After receiving Qin Chuan's early warning, the generals of Xuanda and Da couldn't help laughing, and then continued to mobilize grain and grass, just thinking that this early warning was a joke, and they didn't even bother to strengthen the sentry.

Everyone knows that the imperial court is preparing to use troops against the surnamed Qin, and he suddenly warned Jiannu to knock on the pass at this time, but he just wanted the imperial court to withdraw its troops and defend Xuanda with heavy troops, so that he could escape the catastrophe.

What's more, he is in the hinterland of Luliang Mountain, how can he know the intelligence of Liaodong, how can he know that Jiannu will knock on Xuanda?

The little trick of the prophet of the unknown dares to show it.

After receiving the early warning, Dai Junen, the new governor of Shanxi, did not dare to be careless, and immediately sent a fast horse to Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces.

When Chen Qiyu received the warning, he smiled dumbly and shook his head again and again.

In his opinion, this was just Qin Chuan's little trick to get the imperial court to retreat.

But for the sake of prudence, Chen Qiyu still sent someone to Xuanda and ordered the generals of the two places to send more officials to send outposts outside the border at night.

Then, Chen Qiyu asked Dai Junen to continue to mobilize grain and grass, and when the ice and snow melted, the grain and grass were ready, and all the soldiers and horses were also in place, and then attacked Luliang Mountain in one fell swoop to kill the rebels.

However, this year's weather is colder than last year's, and the snow and ice have not melted for a long time.

It was not until the end of March that the spring snow finally melted.

……

On the fifth day of the fourth month, Zhang Yingchang, the chief soldier of Shanxi, and Yan Siyin, the supervising army, led 3,000 soldiers and horses to march to Luliang Mountain in the area of Yongning Prefecture.

Ni Chong, who was newly transferred to the Shandong General Army, and Yang Jinchao, the supervising army, as well as Zhang Dechang, the Nanjing Chipu General Soldier, that is, Zhang Yingchang's second brother, led a total of 6,000 Shandong soldiers and southern soldiers from Taiyuan to Luliang Mountain, and went straight to Lou Fu.

Zhenxiwei commanded Xue Dongting and Baodezhou town guard general Shi Dekai, and the two led a total of 3,000 soldiers and horses from Lanzhou to Lanxian.

Wang Pu, the new commander of Datong, Lu Jiude, the supervisor of the army, Wang Kun, the supervisor of Xuanfu, Zeng Caofei, the general of the town guard of Xuanfu West Road, and He Sheng, the general of Datong Middle Road, led an army of 30,000 to enter Ningwu Pass from Shuozhou, preparing to attack Ninghua to defend the Qianhu Palace.

After several days of marching, Zhang Yingchang and Yan Siyin arrived at Fangshan Fort, stayed here for the night, and continued their march before dawn the next day.

When they arrived at Mafang Village, the army had to stop.

On the road ahead, there was a military fort.

Although the sentry had already reported the situation of this military fort, Zhang Yingchang and Yan Siyin still widened their eyes when they saw this military fort, and their faces were full of incredulity.

The 3,000 soldiers under their command were also curious, and they talked about the fort.

Because the fort was very peculiar, the wall was not made of masonry, but like a huge stone.

There are many arrow holes in all directions of the city wall from high to low, indicating that the inside is hollow, and there are vaguely seen figures shaking inside.

"Lord Zhang, you have been fighting horses for more than ten years, and you have seen such a military fort?" Looking at it, Yan Siyin couldn't help but ask.

Zhang Yingchang shook his head: "I haven't seen it, let alone such a big strange stone, even the hollow city wall, which is unheard of and unseen." ”

"No matter how big the masonry is, no matter how thick it is, any hollow city wall can be knocked brick by brick, and even, a few barrels of gunpowder can be exploded."

"Oh?"

Yan Siyin's spirit perked up: "In this way, as long as I wait for the shield cart to approach the city wall, I can pry open the gap in this military fort?" ”

"That's right." Zhang Yingchang nodded, "As long as this city wall is not made of stone, it will definitely be able to pry it open, just use a hammer, steel drill, and pry a few bricks, and the rest of the bricks can be knocked open if they have room to move." ”

"However, the walls don't look like they're made of bricks and stones."

"The weird place is here."

"Could it be that Qin Wei deliberately used mud to plaster the wall and lay an illusion?"

"It's possible."

"Either way, you'll know if you try it."

As he spoke, Yan Siyin ordered the army to rest on the spot, and ordered people to cut down trees nearby to build shield carts and large shields.

After working for a long time, two shield carts and dozens of large shields were built, Zhang Yingchang and Yan Siyin ordered the army to set up a formation, picked out hundreds of brave soldiers, and slowly approached the military fort with heavy shield carts and large shields.

This time, in addition to their own dozen Tiger squat cannons, they also transferred three small Fulong machine guns from Fenyang and Yongning Prefecture respectively, which were specially brought to suppress the city's head by firepower.

Now, these cannons are also slowly advancing towards the military fort, ready to be used to suppress the defenders at the head of the city.

Zhang Yingchang and Yan Siyin didn't notice that inside the city wall, there were several people who were constantly estimating the advance route of their artillery team.

It didn't take long for more than a dozen cannons inside the city walls to move and change positions, aim, and adjust angles.

……

The defender of Mafang Fort was Ren Liang, and this was the first time that Qin Chuan had asked him to lead the troops alone.

There are 500 soldiers of the Dragon Martial Arts Battalion in the fort, and many of his former subordinates from the East Huluchuan, especially the backbone officers.

However, Ren Liang didn't have the slightest idea of rebellion.

One is because he is loyal and righteous, and the other is because he knows that following Qin Chuan is more promising than any other force.

In addition to the 500 defenders, Qin Chuan also allocated him a red-clothed general cannon and a big Franc machine gun, five small Franc machines, ten tiger squat cannons, and 30 self-made firearms.

The reason why so many firearms were allocated to him was that he waited for the officers and soldiers to retire and then take the opportunity to seize Fangshan Fort.

It wasn't a military fort, it was a civilian fort.

This civil fort is the northwest gateway to the hinterland of Luliang Mountain, and its strategic position is very important and must be taken.

Ren Liang is very confident in this.

However, he was still a little uneasy about the Mafang Military Fort, even if he had personally tested the strength of the reinforced concrete wall with a hammer, but the wall was too thin, only two feet thick, and he was not sure that it would be able to withstand the bombardment of the opponent's artillery.

Fortunately, this officer and soldier did not carry heavy artillery, and the few Franc machines were only three or four feet of small cannons.

Despite this, Ren Liang still decided not to let the opponent's shield car go, and hit the opponent's artillery first, so as not to collapse the city wall.

Under the dispatch of artillery, more than a dozen cannons within the city walls were already aimed at the predetermined positions.

The artillery team of the officers and soldiers slowly entered one hundred and twenty steps, and when they entered the aiming position, Ren Liang shouted "open the cannon", and then covered his ears.

There were also shouts from the next room, followed by a series of loud bangs, seven tongues of fire erupted, and the thin city wall trembled.

Ren Liang looked solemnly at the surrounding walls and the ceiling above his head, for fear that the reinforced concrete roofs would suddenly collapse.

Fortunately, what Ren Liang was worried about did not appear.

The officers and soldiers outside the city soon fell into blood mold, and three of the seven shells of different sizes whistled past the officers and soldiers, and the other four smashed into the artillery formation, causing Zhang Yingchang's subordinates to roll over on their backs.

The most powerful was the red-coated cannon, which was the size of a fist, and after hitting the gun carriage of a small Furlong cannon, it suddenly poked out diagonally, knocking several officers and soldiers behind it to the ground.

"Reload, after a hundred paces, the tiger squat cannon fires, and the musketeers prepare." Ren Liang shouted again.

On both sides, someone was repeating his command, and it kept spreading to both sides.

The gunners hurriedly cleaned the chamber of the gun, and then stuffed the fixed fiery black gun into the barrel and pressed the large round shell.

Outside the military fort, Zhang Yingchang and Yan Siyin were frozen.

"Hongyi cannon? Is it a Hongyi cannon? ”

Yan Siyin heard that one of the noises was particularly loud, and he couldn't help frowning, and asked with an uneasy expression.

Listening to the sound is very similar to the Hongyi cannon, the shells fired are about the same size as the Hongyi cannon, whistling, and the cannon opens a blank space in the formation of officers and soldiers.

Zhang Yingchang also frowned, and after thinking carefully for a moment, he finally shook his head: "It's not a Hongyi cannon, it should be a cannon built by the surnamed Qin." ”