The main forces outside the west and north cities were the first and second regiments of the fourth battalion, which were the most elite main regiments of the Mandate of Heaven, and the soldiers were all armed with rifles, dozens of mountain guns, and an unknown number of gunpowder bags.

It has been almost a year since the fourth battalion came to Henan, and after a lot of small-scale battles, the rifle ammunition consumption is very large, and the rifle itself also needs to be repaired and replaced, but Henan is too far away from Lanzhou, and the supply cannot keep up for a while.

When Li Zicheng was in Lushi County, he had already asked the Song Ministry of Culture in Shangzhou to transport a batch of bullets and rifles first, but the time was still short, and the convoy had not yet arrived.

In order to protect these two main regiments, Li Zicheng transferred the Luo Tai Department of Beicheng to the West City Gate, and Liu Jianyi's Department of Beicheng as the main siege troops of the West and North City Gates respectively, and the first and second regiments sent some gunners to cover the siege of the two divisions.

Outside the West City Gate, Li Ji first sent a thousand gunners to lean into the city wall, and fired at the head of the city from a hundred paces away, pressing the defenders down.

The defenders at the head of the city today are the young men who were just recruited yesterday, five hundred young and strong, except for the more than ten people who were killed and wounded last night, all of them were put into the city at one time, and the original veterans were used as reserve troops to rest in the barracks temporarily.

Wang Yinchang knew that Qing Zhuang had no training and no combat experience, so he personally went to the city to command, and saw the gunners of the Heavenly Mandate Army coming to the city and began to aim at the city, but Qing Zhuang looked down from the battlements stupidly, and seemed to be braver than the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army, he was suddenly startled, "Hide behind the city wall!" He also pressed down a young man next to him.

"Bang...... Bang bang ......"

The gunners of the Providence Army began to shoot, and seeing that there were not many defenders on the city, they used point fire, which could save bullets.

Qingzhuang, who was pressed down by Wang Yinchang just now, heard a whistling sound flying overhead, his face turned pale with fright, his lips moved, and he muttered to himself: "Liukou's firearms are so sharp, so far away......"

"The range of the rogue's firearms is much longer than you think, hide your body behind the city wall, and when the rogue attacks the city, you will poke your head out!" Wang Yinchang just left the observers in an inconspicuous place on both sides, and he also leaned his body behind the city wall, he knew that the rogues generally did not use bows and arrows to throw, the bullets of firearms did not bend, and they hid in the back of the city wall, as long as the rogues did not climb the city, they were safe.

The young men also followed Wang Yinchang's example, leaning their backs against the city wall, trying to stick their backs tightly to the city wall, although the casualties were not large, but in their eyes, there was only fear.

Wang Yinchang understands that the young men are afraid because the firearms of the Heavenly Mandate Army have too long a range, standing a hundred steps away from the city and shooting at the head of the city, but the young men on the head of the city have no chance to fight back, they are almost lambs to be slaughtered, if the two sides fall into hand-to-hand combat, in the face of huge pressure, the young men will forget their fear, "You don't have to worry, this official is also at the head of the city, once the rogue starts to attack the city, it will mix with our people, and their firearms will lose the opportunity to shoot, unless they don't care about their own life or death." ”

The young men think about it, when the Liukou attack the city, they will fall into a melee with the defenders on the head of the city, and any fire# guns, bows and arrows will lose the target of the attack......

The answer that the young men don't know, Wang Yinchang also doesn't know, yesterday the Heavenly Mandate Army had attacked the city, but they mainly shot at the city, and it seemed that they were not prepared to climb the city, if they didn't misunderstand the range of firearms, plus they had no experience in facing firearms, the casualties of the soldiers would not be too large.

Compared with firearms, the subsequent siege of the Mandate of Heaven was painless, with a total of only four ladders, and as long as the battlements where these ladders were located, the Mandate of Heaven Army would not be able to climb to the top of the city.

But today's Mandate of Heaven Army, I don't know if there will be a large-scale siege of the city!

Wang Yinchang said in his heart, if he only relied on the advantage of firearms in range and showed off his might under the city, he could only be disgusting, and the damage to the city head was not great, as long as the young man hid in the north of the city wall, the Mandate of Heaven Army would have nothing to do.

"My lord, the Heavenly Mandate Army is about to attack the city with the ladder of the clouds!"

Wang Yinchang was startled, hurriedly stood up, exposed half of his head from the battlement, and looked at the city with one eye, not only trembling all over, "Why are there so many cloud ladders today?" ”

"Come back, sir!" The guards pulled Wang Yinchang back to avoid being attacked by the Heavenly Mandate Army.

Wang Yinchang pushed away the guards, pointed to the city and said: "Leave me alone, hurry, prepare arrows, the rogue is about to attack the city!" ”

The guards looked at each other, there were only 500 young men guarding the city today, they were temporarily recruited from the people yesterday, and they would not shoot arrows, do they want these guards to risk firing arrows? If you release arrows into the city, you must show your face from the battlement, and the firearms of the rogue have been waiting for the city for a long time......

Wang Yinchang saw that the eyes of the guards were all exposed to the young man, and then he remembered that the young man had never used arrows, so he said: "Pick up your bows and arrows first, so you can deal with it first, don't let the rogue get close to the city!" Then he ordered his guards to go to the city and gather five hundred veterans to help defend the city.

Only veterans would shoot arrows, and there were too many rogues to attack, and the five hundred young men on the head of the city were simply not enough.

The young men had never fought, let alone released arrows, but Wang Yinchang's orders, they must obey, so they picked up the bows and arrows they carried with them, approached the battlements and began to aim downward.

They have not been trained in archery, and they do not have the skills and accuracy to shoot, but fortunately, they occupy the advantage of the terrain, and even if they throw arrows from the city with their hands, they may also hurt the rogues.

The young men are full of expectations, as long as they hurt a rogue, it will be the income of two taels of silver, if they are lucky enough to shoot the key point of the rogue, as long as the rogue is dead, it will be five taels!

The Heavenly Mandate Army outside the city was carrying more than ten ladders, slowly approaching the city wall, and seeing that it was about to enter the range of bows and arrows, Wang Yinchang found that the rogues outside the city did not seem to be the same as yesterday's rogues, at least the rogues took off their fancy military uniforms and changed to wear the armor of the official army, and many rogues still had shields in their hands.

This is completely a Ming army armed to the teeth!

Wang Yinchang's eyes were a little disappointed, he glanced at the young men around him, knowing that their arrows couldn't penetrate the shield, not even the armor, it seemed that they still had to rely on the veterans in the city, "Quick, let's go and see, why can't the reinforcements come yet?" ”

At this moment, the guard who gave the order just now came over panting, "Your Excellency, ......"

Wang Yinchang was unhappy when he saw that there were no reinforcements by his guard's side, "Why? Why are reinforcements so sluggish? ”

"My lord," the guard ran too quickly, couldn't speak for a while, patted his chest, rubbed it for a while, and whispered a few words in a voice that only he could hear.

"What? Are they going to do the opposite? Wang Yinchang was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, almost jumped up, and the spitting stars sprayed on the face of the guard, who lowered his head and didn't dare to say a word, and he didn't dare to reach out to wipe the foam on his face.

Wang Yinchang knew that the military situation was urgent and could not be delayed, but fortunately, the Liukou had not yet entered the range of bows and arrows, so he handed over the head of the city to Qingzhuang, and he took his personal guards and walked quickly to the military camp under the city.

The military camp is a long distance from the city, when Wang Yinchang rushed to the barracks, he saw that the soldiers were chatting and playing in twos and threes, and they didn't even wear armor, as if the rogues outside the city had nothing to do with them, he was immediately annoyed and angry, he grabbed the collar of a hundred household officials, "Why don't you obey the military order, do you want to rebel?" ”

When the hundred household officials saw Wang Yinchang at first, they were a little frightened, but when they heard about the "rebellion" son, they had an idea in their hearts, and it was a big deal to go out of the city to join the Liukou! With confidence in his heart, the fear on his face faded, he stood up straight, and said lightly: "My lord, it's not that the villain refuses to fight, but the brothers......"

"Raising soldiers for a thousand days, using soldiers for a while, you are also people who eat food and salary on weekdays, and the rogues came to the city, and you were indifferent," Wang Yinchang pushed hard and let go of the hundred household officials, "Is it because of the reward of the young and strong, you actually let the rogues attack the city?" ”

The Baihu official stretched out his hand to smooth the clothes on his chest, and said: "My lord, it is also a battle, not only do the brothers not have to pay silver or reward silver, but they can't even eat their bellies, the brothers refuse to fight, and the villains can't take care of ......."

This is indeed a problem, Wang Yinchang failed to solve it last night, looking for the king of Fu to ask again, it is impossible, if the young and strong are reduced to pay and reward silver, the young and strong people may not agree, they are not soldiers, there is no responsibility to defend the city, even if the city is broken, it has little to do with them, even if the rogues enter the city to loot, they don't have much property, will they still demolish their houses?

If these veterans don't participate in the defense of the city, relying on five hundred young people, they won't be able to resist wave after wave of attacks by the rogues!

Wang Yinchang really wanted to cut down this hundred households with one knife and make an example of the chickens and monkeys, but he was the one who led the troops, and knew that at this time, if he used a high-pressure method, it was likely to force the soldiers to rebel.

The soldiers are not idle for nothing, they only have two meals a day, and their stomachs are indeed not full!

But Wang Yinchang can't lose his momentum, the soldiers are watching, if the momentum is lost, the military order will be completely out of order, he held back the anger in his heart, and snorted coldly, "Can't care?" How do you bring the soldiers? ”

"My lord, as long as the brothers can eat their stomachs, the villain promises that the brothers will give up their lives and defend Luoyang City," the hundred households glanced at the surrounding soldiers and said, "Brothers, do you say?" ”

"Yes, we just want to be fed!" Countless soldiers responded.

Wang Yinchang nodded, glanced at the soldiers with a majestic gaze, and said in a deep voice: "You ask for a full stomach, this request is very reasonable, this official will do everything possible to meet your requirements, starting from noon today, three meals a day, and each meal will be added with a white-flour steamed bun!" ”

"Thank you, sir!" The soldiers cheered, and in the midst of the cheers, there were many words of gratitude.

Wang Yinchang was silent for a while, but he had mixed feelings in his heart, the soldiers' request was really not excessive, but the food ......

A hundred-household official quietly approached Wang Yinchang and whispered close to his ear: "My lord, there is only so much grain in stock, if you increase the daily supply......

Wang Yinchang knew that what he said was the truth, there was a shortage of food in the army, the treasury in the city was empty, and it was impossible to provide supplies in time, and the only place where there was food storage was the palace.