Stone bullets rained down, smashing the flesh and blood of the Qing gunners.

The broken stones that fell like scattered flowers were mixed with several large stones the size of watermelons, some of which just hit the tiger squat cannon, and the big stones that fell from the sky smashed on the cannon body, smashing the tiger squat cannon and flying from the ground, and the barrel of the cannon was also flattened. Even those one-pound stones can smash the cannon if it hits the tiger squat cannon.

Suddenly, a stone just hit a powder keg impartially, and the heat generated by the powerful impact force instantly detonated the powder keg, only to see a flash of fire, the powder keg suddenly turned into a flame, suddenly expanded and burst in the air, and the shock wave blew several Qing gunners around them upside down.

The remaining Qing gunners dropped their tiger squat guns and turned around and fled from the artillery positions.

The trebuchet was originally a weapon that was more backward than artillery, but under special terrain conditions, the trebuchet fired condescendingly had a longer range and greater power than the small cannon such as the Tiger Squat Cannon. Before the Qing army's tiger squat cannon could exert its power, it was defeated and fled by several rounds of bullets fired by the Ming army's seven-pin cannon.

The overwhelming stones fell in the crowd of Qing troops, the shield carts overturned one after another, the auxiliary soldiers turned into bloody corpses, and some soldiers who had no time to dodge were also smashed to pieces.

Just as the Qing army was pushing forward, the sound of gold sounded in the rear.

Hearing the sound of gold, the Qing soldiers were relieved, turned around and ran, and quickly withdrew to their own formation.

In this battle, Wu Sangui had not officially started the siege of the city, and was smashed by the Ming army's seven-pin cannons, and the Qing army lost more than 500 people under the city, and more than 10 tiger squat cannons were destroyed.

Wu Sangui was shocked to see the Tiger Squat Cannon being destroyed by an ancient trebuchet that was far behind this era, he knew that the advantage in terrain could make up for the disadvantage in weapons to a certain extent, but it could only make up for part of the disadvantage. If the difference is too great, the terrain advantage cannot make up for the weapon disadvantage. So Wu Sangui ordered: "Transfer the three catties of general cannons!" ”

The Wu army's three-kilogram general cannon, the cannon weighs about 500 catties, and the charge is one catty and eight taels, which can shoot a three-catty cannonball 500 to 600 steps away, and the range exceeds that of the Ming army's trebuchet.

Although the three-pound general cannon is also considered a light artillery. But after all, it weighs 500 catties, and when marching in peacetime, it is not like a tiger squat cannon to follow the Chinese army, but like the red-coated cannon, they all follow the baggage team.

Ai Xing Ah sneered: "The general cannon is still thirty miles away, and it will take at least two days and two nights to send it here!" Prince Pingnan wants to delay for two more days? ”

"Return to General Pingxi!" Wu Sangui arched his hand at Ai Xing Ah and said, "You have also seen that this thief's trebuchet is powerful, if it is attacked now, I don't know how many brothers' lives will be lost!" Let's ask General Pingxi to wait patiently for two days! Wait until the general's cannon arrives. This king immediately launched a strong attack and broke the city in one fell swoop! ”

"Good! Then the general will wait for you for two more days! If you continue to excuse yourself after two days, then you will blame General Ben for going to the court to punish the prince! Ai Xing said in a slightly threatening tone. He has long been dissatisfied with Wu Sangui's procrastination, since the bloody battle of Mopanshan a year and a half ago, the Southern Ming army suffered heavy losses, Ai Xing A has repeatedly urged Wu Sangui to send troops, and must destroy Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan in one fell swoop, but Wu Sangui has found an excuse to delay until now. Now Myanmar is in a state of flux. Wu Sangui really couldn't shirk it, so he reluctantly agreed to send troops. But there was a little setback. Wu Sangui was stalling again.

Seeing that the Qing army did not attack again, Wang Xinyu ordered the auxiliary soldiers to disassemble the seven-tip cannon and carry it to a high place.

Seeing this, Bai Wenxuan was puzzled and asked, "Why did General Wang carry the trebuchet to the back mountain?" In this way, when the Tartars attack the city, we can't use trebuchets to attack the Tartars outside the first earthen city? ”

Wang Xinyu replied: "Lord Wang, this Wu thief has stopped attacking the city again. Presumably I want to wait until the cannon or the redcoat cannon or something like the redcoat cannon are delivered! If our trebuchet is placed low, it will be destroyed by the cannons of the Wu thieves. Moving to a higher place, the thieves' red artillery or the general cannon don't have such a high elevation angle, they can't hit us, but we can attack the mountain while they are attacking. Hit them with a trebuchet! ”

Bai Wenxuan said: "Isn't the first wall on the periphery lost to the Tartars in vain? ”

Wang Xinyu said with a smile: "Lord Wang, the first earth city on the periphery was originally intended to be used to give up!" The first earthen city on the outskirts was also built on the slope of a hill, and it took a lot of trouble for the Tartars to bombard and destroy it. By the time they have knocked down the first wall and climbed up, the fire from our second wall will hit the Tartars! The Tartars bombarded our second wall, and we had a third wall built on the hill to defend it! Let's shrink back step by step, and lead the tartar to a high place! So that we can use the power of our trebuchets! ”

Bai Wenxuan exclaimed: "I can't imagine that the virtuous nephew is good at defense, which is indeed very admirable to this king!" ”

On the riverside wharf in Bamo, Li Dingguo's base area, ships flying the banner of the Nanyang Ming Army came ashore, and a large number of people and auxiliary soldiers carried bags of grain and weapons from the boats.

"What kind of cannon is this? How can it be so weird? Seeing that the Ming army moved down a strange cannon with a very thick and short body, a muzzle facing the sky, and a weight that was not very heavy, Zhao Desheng asked very suspiciously.

Gong Xiaoda replied: "This is a mortar cannon, this is a small-caliber mortar cannon, a twelve-pounder mortar cannon." Although the shells were twelve pounds, the weight of the cannons was very light, only about two hundred catties. ”

"What's the use of this weird-looking cannon? The barrel is so short, the range must not be far. ”

"Yes, the range is far inferior to the Hongyi Cannon, but this cannon is especially suitable for use in the mountains! Our General Wang asked the last general to send this kind of cannon, which is specially to deal with Wu Sangui's old thief! Gong Xiaoda arched his hand and replied.

Hundreds of miles away in Mubang, the messenger sent by Wu Sangui had already seen Zhao Liangdong, and the messenger told Zhao Liangdong that Li Dingguo had made preparations, so Zhao Liangdong should act cautiously, and it was best to withdraw his troops from Mubang and rush to the south road to join Wu Sangui.

Zhao Liangdong asked, "I don't know how General Wang is on the middle lane?" ”

"There is no news from General Wang's side, and the messengers we sent have not found General Wang's headquarters, so I don't know where they have gone." The messenger replied.

Zhao Liangdong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said: "General Ben has worked with General Wang for many years, and he knows his character very well. It is very likely that he went through the ravine and detoured to Li Yi's hinterland! If our army withdraws like this, General Wang will be in danger! No, we've got to figure out a way! ”

After that, Zhao Liangdong arranged it, he asked Wang Fuchen to leave 5,000 men and horses to bluff and evacuate steadily, but he took the main force of more than 40,000 people to quietly evacuate at night, and rushed to join Wu Sangui on the south road.

Wang Fuchen, who was left behind, still played the banner of Zhao Liangdong, and kept the number of camp tents, creating suspicious soldiers to confuse Li Sixing.

After dawn, Wang Fuchen, who remained in the Mubang area, began to withdraw steadily in front of the Ming army, leaving a force to cut off the back road, and at the same time let dozens of cavalrymen tie branches to the horse's tail and gallop on the road behind the woods, creating billowing smoke and dust.

"The Tartars seem to be starting to withdraw! Is our army in pursuit? The soldiers reported to Li Sixing.

Li Sixing strictly adhered to his father's teachings: "My father said that no matter how the enemy provokes and lures, our army will not be able to hold out!" This is a Tatar trick to lure the enemy! We must not be fooled! ”

It was not until the afternoon that Wang Fuchen's "main army" had retreated farther away, and Li Sixing ordered scouts to be sent to inspect the stoves left behind by the Qing army's camp, and Li Sixing's scouts found that the Qing army still set up stoves of 50,000 people at noon.

"This Tartar did not dare to attack Guancheng, they retreated steadily, obviously to lure our army to attack! Hum! This son is not fooled! Li Sixing got the scout's reward and said with a sneer.

The next day, Wang Fuchen still arranged suspicious troops, creating the illusion that Zhao Liangdong's main force was still there, so that Li Sixing did not dare to attack.

Three days later, Wang Xinyu sent Ye Bushu found that Zhao Liangdong's main force had already withdrawn and was moving closer to Wu Sangui's main force in the south, and came back to report the situation to Li Sixing, and Li Sixing knew that he had fallen for Zhao Liangdong.

"We have fallen for Zhao Liangdong's tricks as a dog thief! If you don't send troops to destroy this king and auxiliary ministers, it will be difficult for my son to solve the hatred in his heart! Li Si was so angry that he scolded.

A member of the general dissuaded: "Little prince, this Wang Fuchen is not an idle person, he is known as Xiao Lu Bu, if our army attacks rashly, I am afraid that it will not be able to take advantage of it." We should wait for 5,000 Qiongzhou soldiers to arrive, and our army has 10,000 elites before going to fight Wang Fuchen. ”

"The thieves are withdrawing their troops, and their morale is not high, so it is the best time for our army to attack at this time! By the time the 5,000 Qiongzhou soldiers arrived, our army had already missed the opportunity! ”

Li Sixing did not listen to the dissuasion, and ordered the Ming army to attack and chase after Wang Fuchen, who was left behind. However, this Li Sixing was not Wang Fuchen's opponent at all, and as soon as he attacked, he was ambushed by the Qing army, and Li Sixing was defeated by Wang Fuchen and returned to Guancheng in embarrassment. Fortunately, Wang Fuchen did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, but collected his troops and went to chase Zhao Liangdong. However, even if Wang Fuchen chased after him, he would not be able to take Guancheng, because the five thousand Nanyang army had just arrived, and if Wang Fuchen turned back to chase and kill Li Sixing and encountered the five thousand well-equipped Nanyang army, Wang Fuchen's little force would undoubtedly be defeated.

At this time, Li Dingguo's main force was rushing in the direction of Mubang, and someone came to report halfway: "Report to the prince!" The main force of the Tartars has withdrawn from Mubang and is rushing to the Nujiang Gorge! ”

Li Dingguo sighed: "This Wu thief really saw through the king's plan!" It's a pity! Otherwise, Zhao Liangdong will be destroyed in this battle! ”

"Lord Wang, what should we do now?" Ma Jiugong asked.

"Go to reinforce King Gongchang! Wu Sangui must be blocked! As long as the Tartars are blocked for a while, the Qiongzhou army will have a chance to rescue His Majesty! Li Dingguo Road. (To be continued.) )