhongming was still cruel and tilted more than 60% of the few remaining cannonballs against the west city wall.

When he saw that the wall was strong, he raised the muzzle of his guns and bombarded the troop transport channels and arrow emplacements on the wall, but the actual effect was not great.

Because the defenders had withdrawn their soldiers beforehand, no casualties were caused except for the destruction of bunkers.

"Chief Yang, Chief Luo, the gang has begun to attack." The adjutant beside him conveyed the signal from the observation deck.

At this time, the enemy's artillery fire gradually weakened.

"First echelon, all go up the city wall." Yang Shanxin immediately gave the order. The flag bearer waved the flag, and everyone quickly climbed up the city wall from several ladders.

Under the city wall, Taihu Allied soldiers, carrying wooden wooden ladders on their shoulders, rushed towards the city howling.

Their first step was to send out soldiers to build a bridge over a moat that was two feet deep and three feet wide.

This project is really difficult enough.

They forced people from nearby villages to bring in wooden planks or roof beams from their homes and lay them there.

"Brother Luo, it's time to let our artillery show its power!"

"Okay, I'll take command." Luo Longyun turned around and walked towards the artillery position.

Knowing that the focus of the enemy's attack was the West Gate, the Republican Army concentrated all artillery at the West Gate, including twelve 75mm Krupp artillery pieces and twenty 60mm mortars.

"Fire..." Following Luo Longyun's command flag, he waved.

"Boom boom..."

"Boom boom boom..."

"..."

For a time, several wooden bridges that had just been built were blown away by a burst of artillery fire, causing people to overturn their horses and the siege bandits to fall into the deep trenches one after another.

A wooden plank was hit by a cannonball. Before it exploded, the plank was like a seesaw, and the two soldiers who were working on the other end were ejected into the air. They fell into the ditch with a bang, their heads were cracked, and their internal organs were shaken.

Broken.

"Artillery cover." Geng Zhongming quickly moved the artillery cover to build a bridge.

For a moment, the cannonballs in the air were coming and going, not giving way to each other, and they happened to collide with each other. Sparks flew everywhere and the sound was loud, like thunder descending from the earth.

Jin Tianlong saw that the plan to attack one gate alone was not working, so he ordered the gangsters to build floating bridges from the other three gates at the same time, and even asked the gangsters to use ladders to climb up and down from the trench.

He sent the Shanghai Army and his own elite troops to form a gun formation outside the moat to cover the Allied bandits crossing the ditch.

Finally, some gangsters arrived at the city. They stretched the rolled ladders up to the top of the city and prepared to climb the city wall.

"Knock them all down."

"Bang bang bang..."

"..."

The soldiers who defended the city fired volleys at the bottom of the city. Without much aim, the dense bullets caused the bandits who climbed onto the city to fall down the city one after another before they even climbed halfway up the city, forming a chaotic mess.

Jin Tiancheng stood in the commander's tent, holding a telescope and stamping his feet and shaking his hands in worry. He was complaining that his elite troops could not play any role at this moment.

…

From early morning to when Ming Jin withdrew his troops at noon, the continuous attack on the city lasted for more than seven hours. The Taihu Allied Forces suffered heavy losses and lost more than 2,000 people.

What is extremely ironic and frustrating is that not a single Allied bandit has climbed up to the top of Gusu City, and the city has not suffered much damage. Anyway, there are no collapses or gaps.

But there was not much ammunition in the coalition supply camp.

"In the afternoon, the four city gates will be raised. The Shanghai Army and the Taihu Gang will work together, and the allied forces will attack! Before dark, we must capture this city and tell the people inside that the city will be massacred if it does not surrender."

Jin Tianlong said with a livid face and gritted his teeth.

Everyone knew that this was an unreasonable approach, but at this point, they had no choice but to agree first.

…

Just when the Battle of Suzhou was inextricably fought, an explosion also broke out in the city of Jinling, more than 200 kilometers away.

I had always judged that Taihu Jin Tianlong could not have so many troops to attack the city on a large scale, but now it seems wrong.

Jin Tianlong gathered tens of thousands of Taihu bandits to storm Gusu City, and the Shanghai army also took advantage of the opportunity to attack. This was a strategy to seize the opportunity quickly.

It was originally thought that Li Pinzhang's command of the Zhejiang Army should launch an attack on Jin Tianlong's back, but there was no movement.

Later, the Military Adjustment Department secretly reported that it was the Japanese who were responsible, and they suppressed the telegram from the headquarters.

What is even more annoying is that the Japanese warships docked on the Yangtze River suddenly took action to block the main river and prohibit the passage of the Republican Army.

Especially the urgent report just sent from Suzhou made Li Xinghong almost faint. Yang Shanxin sent a butcher to lead his army out of the city to fight in the field, and has not been able to return to the fortress so far.

Now Gusu City, the main city and the left and right acropolis are actually only guarded by one regiment of soldiers.

And this military situation happened a day ago, and I still don’t know what to do now?

"Commander, give me a battalion and let me go to reinforce Suzhou!" One-armed Jiang Wu knelt down in court to plead for battle.

He, Yang Shanxin, the butcher, etc. are all brothers in life and death. Now that the brothers are in trouble, they cannot ignore death.

Li Xinghong helped Jiang Wu up and said, "Dawuzi, now the Japanese warships have blocked the river, making it inaccessible by water, and the land route has to go around Ma'anshan and Dangtu. Not to mention whether the Japanese can let your cavalry camp pass, even if

After passing it, when you get to Suzhou City, it will take a day and a half even if you work day and night. Will Suzhou City still be there by then?"

"I wonder how Luo Longyun's secret service team is doing now? He is very powerful in combat. Try to get him to move closer to Gusu City." Li Xinghong thought of the secret service team.
Chapter completed!