"The autumn wind and strong horses in the north of the country, the spring rain in the south of the Yangtze River and the apricot blossoms, the picturesque rivers and mountains through the ages, give me a peaceful world."

Wang Huan sang softly in his mouth, Le Ma stood in the loess wilderness with his sword, he was wearing a white iron armor, wrapped in a scarlet cloak on his shoulders, and the red tassel tassels on the iron helmet were flying in the wind, setting off the face that had gone through the wind and frost and some vicissitudes but was exceptionally resolute.

Behind him, in the wide field, there are hundreds of half-man high earthen ramparts, the earthen ramparts are built firmly and firmly, up to five feet thick, the width is just enough to accommodate four or five people to be busy in the back without being bombarded by the iron cannons on the head of the city, two zhang away from each other, at this time, behind each earthen rambar, there is a group of Kuizhou sergeants are installing a thunderbolt like a bucket, the thunder is light, and several people can lift it.

"Master Hou, let's retreat first, although the iron cannon of the Tartar is not high, but if there is a mistake, then ....." Ma Wannian stood beside Wang Huan with a nervous expression, his eyes couldn't stop looking back and forth, left and right, his ears erected, listening to the terrible sound of iron bullets breaking through the air in the air, and estimating whether any iron bullet would happen to smash this side.

This is the fifth time that Ma Wannian has urged Wang Huan, the first four times the effect is not good, Wang Huan looked at the poetry of himself, and looked at the head of Xi'an City but did not move.

He had already made up his mind, if Wang Huan was still disobedient and wanted to be extremely coquettish and handsome to stand in front of the artillery array and pretend to be cool, he would not care about the humility of the upper and lower levels, and directly used brute force to pull Wang Huan to a safe place in the back.

Wang Huan was obedient this time, and turned the horse's head very obediently, and with an "um" in his mouth, he urged the horse to run back.

Ma Wannian exhaled, wiped the sweat from his face, and hurriedly followed.

Wang Huan is leisurely and elegant, but he is shouldering the heavy responsibility of guarding the main general, so he is naturally extremely nervous.

Ma Wannian's nervousness Wang Huan didn't care, he rode his horse over the artillery position like a wheat field lined with artillery tubes, and galloped backwards for a mile, coming to the front of the Kuizhou army's big array.

Here is the whole army of Li Dingguo's Fengzi battalion, three infantry and a thousand cavalry teams are lined up in four squares, standing quietly and solemnly in the banner hunting, like a white pine forest.

On the other side of the phalanx, Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai were making the final preparations, everyone was checking the equipment and weapons on their bodies, and tens of thousands of people under them stayed on the side of the Kuizhou army with a little fear, that is, they looked at the white-robed army facing forward with envy and fear, and whispered in their ears, provoking Wang Yongqiang's Yan'an Town soldiers to constantly shout loudly.

Seeing that Wang Huan brought someone over, Wang Yongqiang and Gao You didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly greeted them.

"Master Hou, according to your orders, we didn't prepare too much, we mainly prepared a large number of thick wooden shields and bows and arrows." Wang Yongqiang stepped forward respectfully and reported: "We also told the people below that no one is allowed to rob the official warehouse in the city, and those who trespass will not be killed!" After entering the city, my barracks will also protect these places as soon as possible. ”

Gao Youcai continued: "Also, we have three chapters of the law with the recruited displaced people, after entering the city, you must not kill good people, you must not enter private houses to loot, you must not set fire to violence, if you violate it, you will not be spared!" ”

Wang Huan listened, nodded his head, and when they finished speaking, he reminded: "On the northeast corner of the city, there is a city within a city, which is full of Jurchen Tartars, commonly known as the full city, and there is no need to be polite to them, and there is no need to abide by the three chapters of the covenant. ”

Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai laughed together, and they replied: "Don't worry about it, Hou Ye mentioned it, we have already told the people below that after today, there will not even be a single tile left in the northeast corner of the city!" ”

Wang Huan laughed, and said: "Wait for the cannon to sound, you can march, but you can't approach until the city wall collapses, in case the wall bricks fall down and bury you too, no one survives in a short time after the city wall falls, and the supporting Tartar soldiers don't react so quickly, it is a good time for you to enter the city, as long as you hold the break, let the people behind you continue to pour into the city, Xi'an City is broken, it is as easy as a hand." ”

Wang Yongqiang and Gao Youcai clasped their fists together and said loudly: "Please rest assured, there is no advance or retreat in this battle, Hou Ye is waiting to enter the city to inspect the Tartar head!" ”

Although the expressions of the two were awe-inspiring, they were unnaturally relaxed, compared with the embarrassment and powerlessness of the two of them when they faced the Qing army alone a few days ago, the world was far away, as if capturing Xi'an City was as simple as going up the mountain to exterminate a group of bandits.

They are outside the city, and they have already set a strategy after entering the city before they enter the city, if they let Meng Qiaofang and Ha Ha Mu know, I don't know how to feel.

Different from the orderly city below, at this time, the city of Xi'an was full of cannons roaring, noisy people, and busy.

"Aim and hit, aim and shoot!" Meng Qiaofang shouted hoarsely, and slashed at a gunner with a long knife with a scabbard in his hand, scolding angrily: "The man in white armor and red cloak just now must be the chief general of the Ming army, you didn't even have a corner of your clothes after three shots, what are you eating?" What does Lao Tzu want you to do? ”

He had already stood on the head of the city, just now he saw from afar, there was a Ming army in the distance outside the city with a brightly armored horse standing in the field outside Baizhang for a long time, Meng Qiaofang guessed that it must be the other party's master to observe the movement, he immediately ordered several cannons with a range enough to shoot there to fire immediately, but several cannons shot out one after another, all of them shot left or right elsewhere, and even the opponent's hair was not hit, and then the man turned around slowly and went back, and the expression looked like it was all on fire.

"My lord, the accuracy of this cannon is not good, that person is standing so far away, it is not easy to hit the cannon, no wonder this matter is not good, please calm your anger." The chief soldier Zhao Liangdong persuaded, he knew that Meng Qiaofang was on fire and was not very reasonable, but such a messy scolding would inevitably chill the hearts of the soldiers.

"Humph! Poorly crafted waste! It's all lazy on weekdays that it looks like this! Meng Qiaofang said angrily, but he still put down the knife, and the gunner knelt on the ground, not daring to come out.

"Lord Meng, compared to this, we still care about what those earthen fortresses are for, right?" Hahamu, who was leaning on the edge of the battlements of the city wall, spoke, and he stared at the earthen fortresses built by the Ming army in the distance with a puzzled face, not knowing why: "I remember that I didn't see it here yesterday, why did I get up early this morning?" ”

Meng Qiaofang immediately walked over, he was also very strange, last night he patrolled until late at night, when he could see before dark, it was true that there was still a white ground outside the moat, and there was not even a single grass, but he didn't expect that as soon as the sky dawned this morning, countless earthen barriers were built between the flat ground.

"Do you know what Ming Jun does with this?" Meng Qiaofang turned around and asked a group of general soldiers.

The general soldiers looked at each other, and no one knew what the purpose of building the earth fortress was.

Zhao Liangdong is a heavy general under Meng Qiaofang, his mind is lively, he has been thinking since he saw those earthen forts, and when he heard Meng Qiaofang ask, he frowned and blurted out: "Lord Governor, the last general guesses that this is probably used to prevent artillery." ”

"Anti-artillery?" Meng Qiaofang and Ha Ha Mu looked at him together.

"Yes, please look at the two of you, the figure is shaking behind the earthen rampart, and the Ming army seems to be setting up something behind." In this era, the clairvoyant mirror is still a rare item, this kind of optical instrument from the Macao red-haired ghost was used in the upper echelons of the Ming army, and after the Qing army captured it, it was introduced as a sharp weapon, equipped with high-ranking officers, Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu are not enough level, useless. Zhao Liangdong naturally didn't use it, so he had to squint his eyes and say: "Since the morning, the artillery at the head of our city has been bombarding, but it is difficult to hit the Ming army behind due to the obstacles of the earthen fortress, so the last general guessed that the Ming army built such a strong earthen fortress overnight to prevent artillery." ”

"Anti-artillery?" Ha Ha Mu repeated: "Ming Dog wants to attack the city and rush up directly, what are you doing with artillery defense in the distance?" When I attacked the city in the Qing Dynasty, I never built such useless things. ”

Zhao Liangdong couldn't answer this question, he hadn't seen the thunder.

Meng Qiaofang's heart moved when he heard this, and he shouted as if he remembered something: "Go and call Xia Guoxiang, he Liaodong Army fought with the Ming Army a few days ago, he must know something!" ”

Someone immediately answered, so he went to pass the order, Xia Guoxiang was arranged by Meng Qiaofang at the north gate, similar to the west gate, the south gate and the north gate were also besieged by the Ming army.

However, the number of Ming troops outside the West Gate is the largest, several times that of the other two, and after a little judgment, it can be seen that the main attack of the Ming army must be the West Gate, and the South Gate and the North Gate are just feints, so Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu have concentrated a large number of defensive forces on this side, as for the East Gate, except for some Ming army rangers, there is no sign of a large army attacking the city.

"Lord Meng, where is King Pingxi at the moment?" Ha Ha Mu asked, he had been looking for the banner of the Qing army outside the city, but he couldn't see anything except the banner of the Ming army in the sky.

"How do I know?" Meng Qiaofang said angrily that King Pingxi was brought by Hahamu, and it stands to reason that he should be restrained by Hahamu, but now he is wandering outside the city: "My people can't find him." ”

Ha Ha Mu gritted his teeth and waved his fist: "If he dares to play tricks and ignore our greed for life and fear of death, the regent will definitely cut off his head!" ”

Meng Qiaofang shook his head worriedly, and said softly: "Master Ha, let's worry about our heads first, you see, the Ming army has moved!" ”

He pointed to the outside of the city, the earthen fortress suddenly changed, a door of black and thick thunder, from behind the earthen fortress emerged, the gunner who operated them raised its elevation angle, and the muzzle of the cannon pointed directly at the head of Xi'an City.

Meng Qiaofang, Ha Ha Mu, Zhao Liangdong and all the other Qing soldiers suddenly stopped their movements, put down the shield above their heads, retracted their heads and hid behind the battlements, except for the various gunners who were still sweating and cleaning the barrel of the cannon to cool the gun body and prepare for the next launch, the rest of the people were watching the next move of the Ming army calmly.

"Bang!"

With a muffled sound, the first explosive bag flew out of the thunder that emitted a puff of black smoke, rolled and whistled, and smashed into a section of the city wall more than ten zhang away to the left of the west gate.

(End of chapter)