Having cleared the obstacle of the frontal wall, and without any threat, the artillery battalion swaggered to advance seven or eight mortars to a distance of two hundred paces from the wall, and began preparations for firing without hurry.

Li Zicheng looked at the situation ahead, and asked Liu Heizi next to him with some puzzlement: "Brother Liu, are you all attacking the city like this?" These small cannons hit the cannons very powerfully, sweeping away the defenders on the wall, taking advantage of this gap, just to seize this section of the city wall, why do you slowly change to another cannon? ”

Liu Heizi explained: "King Chuang, Luoyang is a big city, and it is not a big problem for the soldiers and civilians in the city to gather 100,000 people to defend the city, and the manpower is very sufficient. Although this section of the city wall suffered heavy casualties, it was soon able to transfer troops from the rest of the city, and now the offensive is renewed, which is nothing more than a return to the old method of attacking the city with ants, and the battle situation is still in a stalemate, which is not good for King Chuang. The two rounds of shrapnel attacks by our artillery battalion were not for a direct siege of the city, but to cover the smooth deployment of these mortars under the city wall - at a distance of two hundred paces, it is difficult for bows and arrows to pose a threat, and the cannons are just shooting dead ends, so that they can fire their guns with peace of mind. What is the effect of this mortar cannon, it is useless to say more, please let King Chuang know at a glance. ”

As he spoke, the preparations for the firing of the mortar had been completed, and Zuo Wuwei looked at the human head looming from the wall—it was the defenders transferred from other places to supplement the defensive vacuum of this section of the city wall—and said in his heart: I'm sorry, you're late, the mortar is deployed, and anyone who comes is out of luck.

He raised his command knife high and gave a loud order: "Open the cannon!" "Swing the knife and slash down.

The muffled sound of "bang bang bang" burst out, and the mortar cannon sprayed orange flames, sending about 70 catties of explosive bombs into the air. Under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, the cannonballs dragged the red fireworks to draw a long parabola, flew over the highest point, and then swooped down and smashed into the ground.

There was silence for a moment, and the explosions rang out one after another, and through the city walls, you could see the smoke rising from the sky and the flying bricks, wood chips, and rubble in the city—the effect of the explosion.

"Forehead drops, a mother......" Liu Zongmin was stunned and looked at the effect of the explosion, this kind of attack method that ignored the defense of the city wall and fought cattle across the mountain refreshed his cognition. Originally, he was dismissive of the aid of the Joan navy, and he shouted the most fiercely in all of them, but now that he has witnessed the power of this cannon, he can no longer say the words of intimidation.

Li Zicheng was calmer than Liu Zongmin, but he was also deeply shocked. It is no wonder that the Qiong Navy took great pains to transport this kind of cannon from Qiongzhou Mansion to attack the city, and it really worked wonders.

There was no explosion outside the city, and the visual effect was discounted, but the inside of the city seemed to have fallen into a hell all of a sudden. Most of the 70-kilogram explosive bombs that fell in the city were successfully exploded, and the huge impact force made the civil structure houses fragile, many houses were blown to the point that the tiles were shattered, the beams were broken, and the walls of many houses were cracked, and the doors and windows were blown off. A group of people who were carrying the wood and preparing to climb the city wall were hit by a cannonball, and the huge air wave generated by the explosion lifted several people two or three meters away.

The sudden explosion made the defenders who thought the city wall was impregnable lose their sense of security, and the city wall several feet high was ignored by the opponent's artillery, where else was it safe?

The defenders at the head of the wall were worried that the strange shells would fall on their heads, so they ran around, and the people waiting to carry the stones and trees under the wall scattered in a hurry. It's just a few taels of settling-in expenses, and you can't stand stupidly and be bombed and sent to death in vain, although there is no good fruit to eat after the city is broken, but it is better than dying on the spot.

Wang Shaoyu, the chief soldier in charge of the defense of Anximen in the north, saw that it was not good, and hurriedly sent all his own soldiers to suppress the order, and shouted: "Block all the people back for me, and you must not let the city air defense be weak, give the rogues a chance, and the city will be broken." Liukou's cannon is strange, the knife in Lao Tzu's hand is not a vegetarian, he doesn't listen to orders, he cut me with a knife, see if the cannon is fast or my knife is fast! ”

The soldiers were ordered to block everywhere, blocking the way of the people, and cut off one hundred and eighty heads in one go, finally blocking the momentum of the rout. After the people calmed down, under the coercion of the steel knives of their own soldiers, they reluctantly returned to their posts and continued to carry the sassalwood and stones.

Just as order was gradually restored to the defenders, the relentless shelling began.

"Bang bang bang", muffled sounds sounded one after another, and several huge hot iron balls pierced the sky, crossed the tall city walls, and fell like a meteor shower.

The sound of the explosion echoed in the streets and alleys again, and the originally dilapidated streets and houses collapsed one by one in the violent explosion, turning into a pile of rubble.

At this moment, not only the people collapsed, but even the officers and soldiers joined the rout, and people fled in all directions, trying to get out of this area of death. The dense crowd fled in all directions, and among them were the soldiers who supervised the battle - no matter how strict and ruthless the military law was, the instinct to survive still prevailed.

Wang Shaoyu was anxious, if he continued to fight like this, everyone would escape, and Anximen would be self-defeating. He pulled one of his henchmen and said loudly in the explosion: "Hurry up and go to Lu Butang, Governor Li, Wang Shenzheng, and Kang Governor's Mansion, and ask them to mobilize reinforcements from other gates." The firepower in the north of the Liukou is too fierce, we can't hold it......"

Outside the city, Li Zicheng was overjoyed, the artillery fire obviously destroyed the defenders' will to resist to a great extent, it was time to attack, and he gave the order to attack the city.

The long-awaited siege troops poured into the city walls. Under the repeated sweeps of artillery, the long-range fire at the head of the city basically disappeared, and the soldiers of the intruding army climbed the ladder without any obstacles, seeing that the attack on the city was within reach.

At the critical moment, reinforcements from Jianchun Gate in the east and Lijing Gate in the west arrived in time, and the dense crowd ran over from the city walls on both sides to make up the defense line destroyed by artillery fire.

The battle once again entered the white heat, the sound of killing on the wall shook the sky, and the fierce hand-to-hand combat repeatedly tug-of-war on the city wall, and from time to time someone fell down.

With the full cooperation of Lu Weiqi, the former secretary of the military department, Li Fengxian, the governor of the government, Wang Yinchang, the prefect Kang Menghui and others, after a day of tug-of-war, they paid an extremely heavy price, barely held the Anxi Gate, and night fell quietly.

In the big tent of the army, Liu Heizi offered advice: "The artillery bombardment and siege during the day have consumed a lot of troops in the city, in order to keep the north gate from losing, the troops at the east gate and the west gate are tight, and they can't hold out for long." In the following suggestion: tomorrow can strengthen the offensive at the east and west gates, in addition, tonight you can shout at the north gate to break the will of the defenders, soft and hard, both pronged. ”