The hit rate of the artillery is naturally far from being comparable to that of the Suzhou gun, after all, the projectile fired by the Suzhou gun is much slower, and it flies along a parabola; The initial velocity of the projectile fired by the artillery is much faster, the flight trajectory is closer to straight, and the hit rate after aiming at the target is much higher.

When the Wu army concentrated all the artillery and bombarded the city gate, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, the artillery was pouring firepower, smashing large and small solid iron projectiles towards the city gate.

Compared to the rammed brick and earth walls, the wooden gates were obviously unable to withstand the bombardment of the shells, and were soon pierced, and the defenders behind the gates suffered heavy losses, and the screams of wounded soldiers were everywhere.

"Block the city gates, hurry up and block the city gates!" On the city wall, Li Shaorong immediately realized the crisis.

For the defense of the city in this era, the defending side often paid attention to the initiative of fighting out of the city, and from time to time sent troops to harass the enemy army, disrupt and disrupt the combat deployment of the besieging side, and even organize a small army to counterattack when necessary.

So before that, the defenders did not completely block the city gates, but left a passage to take the initiative.

But now the artillery of the Wu army has almost destroyed the city gate, if the city gate is not blocked again, once the Wu army breaks through, the consequences are unimaginable.

Under the oppression of Li Shaorong, the defenders hurriedly brought mounds of earth, stones, wood, etc., and piled them up behind the city gate, completely blocking the city gate.

In the process, the artillery of the Wu army continued to exert its might, and the defenders in charge of blocking the gate paid a great price, but in the end they succeeded in blocking the city gate.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhou Ben couldn't help frowning, but he didn't feel too disappointed, after all, the city guarded by nearly 60,000 troops, if he wanted to break through it so easily, this possibility was not high.

Moreover, after the enemy completely blocked the city gate, it also meant that the enemy army could not go out of the city to attack and disturb, which was also a good thing for the siege of the Wu army.

Since the city gate has been completely blocked, there is naturally no need for the Wu army's artillery to continue to bombard the city gate, but quickly turn the target in other directions.

After half an hour passed, the officer in charge of operating the artillery ran over and reported to Zhou Ben that because of the continuous firing, the barrel of the gun was overheated at this time, and it was no longer possible to continue firing, and it was necessary to stop and cool down for a while.

Zhou Ben nodded, and while ordering the artillery to stop the bombardment, he signaled the infantry to move forward and began to test the siege.

In the city, when the cannon fire finally stopped, the streets near the city wall were full of rubble, and the soldiers defending the city were suffering heavy casualties, and some people whose houses were destroyed were frantically picking up the rubble in the ruins of their collapsed houses, trying to find their relatives or belongings buried under the rubble.

There was a wail everywhere, Li Shaorong and the guards were walking on the city wall in shock, when there was a sudden sound of war drums outside the city, and then someone was heard shouting: "The Wu army is coming!" ”

Li Shaorong turned his head to look outside the city, and saw a dense crowd of Wu soldiers, pushing a large siege ladder, slowly moving forward.

Looking at the surrounding guards and soldiers, Li Shaorong saw infinite fear on their faces.

Today's artillery bombardment by the Wu army was like the wrath of heaven to them, and no one could remain calm under such a powerful situation, not even Li Shaorong himself.

However, compared with ordinary soldiers, Li Shaorong at least understood one thing, that is, if he did not calm down and repel the Wu army, then the fall of the city would be a matter of time.

"Soldiers, don't be afraid, the enemy army is not using demon magic, let alone the wrath of heaven, what the enemy army is using is actually just a new trebuchet, just like the Suzhou cannon. There's nothing to be afraid of this kind of thing. Cheer up, you'll be able to stop the enemy! ”

……

Late at night, after a day's attack, the Wu army had already retreated at this time, but for the defenders who had experienced a day of fierce fighting, their mood was not calm now.

On this day, the Wu army first used unprecedented artillery to bombard the city gates and city walls, which brought great shock to the defenders.

Then, the Wu army threw a large number of troops into attacking the city with all its might, as if it wanted to capture the city in one day.

Under this intensity of attack, the defending officers and soldiers, who were already demoralized by artillery, paid a great price to reluctantly repel the Wu army.

Immediately afterward, when the Wu army retreated, their artillery once again roared, blasting the defenders who were still immersed in the joy of repelling the Wu army.

After the artillery bombardment, the Wu infantry attacked again.

Although the fierce battle lasted only one day, the non-commissioned officers of the defending army felt as if they had experienced a fierce battle for several months, and they were all exhausted.

Fortunately, the defenders had a large number of soldiers after all, and although they paid a heavy price, they finally blocked the attack of the Wu army.

However, Li Shaorong, who was in charge of commanding the defense of the city, understood that the defenders of today's battle were able to repel the Wu army, completely relying on the advantages of the many defenders in the city, but if this situation continued, the Xingtang Mansion would probably not last long and would be breached.

So at this time, Li Shaorong and several other defending generals came to the palace and asked to see Li Cunmiao.

"Your Majesty, today's Wu army's siege is very fierce, and the enemy army has destroyed the city gate in an unpredictable way, and the defenders in the city have suffered great damage; Although our army finally repelled the enemy, the soldiers were very afraid, and there was even an unstable situation in many places, so I asked Your Majesty to make plans as soon as possible. ”

"Planning ahead? Are you exhorting me to reward my soldiers and encourage my soldiers? ”

"That's right, the officers and men in the army haven't been rewarded for a long time, and if they don't reward again, the minister is worried that there will be chaos." Li Shaorong said worriedly.

In the final analysis, the problem of Hou Tang is actually one, that is, lack of money.

Because there is no money, it is impossible to feed the army; And because the soldiers of the army could not get enough money and food, they could not even fill their stomachs, so there was a rebellion in Xiangzhou.

Although most of the 60,000 soldiers in Xingtang Mansion are veterans who have fought for the Jin State for many years, their military salary supply has also been affected, and they are also very dissatisfied with the emperor.

In addition, today is the first day of the defense of the city, the battle is so fierce, the soldiers are in turmoil, if they don't reward the soldiers, I'm afraid that something really will happen.

Of course, Li Cunmiao also understood this problem, so after listening to Li Shaorong's suggestion, he did not dare to hesitate and ordered the inner treasury to be opened and rewarded to the soldiers.

At this critical moment, Empress Liu still opposes using the money and grain of the inner treasury to reward the soldiers, but Li Cunmiao will no longer be as stingy as before.

It's a pity that when I was in danger, I remembered to reward the soldiers, was it too late?

……

On the east wall of the city wall, the person responsible for guarding the city is the soldier from Ma Zhi, and its commander is Guo Congqian, a servant favored by Li Cunqing.

The eastern city wall was also fiercely attacked today, and the 50,000 army led by Liu Xin was responsible for the attack in this direction, and under the roar of artillery, the Wu soldiers launched a fierce attack like a tide, and the defenders paid a heavy price to repel the Wu army.

At this time, in an arrow tower where the wall had already been flattened, Wang Wen and other five soldiers were holding the weapons in their hands, restlessly sitting against the wall.

Not far away, the corpses left behind after the fierce battle during the day are still lying there, and the wreckage and bloodstains on the ground remind people that there was a terrible battle here today.

These five soldiers are all veterans from Mazhi, among which Wang Wen has been fighting for the Jin State for more than ten years, has participated in all the foreign wars of the Jin State, and even experienced the Battle of Pingyin, and being able to live until now is enough to show how good his luck is.

Although the other non-commissioned officers do not have such deep seniority in the army, they are also veterans who have been in the army for many years.

However, the identity of the old pawn does not mean how loyal they are to the Later Tang Dynasty, in fact, they have already been extremely dissatisfied with Li Cunqiao at this time.

As veterans who have been fighting for many years, if they were in the Wu State, they would probably have been promoted to officers at this time, but the promotion in the Jin army was not so fair.

If they have a good relationship with their superiors, then as long as they are brave in battle, they can be promoted; But if no one appreciates it, then even if they stay in the army for the rest of their lives, they don't want to be promoted.

It's a pity that Wang Wen and the other five people are in the latter situation.

In addition to not being promoted for a long time, the situation of military salary being deducted is also extremely serious in Congma Zhili, coupled with today's tragic war, it can be said that they have long been extremely dissatisfied with Li Cunqiao in their hearts at this time.

At this time, Wang Wen and the other five soldiers were sitting and resting, but some people looked at them unpleasantly.

"What are you doing? How come there is no one in charge of the vigil? With a shout, a short young man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks walked over, and it was the team leader to whom the five soldiers belonged.

This person's name is Guo Shun, who only joined the Later Tang Army in the last two years, and has no credit, but I heard that he has a kinship with Guo Congqian, so he was appointed as the team leader as soon as he came in.

As a team leader who took a shortcut and was promoted, Guo Shun naturally felt unhappy with Wang Wen, a soldier with seniority older than him, and often looked for their faults.

And today, it happened that Wang Wen and the others did not stay vigil as required, but sat in the corner of the wall to rest, so Guo Shun naturally wanted to take the opportunity to play.

Wang Wen stood up after hearing this, and said in a swallowed voice: "It's a small negligence, please forgive me." ”

"Is it enough to be negligent? If the enemy takes the opportunity to kill them, but you don't find out, who will be responsible for the fall of the city when the time comes? Guo Shun said loudly.

Another soldier stood up and said, "Adult, small ......"

Before he finished speaking, Guo slapped him by the way, "Bastard, you dare to speak without letting you speak, do you want to rebel?" ”

If Guo Shun just scolded him, maybe Wang Wen and the others would have endured it, but Guo Shun moved directly, and Wang Wen and the others suddenly couldn't sit still.

"Damn, it's such a time, why should I be angry with you? Brothers, we're the opposite! With a loud shout, the five soldiers really reversed.