Li Dingguo was scolded by him, his face suddenly turned red, and the upright character of the people of northern Shaanxi was aroused by Li Xiao, he looked at Li Xiao with hatred, and shouted loudly: "If my father-in-law can't capture this Iron Dragon City, then a certain family is at your disposal!" ”

"Okay, Dingguo is a cheerful person, and the official also said bluntly, if Zhang Xianzhong is defeated by our army, are you willing to surrender to me sincerely?" Li Xiao's eyes burned and he asked. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Li Dingguo hesitated for a long time with heavy breathing, and nodded slightly.

"Very good, what the official wants, that's what you say!" Li Xiao laughed, then said no more, turned around and went out.

Li Xiao is a cautious person.

Since returning to Iron Dragon City, in addition to checking the production progress of the earth-shattering thunder that Li Xiao is most concerned about, another major event is to clear the strong walls of Shanxian County.

Li Xiao did this not only to protect the people from the poison of the war, but also to prevent the materials of these villagers from being used by the rogues.

Zhao Yanqing, the county commander of Shanxian County, strongly opposed this matter, saying that it was now the agricultural time, and Li Xiao's work would cause chaos in Shanxian County's livelihood, so he resolutely did not cooperate with Li Xiao to carry out his work.

Li Xiao had no choice but to force Zhao Yanqing to issue a relocation order through Nicheng, the prefect of Yanzhou, and ordered the villagers and villagers in Shanxian County to transfer to Tielong City with all their food and belongings.

Originally, Li Xiao considered that the defense of Shanxian County was insufficient, and he also wanted to transfer the residents of Shanxian County to Tielong City, but Li Xiao's move was regarded as a blatant act of seizing power by the narrow-minded county commander Zhao Yanqing, and he was desperately opposed, Li Xiao had no choice but to give up such an idea.

In the end, within three days, more than 20,000 residents of Shanxian townships and towns, with the assistance of the soldiers sent by Li Xiao, moved into Tielong City one after another with grain, livestock, and household belongings.

Next, Li Xiao gave another order.

That is, in the Iron Dragon City, all the new people who have come in, and the new people who do not have the waist card of the Iron Dragon City, are under the centralized supervision of several teams of auxiliary soldiers, and they are not allowed to walk on the street at will.

The purpose of this is to prevent the enemy from infiltrating the enemy army to act as spies, pretend to be civilians, and wreak havoc in the city, and even echo with the enemy army besieging the city inside and outside. This is a measure that cannot be prevented.

Wu Liang, the director of Iron Man City, was very similar to Li Xiao's approach, and he said: "Commander Li makes such a move, which is really extremely necessary. Wu also heard that thieves make good use of fine work, or carry medicine sacs and yarrow Cai for medical divination, or stream yellow crowns, or beggars, or wanderers and stragglers, in order to observe the reality of each city, and latent for the city. They do good in the open, but they destroy in secret, and they go to and from the city, and it is difficult to know the details. Now restricting them from walking on the streets, but it can greatly protect the peace and tranquility in our Iron Dragon City, and there is no worry about internal troubles. ”

Seeing him interject, Li Xiao hurriedly nodded and said, "Mr. Wu's words are exactly what the official intended. This official believes that in the next few days, the matter of concentrating displaced people in the city and cleaning up the streets can be carried out by Mr. Wu and the entire Tielong City Public Security Brigade. ”

Wu Liang readily agreed.

When arranging all the things in the city, Li Xiao began to arrange the city defense guards at the same time.

Now in the Iron Dragon City, there are a total of two total men and horses of the Red Phoenix and the Iron Dragon, the two total men and horses combined, there are about 8,000 soldiers and horses defending the city, a total of 20 teams of 20 shield soldiers of 20 people, 40 teams of spearmen of more than 4080 people, 400 people of the rampant team, 260 people of Xuanhu heavy cavalry, 260 people of flying harriers, 50 people of Lu Mi gunners, 20 artillery pieces of various types, and nearly 2,000 auxiliary soldiers.

Because the south of the Iron Dragon City is the Taihang Embankment River, so only the east, west, and north three city walls to focus on defense, Li Xiao arranged, the east gate city wall is guarded by himself, the north is guarded by Tian Wei, the chief of Chifeng, and the west is guarded by Wang Yishou, the chief of Tielong.

He then divided the infantry evenly among the east, west, and north walls, so that there were 6 shieldmen on each wall and 13 spearmen on each wall, and only one shield and one spearmen on the southern wall.

Lu Mi and the rampant team, Li Xiao all stayed on the east wall guarded by himself in order to respond and move.

Those artillery units are Li Xiao's city wall, with 6 Hongyi cannons, and the rest of the west and north are arranged with 7 artillery pieces such as Franc machine or tiger squat cannon.

The more than 2,000 auxiliary soldiers were assigned more than 600 people to each city wall to assist in the defense of the city such as pouring gold juice and throwing earth-shaking thunder.

The entire cavalry, as the last mobile force, was on standby in the city.

At the same time, outside the west gate, outside the south gate, and outside the north gate, a large number of pits have been dug, and a large number of iron spikes have been buried in the pits, which are covered with floating soil, and the excavated floating soil is piled up on the side of the pit to form an uneven ground situation, which increases the difficulty of the enemy's attack.

In the city, Wu Liang, the supervisor, selected hundreds of innocent people to form a transport team, which was cooperating with the troops to carry the materials and ordnance to defend the city, as well as transport the wounded.

The day before Zhang Xianzhong arrived at the Iron Dragon City, at the head of the Iron Dragon City, on all the city walls, the troops and artillery had been planned and placed, and all kinds of artillery ammunition, fecal gold juice, earth-shaking thunder, smashing ladder hammers, etc., had been prepared.

Accompanied by the guards, Li Xiao saw that the defenses of the various cities in Iron Dragon City were already strict and orderly, and he was extremely satisfied.

After being busy these days, Li Xiao, who was covered with dust and mud all over his head, had a full meal of meat with all the soldiers and made physical preparations for the upcoming big battle. The soldiers gathered around Li Xiao, everyone saw the light of perseverance and confidence flickering from each other's eyes.

Seven days passed quickly.

As night approached, all the defenders heard a tumultuous sound from the darkness like a rushing stream of water.

Li Xiao was excited, and he was lying on his clothes, and stood up with a bullet.

He knew what the sound of running water was, the thin and grand footsteps of thousands of legs as they marched through the night!

From a distance, the torches like fire dragons are particularly eye-catching in this cold spring night.

Zhang Xianzhong's department is finally here.

"Attention all the soldiers, the rogues have arrived, get ready quickly!" Li Xiao yelled.

"Order!"

On this rather cold early spring night, the originally quiet Iron Dragon City was immediately filled with noise and shouting, and the sound of iron armor rubbing against each other and the clanging of swords was endless. At the same time, lanterns were quickly lit, and soon the whole city was as bright as day.

When the guards in various parts of Iron Dragon City were getting ready, the footsteps on the opposite side stopped for a moment, and the torches that were high in the morning were gradually extinguished, as if everything just now was just illusory.

Li Xiao looked around, but he was never able to see the slightest movement of the rogue army through the dark night.

"My lord, the night is dark now, the enemy soldiers are here, I don't know the truth of our army, it is estimated that it will be after dawn before attacking."

Li Xiao turned his head and saw that it was Chen Zilong, a staff member, who said this.

Chen Zilong had returned from his hometown with his wife and servants the day before yesterday, and because he had entered the Shandong border along Huai'an Mansion, he had not encountered the rogue troops along the way, which could be described as quite lucky.

Seeing his heavy expression, Li Xiao smiled faintly: "Mr. Wozi is right, the enemy soldiers can indeed stay until dawn before attacking the city, but our army must not underestimate the enemy." ”

He immediately ordered that all the soldiers who stayed behind at night should be arranged on the city walls, and they should try to stay vigilant and prevent them from dozing off by receiving arrows.

On the Iron Dragon City, calm gradually returned to the same place.

Li Xiao next to him was already leaning against the city wall with his eyes closed and his clothes, and even snoring slightly.

And Chen Zilong, who has just experienced the battle array, has all kinds of fantasies about the war, but he is so excited that he can't sleep.

What will the big war be like tomorrow?

Chen Zilong, who tossed and turned, finally survived until dawn.

A few traces of clouds rolled in the sky, and a dazzling red color suddenly appeared in the sky of the extreme east.

The day finally dawned.

The cold breeze of the early morning swept the heavy water vapor on the Taihang Embankment River through the faces of every soldier. Immediately, a piercing swan horn sounded, and all the soldiers defending the city got up one after another, and began to eat dry food while preparing for battle.

Li Xiao nibbled on two dry and hard coarse buns, frowned, and stared at the Liukou Great Array on the other side of the Taihang Embankment River.

Chen Zilong, who was next to him, was full of shock.

Chen Zilong was deeply shocked by the army of rogues in front of him.

As the saying goes, once there are more than 10,000 people, there is no boundary, and the army of more than 50,000 people has almost covered the visible range on the opposite side of the Taihang Embankment, and there is no edge at all. At a glance, I saw that there were mountains of people everywhere, and swords and guns were like forests, giving people a strong spiritual coercion.

Many of the soldiers defending the city, seeing the military appearance of the Liukou, were also full of heavy faces, they forced their composure, but the muscles on their faces twitched slightly. What's worse is that some of the new recruits, many of whom are shaking their legs.

As Li Xiao had envisioned, those rogues quickly judged the situation and began to split into two roads, wading through the water from the west and east of the Taihang Embankment River.

After about two hours, the army of more than 50,000 rogues finally crossed.

Zhang Xianzhong finally crossed the river with his entourage, and after sighing that the Iron Dragon City in front of him was so majestic and lofty, his face was full of pride and contempt, and he sneered from time to time.

"Ming Gouzi has this ability, he can only rely on the city to protect himself, but he doesn't dare to come out and fight with our army, it's really fucking useless." Zhang Xianzhong stroked his thick long beard and said with a sneer.

All the generals on the side laughed, and the general Feng Shuangli said to Zhang Xianzhong with a sneer: "The eight kings are famous, if you report your name, I am afraid that this Ming general who guards the city will be scared to urine." ”

Zhang Xianzhong's face showed a smug expression, but soon a trace of frustration appeared on his face: "Alas, I want to come to Dingguo'er, although I am young, but I am a brave general who has experienced a hundred battles, how can I be caught by this Li Xiao, who has no reputation, it is really puzzling, and it is really hateful." ”

Soon, his face shook, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he shouted: "Follow my order, go and persuade him to surrender quickly, if Li Xiao dedicates the city to vote, this king will not be held accountable, and the whole city will be used for the whole army and people, and it will be reused for him." ”

Several cavalrymen understood, and their horses rushed straight towards the west gate of Iron Dragon City.

When they reached the place outside the city gate, these cavalrymen shouted together: "Wait, listen, surrender the city quickly, the eight kings of my family are merciful, and you can stay for your life." If you dare to resist the volunteers, the whole city will be beheaded, young and old, and the jade will be burned! ”

"Phew! What kind of dog thing, you still call yourself the king, what kind of goods are you, Lao Tzu knows best, so many soldiers and civilians in states and counties have been killed by you grass bandits, and you have come to trick us into surrendering out of the city, and lie to your mother! Tian Wei, the chief commander of Li Xiaojun's Chifeng, who was leading the army to defend on the city wall of the West Gate, roared loudly.

"Wait for you to come back as soon as possible, tell Zhang Xianzhong that if you want to fight, you will fight, don't talk nonsense, I, Li Xiao, have been waiting for him for a long time." Li Xiao shouted coldly on the side.

Seeing this, several cavalrymen turned around and wanted to go back, but in their ears, Tian Wei's thunderous voice came: "Go back and tell Zhang Xianzhong that bastard, if he is a guy with eggs in the crotch of his pants, don't cower and hide behind the formation, come and fight with grandpa for three hundred rounds, grandpa can leave him a whole corpse!" ”

When several horsemen heard this, they fled faster and faster. After patting the horse back, he told Zhang Xianzhong the words of Tian Wei and Li Xiao.

Zhang Xianzhong was furious, he waved his horsewhip and shouted angrily: "During this period of time, the whole army quickly prepared siege equipment, and after it was made, it immediately attacked the city. ”

The subordinate generals laughed wildly, and everyone had a yearning look on their faces, as if they had seen the appearance of their own indulgence in looting after the Iron Dragon City was breached.

For the next week, the Rogue did not launch any offensive and stayed quietly in the east and west of Iron Dragon City.

Li Xiao, who was looking out from the top of the city, saw through the clairvoyant mirror that a large number of craftsmen who had been captured by the rogues were nervously cutting wood on the spot and remaking siege equipment.

Li Xiao has been thinking in his heart, when will the next time the Liukou launch an attack?

However, the current Li Xiaojun is not just idle, waiting for the rogue to attack, during this time, a new weapon has been developed.

This weapon is a trebuchet.

This was jointly researched by Li Xiao and Zhao Jie, the chief of firearms, as well as a group of skilled craftsmen such as Yan Jun.

In ancient China, the most commonly used was the man-powered stone throwing machine.

The manpower stone throwing machine, also known as the traction stone throwing machine, first appeared in the Warring States period in the 5th century BC, and spread westward during the Northern Zhou and Sui and Tang dynasties, first used by the early Arabs, and then introduced to Europe. The man-powered catapult, commonly known as a cannon, is a man-powered catapult that uses pure manpower to pull the tips attached to the crossbar (cannon tip) at a place far away from the catapult. The cannon tip is erected on the wooden frame, one end is tied to the holster that holds the stone bullet with a rope, and the other end is tied with many ropes for people to pull and throw the stone bullet, the gun tip is divided into single tip and multiple pin, and the maximum number of gun tips is mounted on a gun carriage, and it takes a lot of manpower to cooperate skillfully to pull down the side of the lever and throw the huge stone projectile on the other side.

Now Li Xiao and others have improved this ancient human trebuchet according to the existing resources and made a more efficient gravity trebuchet.

This kind of gravity trebuchet, which first appeared in Europe at the end of the 12th century in the Middle Ages, one of the largest trebuchets, also known as the Hui Hui Cannon, was introduced to China with Mongolia in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is the use of the principle of leverage, one end is equipped with a heavy object, and the other end is equipped with a stone projectile to be launched, before firing the end of the ammunition must be placed with a winch, pulley or directly pulled down by manpower, and the other end with the heavy object also rises at this time, after the stone bullet is put away, let go or cut the rope, let one end of the heavy object fall, and the stone bullet is also thrown out of the trend. With the progress of the times, by the middle of the 14th century, the European giant stone throwing machine could throw nearly 1,000 pounds (about 454 kilograms) of projectiles, which was quite powerful.

The gravity trebuchet made by Li Xiao and others is a miniature version of this large trebuchet, after testing, this kind of boom is 6 meters long, and the counterweight is 5 tons of trebuchet, which can throw a total weight of 40 kilograms of multiple earth-shattering thunderbolts at a distance of about 230 meters!

This kind of trebuchet was developed, and Li Xiao ordered to make it as soon as possible day and night, so that as many trebuchets as possible could participate in the defense of Iron Dragon City, and at the same time, a super large earth-shaking thunder weighing 40 kilograms was specially made for this kind of trebuchet to facilitate ignition.

Li Xiao was convinced that under the condition that there were no conditions for the development of artillery, this kind of trebuchet would surely explode with tremendous power in the battle to defend the city, and achieve outstanding results that were not inferior to artillery. (To be continued.) )