In the third year of Shengxi, May 19.

The sun is big, and the water is full. The air is humid and muggy, indicating the arrival of the hot season in the south of the Yangtze River.

Jiang Feng and Hai Feng temporarily cooperate and no longer grab territory. The temporary weakening of the wind not only affected the navigation of the fleet at sea, but also made the weather more humid and hot.

There is no unnecessary temptation. Wang Yu left all the wounded soldiers and defended the rear of the army with more than 10,000 soldiers to ensure that the follow-up baggage could reach the city of Hangzhou safely. He himself came to the city of Hangzhou with an army of 50,000 and joined Han Shizhong's army of 30,000.

Hangzhou City is close to the West Lake in the west and the Qiantang River in the south, with a north-south long layout. Looking down from the heights, the city of Hangzhou resembles a bean standing up, and the depression in the middle of the west side of the bean connects to the West Lake.

The northern wall is eight miles long, and the west and east walls are about thirty miles long. The southern city wall is in the shape of a circular arc, and it is more than eight miles long. There are nearly 1,000 arrow stacks, hundreds of enemy platforms on the horse face, dozens of arrow towers, more than a dozen city gate towers, and the urn city and sheep and horse walls of each city gate have been renovated and reinforced.

The Yongle Dynasty blocked several city gates and turned two city gates into traps, and the Great Zhou army could only attack the northwest water gate, the northeast corner city gate, and the two city gates in the east and north sections.

At the behest of Han Shizhong and Wang Yu, the Great Zhou army came up and attacked with all its might!

The Great Zhou army first launched more than sixty trench bridges.

The moat bridge is a temporary bridge to pass through obstacles such as moats or moats outside the city to ensure the progress of the siege. The craftsmen and minfu of the Great Zhou army put wheels on the urgently built moat bridge and made it into a model for migration. There are also several small wooden wheels at the front of the moat, which can be held in place as long as the small wooden wheels are locked.

The Yongle Dynasty organized more than 100,000 people to dig trenches for dozens of days, as well as the bamboo thistles and antler tips in the trenches...... These efforts were instantly nullified, and the Great Zhou army only lost a few hundred young and strong people.

The Great Zhou Army's vehicle-mounted bed crossbow and bed crossbow stepped forward and opened more than 20 gaps with a large horned wood arrow with the thickness of a child's arm and dozens of jackdaw arrows at a time.

The Fangla army's horse rejection array was vulnerable, the sheep and horse wall was also destroyed by the bed crossbow, and all the Fangla soldiers outside the city withdrew into the city.

Just after noon, in the northern section of the city wall and the east city wall of Hangzhou, the Fang La army was in full array.

After the efforts of the Yongle Dynasty to widen and dredge, the moat outside Hangzhou is indeed tricky.

However, the Great Zhou had clever craftsmen, and the wooden boxes filled with river mud, sacks filled with sand and stones, and coffins filled with mud, and in less than two hours, fifteen siege passages were filled.

There is still an hour until sunset.

Wang Yu strongly demanded an immediate attack to completely suppress the arrogance of Fang La's rebel army.

Han Shizhong thought about it carefully and felt that most of the sergeants had been fighting in Jiangnan for more than half a year, and they had eaten much better than usual. Not to mention that many sergeants still find opportunities to "add food" to themselves from time to time, and the situation of blindness at night should be improved a lot, so they agreed to Wang Yu's plan.

The Great Zhou army launched hundreds of double-bow bed crossbows and more than forty five-sentry cannons, and approached the city walls under the cover of long players, spearmen, and large wooden platoons.

The double-bow bed crossbow is not simply an addition of a crossbow arm and bowstring. The two crossbow arms, one large and one small, are coordinated with each other in the pull curve, making the big arrow shoot faster. At the same time, the jitter of the instrument is reduced, and the flight of the big arrow is more stable.

The power of the five-sentry cannon is between the three-sentry cannon and the seven-sentry cannon. All three are the proud works of the Great Zhou Dynasty Weapons Supervisor for hundreds of years, and are characterized by making full use of the characteristics of cattle and sheep and horse tendon, iron shafts and oiled hemp rope to greatly increase the power of the pulling trebuchet.

The Three Sentinels require at least thirty strong men to pull the rope in order to be effective. The five-sentry cannon needs more than 60 people, and the seven-sentry cannon needs more than 100 people, or even 200 people, to exert great power.

The banner was swaggering, and Fang Lajun began to counterattack. The heavy ordnance of the Yongle Dynasty was limited, and the Fangla army at the head of the city could only use the expensive bed crossbow in batches, and use the imitation spear-shaped arrows to attack from a distance, so naturally they had little gain.

As soon as the double-bow bed crossbow and the five-sentry cannon crossed the moat, and as soon as the 20,000-strong army began to form a formation, the Great Zhou army launched more than a dozen iron shield chariots and more than 80 cloud ladders.

The iron shield rush is a kind of siege vehicle that uses wooden planks, cowhides, iron shields and other objects to form a triangular space on the wooden frame. Dozens of sergeants pushed the cart closer to the city gate, and could use the iron-clad giant logs hanging inside the cart to attack the city wall or city gate, which required a high level of materials.

The ladder is a weapon used to climb over the city wall and siege the city, not a ladder for going up to the house to uncover the tiles. The main ladder of the ladder improved by the Great Zhou Military Weapons Supervision is divided into two sections, which are connected by a rotating shaft in the middle, and when it is close to the city wall, it suddenly lifts the auxiliary ladder and hooks the city wall. The bottom of the ladder was made of wooden planks and raw cowhide, which made it safer for the sergeant to approach the city walls.

Although there were ready-made iron parts in the army, the war was tense, and the iron shield chariots and ladders of the Great Zhou army were simplified to a certain extent.

Iron shield chariots and ladders led ahead, followed by twin bed crossbows and five-sentry cannons. More than 30,000 troops had taken part in the siege, and more than 20,000 young men were helping to push the ordnance, and labor would be provided to pull trebuchets and bed crossbows.

"Shoot the arrows!"

"Rolling wood, stone, ready!"

"Wolf tooth slap, Yaksha. Wait for the Great Zhou Army to come over and kill them! ”

"Bring the boiled gold juice and burn them to rot their meat!"

The junior colonel of the Fang La army on the city wall was busy working, waving his weapon and shouting with all his might, cheering up the soldiers and young people. The smoke rose from the smell of rough man's sweat and the pungent stench of gold juice, and soon there was a mixture of blood.

There was a semi-enclosed enemy platform on the horse's face, and the soldiers of the Fang La Army inside the enemy platform began to fire rockets. Battlements are also called battlements or battlements, and the soldiers hiding behind them open their bows and crossbows under the protection of wooden shields. The arrow tower and the city gate tower are well protected, and the shooting holes are not to mention dozens or hundreds, so they are naturally the places where the bed crossbows and firearms of the Yongle Dynasty shine.

The head of the city of Hangzhou began to counterattack, and the inside of the city wall was a different scene.

A large number of young men and even women, under the organization of the generals of the Fang La army, were ready to throw smoke balls, fireballs and stone bullets out of the city at any time to kill the damned Great Zhou army.

Less than half an hour before it got dark, the Great Zhou army finally entered within 200 meters of the city wall.

The flags and drums changed, and the generals and colonels of the Fang La army in the north and northeast sections of the city received orders to attack with all their strength.

The rockets at the head of the city were magnificent, as if it was raining fire. Fireworks and stones flew out of the city with a whistling roar, and the Fang Lajun in the arrow tower and the city gate tower also shot the big arrows at the Great Zhou army in pain.

There was a scream from the city, and the casualties of the Great Zhou army soon exceeded 1,000.

Wang Yu's black hammer armor looked particularly black and bright in the orange sunset. He frowned slightly, and whispered to Han Shizhong:

Han Zhao asked. Yongle rebels lined up their troops, which has become a set of its own. If they are given another half a year, it is really not possible to wipe it out in one fell swoop. ”

Han Shizhong nodded and said: "Wang Zhaoqiu is extremely right, fortunately, the dynasty is desperate to mobilize a large army to Jiangnan to quell the chaos. ”

"I didn't think it well before. Wang's proposal is the right one, taking advantage of the fact that he has just engaged in the battle, it is better to force out all the means of the Fang La thief army first than to slowly squeeze it out later. Let's get started! ”

The drums and trumpets of the Great Zhou Army suddenly became urgent, and the official attack began!

The soldiers of the Great Zhou Army, who were hidden behind the iron shield rushing car and the ladder, suddenly took off the crossbow and the divine arm bow on their backs and shot at the soldiers of the Fangla Army at the head of the city. Under the adjustment of the generals and section ranks of the Great Zhou army, a part of the wooden platoons and shields were dedicated to protecting the crossbowmen and the divine arm archers.

The double-bow bed crossbow and the five-sentry cannon happened to be ready for firing by the moat. At this time, they received an order and threw the weighed stones to the head of Hangzhou.

The iron shield rushed and began to storm the walls and gates. The cloud ladder approached the city wall, and the soldiers of the Great Zhou Army, who had received a high reward, rushed to the city wall. Some ladders are not suitable for the place to stop, so they can only be readjusted, and they are often burned and smashed by Fang Lajun.

The crossbow is powerful and powerful. The arrows of the Divine Arm Bow are extremely penetrating, and the accuracy is truly the most hand-held weapon of this era. As the core weapons of the Great Zhou Dynasty to resist the northern iron cavalry, the two strong crossbows inflicted a large number of casualties on the Fang La army as soon as they came up.

The accuracy of the Great Zhou army's five-sentry cannon and double-bow crossbow began to improve after five rounds of test firing, and an average of twelve times could hit the city wall or the first time in the city. It's really worse than the accuracy, but it can't stand up to more ordnance!

The sun had just set, and the heavens and the earth were dark.

A line of fire formed near the city walls, and inside and outside the city were two seas of fire. The soldiers on both sides could not distinguish each other from each other, but regarded each other as mortal enemies.

In order to boost the morale of the army, the most important thing is to illuminate, the Great Zhou army and the Fang La army did not hesitate to light the fire, brazier and torch.

Just when Fang La was puzzled by the stalemate of the battle situation, the Great Zhou army showed its fangs.

The double-bowed crossbow began to fire gunpowder arrows, and the five-sentry guns fired canned firearms in full force.

The Great Zhou ordnance, whose accuracy had improved again, suddenly became powerful, and the city of Hangzhou was in chaos.

Trigger fireballs to scurry around, and if you are not careful, they will ignite a piece. There are several kinds of poisons in the poisonous smoke fireball, and the smoke emitted is not only choking, but also can make ordinary soldiers lose their combat effectiveness quickly.

Where the tribulus fireball exploded, rusty iron thistles flew wildly, and it was difficult for soldiers and young men without iron armor to resist. As long as they don't get too close or hit the vital point, soldiers generally don't die on the spot, but rust kills.

Thunderbolt fireballs are the most terrifying. The shell made of straw tightly wraps the sealed clay pot, as long as it does not rupture before the explosion, the explosion of gunpowder inside urges the shattered porcelain pieces, rusty iron sheets, and small stones to shoot and hurt people in all directions, and it can pierce and kill people at close range!

The strong smell of blood permeated the city. By chance and necessity, a pile of firearms hidden in a gate tower was ignited by a large gunpowder arrow fired nearby, and the gate tower soon collapsed in the light of fire and smoke.

Under the sudden blow of the Great Zhou army, Fang La's army fell into a crisis in an instant. The Great Zhou army had gained five footholds on the city wall and was forming a defensive formation, and the morale of the soldiers of the Fangla army and the young defenders of the city was almost collapsed.

In desperation, Fang La could only use his hole cards.

Fifteen thousand reinforcements from the Fangla army arrived at the head of the city. Not only did they have to drive the Great Zhou army down, but they also had to restore the fighting spirit of the other soldiers.

The firearms that the Yongle Dynasty had managed to accumulate were thrown out of the city by the five-sentry cannon and the seven-sentry cannon. Some of the soldiers in the army threw clay pots and bamboo pipes from the top of the city, containing gunpowder, stones, and dung. More than a dozen three-bow bed crossbows used one gun and three swords and arrows, and quickly pierced three iron shield chariots and nine ladders......

"So many firearms?! That voice, it's a seven-sentry cannon! ”

Wang Yu was taken aback and gritted his teeth.

"And not only. That kind of screaming sound can only be found when the Eight Bull Crossbow fires the Iron Leaf Arrow! ”

Han Shizhong gasped. He and Wang Yu glanced at each other, and at the same time, they nodded in disbelief and made a decision.

The Great Zhou army Mingjin withdrew its troops and retreated to the south bank of the moat.

Both sides suffered heavy losses, with casualties of about 4,000 people.

The raid siege battle, which was quite in the style of Wang Yu's march, caused the Great Zhou army to lose thousands of elite soldiers and more than 20 siege ordnance. More than 300 crossbows and divine arm bows were lost, and four five-sentry guns and six double-bow bed crossbows were damaged, which shows the ferocity of Wang Yu's use of troops.

The cost is great, but the gain is undoubtedly greater. The Great Zhou Army not only regained the game that had just arrived in Hangzhou and was slightly defeated by Fang La's army outside the city, but also forced out most of the hole cards of the Yongle Dynasty, which was of great significance to the siege arrangements afterwards.

Fang La didn't care about the smell of blood and fishy smell at all, and went to the northern city wall.

Looking at the stumps and severed arms in one place, and inspecting the huge wounds caused by the explosion of firearms on the soldiers' bodies, Fang La was a little upset and uncertain. He suddenly remembered the mysterious visitor who arrived in Hangzhou City in the early hours of the morning, and turned to go down the city wall.

Late at night on May 19, Han Shizhong and Wang Yu were gathering the generals to greatly change the siege plan. Li Xiang recalled in the tent the bravery and iron blood of the soldiers on both sides during the battle, and there was no confusion in his heart.

Fang La summoned the closest civil officials and military generals in a delicate small hall, and met Fang Weiliang again, who was beaten with a blue nose and swollen face.