MTL - I-Chapter 997 993【Blowing up the city】

   Chapter 997 993 [Blowing up the city]

   Cossacks are also human beings, and if they are human, they will be afraid.

  Fear is fear, but these guys are extremely brave and will not surrender unless they face desperation.

   As long as there is still a castle to defend, it is not considered hopeless in their eyes!

  Li Zheng's behavior of killing prisoners made the Cossacks even more afraid, and at the same time strengthened their determination to stick to the end.

   It was under such circumstances that Li Zheng began to order to cross the river, seemingly not paying attention to the art of war at all.

  In the sky, the hot air balloon ascended again.

   The hot air balloon was not lifted a few days ago, and the extra rope was taken away by scouts. Now that the scouts have returned, all the ropes are used to raise the hot air balloons, which can ensure that the two hot air balloons will float over the bastion in the southeast of the enemy.

   "The Khitan may have to cross the river and pull up the artillery!" Bashkov said.

   Li Zheng kept shelling the enemy fort, and Bashkov did nothing.

  The Cossacks tore down all the wooden boards in the city, and nailed the extremely valuable furs to the outer layer of the wooden boards to wrap them. They don't have iron sheets, so they are reinforced with double-layer wooden boards, and they are lifted by powerful people to block the top, and the gunner and the servants quickly push and pull the artillery.

  The artillery position of the Datong Army on the high platform moves with two hot air balloons.

  The artillery fired towards the two bastions in the northeast and southwest of the enemy, where there were also Cossack artillery. But the distance is too far, and the accuracy is extremely poor. If twenty or thirty shots are fired, maybe even one shot will not be able to hit, and it will only interfere with and delay the enemy's actions.

  Two hot air balloons crazily dropped bombs towards the southeast bastion of the enemy.

  This time, I won’t drop it in a matter of seconds, because the enemy army is holding the baffle, and the damage caused by the air explosion is limited. Ignite the fuse and throw it down. It can always fall to the ground and explode. When it explodes, several people fall down. Even if it falls on a wooden board or a ten-pound bomb falls from a high altitude, the impact force can hit the enemy's baffle and let it go.

  The southeast bastion bombed by hot air balloons is almost ruined, and it can't stand people at all.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  The moment the Datong army crossed the river, the Cossacks fired. The two bastion forts in the southwest and northeast, as well as the defensive forts on the west city wall, bombarded the water together.

   All the soldiers of the Datong Army rowed small boats, and each boat could only seat six people.

  Two of them erected skin baffles to defend against bullets, two of them paddled forward quickly, and finally a civilian man with a shovel in his hand.

  Hundreds of small boats were sparsely spaced and rowed forward. The enemy shells kept hitting the water surface, splashing one after another. At this moment, in the mountains in the northeast, there were suddenly some warriors from Sauron's tribe, who came to the river with dozens of small boats on their shoulders.

  The Cossack gunners at the bastion in the northeast quickly turned their guns and bombarded the Sauron natives who were about to cross the river.

   As a result, the firepower on the main battlefield on the south side was suddenly reduced by one-third. The soldiers of the Datong Army crossed the river more smoothly. When the first batch of small boats approached the opposite bank, only one boat was hit, and two boats were overturned and sank.

  The reason why it was so smooth was that two hot air balloons made contributions, which prevented the Cossacks from firing at the bastion in the southeast, which was the direction where the main force of the Datong Army crossed the river.

  The Sauron warriors who were responsible for the feint attack in the northeast faced the firepower of the bastion there, and soon suffered heavy losses. In a short period of time, more than 30 people were killed or injured. When the boat reached the middle of the river, it was shot by muskets, and all of them collapsed.

  Front, after the Datong army crossed the river, the soldiers immediately erected the baffle on the ground to cover the civilian men behind them digging the tunnel.

   Two people set up baffles to defend against bullets, two soldiers and two civilians dug holes, and there are such six-member teams everywhere on the south bank of the enemy's castle.

   "Boom!"

  A cannonball hit, the cowhide on the outer layer of the baffle was not damaged, the iron sheet on the inner layer was severely deformed, and the wooden board was broken into dross.

  The two soldiers of the Datong Army who were responsible for carrying the baffle broke their arms and flew upside down in an instant, and their whole body was covered with sharp wooden thorns. The four people behind were also affected, all were killed and injured by the baffle and wooden thorns. A civilian man was injured and could move, but was hit by bullets just as he stood up and tried to escape.

   "Boom!"

  The artillery of the Datong Army on the high platform fired more than forty cannons in a row, and finally hit the enemy artillery position.

  A Cossack gunner was smashed in the head, and the artillery behind him was also smashed over. The shells jumped diagonally and killed two enemies.

  From the beginning of crossing the river, 36 soldiers of the Datong Army were killed or injured, 18 civilian husbands were killed or injured, and 49 soldiers of the Sauron tribe were killed or injured. Finally, several deep pits were successfully dug on the river bank. The soldiers and civilians who followed the river jumped into the pit under the artillery fire, and widened the tunnel desperately.

   Two more teams of six were lost. Li Zheng stopped crossing the river and only covered the soldiers and civilians who had crossed the river with artillery fire to dig holes.

  The Cossacks in the city also stopped shelling upon seeing this. Their ammunition reserves are limited, since it is difficult to bombard the Datong army in the tunnel, they should save it for the Datong army to attack the city.

  At night, torches were lit in the tunnel, and soldiers and civilians took turns digging the tunnel.

  In the darkness, with these fire lights pointing the way, the river crossing operation began again. Soldiers and peasants rowed their boats and headed to various places. When the Cossacks in the city noticed the movement, they could only fire shells randomly on the river. Whether they could hit or not depended on whose luck was better.

  The next whole month will be spent digging and shelling.

  The tunnels of the Datong Army directly surrounded the Nerchinsk Castle. There are more and more soldiers and civilians crossing the river, and there are "Z" shaped tunnels in all directions outside the city.

  At night, torches were set in all the tunnels, and all the men in the tunnels were digging in shifts. Bashkov wanted to attack at night, but he didn't know where to launch it, so he could only watch helplessly as the tunnel was dug closer and closer.

  I'm going to die!

  The Datong Army is not the Eight Banners Army in history, and it will not be stumped by a bastion.

  During the Battle of Yaksa, the earthen walls built by the Qing army also surrounded the castle. The next thing I didn't know what to do, I only knew that there was no water and food, plus shelling, but I couldn't dig out a "Z"-shaped passage to dig.

   What's more, the hot air balloons of the Datong Army can also play bombing!

  After three months of shelling and bombing, there were only 372 Cossacks left in Bashkov's hands. Especially the bastion in the southeast, no matter how brave the Cossacks were, no one dared to climb up there, and more than 30 people were killed there by the enemy. Even if he didn't die at the time, he would have died due to a wound infection. The iron sand in Ten Thousand Enemies has been soaked in golden juice!

   "Guardian, two tunnels have been dug under the city wall. Don't dare to dig too wide, this place is prone to collapse."

   "Very good, move the gunpowder barrel in, and blow up the city before dawn!"

  Before doing so much, Li Zheng didn't think about attacking by force, but just diverted the enemy's attention and dug tunnels to bury explosives.

   Nerchinsk City is next to the river, and a large area of ​​land was alluvial by the river. In addition to occasionally digging into groundwater and the tunnels are prone to collapse, the digging here is very fast, and even stones are rarely dug.

"kill!"

  In the dark night, torches were raised everywhere outside the city, and the sound of shouting and killing resounded loudly.

  The defenders in the city are used to this, because the Datong Army comes here every now and then. At the beginning they were still nervous, but they relaxed after a few more visits, leaving only a few people on guard, while the other defenders slept when they should.

   There are two tunnels, one with 36 powder barrels and the other with 28 powder barrels.

  This kind of small city built on loose soil does not have a deep foundation like Nanjing City. Twenty or thirty gunpowder barrels are more than enough.

   "Is there going to be a war tonight?" Qiao Guangyong asked while curled up in the outer tunnel.

  Qiao Nian said: "We must fight, all the soldiers are being mobilized."

   "It's good if we can fight tonight." Qiao Guangyong looked tired.

  He was almost transferred to participate in the Battle of Crossing the River, but fortunately, his superiors temporarily changed the order. Because the Han people in the Heilongjiang River Basin are scarce, each of them is a treasure, so the folk husbands who participated in crossing the river are all indigenous people. Qiao Guang used these Han peasants to go there in batches at night.

  The torches and shouts of killing outside the city were purely to cover the mobilization of troops.

  The scene was very lively, but the torches did not move, and the soldiers and civilians who were in charge of shouting did not move. The soldiers who were really about to attack the city moved forward in the tunnel, causing the enemy to look like they were still harassing and exhausting the enemy.

  Bashkov didn't sleep, and stood on the city to watch.

   Every time there was a change in the Datong Army, he didn't dare to sleep, who knew when it was really going to attack.

  Damn it, this place is too dangerous. After this battle is won, Bashkov plans to transfer back to China. He is not a poor Cossack, he is a serious low-level nobleman. He has earned enough from selling furs all these years, and he can be transferred back by bribing Moscow officials.

  Whoever loves will come, anyway, Bashkov doesn't want to come again in his life.

   "Boom! Boom!"

  There were two loud bangs in a row. Due to the error of the clock, it was agreed to detonate at the same time, but there was still a difference of several seconds.

  Bashkov felt a shock under his feet, and the violent shock almost made him fall. Returning to the country, Shenlai subconsciously looked to the south. In the darkness, he couldn't see the collapse of the city wall, only the brazier on the city wall was extinguished, and the red-hot logs had already flown out of the city.

  The torches outside the city were also moving, quickly approaching the city wall.

   "The walls are falling, the walls are falling!"

  The nearby Cossacks yelled in horror, while in the cave in the northern city, they were also shouting in confusion.

  Countless Datong army and indigenous warriors, some entered through the gaps in the city wall along the tunnels, and some climbed out of the trench and carried ladders to attack the city. The east, south, and west sides were the main attack directions of the Datong army. On the contrary, it was the only west side with land access, which Li Zheng deliberately kept from attacking.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

   Cossacks and indigenous servants, many of them woke up from sleep. To be precise, they hurriedly opened their eyes and stood up, because it was too noisy outside the city, and they had already woken up. Even if he didn't wake up, he was awakened by the gunpowder bombing the city.

   These guys didn't understand the situation, so they could only subconsciously shoot guns and arrows at the torches outside the city.

  Debuku is a warrior of the Sauron tribe. According to the division hundreds of years later, he should belong to the Ewenki tribe. His name means "wisdom and brave hunter".

  His tribe was repeatedly ravaged by the Cossacks. His father died in battle, and his elder brother was caught as a meat ticket. Because there were not enough furs handed in, his elder brother was tortured to death. This time he heard that the Datong Army was going to fight the Cossacks, so he and his clansmen took the initiative to come to help.

  Crossing the river a month ago in a feint attack to attract firepower for the Datong Army, Debuku participated in it. More than a dozen members of the tribe were killed and injured, and new hatred was added to the old hatred.

  At this time, the Datong army was attacking the gap in the city wall, and Debuku led his tribe to attack the city with ladders.

  The Cossacks were attracted by the two gaps, and they were defended by some indigenous servants. Debuku resented these servants very much, because most of them came from the defeated Sauron tribe. Obviously there is a **** feud, but he was tamed by the Cossacks, and he followed the Cossacks to help the tiger!

  Another clansman was shot dead. Debuku had already climbed up the city wall. He swung a knife and knocked down a servant, and then kicked another person over.

  The servants defending the city were frightened repeatedly, their morale was cleared at this moment, they turned around and fled towards the quiet west city.

  De Buku didn't chase, but rushed to the nearby bastion, and cooperated with the Datong army on his left to fight.

   "Withdraw, quickly withdraw to the defensive battery!" Bashkov shouted.

  The defensive artillery fortress in the west city is 11 meters high, and you can hold on there after retreating. But it is also a dead place. When the Datong army occupies the whole area, the artillery can knock down the defensive fortress.

   There was chaos everywhere, and Bashkov's military order could not be effectively conveyed at all.

  Many Cossacks abandoned the city walls and fled to the west based on their sense of survival. With the three directions of east, south, and north, the shouts of killing were getting closer and closer. They no longer had expectations of defending the city, and slid down the **** of the west city wall to escape.

  Bashkov was also among the rout soldiers, and managed to escape outside the city, but there were trenches dug by the Datong Army everywhere.

  The black lights are blind, and they fell into it if they didn't pay attention. Some were unable to stand up with broken feet and were trampled to death by the fleeing friendly troops.

  Bashkov fled to the only land passage in the whole city. Counting the defeated servant army, there were four or five hundred people left around him. They fled westward in a swarm. The land passage was only more than ten meters wide, and there were deep rivers on both sides.

   The broken soldiers running at the front had only escaped halfway through the passage, when suddenly crackling gunshots came from the front.

  But at some point, a Datong army had already ambushed in the reeds.

  The broken soldiers in the front row were shot and fell to the ground one after another. The broken soldiers behind couldn't see the situation clearly, and they stepped on the corpses and tripped.

  Bashkov also fell down, and just about to get up, a servant stepped on his calf. The servant army ran away in a hurry, lost its balance and fell forward, pressing **** Bashkov.

  The Cossacks who did not fall were frightened by the gunshots. Some jumped into the river to escape, and some turned around and fled towards the city wall.

  De Buku caught up, met two Datong armies, and joined forces to charge towards the passage.

  He wanted to kill the enemy several times, but was dealt with by the Datong Army, and he had nowhere to vent his vengeance. Finally, he rushed into the passage and made up the knife to the injured or fallen enemy. When he saw an enemy standing up suddenly, Debuku stepped forward and swung his knife to slash.

  Bashkov, the Yenisei warlord, hadn't even stood still yet, so he was stabbed and fell down in a daze.

  He still didn't die, but he couldn't stand the last shot.

  Debuku put his knee on Bashkov, felt the position of his neck, and pressed the knife down hard.

  The enemies in the passage were all eliminated. Debuku knelt among the corpses, looked up at the dark night sky, and cried with tears: "Father, brother, I have avenged you!"

  (end of this chapter)