The Marines led by Yang Qi launched their first attack on Wuchang City that night. The moat had basically been filled in by the collapsed city wall, and the Marines easily rushed into the city through the large hole in the collapsed city wall.
However, Yang Qi's troops were blocked by Yuecheng inside the Zhonghe Gate. Lin Yu, the governor of Huguang, finally begged for more than 10,000 taels of silver from the Prince of Chu's Mansion, and organized a vanguard team - a death squad, holding a gunpowder barrel Fireballs, fire bricks, fire sickles and other explosive and incendiary firearms were thrown mindlessly at the heads of the Chinese Marines. During the battle of Zhonghe Gate that night, the artillery fire outside the city was unable to support it because of darkness. , because the Marines did not organize fire cover well, they were blocked by the Ming army at Zhonghe Gate, resulting in more than a hundred casualties.
Mai Dahai decisively ordered the Marines to retreat.
The Chinese army's first attack on Wuchang City failed because the Marines were too impatient and underestimated the enemy.
On the third day when the Chinese army launched a general attack on Wuchang City, which was also the day when Yang Qi's Marine Corps failed to attack the city for the first time, a fierce battle began at Wushengmen in the north.
In the direction of Wushengmen, the Chinese army had no artillery support, and the Ming army basically had none. All the heavy firearms that the Ming army could fire were concentrated on the inner wall of Zhonghemenyue City. The Chinese army's infantry fired a burst of rockets. Later, they began to blast the moat embankments and violently demolished all the residential buildings outside Wushengmen.
Most of the soldiers in the Luzon Battalion are mixed-race Chinese and indigenous people in Luzon. After joining the Chinese Army, they can officially become naturalized civilians under the rule of the King of China. They can receive land like Chinese immigrants. Many mixed-race Yi'eruo people also Join the Luzon Battalion. They are the best hunters in the mountains and good gunners in the army. The Luzon Battalion serves as a cover under Wu Shengmen. They are arranged in three rows of shooting arrays about a hundred steps away from the city wall, constantly firing accurate shots. Shooting knocked down the Ming soldiers on the city wall. The Taiwanese indigenous battalion kept throwing grenades with fuses on the city wall. At the same time, they did not forget to use their good marksmanship to shoot at the city wall. Anyone who dared to wander around the Wushengmen city wall All the Ming soldiers were hit one by one.
The Ming army's muskets can still hit something within fifty steps, but beyond a hundred steps, they basically can't hit that. Hitting anything depends on luck. However, the Huguang soldiers at the head of the city, Jiangxi The soldiers only had a few hundred gunmen, and they had not yet undergone strict training in volley fire. In addition, the bird guns in their hands were the worst matchlocks equipped by the Ming army, so they could not compete with the city in terms of firepower. Confrontation with the Chinese army abroad.
Therefore, under the cover of their own firepower, the Chinese army outside Wushengmen spent a day pouring countless bricks and tiles into the moat while carrying the dismantled door panels, and at the same time blasted the moat embankment. In a short time, the moat outside Wushengmen was Two passages have been opened up.
On the fourth day of the general attack on Wuchang City, the Limin Battalion and the Cavalry Task Force rushed to the city wall and began to dig corners outside Wusheng Gate.
The Ming army organized soldiers, ignoring the threat of explosions from the grenades thrown by the Taiwanese natives on the city walls, and rushed to the battlements with all their might, braving the hail of bullets and throwing down rolling logs, thunder stones, fireballs, fire sickles, fire bricks and even barrels of gunpowder.
The cavalry battalion retreated to the moat and began to form a volley formation, firing fiercely at the top of the city to cover their comrades from the Limin battalion who were digging into the wall.
On this day, in addition to preparations for blasting outside Wushengmen, the Chinese army launched a larger-scale siege in the direction of Sheshan.
On this day, the large battleships that had been stranded in Anqing for many days, the Galen-type giant ships "Longxiang" and "Longteng" each carrying ninety cannons, arrived at the Wuchang River. At that time, they were stranded in Jiangxinzhou because they were not familiar with the waterway. Now, they arrived belatedly, just in time for the Chinese army's second general attack on Wuchang City.
In the past four days, there was no movement or movement from the Ming army under Chen Daoheng in Hanyang. The cruiser Lancang and five gunboats had been monitoring the movement of Hanyang City.
Early that morning, when Wuchang City on the other side was shrouded in artillery fire from the Chinese army, Chen Daoheng, Zhou Qiyuan and other officials gathered at the top of the city to watch the battle. The officers and soldiers from Guangxi and Guangxi led by Zhu Shishou, the governor of Guangxi, continued to flee along the way. Now there are only more than 5,000 people left. However, he One rare thing has always been retained: a monocular telescope made by the Portuguese in Macau. This thing was actually sold by a Portuguese businessman to Hu Yingtai, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi before Macau was occupied by the Chinese company. This time Zhu Shishou led troops to aid Jiangnan. Hu Yingtai gave him this telescope.
Now this monocular telescope is passed from hand to hand to more than a dozen Ming Dynasty officials and officers, and those who get it greedily put their eyes up to look hard.
"The pirate army has added two more giant ships, which seem to be even bigger than the original two." Qin Bangping, the commander of the Shidu Army, almost hung half of his body outside the city wall. He held up the telescope and looked at it with envy while continuing. He reported to a group of civil servants behind him: "The fire started, and they also opened fire. It was really... his grandma's, it was really powerful. They were full of explosives, and they exploded in a big area... they moved, they moved,"
"What moved,"
"The infantry of the pirate army began to attack the city. They always do this: first bombard them with artillery fire, and then let people rush up... My God, what is this?"
From a distance, you can see two fire dragons flying into the clouds, spitting out fireworks like mist, rising into the sky, pulling out two thick and black streaks of black smoke in the sky. This is not the tail smoke of the long and thin Thunderbolt rockets, this is the new smoke. The first actual combat shooting of the rocket-"Tianlei".
Many Ming soldiers guarding the city of Hanyang were already shouting "Fire Dragon, Fire Dragon," while kneeling down and kowtowing in the direction of Wuchang City. This was something beyond the imagination of ordinary soldiers.
The civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty at the head of the low city of Hanyang were not as superstitious as ordinary soldiers, but they were completely shocked. They could see clearly without a telescope that the thick rocket flew over the Snake Mountain and over the Yellow Crane Tower. , disappeared behind the northern foot of Snake Mountain.
A local official in Hanyang shouted: "This, this is shooting rockets at the Prince of Chu's Mansion."
There was a rumble, and a thick smoke rose from behind the green jungle at the northern foot of Snake Mountain.
"This, this is really audacious," an official exclaimed in a low voice.
"The pirates are attacking the city. Oh my god, they're pushing cannons up there,"
"Another small boat docked, and the pirate army sent more troops to the shore again. Wuchang City is worried."
"The infantry of the pirate army were in order. They advanced a few dozen steps and then stopped to reorganize. Oh, they quickened their pace... and charged, and went up to the city. Ah, they poured in."
Qin Bangping, the commander of Shilidu, became anxious and talked about the slang popular in the army. Zhou Qiyuan asked: "Master Qin, what do you mean by pouring it in?"
"Oh, we just rushed in. The pirate army has entered the city. I hope the Moon City of Zhonghe Gate can still be used."
This time, Yang Qi organized his troops very carefully. He first sent people to occupy the commanding heights of the earth slope formed after the city wall collapsed, and fired at the Ming Army Yuecheng defenders with dense volleys of guns. Then, he organized people to carry five six-pound light field cannons up.
On the earth slope, they bombarded the Moon City with shotguns from a high position, beating the defenders to death and wounded. Then, the Marine Corps sent a dozen death squads to rush to the wall of the Moon City, blasted the temporary building inside the Zhonghe Gate with gunpowder barrels.
The moon city exploded with a gap of dozens of feet.
At this point, the Wuchang City wall defense system has been broken by the Chinese army.
At Wusheng Gate, several men dressed as Ming soldiers but holding fine flintlock pistols surrounded Fuzhou General Zhang Ji.
"General Zhang, the time has come, withdraw your men," said a burly man of medium height inside.
Zhang Ji looked around and saw that his personal guards were standing silently aside, looking at him with pleading eyes.
Zhao Shoubei, who was responsible for internal communication with the Chinese Army, said: "Sir Zhang, they have already planted explosives and are about to blow up the city. We can't wait here to die."
Zhang Ji looked at the Chinese army spies with gloomy faces, and the man added: "We have seen the code given by the brothers outside the city, and the explosives have been laid. We are just waiting for the order to be given. If you Jiangxi soldiers don't leave,
We brothers have to leave, lest we be blown up to pieces,"
The city wall east of Wushengmen where the Jiangxi soldiers were responsible was also raining bullets at the moment. However, the Jiangxi soldiers were hiding under the city or under the crenellations. They rarely raised their heads to fight back. They only occasionally lowered their heads to throw down a gunpowder packet. In this section, China under the city
The army has dug four or five large holes in the corner that can accommodate several people, and they have been filled with gunpowder. Those Chinese soldiers who are still carrying gunpowder are all accompanied by their comrades holding door panels; beside the moat,
There were also musketeers from the Luzon Battalion who kept shooting at the city walls to cover them.
Suddenly, the sparse counterattack at the top of the city disappeared. Someone released a signal firework under the city wall. All the Chinese infantry brothers who participated in the cave city and planted explosives rolled and crawled towards the other side of the moat as if their buttocks were on fire.
Run, the farther away from the Wushengmen city wall, the better.
The Wuchang local garrison soldiers in charge of the wall west of Wushengmen were not aware of the situation at first. Seeing the sudden retreat of the enemy troops, they stuck their heads out and yelled. However, their commander, Huguang Deputy Chief Soldier Yue Ling, had rich experience.
He who had experience in the battlefield immediately jumped out of his hiding place and ran towards the city tower. He looked around and suddenly shouted: "The pirates are going to blow up the city wall. The Jiangxi soldiers have all run away. Brothers, get down to the city quickly and run away," he said.
While running, he rolled and climbed the city wall, but he could not run far. Just as he stood behind the Wushengmen city gate, a series of loud noises erupted behind him, and a huge air wave rolled up countless earth, stone and bricks.
The Chinese military used fuses to detonate the gunpowder buried under the city wall around Wushengmen. Five caves in the city wall where the Jiangxi soldiers were originally located were detonated, and two places in the city wall where the Wuchang soldiers were located were detonated. The smoke and dust of the explosion erupted ten minutes later.
Only then did they all dissipate, and at this moment Wushengmen stood alone among the collapsed city walls: the Chinese army's blasting only collapsed the walls on both sides of Wushengmen, but Wushengmen remained unchanged.
The Jiangxi soldiers had already run away, and the Wuchang soldiers were stunned by the huge explosion. Their battlefield commander had also been buried in the rubble, and there was no one to stop them from continuing to fight. Therefore, when the charging Chinese army appeared
When they were in front of them, the Ming soldiers either surrendered or turned around and ran away.
At noon on the fourth day of the Chinese Army's general attack on Wuchang City, Zhonghe Gate was breached by the Marines.
In the evening of the same day, Wushengmen was occupied by the Chinese infantry, and soldiers from the Li Min battalion captured the Desheng Bridge.
On the fifth day, the flags of the Chinese Army were planted on all the gates of Wuchang City.
The city of Wuchang was captured by the Chinese pirates and the Chinese army.