On the eighth day of the first month, there was another heavy snowfall, new snow mixed with residual snow, and in half a morning, the field was white again, and even the city wall was white, as if it was covered with a white mourning cloth.

The Mandate of Heaven has stopped besieging the city again.

Knowing that after the snow, there would be severe cold and frost, Li Zicheng simply asked the soldiers to cut down trees, secretly recruit craftsmen, and work with craftsmen in the army to make the legendary large siege vehicles.

The Mandate of Heaven spent two days and nights to make several siege vehicles, each of which was more than ten zhang long, more than five zhang wide, and about three zhang high, although it was bulky, but it was very strong.

This height is already equivalent to the height of the city wall.

On the 11th, the Mandate of Heaven resumed the siege, and several siege vehicles were put on the north gate, the north gate was the fourth battalion Li Ji Division, both the first regiment and the second regiment fully equipped with rifles, as well as the third regiment and the fourth regiment using swords, guns and shields, and the siege vehicles could play the greatest role.

Li Ji first combed the city head with mountain artillery, and before the fireworks on the city head were extinguished, he sent two gunners from a thousand households, and the gunners were almost lined up, facing the city wall.

Such a battle does not require a salvo, and it is impossible for the Ming army to poke out a large number of heads from the battlements.

The gunners took over the mountain artillery to provide cover for the besieging soldiers, and they generally fired at a point, as soon as the shadow of the Ming army appeared at the battlements and walls, they were immediately greeted by rifle bullets.

Li Ji saw that the defenders on the head of the city were completely suppressed, so he ordered someone to move out of the siege vehicle, the siege vehicle was a temporary system, and there was no ball installed at the bottom, each siege vehicle, at least hundreds of soldiers could carry it away, and it was placed under the city, the target was very large, and it was easy to be attacked by the Ming army.

However, Li Ji did not intend to let the siege vehicle get close to the city wall, and when it was a hundred steps away from the city wall, the siege vehicle stopped.

This distance from the Ming army is the most uncomfortable, bows and arrows, guns can't reach, even if there is artillery at the head of the city, it is also a blind spot of artillery, the Mandate of Heaven army likes this area the most, standing on the siege vehicle, the gunners can shoot directly at the head of the city, even if the Ming soldiers hide behind the city wall, it is not necessarily safe.

The gunners began to climb the siege engines, each of which could accommodate more than a hundred people, and the soldiers at the top could see clearly even behind the parapet.

Everything was ready, and Li Ji released the infantry of the third regiment of Niu Kejing's division.

Thousands of soldiers, carrying their own ladders, rushed to the city walls with shouts, slogans neatly and shouting all day long.

The Ming army hiding behind the city wall was alarmed, knowing that it was extremely dangerous, they still trembled and got up, Wang Xie personally led the social soldiers to take the lead, they are all rich and noble families, there is no shortage of food and salary on weekdays, and at the critical moment, they naturally have to rush to the front.

Cao Kun, the official of the Zhou Palace, took the palace guards, all walked to the city, the Zhou Wangfu is the largest wealthy household in the city, in case the city is broken, the disaster will bear the brunt, Cao Kun is entrusted by the King of Zhou, and he will never dare to take it lightly.

There were originally 800 soldiers in the palace guard, but in the battle a few days ago, there were nearly 100 casualties, and now there are only more than 700 people left.

When the Mandate of Heaven Army is not yet close to the city wall, the defenders only need to release arrows, which can not show their heads, and when they release arrows, they are generally thrown into the sky, and after the arrows rise to the highest point, they fall straight from mid-air, using the action of gravity to penetrate the armor of the Mandate of Heaven.

When throwing, the soldier does not need to aim, which is equivalent to blind shooting, and there is no accuracy at all, but the Heavenly Mandate army besieging the city is numerous, dense, and does not need to aim, any arrow falling in the crowd may stab a soldier.

In addition to relying on the armor on their bodies, the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven are the shields in their hands, and in order to deal with the projectiles of the defenders, the soldiers in the crowd will put their shields on their heads to protect the most critical positions.

Although the soldiers fixed their shields on their heads, it was difficult to completely protect their entire bodies during the run, and soldiers were constantly injured and fell to the ground, and from the range of bows and arrows to the city walls, a distance of about fifty paces, the Mandate of Heaven suffered nearly 100 casualties.

The gunners on the siege wagons were the most annoyed, they were supposed to be the guards of the siege infantry, but they could not fully protect the besieging comrades, they were red-eyed, the bullets were loaded, the muzzles of the guns were aimed at the battlements, or the edge of the parapet, as long as the defenders exposed a part, they would immediately attract several bullets.

In the face of death, no one skimps bullets.

The casualties of the Ming army were not light, except for the foolish ghosts who poked out their heads, and even their backs and arms were exposed, they would also be injured by bullets.

The soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven finally approached the city wall and put up the ladder, and some soldiers rushed up, holding a shield in front of their heads in their left hand and a sword in their right hand, ready to fight the defenders in close combat.

At this stage of the battle, the defenders' bows and arrows and the rifles of the Mandate of Heaven became less and less effective, and the soldiers on both sides were entangled, and it was difficult to carry out long-range strikes without absolute accuracy.

The Mandate Army on the ladder, except for shields and armor, used their bodies to meet all kinds of blows from the defenders, and they had no ability to fight back before climbing the battlement.

The main weapon of the army was rolling wood and stone, but the gunmen of the Mandate of Heaven put so much pressure on them that they did not dare to show even a finger, except for the observers who appeared and disappeared at both ends, no one knew the exact location of the ladder, and could only blindly throw wood and stone from behind the parapet wall, just like the blind shot of a bow and arrow just now.

In this way, the huge trees and boulders originally prepared could not be sent over the parapet wall at all, and they could only pick the smallest ones and throw them out indiscriminately, and they could not even see whether they could effectively attack the Heavenly Mandate Army outside the city.

Despite this, the casualties of the Providence Army increased significantly after they stepped on the ladder.

The gunners were not happy to kill the enemy, they could only threaten the defenders with bullets at any time, cover the siege of their companions, and reduce the casualties of their companions.

The battle was very strange, and the fiercest battle between the two sides was not the moment when they stepped on the ladder, but at the battlement where the ladder and the city wall met, the soldiers on both sides were twisted and entangled, and the rifles of the Mandate of Heaven could not function at all.

In the siege battle on weekdays, the defenders will use forks, knives and guns and other long weapons to push the ladder against the wall to prevent the enemy from attacking the city, but today's city, in order to avoid becoming the target of the gunners of the Mandate of Heaven, the Ming army did not dare to emerge from the battlement, so they let the Mandate of Heaven Army attack the city from the battlement.

The warm blood, mixed with the freshly melted snow, fell on the city wall, flowing like a cliff, and the city was a mess above and below the city.

Soon after the battle began, many wounded soldiers cried out for help, but the cold wind poured into their open mouths, and soon they could not make a sound.

The terrain on the head of the city is high on the outside and low on the inside, and the red liquid flows to the city, and the wounded soldiers who are lucky can also find a dry place to shelter from the wind, while the wounded soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army under the city do not have such good luck, they can only roll in the mud in despair, even if they are not exhausted of blood, they will be choked to death by blood and water, and frozen to death by the cold wind.

Before the battle was over, no one had the heart to take care of the wounded, they could only ask God for their blessing.

Maybe it was the mud under the city that was discovered, and the oil and torches prepared by the defenders have not been used!

With siege vehicles, the gunners of the Mandate of Heaven were almost level with the daughter wall, and the hit rate of the point shot was improved, which effectively deterred the Ming army, and the Ming army did not dare to show their heads, faces, and bodies from the battlements and daughter walls, which seemed to be very twisted.

Wang Xie's face has been gloomy, he can't see the casualties of the Mandate of Heaven Army, but the soldiers killed and wounded by the Ming army are basically at the head of the city, he can see it clearly, the battle is concentrated at the battlement of the daughter wall, such a siege battle has never been heard of.

If it weren't for the Providence's spears being too sharp......

If you are not careful, the Mandate of Heaven army may climb to the top of the city, how can such a battle continue?

Wang Xie was already worried about the shortage of soldiers, hand-to-hand combat, and the casualties of the soldiers were very large, and he had to replenish the young and strong as soon as possible, but what about the money and food? Knowing that there is a high possibility of casualties, if there is not enough money and food, who will come to the city to die?

It seems that after today's battle is over, he still asks to see King Zhou, even if he is hard-headed, he will also take out money and food from King Zhou's mansion......

This kind of battle, after two days in a row, the Ming army at the head of the city has shown fatigue, although there are a lot of young people in the city, but even with silver, it is difficult to recruit young people - the original recruited young people, basically no training, directly sent to the city to participate in the battle, and it is hand-to-hand combat at the battlement, the shortcomings of insufficient combat effectiveness are infinitely magnified.

Although Wang Xie gritted his teeth to support it, he knew in his heart that if he didn't get reinforcements from the new army, the city might only be broken in a day or two!

Didn't the imperial court send a large number of reinforcements, where are they now?

Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, had already sent someone to summon him, where are his soldiers now? It's been ten days, why haven't you seen anyone?

Li Zicheng naturally saw the fatigue of the defenders, and even many soldiers fought with injuries!

He originally had no intention of breaking the city, the Mandate of Heaven army wanted Kaifeng, but not now, at least the Ming army in Baoding, Shaanxi, and Huguang was scared and disabled, and then turned back to clean up Kaifeng.

However, since Kaifeng City is already crumbling, why not make the fake come true and take Kaifeng in one fell swoop?

After taking Kaifeng, the Mandate of Heaven army could follow the established strategy and the order of the Ming army's reinforcements, and it was entirely possible to carry out various defeats on the Ming army that rushed outside the city.

If it succeeds, not only can it also defeat the Ming army, but also can get Kaifeng easily, why not?

In order to assist in the attack of Beicheng, Li Zicheng asked the other four gates to increase the intensity of the siege of the city, day and night.

On the thirteenth, there was a dangerous situation in Beicheng, the Mandate of Heaven army killed the head of the city several times, Wang Xie took out his family property, organized a death squad, and finally drove the Mandate of Heaven army out of the city, but the squire Zhang Wenguang who assisted in the defense was killed in battle, Guan He and Zhisang Kaidi personally went into battle, and his shoulder and arm were cut several times, and he was forced to go down to the city to heal.

Chen Yongfu, the chief soldier stationed in the south city, once again came to the aid of the north gate, but the south gate with insufficient troops was also in danger later, and the governor Gao Mingheng personally went into battle, and the morale of the Ming army was improved, so he reluctantly drove out the Heavenly Mandate army that climbed to the top of the city.

At noon on the 14th, Li Zicheng received a message from the Han Qing Bureau, and the imperial court appointed Sun Chuanting as the right attendant of the military department to supervise the Beijing army to reinforce Kaifeng.

Li Zicheng didn't care about this kind of information, even if Sun Chuanting worked day and night, he would not come faster than the other reinforcements.

But an hour later, Li Zicheng received an urgent message from the Hanqing Bureau again, and this time, he really couldn't sit still!