On the morning of the 10th day of the first month of May, smoke curled above the official and military camps in the area of one or two miles outside Shimen Pass, and there was a busy scene among the official and military camps all over this valley and the gentle hillsides on both sides, some of them were burying pots for cooking, some were sharpening their swords, and some were preparing ammunition, and in the distant mountains and forests, there were still a group of people cutting down trees and preparing to make trebuchetsets, siege towers, and siege ladders. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This is all the things that Li Banghua assigned to Lu Xiangsheng the night before, and now when he gets up early in the morning, he sees that everything is going on in an orderly manner according to his ideas, and he has a lot of praise for Lu Xiangsheng's ability and ability in his heart.

In the process of leading the army to march and fight, the formation of troops and even the key time of the first soldier to charge into battle, for the generals who lead the troops, of course, is very important, but many times, the cumbersome and complex rear camp affairs, even more important, if there is no capable person to take care of this or do not understand this, then there is no way to talk about marching operations, let alone charge into battle, I am afraid that before encountering the enemy, the army has collapsed first.

There are countless cases like this in history.

Now, Li Banghua has handed over the affairs of the army camp to Lu Xiangsheng to take care of, which can be described as winning people, and I really don't know how much heart has been saved.

The hour had passed, the army had finished breakfast, Li Banghua ordered the generals to be summoned to the front of the formation, and while observing the terrain around Shimen Pass, they discussed the strategy of preparing for the attack.

I only heard Lu Xiangsheng say: "Our army's artillery is sharp, within hundreds of steps, piercing through the gold and stone is like destroying the withered and decaying, we should concentrate the artillery first, storm the city, if we can concentrate the artillery fire to collapse the city, our army should be able to minimize the casualties!" ”

Several other generals, Li Bei, Chen Tan and others also immediately nodded in agreement, and these people were amazed after seeing the power of Chongzhen's rear-loading smoothbore mother cannon, so their dependence on artillery also increased.

At this time, Lu Yuanding, who was in charge of the artillery team of the mine battalion, said: "Our army concentrates artillery, if it can collapse the city, this is of course the best choice." However, in the humble opinion, the city here is built of boulders, not comparable to the previous earthen wall fence, with the firepower of our army's sixty artillery, if you want to destroy the city, I am afraid that it will not be able to do anything in three or two days! ”

Previously, the reason why Li Banghua asked Lu Xiangsheng to send people to cut wood and prepare for the production of traditional large-scale siege weapons such as trebuchets and siege towers was because of Lu Yuanding's suggestion.

The firearms and equipment of the mine camp are very rich, in addition to the Chongzhen type artillery improved by the Franco, there are also experimental firearms such as grenades and incendiary bombs, but in the face of the tall Guancheng in front of them, these experimental firearms and equipment are difficult to play because there is no effective means of throwing.

There were a large number of horses in front of the fortress, and within 200 paces in front of the fortress and within the range of the thieves' bows and crossbows, the already small grenadiers of the mine camp could not easily shoot without certainty, otherwise, they would waste both a few grenades and a few grenadiers.

Grenadiers can't get close to the city, but they can use traditional siege methods such as trebuchets and siege towers to throw these firearms that need to be thrown from a distance!

This is the idea of Lu Yuanding, a graduate of the second phase of Wutang, and now it has become Li Banghua's idea.

After Lu Yuanding finished speaking, he looked at Li Banghua, Minister of Military Aircraft, and waited for Li Banghua's decision.

Li Banghua then said: "The number of our army's mine camp and Tianxiong camp is small, and all of them are precious, so naturally they can't attack hard and lose here. I don't think it's better to do this, let's shell it with artillery today and see the results, and then make a decision. ”

Speaking of this, Li Banghua said to Lu Xiangsheng again: "The matter of building siege towers and catapults cannot be delayed, the logging is completed this morning, and it is made according to the construction method as soon as possible, and tomorrow the day after tomorrow at the latest, our army will break this closed city." ”

After Li Banghua finished saying this, he made some arrangements for the generals under his command, and then the generals went away as promised, leaving only Lu Yuanding to stay in front of the battle to prepare artillery to attack the city.

At midnight in the morning, Li Banghua gave an order, and the 60 artillery pieces under the command of Lu Yuanding's artillery team were ignited and opened fire together.

Under the command of Lu Yuanding, the main target of the sixty artillery pieces was the opposite city wall, and the thief army at the head of the city was not considered for the main attack, but there were still more than a dozen artillery pieces that made mistakes, hitting the battlements or simply crossing the gate and entering the other side of the city, causing casualties on the city and even behind the city, causing a great chaos.

Iron projectiles weighing nearly six kilograms flew out of the cannon chamber and hit the wall of Shimen Pass at high speed, making a muffled sound of "bang bang bang", and for a time the earth and stones were splashed, and the sound was terrifying.

However, the momentum is indeed not small, but the damage caused to the stone wall of Guancheng is not as big as imagined, after a number of theories, except for leaving a large or small crater on the stone wall of Guancheng, there is no collapse or loosening of that section of the stone wall.

Li Banghua saw it in his eyes, and knew in his heart that the situation that Lu Yuanding, a Wujinshi born martial arts graduate, was worried about, and this small and medium-sized artillery improved by the Franco machine was not as good as the Shenwei Invincible General Cannon improved from the Hongyi cannon.

But now that he is in front of the Shanxi army, how can he turn around and ask Yunhongyi artillery to come to help in the war!

If it is all about the sharpness of firearms that can kill thieves and break the enemy, then what is the use of the emperor sending himself to the front line!

Next, Lu Yuanding commanded the artillery team of the mine battalion, intermittently towards a general position, and fought more than a dozen rounds in a row, and finally knocked off a stone wall in front of the city, and a six-foot square hole appeared.

After this stone wall fell off, Li Banghua and Lu Yuanding held a clairvoyant mirror and saw clearly the wall leaking inside, and the thick stone wall was wrapped in a rammed earth layer filled with a large number of mountain stones and logs.

The next few rounds of artillery projectiles either hit elsewhere and hit a flying cloud of rubble, or they hit the rammed earth and sank into the wall.

It seems that unless an entire section of the wall is completely destroyed to be useful, the fortress will eventually stand.

Of course, if the artillery position can be pushed forward by 100 or 60 steps from 300 steps away from the wall, then the power of the artillery to fire directly and bombard the stone wall of the city will increase a lot.

Generally, the effective killing range of an archer's direct fire is only more than 100 steps away, but if you are condescending, it is naturally a different matter.

Li Banghua looked at the tall and sturdy Guancheng in front of him, and then looked at the mountaintops on both sides of the Guancheng, which were like stone gates, and thought about it in his heart, and then ordered the shelling to be suspended.

As Li Banghua ordered the suspension of the artillery bombardment, the soldiers in front of the official army also changed from the cheers at the beginning of the bombardment of the city wall with 60 guns to silence and great disappointment.

In stark contrast, the large number of thieves hiding above and behind the Shimen Pass changed from the previous panic to cheering as the official artillery bombardment stopped.

Originally, looking at the sixty swarthy official artillery pieces lined up outside the wall, Liu Guoneng was already very desperate, but within half an hour, the official artillery bombarded more than ten rounds in a row, and the Guancheng under his feet was still standing, which made Liu Guoneng suddenly feel more confident, thinking, the official artillery is nothing more than that!

At noon, Li Banghua once again summoned the generals to the front of the battle to discuss the matter, pointed to the mountains on the north and south sides of Shimen Pass in the distance and said: "If you can take these two mountains and throw grenades and incendiary bombs on the top of the city condescendingly, then the thief army above the city will have no place to stand!" Who can lead the army to take it down, and after conquering Shimen Pass, it will be the first credit! ”

"Willing to do it!"

As soon as Li Banghua's words fell, several generals standing in front of him at this time, Li Bei, Lu Yuanding, Chen Tan, and others spoke in unison and took the initiative to ask for battle.