While giving orders to guard the entire army, the General Hanyang was worried and decided to go to the city wall to take a look. He first went to the city tower to the south to look at the Ming army in the distance, and saw neat teams arranged half a mile away from the city wall.

"They hid so far that even if the city wall collapsed, they could not rush in immediately." If they did not consider the preparation time for the early stage of the cave attack, the Ming army's attacking posture was extremely obvious and they did not hide the target of the attack. The two trenches in front of the city wall that were about to be blasted have been filled by the Ming army. The Hanyang General urgently sent several veterans to hit the wall near the city wall. This method can be used to determine whether the hole was dug below. But soon the veterans reported that no empty sound was heard back on the wall, and the foundation below was intact.

"I knew..." The general muttered, but pointed to the trench filled by the Ming army and issued a series of orders. He ordered an additional team of soldiers to garrison the city wall behind the trench, and at the same time sent a group of armored soldiers to stand by behind the city wall. Although he still didn't believe that the Ming army could hollow out the foundation of the wall in one day and one night, the deployment of the general Hanyang now is based on the premise that the other party can dig the city wall.

After deploying the defenses in the south, the general ordered the city walls in the north to take the same alert.

Since the Ming army arrived, Zhou Peigong has been very nervous. This was his first time to go to the battlefield. The general's relaxed attitude had a certain comforting effect on Zhou Peigong, but now seeing the commanders around the general rushing to Zhongxiang like flowing water, Zhou Peigong's heart suddenly rose again.

"Didn't the commander yesterday say that the city wall would not be dug in ten days or eight days?" Zhou Peigong found a gap in time and asked hurriedly.

"It should be so. Most of the thieves are bluffing and using attacking their minds, but they are prepared for military strategies." Zhou Peigong is a scholar, and he is young and has a limitless future. The general is very polite to him: "We have to let the men move more often, so as not to slack off."

The Hanyang General walked down the city tower surrounded by his personal guards. The elite troops he brought from Wuchang gathered and stood on standby near the Fucheng Yamen, that is, the city center. The General General wanted to rush to command them personally.

"Can it be the thief's tired plan?" Zhou Peigong thought hard for a while and then came up with a new guess.

"Mr. Zhou is very careful, most of it."

The general smiled and nodded repeatedly, but he was dissatisfied: "The tired soldiers' plan? Can they see the movements in our city outside the city? How do they know whether they have achieved their goal? If a scholar like you leads the troops outside the city, it must be bluffing me. However, since it is Hao Yaoqi and the others, most of them have any conspiracies, I'll be careful."

Just as he was about to walk back to the front of the government office with Zhou Peigong, there was a loud bang behind him, which shocked the general and the people around him to look back and saw a yellow-brown smoke pillar rising into the sky from the south.

"What's wrong?" The general and everyone were shocked. They had never seen such a formation.

When the Ming soldiers guarding the tunnel entrance in the north of the city saw the rising smoke, they immediately lit the fuse, then left the tunnel and ran to the safe rear, where the Ming army was also ready. Hao Yaoqi, the leader, rode on the horse with a relaxed expression, and watched the explosion hand igniting in front of him run back to him. He knew that after a stick of incense, a gap would be blasted in the city wall in front of him.

At this time, the Ming army in the south of the city had already launched an attack. After the smoke and dust flew up, He Zhen and Liu Tichun ordered almost at the same time that thousands of Ming soldiers shouted in unison and began to attack Zhong Xiang. The soldiers were used to overcome the possible resistance of the enemy. After breaking through the city defense, the auxiliary soldiers would also follow them into the city. They could help tie prisoners, search for defeated soldiers, appease the people, and monitor surrendered soldiers. If necessary, these auxiliary soldiers could also join the battle. If the opponent's resistance was very weak, these auxiliary soldiers could also subdue sporadic resisters.

The one who rushed to the front was the personal guard commando led by He Zhen. When he rushed to the city wall first, he and the soldiers around him raised their shields diagonally upwards or covered their heads with a cloak. After several blasts of the city wall, these commando soldiers knew that some broken bricks would soon fall from the sky. Although these broken pieces were very small in size and would not hurt people, it would still hurt if they hit the face.

Today's blasting was carried out at the same time. He Zhen firmly asked Liu Tichun to detonate the city wall on the south first. He knew that even if Hao Yaoqi on the opposite side immediately ignites the fuse after hearing the blasting sound, he would have about a stick of incense at night. This left him the time for He Zhen to enter the government office first and get the first skill to conquer Zhong Xiang.

This first achievement is not as valuable as before. In the past, the general who was the first to rush into the city and took down the yamen could get the most spoils. But now, because of blasting, even if you take the first achievement, you will get limited results and you cannot get too much share. Yuan Zongdi, who is responsible for outside the city, will not score less. However, He Zhen thinks that more is a little bit, and more points are better than less points.

In the past, even if the accusation was successful, the city wall would not collapse completely. It would often be a very steep slope. The city guards would sprinkle arrows and large amounts of stones from behind the walls on both sides of the slope, and would light flames on the slope to hinder the attack. At that time, in order to boost morale, He Zhen often had to offer amazing rewards, allowing the soldiers to attack the defenders without hesitation - braved the arrows and stones to climb the steep slopes, rushed through the raging fire to fight the defenders behind.

But now He Zhen is too lazy to say anything about rewards. He led the commando to rush in from the gap, and countless Qing soldiers were lying on the ground around him. When the explosion just now, many Qing soldiers were standing on the collapsed city wall, and these Qing soldiers were the most defensive veterans in the city, some of which were Wuchang soldiers brought to the General Hanyang to assist in defense.

Since these soldiers cannot hear the empty sound under the wall foundation, it is naturally difficult to judge the location of the acupuncture. They assume that the center of the trench filled by the Ming army is the center point of the acupuncture. For safety, they stand a few meters away from the center point. Even these most experienced soldiers have not really encountered acupuncture in person, and most of them have heard the officers tell the scene when they encounter acupuncture. Generally, there are obvious signs before the city wall collapses, and the collapse is a slow and continuous process. People on the city wall have time to adjust their positions. It is not very dangerous to get closer to the center, and it is also conducive to seizing a good defensive position. The officers believe that since they cannot hear the empty sound under the wall foundation, the Ming army that fills the trench mostly needs to ants to attack the city, and standing close to the center can more effectively kill the siege.

As a result, the most experienced and brave officers and veterans were bombarded into the sky with the city wall. The Qing soldiers behind the nearby battlements were also shocked from the city wall. Those who did not fall down were also knocked over the city wall by the explosion shock waves and could no longer get up.

For the Ming army standing halfway inside and outside, the gravel fell from the sky at most was to smash a bag on their faces. But it was not that simple for the Qing army's armored soldiers behind the city wall. First, they were dizzy by the explosion, and then countless large bricks fell down. The Qing soldiers who were far away from the blasting point and were not killed and injured had no time to dodge. A rain of blue bricks suddenly fell from the sky, and hundreds of armored soldiers deployed behind the wall were caught off guard.

When He Zhen rushed in, the smoke and dust had not yet dissipated. He and his surrounding subordinates waved their swords and spears, and slashed the heads of the Qing soldiers who were lying on the ground without saying a word. In a blink of an eye, they cut all the Qing soldiers who could move behind the gap to the ground. Then He Zhen pointed the sword in his hand, and countless Ming soldiers shouted and followed closely, and rushed north towards the depths of Zhongxiang City.

At this time, the General Hanyang had not yet understood what was going on, but he had already seen the two city towers in the south and west of the city raising the banner of emergency - on these two city towers, you could see the Ming army blasting the wall to the west of the city, and the Ming army was pouring into the city from the gap.

"Master, what's going on?" Zhou Peigong asked anxiously.

"Haha," the general of Hanyang pretended to be calm and smiled: "The thief still has some ability, but he actually dug up the city wall."

"What should I do?"

"Mr. Zhou, don't panic. No one outside is to block the generals, and the water is to cover the earth." The Hanyang General ordered the troops that had gathered in front of the prefect's office to set off. The most urgent task was to reinforce the broken wall. Until this time, the General was not in a hurry. He had deployed defensive troops behind the trench filled by the Ming army. The General was probably fighting against the gap in the city wall at this time. The Ming army could not break into the city for a moment.

As soon as reinforcements arrive, the gap will be blocked. If the Ming army's combat effectiveness is stronger than the general's imagination, and some Ming troops have already broken into the city, the general will command these gathered Qing soldiers to launch a powerful counterattack, regain the gap, close the traffic inside and outside the city, and then eliminate the Ming army soldiers who have already broken into the city.

Waving the flag, the general strode towards his war horse. Seeing the flag-tag Wuchang soldiers were also purging their military appearance, they stopped whispering, and held their heads high and their chests were raised, waiting to follow the general's general to meet the enemy.

"boom!"

A louder blast sound than before, and this time it came from the west side of the city. The general and several thousand Qing soldiers looked in the direction of the second loud noise, and saw that there was also smoke and dust rising from the sky, which seemed more than the time just now, and spread wider in the sky.

"Has the city wall on the north been dug up?" Zhou Peigong shouted. Why did he feel that the situation of the officers and soldiers seemed to be very bad?

"How is that possible?" the general murmured to himself in a daze, unable to move for a long time. He had obviously sent people to hear about both places, and the base of the wall must have been hollowed out by a blockbuster.

Not long after the explosion, the general saw that the city tower in the north of the city also had a banner of emergency, and danced the flag into the city like crazy. At this time, three lights were raised on the city tower in the west.

Three lights! One is a fierce battle on the walls on both sides of the city tower, two is a fierce battle in front of the gate of the city gate, and three is a sudden breaking of the city! This is the most urgent and most desperate emergency flag, and generally speaking, it will also be the last signal sent by the city gate tower.

It seemed to be echoing the Xicheng, and the bells suddenly sounded on Zhong Xiang's high bell tower. Originally, the bells on the bell tower could not be ringed randomly, especially during the war. Now, the bell towers are making continuous and rapid sounds, one sound is as tight as one, and anyone can hear the panic in the bell. It can be imagined that the Qing soldiers on the bell tower were panicked--they must have been sweating profusely, and they are ringing the bells wildly, trying their best to alert the whole city.

Three lamps were hung on the west city, and the bell tower began to rush into the bell in a mad manner. The prefect of Anlu Mansion, the officer, and the convoy of the governor's mansion named Zhou were all so shocked that they could not speak. The army that had just calmed down suddenly became in an uproar again, and the soldiers began to whisper again.

"It's no big deal," the general of Hanyang knew that he would never panic at this time. The city gate to the west had been blocked and three lights were hung, indicating that the people on the city tower saw that the city walls on both sides were urgently attacked. The bell tower was the commanding heights in the city, and there was no way to see the battle outside the city. The general estimated that the people above were ringing the bell because they saw that the Ming army had already broken into the wall - the wall had just collapsed, and the enemy's tendency to break into the wall was already amazing. After the general made a judgment in his mind, he immediately repeated to everyone around him in a loud and powerful voice: "It's no big deal! I will first reinforce the south of the city, then turn back to the north of the city to protect the wall, and eliminate the thieves entering the city."

After saying that, the general called the deputy general and gave him five hundred soldiers to reinforce the gap in the north of the city. This army, coupled with the blocking troops deployed in front, the general believed that there was no big problem to block the Ming army for an hour. He decided to lead the main force to destroy the Ming army in the south of the city. After all, the south of the city was attacked first and the threat was greater. The bell tower was mostly ringing because of the crisis in the south of the city.

The prefect of Anlu Mansion also hurriedly volunteered to go to reinforce the north of the city with the deputy general.

"This is the best." General Hanyang nodded vigorously, trying his best to help others recover from panic: "Stop the thieves, and don't draw soldiers from other areas easily, so as not to be caught in the thief's trick of attacking the east and west."

"I understand, understand." The magistrate of Anlu Mansion hurriedly clicked the armored soldiers around the magistrate's office and wanted to go to the gap in the north of the city to support with the deputy general.

"Don't worry, Grandmaster!" Like General Hanyang, the deputy general under his command seemed full of confidence. He patted his chest and assured the general: "Not to say it's an hour, even a day and a night, the thief would not want to rush into the city from the front of General Mo, otherwise General Mo would cut off his head and see General Mo."

Although they rushed to the same place, the two teams did not go along the same route. The deputy general led the five hundred Wuchang soldiers on the road leading directly to the north city tower, while the prefect led the troops to the west city tower. The three lanterns rising there were too bad effects. The prefect wanted to rush to take down the lanterns and engage in the military law in charge of the officers.

The calmness of the Hanyang General was also infectious to Zhou Peigong. Seeing the general so calm, Zhou Peigong was deeply ashamed of his panic just now, and deeply felt the meaning of the sentence "General is the leader of the army".

"Beat the drum!" The general turned over the horse, raised his chin high towards the sky, and ordered the army to advance by beating the drum. Although the people on the bell tower were still ringing the bell like madmen, the general knew that they should never panic at this time. Once the rumors spread, the morale of the army would be easily out of control. After the army began to move to the south of the city, the general called a confidant and asked him to lead a team of people to rush to the bell tower and execute all the unknown guys on it.

The main force of the Wuchang Army followed the general's flag and stepped neatly onto the road leading directly to the south city tower of the government office. The heavy steps of the two thousand Green Camp soldiers twitched slightly.

Behind the general was his flag bearer, then the personal guards riding horses, and then the most reliable, best-equipped and trained personal battalion. The infantry in the personal battalion lined up a six-person-wide queue, filling Zhongxiang's avenue. The spearmen in the personal battalion held long spears in their right hands, and raised the tips of the spears straight towards the sky; the sword and shield soldiers also held the handle of the waist and knife with their right hands, and carried the shield on their backs... These soldiers lined up in line, shaking their bodies at the same rhythm, and took steps of the same size, following the general toward the south city.

"A lamp..." General Hanyang walked in front of the team, looked up at the city tower of Nancheng, and saw a lantern gradually rising to the highest point of the flagpole.

This shows that there has been a fierce battle on the walls on both sides of the city tower. At this time, the general was about to walk down the city tower. He did not see any signs of fighting on the walls on both sides of the city tower. Instead, there were many soldiers shouting in panic.

The first lantern just stopped on the flagpole, and the second lantern swayed and appeared in the general's vision.

"Oh." General Hanyang sighed softly. If two lanterns were raised to the flagpole, it means that the offense and defense were fiercely competing for control of the city gate. However, he could clearly see the gate hole in the south city in this place, and it was still blocked by big stones. It only means that there would be another lantern that would rise up quickly.

Sure enough, the third lantern appeared on the flagpole without any surprise.

"Absurd." General Hanyang couldn't help but curse. His flag was not far from the city tower. Behind it was a strict lineup composed of thousands of Qing troops. The guards on the city tower must have seen all this, but this kind of shaken signal aroused. When he saw himself coming, the soldiers on the city tower not only did not return to normal, but instead shouted something in the direction of their own banner.

"In a moment, we must kill a few of the most powerful people who shake the morale of the army." The general said ruthlessly in his heart. The sound of the war drums behind him was calm and powerful, which was in sharp contrast to the chaos on the city tower in front of him: "How do the governor Anlu and Zhong Xiang's generals and assistants train soldiers? When you go back, you must study their books with the Governor."

At this time, the General Hanyang had already arrived in front of the city tower, and several guards on the city tower rolled and crawled towards his horse.

"Ming, Ming, Ming, Ming..." The man who rushed over seemed to be the general Qian who was guarding the South City Tower. His lips were trembling and he could no longer speak the complete words. He said four or five "Ming" in one breath, but he couldn't even spit out the second word "jun".

"What's the point? Did the thief kill the city walls on both sides of the gap?" Seeing the other party's cowardly appearance, the general asked impatiently and disgustedly.

The Qian nodded desperately, his movements so violently that it seemed to be about to break his neck. At the same time, he stretched out his left arm with all his strength and pointed to the west.

The general took a horse and looked west along his arm. At this time, his vision was no longer blocked by the private houses. He only saw a small group of Ming troops running towards him against the wall. The general of Hanyang originally planned to take the road under the city wall to reinforce the gap.

"I set off immediately after the city wall collapsed," the general was stunned for a moment: "Why has the Ming army already touched here?"

The blasting entrance is right next to the west wall in the south of the city. After He Zhen came in, he rushed along the west wall to the west wall. When he first started to attack the west wall, the prefect of Anlu Mansion led hundreds of Anlu soldiers to reinforce. Liu Tichun, who was following him, should have turned right to attack the south city tower, but after learning the news, he changed his mind. He believed that there were only more than one thousand Qing armored soldiers in the city, and concluded that the hundreds of Qing soldiers discovered by He Zhen were the main force in the city. Liu Tichun further inferred that except for the hundreds of main forces in the city that were originally concentrated in the prefect's office and are now rushing to the west of the city, there are only one or two hundred armored soldiers scattered on each city tower, which would not pose any major trouble. If He Zhen did not support He Zhen, although He Zhen also had the ability to deal with both sides at the same time, it would extend the battle time and may suffer great losses.

Liu Tichun made a quick decision and ordered the suspension of the original plan and to go north to reinforce He Zhen at full speed. He believed that the battle would probably end if the main force of the Qing army was defeated. In addition, the bell sounded on the bell tower in the southwest of the city also annoyed Liu Tichun. One sound was as tight as if it was urging death. He ordered a general to take a team of soldiers to seize the bell tower. The bell tower was also a commanding height. It not only allowed to observe the situation in the city, but also further shaking the fighting spirit of the defenders in the city after planting the red flag of the Ming army on it.

When the Hanyang General and the small group of Ming troops collided, Liu Tichun had already taken the main force to the vicinity of the Xicheng Tower. He felt that the roads in the city could not be deployed, so he let the soldiers scatter into the southwest city area, and surrounded the west avenue of the city along many streets and alleys to launch a full siege on the troops of the Anlu Prefecture Prefecture on it.

After the explosion, Hao Yaoqi from the north of the city also brought more than 3,000 combat soldiers to Zhongxiang City. After entering the city according to the original plan, he turned left to attack the city tower in the north. When the vanguard arrived in front of the city tower, he was ordered to support the 500 Wuchang in the gap in the north of the city to come. After learning that hundreds of green camp armored soldiers appeared in front, Hao Yaoqi made the same judgment as Liu Tichun. He believed that he had captured Zhong Xiang's main force of the Qing army and immediately urged the entire army to pounce on these Wuchang soldiers. It was also for the same consideration as Liu Tichun, Hao Yaoqi's army scattered like the northwest city area, surrounding and intercepting the hundreds of Wuchang soldiers who came from the north road.

After Liu Tichun led his main force to the north, only a small number of Ming troops searched eastward from the gap in the south of the city and followed the city wall. There were only a few dozen Ming troops coming towards the Hanyang General, and a few of them were the green camps of the former Qing army who surrendered to the Ming army in Yunyang, Gucheng, Yicheng and other places, and some were auxiliary soldiers who wanted to make contributions and turn into war soldiers. They did not follow He Zhen and Liu Tichun's main force to go north together, but touched the city wall to the south along the city wall, and wanted to persuade the surrender or subdue the defenders on the city wall to make some military achievements.

When he saw the two-meter-high general flag that suddenly appeared in front of him, the dozen Ming soldiers who were walking in front were stunned. These Ming soldiers, Hanyang general, and several of the general's personal guards stared at each other, but no one could react for a while.

Wow, wow, wow...

The densely armored Qing soldiers followed the general's flag and walked around the corner of the street.

...

"It's really easy."

While expressing emotion, Deng Ming led his guards to the gap in the south of the city slowly.

Like the previous times, the Qing army was unable to organize any effective resistance at the gap; on the contrary, the increasingly experienced Ming army also grasped the timing of the attack better and better. Today's battle was better than the previous times, and it rushed into the city almost the first moment after the blast. At that time, the Qing army was mostly rolling on the ground with dizziness.

There are only a small number of Ming army soldiers at the gap. A large number of Ming army auxiliary soldiers are cleaning up the bricks and stones at the gap, or following the soldiers to search for the surrounding houses, while appeaseing the people, they searched out the Qing soldiers who were trying to hide.

As the soldiers heading eastward rushed to the south city tower, some Ming soldiers also climbed up the city wall from the slope, preparing to expel the enemy troops on this section of the city wall. After seeing the Ming army climbing up the city wall, one of the few Qing soldiers yelled at the south city tower. Under the base of the city wall on both sides of the gap, there were many bloody Qing soldiers sitting on the ground dejectedly, allowing the Ming army's auxiliary soldiers to tie them up firmly without any resistance.

Based on his past experience, Deng Ming knew that countless sprint competitions would soon happen outside the city. The defenders who had no way out on the city wall would use ropes to pull themselves down the city, trying to escape from the city that was doomed to fall.

However, there are tens of thousands of pairs of eyes staring at these people around the city, and the auxiliary soldiers will rush to capture these defeated soldiers. Taking these enemy soldiers who have lost their fighting spirit and abandoned their weapons is a dangerous opportunity to make meritorious contributions. Except for a very few sprint geniuses, most of the defeated soldiers will be captured by the auxiliary soldiers outside the city.

"What is that?" After climbing the city wall from the slope next to the gap, Deng Ming pointed to the direction of the Nancheng Tower and asked in confusion.

At this time, more Qing soldiers had turned around the corner of Chengnan Avenue. Several of the Ming soldiers who wanted to attack or persuade them to surrender to the Nancheng Tower also reacted. They shouted, turned around and ran back to the future.

While Deng Ming saw these Ming troops turning around and running away, he also saw the large group of Qing soldiers who turned out from the south of the city road. Although they were far away, they could also see the black heads quickly covering the road beside the city walls. Countless weapons flashed coldly in the air, and countless flags were flying among the sword lights and sabers.

Swords are like forests, and flags are like seas.
Chapter completed!