Nanming Engineer

Chapter 358 Jiang Yan Can't Hold It Anymore
This is a large and empty room, with six thick columns erected at the four corners and in the middle, supporting a tall roof.

There are not too many decorations in the house, the dark wooden pillars on the white lime wall and the blue brick floor show that although this place is not as luxurious as a mansion, it is also an extremely well-organized official residence.

Looking around the corners of the back room, there are several wooden shelves, on which are long spears and short knives, and rattan bows and crossbows. The word "Wu" hangs like flying dragons and phoenixes on the wall facing the gate, almost taking up half of the wall. The black ink has dimmed, and the white cloth surface has turned yellow. There are faint wet spots in the corner of the wall near the ground. The air has eroded the white and gray walls, making them beautiful.

This is a martial arts performance hall, and next door to it is the official hall, or office, of the garrison at the south gate of Datong. The two rooms are connected into one and can be accessed through a wooden door.

Staying here, you can clearly hear the huge shouts of killing on the wall of the south gate next to it. It is the time of day, and the sky has just dawned.

Countless soldiers of the Jiang family were fighting desperately on the three-foot-five-foot-high brick city wall. Black iron cannons spewed out flames and fired iron bullets of different sizes into the distance. Arrows were flying all over the sky, and the ammunition was loaded with sweat; beside them, rows of archers hid behind the crenel, stood up quickly, shot an arrow down the city swiftly, and then quickly dodged back, relying on the bar The stone crenels blocked the reflexes of the archers below the city; more infantry either worked together to lift huge logs, chanting chant, and threw them down the city to kill the Qing army climbing the city on ladders, or fought hard Throw out ash bottles filled with quicklime one by one, and randomly throw them at the crowded places below. The quicklime is attractive to the eyes, and it will burn when it touches water. It is impossible to open your eyes in the lime fog.

There was another person holding an extremely long pole, and several of them grasped the tail end together, pressed against the ladder holding the wall bricks, and pushed the ladder away like a boat, letting the Qing army attached to it Falling down the city with screams.

Standing at the top of the city and looking out, the dense cobweb-like residential buildings outside the south gate have turned into white ground, and there is not even a single tree left among the broken bricks and ruins. Wave after wave, the yellow, red, white, and blue armors are colorful, large-scale and orderly, as if a huge war machine is rolling over with an unstoppable momentum.

According to the regulations of the Eight Banners, the soldiers of each banner are arrayed in the field, and they are neatly arranged in a square formation at the rear. Everyone, protect the central area.

With the Jurchen Eight Banners army array as the core, the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Army Eight Banners lined up in sequence. According to the order set, they attacked the city one by one. On, and so on, the cycle goes on and on, endlessly.

This wave-like siege method started the morning before yesterday. Except for two hours of rest every night, it never stopped at other times. Lighting up lights at night and beating drums during the day, the Qing army’s style of play is very clear, you Datong Isn't it relying on the city's strong walls?I'll consume you to death, there are only so many of you, let's see who can consume more!

Jiang Tuan was lying exhausted in the Martial Arts Hall of the south gate garrison officer. He had used this place as his bedroom for three days. Every day when the Qing soldiers subsided, he would come here and sleep for two hours to resist the huge spirit. And physically exhausted, because he was too tired and nervous, this morning, he overslept.

"boom!"

Accompanied by a loud noise nearby, the whole house trembled slightly, and the ash accumulated on the beams for many years slid down like a waterfall, sprinkled all over the ginger.

Jiang Yan suddenly woke up, and reflexively reached out to grab the long knife on the edge of the floor. As soon as he grabbed it, the knife didn't leave his hand at all, and was held tightly in his hand.

He was very familiar with this loud noise. He had heard it frequently in the past three days.

This is the sound of a fifteen-pound iron bullet fired by the red-clothed cannon of the Qing army's artillery battalion hitting the city wall. The iron bullet was shot out by a sufficient amount of black powder with sparks, screaming across the sky, and hit the south gate. On the city wall, most of the circular projectiles would break the wall bricks and sink into the rammed earth. The huge kinetic energy could shake the entire city wall, causing it to vibrate like a moan.

Just yesterday afternoon, a section of wall between the second horse face and the third horse face on the left side of the south gate, under the concentrated fire of several red cannons, persisted for a day and a half, and finally couldn't bear it anymore. , The rammed earth, which was comparable to cement, collapsed like tofu, exposing a large opening four or five feet wide.

Fortunately, only the upper half of the city wall was knocked down by the iron bullets, and the lower half was still intact with a height of more than two feet. No one of the swarming Qing army could jump more than two feet on the ground, and did not rush into the city immediately .

The defenders on the city immediately rushed up like ants and blocked the gap with their bodies. The people behind hurriedly set up wooden fences and piled up bricks and stones. While fighting to the death with the Qing army who had set up ladders, they desperately built the wall. , after hundreds of lives were paid, a crisis was finally resolved and a temporary city wall was rebuilt.

So at this time, when the roar of the red cannon sounded again, Jiang Yu was quickly awakened from his dream.

His eyelids were heavy, and his body told him that he should sleep again, but the strong sense of crisis in his consciousness prompted him to stand up, not even thinking about the ashes on his body, and strode out of the room.

The moment the door was opened, the various sounds of the siege battle suddenly amplified a bit, and Jiang Guan shook his head, as if in a lifetime.

Not long ago, he was sitting comfortably on the soft couch in the General Military Mansion, listening to dramas and drinking tea, but today he was dying in the raging war. The sharp contrast made him a little uncomfortable, but also secretly nervous.

It was expected that the Qing army would attack on a large scale. Jiang Guan almost killed all the Manchus in Datong City, and also slaughtered all the Jurchens who could be caught in the nearby counties. When he was the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he couldn't bear it either.

But what was unexpected was that Dorgon actually sent people to appease him in the name of the Qing emperor several times, saying that as long as Jiang Guan was willing to surrender, everything could be forgotten, and everyone lived together peacefully and shared the world.

Of course Jiang Tuan refused to believe it. The experienced veteran deeply doubted Dorgon’s sincerity. I have never heard of any rebel in history who died well after being recruited.

So Dorgon was furious, and sent all the troops and generals that could be sent near Beijing, led by Prince Azig, all out of Shanxi, and recovered all the surrounding cities of Datong in more than ten days, and fell into the isolated city of Datong One, surrounded by the army.

In the first month or so, although the Qing army had a large number of digging trenches and surrounded Datong completely, Jiang Yu had no fear. The city began to accumulate grain as early as a few years ago, and the grain and millet in the warehouses proliferated. Even though the Qing army besieged Datong It doesn't matter the whole year.

But since Azig received the support of Wuzhenchao Haying three days ago, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Wuzhenchao Haying brought ten red-clothed cannons, all of which were heavy cannons with [-]-jin iron bullets. Because of the inconvenience of transportation, they delayed their arrival until three days ago.

Azig didn't even let them eat, so he immediately moved the guns to the front line, lined up outside the south gate with the most open terrain, intending to use this most powerful fist to penetrate the rock-solid city defense of Datong .

Jiang Guan's good days are over.

When he came to the city wall, Jiang Yu met his younger brother Jiang Xuan who was covered in blood. His left shoulder was shot by a feathered arrow. , a few soldiers pressed the wound with a white cloth, and carried him down to the doctor for treatment.

Seeing Jiang Yu, Jiang Xuan, whose face was as white as a sheet of paper, grabbed his hand, trembling his lips, and uttered a word: "Hurry up!"

With a sullen face, Jiang Guan nodded and said, "Go down and treat the wound first, then we'll talk about it!"

Watching a group of people hugging Jiang Xuan away, Jiang Xuan went straight to the broken wall with a straight face, where the gunfire was the loudest, obviously the Qing army was picking up soft persimmons, the place was knocked down yesterday, and if they beat it again, it might be the same. broken.

While sprinting, Jiang Yan's mind was already thinking of a way out.

(End of this chapter)