Fang Guozhen stepped forward and stood on the bow of the ship, staring closely at the direction of the city wall. He found that with his own fierce attack, the number of enemies on the city wall never decreased.
This does not mean that they had no casualties, but that the number of casualties was not comparable to the number of replacements.
Could it be that they have controlled the chaos in the city, so the soldiers and horses began to assemble in an orderly manner towards the city wall?
As time went by, Fang Guozhen felt more and more uncomfortable. This kind of strong attack would cause too many casualties to our side. In less than an hour, our side had already sunk twelve warships!
If the fight continues like this, no one can tell whether they will capture the city wall first or whether they will be crippled by the defenders first!
In the past, Fang Guozhen would have ordered a retreat, but this time it was different.
During the last sneak attack on Shanzhu, he saw the terror of Jiangdu's artillery. As long as the opponent's warships had more warships, the navy he was proud of would not be an opponent.
Unless Jiangdu's army surrenders, they will sit there and wait for death, without even an escape route to the sea.
So this battle can only go on!
At this moment, there was a burst of cheers from the west. I turned around and saw that the Changshu army had attacked the city wall!
Fang Guozhen clenched his fists and shouted loudly to the ordering soldier: "Send the order and tell the brothers that Jiangdu's army is dying. Let everyone work harder and increase the offensive!"
The waterway is only so wide. If we strengthen our offensive, we can only disembark and use ladders to attack the city like the Changshu army did.
After the Taizhou Army received Fang Guozhen's order, more than 10,000 people immediately disembarked from the ship and rushed to the city wall carrying ladders.
The mountain boar who was commanding on the tower still looked furious and roared at his subordinates: "Hold it! Hold it fast!"
But he was quietly observing the overall situation from the corner of his eyes, and from time to time he whispered an order to the herald behind him.
At this time, he suddenly noticed that nearly a hundred Changshu soldiers had climbed up on the west city wall. He turned around and saw a Yuan general holding a black iron gun. When the gun was swept away, several of his own soldiers must have fallen to the ground.
Unstoppable!
He had already guessed that the man was Yang Tongguan, and ordered his men: "Send a team of archers over, shoot cold arrows, and kill the general holding the black gun."
The subordinate quickly took the order.
Not long after, a group of archers came from the corridor of the city wall and came to the nearest archery tower. They heard the sound of "swish, swish, swish", and eight arrows flew towards Yang Tongguan.
Yang Tongguan was in the crowd, and there was the sound of weapons and armor clashing everywhere. He couldn't hear the sound of arrows at all, and he was suddenly hit by five arrows.
He was wearing tight iron armor, and all four arrows hit the armor and were deflected, but one of them penetrated his right cheek.
Yang Tongguan was shocked and angry. He pulled out the arrow, covered his bleeding cheek, and withdrew the city wall under the protection of several soldiers.
The battle is getting more and more fierce, but Fang Guozhen is still standing on the bow of the ship, with his fists clenched and his eyes red. He is now like a desperate gambler!
The battle lasted for almost two hours.
Not only did his troops fail to attack the city wall, but even those from the Changshu army who attacked the city wall were killed and retreated, leaving more and more defenders on the city wall.
This battle has been lost!
Fang Guozhen pulled off the gold earring from his ear. In an instant, his whole right ear was dripping with blood. He looked like a desperate beast.
Zhang Benren said in a trembling voice: "Commander, our army has more than 10,000 casualties. This battle cannot continue!"
Fang Guozhen roared: "Bring me some wine!"
Immediately someone brought a large jar of wine, and Fang Guozhen poured it on his bare head. Everyone looked at him in horror.
After a while, Fang Guozhen spit out the wine residue that flowed into his mouth and said calmly: "Order the withdrawal."
Seeing that he had regained his composure, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and quickly issued orders.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, a small boat approached Fang Guozhen's boat. The scout on the small boat got on the boat and said anxiously: "Captain, it's bad, a fleet has appeared in the east!"
Fang Guozhen changed his color and said: "Whose name are you using?"
"The blue flying dragon flag is Jiangdu Army!"
"No! The defenders rushed out!" Zhang Benren shouted.
Fang Guozhen hurriedly turned around and saw a cavalry group rushing over from the left and right sides, apparently rushing out from the east and west gates, trying to outflank them.
Only then did he realize that he had fallen into the enemy's trap.
"Retreat! Retreat to the west! Quick!"
As the golden sound rang out, Fang Guozhen's army began to retreat rapidly, and the Changshu army also began to retreat at the same time.
Jiangdu's army seemed to have been waiting for this moment. The city gate and water gate were opened at the same time, and a cavalry and navy army poured out and began to pursue the siege army.
The situation on the battlefield changed so quickly that Fang Guozhen only had time to evacuate more than 20,000 people. Another 10,000 people had no time to get on the ship and were surrounded by the garrison cavalry who rushed out.
The same was true for the Changshu army. Their siege losses were greater than Fang Guozhen's, and all the soldiers got off the warship. In the end, only a few thousand returned to the ship and fled toward the sea in panic.
The Jiangdu navy that outflanked the defeated army ignored the defeated army. Yu Yanyu stood on the bow of the ship and gave an order. The navy turned the sails and pursued Fang Guozhen along the west.
Fang Guozhen's fleet fled for their lives. They fled west for thirty miles and then turned south. After going around the south bank, they turned and fled toward the east sea, almost like a lost dog.
Yu Yanyu led 10,000 navy troops to follow closely behind, constantly bombarding the tail wing of Fang Guozhen's army. Any Fang army warship that fell behind would be sunk by Jiangdu navy in an instant.
This pursuit lasted more than a hundred miles.
Since Fang Guozhen defeated Cai Ye, he had never suffered such a brutal defeat. He did not dare to go to Changshu anymore and went straight to the Taizhou base camp.
Yu Yanyu pursued him all the way to the waters of Songjiang Prefecture before finally changing direction and heading back to Tongzhou.
On the other side, Yang Tongguan led thousands of remnant troops to flee. When he returned to Changshu, he found that the flag on the city wall had changed to the Jiangdu Army flag.
A burly young man stood on the city wall, laughing and saying: "Yang Tongguan, Changshu has been captured by me!"
Yang Tongguan looked up and saw that the young man was Bian Yuanheng. He couldn't help being shocked and angry. He was shot in the cheek and couldn't even speak. He could only lead the remaining army to continue to flee south.
Fortunately, the sea was wide and he did not encounter Yu Tonghai's fleet, otherwise he would have been annihilated.
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On the way back to Tongzhou with his navy, Yu Yanyu suddenly saw a small boat flying in front of him, carrying the flag of Jiangdu Army.
He ordered people to pick up the people on board the ship. It turned out to be the messenger sent by Zhang Yangquan.
The messenger said: "General Yu, your Majesty has an order for your 10,000 navy troops to go to Changshu immediately without returning to Tongzhou to help General Bian defend the city!"
Yu Yanyu said in surprise: "Has Changshu been captured?"
The messenger said: "Yes, they have been captured by General Bian."
Yu Yanyu was overjoyed and immediately ordered the army to change direction and head towards Changshu.
Halfway through, Yu Yanyu stood on the bow of the boat and smiled at his son beside him: "Fighting in the Jiangdu Army is indeed different from us in the water village. As long as we obey orders, we can win easily!"
Yu Tongyuan smiled and said: "Father, if we win this battle, will Jiangdong completely fall into the hands of our Jiangdu Army?"
Yu Yanyu twirled his long beard with his hand and said with a smile: "Absolutely."
Yu Tonghai said: "Father, don't forget that there are still 100,000 yuan troops in Liyang. It's not time to take it lightly!"
Yu Yanyu glanced at his eldest son and felt that he had participated in the Battle of Yangzhou. He was indeed much calmer than before, and he couldn't help but be secretly happy.
"Tong Hai is right. We must never fall short of the success we have achieved. Everyone, cheer up!"
The navy passed through Fushan Port and followed the Fushan Waterway for more than 20 miles before arriving at Changshu City.
Looking up, I saw the blue flag of Jiangdu Army flying on the city wall. After verifying his identity, the guard on the city wall opened the water gate and let Yu Yanyu's navy in.
The navy sailed along the waterway in Changzhou City, and there were two rows of people standing along the way. They were all in high spirits and seemed to welcome them very much.
"Father, what's going on?" Yu Tonghai said in shock.
Yu Yanyu shook his head and said, "I don't know either."
Not long after, the navy stopped at a pier. The place smelled so bad, and the water was covered with garbage. Both the Yu family and his son frowned.
This place is the dock where Fang Guozhen's army docked.
Not long after they got off the boat, they heard the sound of horse hooves and a horse team came from a distance. The leader was Bian Yuanheng.
Yu Yanyu hurried over to greet him and said with a smile: "General Bian captured Changshu with only three thousand men. It is really admirable!"
Bian Yuanheng fought this battle the most happily since he entered the army. He laughed loudly and said: "I was able to capture Changshu thanks to Fang Guozhen!"
Yu Yanyu hurriedly asked for details, and Bian Yuanheng said: "We will discuss this later. I don't have enough men and horses. I also ask General Yu to immediately assign troops to four gates to guard against changes."
Yu Yanyu agreed and sent four thousand-man teams to strengthen the defense of the four gates, and then sent two thousand-man teams to help Bian Yuanheng's men maintain law and order in the city.
After everything was arranged, it was already midnight, and the Yu family and his son and Bian Yuanheng came to the Marshal's Mansion in Changshu together.
Bian Yuanheng took off his helmet and ordered someone to bring some water. He washed his face and said with a smile: "Fang Guozhen has not restrained the soldiers since he settled in Changshu. The people hate him deeply. So before the attack, I sent a spy into the city and passed a message
Rumors spread and there was chaos in the city!"
Yu Tonghai hurriedly asked: "What rumors?"
Bian Yuanheng laughed and said: "I just said that the Changshu army failed to attack Tongzhou and the whole army was wiped out. Fang Guozhen left the defeated Changshu army and came towards Changshu. As a result, the people fled one after another, the city was in chaos, and the defenders could not suppress it!
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Yu Yanyu smiled and said: "Then you take the opportunity to lead troops to attack the city and win it in one battle!"
Bian Yuanheng smiled and said: "Yang Tongguan took away all the main elites, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled, so this battle is very easy."
While several people were talking, another messenger arrived and said: "Your Majesty has ordered General Yu to return to Tongzhou in an empty ship and assist Marshal Shan in transporting the main force of Tongzhou to Changshu! General Bian will temporarily serve as the garrison of Changshu!"
Yu Tonghai quickly accepted the order, ordered a thousand soldiers to return to the port, and controlled the fleet to return to Tongzhou.