Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but sigh when he heard that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were preparing to trap Xiangyang, he was afraid that the righteous army would run around, and as for trapping and defending the fortified city, it would be simply looking for death. When there is no artillery or the power of artillery is very small, it is indeed difficult to break through a Xiongcheng like Xiangyang guarded by 200,000 people, but now the artillery power of the Ming Dynasty is not ordinarily small, and the number is not ordinarily large.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have the idea of defending the city, their perception of artillery is still stuck in the Chongzheng four years when Lu Xiangsheng attacked Linfen used the 20 55-type mortar cannons, the range of the 55-type mortar is more than 300 meters, if you consider the height of the city wall, then at least move the mortar to more than 200 meters away from the city wall, although Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong will not build artillery, but they will build catapults, this distance catapult power is basically the same as artillery, so they are not worried about the problem of artillery at all.

Fortunately, Zhu Cijiong has not yet equipped the artillery to the local garrison, if Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are allowed to grab a few 317-type howitzers or 417-type howitzers, and then try the power of the howitzers, they will definitely run as far as they want, what are they kidding, once the range of the artillery exceeds one mile, they will only be beaten, and there is no means to fight back, no matter how high the city wall is, it is fake, just let others spend a little more effort.

Since Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were looking for death like this, Zhu Cijiong naturally would not disappoint them, he directly asked Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting to inform Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting quickly, and immediately set up, leading the Tianxiong Army and the Qin Army to gather with the Second Army of the Praetorian Guard, the Dingliao Army and the Wuwei Army to surround Xiangyang City and have a hearty siege battle!

In fact, the 300,000 army led by him can also capture Xiangyang City, but that will be very troublesome, because the second army of the Praetorian Guard and the Dingliao army are both third-class legions, and the Wuwei army is a newly formed legion, and even the artillery has not had time to be equipped, the 300,000 army has only more than 1,000 artillery pieces in total, and all of them are 317-type howitzers and 417-type howitzers, the number, range and power are slightly insufficient, it is basically difficult to completely suppress the defenders on the city wall, if it is not suppressed, the loss of the siege will be great. He didn't want to consume too many soldiers for a battle he was sure to win.

The Tianxiong Army and the Qin Army are different, they are the first-class army and the second-class army of the Ming Dynasty, the number of artillery is called more than one, the Tianxiong Army alone has 2,000 howitzers of all kinds, and the two armies add up to more than 3,000 artillery, which can completely suppress the defenders on the city wall and not raise their heads, and the siege is not too easy.

Since Zhu Cijiong rushed directly to Xiangyang, while Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting only left after receiving his order, it would take several days for the order to arrive even if he was fast, so Zhu Cijiong arrived in Xiangyang a few days earlier than Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng.

When he arrived in Xiangyang City, he did not rush to attack, but ordered Qin Gongming and Li Mingfu to lead their headquarters to surround the west and south of Xiangyang City respectively, and he led the second army of the Praetorian Guard Army to be stationed in the east, and he did not arrange anyone in the north.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the city naturally couldn't run, they had already made up their minds to guard Xiangyang and consume the imperial army, how could they run, not only did they not run at this time, but they also watched Zhu Cijiong's jokes on the city wall.

Li Zicheng observed the camp of the officers and soldiers with a telescope, and said disdainfully: "This little emperor really has no experience, for a few days, he can't even send people to drum and harass, he only knows that he is bored there to build siege equipment, does he think that the siege war is a matter of one or two days, it is a protracted battle, this kind of protracted war, it is also very important to consume the enemy's energy, and also, he refused to put the horse fork on the periphery of the camp, isn't this looking for death, how about we send cavalry to wrap the horse's hooves and steal the camp at night?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head with a smile and said: "Forget it, you see that he looks like he is going to attack the city, he may not have thought about attacking the city at all, he may just be pretending, stay for a few days and leave, there is no need to provoke him, let him play." ”

Zhu Cijiong really didn't plan to attack the city, he planned to let Lu Xiangsheng come to attack the city, and King Lu Yan had a lot of experience in attacking cities garrisoned by peasant armies without muskets and artillery, so he didn't have to worry about it at all. As for why he didn't put a horse fork on the periphery of the camp, it wasn't that he was inexperienced, but that he wanted to yin Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, there were several rows of mines buried there, if they came to steal the camp, they would definitely be bombed and crying dad and mother!

Now the 300,000 troops outside Xiangyang City are like a whole, no matter which camp Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong sneak attack, they will encounter sieges from the other two sides, he is not afraid of sneak attacks at all, but a little bit expects Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to come and sneak attack.

300,000 people to build 100,000 siege equipment, naturally it is extremely fast, when Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting finally came together, the siege equipment was almost made, Zhu Cijiong convened five generals to hold a brief combat meeting, everyone agreed that in the case of absolute superiority in firepower, there is no need to play any tactics such as attacking the east and west, feints and harassment, and just set up a position and attack hard.

Early the next morning, Lu Xiangsheng began to command the Tianxiong Army and the Qin Army to attack the city, and it was really not necessary to deal with the peasant army that did not even have earthen artillery, Lu Xiangsheng directly ordered the artillery of the Tianxiong Army and the Qin Army to put all kinds of howitzers into four rows in the north of Xiangyang City according to the firing range, more than 3,000 artillery, just lined up for more than an hour, and the formation was discharged that was called a spectacular ah, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong on the city wall saw the dense artillery, and their faces were white with fright, and they realized at this time, Sticking to Xiangyang was a bad decision.

Lu Xiangsheng didn't talk to them at length, after the artillery array was opened, he first tried to fire a few shots, adjusted the angle, and then the solid bullets continued to bombard, more than an hour later, the arrow stacks on the city wall were almost flattened, and the defenders on the city wall suffered heavy losses, in order to resist the attack of officers and soldiers, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong lined up twenty or thirty thousand people on each city wall, and so many people lined up on the city wall a few miles wide, how dense the standing can be imagined, even if the most people are stacked under the female wall, more than 10,000 people can be stacked, Everyone else was basically smashed into a pulp!

Lu Xiangsheng didn't care how many people died on the city wall, he saw that the bombardment was almost over, so he ordered his 50,000 infantry to push the siege equipment in front of the artillery array, set up an attack formation, and then with a loud shout, he took the lead in rushing towards the city wall.

At this time, the Second Army of the Praetorian Guard and the Dingliao Army also put out their hundreds of artillery, and directly covered the northeast and northwest corners of the city wall with cannonballs, and the thieves on both sides could not support the northern city wall at all.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong hid in the city gate tower with gray faces and looked at the approaching Tianxiong Army, their eyes were full of remorse, they knew that they would not play any defense of the city in this way, no matter where they fled to, it was better than being caught in an urn like this!

There is no regret in this world, they have already reached the end of the road from the moment they decided to defend the city, and they don't even have the opportunity to play their strengths and run wild on this end road!