To the east of Jiazhuang, the Qing army's artillery roared. Although Lu Xiangsheng's only remaining Hongyi cannon fought back hard, it was of no avail. The Fo Lang machine gun, Hu Zun cannon, etc. could not bombard the Qing army's artillery.
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At the same time, the Qing army continued to press forward, one wave after another. Sergeant Xuanda had been fighting on the defense line from morning to noon. Even lunch stayed at his respective fighting positions and ate with the dust.
At this moment, the sky was getting dark, but the Qing army showed no signs of retreating. Sergeant Xuanda was exhausted. Although he tried his best to take turns and rest, the number of troops was too small and it was impossible to do so.
As soon as Lu Xiangsheng came down from the village wall, he saw Zhang Cheng and Zhang Guodong riding back with their troops. He asked with concern: "Have the slave thieves been killed?"
Zhang Cheng got off his horse, clasped his fists and replied: "Reporting to the governor, the Tatars who suddenly came in, about 1,500 to 1,500 strong, were all killed and retreated."
Lu Xiangsheng walked slowly, stood next to Zhang Cheng, and asked with a smile: "Zhongchen, Jiazhuang is in danger of being attacked by slaves and thieves at any time, are you afraid?"
Zhang Cheng looked carefully and saw that Lu Xiangsheng had put on armor under his linen mourning clothes. To prevent any loss, he had also tied his governor's seal behind his elbow.
Knowing that the situation was critical, Lu Xiangsheng was already ready to fight. He loudly continued: "If you can follow the governor and kill the slaves, Zhang Cheng will have no regrets!"
Hearing the roar of the Qing troops outside Jiazhuang and the bursts of cannons and cannons, Zhang Cheng did not feel the slightest fear in his heart. Instead, he felt his blood boiling all over his body.
Lu Xiangsheng took his fine iron sword from the soldier, laughed and said to Zhang Cheng: "The slaves and thieves have been attacking for a long time. It seems that you and I will kill the slaves side by side today. Haha..."
Zhang Cheng said: "It is Zhang Cheng's luck to be able to kill slaves with the governor!"
Lu Xiangsheng laughed again, stared at Zhang Cheng and said: "Zhongchen, what makes Lu the happiest is that he discovered you, a general, during this time."
Zhang Cheng also looked deeply at Lu Xiangsheng and said loudly: "When Zhang Cheng came to Ming Dynasty, the luckiest thing was that he also met the governor. Today, if I can kill slaves side by side with the governor, I will die in battle. I, Zhang Cheng, have no regrets!"
Lu Xiangsheng had already turned over and mounted his horse, and said passionately: "Okay, you have no regrets! Today we will compete to see who can kill more slaves and thieves."
Although his tone was calm, his face was full of determination.
Before Zhang Cheng could say anything, a soldier under Shanxi Town Commander-in-Chief Hu Dawei ran over covered in blood and reported anxiously to Lu Xiangsheng: "Supervisor, the Shanxi Town camp has been breached by the Tatars. Commander Hu has been injured. He is leading the soldiers to attack."
There was a bloody battle with the Tatars in the camp and reinforcements were urgently needed."
Zhang Cheng was shocked when he heard this: "Is Hu Junmen injured?"
At the same time, Zhang Yan's Chinese military sentry commander Lin Zhiyi also rushed over and said urgently to Lu Xiangsheng: "Supervisor, the Tatar ants are climbing up the wall. General Zhang is leading the soldiers to fight hard, but he is unable to catch up. Please hurry up, Supervisor."
support."
Lu Xiangsheng suddenly said to Zhang Cheng: "Zhongchen, go quickly to support General Zhang Yan. I will personally lead the army to support Commander Hu."
Zhang Cheng was worried about his uncle's safety, so he got on his horse and was about to leave, but was stopped by Lu Xiangsheng. Lu Xiangsheng looked at Zhang Cheng expectantly and said: "Zhongchen, remember to take care of yourself, so that you can be useful in the future."
Serve the country!"
Zhang Cheng looked at Lu Xiangsheng on the horse and felt in his heart that this seemed to be a farewell. He said loudly: "The governors should also take care of their bodies!"
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Hu Dawei and his nephew Qian Zonghu Zichen led the knights back to the camp. There was no time to rest. The wall in the north of his camp had been destroyed by Qing artillery in many places.
Moreover, all the trenches in front had been filled in or paved with planks. The Qing army pushed the shield cart and rushed more than 20 steps in front of his camp. They broke into the camp several times, but were driven back by his general Zeng Xinjun.
However, in such close combat, the sergeants under his command also suffered heavy casualties. There were no fresh troops available in the camp. As soon as they entered the camp gate, they were informed that two more gaps were broken into by Tatars.
When he learned that Zeng Xin's army was fighting a bloody battle with the Tatars at the gap in the east, he led Hu Zichen to the gap in the west for reinforcements, but too many Qing troops rushed in.
During the melee, a Qing soldier was stabbed by his tiger spear and fell to the ground. However, when Hu Dawei was unprepared, half of the spearhead in his hand penetrated Hu Dawei's left leg.
Fortunately, Hu Zichen fought desperately to protect Hu Dawei, who fell to the ground, and was not injured again by other Qing soldiers. However, with more and more Qing soldiers, Hu Zichen had no choice but to protect Hu Dawei and fight and retreat.
In his anxiety, he sent Chu Hu Dawei's personal soldiers to ask Lu Xiangsheng for help.
…………
Zhang Cheng rode his horse back to the south gate of Jiazhuang and saw a crowd of people gathered there. He felt a thump in his heart and had a vague premonition of something bad.
He hurriedly stepped forward and saw Zhang Yan sitting on the ground leaning against a broken wall. His armor had been removed. An accompanying military medical officer was wrapping a white cloth around his chest. There was a faint blood stain showing through the white cloth.
Before Zhang Cheng could speak, Zhang Yan smiled miserably and said first, "Cheng'er, don't worry, uncle's injury is fine."
Zhang Cheng knelt down and took a closer look. Zhang Yan looked good, so he thought the injury was not too serious, so he asked what happened.
It turned out that when Zhang Cheng led his army to attack from the west gate, the Qing army's offensive became more urgent, and the Haogou outside Jiazhuang was almost filled.
It withstood two waves of Qing troops' attacks, but Zhang Yan's troops suffered a sharp increase in casualties, so he had to order all his sergeants to withdraw into the village and rely on the village walls for defense.
However, the Qing army's various units rotated, and the offensive did not slow down at all. They rushed in with long ladders and ants climbed up the wall. Zhang Yan led the army to repel two more waves of Qing army attacks.
Just as Zhang Cheng was driving back the Qing troops to the west, the Qing troops rushed up to Zhang Yan's defense area at the south gate again. They set up ladders to climb up the city. All the elite cavalry on Zhang Yan's side were taken away by his nephew Zhang Cheng.
There were only more than 600 infantrymen left under his command, and there were more than 200 Chinese sentry troops under Lin Zhiyi. All 800 of them boarded the village wall to defend.
The Qing troops who had climbed onto the village wall had been repelled, and Zhang Yan was directing his men to clean up the corpses of the Qing troops on the village wall.
Suddenly, an injured Qing soldier rose up. In confusion, he grabbed two broken arrows and stabbed them into Zhang Yan's sides.
The sergeants rushed forward and killed the Qing soldiers, helped Zhang Yan pull out the arrowhead, and bandaged the wound.
Zhang Cheng helped his uncle up and asked with great concern: "How does your uncle feel? Can he still ride a horse?"
Zhang Yan's face was still a little pale. He held Zhang Cheng's hand and said in a trembling voice: "Cheng'er, uncle is okay."
After saying that, he squeezed Zhang Cheng's hand tightly and continued softly: "Cheng'er, listen to my uncle. If you really can't hold on any longer, you must stand out. If you stand out alive, your aunt and Xiu'er will fight each other."
I've taken care of you."
Zhang Cheng was shocked when he heard this. He felt as if his uncle was explaining the funeral arrangements. He said in a deep voice: "Uncle, please be considerate. My aunt treats Cheng'er as her own child, and Xiu'er is even more like my biological sister. Cheng'er certainly won't