The soldiers of Liu Jianyi's department, under the cover of the door panels and carts, began to dig the city wall under the city, and each soldier, as long as he chiseled out a piece of masonry, could return to rest, and the masonry was thrown into the moat.

When a soldier returns, a soldier rises to the top, and a thousand households of soldiers remain under the wall.

Although Gao Mingheng is depressed, he can't let the Mandate of Heaven Army dig the city wall, Yugong moves the mountain, after a long time, the city wall will collapse sooner or later, there is a city wall to protect it, the Mandate of Heaven army has an advantage, once the city wall is destroyed, the two sides are fighting in the flat field, and the Ming army in the city still doesn't know where to cry.

He reiterated the conditions for the reward of Zhu Gongfang, the king of Zhou: go out of the city to kill one thief and Kou army, and reward fifty taels of silver; If a thief is killed in the city, a reward of thirty taels of silver will be given, and a reward of ten taels of silver will be given to those who shoot and wound a person or are wounded by bricks and stones.

Because of the need for first-level evidence, Gao Mingheng didn't know how many soldiers could get these silver taels, or rather, the reward conditions offered by Zhu Gongyan had some elements of deception, but the situation was critical, and he really couldn't take care of it.

Under the inspiration of Gao Mingheng, the soldiers of the halal battalion took the lead in standing up, and the halal battalion was not formed for a long time, but they are the descendants of Gao Mingheng, and Gao Mingheng personally formed them, and even the officers were personally appointed by Gao Mingheng, which is almost equivalent to private soldiers.

Subsequently, Cao Kun, the official of the palace, and Li Yingchun, the chief historian of the palace, led the eight hundred warriors of the palace, and also climbed to the head of the city of Xicheng to participate in the battle.

The gunners of the Heavenly Mandate Army outside the city also refused to be idle, only the Ming army showed their heads, whether it was a group of people or a person, it was difficult to avoid the shooting of the rifle.

The war has been very stalemate, and the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven have released their guns at the head of the city, and the other has seized the time to chisel through the stone wall, transport the stones away, and throw them into the moat.

The Ming army in the city, while dodging the bullets of the Mandate of Heaven, while throwing arrows into the city, or throwing stones and giant trees, they didn't dare to show their heads at all, they basically hid behind the city wall, throwing stones, giant trees, etc. from the wall, whether they could hit the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven, they couldn't care.

But Rao is so, the soldiers who carved the wall under the city still suffered many casualties, and the wooden bunkers guarding the overhead were smashed through by rolling wood and stones from time to time, or collapsed directly.

Time goes on, casualties grow.

Liu Jianyi found that several large holes had been dug under the city wall, and as long as the soldiers hid in the holes, even if there was no bunker, the stones on the city would not be smashed.

Gao Mingheng also saw this, not only deep lock up his eyebrows, in order to eliminate the dead end of the city defense, from the side to strike the enemy soldiers in the corner of the wall, generally when building the city wall, will design a special structure, that is, every other distance, the city wall protrudes outward a square, called the enemy platform, pier platform, commonly known as the horse face, but unfortunately on the city wall of Kaifeng, there is no horse face such a structure, can only watch the rogue in the wall hole.

Push official Huang Shu naturally understood Gao Mingheng's thoughts, the battle was continuing, and it couldn't be modified at all for a while, but in order to comfort Gao Mingheng, he said: "My lord, my subordinates immediately summoned the craftsmen in the city to see if there was any way, and when the Heavenly Mandate Army retreated after dark, maybe they could make a new horse mask." ”

How can this #horse face structure be completed in a short period of time? But the threat of the Heavenly Mandate Army was too great, and the dead horse became a live horse doctor, so Gao Mingheng asked Huang Shu to go back first and convene the craftsmen to discuss.

The sun left a red tail glow in the distant mountains, mixed with bleak dark clouds, glued and hidden, as if unwilling to withdraw from today's stage.

Li Zicheng fought outside the west city for a whole day, although the soldiers did not break the city, but the progress was smooth, six big holes were dug in the city wall, which were spreading in all directions little by little, as long as they were connected together, the city wall might be demolished.

He looked up at the western sky, darkness was coming soon, the soldiers had been fighting for a day, busy, tired, but at the risk of casualties, they were recruits after all, and the drill could be done step by step.

Li Zicheng asked He Xiaomi to give the order to withdraw the troops, Liu Jianyi seemed to be unsatisfied, and it was best to fight at night, but after looking at the tired soldiers, he finally didn't say anything, just waved his hand and asked the soldiers who supervised the battle to withdraw their troops.

Gao Mingheng finally waited for the signal of the withdrawal of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and relaxed mentally, only then did he feel that his whole body felt uncomfortable as if he had fallen apart, he was a civil official, and he had always sat in the official office, but today he was busy in the city for a day, and under great pressure, he felt that his legs were not his own at all.

The guards wanted to help him back, Gao Mingheng waved his hand, he couldn't show his fatigue in front of the soldiers, the battle was the beginning, and the main general must not admit it.

Back at the barracks under the city, just after taking a sip of warm water, Huang Shu ran over, and after greeting him, he said: "My lord, there is a scholar named Zhang Jian, who has designed a kind of hanging ......."

"Hanging Tower?" Gao Mingheng didn't even want to eat, he just wanted to sleep beautifully, how could he have the heart to listen to the story of the hanging building?

Huang Shu didn't seem to notice Gao Mingheng's face, but said with great interest: "The hanging tower is made of very thick wooden planks, the span can be three or five battlements, protruding beyond the city wall, and it can accommodate ten people inside. ”

"Hanging Tower? Are you saying that the hanging tower is suspended outside the city walls? Gao Mingheng finally heard it, and asked Huang Shu to go back to design the horse noodles in the afternoon, but he had long forgotten about it at this time, and he didn't expect to succeed, but he didn't expect Huang Shu to really be able to drum it up.

"Yes, the hanging tower protrudes outside the city, even if the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven are hiding in the hole in the dug wall, they can attack!" Huang Shu gave a detailed account of the structure of the Hanging Tower, and the role it could play in tomorrow's battle.

Gao Mingheng listened carefully to the report, asked questions from time to time, and even advocated replacing ordinary wooden planks with more solid cypress wood to improve the ability of the hanging building to resist attacks.

When the two of them had almost negotiated, Gao Mingheng's stomach felt hungry, "Lord Huang, immediately gather all the craftsmen in the city to make it overnight, how much can be rushed, by the way, that Zhang Jian, reward fifty taels of silver!" ”

The cold blow and frost and dew of the night have already completely annihilated the bloody gas, and outside the west gate of Kaifeng City, although the figures are sparse, the atmosphere is extremely solemn.

The rangers of the Heavenly Mandate Army found that there seemed to be some changes overnight on the head of the West City, but what the changes were, they couldn't see it for a while, and after careful screening, they finally found that the hanging towers stretched out from the head of the city, a total of fifty.

The hanging tower protruded from the outside of the city, and at a glance, it was clear that this was to deal with the enemy soldiers under the corner, and if the Mandate of Heaven continued to dig stones from the city wall, it would definitely be dealt a more serious blow!

The ranger did not dare to slack off, and immediately reported the information to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng also felt strange, why did a large number of hanging towers appear in the city overnight? He didn't care about breakfast, so he personally took his own soldiers to investigate.

Sure enough, as the ranger said, there were wooden cages hanging on the head of the city, and the wooden cages were of different lengths, or two or three or three or five battlements, and the soldiers were hidden in them.

Li Zicheng knew in his heart that these hanging towers must be to deal with the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven who were digging wall bricks, but the Ming army could rush to make fifty hanging towers overnight, and the number of craftsmen in the city must be quite a lot, and he didn't know who designed the hanging towers.

There is no need to get close, Li Zicheng knows that the outside of the hanging tower must be wrapped with thick wooden boards, and the bullets of the rifle cannot penetrate at all, and if you want to knock out the hanging tower, you can only rely on mountain artillery.

He watched the hanging towers from a distance, thinking in his heart, can these hanging towers really stop the pace of the Heavenly Mandate Army?

Back at the camp in Xiguan, Liu Jianyi was having breakfast, and when he saw Li Zicheng, he hurriedly said: "Governor, when will you start attacking the city?" The brothers will soon be ready to go. ”

"Don't worry, have a good breakfast first!" Li Zicheng patted him on the shoulder, turned around, turned around the middle of the battalion, and walked to the fourth battalion on the right, and asked Li Ji to gather all the artillery of the fourth battalion.

Li Ji thought that the governor of Dadu was going to storm Kaifeng City, and he was very happy in his heart, and when all the artillery was concentrated, Li Zicheng asked them: "If you take the hanging tower on the head of the city as the target, how sure are you of hitting the hanging tower?" ”

"Hanging Tower?" The gunners were puzzled.

"Oh, it's like a wooden box, but it's much larger than a normal wooden box, up to two or three battlements in the wall." Li Zicheng described in detail the hanging tower that appeared on the head of Kaifeng City.

The artillerymen still can't be sure, only by observing on the spot, will they know in their hearts.

Li Zicheng didn't say much, and asked the artillerymen to carry twenty mountain cannons to the city after breakfast, and the soldiers of Liu Jianyi's department also followed.

Kaifeng City is five zhang high, although the hanging tower is not small, but at the height of five zhang, it looks smaller than the wooden box commonly used by women, and the artillerymen are not fully sure of this kind of hanging tower, they just frowned slightly, and no one dared to speak.

"Let's try it, just to accumulate some experience," Li Zicheng knew that it was really difficult for these artillery to use mountain artillery to hit such hanging towers, "You first choose one or two larger hanging towers, concentrate artillery fire to try, and if it is feasible, then knock out the hanging towers one by one!" ”

Twenty mountain cannons, advancing to a place of 1,000 steps to the city wall, the target is concentrated on a large hanging tower in the middle, but the hanging tower is hanging at a height of five zhang, and it is outside the city wall, and only if it directly hits the hanging tower, it will have an effect.

From the ground, the hanging tower is too small, and the location is not good, twenty flowering catapults shot out, but they didn't even touch the planks of the hanging tower.

Li Zicheng had to give up, but Liu Jianyi refused to give up, a lot of bricks and stones have been dug under the city wall, and there are big holes, which can be seen from hundreds of outside, is the blood and sweat paid by the brothers yesterday so in vain?

Liu Jianyi asked Li Zicheng to attack the city head with artillery first, as long as the Ming army on the city head was suppressed, his subordinates could get close to the city wall and continue to dig bricks and stones.

Although Li Zicheng did not hold out much hope, he still supported Liu Jianyi's opinion.

However, the bricks and stones thrown from the hanging tower, heavy wood, and cold arrows fired from time to time, Liu Jianyi's casualties were too great, and by the middle of the day, Li Zicheng issued an order to withdraw the army.

The first attack on Kaifeng City, it was over, Liu Jianyi's face was annoyed, Niu Jinxing was worried, Li Zicheng's face was as calm as water, since the strange method did not work, it was still the right method, using siege equipment, directly attacking the city.

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