Xiao Tachi was stunned for a moment and replied: "Nanshan City chokes the key pass of Suzhou, and Nanshan does not go down, how to report the victory?" ”

Guo Baoyi looked at the generals on the left and right, leaned his head closer and whispered: "Xiao Dutong, although Nanshan City is important, it is just a small city with steep terrain. Tieshan Fort is the residence of the marshal of the Han army, and now it has been captured by our army, and it has succeeded in cleaning up the nest of thieves in Suzhou. He looked at the sky above the tent, and said leisurely, "This Nanshan City is a difficult bone to gnaw, seeing that the sea ice is about to melt in a month, Nanshan City can be captured, but it can't be captured, this good news is to be written." ”

Xiao Tachi was silent for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "No matter what happens to Tieshan Fort, if you don't have Kenan Mountain, I don't have the face to write this good news." "The earth mountains outside the city are constantly accumulating, and as long as they reach the height of Nanshan Castle, the cavalry can rush up the city wall along the earth mountain. Although the water dragon siege failed, as long as the artillery battalion's giant cannon had to move forward to within 300 steps of the city wall, Wu Chun guaranteed that it would be almost unmissable. Use 600 catties of stone bullets to test how strong the walls of this Nanshan City are. He raised his hand and drank the oil tea, chewing the tea vigorously in his mouth, as if it was Zhao De's flesh and blood.

Guo Baoyi smiled and stopped persuading. In his opinion, the size of Suzhou occupies a lot of money. The harassment of the coastal areas of the Liao State by the Han army's sailors could have started from various islands. Sticking the army here is the biggest loss of the Liao State. It is better to dig Changhao in the new city north of Suzhou to block the passage of the Han army to the north by land. While waiting for the completion of the naval division of Zhenhai Mansion, to clear the scourge on the sea, it is necessary to rely on the naval division after all.

............

In the Marshal Mansion on Tieshan Island, Han Ningshuang has a white flower on his sideburns. Lu Kui is the most prestigious of the veterans of the Han army, and he is also the one who treats Han Ningshuang best. Although the battle was fierce and the fierce generals would inevitably die, Han Ningshuang still had a colicing pain in his heart.

"Iron Mountain Fort must have a spies!" Zhang Liuge said indignantly, "Endless soft bones!" ”

Wang Xuansu muttered: "What General Zhao said about the early melting of sea ice, but is it true? ”

"That's what he said, who knows!" Sixth Brother Zhang didn't have a good airway. Flag language communication is very simple, and it is not clear what it means to be too complicated. If we do not carefully measure the trend line and compare it with a hot and cool meter, we will not find that this winter is actually warmer than in previous years. Therefore, even Brother Zhang, who is familiar with this sea area, cannot judge the truth of what Zhao Xingde said.

According to Zhao Xingde, taking advantage of the early melting of the sea ice, he broke the ice with artillery and blocked the connection between the Liao army in the north and south of Suzhou Pass. The Han army could mobilize men and horses to counterattack Suzhou Guannan, so that the Liao army would suffer a big loss. It's just that it is not a simple matter to concentrate the army on Iron Mountain Island in advance.

"The Liao dog who conquered the Iron Mountain Fort is still stationed there, right?"

After being silent for a long time, Han Ningshuang asked coldly.

"Exactly," Sixth Brother Zhang nodded, "In addition, there are more than 20,000 Liao dogs besieging Nanshan City in the south. ”

"That's good," Han Ningshuang said in a deep voice, "Arrange for the brothers of all departments to gather on Tieshan Island." We are ready to avenge General Lu! "Outside the window, the north wind is still blowing low, and it is still dripping into ice, who would have guessed that this year's sea ice will melt early. However, Han Ningshuang has an inexplicable trust in Zhao Xingde.

............

A few days later, Wu Chun, the commander of the artillery battalion, reported that the shield cart specially made for the 10,000-pound iron barrel cannon had been completed, and as soon as the road was smoothed, the position of the giant cannon could be moved forward. Xiao Tachi went to watch it in person, and at first glance, he was full of praise. The shield chariot was one zhang high, ten zhang long and ten zhang wide, like a small hill. Not only was the tens of thousands of pounds of huge cannons shrouded in it, but the gunners and drivers were hiding in the shield carts. Even the oxen and horses that dragged the cannons and the shield cart were also enclosed in this shield cart. The front, sides, and roof of the shield cart were all arranged together with logs, tightly bound with iron hoops. Under the shield car, countless wheels were also made of giant wood, with a layer of iron rings on the outside of the wheels, and the axles were made of fine iron. The cannon cart and the shield cart were already connected, pulled together by hundreds of horses in the shield cart, and the gun cart was untied when they arrived at the place. These horses belong to the artillery battalion, but they have long been accustomed to the sound of artillery, and they only need to be blindfolded, even if they pull down the battlefield, they will not be shocked.

The shield cart itself was extremely heavy, and Wu Chun calculated the weight of the log and the strength to pull the cattle and horses, coupled with the benefits of the slippery ice surface, to achieve the thickness of the outer layer of the guard plate to the extreme. Only in the middle of winter, when the land is frozen hard, will it not sink into the ground. Otherwise, it will be difficult to move an inch. After the shield car was made, Wu Chun tried it several times with the iron bucket cannon in the battalion, and ordinary stone shells could not destroy this big guy, and there were no giant iron bucket cannons in Nanshan City that fired hundreds of catties of stone shells. After seeing this result, the Liao army, including Xiao Tachi, was a little confident. Guo Baoyi couldn't help but think that if he could really capture Nanshan and do his best, it would be better to repay His Majesty for success.

In the next few days, the Liao army attacked the city and cleared the roads at the same time. Slightly rough places, leveled at all costs. These changes of the Liao army, together with the huge shield carts, the Han army did not feel strange when they saw it. "These Liao dogs are in a hurry, and they can even think of the ghost idea of watering the city." Du Fujiao pouted while sharpening his knife, "It's probably a siege tower, but it's only one zhang high, and it has to be built a little higher before it can get in through the cannon hole." He tried the blade with his thumb, slashed it twice, and said with a smile: "Just one knife!" All the sword and shield men burst out laughing. In less than a month, the sea ice is about to melt, and the Liao army has only now remembered to build a siege tower, which is inevitably a little late.

"The stone thrower, the tank of oil are ready." Tong Yunjie looked at those behemoths and ordered coldly. Dealing with wooden siege towers is easiest to set fire to oil cans. The stone throwers stored in the city came in handy.

"Ready!"

The Han army below said with a smile, although the Liao army's offensive was fierce during this period, it did not pose any real threat to Nanshan City. Most of the time, the Han army opened fire quickly in the fortifications of the enemy's platform and attached forts, and although tired, the casualties were almost negligible compared with those of the Liao army. The city is rich in reserves, and the generals below Zhao Xingde eat the same things as the soldiers who defend the city. Three meals a day, meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables, some soldiers have never eaten such a sumptuous food, and even secretly hope that such a day can continue.

With the sound of siege horns, the turtle-like thing moved slowly, and more than thirty phalanxes were slowly advancing in front of and behind it. The Han army roughly calculated, in this direction, the Liao army used about 20,000 troops to attack the city. Since only about 2,000 siegers could be deployed under one wall, and any number of casualties would only increase, this meant that the enemy would attack in turns, and the attack would last from morning to night. The generals of the Han army in various enemy stations are reminding their soldiers that there will be a bitter battle today. The guy in the back prepared steamed buns early and prepared to send war meals to the city wall. After two months of fierce fighting, the offensive and defensive sides became more and more like a pair of brothers, and they could clearly understand each other's moves.

Zhao Xingde watched the low "siege tower" move slowly. "Turtle Shell" is the nickname given to it by the Han army. It's so big and boxy, but there's no sign of it from the outside. The siege equipment such as shield carts, goose carts, and ladders next to it was like a child's toy. A dark cloud surged into Zhao Xingde's heart: "Under the condition that the strength of the ox horse is fixed, if the height of this "siege tower" is only a fraction of the usual one, then will the enemy use all the weight to thicken the shell, or even increase it to several times the thickness of the wooden shell of the ordinary siege tower?" He used a clairvoyant mirror to carefully observe the ruts left behind the "siege tower". Even on the hard frozen soil, there were still wide and deep ruts, proving Zhao Xingde's guess.

"Four-inch cannon, solid shells, double charge - smash the turtle shell!"

A moment later, "boom-" "boom-" several cannon shots, and three round iron solid bullets roared towards the "turtle shell". Under the attention of tens of thousands of Liao troops under the city wall, Xiao Tachi's heart, who was supervising the battle in the back, hung up. Wu Chun, the commander of the artillery battalion, was unaware of it, and inside the shield cart, huge cannons, ammunition, hundreds of horses and soldiers were crowded together. I don't know if it's because the space is too small, or because of irritability, Wu Chun is also sweating profusely in these cold days. He looked at the horses as if he were a father and mother, for fear that something would suddenly go wrong with one of them.

The Han army on the city wall, and the eyes of the Han generals in the enemy platform were also drawn by these shells, and they followed them through several beautiful arcs, and smashed them accurately and fiercely on the "turtle shell". In the past two months, the enemy gunners in Nanshan City have fired countless projectiles, and their shooting skills have become better and better, and they have not missed a single shot!

"Pretty—"

Liu Zhijian had not had time to finish shouting this sentence just now, but he was surprised to see that the cannonball weighing ten catties could easily knock an ordinary shield car into sawdust and penetrate dozens of soldiers. The solid bullet of the four-inch cannon was the most penetrating in Nanshan City, and it couldn't penetrate it at all except for rubbing out some sawdust, but it only made "it" seem to hesitate for a moment, and then began to move forward slowly.

At this moment, Du Fujiao almost thought that he was dazzled, and then, he slammed his fist viciously on the city wall and shouted: "Come on! The sword and shield men defending the enemy stand up one after another, waiting for it to approach.

"Prepare to throw the oil!"

Tong Yunjie ordered, and more than a dozen stone throwers were pushed to the inside of the city wall, and the pottery jars were filled with fire oil. Because the range of the trebuchet was limited, it only waited for the enemy's "siege tower" to come within 50 paces of the city wall, and then threw out the canister of fire.