The shield cart of the Great Western Army is actually a hollow wooden two-wheeled vehicle, with a simple wooden frame on top, and the frame is covered with thick wooden planks and raw cowhide, which can prevent arrow flames, and the wooden planks tied in front are as thick as five inches, and the cannon arrows cannot be broken, and people can safely approach the city wall by hiding in the car. [No pop-ups. 】

S Hongcheng is small, I can't find so many cowhides in a hurry, and there is no cowhide covering on many shield cars, so I randomly found some quilts to spread a few more layers, and then poured them with water, and I can top them for a while.

Li Dingguo's men built a total of 12 shield carts, nearly 100 simple long ladders, carried by more than 4,000 people, scattered all over the slope and rushed upwards with shouts.

A shield cart can accommodate more than ten people to hide, at this moment several shield carts covered with cowhide rushed to the front, the shield cart covered with a wet quilt followed closely behind at a distance, and then behind, there were groups of people carrying ladders on their shoulders.

Looking at the Great Western Army under the city like a flood, the city was solemn, the Kuizhou army was in full array, some people were holding lime bottles, some people were busy putting a pot of smoking hot oil into a large basin, and some people C made a huge bed crossbow, and the short spear on the crossbow was tightly aimed at the shield car, just waiting for the order of the main general.

Wang Huan stood calmly on the city tower, hidden in a battlement, with frost in his eyes, coldly looking at the shield cart under the city that was a little difficult to climb because of the steep hillside, and did not give the order to attack for a long time.

Li Dingguo also rode on the horse with a cold face, listened to the thunderous war drums behind him, and quietly watched his soldiers like a group of vicious wolves rushing to the sheepfold, flocking to Longquan Mountain Stone Town.

The focus of attention on both sides converged on the dozen or so shield carts that charged ahead, and in the front of them, there was also a thick pointed wooden stake, suspended in the shield cart, which was used to hit the city gate.

More than a dozen sergeants hiding under the shield cart shouted together and pushed the cart, the wooden wheels rolling, and under the full impetus of everyone, they kept approaching the city wall.

Twenty zhang, fifteen zhang, the shield car is getting closer and closer.

At this moment, Wang Huan's eyes suddenly widened, and he opened his throat and shouted: "Bed crossbow hair S!" ”

The white-robed soldier who made the bed crossbow had been waiting for a long time, and his hands holding the wrench crossbow machine were wet with sweat, and he heard Wang Huan roaring, and at the same time repeated: "Bed crossbow hair S!" "Pulled off the crossbow machine.

A dozen short spears were moved by the huge and powerful bowstrings, and they detached from the strings, with a scream, snapping S towards the shield cart that was as slow as a target.

"Bang bang" sounded continuously, there were several short spears accurately hit the shield car, smashed into the front of the shield car plank, pushing the cart of the big west army sergeant as if being hit by a bully on the car, was shocked to the side, at this moment the solid side of the shield car reflected, as fast as a spark of short spear, there is not a S through the thick plank, the strongest one is only less than half the length of the board, the tip of the spear pierced the board, but can no longer enter the in, the sergeant inside is busy getting up, pushing the car forward again.

"Sure enough, the bed crossbow can't be compared to the artillery." Wang Huan stared at the short spear tied to the shield cart, frowned and thought: "It's less than ten zhang, and at such a close distance, you can't wear such a simple shield cart, and the bed crossbow is useless." ”

The white-robed soldiers who made the bed crossbow worked hard to reopen the huge bowstring of the bed crossbow, put the short spears into the arrow slot, and then buckled the strings and sent S, constantly sending the short spears S to the shield car, they were very accurate, basically four or five out of ten, but the effect was not great, the front shield car was almost close to the edge of the city wall, and there was not a short spear to penetrate the shield car.

The morale of the sergeants of the Great Western Army in the shield cart was greatly shaken, and they roared in unison, and the strength of the cart was also a little greater, and the speed of the bulky shield cart was a little faster. Seeing the other Daxi camp leaders standing behind the formation, they cheered excitedly, as long as the shield cart approached the city wall, according to the virtue of the Ming army, it was almost time to abandon the city.

There can be no more delay, the effect of the bed crossbow has been almost tried, and it is time to put on a hard fire.

Wang Huan frowned, waved his hand, and shouted loudly: "The bed crossbow is backward and the person carrying the ladder is ready!" ”

On the city wall, there were more than a dozen white-robed bombardiers with exterminating bullets standing under the battlements, waiting for Wang Huan's order, and when they heard the voice, they immediately stood up and lit the fuse of the extinguishing bullet with the brazier burning at the head of the city, the fuse was very long, enough to hold in the hand without causing danger to oneself.

"Aim for the nearest shield cart and throw!" Wang Huan ordered.

The bombardier did not immediately drop the bomb, but waited a little until the fuse was almost burning, and when he aimed at the shield cart in front of him, he quickly threw the smoking bamboo tube.

The moment Wang Huan shot at the bamboo tube, a spark suddenly flashed in his mind, and a new idea appeared in his mind, he jumped up, took out a bamboo tube from his waist, came to a bed crossbow, and shouted incessantly: "Hurry up, tie this exterminating bullet to the short spear!" ”

The white-robed soldier who used the bed crossbow hurriedly bowed down to take it, and before he could tie it up, the exterminating bomb that was thrown out exploded.

When the extinguishing bomb was just thrown out, Li Dingguo in the distance saw that more than a dozen small things were thrown from the city, because it was too far away, he couldn't see what it was, and his heart was a little strange, but he didn't care, and even smiled, after all, the people guarding the city were panicked, it was possible to throw anything, and such a small thing was useless, he attacked countless cities, and he also saw the people who defended the city crying while smashing porcelain bowls and plates.

But in the next second, a slight smile on the corner of Li Dingguo's mouth froze on his face, accompanied by more than ten thunderous explosions in a row, puffs of black smoke rose under the city wall, and the more than ten heavy and indestructible shield cars were overturned in the black smoke, and the stumps of the soldiers of the Great Western Army hiding inside flew all over the sky in the explosion, blood splashed everywhere, even if it was so far away, it was clear that the soldiers who were pierced through the body by iron nails rolled on the ground in pain.

"What just happened?" Liu Yun, who was standing beside Li Dingguo, exclaimed, everything came too suddenly, originally seeing that the shield car was about to approach the city wall, the door breaking hammer inside would soon hit the city gate, and the situation was reversed in an instant, and an inexplicable explosion overturned all the shield cars, and even the people inside were either dead or injured.

Not only did Liu Yun not understand it, but Li Dingguo also didn't figure it out, his instinctive reaction was that the Ming army opened fire.

But he immediately reacted, no, the cannon fired at this distance, isn't it equivalent to firing at the head of the person, besides, I didn't hear that the artillery of the army can cause an explosion, the shells are all solid iron bumps, a dozen straight lines, there are flowering bullets, but the Ming army rarely uses them, after all, that thing is very unreliable, and there is absolutely no such power.

"Explosives were planted, and the Ming army must have planted explosives under the city!" Li Dingguo gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "How did they detonate it?" I didn't see anyone come out to light the fire, how did it detonate!? ”

No one could give him an answer, in the smoke of gunpowder under the city, the thick shield cart had been broken and damaged, most of the soldiers hiding in it died, and a few lucky ones who were not dead were also missing arms and legs and moaned weakly on the ground, witnessing the tragic situation, the Great Western Army carrying the ladder behind almost forgot to take a step.

How did the person in front die? What about the sudden explosion? Will you do it again?

The big question mark echoed in the minds of every soldier of the Great Western Army, and the sea of people who rushed forward suddenly paused, and instinctively slowed down.

Before they could come back to their senses, a clear-eyed person roared sharply: "Hurry up and raise your shield, the crossbow arrows of the Ming army are coming!" ”

With this shout, in the smoke and dust in the sky, there was a terrible sound of breaking the sky, and countless arrows fell from the smoke of gunpowder, like flying locusts, towards the Great Western Army, which could not raise its shield because it was carrying a long ladder.

The Kuizhou army began to release arrows.

Those who did not carry ladders were lucky, because for the siege of the city, everyone had a shield in their hands, and as long as they reacted quickly and raised it in time, they could prevent the rain of arrows on the city.

But the people who carried the ladder were miserable, they were miscellaneous soldiers, they had no thick armor, and the most well-equipped people were no more than leather armor, and most of them wore thick winter clothes, and they were defenseless against arrows.

Not to mention those bed crossbows as big as short spears, basically as long as the person in S is a huge blood D that comes out of the body, it can even pierce two people without castration, and the short spear can go straight to the bottom of the hillside, which is only a few dozen steps away from Li Dingguo's position.

Without the shield cart, if you want to rush to the city wall, the difficulty of rushing to the city wall increases sharply, that is, to fill with human lives, braving the rain of arrows, some soldiers holding shields came to the edge of the city wall, when passing the blown up shield car, they saw the craters on the ground, they were terrified, for fear that there would be another explosion in the ground, and they would also send themselves to the sky.

Fortunately, the explosion did not come again, but the long ladders carried by them were too few to carry to the city wall, less than twenty, and the brave Daxi army put them on the city wall, with a knife in their mouths and shields in their mouths, and began to climb.

To deal with this kind of big western army that is not afraid of death, the Kuizhou soldiers dealt with it very easily, they hid under the anti-arrow signs erected on the city wall, poured boiling oil, or threw down lime bottles, boiling oil sticky R that is, rotten, after the ash bottle was broken, quicklime into the eyes that was blind, and there were dozens of pounds of gravel, and no matter how strong the shield was smashed, it would be sparse.

The archers of the Great Western Army under the city are very hard, they follow closely behind the siege crowd, and they aim at the head of the city S with arrows and arrows, but the Kuizhou Army is very fine, they hide behind the battlements and never raise their heads, and the erected anti-arrow signs can prevent the arrows from throwing S, and the archers of the Great Western Army are powerless.

The offensive and defensive battle at the head of the city has entered a white heat, a team of Daxi troops braved the rain of arrows and bravely rushed to the city, the Kuizhou army on the city also ruthlessly attacked the soldiers who climbed the wall in various ways, because the shield car was destroyed, and the Daxi army without the hammer of the city even killed the red eye, and rushed directly to the city gate with the blade in his hand, of course, this heroic behavior did not last for a breath, and it would be pierced into a hedgehog by the crossbow arrows under the S on the city head.

Li Dingguo had not yet recovered from the shock of the explosion, and was still thinking about how the Ming army detonated the buried explosives, but suddenly heard a scream coming towards his position, and shouted in panic: "Lord Wang, be careful, the Ming army's bed crossbow S is coming!" ”

Before the words fell, I saw a short spear rushing like a rocket, exhausted dozens of paces away in front of the horse, and the soft C entered the ground, and was planted diagonally into the mud with a "bump".

Li Dingguo was slightly startled, he knew that he was standing far away, and it was impossible for the bed crossbow on the head of the city to get here, so he was very calm, and he was about to open his mouth to blame the left and right for making a fuss, but his eyes flickered, and he was surprised to find that the short spear that C entered the ground had a small bamboo tube tied to its tail, and a lead was sparkling.

"Rockets? How much oil can a small bamboo tube hold? Li Dingguo instinctively made a judgment and disagreed, but the left and right guards still dutifully quickly surrounded him and erected shields.

Li Dingguo frowned, feeling that they were making a fuss, and were about to disperse when the extinguishing bomb exploded.

This exterminating bullet was exactly what Wang Huan suddenly thought of, tying the exterminating bullet to the giant arrow of the bed crossbow to lengthen the throwing distance, and in the absence of a cannon, it could play the role of long-range artillery fire, so this first shot was given to Li Dingguo.

Although the exterminating bomb exploded dozens of paces away, blowing up several rows of guards standing in front of Li Dingguo, it had no effect on King Anxi, who was far away, except for making his horse frightened and running away.

Li Dingguo's riding skills are the best in the west, and he settled down under his mount with a little rein, and looked back in a cold sweat, only to see that where the bed crossbow short spear landed, a crater the size of a millstone suddenly appeared, and a wisp of black smoke could not be lifted into the air, with the crater as the center, within a radius of a few zhang, the corpses of the guards in iron armor lay on the ground horizontally, and a little farther away, some injured people were howling.

I see!

Only then did Li Dingguo understand that the explosion under the city wall was not a pre-planted explosive at all, but a new firearm made by the Ming army.

(End of chapter)