Chapter Twenty-Seven: Breaking into the King and Snatching Grain, Heavy Force

Of course, Li Zicheng also knew that it was the people from Yaogang who sent grain to Tongguan. But the problem is that the artillery fire of the kiln people is too terrible.

Li Zicheng calmed down in the big tent and said: "Don't worry, I don't think the grain sent by the kiln gang will be too small, because most of Sun Chuanting's grain and grass are gone, and the food sent is useless, and if it is less, they will be sent back to the city last night." In this way, they will unload for a long time. First, we are ready to use artillery fire against their artillery fire, and we can also use cavalry to charge into their ranks and make their artillery fire useless. ”

The reason why Li Zicheng was able to become the leader of the peasant army was definitely his merits, especially his ability to think calmly and think clearly at the moment of crisis, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Ning De rushed to the dock with the people, turned over and dismounted, threw the reins to the entourage, and followed the gangplank to Fan Chengkun's command ship on the boat. Liu Yun, Fan Chengkun, and Mu Yi immediately greeted him. Ning De saw Liu Yun, grabbed Liu Yun's hand and said, "It's really a tribulation to see the truth!" I knew that the kiln people would not leave us alone. ”

Liu Yun said: "Because we were in a hurry to Tongguan, we didn't have time to load more grain, so this time we brought 5,000 stone of grain." I think I'll be able to top it for a while. We'll send some more in a few days, so don't worry. ”

"Thank you so much." After Ning De finished speaking, he whispered: "This time, Governor Sun was defeated too badly, and all the grain, grass and baggage were lost. If you hadn't sent food, we would have starved to death without Li Zicheng's attack. ”

Liu Yun said: "Don't worry, we are here, we are responsible for the north of Tongguan, you just guard the south." ”

Ning De said: "Last night, your artillery fire was so terrible that we all broke out in a cold sweat when we watched it in the city. ”

Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi went out to busy them after saying hello to Ning De. At this time, Ning De lowered his voice and said: "I came this time, there is one more thing, Governor Sun Chuanting said that now Shaanxi is empty, and he is very afraid that Li Zicheng will bypass Tongguan and take Xi'an directly after he can't defeat Tongguan, and now Xi'an is an empty city." But if they go back to Xi'an, if they don't have food, the soldiers will run away if they can't get to Xi'an. What does Governor Sun mean, see if you can support some food? Ning De spent a lot of effort to finish the words, and he also knew that Liu Yun couldn't make the decision for such a thing, he hoped to use it to bring the words back.

Liu Yun smiled and said, "I understand what you mean, I will send a speedboat today to send your words back to Yaogang." ”

Ning De said: "Then I won't stay longer, I will organize them to transport grain into the city as soon as possible, Li Zicheng will not watch us transport grain, you must also be prepared." ”

Liu Yun said: "Don't worry, adults, we will wait for them." ”

After sending Ningde away, Liu Yun said to Li Wei: "In fact, if Governor Sun Chuanting is not defeated and lacks morale and does not lack food and grass, with their tens of thousands of people relying on Tongguan natural insurance, they will have no problem defending Tongguan by themselves." ”

Li Wei said: "Yes, but there is no barrier in the world that cannot be broken." Wasn't Cao Cao the horse drill that broke here back then? Didn't An Lushan also occupy Tongguan? Didn't the Mongolian army also capture Tongguan first? ”

Liu Yun listened to Li Wei's words and asked, "Lotus!" I didn't expect you to know a lot about the five big and three rough? ”

Li Wei snorted hard and said, "I think, Sun Chuanting is too flustered in defeat." They should not have taken out the twelve cities. It's useless to just defend Tongguan, you should tell them that we can help them recover the Twelve Liancheng. It shouldn't be so easy to give up the forbidden ditch natural insurance. ”

Tongguan is located in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan key places, the terrain is very dangerous. It is bordered by the Yellow River in the north and south of the Qinling Mountains, starting from the west of the original Wanggou in the east, and going west (through the current Chengbei Village, the old city was demolished to build the Sanmenxia Reservoir) to the east bank of the forbidden ditch. The east and west sides face the ditch, and the terrain is flat and broad.

The so-called twelve cities, for the safety of Tongguan, along both sides of the forbidden ditch, rammed 12 square earthen platforms, is a defensive military fortress. Because Tutai is basically connected with Tongguan City, it is called "Twelve Cities". Twelve Liancheng south from Qinling Artemisia Chayukou, north to Tongguan ancient city about two kilometers of Shimenguan (near the Wangjiayuan today), every three miles to hit a mound, a total of 17 mounds, commonly known as chimney pier, also called beacon tower, beacon tower is built of soil, square trapezoidal, the bottom edge is 10.5 meters long, 7.6 meters high, rammed layer 9 to 16 centimeters. Fireworks are placed on the top, and guards are set up below, and every three miles is a city, and each city is set up with a hundred people. The twelve cities are guarding the forbidden ditch, and the forbidden ditch is also more dangerous because of the twelve cities.

The forbidden ditch and the wish ditch are also unique landforms in this area of Tongguan. Due to the deep loess cover here, it has been eroded by floods for a long time, forming this kind of plateau gully with deep original high ditch and undulating valley. It also forms a unique natural risk.

The circumference of Tongguan Guancheng is about five kilometers, north and northeast, it is an earthen wall built for the board, and the blue bricks are 16 meters high and 8 meters wide; South and southeast, along the mountain cut into battlements, up to 30 meters. In addition to the six openings, there are two water gates in the north and south.

The interdependent relationship between Tongguan, the forbidden ditch and the twelve cities makes the ancient city of Tongguan impregnable.

But even a famous general like Sun Chuanting also made low-level mistakes in a panic. When he led the retreating troops back to Tongguan, the soldiers who guarded the city also abandoned the city and fled back to Tongguan, and the twelve cities and the forbidden ditch were easily changed. Otherwise, the situation of Tongguan defense will be better.

However, even so, most of the north and east and west of Tongguan can be covered by artillery fire on the Yellow River. It's just that the south can only rely on the Tongguan defenders themselves.

On the wharf, Ning De personally urged the soldiers and people to transport grain to the city, and Sun Chuanting also took the generals to the city, anxiously watching the soldiers transport grain. Li Wei also came to the cab, holding binoculars, and looked around. I know in my heart that Li Zicheng will definitely not ignore the things here, but I don't know when and how they will come out, which is a very worrying thing. At this time, Liu Yun, none of them dared to relax themselves.

Finally, the lookouts on the watchtower shouted, "There is movement in the east of the city, and they seem to be building artillery positions." ”

Li Wei put down his binoculars and used the monoculars with a stand to look towards the east of the city. Sure enough, seeing some soldiers loading soil with baskets and placing arc-shaped defensive rings in the east of the city, they were also frightened by yesterday's artillery fire, even if there was no artillery fire from the Yaogang people on the Yellow River, the condescending artillery on Tongguan was also terrible.

Li Wei snorted with his nose and said, "Just come out to play like this?" ”

He turned around and ordered, "Leave them alone for now, and when they are all seated, we will serve the food." ”

After speaking, he picked up the binoculars, looked around, and then said to Liu Yun: "We don't have to worry, their artillery positions are repaired, and the cavalry will be dispatched under the cover of artillery fire." ”

Liu Yun said: "Your kid has made a lot of progress. They will definitely use the cover of artillery fire to raid the Tongguan city gate all the way and our dock all the way. Let the defenders not care about each other. Disrupt the defenders' defenses, mess with them, and make our artillery fire ineffective. ”

"Then we'll knock out their artillery and intercept their cavalry separately. The cavalry that slipped through the net, Lord Ningde, they should be able to deal with it. Li Wei said.

Liu Yun smiled and said, "If an opponent like them can't deal with it." Let's not waste shells and food here. ”

Li Wei, Fan Chengkun, and Mu Yi briefly discussed, and divided the tasks for the warships below. After attacking Li Zicheng's artillery position together, they used artillery fire to intercept the cavalry attacking the city gate and attacking the dock.

Since Li Zicheng's artillery appeared in the east of the city, everyone's main attention was also in the east of the city, because the direction that Li Zicheng's army was chasing was also east. However, Li Wei and Liu Yun were a little worried about the west, because it was too calm there, and the calm was a little abnormal. After discussing with Fan Chengkun, he specially sent two Cangshan ships to monitor the west side of Tongguan.

At this time, the lookout soldier reported: "There seems to be smoke and dust in the distance, and it is estimated that a large number of men and horses are moving." ”

Fan Chengkun said: "Continue to pay attention and observe. Guests can't wait. The artillery aimed at the enemy's artillery positions and acted in unison according to orders. ”

At this time, the lookout soldier reported: "The enemy has pushed the artillery up." A large group of cavalry also came up and was in formation. ”

Fan Chengkun glanced at Liu Yun, Liu Yun nodded, and Fan Chengkun ordered: "Three shots in a row, fire!" ”

The artillery commander on the ship first fired the shells out with a "knock knock", and each gun fired three shots in a row.

On the other ships, the sound of cannons followed suit. The dense artillery shells covered the artillery positions of Li Zicheng's army at once. With the sound of the roaring explosion, the artillery that had been pushed up with great difficulty was lifted aside, and those artillerymen, one by one, their arms and legs that had been blown up, flew into the sky, and the artillery position immediately became like hell.

To say that Li Zicheng and his military advisers, the pre-war preparations were still very sufficient, they learned the lesson of last night's loss of the warships on the Yellow River, and prepared to suddenly use artillery to deal with the warships on the Yellow River, although they also knew that the results of the battle would not be great, but at least they would contain the attention of the warships, and take this opportunity to rush up quickly with cavalry, and mix with the officers and soldiers, so that the warships on the Yellow River would not be able to play a role.

But what they didn't expect was that on the watchtower of the warships on the Yellow River, someone used a telescope to see all their actions clearly. When their artillery position was repaired, they were ready to push the artillery up as soon as possible and open fire as soon as possible, and at the same time the cavalry also went up, and as soon as the artillery fired, the cavalry immediately charged. But before they could push the artillery up, the warships on the Yellow River opened fire first.

Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing and others, who were watching the battle from a distance, were shocked. Li Zicheng was still sober, he knew that after the other party attacked the artillery, he would attack the cavalry that had begun to assemble the whole team, but at this time it was too late for the cavalry to retreat, and the chaotic consequence of that would be that they would trample on each other and suffer countless casualties.

Li Zicheng ordered: "Send a signal to order the cavalry to rush over immediately." ”

Liu Zongmin, who commanded in front, also knew very well that if the river artillery attacked the artillery position, the hellish artillery fire would soon fall on the cavalry under his command, and he also knew that he could not wait for the artillery to act at the same time, so he immediately issued an order to attack the cavalry who had not yet fully set up the formation. As soon as the cavalry started, the people specially sent by Li Zicheng around him stopped Liu Zongmin from rushing forward to kill in person. According to Liu Zongmin's character, this blacksmith was born as a general, and today he will definitely rush to the front line to avenge his brothers for last night's revenge. Li Zicheng also knew this brother too well, so he specially sent someone over to watch Liu Zongmin.

This time, it was Liu Zongmin's team that launched the first round of attacks from the east, and they all wanted to avenge last night's revenge. Strategist Niu Jinxing said: "Morale is available. ”

Li Zicheng nodded and agreed.

Liu Zongmin's first wave of cavalry attacked, there were a total of 5,000 cavalry, and any more could not be used at once. Just as Li Wei and Liu Yun expected, they divided into two ways to attack, one was the Tongguan city gate, because at this time, the Tongguan soldiers and civilians were constantly transporting food, and the city gate was wide open, which was a must-save attack target. If they take advantage of the chaos to attack the city, the defenders will be in chaos; The other way is the wharf, because the wharf is unloading grain, and it is also the target of the defenders. If you attack at the same time, the defenders will inevitably ignore each other.

It should be said that Li Zicheng's tactical accomplishment is quite superb. But Li Zicheng just felt weak in his heart today, so he specially sent someone to watch Liu Zongmin and not allow him to lead the team to rush to the front. At this point, even the military advisor Niu Jinxing felt strange, and usually Li Zicheng said at most: "Zong Min, you are now General Quan, you are not allowed to rush to the front by yourself again." "But today I actually sent someone to watch Liu Zongmin.

Ignoring the report, Li Wei also saw with binoculars, and from both sides of the artillery position, which had been covered again with fire oil bombs, a group of cavalry rushed out. Liu Yun and Li Wei looked at each other and smiled.

Li Wei said: "I can be a military advisor to Li Zicheng." ”

At this time, according to the division of labor, the ship's artillerymen began to interrupt the firing. The "squeaky squeak" shell let some of the cavalry who ran in the front and fell directly into the ranks of the cavalry, at which time the cavalry turned on their backs, which was not an adjective.

After the artillerymen adjusted the mortars, they just kept putting shells into the barrels, forming a barrage in an area. The cavalry behind them who accelerated up and ran had no choice but to rush into the barrage, which was like a haymath machine, and the cavalry was dragged into it piece by piece. There are only three out of ten cavalry who can break out of the barrage. And many of the war horses that rushed out were also out of control, and they ran wildly directly.

Li Zicheng's artillery position was blown upside down, and the cavalry that Li Zicheng rushed over was also blown up, and the shells exploded continuously, forming a wave of cavalry led by Bai Guangen. These cavalrymen of the hundred battles were greatly shocked in their hearts. The cavalry led by Bai Guangen didn't care about the cavalry that stormed the city gate, and rushed up with their own team to meet the cavalry rushing to the dock, and after surrounding the cavalry who rushed through the barrage Li Zicheng, they were quickly cut off their horses. The cavalry who rushed out of the barrage not long ago would rather rush into front of Bai Guangen's cavalry formation than turn around and rush back. In the barrage, it was hell like a meat grinder.

The cavalry that stormed the city gate had been waiting for a long time. From the gates rushed out again, a group of two thousand cavalry met them. Fighting such a battle, Sun Chuanting and their generals are already experts, and it can be said that they can deal with it easily. Bai Guangen, who came out first, was to ensure the safety of the dock.

This scene made Li Zicheng, who was watching the battle behind, worry, but he didn't move, he had thought of all this in advance. But if Li Zicheng knows that he is invincible and still breaks through, then he can underestimate Li Zicheng, these generals who have survived a hundred battles. A more ruthless backhand, still to come.

Just when the defenders were concentrating all their attention on the east, they didn't expect another incident in the west.

Li Zicheng was a very experienced military leader, and he knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents. He definitely won't let his advantage in being outnumbered not work on the battlefield. While preparing in the east of the city, Li Zicheng sent a fierce general with a team of cavalry along the forbidden ditch in the west of Tongguan City, and secretly moved to the northwest of Tongguan to ambush it, and the strict discipline made this team silent, which is why Li Wei and Liu Yun felt uneasy about that direction. Due to the loss of 12 cities in Tongguan, Li Zicheng's army basically formed a situation of encirclement of Tongguan on all sides. The other city gates were also under the threat of Li Zicheng's army, and no one dared to go out of the city to investigate, so the cavalry sent by Li Zicheng really became a team of surprise soldiers.

The general sent by Li Zicheng to lead this cavalry was a well-known one, named Hao Shaoqi.

This Hao Shaoqi is a fierce general, formerly known as Hao Yongzhong, a native of Yan'an, Shaanxi, Li Zicheng is a general, and he was the standard-bearer at the beginning. The battle was extremely brave, but he was greedy for a cup and mistaken many times, and Li Zicheng couldn't reuse him. But he was loyal to Li Zicheng, and in that battle of Tongguan Nanyuan was to lighten the burden and cover Li Zicheng's breakthrough, Hao Shaoqi almost killed his wife and son. Hao Shaoqi is also one of the eighteen horsemen who broke through Tongguan.

This time, Li Zicheng used Hao Shaoqi to personally take charge of the surprise attack on this road, and he was determined to fight.

After Hao Shaoqi accepted the general's order, Li Zicheng said to Hao Shaoqi: "Shake the flag, I won't say anything else, you know what to do." ”

Hao Shaoqi said: "Master, you can rest assured." Waving the flag will never make a mistake. ”

Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Okay, let's go and prepare." ”

After Hao Shaoqi went back this time, he really didn't take a sip of wine, and ordered 5,000 cavalry to quietly ambush him, without revealing any traces.

When the east cannonballs have begun to bombard, Li Zicheng's cavalry has begun to attack, Hao Shaoqi did not attack immediately, he watched Li Zicheng's two cavalry rush through the barrage and have been in contact with the defenders, he ordered the cavalry to start charging, Hao Shaoqi's goal is clear, is to go straight to the city gate.

The soldiers on the two Cangshan ships that had been monitoring the west felt that it was a bit wronged to take on such a task, listening to the hot fight over there, but they were watching the excitement here, and they were intuitively depressed. But their captain didn't dare to be careless, they knew that Commander Fan would not send their two ships to idle here for no reason, there must be a reason. When they found the cavalry rushing up from the ditch to the west, they knew their chance had come. Twenty mortars on both ships began to fire interdiction fire. However, more and more cavalry rushed out of the ditch, and the cavalry front on the west side was very open, so more and more Hao Shaoqi's cavalry rushed through the blockade line, so that the battle situation began to change subtly. The cavalry that had just left the city had to divide their forces and come back to deal with the cavalry of Hao Shaoqi in the west. In the east, Li Zicheng and the military advisor also knew that it was Hao Shaoqi, a strange soldier, who began to attack. Li Zicheng was waiting for this opportunity, and he ordered Liu Zongmin to continue the offensive despite the casualties. At this time, the battlefield became tense.

Li Wei looked at it and scolded: "Damn, I can't do it if I don't want to." After scolding, he went to the foredeck of the command ship and said to the 120 heavy mortars he had brought with him: "Brothers, don't disgrace me. Send the group of rabbit cubs in the west to Lao Tzu and go back to his hometown. ”

These instructor-level gunners brought by Li Wei have long been itching in their hearts when they see others firing artillery. Immediately lifted the tarpaulin covered with 120 mortars. Li Wei personally operated the cannon, aimed at the cavalry of Hao Shaoqi who rushed through the blockade line, and gave the other gunners the shooting parameters, first took the lead in firing a cannon, corrected the parameters, and ordered: "Double shots and continuous release!" ”

Five 120-heavy mortars made a dull loud noise, and then an earth-shattering loud bang rang out in Hao Shaoqi's cavalry ranks that rushed through the mortar blockade and were preparing to fight with the officers and soldiers. The cavalry within a few meters of the landing point of the 120 shells, even men and horses, were blown into the sky, and the explosion effect of this kind of shells was completely different from the mortars just now. Those who are close to the explosion point and are not hit by shrapnel will be shocked and bleed to death, and those who are a little farther away will also be deaf. This kind of explosion that shook people's hearts made the soldiers on both sides of the fight stop all of a sudden. None of them had ever heard such an explosion.

After each cannon fired two shells, Li Wei did not stop and adjusted the parameters, to participate in the blockade of the cavalry rushing up in the west, this time because it was a blockade shooting, Li Wei did not need to adjust the parameters at such a close distance, and directly ordered three consecutive shots, and the addition of fifteen powerful shells quickly stopped the offensive momentum of the cavalry in the west.

The morale of the soldiers led by Bai Guangen and Ning De, who understood it, was greatly boosted, and they quickly annihilated the cavalry rushing from the east, and also beat the cavalry from the west back.

That Hao Shaoqi was also thrown under the horse by a cannonball, and his own soldiers desperately got him on the horse, and finally rescued him with desperate efforts.

Li Zicheng saw that there was no way to carry out today's offensive at all, so he had no choice but to withdraw his troops.

Sun Chuanting, who was watching the battle on Tongguan City, watched this thrilling battle, and the nervous sweat of a generation of famous generals soaked his battle robes.

After Bai Guangen and Ning De high-fived each other, they came to the command ship together and thanked Liu Yun and them. Liu Yun said: "Don't be polite, everyone, I just have two jars of good wine here for the two of you, let's go back in the evening to celebrate." But for now, it's better to unload the grain as soon as possible. Bai Guangen and Ning De disembarked and continued to command the unloading of grain.

They left, and Fan Chengkun and Mu Yi looked for Li Wei. Mu Yi said: "Oh my God, I thought our mortar was already a terrible weapon, but I didn't expect your 120-heavy mortar to be even more terrifying." ”

Fan Chengkun said: "Li Wei, don't take away your five cannons, and leave the people who teach us to use them." This guy is really in charge when it matters. ”

Li Wei shook his head and said, "Not yet." ”

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Mechanics of Materials, Theoretical Mechanics, Elastic Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".