When Xiong Tingbi woke up again, he saw a group of soldiers with training uniforms dragging him out of the rubble of Shencemen Urn City. He recognized that this was the Jinling Regiment's training camp that had just been established.
His right shoulder may be broken, and the whole arm cannot exert force; he grabbed a regiment trainer with his left hand and said anxiously: "Who is leading the troops? Who is leading the troops now in Shencemen?"
"Master Xiong, are you okay," the voice of Wu Gongliang, Minister of the Ministry of War, sounded next to him.
Xiong Tingbi ignored the etiquette, grabbed Wu Gongliang's sleeves, and said sternly: "Quickly, build a moon city around Shence Gate. The pirates are about to break the city."
"Look..." Wu Gongliang stepped aside and pointed forward: around the Wengcheng of Shencemen, groups of officers and soldiers were demolishing the houses of the surrounding neighbors and building a temporary wall along the outside of the Wengcheng.
"We are already rushing to build the inner city. I'm afraid it's too late... My soldiers (the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty often calls himself 'my soldiers') have transferred most of the troops from the east and west of the city and are on their way here."
Xiong Tingbi sighed and sat dejectedly on the rubble: "Master Wu, the pirates are not a mob, nor are they just idle people. Sir, without reinforcements, we cannot hold out for long."
Before he finished speaking, there was an earth-shaking loud noise. All the soldiers, officials, and people around the Wengcheng felt a tremor under their feet... A huge black smoke cloud suddenly rose from under the Shence Gate. Everyone looked up and saw The Shence Gate actually swayed for a while, and the whole body was a lot shorter when sitting down, and it tilted a lot to the north. However, the Shence Gate still stood tall...
At this moment, Yin Feng was holding a telescope on Mufu Mountain to observe the engineers of the special battalion blasting the Shence Gate.
Seeing that the Shence Gate was still standing after the gunpowder smoke dissipated, he couldn't help but stamp his feet and sighed: "The power of the explosion is still not enough. This Shence Gate is so strong that even 800 kilograms of black powder can't blast it away... …”
Xu Hongji shook his head and said: "When Taizu built Jinling City, he used tens of thousands of strips of stone weighing more than a thousand kilograms. It was really impregnable. The base of the city wall was paved with strips of stone, and the wall was built with city bricks to build the outer walls on both sides. There is a lot of dirt in the middle, but the city gate is made entirely of stone bricks. Mr. President, you see, although the Shence Gate has not collapsed, the city gate has become crooked. If you fire a few more shots..."
Before he could finish his words, there was a loud noise, and a giant cast-iron siege cannon weighing about 4,500 kilograms with a copper core fired. A burst of smoke flashed, and the skewed iron-clad city gate of Shence Gate shook a few times and split into two pieces. Fell down.
A captain from the special battalion quickly ran over, stood at attention and saluted Yin Feng, and said breathlessly: "The engineer battalion reported that the foundation of the Jinling city wall is too deep and thick, and there are large granite strips buried underneath. The amount of gunpowder is still insufficient. Time is not enough." It was too urgent to excavate deep underground, so they asked for another blast... to ensure that the Shence Gate would be blown down..."
Yin Feng shook his head, waved his hand and said: "It seems that if you choose a section of the city wall as the blasting point, it may be more effective. Forget it, it was originally to reduce the casualties of the ant attack on the city, but now that the city has been destroyed Gate, the effect is almost the same, forget it, let the infantry brothers test the attack from the city gate into the city, pay attention: avoid a head-on fight and avoid heavy casualties."
Just as the second lieutenant turned around, Yin Feng stopped him: "Remember, tell Commander Li Xing not to get entangled in street fighting, not to be obsessed with fighting, and not to go too deep into the city. If the fighting situation is not favorable, retreat immediately."
Battalion Commander Zhao Gang of the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division took the lead in entering the Shence Gate with his pioneer battalion. Half of his pioneer battalion were veterans who had participated in the Luzon Campaign. They were very skilled and cooperated tacitly. They automatically formed two teams and carefully Through the city gate hole, we entered the Shencemen Urn City.
After Shencemen Wengcheng was bombarded by more than a hundred rounds of explosive shells weighing more than thirty kilograms, it almost became a hell on earth. Thousands of Ming Army soldiers lay scattered all over the Wengcheng. A tower as deep as ten feet was formed near the gunpowder magazine in the center of the Wengcheng. , a large pit with a radius of more than ten feet. The pit and surrounding areas were all black, and no living creatures could be seen.
The original partition walls, lanes, and caves for hiding soldiers in the Wengcheng all had defensive functions. Now they have all been destroyed. The defensive function of the Wengcheng has been disintegrated. From this point of view, the Ming army in Jinling City abandoned the Shencemen Wengcheng. It's quite a smart move.
Zhao Gang immediately occupied the crooked Shence Gate, sent a sentry on each of the left and right city walls, expanded the defense area and tentatively attacked other city gates.
He led his own soldiers carefully through the rubble and came to the south gate of Wengcheng. He raised his head and looked into the city, and couldn't help but cursed angrily: "Damn it, are these officers and soldiers moving very fast?"
He turned back to a messenger and said: "You, go and report to Commander Li: The enemy has built a temporary moon city outside Wengcheng. The original plan cannot be implemented. Please dispatch the divisional artillery battalion to assist."
That night, the Chinese Army occupied Shence Gate, but failed to advance to the left and right wings in time, and only occupied a section of the city wall about a mile away; in front of the 7th Brigade of the Chinese Army's 3rd Division, the Ming Army's new Xiuyue City blocked the city wall. When the Chinese army broke into the city, the Ming army in Jinling City clarified the command system in time and established Wu Gongliang's unified command. They were finally able to take advantage of their strength and manpower and mobilized half of the city's defenders and tens of thousands of troops in the north of Nanjing. The common people rushed to build a new fortification in the city before the Chinese army blasted the Shence Gate.
In the evening, Zhao Gang's troops launched several exploratory attacks from the south gate of Wengcheng and several breaches in the Wengcheng wall. Since the artillery battalion had not arrived yet, the Chinese army's firearms advantage could not be used in short-distance narrow streets. Under the supervision of Wu Gongliang, Minister of War, and Xiong Tingbi, Military Counselor, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty resisted desperately. The officers and soldiers lit barrels of gunpowder and threw them on the heads of the Chinese army. They threw all available firearms regardless of casualties. After two attempts, the soldiers of the Pioneer Battalion suffered seventy or eighty casualties, so they had to temporarily retreat to Wengcheng and Shencemen City to form a confrontation with the surrounding Ming troops.
On the Shogunate Mountain, in Yin Feng's camp, Yin Feng listened to the report of the messenger sent by Li Xing. He slapped the table and sighed: "Whether it's Li Xing or Ye Hua, the battle is still too rigid. Once you get the information, you should be decisive." When sending people into the city, they were too rigid in their rules and regulations and had to fight step by step. If Yan Siqi was here, he would immediately send heavy troops into the city after learning that there was no one to defend the Wengcheng. Moreover, our army was completely Hot air balloons can be used to observe and monitor the actions of the Ming army in the city, but Li Kuiqi hurriedly put down the hot air balloons... However, the weather and wind direction in the afternoon were wrong, which was also a reason..." He said to Xu Hongji: "We missed it. It's time to expand the results of the battle. Fortunately, the purpose of our siege is not to capture Nanjing City. It is just to scare the high-ranking officials in Nanjing City to death so that they can mobilize all the soldiers from the surrounding state guards. Come on, forget it, let them become handsome talents, we have to do it step by step, there is no rush..."
Xu Hongji nodded and said: "Not everyone can cultivate handsome talents, and talent is also required."
Yin Feng was stunned for a moment and sighed: "You are right, both innate talent and acquired hard work are indispensable. I admit that these senior officers of the Chinese Army are not masters of strategy and tactics. But fortunately, their minds are flexible enough to accept new firearms combat methods, and they can abide by military discipline, lead by example, and be strict with themselves. With these few points, it is enough to be a good officer, but it is still not qualified to be a good general. ,"
He walked out of the temporary tent, looked at the faint fire around the Shence Gate in the dark night in the distance, pondered for a moment and said: "We will fight another day tomorrow to see if the Ming army in the city can hold on, messenger,"
Yin Feng shouted the words and then remembered that he had announced that he would not interfere with Ye Hua's specific combat command. He had no choice but to shake his head and said to the messenger who appeared in a flash: "Forget it, it's okay."
…
Xiong Tingbi and other officials who commanded and defended the city basically stayed up all night. Everyone in the Ming army was shocked by today's battle situation: it took only one day for the pirates to attack the city, and they were able to collapse the Shence Gate and rush into the barbican city. This is What kind of fighting power? In the night street fighting, the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers on the Yuecheng barricade were completely suppressed by the opponent's flintlock fire. Every time they threw gunpowder packets, fire bricks and other objects, the thrower had to pay for it with his own life. The cost is that the Ming army's archers and gunners are not as good as the Chinese army's musketeers in terms of range, shooting speed, and shooting accuracy.
Xiong Tingbi instinctively felt that in the face of the Chinese army's combat methods, some of the tactical methods passed down through the ages and the Ming army's traditional combat model seemed to have basically failed. Although the Chinese army wore different uniforms from the Ming army, most of the people Like the imperial officers and soldiers, they are Chinese who speak Chinese, but why do they have such powerful and strange abilities?
…
Fortunately, the Chinese troops who entered Shence Gate had not taken any action except for launching two attacks at night and being repelled. Xiong Tingbi was in his fifties after all, and he really couldn't hold on anymore in the early morning. Damn it. Next to a wall in the Beicheng military camp, I lay down with my clothes on and fell asleep.
In the early Ming Dynasty, there were about 200,000 troops stationed inside and outside Nanjing. Except for some troops stationed at the palace and along the river, most of the troops were stationed in the northwest area of the city. There were large barracks, granaries, warehouses and various military crafts workshops, forming a unique In the military area, now that Shence Gate has been breached, most of the Ming troops defending the city have gathered in this area.
"Boom boom,"
Xiong Tingbi was awakened by an explosion. His injured right hand accidentally hit the wall, which completely woke him up from pain. He stood up with his left hand supporting his tired body, only to see the officers and soldiers around him running away in all directions.
One of his soldiers rushed in from outside the camp gate while crawling, knelt down on one knee in front of him and said: "Wu Shangshu was injured and unconscious, and the pirates attacked the city again... They moved the cannon into the city, and... Those shells outside the city are bombarding Yuecheng, and our brothers suffered heavy casualties,"
"What, their cannons are outside the city, but they can still..."
Xiong Tingbi was shocked. He raised his head and suddenly saw the strange and huge Kongming Lantern floating in the sky again. At this moment, he suddenly understood the function of the hot air balloon.
"boom,"
The barricade facing the Shencemen Urn City at Beijiekou collapsed in the smoke. The rubble flew and swept down a large number of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers hiding behind. There were screams everywhere, and then several rounds of explosive shells exploded. The flames engulfed everything, causing entire sections of the Moon City fortifications to collapse.
In the cave of the south gate of Wengcheng, two light field guns opened fire, and the solid shells they fired destroyed a several-foot-long wall at the North Street entrance. At the same time, Jinchuan Gate was bombarded by the 4,500-pound heavy siege cannon. ; On Xuanwu Lake, more than a hundred small boats of the Chinese army appeared, and thousands of sailor musketeers rushed towards Nanjing City on the other side of Xuanwu Lake.
On Purple Mountain, the Chinese Army fired artillery at Taipingmen; outside Jubaomen in the south, all the artillery of Zheng Zhilong's subordinate artillery unit of the Fifth Brigade of the Chinese Army fired at Jubaomen from the Yuhuatai.
Outside the Shuixi Gate and Shuidong Gate, the sailor musketeers rowed small boats and attacked the Water Gate of Nanjing City at close range with the French cannons on the boats. They also fired repeatedly with Thunderbolt rockets, causing chaos in the Qinhuai River area inside the Shuidong Gate. Fire.
The entire city of Nanjing was suddenly under attack from all sides.
In fact, it was the Ming army that started the battle in the morning. Thousands of Ming troops attacked Shence Gate on the east and west walls. At the same time, a group of gunmen were also added in the direction of Yuecheng. They attacked Wengcheng and had a gun battle with the Chinese army. Nanjing The city wall in the Shence Gate section is only three to five feet wide at the top. On the city wall, the Ming army's officers and soldiers were crowded together in a row, with at most ten people in a row, waving their swords and guns and rushing forward. The crowd was so crowded that it was impossible to fire. They were pushed forward by the crowd. The fusiliers of the Chinese Army in the two sections of Shence Gate were arranged in a row of twelve people, a total of ten rows, in a typical Spanish retreat. Using missile firing tactics, they maintained a frequency of twelve consecutive rounds of shooting per minute, and relied on the strength of two sentries to withstand the chaotic counterattack of thousands of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
Subsequently, the Ming army's attack force collapsed under the bombardment directed by the Chinese army's hot air balloon.
Xiong Tingbi had just arrived near Shence Gate when he encountered the Chinese army launching an attack into the city. He immediately stood on the front line to command the battle, waving his sword and supervising the battle. His figure was discovered by a sniper from the special battalion. As a result, He was hit on the right shoulder by a flintlock bullet and passed out again. The Ming army, which had lost its command, could no longer hold on under the fierce firepower of the Chinese army. During the day and night yesterday, the Ming army relied entirely on several senior officers. The commander's role as an example and the heavy rewards from the high-ranking officials in the city were able to withstand the attack of the Chinese army. Now, Wu Gongliang and Xiong Tingbi, the top commanders and soul figures of the army, were seriously injured and fell unconscious one after another. The entire army was immediately He fell into a desperate situation.
In this way, the Ming army still held out until noon. The seventh brigade of the Chinese Army entered the city and attacked Jinchuan Gate and Xuanwu Gate along the city wall. At the same time, it also strengthened the attack firepower in the Shence Gate area.
The Ming army finally couldn't hold on any longer. The Zhejiang soldiers fled first, and the Nanjing garrison also collapsed. Jinchuan Gate, Xuanwu Gate, and Zhongfu Gate fell into the hands of the Chinese army one after another under the attack of the Chinese Army's Seventh Brigade.
In the afternoon, the entire Ming army collapsed, and the city of Nanjing was unexpectedly captured by the Chinese army.
In fact, no one from Yin Feng to the ordinary soldiers of the Chinese Army expected that the capital of the Ming Dynasty would collapse on itself like this.
At the end of September in the forty-fifth year of Wanli, because the main generals and commanders were seriously injured and unable to take action, the Ming army that defended the city collapsed within half a day and was unable to organize resistance. Therefore, Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, fell and the Taiwanese pirates attacked