While coughing violently, An Guogong still tried to keep his eyes open and stared at the musket in the hand of the musketeer closest to him.

He wanted to see what was the difference between the Ning family's muskets and the firecrackers made by their Xie family, and why they could shoot lead bullets without being ignited by the fire rope.

Ning Zhiyuan saw that the old thief's eyes were about to fall out, and he couldn't help laughing: "I said Xie Laogou, you seem to be very interested in my musket, do you want you to touch it with your own hands?" ”

An Guogong really wanted to touch the musket with his own hands, but he didn't want to be humiliated in public by his rival, so he could only say stiffly: "It's just a firecracker, what's the big deal."

I'm just curious, when did you start making these firecrackers?

Could it be that when Emperor Jing'an was still alive, your Ning family already had the intention of rebellion? ”

An Guogong is accustomed to treating others with himself, and wishful thinking that the reason why the Ning family hides so many muskets must have been premeditated, and he has been preparing for rebellion since many years ago.

"Fuck your shit, do I think everyone is just like you?

If it weren't for your hard work, why would my Ning family have betrayed the court and gone away. ”

The word "you" naturally includes Emperor Jing'an himself, but it is inconvenient to say it too clearly in public.

Although Ning Zhiyuan transferred all the musketeers from the east, west, and north gates, he was not worried that the Hu people would break through and escape from those three places.

Because the three city gates not only laid a thick double-layer horse rejection array, but also had 300,000 troops led by Li Dingbei, Xiao Zhijian and other battlefield veterans to defend them, it was impossible for the Hu people to ride through on horseback.

If the Hu people would rather give up their horses than stubbornly turn over the horse rejection array to fight with the Northwest Army, then there is no need to worry.

In each army guarding the gates, there are thousands of flowering bullets as their backs.

As long as the Hu people appeared, these flowering bombs were enough to blow them up to the point where they cried and cried and had nowhere to escape.

That's why Ning Zhiyuan will rest assured and boldly transfer all the musketeers to the south gate, preparing for the next siege battle.

This plan of "shutting down the door and fighting dogs" is a tactic that Ning Zhiyuan, Zhang Wenxuan, Chi Fei and others have deduced many times, the purpose is to lock up this main force of the Hu people, who are good at riding and archery, and come and go like the wind, in the city, so as to prevent them from having the opportunity to flee in all directions and cause trouble to the Central Plains.

Now that the most critical step of "closing the door" has been completed, it is the turn of "fighting dogs".

Half an hour later, the more than 32,000 musketeers who had assembled had been fully equipped and the ammunition they were carrying had been replenished, ready for battle.

Seeing that the musketeers were ready, Ning Zhiyuan gave a new order, "Meng Ping, get on the gun." ”

"Yes, Marshal."

Meng Ping, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, immediately raised the black flag in his hand and ordered loudly: "The artillery team of the Shenji Battalion obeys the order and fires the artillery." ”

After the order was passed down, an artillery team of more than a thousand people came over with more than thirty cannons.

The four members of the Xie family, who were sitting in the prisoner car, looked up and saw that these cannons were no different from ordinary cannons for defending the city, but their bases were quite special.

The car used to mount the cannon has four wheels, and the large barrel is mounted in the center of the body, which is very conspicuous.

More than 30 cannons lined up on the battlefield, and the muzzles of the cannons all pointed in the direction of the city.

Could it be that the Ning family wants to use artillery to bombard the city?

Seeing this scene, not only the four members of the Xie family thought so, but even the Hu generals standing at the head of the city couldn't help but have this idea.

"Your Highness, it seems that the Ning family wants to bombard us with cannons." Hu Dutong Akay said to the eldest prince Arrob.

The eldest prince Arobu said disapprehantly: "It's okay, the Han cannons can't hit so high, at most they can only hit the city wall."

Since they want to hit us with artillery, then we can also hit them with artillery.

Come on, aim the cannons at the head of the city and shoot at them. ”

Hu Dutong Akayi said with some embarrassment: "Your Highness, we will not use Han cannons. Why don't we find out if there are any people who can use cannons from the Han captives. ”

"Okay, you hurry up and find someone to come over, without further ado."

"Yes, Your Highness." After receiving the order, Tak Akay immediately called someone to do this.

On the other side, An Guogong Xie Mingshun, who was in the prisoner car, deliberately mocked: "Ning Zhiyuan, although your artillery array looks majestic, it actually has no effect at all. You don't think that the Hu people will be frightened by the sound of your cannons, do you? ”

Ning Zhiyuan said indifferently: "Xie Laogou, whether my artillery array has any effect or not, you just have to watch carefully."

Meng Ping, began to test the gun. ”

"Yes, sir.

The artillery team of the Shenji Battalion obeyed the order and began to test the three cannons in the center. ”

With the order of Meng Ping, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, the artillerymen standing in the center of the artillery array immediately loaded the three cannons mounted on the car with gunpowder and solid shells respectively with skillful movements.

Since the cannons at this time were all front-loaded, it was more troublesome to load, and it took a long time for the artillerymen to complete the loading.

After the three cannons were loaded, Meng Ping immediately ordered the cannons to be fired.

Rumble......

Rumble......

Rumble......

With three loud bangs, three solid cannonballs shot out of each of the muzzles, and then hit the thick walls hard. It is indeed more than powerful, but it has hardly any deterrent effect.

Seeing that the cannonballs really couldn't hit the city, the generals of the Hu people were finally relieved.

An Guogong, who also saw this scene, was just about to say a few more words of ridicule, but Meng Ping, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, suddenly said loudly: "Replace the railing, three feet and four inches." ”

The artillerymen who were responsible for operating the three cannons immediately divided their work, and the two jumped on the gun cart to lift the heavy barrel tip together, and then the soldiers below took the steeplechase under the barrel out of the groove and replaced it with a higher one.

After all this was done, Meng Ping continued to order the artillerymen to start testing the artillery.

Rumble......

Rumble......

Rumble......

It didn't take long for three loud bangs to sound again.

But this time, to the great surprise of the four members of the Xie family, the cannonball was obviously much higher than the previous one, and it was only a distance of a person to hit the city.

"Replace the steeplechase board, three feet six inches." Meng Ping ordered again.

The artillerymen immediately followed the order and switched to higher railings.

Seeing this, the four members of the Xie family have already understood.

The Northwest Army increased the height of the cannons by replacing the higher railings again and again until they could reach the city.

Their guesses are largely correct.

Since the cannons of this era were generally mounted on high castle heads, and they also hit the enemy under the city walls, there was no need to consider the elevation angle at all, just bombard from above.

On the other hand, if you want to bombard the enemy with cannons from below the city walls, you must have a high elevation angle, otherwise the cannonballs will only hit the city walls and have no effect.

Therefore, Chi Feicai and the craftsmen took great pains to design and manufacture this gun carriage, not only to fix the cannon itself, but more importantly, to improve the elevation angle of the cannon.

As for how to increase the elevation angle of the gun body, the principle is actually very simple.

Just raise the weight-bearing steeplechase under the barrel until it reaches the right height.

It was this simple and ingenious design that greatly increased the firing angle of the cannon.

In addition, the overall weight of each floor gun, Chi Fei also tried his best to be as heavy as a solid cannonball.

The advantage of this is that after testing with solid shells and determining the angle of shelling, there is no need to readjust the angle due to the difference in the weight of the two shells.

When Meng Ping changed the railing for the third time, the cannonballs of the three cannons were finally able to accurately land on the top of the city through a parabola, killing several Hu soldiers in an instant.

This suddenly made the faces of the Hu people in the city change greatly.

After obtaining the accurate parameters, Meng Ping immediately asked all the artillerymen to replace the gun carriages with steeplechapiers of the same size, and then asked them to make minor adjustments while testing with solid shells.

When more than 30 cannons lined up and shelled in the direction of the city head one after another, it suddenly made a group of Hu people at the head of the city lie.

Although each solid shell can only kill one or two people when it falls, like a bullet hitting a mosquito. But for the Hu defenders, it is still a great threat.

Many Hu people could only look their attention to the sky, hoping to avoid the falling cannonballs.

Seeing that the Hu people on the city were already in a mess, Meng Ping said to Ning Zhiyuan: "Dashuai, you can change the ground cannon." ”

Ning Zhiyuan, who was looking at the happy, waved his hand and said, "Then what are you waiting for, change to a floor cannon." ”

"Yes, sir.

The artillery team of the Shenji Battalion obeyed the order and changed to ground guns. ”

The artillery crews immediately stopped shelling, and then replaced the solid shells with semi-circular conical floor guns.

Ning Zhiyuan looked at An Guogong with a smug face and said, "Xie Laogou, you show me clearly, the show is about to start."

Sons, hit me hard. ”

Meng Ping immediately ordered the artillerymen to open fire.

When the first semicircular cone-shaped floor cannon landed on the city, the nearest Hu soldiers immediately ran away in bird's sleep.

The landing cannon that failed to hit the person smashed straight on the floor of the city, and then suddenly there was a loud bang, the flames soared into the sky, and the huge bullet body exploded completely.

The scope of the explosion was very large, and almost all the Hu people within a few tens of meters were affected.

The huge heat wave overturned many Hu people, and many more Hu people were directly injured or killed.

This explosion alone directly caused dozens of casualties among the Hu people.

This sudden explosion stunned all the Hu generals and staff, including the eldest prince Arobu, and no one knew what was happening.

But before they could react, a series of explosions soon rang out.

Above the entire city, the flames and smoke rose to the sky, like a purgatory on earth.

Countless Hu soldiers were shattered and flesh and blood flew in these sudden explosions.

Due to the dense smoke around him, it was impossible to see the situation inside, and only the deafening explosions, the screams and cries of the soldiers could be heard.

Under this kind of explosion, which was like thunder and thunder, the Hu soldiers who were not afraid of death were all frightened. Everyone didn't know what to do except rush around like headless flies.

It was only then that the eldest prince Arobu and the others slowly saw that the original culprits that caused the explosion were those strange shells that kept flying up from below.

Every strange-looking cannonball explodes violently when it hits the ground.

Could it be that this is the Ning family's ghost thunder?!

A group of Hu generals who had been frightened to the point of turning pale all came up with this idea.

As one cannonball after another fell from the sky and exploded, the entire city suddenly became a hell of fireworks.

A large number of Hu soldiers were blown to a blur of flesh and blood, and countless human stumps were scattered everywhere.

All the Hu people who could still move ran around like crazy, and some even jumped directly from the city tower in a panic.

"Your Highness, we can't let them blow up any more, or the city will be flattened." Seeing that the city was full of Hu soldiers fleeing in a panic like headless flies, Akay hurriedly said.

"Retreat, let the soldiers retreat to the stairs, retreat!" The eldest prince Arobu gave the order with a pale face.

So, under the loud shouting orders of the generals, all the Hu soldiers who were still alive at the head of the city hurriedly retreated to the stairs, which avoided the consequences of constant bombardment.

Seeing the Hu soldiers scurrying around the city as if they were burning ant nests, all the generals of the Northwest Army were excited.

Especially Ning Zhiyuan, who was full of confidence and expectation for the new firearm such as the floor gun, was even more blue and happy.

The reason why Ning Zhiyuan didn't use a landing cannon when he first attacked the city was because he didn't want to frighten the Hu people. Frightened, they jumped over the wall and forcibly escaped from other city gates, affecting his plan to close the door and beat the dog.

Now that the horse rejection arrays at the eastern, western, and northern city gates have all been erected, the Hu people have no chance to go out of the city again.

The main army of more than 200,000 Hu people has become a turtle in the urn, and it is the best time to use the ground artillery to bombard his mother, so that these jackals outside the gate who are in trouble in the Central Plains will not return.

At the same time, seeing the explosions and smoke constantly appearing above the city, the four members of the Xie family in the prisoner car were all stunned. This scene was completely beyond their imagination.

"Ning Zhiyuan, what kind of magic are you using?" An Guogong Xie Mingshun looked at his rival with a fierce look as if he was about to eat people.

Ning Zhiyuan looked up to the sky and laughed: "Xie Laogou, you can't think of it, right?" I can't imagine that my Ning family still has such a big killing weapon hidden.

You should be glad that it was the Hu people who were against us at the beginning, not our Ning family.

Otherwise, even if your Xie family regains the courage of the past, is there still a way to survive in the face of a big killer like me?

Blow it up, blow it up for me! I want the Hu people to pee their pants as soon as they see the banner of our Northwest Army in the future. ”

Meng Ping and his artillery team had long wanted to make a move against the Hu people, so they naturally made every effort to continue bombing the city.

In this way, a cannon array of more than 30 cannons poured bombs on the top of the city, and soon the whole city was blown into a blank field.

None of the Hu soldiers dared to stay in the city, and they all cowered in the rear as if they were about to doom, watching all this in great horror.

Seeing that the Hu people on the city had all been blown away, Ning Zhiyuan immediately ordered loudly: "Sons, knock open the city gate for Lao Tzu." We will kill all the dogs and recover the Central Plains! ”

"Kill all the dogs and recover the Central Plains!"

"Kill all the dogs and recover the Central Plains!"

"Kill all the dogs and recover the Central Plains!"

The more than 200,000 soldiers in the northwest standing behind the artillery array shouted in unison with high morale, and the momentum was astonishing and deafening.

Seeing the city head constantly being bombarded by artillery arrays, as well as the shocking shouts of killing, An Guogong Xie Mingshun finally had an extremely desperate expression on his face, and even completely lost his mocking mood.

With such firearms and such a strong army, the Ning family is already truly invincible in the world, and the Hu people are just a bunch of miscellaneous pieces in front of them.

Thinking of all the efforts and calculations he had made over the years to let the Xie family sit on that chair, An Guogong Xie Mingshun suddenly felt ridiculous and sad.

It turned out that in the end, their Xie family was just making wedding clothes for others.