In the pitch-black night, the series of explosions from the West Gate city wall startled the nearby Anhui New Army officers and soldiers. Did the thief soldiers climb onto the city wall so quickly? Whether Battalion Officers, Commanders, or Squad Leaders, a kind of annoyance arose in their hearts. At this moment, they invariably thought of the angry expression of Anhui New Army Brigade Commander Yu Dahong. Although Lord Yu was not harsh to everyone on ordinary days, Lord Yu was by no means a tolerant person. If the news of thieves attacking onto the city wall was known by Lord Yu... almost all officers were pale with fear by their own assumptions.

The Battalion Officer responsible for the defense of the west of the city was under the city wall at this time. In desperation, he couldn't care about so much anymore. Under the illumination of the torch, the Battalion Officer grabbed a junior officer beside him casually and ordered in an anxious voice: "You hurry up and make the two teams of brothers who went to the west of the city come back." This junior officer immediately took the order and left.

Next, the Battalion Officer shouted while gesturing to the soldiers around him: "Quick, you guys, rush up." The Battalion Officer's original intention was to let these soldiers rush over as soon as possible to eliminate the thief soldiers on the city wall. However, the command in desperation only had a counter-effect. A dozen soldiers obeyed the order and ran towards the city stairs leading directly to the city wall with torches in a swarm. These soldiers were not very willing to face the thief soldiers on the city wall directly; they slowed down almost simultaneously at the entrance of the city stairs. On ordinary days, these military actions were commanded by junior officers, but the officer commanding this team of soldiers had just been sent by the Battalion Officer to deliver orders. Who goes first, who goes last? Listening to the loud noises of hand grenade explosions on the city wall one after another, none of these soldiers were willing to go first. A group of soldiers actually stood there stupidly like this.

A momentary pause on the battlefield can lead to extremely evil consequences. The Anhui New Army soldiers only stopped for twenty seconds or so, and another team of New Army soldiers had already rushed towards the city stairs under the leadership of an officer. Some of the soldiers stopped at the entrance of the city stairs began to make way, while some were still dazed. Thirty or forty people were squeezed into a pile, unable to move, on the road leading to the city wall where fighting was taking place at such a critical moment.

Xiong Mingyang climbed up the long ladder using both hands and feet. The long ladder made for the Anqing city wall was relatively slender, shaking badly as soon as someone got on it. Only one soldier could climb at a time. Xiong Mingyang squeezed away the soldier ranked in front of him to get the opportunity to climb. At this time, four assault team members had already gone up to the city wall, each carrying eight hand grenades. Only explosions on the city wall were heard one after another. The rifle shots interspersed in the explosions were all fired from other places towards the breach on the city wall.

At this time, Xiong Mingyang only felt his mind was clear; all distracting thoughts were thrown to the nine heavens. If he couldn't climb onto the city wall at the fastest speed, thinking about anything was useless. According to the experience accumulated during training, Xiong Mingyang neither pursued faster nor sought more stability. Following the trembling long ladder, he climbed up using hands and feet without stopping. Whether it was the gunshots and explosions on the city wall or the panicked shouts of the New Army inside the city, Xiong Mingyang heard them clearly, but his heart was as calm as a lake, even having a detached silence.

The soldiers of the assault team saw their captain climb up the long ladder like flying, reaching the top in a blink of an eye with a free and easy movement. Then Captain Xiong Mingyang pressed on the battlement of the city wall and leaped onto the city wall lightly. He climbed the long ladder in only half the time of an ordinary soldier. The soldiers looked at each other, and immediately someone climbed onto the ladder, imitating Captain Xiong Mingyang's appearance, climbing upward desperately.

There were no lights on the city wall at the breach originally, and now it was filled with thick smoke. The pungent smell peculiar to hand grenade explosions almost made Xiong Mingyang cough. The four soldiers who had already gone up the city wall leaned against the wall with hand grenades in their hands. Since they climbed the city, as long as an enemy shot this way, they fought back with hand grenades. There were no enemies around anymore, at least no enemies had the courage to dare to shoot at these soldiers. Instead, the inside of the city was brightly lit. Xiong Mingyang lay on the inner side of the city wall and looked down; not far away, a pile of New Army soldiers were squeezed at the entrance of the city stairs. "Follow me!" He shouted loudly and took the lead to rush over there.

Once people squeeze together without order, it will be like tangled hemp; the more anxious, the less easy it is to straighten out. Some Qing troops at the entrance of the city stairs were anxious to go up the city, some wanted to sneak away, and some simply stood there waiting foolishly, hoping to muddle through without advancing or retreating. The chaos at the entrance of the city stairs didn't get orderly after three minutes. In the fourth minute, several things fell from the sky, hitting heavily on the shoulders or heads of the Qing troops.

"Who the f*ck is throwing things randomly?" Some Qing troops who were hit reacted relatively quickly; they couldn't help looking up and cursing at the city wall. Three seconds later, a series of explosions blew the thirty-some Qing troops at the entrance of the city stairs into flying flesh and blood.

Since the reinforcements sent by Pu Guanshui didn't need to consider concealment, they crossed the moat in less than ten minutes. After the long ladder was set up, the speed of climbing the city far exceeded Pu Guanshui's imagination. Just as Pu Guanshui was considering what to do next, Xiong Chengji ran over and said urgently: "Vice Commander Pu, let our Yuewang Society brothers go up the city to persuade surrender."

After the People's Party took the Cavalry Camp, the members of the Yuewang Society came out one after another to express they were comrades of the Revolutionary Party. Before the battle started, Chai Qingguo and Pu Guanshui got a list of important cadres of the Yuewang Society in the New Army. Pu Guanshui was very familiar with the New Army; since this group of revolutionary comrades was willing to serve the revolution, Pu Guanshui turned a blind eye to this group secretly calling some low-level soldiers Yuewang Society members. Chai Qingguo questioned the combat effectiveness of the Yuewang Society very much; he let the Yuewang Society and their subordinates form a separate army to watch the battle from the side. Pu Guanshui had no objection to this.

Xiong Chengji was a graduate of a regular military academy after all, and usually admired Pu Guanshui very much. He volunteered to follow Pu Guanshui. The fierce gunfire in front of him made Xiong Chengji, a famous revolutionary in Anhui revolutionary history, both excited and fearful. He was not afraid of fighting, but the swiftness of the People's Party's attack far exceeded Xiong Chengji's imagination. Xiong Chengji worried that those comrades in the New Army would be involved in the flames of war and lose their lives for nothing.

regarding Xiong Chengji's application, Pu Guanshui didn't even think. He pointed to the two long ladders on the other side of the moat and said: "Then you take people across the moat and climb the city from here now."

"..., Yes." Xiong Chengji didn't answer very smoothly. Pu Guanshui had always been Xiong Chengji's superior. Hearing Pu Guanshui say this, Xiong Chengji immediately felt Pu Guanshui wanted the Yuewang Society comrades to go up the city to help fight.

Pu Guanshui saw Xiong Chengji standing still and asked strangely: "Is there anything else?"

Xiong Chengji immediately stood at attention and answered: "Please issue us weapons and ammunition, Vice Commander Pu. Let us join the battle."

"You are going up the city to shout propaganda; what do you need weapons and ammunition for?" Pu Guanshui asked subconsciously. After saying this, he understood Xiong Chengji's meaning. Pu Guanshui pointed to the city wall. "If you want weapons and ammunition, seize them yourself. I'll say it upfront: you can't fight hard battles now; follow behind our troops to seize. Don't snatch with our troops."

When Pu Guanshui said this, he felt it was only right and natural. But hearing these words in Xiong Chengji's ears was really a bit hurtful. Obviously, Pu Guanshui didn't treat the Yuewang Society as his own people at all, and despised the combat effectiveness of the Yuewang Society very much. Suppressing his indignation, Xiong Chengji took the order and left.

In the original plan, the battle in the west of the city was a feint attack against three city gates. Try to attract the enemy's forces as much as possible. After the demolition and breakthrough in the east of the city, the enemies in the west of the city would have to transfer forces to the east. At this time, the troops in the west of the city would start a forced attack. The current situation became that Chai Qingguo's horse team mobilized the enemy's forces to turn to the north of the city, and the sneak attack assault team had already seized a small section of the city wall. Listening to the sound, Xiong Mingyang had already commanded the troops to spread to both sides, and at the same time began to implement fire suppression on the enemies in the city.

"It seems I have to execute Chai Qingguo's plan unexpectedly." Up to now, Pu Guanshui had no other thoughts. The current situation had reached a point where retreat was absolutely impossible. There was no other choice but to exert continuous pressure on the enemy.

Under the city wall of more than two kilometers in the west of the city, three troops were assigned, and there was no way to communicate in time. As soon as the assault team started the battle, the other three troops began to attack according to the original plan. Gunshots rang out loudly in the west of the city. Actually, there were not many sounds of real rifle shooting; many sounds were made by putting firecrackers into iron buckets. The crackling sound sounded both lively and scary.

In order to make the enemy have the illusion that the main force of the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army was in the west of the city, the troops in the west were equipped with some mortars. Cast from wrought iron, with a large muzzle and short barrel. Rather than calling it a cannon, it was better to call it a large grenade launcher. Fixed charge propellant sewn with cloth. The explosive part launched was not a shell but a specially made long-fuse explosive pack. First load the fixed charge propellant, then put in the specially made explosive pack somewhat like a mortar shell. Breech ignition. With a muffled sound, a stream of thick smoke mixed with sparks spewed from the muzzle, and the explosive pack was sprayed onto the top of the city wall. A moment later, a muffled explosion came from near the impact point.

The explosive charge of this explosive pack was much larger than a hand grenade, and the power was much greater. In the light of the explosion, Pu Guanshui could even see from afar that New Army soldiers on the city wall were lifted into the air from the city wall by the blast wave, drawing an arc and falling directly into the moat outside the city. After a dozen of these explosive packs were fired onto the city wall, the firing on the city wall immediately became dumb. A burst of cheers immediately rang out in the attacking team under the city wall.

Almost at the same time, the three troops attacking the three city gates of the West City all sent out assault teams. The team members wore only single layers of clothes, carried rifles and hand grenades wrapped in oilcloth, carried long ladders and went into the water. This was not the troops intentionally disobeying military orders; the People's Revolutionary Army hadn't learned too many tactics either. Seeing the enemies on the city wall had lost resistance, the troop commanders and soldiers began the battle almost instinctively according to the combat habits of these days.

A round of explosive packs just now blasted onto the city wall. Because of the separation by the moat and the distance, the soldiers under the city wall did not feel the vibration of the shock wave. But the assault team members who had already attacked onto the city wall were all affected by the shock wave. Everyone felt their ears buzzing and chests tight. Some people even vomited. Xiong Mingyang also felt discomfort in his chest. He suppressed the feeling of wanting to vomit and shouted to the support troops who had already gone up the city wall: "Third Platoon Leader, you guard here. Assault team, follow me down the city."

Because they didn't expect to rush onto the city wall so smoothly, the troops simply didn't have a plan for mutual support, nor did they have a predetermined signal communication method. Now expanding to both sides would risk accidental injury by friendly artillery. Xiong Mingyang didn't think holding fast to this section of the city wall was a good idea now. When studying in the military academy, Chen Ke once said: "Facing chaotic enemies, we must carry out in-depth strikes resolutely. At this time, even a small force can play a huge role. If we just stick to the positions already seized, it only gives the enemy time to adjust troops. When the next attack unfolds, the troops will suffer great losses."

The enemies under the city wall were completely in chaos. First Xiong Mingyang went up the city wall, then three city gates were attacked simultaneously, including by artillery. Looking down from the battlements, the New Army under the city wall either stayed in place at a loss or began to run around everywhere. "The thief soldiers have cannons!" "The thief soldiers have entered the city!" Hysterical shouts rang out in a piece.

"Third Platoon Leader, give us half of your hand grenades." Xiong Mingyang shouted again.

The Third Platoon Leader was stunned. Hand grenades were sharp weapons for close combat and field battles. If he gave them to Xiong Mingyang, the Third Platoon Leader dared not believe he could guard such a long city wall.

Seeing the Third Platoon Leader hesitant, Xiong Mingyang cursed at the start: "What the hell are you afraid of! As long as you don't rush down, half the hand grenades remaining is no problem to guard this city stair. Can the enemies on the city wall still hold? Our troops will be able to rush up immediately." While speaking, Xiong Mingyang had already started pulling hand grenades from the Third Platoon Leader's waist.

The Third Platoon Leader was helpless and had to order the troops to hand over half of the hand grenades to the assault team.

"Comrades, charge with me. The target is that house in front!" Xiong Mingyang stood at the battlement by the city stairs, his arm pointing straight at a courtyard in the distance. He didn't know what place that was, but Xiong Mingyang noticed that most of the enemy troops were coming here from that direction. At this time, relying on any rational analysis was completely ineffective; the instinctive intuition of soldiers on the battlefield made Xiong Mingyang issue the combat order.

"Yes!" The soldiers of the assault team responded.

Then, everyone followed behind Xiong Mingyang and rushed down along the city stairs. The thick smell of blood became heavier and heavier. The entrance of the city stairs was piled with messy corpses of Qing troops; they were all blasted to death by the round of hand grenades led by Xiong Mingyang just now. Stepping on slippery blood, the assault team killed their way into Anqing City.

Neither Xiong Mingyang nor the assault team knew that their attack target was the location of the Battalion Officer guarding the west of the city. There were ten times as many New Army soldiers as themselves there. Of course, even if they knew, Xiong Mingyang would not change his order. This was the truly valuable target. Towards the chaotic enemy, the assault team stormed up.

Seeing a group of people wearing different military uniforms rushing down from the city wall, the New Army soldiers were panicked at first, then under the hysterical cursing of officers, the New Army managed to organize a round of shooting at the assault team. Four or five soldiers were hit, and three of them were knocked to the ground immediately.

"Throw three rounds!" Xiong Mingyang ordered. While shouting, he pulled out a hand grenade, pulled the fuse, and threw it into the figures opposite.

The New Army soldiers never expected that their round of shooting not only didn't make the opponent retreat at all, but on the contrary, the group of people opposite stood almost arrogantly in front of the rifle muzzles and threw many dark things at them. The New Army soldiers immediately fired a second round subconsciously. Before they could observe the battle results, violent explosions exploded around the New Army formation. The formation formed with difficulty collapsed instantly. Under the attack of three rounds of hand grenades, the core force of the New Army collapsed completely. The remaining soldiers dragged their guns, or simply threw away the guns in their hands, screaming and wailing as they fled.

Almost at the same time, the attacks launched simultaneously by the Worker-Peasant Revolutionary Army at the three city gates in the west of the city all succeeded. The vanguard troops had already stormed onto the city wall. Subsequent troops were also following up swiftly.

The messengers of the three troops rushed to Pu Guanshui almost at the same time. "Commander Pu, should we open the city gates after taking them?"

Pu Guanshui risked everything at this time too. His eyes stared round, and the refined demeanor he maintained intentionally or unintentionally was thrown to the nine heavens. He shouted loudly to the three messengers: "What open the city gates for? We don't have any follow-up troops. You go back and tell your commanders: after occupying the city gates, no one is allowed to open the city. Guard the city gates and city walls well for me. Before Chairman Chen's troops contact us, no one is allowed to lose the position!"

The messengers immediately ran back to notify.

At this time, only less than 40 people, three platoons, remained beside Pu Guanshui. This was originally a company of troops. The company commander came up anxiously and asked: "Commander Pu, should we go up now?"

Although Pu Guanshui was emotional, his mind was still clear. After the troops of the three city gates all attacked up, the troops beside him were the last mobile force under the city wall. Before Chai Qingguo returned, he must guard the departure position well. "No one is allowed to move. Wait right here for Brigade Commander Chai's cavalry unit to return."

The company commander looked anxiously at the city wall opposite. At this time, gunshots and explosions of hand grenades rang out in a piece on the city wall and inside the city. An indescribable impulse made the company commander wish he could grow wings on his back and fly in immediately to participate in the battle. But since Pu Guanshui gave the order, the company commander dared not disobey the military order either. He gritted his teeth and ran back to the middle of the troops. "Everyone form up and assemble; those shelters are useless." Although the company commander knew his troops couldn't move out for a while, at least assemble into an attack formation. At least make the maximum preparation before moving out.

When Xiong Chengji went back to reorganize those revolutionaries of the Yuewang Society and told them everyone should go up the city to persuade surrender, someone immediately objected: "Without giving guns, why should we rush up?" "Yeah! This is obviously making us go to die."

Opponents occupied the majority in the Yuewang Society. Xiong Chengji's status in the Yuewang Society was not high at this time; although he wanted to persuade everyone, few people listened to him. To oppose Xiong Chengji, someone had already found the more senior Chang Hengfang. "Commander Fan [should be Chang], you tell us the reason."

Chang Hengfang didn't speak. He stared straight at the city wall, mumbling in his mouth: "Crazy, this group of People's Party people are all crazy."

Attacking a city at night generally doesn't raise fire; firelight will only expose one's position and become the enemy's target. The arguing crowd looked in the direction of Chang Hengfang's gaze. They saw that at some point, the soldiers of the People's Party had already lit torches. Under the illumination of the firelight, dozens of long ladders had leaned against the city walls near the three city gates in the west of Anqing City, and the soldiers of the People's Party troops were climbing up strenuously.

The people of the Yuewang Society looked at the soldiers bravely climbing the city, and no one spoke. Not knowing if it was cold weather or something else, Chang Hengfang suddenly shivered, and then asked in an extremely skeptical tone: "They attacked onto the city just like this?"

No one answered this question. The revolutionary comrades of the Yuewang Society were all appalled by the scene before them. The tall Anqing City simply couldn't hold on for long; the People's Party troops in the west of the city got onto the city wall with just one strike. If not seen with their own eyes, these people would absolutely not believe this was a fact. Nor would they believe there were such fierce soldiers in this world.

"What's the point of looking blindly now?" Xiong Chengji's angry voice broke the silence. "Does everyone want to go up the city or not? The People's Party troops are heroes; are we cowards who don't even dare to go up a city wall?"