Hong Chengchou understood that most of these people were hungry people, and they came to serve as soldiers when they had no way to live, and it was impossible to count on them to fight tough battles. So he scattered them into battalions, and let the veterans take them with them, lest they be frightened and flee without fighting.

The matter of fighting a war is, to put it bluntly, an emotional problem. As a general, he is not afraid of death, charging ahead, and the soldiers under his command are not afraid of death. Because anyone can work hard, the reason why they don't fight is that there is no desperate environment.

Even in modern warfare, this is the problem. Before many recruits went to the battlefield, they were so frightened that they peed their pants, but once they went to the battlefield, the trumpet of the charge was blown, and the comrades around them rushed forward as if they were not dying, and these recruits were not afraid.

Following the crowd has always been a habit of the Chinese. Therefore, since ancient times, those accomplished generals will pour their spirit into their own troops, so that the entire army is the same as a person.

Hong Chengchou is an accomplished general.

Within five days, he organized a force of 10,000 people, and his morale was also restored, and he stepped up the transfer of five cannons from various counties.

So after a day's rest, on the seventh day, Hong Chengchou took these men and horses and drove to Xi'an.

The meteor scout Ma Fei of the Qin army generally reported to Xi'an and reported to the king of Qin. King Qin also expected that Hong Chengchou would come to recapture Xi'an, but he didn't expect it to be so fast, it seems that Hong Chengchou is indeed extraordinary, and his organizational ability and overall situation are first-class.

He hurriedly summoned Fan Ju, Ziyi, Li Yan, Li Kang and others to come and discuss countermeasures.

Li Yan couldn't help but be shocked when he heard the report that Hong Chengchou had brought five cannons in his army.

King Qin and the others didn't know what the cannon was, and the spies didn't know what it was, but they just inquired. Li Yan is clear. Li Yan is very clear about the things in the world, a few years ago, Yuan Chonghuan used a cannon to wound the Houjin head Nurhachi to death. When he was defending the city in Ningyuan, the Jin army could not attack the city after tens of thousands of cannons, and there were countless casualties.

Cannons are a thing that can be used to defend a city, and the same is true for a siege.

The easiest way to do this is to aim a cannon at the city gate, and it won't take a few shots before the gate will be blasted open. At that time, 10,000 Ming troops poured in, and there were many cavalry, and the thousands of Qin troops in the city were by no means opponents.

Li Yan then suggested to the King of Qin: immediately block all the urn cities and inner city gates in Xi'an City, and prepare more wood and stones to prevent the cannons from collapsing the city walls.

Seeing that Li Yan was speaking very solemnly, King Qin asked, "What is a cannon?" Isn't it a catapult? ”

Li Yan shook his head: "During the Warring States Period, the cannon used by the king was indeed a catapult, and the cannon word at that time was a 'cannon' on the side of the stone character, but since the Tang and Song dynasties, firearms have become popular. Today, artillery is already a very important siege weapon, and no matter how thick the city gate wall is, it can't withstand repeated bombardment by artillery. ”

Ziyi smiled contemptuously: "Li Gongzi, don't be alarmist, those things that come out of the cannons, and the stones are powerful?" Li Yan said: "It is much more powerful, and the catapult is a projectile, the cannon is a direct shot, and the iron bullet fired is extremely powerful, and hitting the stone is like hitting tofu." ”

Ziyi still wanted to refute a few words, but King Qin waved his hand: "Do as Li Gongzi said, and block the city gate first." Ziyi had no choice but to remain silent.

King Qin looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "The spies said that there are more than 10,000 people in the official army, and if they are divided into various gates, each of them is only more than 2,000, and there is no advantage. Therefore, my Qin army cannot be dispersed, Ziyi, you put three hundred men at each city gate, and the rest of the men and horses are assembled in the city, see which gate the official army will attack, and then send reinforcements. ”

Ziyi arched his hand: "Take the order." ”

King Qin looked at Fan Ju: "What strategy does Fan Xiang have to retreat from the enemy?" ”

Fan Ju coughed dryly: "10,000 officers and soldiers, if you want to recapture Xi'an City, that's a dream." What I am afraid of now is not that he will attack the city, but that he will besiege the city. ”

Li Yan also agreed: "After Hong Chengchou's new defeat, I heard that he was recruiting troops everywhere, and half of the 10,000 people in Mali were newly recruited, and their combat effectiveness would not be strong." But if he besieges the city and then continues to send troops to come, then it will be difficult for us to do it. Trapped under the lonely city, sitting on the empty mountain, it will not take a few months, and the city of Xi'an will be self-defeating. ”

Fan Ju said: "With Hong Chengchou's shrewdness, he should be able to think of this trick." However, it is reported that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted him to take Xi'an within a month, and if he did what he was told, there would be nothing to fear. ”

King Qin said: "Then make two preparations, one is to prevent him from attacking the city, and the other is to prevent him from besieging the city." Discuss it for yourselves, and when you have done so, just report it to me. ”

After that, the king of Qin took Li Kang and returned to the governor's mansion.

Li Yan and Fan Juziyi discussed for a while, and finally had a rough countermeasure, and his heart was a little more steady, but he still had one more thing on his mind, that is, the red lady and Xiaoqing, these two girls have not appeared until now, could it be that there was an accident, or are they in the chaos......

He didn't dare to think about it anymore, he could only look forward to the day when the two of them appeared in front of him.

From this day on, the air in Xi'an suddenly became tense, a curfew had been imposed at night, and the soldiers of the Qin army strictly checked the people entering the city at the gate of the city to prevent the fine work of the officials and soldiers from entering the city. Since Hong Chengchou has lived in Xi'an for a long time, no one knows how many eyeliners he has in the city, and what the Qin army can do is not to let these people make trouble in the city and convey intelligence to the outside world. As long as these are prevented, even if there are moles in the city, it will not play a big role.

Sun Chuanting's guess was very accurate, Qin Jun used this trick to take Huayin, how could he be fooled?

The important places in the city were heavily guarded, and there were people watching the powder magazines, armory, granaries, cloth warehouses, silver warehouses, and even wells.

At the same time, all obstacles within a stone's throw outside the city were leveled to clear the shooting boundary. Three of the four gates of Xi'an have been blocked, only the west gate is left to enter and exit, and sandbags and stones have also been prepared on the city wall and in the city gate of the west gate, which can block the gate at any time.

Within two days, Qin Jun's spies reported one after another:

The officers and soldiers are still a hundred miles away......

The officers and troops were only seventy miles away......

The officers and troops were less than fifty miles away from the city......

The officers and troops were within thirty miles......

At this time, the horn sounded in the city, and the west gate slowly closed, no longer allowing people to enter or exit, and then the Qin army began to pile sandbags and stones in front of and behind the city gate, and blocked the gate tightly.

And the Qin army standing on the eastern city wall could already see the banner unfurled in the distance.

Hong Chengchou walked in the Chinese army, riding a chrysanthemum green, came to a high slope, looking at Xi'an City in the distance, his heart fluctuated greatly, a few days ago, he was still the master of Xi'an, and now, he has become a visitor who was turned away, he also heard the horn that sounded in the sky, knowing that the Qin army began to prepare for war, but he was still confident that he would break through the city pass.

The brigade walked unhurriedly until it was five miles away from the city wall, the Chinese army blew the trumpet, and the army stopped. Hong Chengchou ordered the archers to be in front and the shield bearers to follow, and then sent fifty gunners to pull five cannons up, while all the troops were on guard in case the enemy army went out of the city to attack.

The archers walked away from the ground, and the shield-bearers came up to them and put their shields on the ground like an iron wall to protect those behind them.

Several gaps were made in the shield array, where the gunners placed five cannons. The muzzle of the black hole was facing the city wall, and ten gunners were responsible for one cannon, one commanded, one ignited, one inserted the charge line, two were responsible for loading, and the other five were responsible for transporting shells and gunpowder, in an orderly and well-trained manner.

At present, these five cannons are not general cannons, and there are no general cannons in the entire northwest of the Central Plains, but only the big Buddha Lang machine made by the Ming army, which is less powerful than the big general cannon, and it can't shoot flowering shells, but only solid projectiles.

However, Hong Chengchou believed that as long as there were enough shells, the city wall of Xi'an would definitely be able to collapse, and at that time, the numerical superiority of the officers and troops would be revealed.

Today is the nineteenth day of the lunar month, and if it goes well, he will celebrate the New Year in Xi'an. Hong Chengchou has this confidence, and the officers and soldiers under him also have confidence.

Because it was the first time that the official army attacked the city with artillery. The Ming Dynasty was an era of superstition and force, and artillery, which was the most advanced weapon of that era, attacked the city and was overwhelming.