"Fire!" With the order of Huo An, the general of the naval division, dozens of artillery pieces lined up suddenly erupted tongues of fire, and one after another shells flew out of the barrel and flew towards Changsha City, which stood majestically in the distance.

An explosion was accompanied by an exclamation from the city wall, and puffs of black smoke and flames rose above the head of Changsha City.

Huo An excitedly walked back and forth on the artillery position, urging the soldiers to clear the chamber as quickly as possible, recharge and reload.

Huo An used to be a water bandit, and following Zheng Wenchang can be regarded as a positive result. After undergoing special training at the Wuyi Military Academy, he became a general in charge of artillery-related in the Zheng Wenchang Naval Division.

Zheng Wenchang's naval division has not been equipped with artillery for a long time, and he naturally has relevant training, but like this, unloading the artillery from the ship and concentrating it to bombard a target, even Huo An has never seen it, let alone practiced it, and today, it can be regarded as making up for this lesson.

So, he was very excited.

Shi Zhuang was very indifferent, on the high platform that was temporarily erected, holding a monocular and looking at the defensive troops running around the head of Changsha City under the bombardment.

Obviously, they were stunned.

Speaking of the Tang Army's artillery, it is no secret now, and it has shown its power on many battlefields, especially the battle of Eyue, which shocked the world, and all the enemies of the Tang Dynasty were desperately trying to find a way to crack it while being terrified.

The methods are naturally varied and strange, but those who have not really encountered a frontal attack from artillery will never be able to experience the feeling of falling from the sky like five thunderbolts.

When that deafening feeling of the sky falling apart is really playing out around you, no matter how much preparation you have made beforehand, the army that encounters such an attack for the first time still can't control the panic.

Compared to trebuchets, these are two completely different levels of weapons.

"General, if you attack at this time, you may be able to take Changsha City in one fell swoop!" Zheng Wenchang put down the monocular in his hand and looked at Shi Zhuangdao.

"What's in Changsha City now?" Shi Zhuang smiled and said: "A small number of elite troops plus some people who don't know the so-called people's bravery, young and strong, we have to fight down, we still have to have a large number of manpower to maintain and clean up, now I don't have so many manpower to do this, the left and right are in our pockets, take some early, take some later, there is no difference." ”

Zheng Wenchang nodded.

Shi Zhuang stood up and said, "I'll leave it to you here, boom, hit, and keep the pressure on them." Most of the elite people in Hunan are now concentrated here, and their messengers for help are now on their way to Xiangtan and Yiyang, and I should also go. ”

"I wish the general a victory and annihilation of the enemy's main force!" Zheng Wenchang arched his hand.

"With mental calculation or unintentional, in this battle, if I don't fight Ding Sheng and Ding Hao, I will lose all my old capital, it will be in vain for me to waste so much effort." Shi Zhuang said: "By the way, you have to be careful here, but if the enemy generals in Changsha City are still a little sober, they will think about going out of the city to sneak attack to see if they can touch your artillery position." ”

"Although the general can rest assured, Zheng was born as a thief, and what he liked to do most in the past was this kind of business, how could he capsize in the gutter, if they don't come, when they come, I will let him know what it means to beat a dog with meat buns, and there is no return!" Zheng Wenchang said with confidence.

"That's good!" Shi Zhuang nodded, turned around and got off the high platform, and walked away. However, on the high platform, the stone-shaped banner is still flying high.

Changsha City is now almost an empty city.

The troops here have been transferred by Ding Hao to the left, and they are now besieging Ren Xiaonian's department in Xiangtan.

Shi Zhuang attacked Changsha City with a sailor, and his real goal was not this city, but to attract the enemies of Xiangtan and Yiyang with this kind of black tiger's heart.

In the movement, all the elites of Hunan were annihilated.

This is much better than storming an enemy's well-built fortress castle.

What did the Northern Tang army do best? Field.

What was the most equipped weapon of the Northern Tang army?

It's not artillery, grenades, and oil, it's war horses.

In terms of mobility, the Northern Tang army had to throw off any unit of the Southern Alliance by seven or eight streets, and in the process of non-stop maneuvering, it would destroy these southern troops who relied on their feet to measure the distance.

The first thing Shi Zhuang had to deal with was Ding Hao's department in Xiangtan.

The elite troops of the three armies of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Lingnan are concentrated here, and if they can be killed in one battle, it will be a blow to the three local separatist forces in one fell swoop.

Xiangtan is close to Changsha, and when Changsha is attacked, Ding Hao can't help but return to the division to save it. Now Shi Zhuang still doesn't know what kind of situation Ren Xiaonian is, if Ren Xiaonian's troops still have the strength to fight a battle, and they can also attract some of the strength of the coalition army, it will be even better.

Jigong Ridge, the valley between the duck beak ridge, is the burial place chosen by Shi Zhuang for Ding Hao's department.

It is said to be a valley, but in fact, the distance between the two mountains is nearly three miles, and there is a spacious flat land in the middle, and this road is the closest road for Ding Hao's department to return to Changsha, and it is also a wide avenue.

To ambush an opponent here, it is impossible to follow the experience of past wars. But this is also relative to the past, for the current Tang army, their artillery fire can completely cover this valley.

Shi Zhuang's biggest question was whether he could move a sufficient number of artillery pieces to these two places within the scheduled time.

The main force of Zheng Wenchang's naval fleet has thirty wheeled warships, each battleship is equipped with six guns, except for the two main guns on the front and rear decks are too heavy, the four slightly lighter guns on the side have all been dismantled by Shi Zhuang, and 10,000 troops are moving these sunken guns to Jigongling and Yabeak Ridge day and night.

Fortunately, it is very close to Changsha here, only about ten miles away, standing on the ridge, the sound of artillery bombardment from the direction of Changsha can be faintly heard.

The main force of the enemy who returned to the aid was definitely cavalry.

Artillery bombardment is only the first aspect, and the final slaughter will naturally be completed by cavalry. And now Shi Zhuang has no cavalry in his hands, he is waiting for Chen Changping's department from the mouth of the Shuangjiang River.

After Chen Changping led 5,000 cavalry to break through the Shuangjiang estuary, he was rushing all the way here.

Time is also a big enemy of Shi Zhuang.

In case Chen Changping could not arrive in time, it would be difficult for these foot soldiers in Shi Zhuang's hands to stop the opponent's cavalry brigade under such terrain.

You must know that the number of cavalry in Ding Hao's hands is really a lot.

Aside from Ding Hao's own cavalry, there are also Lu Yuan's 5,000 cavalry, as well as the tens of thousands of Jiangxi cavalry brought over by Ji Zhijiang. Qian Shouyi invested a lot of money this time, and almost all the cavalry he could mobilize was put into this battle, if this battle was completely destroyed, then Jiangxi would almost be abolished. Qian Shouyi's 30,000 foot soldiers who blocked Yu Xiaowen's department in Yichun, is it possible that he still wants to go back?

The war has reached this point, it is no longer a local war, but a real all-out war between the Northern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Alliance, and the victory or loss of this battle can determine the fate of the Southern Alliance in the future. If the Southern Alliance loses, Hunan and Jiangxi will inevitably fall completely.

Xiang Zhen's adventurous military action this time was originally intended to stabilize the situation on the front line by annihilating the Northern Tang Dynasty's Right Qianniu Guard, causing the Northern Tang Dynasty to suffer a heavy setback, so as to stabilize the Southern Alliance and carry out internal reforms to carry out a comprehensive confrontation with the Northern Tang Dynasty.

The plan is certainly excellent.

But plans never catch up with change.

Because it is a risk, the probability of failure is very high.

But for Xiang Zhen, he belongs to the helpless side, and if he doesn't take risks, he has no chance at all. Take an adventure and maybe it will be done.

In this, the first thing the Southern Alliance didn't expect was that Ren Xiaonian's department was so defeated, and in the face of a desperate situation, the department was still struggling to support, especially Liu Yuan's department, although the whole army was wiped out, but in the battles again and again, the Hunan army was severely damaged, so that Ding Hao had to mobilize more troops into this battlefield.

The second one I didn't expect was Shi Zhuang's reaction. Under the premise of not getting the authorization of the Northern Tang Dynasty, Shi Zhuang brazenly mobilized the army of his subordinates, and at the same time coordinated the troops of the water division, and made a move to dig out the heart of the black tiger and directly approach the weakness of the opponent.

Originally, Xiang Zhen gave Shi Zhuang a big pie, that is, the first line of Yiyang. In Xiang Zhen's opinion, if Ding Sheng became a piece of fat on Shi Zhuang's mouth if a big flaw was exposed at Shuangjiangkou, Shi Zhuang would definitely swallow this piece of fat first.

In Xiang Zhen's view, of course, Shi Zhuang will take this low-hanging fruit first, so that he can kill two birds with one stone, not only can annihilate the right Qianniuwei, but also clean up Ding Sheng for Ding Hao, laying the foundation for Ding Hao to fully control Hunan in the future.

But Shi Zhuang didn't pay attention to this fragrant fat at all, but set his eyes on Xiangtan, a place where heavy troops gathered.

Xiang Zhen used the idea of an ordinary local general to speculate on Shi Zhuang's idea, and his plan was doomed to collapse.

This is why Shi Zhuang became Li Ze's most valued general.

Because when he is considering problems, he always thinks about how to fight a war from a strategic perspective, rather than simply looking at the vested interests in front of him.

Strictly speaking, Xiang Zhen's idea is not wrong. If it was not Shi Zhuang who was stationed in Yueyang, Hunan, but any other general of the First Guard, Xiang Zhen's plan would be successful nine times out of ten.

How to use people, this is a university question.

Li Ze arranged Li Mi in Eyue, Shi Zhuang in Yueyang, Min Rou in Nanyang, and Zheng Wenchang stationed in Dongting. If the other two places are replaced by Wang Sili, Liu Chenglin and others, I am afraid that Shi Zhuang will not move.