Southern Ming Rebel Army

On the morning of the ninth day of the eleventh month, outside the city of Suzhou, the sound of drums began to be heard from the Qing army camp.

Meng Jun hurried to the north city, climbed up the city wall, and looked outside the city. In just a short while, the Qing army had already disbanded their formation under the city.

Meng Jun stood on the top of the city wall and looked around. The Qing army was like a surging wave. There were more siege weapons in the crowd than last time, and the types were more complete. There were even more than ten catapults, battering rams, siege towers, cave houses, ladders, and the number of ladders was the largest, almost covering half of the width of the north city.

The defenders on the city wall had also made preparations. The golden juice at the city wall had begun to be boiled, and rolling logs and rocks had almost piled up into a mountain under the city wall.

In the wilderness outside the city, Kong Youde's artillery team began to prepare for ignition. After a while, the Qing army gunner lit the fuse with a torch, and sparks flew into the cannon barrel. There were several "boom...boom...boom" sounds, and thick white smoke rose into the sky. Dozens of cannons suddenly retreated, and fiery red fireworks shot out of the muzzles. Artillery shells weighing more than ten pounds whizzed into the sky, forming parabolas in the air, and finally slammed into the city wall.

With a loud "bang", the bricks of the city wall were smashed and dented, gravel flew everywhere, and smoke filled the air. Although the sound was amazing, it was obviously not enough to rely on artillery to destroy the city wall with the current power of artillery.

Bolo was stationed two miles outside the north city, and he could also feel the power of the firearms. He was shocked and said to the Eight Banners generals beside him, "The Red Barbarian Cannon is really powerful!"

Tulai behind him laughed and said, "What the Marshal said is true, but the real winner still depends on the elite warriors. Otherwise, even with so many firearms and equipment, the former Ming would still be defeated once they encounter us."

Bolo smiled when he heard this, but did not answer. He turned his head and looked intently at the top of Suzhou city.

The Qing army's gunners were cleaning the gun barrels. After the cleaning was completed, several gunners began to work together to reset the cannon and aim at the city wall again. At this moment, eight loud gunshots were heard from the top of Suzhou City.

It turned out that just after the Qing army opened fire, the artillery on the city wall aimed at the Qing army's artillery position, and eight shells whizzed towards the opposite side.

Bolo was shocked. Last time when the Qing army attacked the city, the small cannons on the top of the city wall couldn't even touch their own artillery positions, and they were very far away. In the past ten days or so, had the enemy's artillery grown?

In a flash, eight shells hit the Qing army's artillery position quickly, but unfortunately, none of the eight shells hit the target. The only result was that one of the shells bounced and hit a cavalryman behind the Qing army's formation.

"Damn it!" Lin Shiqi on the top of the city wall angrily smashed the wall and cursed, and the defenders on the top of the city wall couldn't help but feel discouraged.

"Fire!" The Qing army waved its command flag, and the artillery whizzed past again, hitting the city wall with bangs, causing the top of the city to tremble.

"Hehehe" Nikan sneered, as if he was mocking the artillery on the city wall that was far from the truth, but when he saw the serious look on Bolo's face, he immediately closed his mouth.

What Bolo was worried about was that missing once did not mean that he would miss every time. Bolo's worry was not unreasonable. The city wall fired again, and this time only one shell hit the Qing army's artillery formation. However, this shell hit a red cannon, which made Kong Youde behind the formation very distressed.

Bolo turned around and said to the messenger in a deep voice, "Order the siege, warn the whole army, the drums will not stop until Suzhou is conquered."

Dozens of messengers shouted to the Qing army in the battle array, "The drums will not stop until Suzhou is conquered..."

The Qing army's slogans could also be heard from the city wall. The generals looked solemn, as they were serious this time.

As soon as the military order was given, the Qing army outside the city rushed forward like a dam opening, and the soldiers charged forward in unison, carrying their weapons and rushing towards the northern city of Suzhou.

Bian Hu drew his sword and roared, "Follow me!" After that, he rushed forward with the sword in one hand and the shield in the other. Two thousand sword and shield men were in front, and hundreds of archers were behind, running wildly and rushing straight towards the city wall.

Behind them, the Green Camp of the Qing army pushed various siege equipment and slowly approached. Behind the siege towers and ladders, there were large numbers of Green Camp soldiers.

At this time, the small cannons on the top of the city began to show their power. Whoever was hit by the cannonballs would die. Some of the cannonballs hit the ground and ricocheted, causing even more tragic damage to the Qing soldiers. The catapults behind the city also began to throw stones toward the outside of the city. When the Qing army got closer, the arrows on the top of the city also shot towards the city.

"Governor, please leave the city first. It's too dangerous here." Lin Shiqi held Meng Jun's hand tightly and forced him to leave the city.

"Okay, I'll be at the foot of the city wall. I won't retreat until the Tartars retreat."

Seeing Meng Jun leaving the city wall, Lin Shiqi breathed a sigh of relief. Cannonballs have no eyes, and if anything happened to Meng Jun, all would be over.

The first to arrive at the city were Bian Hu's Green Camp soldiers. Ever since Liu Liangzuo was assassinated, Liu Liangzuo's headquarters had been split up by Bolo, with one part going to Ma Degong's unit, one part going to Tian Xiong's unit, and the rest led by Bian Hu, a trusted subordinate of Liu Liangzuo.

Bian Hu felt aggrieved and determined to fight to the death to capture Suzhou to let Marshal Bolo see that he, Bian Hu, was a brave man who was the best among the three armies.

Bian Hu led his troops to the foot of the city. The shieldmen stood in front to block the arrows on the city wall, while the archers behind him shot arrows at the top of the city to suppress it. For a moment, arrows from both armies poured down like rain.

After a while, Ma Degong personally led the army pushing equipment to the foot of the city wall. A large number of soldiers pushed tall siege towers and ladders towards the city wall, while battering rams slowly moved towards the city gate amid stones and rain of arrows.

In the previous ten days, the Qing army had consumed a large number of civilians and filled in the trench traps for attacking the northern city of Suzhou. Now the Qing army's siege equipment could reach directly under the city wall.

A large number of siege towers began to slowly approach the city walls. The height of these siege towers was almost as high as the city walls. Everyone knew that as long as the siege towers were placed on the top of the city walls, the Qing army could swarm into the city continuously.

Therefore, the defenders fired at the siege towers frantically. Archers put arrows on kerosene strips and shot at the siege towers. The dense rockets ignited the siege towers one by one, but some siege towers still began to slowly build up on the city walls.

"Kerosene, kerosene," the officers on the city wall shouted, "Burn the Tatars' weapons and don't let them get close."

Arrows were flying everywhere on the city walls and outside the city. From time to time, Qing soldiers were shot in the vitals and fell to the ground, while Meng soldiers screamed and fell off the city wall.

Seeing the siege tower, which was almost level with the city wall, getting closer and closer, the defenders on the city wall, at the order of the officer, threw kerosene cans at the siege tower, which immediately started a raging fire. The Qing army below scattered in panic, and the huge siege tower burned on the spot. The soldiers inside ran out like ants. The archers on the city wall immediately greeted with a wave of arrows, and the exposed Qing army fell to the ground one after another.

"Okay, keep shooting. Shoot these bastards to death." Yu Youtian on the city wall laughed happily.