Compared to the Han Chinese state, which had a large number of iron-making and casting craftsmen, the Daju, who lacked craftsmen, was always weak in iron-forging.

Therefore, only a very small number of senior officers in the Hu army can wear iron armor, most of the Hu soldiers wear self-made leather armor, and some poorer soldiers do not even have leather armor, and go into battle naked.

The leather armor on the Hu soldiers may be able to block the attacks of ordinary knives and arrows, but in front of these lead bullets that can easily hit iron armor, it is as brittle as paper.

Every Hu person who was hit by lead bullets would be seriously injured even if he did not die.

Thumb-sized lead bullets, driven by the critical impact of gunpowder, will cause terrible wounds once they penetrate the human body, ranging from direct fatal to bleeding and difficult to close, and it is impossible to continue fighting.

Due to the distance between the two sides, the hit rate of the musket was not high, but the hit rate of more than 1,600 lead bullets fired at the same time in each wave was no longer important.

If the soldiers had not taken cover, almost every wave of stormy fire could easily bring down three or four hundred men.

What is the concept of three or four hundred casualties? There are only a few thousand people who can stand on the top of the city, and even fewer soldiers who can stand in the front row to shoot arrows, probably only a few hundred.

In other words, each wave of fire in the musket array can directly harvest more than half of the soldiers in the front row, which is really terrifying.

To make matters worse, the musketeers barely stopped firing.

Whenever a wave of shots ends, just wait a few seconds for a second wave of attacks to follow.

Then came the third wave, the fourth wave, the fifth wave...... The Hu soldiers were not given any time or opportunity to breathe at all.

In just half an hour, this continuous continuous firing method caused a large number of casualties to the Hu soldiers on the city.

So much so that in the end, more and more Hu soldiers began to instinctively crouch down for cover.

No longer standing straight on top of the castle as before, relying on the familiar array of arrows to attack the enemy in front of you.

Because they couldn't hit at all, the Northwest musketeers were all standing outside the range of their bows and arrows, and their arrows couldn't shoot that far.

On the other hand, the muskets of the Han people could easily hit them.

This huge gap in range made almost all Hu archers despair.

Seeing that so many archers were squatting down and no longer shooting arrows to fight back, the angry 10,000-strong Chang Tieshan immediately shouted at them: "What are you all squatting for, stand up for me!" Shoot me, shoot these dogs! Shoot them! ”

Hearing Shangguan's order, the Hu archers who were originally squatting at the head of the city did not dare to disobey the order, so they could only take advantage of the gap after the gunfire to stand up together and shoot arrows down at the same time.

For a while, the rain of arrows flew one after another, constantly falling from the city and flying forward, and the momentum was amazing.

However, the result was still the same, most of the arrows failed to fall into the formation of the Northwest Army, and all of them fell to the ground with all their strength halfway.

Only a handful of arrows from a specially made longbow were able to land in front of them. However, due to the distance, the arrows, which were already at the end of the crossbow, could not penetrate the armor worn by the musketeers, and were almost lethal.

At this moment, the musket array of the Northwest Army began to counterattack.

As the musket burst rang out, accompanied by sparks and smoke, a rain of more than 1,600 lead bullets hit the city mercilessly again, almost instantly hitting more than 200 Hu archers who had no time to dodge and cover.

For a while, screams rang out above the city, and the more than 200 Hu soldiers who had been shot immediately fell to the ground and suffered heavy casualties.

Seeing this, the other Hu archers hurriedly crouched down again and used the arrow wall to protect themselves.

When Chang Tieshan saw this scene, he felt both angry and helpless.

He didn't expect that the world-famous continuous archery array that swept across all directions would fall into such an ugly predicament.

At the same time, he involuntarily felt an indescribable sense of panic in his heart.

He vaguely felt that this battlefield was no longer the battlefield he was familiar with, and the war was no longer what he was familiar with.

It was as if something had changed, and it had become elusive and terrifying.

And all this changed in the musket array ahead.

He was not the only one who had this idea, but the Hu generals and staff who stood on the relatively safe city tower and watched the battle were also shocked.

It's not that they haven't seen the firecracker array, because when they attacked Wanzhou not long ago, the Xie family asked the firecrackers to shoot at the city's top of the city.

In that battle, many people already knew that the firebolt was far superior to the bow and arrow in terms of range and lethality.

However, due to the low hit rate of the firecracker, and the Xie family only had more than 3,000 firearms, the casualties caused to the Great Gun were not very high, so many Hu generals felt that this firearm was nothing more than that.

But the gun battle that happened in front of them now completely subverted all previous impressions.

A large musket array of more than 8,000 musketeers, its lethality is truly astonishing.

The archers standing at the head of the city did not even dare to raise their heads, let alone fight back, so they could only shrink under the arrow wall.

And that's not all, according to the heralds at the east, west, and north gates, those three places were also subjected to continuous attacks by musket arrays, and the archers at the head of the city were also suppressed by a heavy rain of bullets.

And the musket arrays in each place were the same as those at the South Gate, with more than 8,000 musketeers firing.

There were more than 8,000 musketeers attacking from the other city at one gate alone, and wouldn't there be more than 32,000 musketeers firing at the same time at the four gates?

The Ning family actually had more than 32,000 muskets?!

This is not good, but it suddenly makes everyone's scalp tingle.

The more than 3,000 firecrackers seized from the Xie family were nothing compared to the Ning family, and the difference between the two was nearly ten times.

Oh my God, how did the Ning family build so many firecrackers in just a few years?

Fortunately, the high walls of the new capital city are thick, and no matter how powerful the firecracker is, it can't shoot through the city gate and city wall, which makes everyone feel more reassured.

"Can we just stand here and be beaten in vain?" A general Hu said angrily.

"Your Highness, didn't we capture thousands of firearms from the Xie family? It's better to use them to deal with the Northwest Army under the city. It's better than nothing at all. One of the staff members suggested.

When the eldest prince Arrob heard this, he immediately agreed: "Good way, just do it." ”

Soon, the thousands of captured Han Chinese firecrackers were brought to the city, and then took the position of the archers and launched a counterattack against the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion under the city.

This trick really worked, although the Hu archers couldn't shoot that far, but the fire guns could.

After a few rounds of fire, more than a dozen musketeers of the Shenji battalion were really wounded.

"Father-in-law, why don't we take thirty steps back from the musket array." Seeing this, Chi Fei went up and whispered.

Ning Zhiyuan nodded, and immediately ordered all the soldiers in the gun forest array to retreat thirty steps.

When the spear formation retreated thirty paces, the effect soon appeared, and the buckshot shot from the head of the city rarely hit people again.

Ning Zhiyuan saw that it was really effective, and couldn't help but laugh and said, "Stinky boy, you really have you." How do you know? ”

Chi Fei replied: "Actually, the reason is very simple, I just observed for a while, and found that the range of these muskets made by the Xie family is not as far as that of our home-made muskets.

It is estimated that the musketeers were afraid of exploding, so they did not dare to add too much gunpowder.

In addition, whether the inner diameter of the barrel is straight enough and the wall light of the tube is not smooth are also a major factor in determining the range of the gun. ”

Chi Fei's speculation can be said to be completely correct.

Because the 3,000 guns made by the Ministry of Industry were not made by simple machine tools like the arsenal in Chifei, which were made by drilling holes one by one, the inner walls of each gun pipe were of different thicknesses.

Once too much gunpowder is added to such a barrel, it is very easy to explode.

In order to prevent the incomparably expensive firearms in their hands from exploding, the firecrackers will subconsciously reduce the amount of gunpowder every time they reload their ammunition.

In this way, although the risk of exploding the chamber is reduced, its range is greatly reduced, and it naturally lags behind the ration of a ration-loaded musket. That's where the gap between the two lies.

Ning Zhiyuan laughed and said: "So that's the case, fortunately, I brought you here this time, you should take a credit."

Meng Ping, keep firing for me, don't let these dogs get complacent any longer. ”

"Yes, sir.

The Shenji battalion obeyed the order and continued to fire. The commander of the Shenji Battalion, Meng Ping, immediately ordered to open fire again.

After the resumption of volley-fire, the musket array, which had a longer firing range, once again showed its might, beating the firecrackers at the head of the city so that they did not even dare to raise their heads, and almost all of them squatted on the ground and trembled, worse than the previous Hu archers.

Seeing that his own firearm had lost its effect so quickly, not only the Hu people in the city, but even An Guogong and the others who were locked in the prisoner car couldn't believe it.

The Xie family didn't expect that the more than 3,000 firecrackers that they had made with all their might would be so vulnerable in front of the Ning family's musket array, and this strong contrast caused a great impact on them who had high hopes for firecrackers.

But at this time, they didn't know that using the musket array to suppress the Hu people in the city was only the first step in the plan, and the next thing was the main thing.

Seeing that the Hu people on the city had been beaten so that they didn't even dare to raise their heads, Ning Zhiyuan gave a new order: to put up a horse formation.

At this time, the Hu people standing at the head of the city clearly saw that there was an obvious abnormal movement from the rear of the Northwest Army.

A large number of civilians in cloth clothes, under the command of the soldiers, came over with flatbed trucks.

On each flatbed, three or four wooden horses are stacked.

The horse rejecting horse, also known as the horse rejecting gun, is composed of about 20 sharpened logs, and the bottom is tied to the bottom as a fixed base wood to form a stable long row of triangles.

Although the structure of the rejection horse is simple, each rejection horse is about one zhang long, as long as a plurality of rejection horses are tied together, it can form the best obstacle to deal with the cavalry charge on the battlefield.

In the century-long war with the Hu people, who were good at horse archery, the rejection of horses was the most used military facility on the battlefield by the Han army.

The civilians used flatbed trucks to drag large numbers of horses to the rear of the musket array, and then quickly unloaded the horses under the command of a large number of soldiers.

Then assist the soldiers to put the horses side by side outside the range of their bows and arrows, and secure them with ropes, making them an increasingly large array of horses.

With these civilians and soldiers out of range of bows and arrows and muskets, and with musket wagons in cover, the Hu people at the head of the city could only watch as they set up a repulsive array beneath the walls, but could do nothing.

Just when the Hu generals were in a hurry, several heralds suddenly rushed to report that a large number of civilians had also appeared at the east, west, and north gates, and a large number of horses were dragged by flatbed trucks, and a large semicircular horse rejection array began to be arranged under the city gate as the center, obviously intending to use this horse rejection array to block the entire city gate and prevent the cavalry from going out.

"Sir, is the Northwest Army planning to use this horse rejection array to seal the city?" The eldest prince Arrob asked with a frown.

"Nine times out of ten, that's true. It seems that Ning Zhiyuan wants to consume us through the lockdown. Mr. Qiu said sharply.

As soon as these words came out, everyone's faces suddenly changed.

"Your Highness, while the Ning family's rejection array has not yet been arranged, it is better for us to break through the siege and get out of the city now."

"Yes, Your Highness, we can't be surrounded in the city and wait for death."

"I also agree to break out now. Although the south gate has the largest number of troops, the other three gates are only guarded by more than 100,000 Han troops, and as long as we concentrate the strength of the whole army, there is a great chance that we will be able to break through from one of them. Your Highness, please make a decision as soon as possible. ”

A number of generals said that they should break through.

"Sir, do you think it's a good idea to break out now?" Reluctant to get Xinjing in his hands, and afraid of being besieged by the Northwest Army, the eldest prince Arobu couldn't help but be in a dilemma, so he habitually sought answers from the most trusted military advisors.

Mr. Qiu said calmly: "Your Highness, if the Ning family really wants to lock down the city, which side do you think consumes more?" ”

"Naturally, it's our side that consumes the most.

Not to mention that we have more than 200,000 Turkic troops to support, and there are still hundreds of thousands of Han people waiting to eat in the city. How can we have so much food and grass to feed so many people? ”

Mr. Qiu asked rhetorically: "Your Highness, have you ever heard of the allusion of the two-legged sheep?" ”

"Two-legged sheep? You mean......" The eldest prince's eyes widened suddenly, and he showed a very surprised expression.

Mr. Qiu said leisurely as if telling a story: "A hundred years ago, when the Great Turk was not yet founded, it was not as easy for the Hu people to fight as it is today.

When King Bayu did not become the king of the Great Turks, he was only the patriarch of the Shazhen clan.

At that time, he had not yet created a siege weapon such as an archery array, so every time he attacked the enemy's city, he had to pay a lot of casualties.

When King Bayu was twenty-eight years old, he was caught in a long and bitter battle against a city-state called Fulan.

At that time, the lord of Foran City devoted the strength of all the soldiers and civilians of the city, relying on the thick walls of the city to defend it for more than three months.

In this war of attrition, King Bayu saw that his food and grass were running out, and if he had no more supplies, he could only be forced to retreat.

King Ranba Yu is worthy of a generation of heroes, not only did he not retreat, but instead ordered all the captives to be made into broth and distributed to his soldiers.

Relying on the flesh and blood of these captives, King Bayu's army finally succeeded in capturing the city of Fulan half a year later, and the Shazhen became the most powerful tribe among the Hu people, laying the foundation for the future unification of the Hu people.

And those who were used for cooking were jokingly called two-legged sheep by the soldiers.

This is where the allusion to the two-legged sheep comes from.

Therefore, it is not unfounded for the Han people to say that Hu people like to eat human flesh.

It's just that in the nearly 100 years since the founding of the Great Turkic country, the southern and northern wars have been conquered, and the soldiers are enough to have enough food and clothing just by looting, so few people have eaten these two sheep anymore.

Now that the Ning family wants to fight a war of attrition with us, why don't we regain the feat of King Bayu back then, and use the hundreds of thousands of two-legged sheep in the city to fight them to the end.

In this way, the Han people in the city will not only not become a burden to us, but will also become a natural food and grass for us to consume the Northwest Army, so why not. ”

After listening to Mr. Qiu's explanation, all the Hu generals and staff couldn't help but feel a tingling feeling on their scalps.

Of course they have heard the allusion of these two legs of sheep.

But that was a long time ago, and it was done as a last resort.

As Mr. Qiu said, in the nearly 100 years since the founding of the country, the southern and northern wars have been conquered, and the soldiers are enough to have enough food and clothing just by looting, so few people have been good at this.

Only some Hu people who are so poor that they have nothing to eat will capture the Han people and eat them as cattle and sheep, but that is only a very small number after all.

Now, someone openly proposes to eat hundreds of thousands of Han people in the city as two sheep's feet, and this person is still a serious Han man, which is really weird and awkward.

The eldest prince Arobu listened, but asked with a glint in his eyes: "Sir, can you really win the Ning family by doing this?" ”

"Yes, Your Highness.

The Ning family brought more than 500,000 Northwest Army over, plus a large number of people, and the daily consumption of grain and grass was definitely a large amount.

Moreover, in order to take care of their reputation, it is impossible for the Ning family to follow us and catch the local people as two-legged sheep and eat them.

In other words, compared to us, the Ning family can't afford it.

As long as they run out of food and grass and have to retreat, it will be the day of our victory.

At that time, this Xinjing, this Jiangnan, can be regarded as truly falling into the hands of His Highness. ”

After thinking about it carefully for a while, the eldest prince Arobu finally slapped the table and said loudly: "Okay, Lone will fight this war of attrition with the Ning family to see who is the winner in the end."

Spread my order, and the whole army guarded the city from top to bottom, and closed its doors. No matter how provocative the Northwest Army is, don't go out of the city to fight.

If anyone violates the order, there will be no forgiveness. ”

"Yes, Your Highness." The generals responded in unison.

After deciding to defend the city, the Hu people began a full-scale lockdown operation.

Not only did they strengthen the garrison of the city gates and walls, but they also put all the Han Chinese people living in the outer city in prison.

When the prison was full, the rest of the people were locked up in houses near the prison.

Then the entire area of the Guanren was guarded by troops on three floors and three outside the area, and no civilians were allowed to come out.

The poor hundreds of thousands of civilians who failed to escape from Xinjing didn't know that the Hu people had already regarded them as two-legged sheep to replace military food after the food in the city ran out.

These civilians will be the first batch of victims, if the Northwest Army has not withdrawn after eating them, then those dignitaries and nobles who live in the inner city who are usually pampered and have fine skin and tender meat will become the second batch of military rations for the Hu people.