On the 23rd, the army swore to the east, and on the 28th it had reached the vineland, and the cavalry regrouped and rebuilt, and it was enough to send seventy or eighty men to control the whole scene.

It is difficult for the Yue people to know how many people the Mo family dispatched, because according to the calculations of various countries at this time, those people who followed the expedition were also regarded as peasant soldiers, and this number was difficult to count.

After camping close to Tengdi Sanli, the scouts dispersed, and the commander of the Third Brigade and Meng Sheng and other figures with the right to suggest and decide gathered.

Shi took out the suggested map he had drawn when he met Teng Shuyu in Tengdi, pointed to the pass of the Jing River and the Xiaojing River in the northeast corner of Tengcheng and said, "The plan is the same as before, and you all know it. Meng Sheng took a brigade and waited in formation here. The cavalry scattered to the outside of the Jing River, and if the Yue people retreated and fled to the river, they were captured. ”

Meng Sheng said with a smile: "They may not escape, they are only afraid of refusing to defend in the inner city, and this brigade of soldiers is waiting in vain." ”

Shi spread his hands and said: "If there is a lack of one of the three and they don't escape, it will be easy." The Mo family is good at defending, and naturally good at attacking the city, and the small inner city is only two miles, and it is easy to break through. ”

The rest of the people also laughed, not thinking that there would be any surprises in this siege.

Many Tengdi people fled to Pei County to make a living, and had many exchanges with their families and relatives who stayed in Tengdi, and the people's hearts were in Mo.

The Yue Wang was warlike, and the Yue nobles who guarded Tengdi were on the edge, and they didn't even know how to cut down the timber within miles outside the city, so it was obvious that this person was not a famous general.

Moreover, there are only 2,000 Yue people in the city, and even if the righteous division removes a brigade, there are still more than 3,000, and the means of breaking the city far exceed the twelve methods of siege at this time.

No matter how you look at it, breaking the city is not a problem, although it is said that you will lose before you think about victory, but under the crushing of absolute strength, if you think about it more, it will be like what Lie Yukou said.

After the discussion was over, he called some people who were good at using muskets to approach the city wall, and sent more than 300 warriors or rangers who were good at hand-to-hand combat to protect them, and shoot at the city at night, making the city uneasy.

When he camped at night, before dawn, Meng Sheng took a brigade of men and horses plus those cavalry, bypassed the Jing River, and quietly detoured towards the northeast corner.

At dawn on the second day, the drums were beaten, and two thousand people were taken as the left flank to bluff, and slowly approached the city wall.

Last night, the gunfire continued, although there were almost no casualties, but it also made the defenders in the city unable to sleep, and they did not dare to leave the city even more when the day came.

After the two brigades approached, they were only lined up 200 paces outside the city, just outside the range of the bows and arrows defending the city.

The drummers beat the drums first and shook the city, and the 2,000 men distributed shovels and pickaxes and other tools, and dug a fort first.

The barracks were only chest-high and were completed by noon.

The sand was piled up again, and the rammed earth became a position for the deployment of artillery, and all the artillery was deployed on the position.

The caliber of these cannons is small, and they are only suitable for field battles, not for siege cities, and it is impossible to rely on iron pellets of only three or two catties to blast through the city walls.

But about 200 paces, these bronze cannons can bombard the head of the city.

If artillery had been widespread at this time, it would have been death to get so close.

However, the Yue people did not have artillery, nor did they have long-distance large crossbows such as bed crossbows and transfer machines used by the Mo family to defend the city.

After the copper cannons were arranged, the trench was dug from the midpoint where the two brass cannons were calm, and since there were no cannons in the city, it was much easier to excavate such a trench.

Most of the mobilized farmers have experience in digging ditches and rivers, and the tools are also very handy, and there are several full-time miners from the Dayeshan Copper Mine to guide them.

In groups of ten people, two people with wicker baskets dug a narrow trench that could hold one person, and then put the earth into the wicker basket and piled it up in front as a breastwork, so as to reduce the projectile of bows and arrows at the head of the city as much as possible.

Although the bow and arrow projectile at the head of the city can basically be ignored, it is hoped that the casualties can be minimized, so that the world will know the Mohist siege methods, and also in order to be able to make a name for himself in the army.

When the two men had dug a trench that could accommodate one person, the rest of the men began to follow, widening the trench to about four meters, so that the soldiers could calmly approach the walls through the trench.

It is almost impossible to inflict casualties on a projectile of feathered arrows, especially in the first hundred or so paces, and only extremely bad luck can be caught by feathered arrows.

As night fell, the men had dug a hundred paces from the wall, and twenty paces beyond the moat, but it was not deep.

During the night, everyone withdrew from the front trench and beware of a counterattack from the city in the second trench.

All night without incident, and early the next morning, he approached the moat in this way, and was only sixty or seventy paces away from the city wall.

All the musketeers were in position, just behind the breastwork of the first trench, and took direct fire at the head of the city, waiting for orders.

The musketeers, like the cannons, lined up on both sides of the gate, with two trenches four meters wide in the middle for the passage of soldiers.

After taking his position, Shi did not give the order to open fire, but called some locals from Tengdi to come forward and shout loudly near the breastwork in front.

"For the benefit of the world, the Mo family attacks the unjust. The people of Tengdi who guarded the city listened, you have also heard the rumors of the Mo family, and some relatives know the life of the farmers in Pei County. This time, Gongzi returned to Tengdi to restore the country, and gave full authority to the ink to carry out the reform. ”

"The people of Tengdi who defend the city, the Mo family will attack the city soon, and the city gate will be struck by lightning and turned into powder in an instant. The ink man is restored, for the people of Tengdi, and he can't bear to kill or hurt. I also know that you were forced to defend the city by the Yue people, and it was difficult to resist. ”

"Remember, once the indigo banner is raised on the wooden poles outside the city, immediately move away from the city gates, and when the lightning strikes, everything will die! If the Yue people block it, they can fight, and the ink can break the city in an instant! ”

"Remember! Remember! ”

He shouted at the top of his voice all afternoon, and when evening came again, only some of the soldiers were left to continue to be on guard, and the rest rested as usual.

A brigade commander said strangely: "Suitable, why don't you just cross the trench and attack the city at noon?" ”

Shi pointed to the head of the city and said, "No hurry." The cavalry scouts came out, the Yue people were alone in one city, and there was also news from Meng Sheng's side, and the cavalry was completely controlled within ten miles, and the Yue people would not know. ”

"If the trench wants to break through, it needs to be filled. It was filled in the afternoon, and the city could not be attacked in the evening, and in case the Yue people counterattacked at night, they had to be defended. There was a lot of time, and it was not bad for this afternoon. ”

"Early tomorrow morning, I will order the peasants to fill the moats with wicker baskets of earth from the passage reserved in the middle. Artillerymen and musketeers bombarded the city, covering the farmers from both sides. ”

The brigade commander smacked his tongue and said, "Gunpowder is expensive." ”

The brigade commander didn't know the recipe of gunpowder, but he knew the price of gunpowder for sale, and he also knew how troublesome the configuration of this thing was.

Pei County alone can't support so much gunpowder, the Mo family placed the gunpowder workshop in a no-man's land in Daze, closely guarded it, and pretended to transport salt into it every day, as long as the specific recipe is not said, it is impossible for all countries to know in a short time.

In order to have enough raw materials, the Mo family did not skimp on the means of raising nitrate, and spread the method of scraping toilet nitrate in the Song Dynasty.

First, it can popularize toilets, and secondly, it can also allow Pei County to obtain a steady stream of saltpeter.

Nitrate can be exchanged for iron, in exchange for money issued by the ink family.

You can buy iron, oil, wine, salt, seeds, wood, carts, ploughshares, etc., and there is no need for any coercive measures at all, so as to make a profit, there are already merchants in the Song Dynasty who specialize in buying nitrate along the cities or villages.

In fact, the Mo family used it themselves, and gunpowder was not expensive.

Shi didn't say much, but said: "Human life is priceless." The more gunpowder is used, the less blood is shed. This is the first big battle since the righteous division was formed, and morale needs to be raised. ”

The brigade commander nodded and wrote down.

Early the next morning, after the Teng people in the army shouted again, Shi waved his hand and signaled the artillery and musketeers to get ready.

As soon as the drums moved, all the artillery, muskets, and bows and crossbows shot at the head of the city together, and the Yue archers on the head of the city did not dare to show their heads, and they were immediately suppressed.

Hundreds of men with wicker baskets approached the moat from the two reserved middle passages, looking for an opportunity to fill the wicker baskets filled with sand and gravel into the moat.

During this time, the city could not fire a single arrow, not only because of the artillery, but also because a few outcrops were quickly suppressed by the musketeers below.

There are 2,000 people, but it is not easy to train archers, and the number is not much.

In just two hours, the moat had been filled in and was completely passable, but the artillery fire had not stopped, and it was still roaring.

More than a dozen inkmen from mining took the lead, crossed the moat, and the people on both sides raised their shields to guard against the arrows at the head of the city, and these elite inkmen quickly dug several trenches with the tools they had at hand.

The follow-up men widened the trenches as before, transported timber from behind, and began to dig tunnels like mines and support them with timber.

Half of the artillery stopped at this time, no longer firing at the head of the city, but aimed at the city gate, and once the Yue people went out of the city to counterattack, they were immediately suppressed.

The tunnel that crossed the moat and stretched under the city wall, Mozi's "Preparation of Caves", how to dig tunnels has technical indicators, and the Mozi defenders often tried to dig tunnels to counterattack the crypts of the besieging side, so the speed of excavation is extremely fast.

Normally, digging under the city wall can actually be supported by wood, and then the rammed earth foundation of the city wall can be excavated.

When the time comes, a fire will burn the supporting timber, and the walls will collapse.

But it took too long and wasn't shocking enough, so this time the tunnel was dug directly under the city gate.

The follow-up people pushed two coffins filled with gunpowder and entered under the city gate from the four-meter-wide tunnel.

Once you've reserved enough leads, go back and let you know you're all set.

The two-day siege consumed a lot of gunpowder, and everyone also sweated a lot, and it would be very troublesome to dig the tunnel normally, but the Yue people had no artillery, so it was much simpler.

In the past two days, only three people were unfortunately hit by feathered arrows, but none of them died, only suffered some injuries.

Shi looked at the city and said with a smile: "Let the artillery stop." Prepare to raise the indigo flag, approach the trench with the whole group of foot soldiers, and once the city gate is blown open, immediately capture the city gate. ”

"Lined up at the gates, clinging to the fallen walls, and the musketeers took cover. Don't storm, don't pursue, bluff, don't go on the offensive for the time being. ”