After three rounds of siege, the rolling wood and stones at the head of the city gradually ran out, and even there was a shortage of boiling water and oil, and the barrels of the cannons were too hot to be fired. The garrison at the head of the city had to stop using cannons, and the rolling wood and boiling water and oil were greatly reduced.

The Ming army under the city soon discovered the situation. In fact, during the siege of the city in the two days, the Ming army built several guard towers more than ten meters high in the camp, almost level with the city head, and the general Ma Jun arranged for people to stare at the cannons at the head of the city with clairvoyance on the guard tower and the soldiers who defended the city with equipment, and immediately informed the commander of the army after finding that the cannon barrel was red and all kinds of equipment were greatly reduced, and Ma Jun, Huang Yuan, Tang Quan and others were able to quickly know.

They divided the cannons in their hands into two groups, and took turns using various shells to bombard the city head and suppress the fire of the city head; The musketeers, who were very precious to both Yun Xi and Zhu Zanyi, also approached the city wall and fired projectiles at the city head and gate. However, the city gate had been completely blocked by Ruan Xizhou's order, and it was impossible for them to enter through the city gate.

The Annamites at the head of the city suffered heavy losses for a while, and many people were afraid to retreat from the city, so they retreated; Fortunately, Ruan Xizhou immediately discovered this situation and ordered the sword and axe men to cut down the retreating soldiers, so that they could fight the Ming army again.

But in this short quarter of an hour, the Ming army had already set up several ladders on the top of the city, and many soldiers climbed along the ladders to a place very close to the city; The Annan people, who were fighting hard, wanted to knock down the ladder, but it was difficult to knock it down at this time, and they could only use the bows and crossbows in their hands to shoot the Ming army who were climbing the ladder and had no way to dodge.

Many of the Ming soldiers were shot, but many more struggled to climb the ladder and climbed to the top of the city with the support of bows and muskets from below.

The first to climb the head of the city was the wolf soldier sent from Guangxi, although he was immediately killed, but with Zhu Zanyi and his guards shouting: "Reward this person with two hundred taels of silver", many soldiers were stimulated to climb harder, and more people climbed up to the top of the city.

Nguyen Xi Zhou had to use the reserves in his hands. He sent the reserved Ruan Cheng and others to the head of the city to fight with the Ming army, and finally drove the Ming army from the city.

At this time, it was already noon, the Ming army had launched five rounds of siege of the city, and temporarily stopped the attack, and set up a cauldron not far from the city, and put the game and the fish and shrimp fished up by the sailor into the pot and steamed it on high heat, and the grain was also open to supply, and you can eat as much as you want.

Seeing that the Ming army began to rest, Ruan Xizhou also ordered the defenders at the head of the city to rest and let the army eat. Countless soldiers, who had been tired all morning, immediately fell to the ground and refused to get up, and it took a long time for them to get up and go to eat.

Zhu Zanyi walked among the various armies, stopping from time to time to look at the rice in the soldiers' bowls, and went around in a big circle before returning to his tent and eating with the generals of the various armies.

Although he failed to capture Nanding City this morning, he was still very happy, and said to the generals with a smile: "If Ruan Xizhou is only these two times, he still dares to compare to Geng Bingwen?" If his words are transmitted back to the capital, I am afraid that he will laugh off the big guy's big teeth. ”

"Geng Bingwen held on to Changxing City for ten years to protect the city, but he was about to lose the city after we attacked the city for half a day, and he was about to be unable to support it, he really thought too much of himself."

"The people of a small country have no knowledge, and after defending the city a few times, they will blow into the sky, and they will naturally not be able to meet our big soldiers." Someone patted the sycophants.

Although this person was filming Zhu Zanyi's ass, what he said made sense. After careful observation just now, they have confirmed a fact: although this commander named Nguyen Xi Zhou is very calm and calm, and his ability to respond to emergencies is also good, there is a huge problem: he is not very good at using artillery.

The service life of the artillery barrel of this era is not long, and it is not easy to move, under normal circumstances, every few shots will stop for a while, use various methods to cool down, and wait for the barrel to be hot before firing. In particular, the Annam people have fewer artillery pieces, and the quality is a little worse, which needs to be cherished even more.

But Ruan Xizhou didn't seem to have such a consciousness at all, and kept ordering the artillery team to open fire, until the barrel of the cannon was red and almost bursting, and the artillery team sent someone to report to him before letting the artillery team stop, so that there was no artillery support at all in a short period of time; At the same time, Ruan Xizhou's preparations for the Ming army's siege were not very sufficient, and it was just a matter of rolling wood and stones, and even boiling water and boiling oil were not enough, so that the Ming army only attacked the city for the fourth time, and had to use reserves.

"Although Ruan Xizhou fought really well in Annan and had some skills, he had stayed in this small place in Annan for a long time and had no vision. Although he had 70,000 troops in his hands, and at least 60,000 horses before attacking the city today, he didn't know what kind of battle the 60,000 or 70,000 horses in his hands could fight, and he didn't know what the 200,000 horses would look like at all. Tang Quan commented.

Everyone nodded. Except for Zhu Zanyi, all the generals present were battle-hardened generals, even Zhu Zanyi was also a person who had seen the battle of a large army, and he immediately thought of this when he heard Tang Quan say this.

"In my opinion, if we are lucky, we will be able to capture Nanding City this afternoon; Even if you're not lucky, you'll be able to make it to the city tomorrow. Tang Quan continued.

"Your Highness, since this is the case, it is better to send troops to block the east gate of Nanding City." An envoy of the guard suddenly said: "Your Highness, when you besieged Sanque Yi, it was because you were afraid that the whole army would lose too much to storm the city, and weaken the resistance of the Annan people defending the city when the battle situation was unfavorable, so they fled from the east gate: but now since it is unexpectedly simple to enter Nanding City, it is better to surround Nanding City and block the defenders in the city and annihilate them all. ”

He suddenly lowered his voice and continued: "If you ignore the east gate, not only will the defenders flee at that time, but the rich families and ordinary people in the city will probably also flee with their family wealth. ”

Although this man's words were not clear, everyone still understood what he meant, Zhu Zanyi smiled and did not speak. Such a suggestion was made to him in the morning, but he had his own considerations and would not agree. As for what his considerations are, it is not enough for outsiders to say.

He just said: "Don't mention it again at this time, the army is fighting in Annam, and if you can die less, you must die less, and you must not sacrifice soldiers for other things." ”

This person didn't understand what Zhu Zanyi meant, but he didn't dare to say it again.

After eating at noon, Zhu Zanyi let the soldiers rest for a while, and at noon he ordered to start the siege of the city.

The siege in the afternoon was intensified in the morning. In the morning, the Ming army was still a little uncertain about how the Annam people would defend, and now that these have been tried, there is nothing to worry about.