Wu Sangui stood on a high platform and watched the auxiliary soldiers dig a trench and build an earthen city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info At this time, the Wu army already had 150,000 auxiliaries and Minzhuang, and it goes without saying that most of these auxiliaries were captured by the Qing army. Since the Wu army won successive victories, it captured more than 200,000 Qing soldiers, including Minzhuang and auxiliary soldiers. Some of the captives were sold to Wang Yu as commodities and sent to Huguang in exchange for food and weapons, and some of the captives were incorporated into the auxiliary army by Wu Sangui.

Liu Xuanchu looked at the fortresses protruding from the city wall of Baoding not far away, and was a little worried. Nine years ago, after the curse of the water, Wu Sangui tried to enter Myanmar to pick up Yongli, but encountered several small earthen cities in the southwestern mountains of Yunnan.

At that time, the fortress was just a simple fortress, which could make the attacker lose his troops. Now this Baoding Mansion City is originally a strong city, because Baoding is the gateway to the south of Beijing, and the city is not inferior to the capital. Several bastions have been added to the solid stone walls, which can be said to be even more impregnable.

Although Wu Sangui had a few 64-pounder heavy siege mortars eliminated by the Qiongzhou army, he did not get the flowering shells loaded with new explosives, and all the gunpowder used by the Wu army was purchased for money, and if he wanted to rely entirely on artillery to destroy the city wall, he did not know how much gunpowder would need to be consumed.

When Turkey attacked Constantinople, in order to blast open the fortified castle, it once made a super siege cannon, the caliber of this cannon is close to one meter, and the shell weighs more than 540 catties, which is not comparable to a 64-pound mortar. However, the cannon eventually exploded, and Urban himself was killed in the explosion.

Of course, Wu Sangui could not have built this kind of siege cannon, nor did he get the more powerful flowering cannonball from Wang Yu, and he would have to pay a great price to conquer the strong city in front of him.

"In any case, first build siege weapons, and then select a group of captives whose families are under our control, and organize them into the war army, so that they can go to the city to fight. They can be told that if they die in battle, they will receive a large pension; If you retreat without hearing the sound of gold, cut it! If you join the enemy, then kill their families! Fang Guangchen offered Wu Sangui a more vicious plan.

Many of the captives were originally Minzhuang, Wu Sangui's army was attacking, and most of the captured Minzhuang after conquering the city were locals, and after these people were captured, their hometowns also fell into the hands of Wu Sangui.

The captured captives are registered, especially the local people, before they are incorporated into the Wu army, they will see each other with their families, and these people who have families at home will naturally become the best candidates to be included in the cannon fodder team. In order to integrate the captives into the war army, it was necessary to prevent them from defecting to the enemy, so Fang Guangchen controlled them by controlling their families.

Hu Chengping was one such Minzhuang, who was captured during the battle of the Daimyo's defense of the city and was also incorporated into the Wu army's auxiliaries. Hu Chengping has practiced martial arts, he is tall and big, his home is in the famous city, and he also has parents, a pregnant wife and young brothers and sisters. When they left the Daimyo Northern Expedition to Baoding, their family hugged their heads and cried.

In the Wu army auxiliary camp, a Wu army garrison walked into the camp with his own soldiers, and a personal soldier behind him held the roster in his hand. The Wu garrison entered the camp and gathered the auxiliaries.

"Everyone, since you have joined our army, you are our own people! Now is a good opportunity for you to make a difference! We will carefully select a group from among you to be incorporated into our soldiers! Military salaries, food, in full accordance with the requirements of our army's soldiers, meritorious service can be rewarded silver! The Wu army garrison raised his voice and said.

Hu Chengping was lucky to be selected by the Wu army garrison, and he ascended to the sky in one step, turning from a civil strong soldier to a formal soldier. The difference between the two is huge, not to mention that the people are strong, that is, the auxiliary soldiers, whether it is military pay or food, are far inferior to the soldiers. If the army is short of food, it is also the first to reduce the rations of auxiliary soldiers and people, and give priority to ensuring the soldiers.

"Thank you for your love, and I am willing to die for the prince!" Hu Chengping knelt down on one knee and saluted.

The selected recruits left the auxiliary barracks and came to a newly built barracks, which was actually a death squad barracks. Hu Chengping knew that he was turned into a soldier, but he was going to attack the city, if he didn't retreat, he would be killed! If he defected to the enemy, it would be even more serious, and the whole family was in the hands of Wu Jun.

Hu Chengping had no objections to these conditions, in short, it was impossible for him to be a deserter, let alone defect to the enemy. He doesn't care about his life or death, even if he dies in battle, his family can get a generous pension.

When the newly joined soldiers came here, Wu Sangui asked them to give them a full meal, the rice and white noodles were full, and the dish was Chinese cabbage stewed tofu, plus a little minced meat, which was already a very good meal.

After becoming a soldier, Hu Chengping no longer had to go to the woods to cut wood and build siege weapons like other auxiliaries, nor did he have to participate in the construction of camps and the hard work of building earthen cities, he was responsible for supervising the auxiliaries like other soldiers, but in the end, when the ants attached to the siege of the city, they were the first to go up.

After five days of preparation, the Wu army's auxiliaries and people built the barracks, built the earthen city, and built the siege weapons. On the morning of the sixth day, Wu Sangui gave the order to begin the siege.

"Boom, boom, boom" a cannon spewed fire, emitting a deafening roar, white gunpowder smoke filled, and the shells whistled and smashed onto the city wall of Baoding. However, the city wall of Baoding was extremely strong, and even the battlements of the female wall were made of stone, and they were reinforced, and a cannonball smashed into it, leaving only a white mark.

Prime Minister Xia ordered that the flowering cannonballs be replaced.

The first few rounds of solid shells fired by Wu's artillery were actually a kind of temptation, and the barrel of the cannon with the muzzle angle and charge was adjusted and filled with flowering shells, and with an order, rows of flowering shells fell on the head of the city, and exploded into a continuous sea of fire, shrapnel shot in all directions, and the air wave overturned the city's defending weapons, and the rolling wood and stones were blown to pieces, and the big iron pot where the gold juice was boiled was torn apart, and the hot gold juice was sprayed in all directions.

The overwhelming flowering shells fell on the head of the city, and the Qing troops standing at the head of the city were killed and wounded, and a large number of corpses and wounded soldiers fell at the head of the city. The flowering shells fired by the Wu army's mortar even fell in the city and exploded, the houses collapsed in the explosion, and some Qing soldiers who hid in the houses to avoid the shelling were also buried under the rubble.

At the same time that the Wu army fired the flowering cannonballs, the auxiliary soldiers pushed the shield cart and slowly advanced up to the city.

Hu Chengping, who had just become a soldier, held a steel knife in his hand, followed behind the auxiliaries, and supervised the auxiliaries to push the shield cart forward slowly.