Mengyin County.

Wang Neng led an army of 60,000 when he attacked, and after fleeing back to Mengyin County at this time, there were only more than 30,000 people left in his hands, plus the 20,000 horses left behind by Ye Zongliu's department, there were only more than 50,000 thieves left in the city at this time, and the army of thieves was also shaken and demoralized.

And Liu Juntao led the 5,000 troops of the Yushan Town Guard to the city again, and set up camp outside the south gate of Mengyin County, blocking the thieves of Ye Zongliu's department in the city.

Within two days, Liu Zi'an hurried back with his subordinates, and when he learned that he was not there, the Yushan Town Guards had won a great victory again, and they were also excited.

"Mr. Lian! The Qingzhou Mansion relented and agreed to support us with three artillery! ”

"Good! How many gunners is Qingzhou Mansion going to send? ”

Liu Juntao laughed when he heard this, and secretly said in his heart: "As long as these gunners come, I will leave all these people behind!" ”

For Liu Juntao, in fact, the problem of casting artillery is not big, and the biggest problem in forming an artillery unit is actually the training of gunners.

Although Liu Juntao knows the method of casting artillery, Liu Juntao is still not familiar with how to manipulate ~ make artillery and how to shoot cannons.

"Twelve!"

Liu Juntao nodded and said, "Although the number of people is not much, it is enough!" ”

At this time, Liu Juntao asked again, "When will it arrive?" ”

Liu Zi'an thought for a while and said, "It is estimated that we are on the way here now, seven or eight days at most." ”

Liu Juntao immediately found Zhou Zongsheng and ordered him to lead his troops north to Qingzhou Mansion, rush to meet the artillery team supported by Qingzhou Mansion, and bring back the three artillery pieces and twelve gunners safely.

After Zhou Zongsheng led his troops north, Liu Juntao waited for the arrival of artillery in the camp with peace of mind.

And Ye Zongliu in the city was not so idle, but worked with Wang Neng to seize the time to rectify the remnants of the thieves in the city.

The two of them reorganized all the more than 50,000 thieves in the city, deployed 10,000 thieves to defend each side of the city, and the remaining 10,000 or so thieves concentrated the most elite men and horses in the army and stationed them in the city in case of emergency.

"King! Now that the situation has taken a turn for the worse, should we think about our future plans? ”

After deploying the army, Wang Neng said, looking at Ye Zong's sad appearance, he was also worried in his heart.

"If we can't withstand the onslaught of the people and horses of Yushan Town, it is estimated that this Shandong territory will not be able to stay any longer!"

"Then where else can our brothers go?"

Hearing this, Wang Neng couldn't help but feel a deep despair in his heart.

"Let's go south!"

Ye Zongliu gritted his teeth and said word by word: "Since Shandong can't stay, then let's go back to Jiangnan!" ”

"How to get to Gangnam?"

It's no wonder that Wang Neng has no idea, from Shandong to Jiangnan, there is a southern Zhili in the middle, how can the officials and troops in Nanjing be a rabble? Now how can the remnants of the defeated soldiers in the hands of the two of them rush over!

Ye Zongliu also understood what Wang Neng was worried about, and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, let's not go to Nanzhili, let's go to the sea!" ”

Two days later, Zhou Zongsheng escorted three artillery pieces and twelve gunners from the Qingzhou Mansion back to the camp.

When Liu Juntao heard the news, he hurriedly took Zhang Xiaojun out to greet him, and in front of the young and strong guards around him, he properly settled the twelve gunners, and treated them with good wine and meat, which flattered the twelve gunners.

After settling the twelve gunners, Liu Juntao rushed to the camp to check the three guns.

I saw that the three artillery pieces were all offensive artillery commonly equipped in the Ming army at this time.

In fact, the so-called attack artillery is a kind of small artillery loaded with a wooden car, with two wheels under the wooden car, a car box on the top, and the gun body embedded in it, plus five iron hoops. There are two iron anchors on each side of the carriage, and the iron anchors are placed on the ground and compacted with soil to reduce recoil. When the army is pulled, it can be dragged by mules and horses, and it can be maneuvered with the army.

Liu Juntao took a closer look, and saw that the whole body of these three attack guns was made of fine iron, divided into three models: heaven, earth, and mystery, and each model had one model, and the model to which it belonged was engraved on the cannon body.

The Tianzi weighs about 280 pounds and is 3 feet 5 inches long; The size of the ground is about 200 catties and 3 feet 2 inches long; The Xuanzi weighs one hundred and fifty pounds and is three feet one inch long.

Each gun has a three-wheeled gun cart, with two wheels in front and two feet five inches high, and one wheel in the back, one wheel with a height of one foot and three inches, high in the front and low in the rear, and the muzzle of the gun is high.

Liu Juntao knew that when this kind of attack cannon was fired, each shot should be filled with one and a half or two catties of gunpowder, and then separated by dry soil, and then loaded with three, four, or five catties of gunpowder, one lead, and half a liter of pig iron, and it could be fired at any time.

The maximum firing range of this kind of assault cannon is about one or two miles, and the iron is about three zhang distributed.

"Although it is not the powerful red-clothed cannon, the big Buddha machine and other artillery in the late Ming Dynasty, it can be regarded as better than nothing, at least it is enough to fight against thieves like Ye Zongliu!"

Liu Juntao thought secretly in his heart, so he said to Zhang Xiaojun beside him: "Keep these three artillery pieces properly, early tomorrow morning, let's pull these three artillery pieces outside Mengyin County and try the power of the artillery!" ”

Zhang Xiaojun said with a smile: "Now let's also look at the power of artillery!" It's just, won't we take the opportunity to attack the city tomorrow? ”

Liu Juntao smiled and said, "Then let's see if Ye Zongliu's thief can withstand it!" ”

Early the next morning, the various units of the Yushan Town Guard were drawn in turn, and it didn't take long for them to assemble outside Mengyin County, and all the troops were concentrated outside the south gate of Mengyin County.

Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng hurriedly rushed to the city when they heard the news, looking at the five thousand Yushan Town guards densely lined up for battle, both of them were worried in their hearts, and their faces were extremely ugly.

At this moment, Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng suddenly saw a group of people walking out of the big array in Yushan Town, about twenty people, and everyone was still pushing three or two carts, and there seemed to be something on the cart.

Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng glanced at each other, and they both felt that something was wrong.

When the group advanced a few dozen paces, it finally came to a halt two hundred paces away from the city wall.

At this time, Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng also saw the things on the three or two carts clearly.

"Artillery!"

Ye Zongliu said with a hideous face: "Liu Juntao! Where did he get the artillery! ”

Wang Neng also gritted his teeth and said, "It must have been transported from Qingzhou Mansion!" I also said that Liu Juntao has not moved in the past few days, it turns out that he is waiting for these artillery! ”

"What to do!"

Wang Neng suddenly looked at Ye Zongliu and said, "Can we still hold it?" ”

Ye Zongliu pondered for a long time, and then said in a low voice: "You immediately go and gather the more than 10,000 elite soldiers we have reserved, and now it is the last moment!" ”

Wang Neng suddenly changed color when he heard this, his voice trembled a little, and he said in a low voice: "King, where are we going to find the ship?" This matter needs to be considered in the long run! ”

Ye Zongliu glared at him suddenly, and said fiercely: "Do what I say!" Right away! ”

As soon as the words fell, the three cannons of the Yushan Town Guard outside the city opened fire one after another, and the huge roar sounded crisply and far away, and the three cannons instantly concentrated the southern city wall of Mengyin County, blasting down the rolling stones, and raising bursts of smoke and dust around the southern city wall.

Although this round of shelling did not cause any damage to the thieves defending the city, it dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the thieves.

As the smoke and dust slowly cleared, the thieves at the head of the city saw that the three cannons began to be reloaded, and they would fire again at any time, and they immediately exploded their nests.

"I'm going to die!"

"The city is broken!"

The city was full of people, and Ye Zongliu saw that almost all the subordinates around him were already in chaos, and the city was already in chaos.

"Kill me!"

Ye Zongliu couldn't help but be furious when he saw it, pulled out his waist knife and hacked to death a rout soldier in front of him, and then commanded his cronies around him to cut down the subordinates who fled from the battle.

Blood suddenly flew from the city, and dozens of people died in the blink of an eye, but the chaos of the thieves was temporarily contained.

At this moment, the roar of artillery outside the city sounded again!

"Boom!"

Under the gaze of Ye Zongliu and all the thieves, the three cannons hit the city tower in unison, instantly destroying more than half of the city tower and covering all the nearby thieves underneath!