Chapter 25 Siege of Suzhou

With Wu Changqing's order, the rebels began to move.

The biggest difference between Wu Changqing's troops and other troops attacking the city is that they are the fire gun team first, and the people who carry the sacks to fill the moat are behind.

He wanted to let the fire gun team come forward to suppress the enemy's archers. If they let their archers shoot arrows down, he would not know how many people would be killed or injured in the process of filling the moat.

What are these gunners trying to do?

Wu Shengzhao was a little puzzled. He now also knew that these new fire guns had a very fast rate of fire, but he still couldn't imagine how fast the fire rate would be useful in sieging the city.

However, he soon found out.

Those gunmen walked to a distance of about a hundred meters from the city wall, and then aimed at the city head, always ready to shoot to suppress the opponent's archers.

The soldiers carrying the sacks had already rushed towards the moat, and Wu Shengzhao also ordered to shoot arrows.

However, as soon as their archers emerged, there was a burst of gunshots from below.

Immediately followed by screams, several archers were shot and fell on the city wall and wailed.

Only a few were hit by the archers, and more bullets still hit the city wall.

One of the shots also hit the wall next to Wu Shengzhao, punching a small hole in the wall, and the bricks and stones flew around.

This shocked Wu Shengzhao a lot. If the bullet was a little bit further away, he would be the one who was hit.

As a result, Wu Shengzhao hurriedly withdrew from the front line and hid in the tower to give command.

The archer was beaten, and he dared not get up to shoot again.

Wu Shengzhao watched the enemy troops continue to fill the moat, and ordered the archers to stand up and shoot arrows.

However, as long as they stand together, the gunshots below the city will sound.

In desperation, those archers could only shoot, that is, without aiming, they would shoot in the general direction and they would be done. As for whether it can be shot or not, it depends on luck.

Naturally, this kind of projectile has no power and cannot stop the rebel army from filling the moat.

"My lord, the situation is not good. If they also use fire guns to shoot at the city wall when they attack the city later, how can we defend it?"

The ingenious officer has already thought of another wonderful use of this fire gun.

At this time, Wu Shengzhao was as anxious as the ants on the hot pot. He also realized the problem, but he couldn't think of a solution.

After thinking about it until the moat had been filled in for a long time, he still couldn't figure out a clue.

"I ordered not to hide behind the city wall, all stand up for me to defend the city."

Up to now, Wu Shengzhao can only fill it with human life.

This order made the soldiers angry, didn't they send themselves to death.

However, they did not dare to disobey Shangguan's orders, so they could only stand up cautiously, and then quickly threw the stones down the city, not aiming at all.

Some were even thrown directly into the open space, where there was no enemy at all.

This way of wasting resources for defending the city, Wu Shengzhao flew over long ago. But now, he was hiding in the tower, daring to go out even if he wanted to kick.

In fact, the suppression of the fire gun team can only play a role when the rebels have not yet started to climb the ladder. When the rebels start to climb up, the suppression effect of the fire gun team is gone.

They didn't dare to shoot, otherwise it would be hard to say whether they were suppressing the enemy or the friendly with the accuracy of the gun.

Without the sound of muskets, the Qing army dared to show up a little and began to defend.

At this time, the rebels had already climbed halfway.

The Qing army in charge of defending the city panicked, and the supplies used to defend the city were thrown out of the city and onto the rebels who were still climbing.

Immediately, there were screams from the city.

Those who were poured on by boiling oil, those who were hit by stones, and even those who were splashed with golden juice all fell off the ladder one by one.

Wu Changqing was helpless watching this scene with binoculars from a distance. This is a siege battle, and the party responsible for the attack is really miserable.

For a city with a moat and high walls like Suzhou, as long as there are enough troops and materials to defend the city, there is no problem in defending it for a year or two.

In history, there are indeed many such battles. It takes several months, or even a year and a half, to attack a fortified city.

There is little hope for this wave of siege, but Wu Changqing can't order a retreat yet, and must continue to spend some of the enemy's defense materials.

Whether it is stones or boiling oil, these materials for defending the city are limited. If you can consume more opponents, the next siege will be easier.

It does not consume too much energy. If there are too many casualties among soldiers, it will cause a relatively big blow to morale.

"Order to withdraw."

Wu Changqing saw that the soldiers had never been able to climb the city wall, so he let this wave of siege soldiers come down to rest and prepare to come back with another team.

As the whistle of the retreating troops sounded, the rebels under the city began to retreat one after another.

In this wave of attacks, the rebels killed nearly 50 people and injured 70 or 80 people.

This is thanks to the fact that the fire gunmen have been suppressing the enemy archers, otherwise the casualty number would have doubled under normal circumstances.

"This city is so damn hard to attack."

Wu Changqing said with emotion.

"This city is really hard to defend."

Wu Shengzhao also sighed with emotion on the city wall. The materials he prepared for the defense of the city were intended to be used for a month, but now, with just one wave of attacks, those soldiers used almost one-tenth of it.

If this continues

Continue, the enemy will attack a few times and they can only rely on the sword to defend the city.

By that time, it is basically the time when the city is broken.

"General, they are here again."

The subordinate reminded Wu Shengzhao, Wu Shengzhao looked over and saw that the second wave of the rebel army's offensive had begun again.

"These grandsons, do you still want to capture Suzhou in one day?"

Wu Shengzhao was angry and ordered the soldiers to switch defenses and prepare.

Those soldiers who had just guarded the city had already consumed a lot of physical strength and needed to be replaced and rested. If they didn't change it, they might not even be able to lift a stone.

The new soldiers were replaced. They learned the lessons of the previous soldiers, and they dared not stand up to shoot arrows. They could only hide behind the city wall and shoot Buddha-nature.

Shoot the arrow out and you're done. Whether you can hit it or not depends on fate.

This kind of action undoubtedly made Wu Shengzhao angry again. Originally, there are few materials for defending the city, and it is such a waste of money. Isn't that just courting death?

"Tell them to stand up and shoot, and the disobedient beheaded."

Wu Shengzhao was ruthless, and those archers complained incessantly.

Their number is much less than the fire gun soldiers in the city. As long as one emerges, those fire gun soldiers will teach them how to behave.

"Daifuku, even if you shoot, don't worry about accidental injury, you must cover us to climb halfway."

Wang Dayong explained to Wang Dafu, who commanded the Fire Gun Army, that they had prepared grenades this time. Prepare to use this thing to catch the enemy by surprise.

However, the grenade is too heavy. If you throw it far away, you can still throw it seven or eight meters away, but if you throw it upwards, you can throw it up to three or four meters.

So, they had to climb at least halfway to throw the grenade against the wall.

"Don't worry, I'll let them try to be as accurate as possible."

Wang Dafu said, of course, this is pure comfort. Whether it can be accurate or not is really beyond the control of the soldiers.