When the loyal battalion arrived at the city of Huozhou, the officers and soldiers jumped off their camels one after another and formed a formation outside the city. The gunners www.biquge.info the guns removed the barrels and gun carriages from the camel's backs and assembled the guns. The auxiliaries, under the protection of a part of the soldiers, went to the mountains dozens of miles away from Huozhou City to cut wood.

At that time, the area around Turpan was not as dry as it is now, surrounded by lakes and rivers, and was an oasis in the desert. However, most of the oases are grassy and have very few trees, so there is no way to provide auxiliaries to build siege weapons. If Li Laiheng wanted to take Huozhou, he needed to send auxiliary troops to the mountainous area fifty miles away, more than 2,000 meters above sea level, to cut wood.

Li Laiheng stood on the back of a camel, picked up a telescope, and observed the city of Huozhou in the distance. As you can see through the telescope, the city is actually very simple, an earthen city made of earth and rubble. There is a shortage of wood here, and it is extremely inconvenient to transport charcoal for burning bricks over long distances. Because of the inconvenient transportation, it was difficult for the Ming army to build siege weapons, and it also made the city fortifications in Huozhou quite simple.

"It's such a small city, there is not even a moat, all you need is a simple ladder. Set up a cannon to bombard, and then let the new annexed army rush, and it is estimated that it will be taken down. Li Laiheng put down the binoculars and said.

In fact, the artillery of the loyal battalion was not very good, except for a small number of new three-pounder guns and mortars provided by the Nanyang Company, and there was not much gunpowder and very few flowering shells. Most of the artillery used by the Western Expeditionary Army was captured from the Qing army, such as tiger squat guns and small Franc machines. Because of the long distance, it could only be transported by camel, and all the heavy artillery was not brought with it.

Soldiers escorted auxiliaries and rode camels to the mountains at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters to cut wood. Huozhou City is not only far from the mountains, but also very low altitude, the altitude of the city is from zero to 34 meters above sea level, and it takes a whole day to go to the mountains more than 50 miles away and more than 2,000 meters above sea level to cut wood to build siege weapons. Fortunately, the Loyal Battalion didn't need to build large siege weapons such as large ladder trucks, but only simple ladders and small watchtowers.

The auxiliaries set out in the morning and continued until the afternoon before arriving in the mountains and forests. The felled wood was put aside for the time being, and that evening, the auxiliaries and soldiers in charge of cutting the wood camped on the spot and rested at the foot of the mountain. The next day, the auxiliaries cut enough wood, cut it short, and put it on the camels to carry it.

In the evening, the auxiliaries who cut wood returned with the camels.

When the auxiliaries in charge of cutting wood returned, the Loyal Battalion had already repaired the camp and dug a trench outside the city. There was not enough wood to build the wall, so the camp built a wall of earth directly out of the earth dug out of the trenches, and surrounded the perimeter of the barracks to protect the barracks in the middle.

The auxiliaries worked overnight to build siege weapons, and by the next morning, all the rudimentary siege weapons had been built.

Before dawn, Li Laiheng woke up from his sleep. He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it by the light of the candles, and it was seven o'clock in the morning, which would have been dawn if he had been in the eastern region. But here, it's still dark, and even in summer, it's late in the morning.

Li Laiheng is also a person who has come all the way, knowing that the time here is different from the east, as for the reason, Li Guangdi has already told him, it is a matter of time difference, because the earth is round, the sun rises in the east, and the sky in the east is bright first.

At eight o'clock in the morning, it was already bright because it was summer.

After breakfast, Li Laiheng gave an order: "Siege!" ”

Twelve twelve-pounder mortars, twenty three-pounder field guns, and thirty-six small Franco cannons spewed dazzling fire, and the shells whistled and smashed towards the city. At the same time as the shelling was launched, some of the gunners of the loyal battalion carried the tiger squat cannon weighing only about 40 catties, approached a hundred steps below the city, set up the cannon, aimed it at the head of the city, and ignited the artillery.

The overwhelming cannonballs smashed on the city wall, and the simple earthen city immediately appeared one after another, and the earth and gravel burst one by one, and cracks soon appeared in the city wall.

However, the artillery of the loyal battalion was all small artillery, and it was impossible to collapse the city wall, and the effect of the artillery bombardment was to destroy the female wall battlements at the head of the city and suppress the defenders at the head of the city.

The shelling continued for about a quarter of an hour before it stopped. Li Laiheng ordered: "Let the new annexed army attack!" ”

The so-called new annex army is actually a group of Hui soldiers recruited by Li Laiheng in Ganshan and other places during this period of time, and these Hui soldiers with white hats on their heads are cannon fodder soldiers who are besieging the city. As for the surrendered Green Battalion Qing Army, they are already rare elite soldiers in the Loyal Battalion.

After Zhao Liangdong received the order, he pulled out his sword and pointed in the direction of the city wall: "Beat the drum to attack the city!" ”

The war drums rumbled, and the soldiers of the former Ganshan Green Battalion, who served as the supervising team, stood behind the new annexed army with steel swords in their hands. Groups of new recruits rushed towards the city wall with simple ladders, carrying improvised ladders.

When the new annex army approached the city wall, the Turks at the head of the city resisted extremely stubbornly, and the head of the city fired round after round of arrows, and the dense arquebus bullets rained down like a torrent of bullets, and the new annex soldiers continued to scream and fall in pools of blood.

"Put!" Zhao Liangdong roared.

The soldiers of the original Ganshan Green Battalion either stretched out their bows and arrows, or raised their bird guns, aimed at the head of the city, and the feather arrows and projectiles flew up the city wall like a rainstorm, and the Turks in the city were shot by arrows one after another, and the head of the city was filled with a burst of blood mist.

Under the cover of the soldiers' firepower, the newly attached sergeants arrived at the city and set up a ladder. Groups of new sergeants scrambled to climb up to the top of the city. On the top of the city wall, the rolling wood and stones fell like hailstones, and the oil canister fell under the city, and then the rockets that were fired ignited the oil ignited, and the fire burned at the foot of the city wall.

One after another, the ladders broke one after another, and the new sergeant screamed and fell down the ladder.

The firepower of the loyal battalion under the city was also very fierce, constantly shooting and killing the Turks who resisted in the corner of the city.

"God is above! Kill all the infidels! A Turk who had been hit by several arrows shouted, picked up the fire oil can, lit it, jumped from the top of the city, rolled down to a ladder, only to hear a "boom", the whole ladder ignited a raging fire, and the Turks who fell down were full of fire, smashed over a number of new sergeants, and set them on fire.

The Turks, who were constantly seriously wounded, picked up the canisters of oil, poured it on themselves, lit it, and jumped off the wall.

"Crazy! Simply crazy! The stubborn resistance of the Turks stunned Zhao Liangdong, who was fierce by nature, he never thought that there were such murderous people, even more fierce than the Eight Banners outside the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"What are they shouting?" Daniel Zhang asked.

Whether it is Zhao Liangdong or Hao Shaoqi, they can't understand Turkic.

A local guide who knew Turkic said: "They are shouting, kill all the infidels and go to heaven." ”

"Heretics?" Zhao Liangdong was stunned, "Our new annex army and they believe in the same religion, how did they become infidels?" ”