It took only half an afternoon for the Ming army to conquer Tucheng, and they only lost eight people, six were seriously wounded, and more than 30 were lightly wounded. This is because the Zheng Jiajun is well-equipped, and the soldiers all wear wide-brimmed black iron six-petal helmets and black iron scale armor. Officers and personal soldiers even use bright light armor, which has excellent protection, and most of the minor injuries are unprotected forearm and calf injuries; Of the casualties, five were smashed by rolling logs and stones when the ladder ascended the city, and only three were killed in hand-to-hand combat. Zheng Chenggong, who made his fortune in sea trade, was indeed rich, and was able to fight with the most sophisticated equipment, coupled with the benefits of the sailors, which made the Zheng family army and the Qing army have the upper hand in the confrontation for more than ten years.

Looking at the Qing army Qianzong who was tied into zongzi and kneeling on the ground trembling, Wang Xinyu pretended to be fierce: "Let you surrender early, you won't surrender?" Surrender early, not only are you not a prisoner, but this general can also promote you to a garrison! What now? It's too late to say anything! ”

"Spare your life! The villain's family is in Yunxiao City, if they surrender, the villain's life will be difficult to protect! But the villain didn't burn down the warehouse, and he can be regarded as making up for it! I hope you will spare your life! This Qing army knelt on the ground and kowtowed again and again to beg for mercy.

Wang Xinyu sneered: "If General Ben spares you, what should I do?" Is it to appoint you? Or will I take you back as a coolie? If you are appointed, the Tartars will definitely not let your whole family go! If you bring it back as a coolie, I'm afraid you will be wronged by your identity, right? ”

"As long as you can live your life, and you don't harm the villain's family, let the adults dispose of it." Qing Jun Qian's face turned pale, and he knelt on the ground and trembled.

"Forget it, let's bet on it!" Wang Xinyu ordered his own soldiers, "This person is also meritorious in keeping the warehouse in the end!" Bring it back to the ship and detain it, and when you return to the division, bring it back to Xiamen as a coolie! ”

In fact, Wang Xinyu didn't want to kill this Qing army Qianzong, after all, this person was also forced to resist, and it can be regarded as meritorious to keep the warehouse later. Now Wang Xinyu's biggest shortage is population, and he needs to get more people through military operations, otherwise he won't even be able to grow his team.

Of the more than 500 Qing soldiers in Tucheng, 67 were killed, 39 were seriously wounded, and more than 100 were lightly wounded. In this year, the seriously wounded and killed were about the same, the Ming army executed the seriously wounded Qing soldiers, escorted the lightly wounded and the officers back to the ship, and the remaining 300 Qing soldiers were directly incorporated into Wang Xinyu's own auxiliaries. When it was time to storm the clouds, these captives could be used to help build camps, to help build siege equipment, and to push shield carts and carry sandbags to fill the moat.

After seizing Gaotang Tucheng, the Ming army did not immediately pull out the camp and set up the village, but rested on the spot. Because it is now departure, it is already night under the Sky City. If you hastily camp in front of the enemy army at night, I am afraid that the enemy in the city will take the opportunity to attack and bring chaos to yourself.

Seven miles north of the Ming army camp, in the overgrown field, Li Rui, who was wearing a grass ring on his head and a weedy branch on his body, stared at the official road ahead.

On the opposite side of the official road, a personal soldier who also wore a grass ring on his head and was covered with weeds and branches was hiding in the grove, and if he didn't pay attention, he couldn't tell that there were two people hiding here.

In fact, on other paths, Wang Xinyu's personal soldiers were also ambushed, all in disguise.

On the official road, there was a sound of horses' hooves.

Li Rui gestured to the soldiers on the opposite side and gave him an order in sign language: There are three horses in total, and when they enter the twenty-step arrow, I will shoot the one on the left, and you will shoot the one on the right. The last Tartar, you and I will kill together!

Wang Xinyu has created a set of sign languages that allow covert scouts and the like to send signals to their companions without revealing themselves.

Li Rui stretched out his bow and set up arrows, and when the Qing scouts entered within twenty steps, he suddenly emerged from the grass more than three feet high, and with a slight loosening of his fingers, a feathered arrow shot with a strong wind towards the front door of the Qing army scouts on the left.

The speed of this arrow was extremely fast, and the Qing scouts didn't even have time to react, so they were shot by an arrow from the front door, and they were killed immediately.

Another soldier also shot a feather arrow at the same time, shooting down the Qing scout on the right.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the last Qing soldier hurriedly turned around and ran, when two feathered arrows came from behind at the same time, knocking him off his horse.

Li Rui and his companions walked out of the hideout, they did not cut off the heads of the corpses of Qing soldiers like ordinary Ming soldiers, but dragged the corpses to the grass and hid them, wiped the blood on the ground, and then led the three ownerless horses away and pulled them to a forest behind them to hide.

Not harvesting the heads is Wang Xinyu's requirement for the pro-soldier team when he serves as a secret outpost, only asking to hide well, shoot with cold arrows if there are few enemies, and don't care if there are many enemies. The first is to ensure that it can be concealed.

The terrain in the south is complex and the vegetation is dense, which is very conducive to concealment. Those Qing scout scouts, even if they walked in front of them, they couldn't find the hidden Ming army secret outpost.

On a nearby road, a Qing scout rode by and was killed by an arrow.

About an hour and a half later, another group of Qing scouts appeared on the official road. When the Qing army was still a mile away, Li Rui and the others saw from a distance that there were many Qing scouts who came this time, including eight people, sixteen horses, and one person and two horses.

This time, there were many Qing troops, and Li Rui and his companions did not fight hard, but quietly retreated. More than a hundred paces behind them, there were two secret sentinels. Not far away, two Ming army secret sentinels on the two small roads also secretly moved towards the official road. The weeds three or four feet tall and the dense woods blocked the view of the Qing scouts, and they did not find the well-camouflaged Ming army secret outposts at all.

By the time the Qing scouts were still 100 paces, six Ming army secret sentinels had already gathered together.

Li Rui gestured and arranged everyone's attack targets. Then the crowd dispersed and laid an ambush on the side of the road.

After a while, the Qing scouts arrived at the location where the scouts in front of them were missing, and a Qing soldier dismounted, checked the traces of the horse's hooves, and then checked the surrounding terrain, and shouted: "Everyone, be careful! There may be enemies nearby! ”

All the Qing soldiers dismounted and searched in the grass, and some of the Qing soldiers took their bows and arrows from their backs, and fired at the grass on both sides where people might be hiding.

Li Rui secretly said in his heart: Oh no! The corpses of the Tartars we hid there are going to be discovered!

Sure enough, the Qing soldiers soon found three bodies hidden in the grass.

The leader of the Qing army at the head checked the wounds of the corpse and found that they were all arrow wounds, so he raised his head and said, "There are not many thieves and spies!" It's estimated that there are only two or three people! Let's go up and find them! ”

Eight Qing soldiers searched over step by step, and at this time, there were a total of six people on Li Rui's side. Six-on-eight, he is confident of winning. Li Rui secretly said in his heart: You can't let go of a Qing soldier, when the attack is launched, you must ensure that you will kill with one blow, and you must not let the Qing soldiers run back and ride a horse. If you get on the horse, you won't be able to catch up with a few of you.

The Qing scouts searched both sides of the official road, but did not find the well-concealed Ming army. When the distance of the Qing soldiers was less than thirty paces, Li Rui and five personal soldiers probed at the same time, and the strong bow of the wolf's tooth iron arrow in their hands was already aimed at the Qing army.

"Put!"

Six sharp arrows with the sound of the wind rushed towards the six Qing army spies.

The Qing army scouts had already been prepared, and these scouts were all elite soldiers, and they reacted quite quickly. Three Qing soldiers dodged the sharp arrows that came at them, two more unresponsive ones were pierced through their throats and nailed to the ground, and another Qing soldier could not dodge and had a sharp wolf's tooth iron arrow pierced in his arm.

"Ahh The wounded Qing soldier went to pull out the arrow inserted in his arm, but he was pulled by the barb of the arrow, and his face was distorted and deformed in pain, and the arrow still could not be pulled out.

"Put!" Li Rui roared.

A second round of iron arrows was fired, two of which rushed towards the Qing leader at the same time, and the rest of the arrows were fired at the remaining four Qing scouts.

The leader of the Qing soldiers, who was agile and strong in martial arts, dodged two sharp arrows that attacked at the same time, while the other four Qing soldiers were hit by an arrow in the thigh of one person, and the other was killed on the spot by an arrow in the face.

"Kill!" Li Rui dropped the iron-tired bow, pulled out his katana, and took five personal soldiers to kill the Qing army.

The martial arts of the six people are all very strong, and Li Rui himself fought with the leader of the Qing soldiers to block that guy. Five of their own soldiers slashed and killed the two Qing soldiers who were not injured. The steel knife slashed out white rainbows, and in the blink of an eye, two intact Qing army scouts were killed. Several people attacked the leader of the Qing army together.

Not far away, the Qing soldier with an arm wound saw that the situation was not good, and stood up and wanted to flee back to lead the horse. Li Rui, who was quick-eyed, left the leader of the Qing soldiers, chased after him with an arrow, and threw the steel knife in his hand like lightning. Only a scream was heard, and the Qing soldiers who tried to escape were firmly nailed to the ground by the flying steel knives.

Li Rui stepped forward, pulled out his katana, turned his head and slashed at the leader of the Qing army who was fighting hard in a one-on-five battle, and cut him in two with one sword.

The last Qing scout who was lying on the ground with a thigh injury and howling was also wiped on the neck by Li Rui's ruthless knife.

After that, several teams of scouts were sent from the direction of Yunxiao, some on horseback and some on foot, and none of them could go back.

South of Yunxiao is a peninsula with narrow terrain, and Wang Xinyu didn't need too many secret posts to block the way of the Qing army spies.

Because none of the Qing soldiers in Tucheng ran away, Wang Xinyu sent his elite soldiers to act as secret sentinels. Because of the sea ban, from the south of the clouds are a wasteland, from the sea within fifteen miles of the common people, as long as the Qing army spies appear, like lice on the head of the monk, there is nowhere to hide, immediately hunted by the Ming army spies, can not approach the city at all. The Qing army in Yunxiao City did not know that Tucheng had fallen into the hands of the Ming army.

Under the walls of Tucheng, Wang Xinyu personally commanded the auxiliary soldiers to dig tunnels.

The tunnel is not long, and it will soon be dug under the earthen city. Wang Xinyu commanded several auxiliary soldiers to carry a heavy wooden box into the tunnel under the city wall.

The large wooden box was inserted into a fuse and stretched very long. Someone built a brick wall outside the tunnel where the large wooden box was kept, and the fuse passed through the small hole left by the brick wall. A second brick wall was then erected outside, and the fuse extended through the small hole that had been reserved to the outside.

Because the gunpowder itself does not explode, it will only explode in a sealed environment, and the better the sealing, the greater the explosion power of the same gunpowder. Therefore, in addition to being closed with wooden boxes, brick walls were built on the outside of the crypt where the gunpowder was placed to increase the sealing and ensure greater blasting power.

"Let's light the fire!" Wang Xinyu said.

One of his own soldiers lit the fuse and immediately fled the tunnel.

Who knew that there was no explosion that Wang Xinyu was looking forward to, and after a long time, there was still no movement in Tucheng.

Luo Xiang asked, "This method doesn't work, right?" Is the gunpowder damp? ”

Wang Xinyu said confusedly: "Impossible! My wooden box itself was very thick, and the gunpowder was wrapped in a layer of oilcloth, so it could not have been wet. If only the fuse was damp. ”

Later, several auxiliary soldiers went down the tunnel with torches, and found that the ground in the tunnel had seeped water, and it was half a foot deep. A few steps further, a brick wall blocks the view, making it impossible to see inside.

After Wang Xinyu came down, he smashed the brick wall.

Sure enough, it was water seepage in the tunnel, and the unburned fuse in the back section was all wet.

At this time, Wang Xinyu remembered that the groundwater level in the south was high, and the tunnel was prone to water seepage, which made the fuse damp. But how did the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history do it? They still used the hole attack and blasting method in the Jiangnan water network area, and they were all successful, did they take any measures?

On the question of whether the gunpowder will be damp, Wang Xinyu is not worried at all. The large wooden box he brought with him was very tight, and it was wrapped in oilcloth, and even if the wooden box was soaked in water, it would take a long time for the gunpowder inside the wooden box to get wet. But how to solve the problem of water seepage in the tunnel and moisture in the fuse?

Now the short tunnel is only a dozen zhang long, but it is seriously seeping. If you want to dig a tunnel that is hundreds of feet long, how to solve the problem of water seepage in the tunnel? It is estimated that when the Taiping army attacked the cave, someone should have followed the scoop basin to scoop water, but how much work would it take! The auxiliaries in front dug tunnels, followed by people scooping water. As for the problem of dampness of the fuse, you can solve it with a bamboo pipe that has been opened, put the fuse into the bamboo pipe that has been opened, nail a few wooden shelves into the tunnel wall, and put the bamboo pipe with the built-in fuse on the wooden frame.

After thinking about solving the problem of dampness in the fuse, Wang Xinyu immediately asked people to cut a few bamboos, split the bamboo in half, open up the bamboo knots in the middle, put the fuse inside, and then put the two halves of the bamboo together and tied them with ropes. Someone nailed into a wooden shelf on the tunnel wall and put a bamboo pipe on the shelf.

After changing a fuse, the auxiliaries sealed the crypt with bricks where the large wooden box was installed.

Having done all this, one of the soldiers lit the fuse, then escaped from the tunnels and took refuge in safety.

After about half a pillar of incense, only a dull roar was heard from the ground, and the earth city on the ground suddenly cracked, making an earth-shattering loud noise, and a large section of the city wall was blown into the sky.

The gap that had been blown open had become a slope about a dozen paces wide, and the original earthen wall was gone.

After that, Wang Xinyu had people do a second experiment, dig a second tunnel, and blow up a large section of the city wall.

"Keep bombing and destroy all this earthen city!"

Wang Xinyu let people test for the third time and the fourth time......

Of the eight consecutive tests, only two times the fuse was damp and the gunpowder was not ignited, and all six were successful.

Until dark, the Ming army did not stop work, and was still digging tunnels and conducting blasting tests.

At this time, Wang Xinyu was thinking about a problem: the problem of water seepage in short tunnels is not so serious, but when attacking the clouds, it is a long tunnel to be dug, how to solve the problem of water seepage? Thinking of this, he asked the craftsmen who accompanied the army to discuss the solution to the problem of water seepage in the tunnel.