Let Tao 17 take people to load the gunpowder shells, Du Zhongxiao went to Ming Ho, and arched his hand: "Advice, after the loading, can the cannon be fired?" ”

Myeongho said: "The bachelor can call the shots." Bombarded the city and boosted the morale of our army! ”

Du Zhongxiao forked his hand and replied, and turned his horse back to the gunner.

Looking at Du Zhongxiao's departing back, Li Jihe said to Ming Hao: "Advice, this Du Bachelor is young and has never fought, why is he so relieved?" Last year the Privy Council tried to storm the city with artillery, but it was of little use. ”

Ming Hao said: "When Bachelor Du was in the Volcano Army, he and Zhang Qi recovered Tanglong Town, and completely destroyed the Khitan and entered the Kou soldiers. Wang Taiwei of Long Shenwei was deployed on Dunfu Road at that time, and he experienced this incident firsthand, and he admired Master Du very much. ”

Li Jihe nodded, said no more, and looked at Du Zhongxiao not far away. He was responsible for delivering confidential texts to the emperor, with the nature of supervising the army, and although the official position was not high, the front-line generals did not dare to underestimate it. Although Li Jihe was a chamberlain in the palace, he also led troops and participated in the Battle of Dingchuan Village in the past few years. Although Ge Huaimin died in that battle and was finally defeated, Li Ji and these people who guarded the Zhenrong army were meritorious. He has experience in warfare, so he was sent to Bezhou, and Myeongho took him to watch the battle.

However, Du Zhongxiao used artillery to attack the city, which Li Jihe had never seen. When he was in the army, the Song army also used a lot of gunpowder, all of which were smoke and fire, which was of little use. For what Du Zhongxiao did, he was naturally full of doubts.

When he arrived at the gunner, Du Zhongxiao summoned the three commanders and asked, "How are you rehearsing?" ”

The three of them crossed hands: "I have practiced well, please review it!" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "No need, you aim at the city, fire the cannons in turn, and see how the effect is." ”

The three forked hands agreed, and each returned to his position, raising his flag one after another, and ordered his men to load ammunition.

After a while, the artillery in the front row was loaded, and the small triangular red flag in the colonel's hand fell suddenly, and he shouted: "Fire!" ”

The gunners of the first platoon were given the order and hurriedly ordered the loaded medicine twist. After less than an hour of rehearsals, where can we achieve uniformity? Just looking at the length of the medicine twist, you know that it is far from being able to do it now. What made Du Zhongxiao frown was that there were people in the second and third rows who were too nervous, and when they heard the order to open the cannon, they hurriedly twisted the medicine. Realizing that something was wrong, he hurriedly snuffed it out.

A short time later, the artillery of the first platoon fired, and a puff of smoke rose. Listen to the voices one after the other, and there are obvious inconsistencies.

The defenders of the city saw that there were hundreds of soldiers lined up outside the city, and they were still a little strong at first, and they were afraid that they would attack the city, so they specially transferred hundreds of soldiers from other places to defend. When I saw that I was just busy rehearsing below, I didn't know what to do, and I slacked off after a while. Even when the officers and soldiers outside the city filled their medicine and ammunition, the defenders in the city did not care. Artillery they also saw a few days ago and did not cause much damage.

Until the city opened fire, dozens of cannons were fired together, and the power was far from comparable to that of previous days. Before the defenders of the city could react, the iron bullets rained down, and the defenders huddled together howled wolf.

When the defenders squatted behind the women's wall to take refuge, the second row had already fired cannons, and iron bullets flew on the wall.

Three rows of artillery fired one after the other, repeating the cycle without stopping. There were hundreds of defenders on the city wall, and there was a cry, and no one dared to raise their heads.

Ming Ho was overjoyed when he saw it, and said to Li Jihe beside him: "The artillery is used like this, and it is really powerful!" ”

Li Jihe looked at it for a while and said, "Using artillery like this can make the defenders in the city dare not raise their heads." But there is a female wall in the way, and they can't help it. This cannon is still a little unhelpful, and it can't collapse the women's wall. ”

Ming Ho said: "What the cabinet chief said is right, if you can collapse the female wall, why worry about the city not breaking." ”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Du Zhongxiao in the distance. Seeing that he was just watching a group of officers and soldiers firing small cannons, with the cannons on the side, and not using them, he was a little puzzled. I had the intention to send someone over to ask, but I was afraid that Du Zhongxiao would misunderstand, so I had to hold back.

Du Zhongxiao just wants to see the power of the iron cannon, after the collapse of the female wall, can cover the city wall. Only by doing this can the connection between the city walls be cut off and a blank area suitable for climbing the city can appear.

After firing seven or eight rounds of artillery, Du Zhongxiao ordered to stop, and said to the three commanding colonels: "You have seen this round of cannons, and it is still a lot closer to uniformity." Now stop and go back to practice again, and here you will bombard the city with cannons. ”

A few junior colonels left as promised, and Du Zhongxiao returned to the cannon, looked at the city, and said to Tao Seventeen: "You take the soldiers and smash all the three war sheds on the west side of the city gate first!" Aim well and don't waste too much time! ”

Tao 17 promised, with a few artillery soldiers, and aimed at the battle shed on the city wall with a crosshair. The current guns do not have sights, and due to the relationship between the charge and the projectile, the accuracy is actually quite problematic. Fortunately, the battle shed is tall, and it is not too difficult to hit accurately.

The soldiers who aimed at it saw it really and reported it to Tao Seventeen, and Tao Seventeen gave an order, and the soldiers who lit the fire lit the medicine twist.

The iron cannon stopped, and the defenders at the head of the city dared to raise their heads, and refused to stay here any longer, and the hundreds of defenders who came to support scattered in a hurry.

As the defenders at the head of the city were fleeing, the cannons under the city made a loud noise, and thick smoke came out. This cannon was fired low, and it was smashing on the women's wall at the head of the city, directly collapsing a pile of women's walls. Shattered clods of earth flew in all directions, and several hapless defenders were hit and fell to the ground screaming.

No one expected that the newly arrived cannon would be able to knock down the female wall. The officers and soldiers under the city were dumbfounded, and then let out a cheer.

Seeing that he didn't hit the battle shed, Tao Seventeen stomped his feet, secretly screaming that it was a pity, and hurriedly commanded the soldiers to reload.

Myeongho, who was not far away, didn't expect the sound of the cannon to be so shocking, and turned around in fright. When he turned around, he saw the female wall collapsing and stomping, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and asked Li Jihe beside him: "Pavilion Chief, the cannon that was fired at the right time really collapsed the female wall?" ”

Li Jihe nodded: "Yes, this cannon really collapsed the female wall!" Such a sharp weapon, why worry about Beizhou not breaking! ”

The female wall is a low wall with a gap in the city wall, which can cover the defenders and defend against the bow and crossbow shells of the siege party. The walls are very thick, but the women's walls are not thick, not much thicker than the walls of ordinary houses. Although the artillery was fired from the bottom up, the power was reduced considerably, but it was still destroyed by a single bombardment.

Looking at the missing piece of the female wall, Myeongho let out a sigh of relief, and finally saw the hope of breaking the city. Without the cover of the female wall, the defenders at the head of the city were exposed, how could they resist the firepower of the officers and soldiers? Even if you don't use Qucheng, you can use the ladder directly to get to the city.

Du Zhongxiao saw the collapse of the women's wall, and he was also relieved in his heart. If the power of the cannon can't even collapse the female wall, he will have to find another way, and even pile up a mountain of earth outside the city, put the cannon on the mountain, and suppress the defenders by flat fire. If you can knock down the women's wall, everything will be easy. As long as you smash a few sections of the female wall and clear a distance of one or twenty zhang, you can use iron cannons and crossbows to destroy the defense system of the city wall. Once the gates are isolated, they can be seized by a small number of people who climb the walls. Occupying the commanding heights on the city walls, the defense system of the city gate was self-defeating.

Tao Qiqi didn't know Du Zhongxiao's thoughts, so he nervously commanded the loading and reloading, fired another shot, and finally knocked out a war shed. The war tent was nothing more than an emergency construction of bamboo and wood, and when hit by such a cannon, it immediately became shattered and was wiped directly from the city walls.

When Tao Seventeen saw it, he let out a sigh of relief, and with the soldiers who operated the artillery, it only took less than half an hour to knock out all the war sheds in the west of the city.

Du Zhongxiao nodded again and again, and said to Tao Seventeen, who came to report: "Yes, it is more accurate than I thought." The battle tent is knocked out, you go back and command the gunners, starting from the city gate and ending until the female wall within thirty zhang to the west is all blown down! Limited to the sunset, the bombardment collapsed, celebrate tonight, and all of you who operate the cannon will be rewarded! ”

Tao 17 was happy, and the forked hands promised. Returning to the cannon, he repeated Du Zhongxiao's words, and several gunners cheered together.

After instructing Tao Seventeen, Du Zhongxiao said to the three colonels who commanded the iron cannon on the other side: "The cannons over there are bombarding the women's wall, and you continue to fire cannons at the head of the city." Remember, no matter how many defenders you kill, the most important thing for you is to be proficient in your salvos. Tomorrow, you will not be like you were just now. ”

As soon as the women's wall fell, the three colonels knew the meaning of their people, crossed their hands together, and promised loudly. Without the protection of the female wall, the defenders at the head of the city have become targets, how can flesh and blood be able to block the cannonballs?

After instructing Tao Seventeen and the three junior colonels, Du Zhongxiao returned to Ming Hao's side and arched his hand: "Advice, how about this shelling?" ”

Myeongho nodded happily: "It's really powerful, and the power is beyond my imagination!" Artillery, such a siege weapon, really depends on who uses it! In the past, there were hundreds of artillery pieces in the air, but they were used illegally, and they were useless! When the bachelor arrived, it was different! ”

Li Jihe on the side said: "That's true." Last year, the Privy Council tried to storm the city with iron cannons, but they could only smash a white spot on the city walls, and everyone said that the iron cannons were useless. But I didn't think about it, the artillery was used by the bachelor in Tanglong Town, how could it be useless? It's just a lawlessness. ”

When there was no effect, everyone questioned it, and when they saw the hope of breaking the city, now everyone complimented it. Du Zhongxiao is used to this kind of thing in the officialdom, so he said a few polite words to Ming Ho and Li Jihe, and watched it break together.

In less than two hours, the female wall on the west side of the city gate had been blown down by more than 30 zhang. Seeing that tonight's reward for wine and meat had been received, Tao Seventeen and the gunner became more and more courageous, swept the two female walls, simply turned the cannon mouth, and bombarded the city tower.

When it was about to get dark, Wang Xin and Wang Kai came over, both with happy faces. Xiang Minghao saw the salute, and said to Du Zhongxiao together: "I didn't expect the power of the artillery to be so amazing, but I underestimated it before." Only when the bachelor arrives can this weapon be revealed! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It is not surprising that people are not familiar with artillery and do not know the power of artillery. In fact, the power of artillery can be greater, it just takes some effort. ”

Ming Ho was on the rise, and when he heard this, he asked Du Zhongxiao: "Dare to ask the bachelor, how to be more powerful?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The artillery is far away, and the power is great, if it can shoot flat, no one on the city wall can gain a foothold." If the army can draw out the sergeants, they will build two high walls overnight at the east and west of the city gate, and the place where the cannons are fired today, about the same level as the city wall. When artillery is transported to it, it will be possible to shoot flat at the city walls. By that time, there would be no more defenders on the southern wall. ”

Wang Xin said: "Why is this difficult! Tonight I will arrange for two or three thousand soldiers to carry the mound of earth and the wall, and tomorrow morning, it will be piled up! ”

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