Outside the north city of Nanyang City, Liu Zongmin had already stopped shelling, and a gunman from a thousand households came to a place a hundred steps away from the city, and the Xining rifle was also ready to fire.

The city was hit by mountain artillery, the fire was not extinguished, the smoke and dust were billowing, the screams of fear and pain, the defenders were in a mess, they were all hiding behind the daughter wall and licking their # wounds, at this moment, no one had the heart to face the Mandate of Heaven army outside the city.

Liu Zongmin was about to send soldiers to attack the city, and he was worried that the defenders would attack, so he thought for a moment, but it was the thousand households who were waiting for the battle to make noise outside the city to attract the attention of the defenders.

Sure enough, the defenders were attracted by the movement outside the city, and although they suffered heavy casualties, some people still poked their heads out of the battlements and found that the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven had come to the city, but they were only a hundred paces away, and if they had to advance a little more, they would enter the range of bows and arrows.

The soldiers who discovered the situation shouted loudly, and the defenders at the head of the city came to the scene, and the rogues first used artillery fire to consume the defenders, and they were soon about to attack the city.

The defenders quickly gathered towards the city wall, and in order to avoid a new round of shelling, they all hid behind the wall, and the archers had already drawn their bows and arrows, and as soon as the rogues came into range, they would shoot the arrows in their hands without hesitation.

Surprisingly, the rogues outside the city did not continue to advance, but stopped a hundred paces away, and seemed to be collectively petrified.

"Huh? What's wrong with this? Don't they dare to attack the city? ”

More and more defenders gathered behind the city wall, except for a small number of soldiers bandaging the wounds of their companions, they seemed to have forgotten the pain just now, and crowded over to see the excitement, and countless heads appeared in the battlements of the parapet wall.

Liu Zongmin saw that the defenders only showed part of their heads from the battlement, and knew that the defenders were frightened by the flowering bullets, and there was nothing they could do, so he had to secretly order the gunmen of the thousand households to aim at their targets first, and then shoot suddenly, even if they could not destroy a large number of defenders at the head of the city, at least they could scare the defenders half to death.

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

There was a dense burst of gunfire, followed by a brief silence, and taking advantage of the fact that the defenders were screaming, Liu Zongmin had already let the thousand households behind him start dragging the ladder and start attacking the city.

The defenders were suddenly shot, all hiding behind the city walls, and in the first distance, the Mandate of Heaven marched very smoothly, but as soon as they passed the passage given by the gunners, they were discovered by the soldiers in charge of the lookout at the head of the city, "No, the rogue is getting closer to the city wall......

Although the defenders were hit by many rounds of mountain artillery and Xining rifles, they still habitually used the bows and arrows in their hands when the rogues attacked the city.

The infantry of the Mandate of Heaven is an army that is completely dependent on attack, with neither armor nor shields, and once the defenders release arrows, they can only resist with their flesh.

At this moment, the only thing that protected them was the soldiers of the thousand households a hundred steps away from the city, and they didn't care about aiming, whether they could see the defenders at the head of the city or not, they would shoot bullets and suppress the defenders at the head of the city behind the city wall.

The Mandate of Heaven army did not pay much price, and had already leaned eight cloud ladders against the city wall, and the thousand households behind them were even more attacking instead of defending, guarding their companions with dense gunfire, and the defenders were so unable to raise their heads.

However, when the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven Army climbed the ladder, their companions in the rear could not help, and the Mandate Army was almost mixed with the Ming army, and their rifles could not shoot accurately, so they had to rely on themselves.

As soon as the guns rang out, the Ming army seemed to wake up, and all kinds of rolling wood and stones, mixed with cold arrows, mercilessly hit the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army who climbed the ladder.

The Mandate of Heaven Army on the ladder could not fight back, so they could only bow their heads to avoid obstacles in the air, but the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven on the ground were shooting with rifles, and as long as the Ming Army showed their heads, they would be shot mercilessly.

The city wall has become a shield for both sides, and it depends on which side cannot bear the losses of the war.

The Ming army relied on the people to carry wood and stones, and then threw them down from the city wall with their eyes closed, as long as they were not shot, they were successful, so the rolling wood and stones thrown in this way would not have a high hit rate, but fortunately, they could reduce their own casualties; The soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven Army couldn't fight back at all before they climbed to the top of the city, and they were lucky to be able to dodge the attack of the Ming army.

The battle stalemate lasted for more than half an hour, the Heavenly Mandate Army was stunned that it did not kill the head of the city, Liu Zongmin's brows had already been bent into two bowstrings, and the Ming army fought a war of attrition, the gains of the Heavenly Mandate Army outweighed the losses, and the Metropolitan Governor would never allow it!

Unlike the Ming army, the gunners of the Mandate of Heaven Army need to spend a lot of time in the rear for drills, and now the fourth battalion has come to Henan, which is a lone army in mobile combat, and it is impossible to stay in one place for a long time, and once the soldiers are killed or wounded, they cannot be replenished at all.

If there is one casualty, there will be one less soldier, Liu Zongmin knows the reason why the governor is reluctant to fight a war of attrition with the Ming army, and he also knows that in the land of Henan, the Mandate of Heaven army cannot be replenished.

According to the current situation, the Mandate of Heaven may be able to break through Nanyang, but the casualties of the soldiers are ...... Even if the city is broken, I am afraid that there will not be much military merit.

Liu Zongmin's head unconsciously oozed beads of sweat, it seemed that there was only a temporary withdrawal of the army, and he was about to give an order, when he suddenly heard a noise in the city, first a small piece, and then spread everywhere, and the entire Nanyang City seemed to be boiling.

Just when Liu Zongmin was in doubt, fireworks suddenly appeared in the city, and the rolling wood and stones thrown at the city were also thinning.

Liu Zongmin suddenly understood that there was chaos in the city, and even the defenders at the head of the city probably ran a lot.

Don't miss the opportunity, lose it again!

Liu Zongmin immediately shouted, reminding the soldiers to speed up the climb and add a thousand soldiers to attack the city.

The defenders at the head of the city suddenly collapsed, and once the soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven climbed to the top of the city, they were able to take advantage of the rifle salvo to drive the only Ming army out, and those who fled slowly were shot......

The soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven, who had been suppressed for nearly an hour, suddenly crossed the city wall like waves, climbed to the head of the northern city, and planted the Kyushu military flag on the head of the city.

The soldiers opened the city gate and put all the soldiers of the second regiment into the city, Liu Zongmin organized the soldiers to clean up the remaining defenders, and on the other hand, he opened the east and west city gates and let the first regiment enter the city.

Li Zicheng was the last group to enter Nanyang City, Nanyang Provincial Inspector Li Zhiqiang trembling and followed into the city, to his great surprise, this gang of rogues only occupied the main road in the city, and did not loot the people, the city was very quiet, neither saw the smug laughter of the rogues, nor heard the screams of the people.

Only now did Li Zhiqiang know that Li Zicheng was the leader of this gang of rogues.

It only took more than half a day for the rogue to break through Nanyang City, what kind of rogue is this? Li Zhiqiang found that he had never heard of the military flag unfurled by the Liukou......

Suddenly, the sound of gongs and drums suddenly came from the city, and Li Zhiqiang thought that the Liukou was going to celebrate their victory, and turned his head to see a group of soldiers in strange costumes, beating gongs and drums, and shouting loudly.

"People don't go out if they have nothing to do, it's safe to stay at home!"

"We are the Mandate of Heaven, and we will never disturb the people, nor will we rob your belongings!"

"The Mandate of Heaven adheres to God's will to let all the people 'have food, clothing, housing, and land,' so that no one needs to be afraid......

……

Li Zhiqiang waited for the group of soldiers to go away before he came to his senses, "Governor, you are ......"

"Got it now? I am the Grand Governor of the Heavenly Mandate Army," Li Zicheng smiled faintly, "Li Daoji, I have fulfilled my promise, have there ever been killings in the city?" ”

"This ......" Li Zhiqiang's expression was very solemn, and he muttered: "If it weren't for Poor Dao seeing it with his own eyes, Poor Dao would never have believed it......"

"Let's go, Li Daoji, let's go to the government to have a look!" Li Zicheng knew that the number of the Heavenly Mandate Army far exceeded the defenders in the city, and once the city was broken, the overall situation was decided.

Li Zhiqiang had a black face, followed behind Li Zicheng, and walked towards the government office in the southwest corner, along the way, he saw many teams of soldiers, all beating gongs and drums, and publicizing the policies of the Heavenly Mandate Army to appease the people in the city, but he estimated that the officials of the government were afraid that they would be unlucky, and the Heavenly Mandate Army tried their best to enter the city, since they did not disturb the people, the officials in the city should be their target, could it be that the Heavenly Mandate Army would sacrifice soldiers in vain?

In front of the palace gate, a pair of heavy stone lions are lined up on both sides of the main gate, which looks very powerful, but they are only stone statues, and when the Mandate Army enters the city, they can only silently record everything that happens in the city.

Several Heavenly Mandate soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms were standing outside the yamen of the mansion, and when they saw Li Zicheng, they came over to salute, "Governor! ”

Li Zicheng waved his hand and asked them to get up, "How is it in the palace?" ”

After the leading soldier got up, he said loudly: "We have occupied the government office, and there are many officials in the government office!" ”

Li Zicheng glanced at the vermilion lacquer gate, and also glanced at the pair of stone lions, and said lightly: "What about the Nanyang prefect, is it in the mansion?" ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, according to the officials in the city, the Nanyang prefect personally commanded the battle at the north city gate, and was not in the mansion, and the brothers were looking for it in the city!"

"Ao, this prefect is still a little interesting!" Li Zicheng nodded, asked the soldiers to open the vermilion gate, and went in with a personal soldier of the general flag, and Li Zhiqiang naturally followed him.

When I came to the lobby, I visually inspected that more than ten officials were captured, all of them were tied with ropes, sitting or standing, their faces were frightened, and the soldiers guarding them were just about to salute, but they were stopped by Li Zicheng, "They are all officials in the city, treat each other politely, don't deliberately make things difficult!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"

Li Zicheng left the lobby, he didn't know any of these officials, let alone know their temperament, when he entered Nanyang City, as long as he found the prefect and the officers who commanded the army, let them do the rest of the things.

After passing through the second hall and entering the back office, there were still soldiers guarding it, Li Zicheng walked over slowly, nodded to the soldiers who saluted, and said, "Who is being detained here?" ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, it is the family of Nanyang Governor Xie Junbao!"

The Ming Dynasty's government and county yamen are generally "the first hall and then the house", the front is the lobby, the back is the private house where the chief official's family lives, the large yamen, and there are two halls in the middle, which is the private office of the chief official, which is equivalent to the study, the small living room and the like, and is also the office space of the auxiliary officer.

Li Zicheng did not enter the rear office, but just asked the soldiers to guard it well, so as not to disturb Xie Junbao's family, this Xie Junbao, although he is a civilian official, is fighting on the front line, maybe a good official......

He selected two good-looking soldiers and asked them to spread the message to Xie Junbao's family about the Mandate of Heaven and its policies, and it would be best if he could get them to join Catholicism.

After returning to the lobby, Li Zicheng sent two personal soldiers to promote the Heavenly Mandate Army and Catholicism to the imprisoned officials, and then left the palace and walked towards the Tang Palace.