Although having a Xiao Zhu who can chat with a calf will make this war less boring, but now Liu Hong gradually has to think about it a little deeper.

Zhu Cihong is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and then his brother, he can't take Zhu Cihong to fight an uncertain war.

That is not only irresponsible to Zhu Cihong, but also irresponsible to Uncle Chongzhen.

For more than a month, he believed that Zhu Cihong had seen the cruelty of the war, and he had more or less felt the hard work of the soldiers, which was enough for the rulers of the empire.

Liu Hongji's letter to the cabinet had been sent to the capital through Jinyiwei, and he also described in detail the details of Zhu Cihong's capture of the Rakshasa Emperor alive.

I believe that after going back, the hundred officials will be impressed when they see Zhu Cihong again, and the Ming Emperor is no longer a pet locked up in the palace that they arbitrarily deceive, but an overlord who can pinch them to death casually.

It's just that Liu Hongjian seems to have forgotten to consider Zhu Cihong's thoughts.

"Liu Qing, what do you mean by this? Didn't you say that you would fight on the battlefield together? Why do you want to go back again?

I won't go back, never! Zhu Cihong said angrily.

But Liu Honggradually did not speak, as long as he let his words out, the generals under him would definitely hope that Zhu Cihong would go back, because once the emperor was wrong, all their merits would be erased, and they would even be held accountable.

"Liu Qing, are you in the way? I haven't bothered you these days, have I?

I can bear this suffering, you see, I accidentally cut my arm yesterday without telling my huge companion, or bandaged it myself! ”

Zhu Cihong rolled up his sleeves and showed Liu Hong the wound on his arm.

Don't look at the wound, this is not a trivial matter in the palace, if you can't say it, you will alarm the queen mother of the two palaces, I don't know how many eunuchs will be beaten.

But Zhu Cihong has now learned to be self-reliant.

"Your Majesty, these are two different things, you don't understand the situation in the Rakshasa Kingdom, but I understand, so, you have to go back." Liu Hong said undoubtedly.

"But...... I'm not afraid of death! Zhu Cihong seemed to understand what Liu Hongjian meant, but he still said stubbornly.

"I'm afraid!" Liu Hong gradually did not appreciate it at all, and glanced at Zhu Cihong and said.

The two argued in the big tent for a while, and finally Zhu Cihong gave in.

On the fourth day after the end of the Battle of Busagan, the household department sent a second batch of supplies, a dozen rear-loading howitzers, and more than 600 shells, in addition to dozens of lighter mortars and necessary food and grass.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhu Cihong followed the supply troops all the way to the direction of the capital.

On the eighth day of the eighth month of August, the Ming army, which had been repairing in the city of Busagen for several days, welcomed more than 10,000 soldiers from Beihai Province, and the next day the 100,000 Ming expeditionary force began to march towards Erkou City.

The defense of Busagan City and the later field battles of the Ming soldiers annihilated more than 70,000 Rakshasa troops, and most of the rest of the Rakshasa army were scattered, and a small part fled to Erkou City, which was closest to Daming.

Baron Harper, who was stationed at Erkou City, was devastated when he heard the news of the defeat of the Rakshasa army and the capture of His Majesty the Emperor.

He knew that Erkou City would definitely be the first to be attacked by the Ming Dynasty in the future, so he wrote a letter for help to the council while integrating the Rakshasa soldiers who fled from the direction of the Ming Dynasty.

The original garrison of Erkou City was only more than 4,000, and although there were more than 8,000 defeated troops gathered from the direction of Chahar, these soldiers were frightened, demoralized, and even used incorrectly, which would have the opposite effect, and Baron Harper was worried that he would not be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

At noon on 11 August, Liu Hongji's 100,000-strong army finally arrived at the city of Erkou.

According to the established plan, Liu Hongjian took two personal guards and an interpreter to escort Tsar Alexei I to the city gate.

It was a bold decision, and without Alexei, the artillery on the walls would have been enough to blast the three of them to pieces, but he knew that the Rakshasas would not dare.

"Listen, the people of the city, but the king will speak only once." Liu Hong gradually put his sword on Alexei's neck, and he hid his body behind the Tsar for safety.

"See this person? That's right, your tsar is in my hands, if you want him not to die, hurry up and surrender, otherwise, once the city is broken, there will be no one left! Liu Hong gradually shouted at the Rakshasa people at the head of the city.

Although he felt that this section was a bit bloody, he still decided to give it a try, because if the Rakshasa people put the knife on Zhu Cihong's neck, it was really possible for them to deceive them into opening a few cities.

“неслушайтеего，Алексей，янепозволювамсдатьсяинемедленнооткрытьогонь!”

Alexey roared.

He didn't understand what Liu Hongjian was talking about just now, but as soon as he translated it to the city, he immediately understood.

But Baron Harper, who was on the wall, neither opened the city and surrendered, nor did he order the cannons to be fired, and he did not have the guts to kill the Tsar, because whether it was right or wrong, it was only himself who would be unlucky in the end.

So he chose to remain silent, as if he had never seen the Tsar coming.

"Made, take a lot of trouble and withdraw." After speaking, Liu Hong gradually carried Alexei back to his position.

"Kong Er is stunned, what are you doing in a daze? Boom me! ”

As soon as he arrived at the main formation, Liu Hong gradually ordered at the artillery battalion.

Due to the more reasonable formula of black powder, Daming's artillery is dozens of steps farther than the Rakshasa artillery in terms of range, and Kong Er was stunned to arrange it a long time ago, waiting for Liu Hong's order.

Boom - Boom Boom - Boom Boom -

The first seven rear-loading howitzers fired one after another, and the shells burst out of their chambers and bombarded the walls of the city of Erlkou, followed by an even more violent explosion.

Most of the shells hit the city gate, and the south gate of Erkou City was shattered in just one round, but the city gate had already been sealed by the Rakshasas with huge stones.

Two of the shells bombarded the walls on either side of the gate, and the craters on the walls were a foot thick, and if a solid shell wanted to make such a deep crater on the wall, it would take at least seven or eight cannonballs, and every shell would have to fall on the same spot.

This was the first time that the rear-loading howitzer had shown its terrifying power in front of the foreign vassals, and Baron Harper only felt a tremor of the city wall under his feet, and then secretly glanced down, and was immediately shocked.

Erkou City was originally a small city, but after the Erkou contract, it became a border city, and in order to defend against possible wars in the future, the Rakshasas deliberately thickened the walls of Erkou City.

But Rao is like this, and the city wall has only increased from more than two zhang thick to more than three zhang.

According to the power of this artillery, how many cannons can the city wall withstand? But what made Baron Harper even more desperate was that their artillery could not reach the Ming people at all.

This meant that they could only wait, wait for the Ming artillery to knock down their walls, or ...... Go out of the city to meet the enemy.

"Second stunned, you save some money, I don't know when the next batch of supplies will be delivered!"

Liu Honggradually saw that the first round of test firing turned out to be seven artillery pieces together, and couldn't help but shout.

Breech-loading artillery is easy to say, but the production of howitzer shells is extremely difficult, and the output is also very low, according to the calculation of the last supply, the ordnance institute can only produce about 60 grenades a day.

Before the technology is mature and the production capacity is not expanded, it means that good steel must be used on the cutting edge.

Therefore, Liu Hongjian had no intention of destroying the entire city at all, because the cannonballs were not enough at all, more than 600 shells, and dozens of artillery pieces came together and were destroyed in a few rounds.

What's next?

"I know, I know!" Kong Er was stunned and had to respond with a bitter face.

He couldn't do anything, it was not enough to calibrate the artillery firing point, but fortunately, it had already been calibrated.

In the next half hour, dozens of artillery pieces began to launch a non-stop bombardment on the three points of the southern city wall of Erkou City, during which the Rakshasa army in Erkou City was indifferent.

They didn't have the guts to fight in the field, so they could only watch the Ming artillery roar, and then peel off their armor layer by layer.

More than half an hour later, there were three gaps about one zhang wide in the south city wall.

"Babala, this king ordered you to lead the cavalry to charge the city, remember, this battle does not accept surrender, do you understand what I mean?" Liu Hong gradually said coldly.

Expeditionary Rakshasa Liu Hongjian would not allow the existence of nails behind his back, so he did not plan to stay alive, which was one of the reasons why Liu Hongjian drove Zhu Cihong away.

Those who follow are not prosperous, and those who are against them die, who taught you that you have nothing to provoke Daming, don't you like to be strong and clear?

The king himself came.

"Lord Wang, I understand my humble duties! Humble and orderly! ”

……