Dominate the Country

In the ruins of the North Gate, which was burned to a white ground outside the north gate of Xinye County, the drums of war sounded, and a battalion of Chen's army soldiers pushed twenty ladders to the top of the dilapidated north city. This wall had been repeatedly beaten by the iron bullets and thunder cannons of the Chen's army in the previous day and a half, and the battlements near the city gate were almost swept flat.

Now facing the attack of the Chen's army, the defenders had no way to stop it.

The weather in mid-August was much cooler, but on the battlefield, many soldiers of the Chen's army were still sweating on their foreheads.

After Chen Ming defeated the Anhui Green Camp, he led the main force to quickly return to Lushan, and then headed towards the Nanyang Basin. This time gap was a full twenty days, from Ruyang to Yancheng to Lushan to Nanyang Prefecture City, more than 600 miles. Moreover, the soldiers of the Chen's army would be tired after winning one victory after another. A few days of rest in the middle, a lot of silver dollars and wine and meat rewards are indispensable. So it took more than half a month, and the convenience of water transportation in Ruzhou and Nanyang was also a factor in the rush. During this period, Chen Ming's personal guard right camp expanded to a thousand soldiers, and the two armored soldiers camps in the training brigade were expanded to three. This was still a short period of time. After the victory of the Chen family army's victory over the four provinces of the government army spread throughout the world, the new recruit camps of the Chen family army in various places would be filled with more and more men who took the initiative to join the army.

Just like the new recruit camp in Nanyang, after Chen Ming led the army to Nanyang Prefecture, the three armored soldiers camps in the training brigade immediately became four armored soldiers camps. A small number of Nanyang people who were harmed by the Qing soldiers in Hanzhong Town stood on the side of the Chen family army with determination to take revenge, and then brought one or two thousand new recruits to the Chen family army in a very short time.

Some of these people were taken by Chen Wenzan to fill the troops, some formed a reinforced logistics camp, responsible for material transportation and local defense, the remaining camp was absorbed by the training brigade, and some continued to train hard in the new recruit camp.

There were two more armored battalions in the training brigade, which meant two more battalion officers and ten team officers, which gave Chen Ming's officers a lot of time to maneuver. Moreover, the number of recruits in the four armored battalions accounted for half, so the combat effectiveness of the same unit naturally decreased. It was not uncommon for those soldiers who had just walked out of the recruit camp to sweat when facing real swords and guns in hand-to-hand combat.

A few scattered arrows were shot, and there were also bird guns, but they were all inaccurate. The team officers in the front row gave loud orders, and ladders were put on the top of the city. The first soldiers held up their shields, bit their knives in their mouths, and clung to the ladders with one hand, climbing up the city wall as quickly and agilely as civet cats and cheetahs.

The Xinye city wall was only two and a half meters high. In a moment, the heads of the first batch of soldiers appeared above the battlements, and the sharp weapons came towards them. Some of the soldiers in front were stabbed and fell down screaming; some held their shields tightly to block the attack. They held the knives in their mouths with their right hands and fought back fiercely. The soldiers behind them threw grenades. The two sides exchanged lives at the dead end at the stall where the top of the city wall connected to the wooden ladder. The Qing soldiers occupied the terrain, and soldiers of the Chen family army kept falling down the slope. And they themselves were bleeding rapidly in the delivery of grenades.

The remnants of Hanzhong Town and Nanyang Town had received the urgent report from Xinyang long ago, before Chen Ming led his troops into the Nanyang Prefecture. After receiving the news from Xinyang, Ni Daliang withdrew his troops, but he and Zhang Dajing could not give up the entire Nanyang Prefecture even if they retreated, right? Xinye became the place where Ni Daliang and Zhang Dajing, who had joined forces again, would defend to the death.

Chen Ming also arrived at the battlefield at this time, watching the fighting on the city wall, and looked at the wounded soldiers carried back from the city wall with a calm expression.

There were not many Qing soldiers on the city wall. Although they had the advantage of terrain, they could not withstand the continuous attack of the Chen family army. The dead Qing soldiers piled up high on the bare city wall. Finally, the first Chen family soldier stepped on the top of the city. When the first Chen family soldier climbed up the top of the city, the defense and resistance of the Qing army was like a dam with a small gap. More and more floods and pressure made the small gap rapidly expand, and finally the dam was completely washed away. The front-line Qing soldiers could no longer resist and turned to run under the city wall.

The Chen family army quickly occupied the city wall.

The musketeers who followed the armored soldiers to the top of the city took up their positions, while the Qing army who ran to the bottom of the city wall was still resisting the rush of the Chen family army. So this kind of resistance soon disappeared with the volley of muskets on the city wall. Because of the volley of muskets, the Qing soldiers could not gather at all, nor could they mobilize on a large scale. How could the Qing army resist the offensive of the Chen family army?

Amid the continuous explosions, the Qing soldiers under the city fled into the streets and alleys to avoid the killing of muskets. After a large number of Qing soldiers were dispersed, the Chen family's armored camp cooperated with the muskets organized by squads and platoons, and began to advance along the main road of the county to the south and the east-west fork roads.

This war was one of the few battles in a series of battles of the Chen family army with similar forces. The number of teams deployed by the Chen family army was no less than that of the Qing soldiers after the attack and defense of Nanyang, so the Chen family army showed an overwhelming advantage in the battle of Xinye.

The soldiers of the Chen family army in red uniforms seemed to be following the fire spreading along the wind, quickly occupying every node they passed. After their main force passed, they would leave one or two combat teams at each alley entrance to prevent harassment from scattered Qing soldiers, while the main force would advance quickly towards the county government office in the city center without delay.

On the street, gunshots rang out and white smoke drifted in the air. The further the Chen family army advanced in the city center, the more intense the resistance they encountered. Ni Daliang and Zhang Dajing were veterans in the army and were quite effective in organizing defense.

However, the Chen family army had already entered the city, and the Qing army was doomed in Xinye. Now the Qing soldiers' resistance could not be a fight to the death, but only a show of force before escaping.

By dusk, the entire Xinye County had been completely controlled by the Chen family army. Chen Ming sent a team to chase and kill the Qing soldiers fleeing south, and another task was to check the fish that had escaped in the city.

Jiang Kui led a squad of soldiers under his command to cooperate with a platoon of armored soldiers to conduct a search. Although Jiang Kui was only a squad leader, he and his soldiers belonged to the tank battalion. Jiang Kui was more powerful than the platoon leader of the armored battalion.

Jiang Kui volunteered to come to the west of the city to "help", not just on a whim. The platoon leader of the Jiabing soon discovered that Jiang Kui was very familiar with the environment in the west of Xinye City, especially the street that they were searching. Jiang Kui could tell how many alleys there were and how many households there were in each alley with his eyes closed.

"I have worked here for half a year. The carriage and horse shop in front is the old Zhou's carriage and horse shop. The shopkeeper is a conscienceless person. He deducted my wages and didn't even give me enough food." Jiang Kui helped feed the horses, mix hay and clean up the feces in the old Zhou's carriage and horse shop. His status was not as good as those of the carriage drivers. He was the lowest in the entire carriage and horse shop.

Those animals could sometimes eat eggs. Jiang Kui stayed in the carriage and horse shop for half a year, and the number of times he could fill his stomach thoroughly was few and far between.

"Captain, no wonder you came here..."

"Captain, we'll avenge you."

"Captain, we'll smash the Zhou family's carriage and horse shop, and then you can beat whoever you want..."

Jiang Kui talked about his hunger on the way, and a group of soldiers under his command shouted loudly. Although the jokes in the shouting made the surrounding armored soldiers laugh, Jiang Kui also smiled in a good-tempered manner.

In the fight, Jiang Kui was very brave, but on the battlefield, Jiang Kui was tall and fierce, but he had a good temper.