After the capture of Dengzhou, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng's troops divided into two routes, one led by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming to attack Huangxian, waiting for an opportunity to kill in Shandong, called "South"; The other way was led by Li Jiucheng and his son to Laizhou, which was called the "Western Expedition". 【Fengyun Reading Network. 】

Li Jiucheng knew very well in his heart that he was the marshal who was completely promoted by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, and because he was old, he was pushed out to be the leader.

In fact, these two people didn't have any good intentions, it would be easy to say if they had been winning the battle, but if they were defeated, he Li Jiucheng would be the first person to be killed by the imperial court, who would make him the head of the rebels, even if it was just a puppet leader in name!

Besides, most of the Liao soldiers in the Dongjiang River are only Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, and he Li Jiucheng is not easy to speak, Zhang Tao was a guerrilla when he was in the Dengzhou camp before, and he Li Jiucheng is just a thousand generals, and Zhang Tao's thousands of Liao soldiers are the elite main force of his western expedition, and the war depends on the Liao soldiers to support the overall situation.

Therefore, Li Jiucheng urgently needs a big victory to improve his prestige in the army and cultivate his own direct cronies, and he also knows that if he fails to attack Clay Prefecture this time and make military achievements to suppress the proud soldiers and fierce generals below, his situation in the future can be imagined!

Therefore, Li Jiucheng changed the previous practice of letting the soldiers carry the ladder to the city wall after the cannon sounded, and ordered the artillery team to continue to bombard Laizhou City.

Because Sun Yuan turned heavy firearms and invited the Portuguese to train their troops, the main force of the rebel army, the Dongjiang Liao soldiers, all received this Western-style military training, constantly calculating various coordinates and S to attack Zhuyuan, Hongyi cannons and Western cannons continued to smash to the head of the city, and smashed the bricks and stones on the city wall of Delaizhou, killing and injuring the Ming army defending the city from time to time.

However, Laizhou City is really built tall and strong, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is impregnable, if there is no civil strife and no internal response, Laizhou City can hold on to it and wait for help.

Just like Dengzhou City, if there is no Geng Zhongming, who should open the city gate to lead Kong Youde's rebels, it will be besieged for another month, and Kong Youde will not want to fall. That is, Sun Yuanhua was stupid, so Kong Youde occupied Dengzhou City without difficulty, otherwise he, Kong Youde, Li Jiucheng and others would not be a lost dog now.

After an afternoon of bombardment, Laizhou City was still safe and sound, although the casualties of the defending soldiers were not light, but they were still able to hold the city under the siege of such a powerful firepower, but it also made the defenders of Laizhou City feel very proud.

Moreover, Jiang Taicheng, Xu Congzhi and others commanded the soldiers defending the city to rely on the Franc machine artillery on the head of the city and the defending weapons such as rolling logs, boulders, and hot oil, and fought back with the city, which also caused great casualties to the rebels besieging the city.

In the evening, it was already dark, and he still couldn't take it, although Li Jiucheng was unwilling, he also knew that it was even more inappropriate to fight at night, so he had to collect his troops and return to the camp, and set up camp on a hill less than ten miles away from the city.

"Straight sissy thief! I didn't expect this small Laizhou city to be so difficult to bite, no wonder Jiang Taicheng refused to surrender even if he was killed! Li Jiucheng scolded angrily, he patted his chest in front of Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and others, and said that he must take Laizhou City as soon as possible, now such a strong firepower has been attacking for an afternoon, and there is still no progress, how can he not be angry.

"Du Shuai, in order to resist and prevent Japanese slaves, this Laizhou City was cultivated as solid as gold, and it is reasonable that it cannot be attacked for a while, and it doesn't matter, let's continue to bombard him tomorrow, I don't believe that he Jiang Taicheng can hold out for long." Zhang Tao comforted.

Li Yingyuan said with some concern: "Father, General Zhang, General Mao, this Laizhou City is tall and strong, and it is difficult to capture it for a while, I think it is better for Ming'er to smash Pingdu County in the southwest first, and save the imperial court to send officials and troops to give us a moment when we attack Laizhou City. ”

"Yes, yes, yes! What Brother Ying said makes sense! Let's occupy Pingdu County first, and then we can block the officials and troops in the west, we have no worries, and then we will slowly clean up those bastards in Laizhou Chengjiang Taicheng! Mao Yufeng also slapped his thigh and agreed.

Zhang Tao also smiled: "Ying Yuan is not very old, but he is brave and strategic!" Congratulations to Dushuai! ”

Li Jiucheng also felt that what his son said was reasonable, and the audience would praise his son, and he was a little happy in his heart, feeling that this kid was not unproductive, but he said lightly: "Where, Ying Yuan, this kid is still young and frizzy, how can he compare with you generals who have made great achievements, don't praise him." ”

All the generals were handsome and modest, and immediately agreed to go to capture Pingdu tomorrow, and then besiege Laizhou City.

The next day, Li Jiucheng sent his sons Li Yingyuan and Mao Yufeng to lead 10,000 troops to Pingdu and attack Pingdu County. He and Zhang Tao led the remaining more than 10,000 rebels to surround Laizhou City, but they were not in a hurry to attack.

Pingdu is only a small county town, the city walls are low, and the defenders are weak, with less than 2,000 soldiers and nearly 1,000 people defending the city.

Under the fierce artillery bombardment of the rebels, Pingdu County was soon blasted out of a gap several zhang wide by the rebels, and the rebels swarmed up and poured into Pingdu County like a tide.

After occupying Pingdu and controlling the situation in the city, Li Yingyuan led 6,000 subordinates back to Laizhou, leaving Mao Yufeng's troops in Pingdu.

Li Yingyuan led his troops back to the city of Laizhou, and after joining forces with his father Li Jiucheng and the general soldier Zhang Tao, he began a large-scale siege of the city the next day.

Taking advantage of the aftermath of the great victory in the capture of Pingdu, the morale of the rebels was greatly boosted, and they fired artillery and arrows at Laizhou City, which was very loud.

After a few rounds of artillery fire, the defenders of Laizhou City suffered many casualties, and their sharp spirit was hit.

Li Jiu became a morale booster, and personally rode to the back of the artillery formation, shouting loudly: "Brothers! Keep it up! When we capture Laizhou City, let's have lunch in the Yamen of the Governor of Laizhou City! ”

The cannon roared, the smoke of gunpowder rose everywhere, the arrows rained down on the head of the city of Laizhou, and the cannonballs flew one after another, and from time to time, the soldiers defending the city were blown off the city by the shells, and the blood was blurred.

After the shelling, Li Jiucheng ordered the Dongjiang Liao soldiers to supervise the battle in the rear, but sent the newly attached infantry to attack the city desperately. The Liao soldiers were the elite of the rebels, and Li Jiucheng didn't want them to be consumed in the siege battle in vain, but first used the newly attached rabble that was not very trained to consume the strength and sharpness of the defenders of Laizhou City.

The tenacious stubbornness of the Laizhou defenders made Li Jiucheng feel that this siege battle would not be so easy to win, so he couldn't let the Dongjiang Liao soldiers take the lead, these Liao soldiers were all baby bumps, and there would be no elite soldiers who could fight if they died.

As for those rabble, they are not afraid of how much they have lost, and there are people who can work for you in these years, as long as you give him a bite to eat.

Under the deterrence of the Liao soldiers, coupled with the promise and reward of Marshal Li Jiucheng, those newly attached rebel thieves rushed towards Laizhou City one after another, and for a time the sound of killing was shocking and violent.

Jiang Taicheng, Xu Congzhi and others commanded the defenders of Laizhou to resist vigorously, and the political envoy Xie Lian also organized thousands of people in Laizhou City to help transport supplies and treat the wounded.

The fierce battle lasted until the afternoon, and the casualties on both sides were relatively large, but Li Jiucheng had no intention of resting, and vowed to capture the city of Laizhou.

Li Yingyuan looked at it for a while, and said to Li Jiucheng: "Father, I don't think it's a way to fight hard like this, the child has seen it, the northeast corner of Laizhou City has been eroded by the sea breeze for many years, and the city wall should be relatively loose, we can use artillery fire to cover, send sappers* to the city to plant explosives, blasting, as long as the city wall collapses a gap, you can be done, take Laizhou!" ”

"That's a brilliant plan! Good! Do it accordingly! Li Jiucheng nodded, appreciative.

Subsequently, under the cover of the ferocious artillery fire of Hongyi cannons and Western artillery, Li Yingyuan sent sappers to rush to the northeast corner of Laizhou City, excavated ground D at the root of the city wall, and planted explosives.

"Boom!" A dull roar came, and sure enough, due to the amount of explosives used very strongly, when the buried explosives were ignited, the explosion caused was very violent, and the whole ground was shaking, even Li Jiucheng and others, who were a few miles away, felt that the ground under their feet was trembling.

Countless bricks and rubble scattered in all directions, raising a cloud of dust. In the explosion, almost 100 defenders on the city wall were blown to pieces, or buried alive by the collapsed city wall!

That's right, the walls collapsed by bombing!

The wall at the northeast corner showed a large gap of nearly ten zhang, and the defenders on both sides of the gap were stunned by the sight in front of them for a while, and many of them almost forgot to fight back at the rebels, and looked at this gap stupidly.

At the same time, many soldiers were injured by the blast wave and the masonry and gravel.

Jiang Taicheng, Xie Lian, Xu Congzhi and others were all shocked when they heard the news, they originally thought that they would be able to hold on for at least a month, but they were captured by the rebels in the next two days, how can this be good?

"Kill! Kill! "The rebels are like beating J blood, and they are rushing towards the gap with great excitement, and at this time, they have all seen the dawn of victory, who is not working hard?

Li Jiucheng, Zhang Tao, Li Yingyuan and others were also happy to laugh when they saw this scene after the battle, and after attacking for two days, paying the price of thousands of casualties, they were finally going to break through the city wall and attack the city of Laizhou!

"Brethren! Kill! Rush into Laizhou City and capture Jiang Taicheng alive! This marshal is rewarded! Li Jiucheng was full of pride, brandishing his sword and shouting.

Suddenly, a thunderous sound of horses' hooves came from the northwest corner, and someone could be heard shouting: "Marshal! Oh no...... Marshal ......"

Li Jiucheng couldn't help frowning, this voice sounded a little familiar, so he turned around and looked in the northwest direction.

But seeing the dust in the northwest direction, a large number of officers and cavalry wearing red military uniforms rushed towards Laizhou City like a tide, hunting with banners to cover the sky and the sun, and for a while I couldn't see how many people and horses there were!

And in front of this Ming cavalry, there was no life to run and shout, it was Mao Yufeng and his subordinates who stayed in Pingdu!