?
"Prime Minister, with your plan, I will definitely be able to take down Shu City! Please leave the siege to me! "Lei Hu said quickly.
Zhang Yingchen was transferred to the new division, and Ke Gongyu took over as the 1st division's commander. He was not as excited as Lei Hu, and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Prime Minister, our Brigade Instructors are the most accurate marksmen. Please leave the siege to us, Prime Minister."
3rd division's commander, Ruan Xihao, did not want to be left behind, "Leave it to us!"
Vézé laughed, "I'll make it clear this time. Whoever is in charge of the civil engineering, no matter how the battle turns out, will get the most credit! What do you think? Are you still willing to be the siege troops? "
This time, Lei Hu and Ruan Xihao were stunned. Ke Gongyu laughed, "I don't care if we get the most credit or not. I still stand by my words, the Instructors are the most accurate marksmen. If we are not in charge of the siege, it will be a waste."
Ruan Xihao thought for a moment, "Then let Commander Lei continue to besiege Shu City. My division will be in charge of the civil engineering!"
Vézé nodded, "Then let's do it this way. Lei Hu has been here the longest and is familiar with the roads. If the Qing Army escapes the city, he will be able to block the Qing Army. "
Although Lei Hu was not very willing, after hearing Vézé's plan, he felt that it was not a cruel arrangement. So, he simply accepted his fate.
On the 4th of May, the siege officially began. At daybreak, the defenders of Shu City saw thousands of Taiping army carrying bamboo rafts towards the west of Shu City. With the sound of drums, the Qing Army was immediately prepared. But to the Qing Army's surprise, the Taiping army stopped about 80 steps away from the city. They put three bamboo rafts together to form a triangle, and tied them with hemp ropes. Soon they formed a series of triangular pillars.
This was only the beginning. The Taiping army used wooden stakes to support the pillars. Then, they used a strange tool to hang some bamboo rafts. This time the Qing Army did not understand at all. The pillars were divided into two parts, the back was propped up on the ground, the front end was connected to the pillar on the ground, while the other end was tied with a rope and gradually raised up in a strange way. One of the pillars was only about ten feet long, so the two of them together were more than thirty feet long. Although it was slanted, the distance between the top of the pillar and the ground was nearly two zhang. On the other hand, the walls of Shu City were only three meters tall. The Qing Army, who had been looking down from above, now had to raise their heads to look at those pillars.
Very soon, part of the Qing Army's confusion was solved. They saw ropes hanging down from the top of the pillar, and some bamboo rafts were being hoisted up. These bamboo rafts were placed horizontally on the triangular bamboo pillars, forming a shooting tower that was at least fifteen feet high.
The process might not be clear at first, but once the tall shooting tower was built, the Qing Army understood what was going on. The Taiping army wanted to occupy the high ground and use long-range firepower to attack the Qing Army on the city wall.
Vézé watched as the troops worked quickly and methodically. Back in Yongxing City, Vézé had ordered people to build a batch of pulleys. Now, these pulleys were put to use. Originally, the heavy bamboo rafts needed more than a dozen people to pull, but now, two or three soldiers could easily pull them. The advantage of having fewer people was that it was easier to command and arrange. This time, 30 shooting towers were being built at the same time. Less than a thousand soldiers were used to successfully build them.
Ruan Xihao, who was in charge of the construction, kept praising Vézé's ingenious design. Vézé smiled bitterly in his heart. Even in China's rural areas, this kind of fixed pulley had long been eliminated. Nowadays, small hoists were used to build houses in the countryside. Who would still use manpower to pull such heavy things? Not to mention the wooden crane. Vézé, who had seen a large gantry crane before, not only did not feel any sense of accomplishment, he even felt a little ashamed. How backward was the era of the Manchu Qing?
But even with this little bit of junior high school knowledge, the Taiping army's construction speed had been greatly improved. In less than two hours, Vézé's troops had built 30 shooting towers. Long ladders were placed on the shooting towers. 150 soldiers from the Instructional Brigade, who were good at shooting, carried the new Fire Hat Guns on their backs and went up the shooting towers.
The effective killing range of the Fire Hat Guns was as high as 150 steps. It was more than enough to shoot from a distance of 80 steps (120 meters). Soon, the soldiers put the ropes around their waists on the safety ropes on the bamboo rafts. Half squatting, half kneeling, they started shooting at the city wall under the command of the corporal.
With a distance of five feet, the advantage of height was very obvious. Based on their own understanding of matchlocks, the Qing Army had no idea that rifles could effectively kill from a distance of 100 steps. How lucky would they have to be to achieve such a feat? When the bullets whizzed over and the Qing Army kept getting hit, the Qing Army standing on the city wall began to hide behind the battlements.
After the brothers on the shooting tower gave the order, Ruan Xihao shouted. He led the attacking troops and carried the long ladders up to the city wall.
This was the way to attack a city in this era. Either the ground troops would attack the city, or the underground troops would destroy the city wall. Shucheng was not suitable for digging tunnels. Moreover, Vézé was confident in the firepower of his troops. Therefore, he used the old method of attacking the city with ants.
When he approached the city wall with the long ladders, he felt that the city wall was getting taller and taller. Because he could not see the movements of the Qing Army on the city wall, Ruan Xihao could only believe that the brothers on the shooting tower were pointing in the right direction.
"Hurry up!" Ruan Xihao kept urging the soldiers behind him. "What do they say next?"
The semaphore officer turned his head to look for a moment, then replied, "The brothers on the shooting tower told us to move five steps to the left. There are fewer Qing Army troops there!"
"Five steps to the left! Climb the city wall there! "Ruan Xihao gave the order without hesitation.
The foot of the long ladder first found a stable position under the city wall. Then, seven or eight people shouted and set up a long ladder. After seeing the speed at which the pulleys lifted the bamboo rafts, Ruan Xihao felt that the efficiency was appallingly low. The only thing that made him feel better was that the gunshots on the shooting tower were as dense as popping beans. They never stopped. In order to prevent the guns from overheating and affecting their speed, every shooter on the shooting tower brought three guns and took turns shooting to ensure that the firepower was not affected.
More than ten long ladders were set up and climbed up the city wall. The rifle squad raised their guns and aimed at the top of the city wall. If the Qing Army poked their heads out, the soldiers would open fire.
"Raise your guns! Move forward! "Ruan Xihao ordered.
The soldiers at the front of the attacking team did not bring any weapons like swords or shields. Instead, they brought a simplified version of a small gun. It was a shotgun with a diameter of about an inch. It was fired with a fire cap. Gunpowder and lead fragments were already loaded into the muzzle to prevent them from leaking out while climbing. The muzzle was also sealed with wax.
Even if they had been trained many times, they would not be able to climb very fast while holding this thing in one hand.
"Grenade throwers! Throw the grenades! "Ruan Xihao ordered.
More than ten strong men stood at the bottom of the city wall. They took out some bamboo tubes. These bamboo tubes were covered with a layer of porcelain buckets. The porcelain buckets were wrapped with thin hemp ropes. These were grenades used by the grenade throwers. The grenades were filled with gunpowder, and the fuse was filled with mercury fulminate. The outer shell was made of bamboo and porcelain, with some iron sand and gravel stuffed in between to increase its destructive power.
After the grenade throwers ignited the fuse, they followed the movements they had practiced hundreds of times and threw the grenades up the city wall. After a while, a series of loud explosions came from the top of the city wall. Even though they could not see the Qing Army, Ruan Xihao could clearly hear the screams of the Qing Army.
"Go!" Ruan Xihao yelled.
The grenade throwers started climbing the three ladders that they had chosen. Ruan Xihao felt his mouth go dry, and his heart was beating wildly. No matter how they prepared, the attacking side was at a disadvantage. Even though Vézé's troops were brave and well-prepared, and Ruan Xihao did not have to worry about losing Shucheng, Ruan Xihao still did not want to see too many casualties.
The bottom of the city wall was filled with the corpses of his brothers who had died during the siege. This was Ruan Xihao's biggest nightmare.
The three ladders shook. The soldiers used all their strength to climb the ladders, hoping to reach the top of the city as soon as possible. At this time, the troops on the top of the archery tower were afraid of accidentally injuring their allies, so they fired in another direction. The Qing Army on top of the ladders did not feel any pressure. They had enough time to deal with the Taiping army climbing the ladders.
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