After three days of patient preparation, at the beginning of the night on the first day of the twelfth lunar month of the twelfth year of Kang Mazi, the main force of the Wu army, which liked to launch an attack at night, finally launched an attack on Jingzhou Jiancheng.

Like the previous sieges of the Wu army Xia Guoxiang, the main force of the Wu army this time still used concentrated artillery to bombard the new siege tactics of Jingzhou city wall, and the focus of artillery bombardment was also the west gate of Jingzhou that Xia Guoxiang had chosen before.

After more than a year of actual combat training, Wu Jun's gunners' artillery skills have obviously improved compared with before, not only by skillfully adjusting the firing height to hit more accurately, but also by filling the ammunition to launch a significantly faster firing speed than before, at the same time, the mastery of the delayed explosion time of the flowering shells is also close to perfect, and they can basically be able to bomb in the air if they want to be in the air, and bomb on the ground if they want to blow up on the ground. In this way, the Qing army defenders on the west gate of Jingzhou were naturally unlucky, and they were completely unable to raise their heads under the pressure of the steel gunpowder of the Wu army, and they were powerless to resist and had nowhere to escape.

Drawing on the previous experience of artillery attack, Wu Jun's artillery has completely eliminated the original black powder flowering shells, and even basically eliminated the less powerful nitrocellulose flowering shells, and replaced them with the most powerful Sanhao brand explosives flowering shells, and Wu Jun's Sanhao explosives production can keep up with such huge consumption, in addition to Wu Laohan's willingness to throw silver in this area, there is an extremely critical reason, that is, after the Wu army played Yungui, inadvertently controlled a gunpowder town - Liuyang County, Changsha Prefecture!

Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Liuyang is the most famous hometown of gunpowder in China, the county is good at making firecrackers and fireworks, and the skilled craftsmen who prepare and produce gunpowder are countless, after the Wu army captured the five southwestern provinces, because of the destruction of the war and the cut off of trade routes, most of these skilled craftsmen have lost their livelihoods, and when the Wu army moved the firearms battalion to Ji Ji Mountain in Ningxiang County, Changsha, because of the recruitment of a large number of gunpowder craftsmen, these Liuyang craftsmen who have relied on gunpowder to eat since childhood naturally flocked to Ji Ji Mountain, It not only provided Wu Jun with countless gunpowder craftsmen who did not need to be trained at all, but also brought Wu Jun countless kinds of gunpowder production processes, and it was also with the help of this group of gunpowder craftsmen that Wu Jun also developed a nitroglycerin production process that was cooled by running water, which greatly increased the output of nitroglycerin, and the output of Sanhao explosives naturally rose with it.

The words are far away, to get back to the point, from the beginning of the Wu army's artillery siege, the Qing army defenders at the west gate of Jingzhou were completely in the iron fire hell, the Wu army's flowering shells were overwhelming like hail, and the violent explosion shook the Qing soldiers and generals on the city wall to be deaf in both ears, and the shock wave of the explosion shook the city wall, and the remaining and temporarily repaired garrison towers almost collapsed in the first round of artillery bombardment of the Wu army, and the Qing soldiers in the artillery fire were even more pitiful, not blown up to the bones, Countless soldiers were thrown off the city wall and fell to their deaths, countless soldiers were bleeding from the explosion, their internal organs were ruptured, and they died miserably, and more Qing soldiers stumbled off the city wall, hiding behind the city wall with artillery shooting in the dead end.

In just over half an hour, under the fierce bombardment of more than 100 large and small artillery pieces of the Wu army, the garrison tower on the city wall of the west gate of Jingzhou has been completely destroyed, and the city fortifications such as arrow battlements, platform trenches, and antlers have basically been swept away. It was also at this time that Wu Laohan, who personally commanded the siege battle, ordered to stop the artillery bombardment and transfer the artillery position to the east gate of Jingzhou, and at the same time the siege infantry of the Wu army also began to go out of the formation, and the anti-arrow and bullet-proof carts acted as the vanguard, pushed to the edge of the moat and lined up to form mobile fortifications, and the Wu army archers and musketeers hid behind the car, shot and fired arrows on the city wall to suppress the defenders of the city, and other infantry took the opportunity to pick stones and bags to fill the moat and open up the siege road.

"Phew! The old slippery head who doesn't die! After receiving the battle report of the steps of the Wu army's siege, Tuhai and Labu and other commanders of the Qing army spat heavily, scolding Wu Lao Han for being cautious and deceitful, not in a hurry to attack the city with a ladder, first filling in the moat, making it clear that he was sharpening the knife and not cutting wood, and prepared to fight steadily, first leveling the obstacles on the siege road, and then taking Jingzhou Jiancheng with the smallest casualties.

"Lord Wang, if the minion expects it to be true, Wu Gou will soon be going to fire at Jingzhou Dongcheng again." After thinking nervously, Tu Hai quickly suggested to the commander-in-chief of the Qing army in Jingzhou, Prince Jian, Rabu: "Our army should withdraw most of the troops on the wall of the East Gate as soon as possible, leaving only a small number of troops to monitor Wu Gou's movements and reduce unnecessary losses." As for the West Gate, more archers and shotgunners should be sent up, not to be stingy with fire oil, to throw more torches to illuminate the fire oil, and try to shoot Wu Gou's river-filling infantry. ”

"I'm afraid not, we don't have much oil." Rabu said embarrassedly: "Wu Gou likes to attack cities at night, if the oil runs out, we will be blind in the future." ”

"It doesn't matter, the more intense the fight we have here, the more chances Xu Zhidu's side has." Tu Hai shook his head, and said in a low voice: "Wu Gou's firearms are sharp, our army can't resist at all, and Wu Sangui's siege tactics are so steady, if this goes on like this, it's only a matter of time before Jingzhou is lost, so the slave thinks that if our army wants to win in defeat, it can only gamble with Wu Gou." ”

Rabu, who was well aware of the gap between the Wu army and his own combat strength, gritted his teeth, and finally adopted Tuhai's suggestion and gave the order according to the policy. A moment later, groups of Qing archers and shotgunners poured into the city of Ximen, first throwing down countless torches and firewood soaked in fire oil, igniting a sky-high fire under the city to illuminate the movement of the Wu infantry, and then firing shotguns and arrows together, desperately shooting the Wu infantry carrying the river filling. The Wu army archers and musketeers who were hiding behind the chariots fought back desperately, and the arrows and projectiles above and below the city came and went like locusts, covering the sky and the moon, and it was extremely spectacular.

It was a bit surprising that the Qing army took such a resolute counterattack against the Wu army's river reclamation operation, and even wasted a large amount of precious fire oil that was the most useful and effective in defending the city for lighting. However, as early as before the start of this battle, the Wu army was already mentally prepared to pay a heavy price, and the infantry of the Wu army was still resisting the sacks of sandbags wave after wave of attacks on the Jingzhou city wall, desperately filling the moat that blocked the approach of the siege weapons, and the Wu army's archers and musketeers also kept pouring bows and arrows above the city wall, fighting with the Qing army for the consumption of arrows and ammunition.

About an hour later, the direction of the east gate of Jingzhou also came to the earth-shattering sound of artillery, has been transferred to the east gate of Jingzhou outside the Wu army artillery towards the Qing army's east gate fortifications launched a strong attack, the brick and wood structure of the east gate tower in the explosion continued to tremble, gradually collapsed, the defenders relied on the artillery to hide in the arrow buttress and the trench was also gradually broken under the artillery rage, lost the value of protection, and the antler fence that blocked the cloud ladder from approaching, but also in the continuous explosion sound of continuous fracture and shattering, completely lost the repair value, The Qing soldiers were dying and suffering from the artillery fire.

The tactics of the siege battle personally commanded by Wu Lao Han were indeed very cautious, from the evening of the first day of the lunar month to the early morning of the second day of the lunar month, the Wu army never launched a huge cloud ladder siege with huge soldiers, but patiently used the advantage of artillery to sweep the Qing army's city fortifications, methodically filled the Jingzhou moat that blocked the Wu army's siege, and forced the Qing army to waste a lot of materials to defend the city. Prevent the Qing army from going out of the city during the day to dredge the moat.

Although the cautious tactics are slow to take effect, but the biggest advantage is that the effect is stable, after a night of siege battles, the city fortifications of the east and west gates of Jingzhou were completely destroyed by the Wu army's artillery, the moat of the west gate was also completely filled, and the moat of the east gate was filled in most of it, it was difficult to play a role in blocking the approach of the Wu army's siege weapons, and the precious oil for night battles was also consumed by the Wu army in the continuous night battles for more than half a month, and the inventory was in danger.

In the face of such a bad situation, not to mention the ordinary soldiers of the Qing army and the ordinary people in Jingzhou City, even the commanders of the Qing army such as Tuhai, Rabu and Chani were so anxious that they turned around, and the messenger sent by Rabu to Yiling to contact Xu Zhidu has not heard back so far, I don't know if he was robbed and killed by the Wu army halfway, or Xu Zhi didn't have the courage to dig a 10,000-person embankment, staring and stomping his feet but helpless.

On the afternoon of the second day of the lunar month, just as Tuhai and Rabu and others were discussing whether to send another team of people to break through to contact Xu Zhidu, a carrier pigeon carrying Xu Zhidu's handwritten letter fell from the sky, and on the small note brought by the carrier pigeon that was half a finger wide and one finger long, Xu Zhidu only wrote eight small words - ready, do it tonight!

"Thank goodness, thank goodness." Seeing these eight crooked characters, Tu Hai and Rabu and other commanders of the Qing army all breathed a sigh of relief, and clasped their hands together and rejoiced, "The master is really Hongfu Qitian, but we have been worried, worried that Xu Zhi will not dare to move this hand or that the new gunpowder will run out." Heaven forbid, God forbid. ”

"Quick, quick." After rejoicing, Rabu hurriedly ordered: "Let the soldiers stop repairing the gaps and arrow stacks above the city wall, and instead repair the foundations, and be sure to block all possible places where water may enter." ”

"Wait!" Tu Hai stopped the herald in time, turned to Rabu and said: "Lord Wang, according to the opinion of the slaves, if our army stops repairing the gaps and arrow battlements above the city wall, Wu Gou will definitely be suspicious, and may even deduce that our army will attack the ten thousand people embankment. Therefore, the minions believed that our army should continue to organize the people to repair the arrow stacks and gaps, and send another army to block the four gates and block the water inlet tunnel. ”

"The hall in the picture is really clever, Wu Gou is abnormal, and it is possible to be suspicious when he finds the abnormality." Rabu was overjoyed and hurriedly revised the order, so that the army in the city continued to repair the gaps in the city wall and the arrow buttresses, and at the same time sent another army to seize the time to plug the loopholes and tunnels that might enter Jingzhou City.

………………

Not to mention, Tuhai's hand really played a great role in confusing, including Lu Fatzi, who was recognized as the most deceitful in the Wu army, after seeing the Qing army working overtime to repair the city fortifications above the city wall, he did not expect that the Qing army was actually still repairing the water inlet hole under the city wall, and at the same time, in view of the climate reasons, the Wu army's airship was still in the camp of Jijia Mountain, and it was impossible to fly to the sky above Jingzhou City to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, so the Wu army was resting at ease, patiently waiting for the sky to be dark, and then launched an attack at night.

In winter, the days are short, and when it comes to the first shift, the sky is dark again, and the main force of the Wu army is also dispatched again, setting up a position outside the east and west gates of Jingzhou, gearing up to attack the city, and the artillery of the Wu army is also concentrated at the west gate of Jingzhou again, ready to provide cover for the main force to attack the city.

At two o'clock, the Wu army's artillery began to be the first to exert its might as usual, and a wave of indiscriminate bombardment first destroyed the fortifications that the Qing army had managed to repair, and then the carts stepped forward to form mobile fortifications to protect the archers and gunners to fire arrows and suppress the fire of the defenders; At the same time, a large number of ladders, cloud platforms and iron-wrapped carts of the Wu army began to step forward, and the archers and musketeers on the ladder carts and the platforms continued to shoot and fire arrows to suppress the defenders, and the iron-wrapped carts leaned on the city wall, and the Wu army sappers hidden in the car frantically dug the city wall, preparing to fill the city with explosives to blow up the city, and the infantry of the Wu army also carried the flying ladder and began to charge towards the city wall of the west gate of Jingzhou, creating pressure on the Qing defenders to go to the city everywhere.

The ladder siege is the most cruel attrition tactic since ancient times, the battle is basically from the moment when the Wu army ladder leans on the city wall, it has completely entered the white heat, the Wu army infantry shouted the slogan of surrender and not kill wave after wave to climb and impact the city wall, the Qing soldiers shouted the slogan of the city in the people, desperately shot arrows, threw stones and smashed cars, and blocked the Wu army from digging the city. He also carried a huge tree and violently slammed into the siege ladder of the Wu army, knocking over the Wu soldiers one after another, and the sound of killing in the city and the city was like thunder, reaching into the sky.

It was also at this time that the advantages of the Wu army's soldiers' strong combat effectiveness and rich experience began to gradually manifest themselves, the Wu soldiers who climbed the city wall guarded the staircase to protect their companions to the city, and the Wu soldiers who did not climb the city wall were not anxious, patiently looking for the enemy's city defense flaws, and picking the Qing soldiers to guard the weak wall section to take the ladder to the city, rather than gathering together to make the Qing army convenient for defense. However, the Qing army also relied on a large number of soldiers, and continued to invest troops on the city wall, carefully filling every possible vacancy, and entangled with the Wu army.

The fierce battle to the third watch, the rear of the Wu army siege team suddenly made a loud sound, the Wu soldiers who could not attack for a long time began to retreat quickly, did not wait for the Qing army defenders to cheer to repel the Wu army attack, the Wu army artillery team that had been silent for a long time suddenly began to exert its might again, sending hundreds of flowering shells to the west gate city wall, to the Qing soldiers who had no time to remove the city wall to hide, in the rumbling explosion, the densely crowded Qing soldiers on the city wall cried wolf howl, and were blown up by the Wu army's flowering shells. Countless Qing soldiers either panicked or were pushed by their companions, and even fell directly from the city wall, either falling to death or being injured, and the Qing soldiers crowded behind the city wall were also caught off guard, and were killed and injured by the flowering shells of the Wu army, and became a mess.

"it! Wu Gou still has such a hand! When the news reached the Qing army headquarters located in the safety area behind the city wall, Tu Hai, Labu and others all scolded them, and only then did they understand the sinister intentions of the Wu army - to use the siege battle to attract a large number of Qing troops to the city, and then suddenly retreat, killing and wounding a large number of Qing soldiers with heavy artillery!

"Hurry up and give an order, once Wu Gou sings gold in the future, the soldiers in the city will retreat immediately, leaving only a small number of troops to watch, don't give Wu Gou such a chance again!" Tu Hai quickly conveyed the countermeasure, and stomped his feet and said: "This Xu Zhidu, why don't you do it yet?" It's the third watch, and if you don't do it, you won't have a chance! ”

Different from the anger of the Qing army command, at the same time, under the banner of the Wu army, because he saw the scene of heavy casualties of the Qing army in the city, but there was laughter, Wu Lao Hanjian patted Lu Fatzi's shoulder with great satisfaction and smiled: "It's still you, this kid is clever, and you can figure out such a trick, first attract the full dog to the city, and then suddenly open fire, and it really has a miraculous effect." ”

"My grandfather has won the award, and it is thanks to my grandfather's good management of the army and his well-trained soldiers that he can carry out orders and prohibitions and advance and retreat in an orderly manner." Fat Lu slapped a sycophant who was not too flattering, and said with a smile: "If it is replaced by an army full of dogs, and the siege of the city is so fierce, I am afraid that there will not be half an hour, and the army in front will not be able to retreat back to the safety zone at all." ”

"Lord Wang, if we encounter such a situation in the future, shall we try new siege tactics?" Wang Shirong was relatively calm, and after careful observation, he suggested: "In the future, when we have superior artillery to cover the siege, do we try to abandon the cumbersome ladder car and the cloud trolley and only use the light and flexible ladder to attack the city?" In this case, wouldn't it be more convenient for us to advance and retreat during the siege? ”

"That's something to think about." Wu Laohan said in a deep voice: "Although similar tricks are effective, they can kill and injure a large number of enemy troops, but the morale can not be discouraged, and when attacking the city, it is easy for the soldiers to form a lazy surname. ”

"Grandfather is smart, this theory is indeed very high, and morale can only be drummed, not vented." Lu Fatzi hurriedly slapped his ass, and suggested: "Grandfather, in terms of boosting morale, my grandson-in-law has another suggestion, that is, my son-in-law found that when our army was attacking the city, the slogan of shouting and killing was very messy, and the effect of infection was very small, so my grandson-in-law thought that my grandfather should unify a simple and effective slogan, so that the whole army could shout in unison and boost morale." ”

"Good advice." Wu Laohan was very satisfied when he heard this, and asked again: "Then what kind of slogan do you think is the most appropriate?" ”

"Da Zhou!" Lu Fatzi replied categorically: "The word 'Da Zhou' not only represents the identity of our army, but also is simple and easy to remember, easy to form a rhythm, when thousands of soldiers shout this slogan neatly, it will definitely play a role in encouraging companions and deterring dogs." ”

"Wonderful!" Wu Laohan slapped his thigh, and hurriedly ordered: "The generals will listen to the order, and when our infantry starts to attack the city again, every time the flag is waved, the whole army will shout the word Da Zhou in unison!" ”

"Yes!" Wu Junzhong will clasp their fists together and agree. Wu Lao Han ordered again: "Then pass this order to the front, and let the siege soldiers ...... the same." ”

"Boom ——!"

The sudden violent explosion interrupted Wu Lao Han Jian's order, Wu Lao Han Jian and Wu Junzhong looked at the sound in surprise, but they were even more surprised to find that the explosion came from the 10,000 people embankment behind the army, and before Wu Lao Han Jian screamed, there was a sudden fire on the 10,000 people embankment, and another extremely violent explosion rumbled.

"Who is it? Who blew up the embankment? Wu Laohan roared angrily, "This king has repeatedly explained that he is not allowed to move a brick or stone of the embankment, who is so bold as to dare to blow up the embankment behind his back?" ”

"Grandfather, it can't be our army!" Fat Lu yelled, "If it is our soldiers who blow up the embankment, it is impossible to do it at this time!" It's full of dogs, it's definitely full of dogs! ”

(To be continued)