Chapter 97

?

"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 placed three bamboo rafts together to form a triangle and tied them with hemp ropes, quickly forming a series of triangular pillars.

This was only the beginning. The Taiping army used wooden stakes to support the pillars, then used a strange tool to hang up the bamboo rafts. This time, the Qing Army was completely confused. The pillars were divided into two parts, with the back propped up on the ground, the front end connected to the pillars on the ground, and the other end tied with ropes. Each pillar was only about three feet long, so two of them added up to more than three feet. Although it was slanted, the distance from the top of the pillar to the ground was about two feet. The walls of Shu City were only three feet high. The Qing army, which used to look down from above, now had to raise their heads to look at those pillars.

Soon, part of the Qing army's doubts were answered. They saw ropes hanging down from the top of the pillar, and some bamboo rafts were hung up. The Qing Army might not understand the process at first, but once the watchtowers were completed, 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. The Taiping Army wanted to occupy the high ground and attack the Qing Army on the city wall with long-range firepower.

Back in Yongxing City, Vézé had ordered people to make a batch of pulleys. Now, these pulleys were put to use. When they were in Yong Xing City, Wei Ze had ordered people to build a batch of pulleys. Now, these pulleys were put to use. The heavy bamboo raft, which required more than ten people to pull, could now be easily pulled by two or three warriors. The advantage of having fewer people was that it was easier to command and make arrangements. This time, 30 watchtowers were being built at the same time. Less than a thousand soldiers were needed 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 the rural areas of China, stationary pulleys had long been obsolete. Nowadays, small hoists were used to build houses in the countryside. Who would use manpower to pull such heavy things? Not to mention the wooden cranes. Vézé, who had seen large gantry cranes before, did not feel any sense of accomplishment. Instead, he felt ashamed. How backward was the era of the Manchu Qing?

But even with this little bit of junior high school knowledge, the construction speed of the Taiping army's engineering team was greatly improved. In less than two hours, Vézé's troops had built 30 watchtowers. Ladders were placed on the watchtowers. 150 soldiers from the Instructional Brigade, who were good at shooting, climbed up the watchtowers.

The effective killing range of the gun was 150 steps. It was more than enough to shoot from a distance of 80 steps (120 meters). Soon, the soldiers hooked the ropes around their waists to the safety ropes on the bamboo rafts. They squatted down and 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. The Qing Army, based on their knowledge of matchlocks, did not expect rifles to be effective at a distance of 100 steps. How lucky would one have to be to achieve such a thing? When the bullets whizzed through the air 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 archery tower gave the order, Ruan Xihao yelled, "Go!" He led the siege troops and carried the ladders as he charged towards the walls.

This was the way to attack a city in this era. Either the ground troops attacked the city, or the underground troops attacked 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 wall with ants.

As he approached the city wall with the 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 trust that the brothers on the watchtower were pointing in the right direction.

"Hurry up!" Ruan Xihao urged the soldiers behind him. "What do they say next?"

The semaphore officer turned his head and looked for a moment, then replied, "The brothers on the watchtower 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 ladder found a stable position under the city wall. Then, seven or eight people shouted and set up a ladder. After seeing the speed at which the pulleys lifted the bamboo rafts, Ruan Xihao felt that the efficiency was so low that it made his hair stand on end. 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 watchtower carried three guns and took turns to shoot to ensure that the firepower was not affected.

More than ten ladders were set up and climbed up the city wall. The snipers 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 attack team did not carry any weapons like swords or shields. Instead, they carried 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! Drop 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 grenade was 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 spear-carrying team began to climb the three ladders that they had chosen. Ruan Xihao felt his mouth was dry, and his heart was beating wildly in his chest. No matter how they prepared, the attackers were 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 up the ladders, hoping to reach the top of the city as soon as possible. At this time, the troops on the top of the 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.