Fei Yangguo showed half of his head and cautiously looked at the large and small iron pipes at the front of the Wuyi army's position in the distance, he knew that it was a cannon, and he naturally knew some of the specific details of the fiasco, and he knew that if it weren't for these terrifying cannons, the Jurchen army would not have been defeated so badly.

What made him a little puzzled was that he heard from his comrades in the army that the range of these cannons was only a little more than a mile, how could the range of these cannons be so far? Of course he didn't know, it was because Wu Yijun deliberately got closer to fight, and now that he was attacking the city, he naturally had no fear.

Before he could figure it out, on the artillery position of the Wuyi Army in the distance, a series of fire clusters suddenly burst out from the mouths of those large and small iron pipes.

"My lord, be careful!"

"Bang!"

Fei Yangguo was pressed to the ground by his own soldiers, and his head slammed on the ground, almost fainting.

At this time, the rumbling cannon sound had already been heard, and the whistling cannonballs smashed hard, and the earth trembled, and in an instant the smoke and dust covered everyone's eyes.

"Boom."

"Boom."

In the dense rain of bullets, in the sound of countless houses being smashed down, and in the screams of countless people, the entire Yehe City began to tremble, and the countless Jurchen defenders were smashed into a cloud of blood and mud by the dense bullet rain before they could even react.

The first siege battle of the Wu Yi Army in the real sense finally kicked off in the sound of artillery.

"Zi Gong! Fast!! ”

Liu Zhen screamed vigorously, not knowing whether it was stimulated by the rumbling cannon sound or because of the scorching muzzle smoke, his whole face turned red.

Bursts of black smoke came out of the muzzle, an inevitability of a black powder weapon. Hundreds of cannons fired together, and the black smoke coming out of the muzzles condensed together, almost forming a dark cloud above Wu Yijun, so that they all blocked their vision a little, making the gunners' vision a little blurred. But this does not affect. Yehecheng is there, and he won't run.

Just follow the calibrated coordinates and boom.

This is still Wu Yijun's gunpowder, which is extremely fine, very fine and soft, like the firearms used by the imperial court a few years ago. Even after the guns were fired, the gunmen couldn't see anything, and the black smoke was so thick that

The scorched shell of the gun withdrew from the gun chamber, and the loader who was already on standby next to him immediately stuffed a new gun into the gun chamber with a bang, and the gun gun was filled, and the arm of the gun team leader next to him fell heavily, and the gunner responsible for ignition had already lit the fuse. Bang. Another one withdrew and fell to the ground. A gunner, who had already prepared next to him, poured a scoop of water on the already hot barrel, and with a loud sound, a burst of white mist steamed.

Each artillery position is like an assembly line, and the soldiers of the artillery station are sweating like rain, completely forgetting the time, and everyone seems to have become robots. Repeat and repeat, all of which are mechanical movements, and the body is as if it is stiffened. Mechanically reload, fire, cool, reload, refire, cool.

Even Liu Zhen, a senior officer who was the deputy of the Thousand Households of the Artillery, personally went into battle and played the role of a loader.

All the artillerymen were shocked by his actions, and in this era, the role model that leading the way is endless, and all the artillerymen acted as if they were crazy. A lot of live-fire training worked, they were fast, but they were standard and there were no mistakes.

Behind them. The baggage soldiers of the logistics department shuttled back and forth, they went back and forth between the artillery positions and the hundreds of carts of the logistics department protected by the infantry phalanx.

Wang Dachun led a group of people over. Standing on an empty ammunition box, he shouted: "Brothers, but this vigorous fighting, your lord has an order, today the ammunition is not stopped, and the city of Yehe is razed to the ground!" Take it easy, don't blow it up! ”

…,

Before the words fell, the batch of ammunition boxes that had been pried open were instantly destroyed, and the ammunition boxes that were still piling up just now were empty in the blink of an eye.

Wang Dachun's eyes were straight, he clicked his lips, and gasped in distress: "These grandsons, this is all money!" ”

The Jurchen slave soldiers of the tenth guard who stood not far behind them were dazzled, the power of the god of war was vividly interpreted, and in the face of such a powerful firepower and such a ferocious attack of the Wu Yi Army, the rumbling cannon sound like thunder made them tremble uncontrollably. The idea that Wu Yijun was strong and invincible suddenly rose in his heart, and the restless, hateful, angry, and brewing things that were originally a little restless, hateful, angry, and brewing all disappeared with this rumbling shelling!

Powerful force is the most direct force that makes people tremble and surrender!

It is the characteristics of war in the era of hot weapons, at least Wu Yijun has entered the era of hot weapons in the field of guns, which is very different from the cold weapon era of swords, guns and halberds in the past. A large amount of consumption, a great demand for logistical supply, of course, accompanied by great power.

Not far away, countless thick plumes of smoke and dust, flying rubble, and diffuse dust rose from Yehe City, covering the entire east gate of Yehe City.

A cannonball accurately fell on the city wall, smashed into the chest of a Jurchen soldier, smashed his chest into pieces on the spot, two stumps flew out obliquely, the cannonball was inexhaustible, and smashed on the ground, the rammed earth city wall was smashed out of a big pit, the hot cannonball ejected, and the two Jurchen soldiers were killed before it was finished.

Almost at the same time, another cannonball smashed into the female wall, but the female wall was only half a foot thick and let out a groan, and collapsed with a bang, and several Jurchen soldiers hiding behind were first buried in the broken clods, and then the cannonball fell on it, and immediately streams of dark red blood came out of the loess.

There was also a cannonball, which hit a little farther, and landed on the gatehouse of a mansion in the city, penetrating the ridged roof, and falling heavily into the house, where a few well-dressed and well-dressed gatemen were hiding in a hurry, listening to the rumbling cannon outside and trembling, the cannonball just fell among them, and one was killed on the spot, and the blood and brains were broken and the white bones splashed the remaining gatekeepers all over their bodies, and several people screamed. Fleeing in all directions, the crotch of a porter was wet, and he was already scared to pee.

Of course, the most shells fell on the city walls. The rammed earth walls have not been repaired for too many years, and they are already a little dilapidated, not to mention being hit so hard by cannonballs! After being hit by a cannonball, a large semicircular crater appeared in the city wall, and then the fine cracks spread in all directions.

It may be powerless to deal with reinforced concrete buildings, but it is enough to deal with this kind of rammed earth city wall that does not even cover a layer of bricks.

Under artillery fire. The walls are already crumbling.

Fei Yangguo had already been protected by his own soldiers and came to the base of the city wall, relatively speaking, this is the safest place, cannonballs can't hit, and it seems that for a while, the city wall can't collapse.

Fei Yangguo leaned against the wall, his face like ashes.

The previous tentative artillery bombardment made him underestimate the power of Wu Yi's artillery. He didn't expect that these iron pipes would be so powerful, under their bombardment. The entire city of Yeh was groaning in pain.

It's only been a few years, huh? The Ming Dynasty, who was wantonly bullied and plundered by them, actually rose such a strong army?

Fei Yangguo's mind was racing, it seemed that this Ye Hecheng couldn't be saved, so he had to think of a way out as soon as possible.

The sound of gunsmoke, fire and collapse made Fei Yangguo tremble, not to mention the other Jurchens, and the elite troops who stayed in Yehe City were not elite. The Jurchen soldiers in the city were already in chaos, and Fei Yangguo could no longer control his troops, so he could only watch the cannonballs whizz over his head over and over again, crushing them repeatedly like ploughing, and countless soldiers were torn and smashed by the cannonballs without even seeing the enemy. Took away the limbs, and slowly bled to death in the wailing.

…,

This is not a war at all!

It was a naked slaughter.

"Boom!" There was another heavy shelling, and the entire city wall trembled, and Fei Yangguo could clearly feel that something seemed to be wrong with the city wall.

"Let's go!" Fei Yangguo let out a scream that was not like a human voice, and quickly ran towards a short distance, his own soldiers stopped for a moment, and quickly fled one after another.

That section of the city wall had already been hit by countless cannonballs, cracks all over the wall, and after this cannonball, it began to shake and be a little unstable.

Liu Zhen keenly discovered it and shouted: "Boom there, do you see it, adjust the angle, move to the right, yes, boom!" ”

"Boom!" Several medium-sized Franco cannons were aimed at this side and bombarded fiercely, and the city wall finally could no longer support it, and collapsed with a bang, and smoke and dust were everywhere.

When the smoke and dust cleared, a gap of about ten meters long was revealed on the wall of Yehe City.

"Boom!" The artillerymen let out a burst of cheers, and the crowd was excited.

"Boom!" Lian Zining clenched his hands vigorously, and a trace of excitement appeared on his face.

The battle in Yehe City was much smoother than he imagined, and he got the news that at least thirty years ago, Demu Henan Wei was a strong city, but he didn't expect that it would be like this now.

"Boom ?!!" Fei Yangguo looked at the gap with a dull gaze, and his heart sank straight down, he knew that this time it was completely over!

And almost at the same time, about 300 meters to the south of this gap, a gap more than 20 meters long was blasted open. As for the city gate, after being bombarded with dozens of shots, it has long been opened!

"Ordered Liu Zhen to raise the angle of the artillery and bombard the city to cover the infantry. Ordered Xia Zikai to send 20,000 troops from 20 thousand households to take Yehe City in one fell swoop! ”

"Yes, sir!"

The herald rushed away, and soon passed Lian Zining's order to the ears of Liu Zhen and Xia Zikai.

The shelling ended.

"Whew! Finally stopped, how many shells can these Wu Yi soldiers fight? Yang Kai let go of the hand that had been covering his ears and let out a long sigh of relief.

As the cannonfire stopped, the cries of the girls and children from the back house finally became quieter.

This is the main hall of a mansion in the center of Yehe City, the scale of this mansion is very large, and the buildings in it are also quite luxurious, in this vicinity, next to it are the mansions of the Jurchen magnates, but their mansions are slightly inferior to Yang Kai's mansions.

And Yang Kai is undoubtedly a name that can only be owned by a Han person.

As a Han Chinese, being able to own such a big mansion in Yehecheng, the capital of the Haixi Jurchens, is quite telling in itself.

Not to mention, looking out of the hall, you can see hundreds of people standing in the courtyard outside wearing Ming standard cotton armor. A well-armed guard.

Yang Kai's identity is very simple, he is just a businessman.

But businessmen and businessmen are not the same, if businessmen can be divided into several levels, then Yang Kai has undoubtedly reached the level of giants. It belongs to the top level of merchants.

Jinyang Yang's family, to the border to transport grain in exchange for salt to sell salt, accumulated hundreds of millions of family property, from the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the present, more than 100 years standing, has always been the entire Shanxi political envoy and even the number of big businessmen in the north. At the local level, Yang's position is intertwined. The business is big, and I don't know how much land there is, and in the court, there are also a few powerful officials who are friendly with the Yang family, and they have been funded by the Yang family when they were young, and some are even directly born in the Yang family.

Even if you look at the entire Ming Dynasty, this old man is an out-and-out wealthy family. Although the power and status cannot be compared with the high-ranking officials in Beijing, it is still about wealth. But it is far more than that, and the Ming Dynasty is highly prosperous in commerce and wealthy at this time. In many cases, it is synonymous with status.

…,

Yang Kai is a side branch of the Yang family.

If it is in terms of blood relationship, he can still call the current head of the Yang family an uncle, but before he is twenty years old, the head of the Yang family will never look at this nephew who is three generations away from him.

If he chooses to stay in Jinyang, Yang Kai may rely on his father's trust to enter the huge business empire of the Yang family when he becomes an adult, and he will be able to climb all the way, and if he is lucky, he may be able to achieve the position of a shopkeeper at the age of forty. has a good income, can marry a wife who is neither high nor low, and raise a few children. If you do a better job, maybe you can take a room of concubines back.

But this is not what Yang Kai wants.

In the twenty-ninth year of Zhengde, nineteen-year-old Yang Kai said goodbye to his father and left Jinyang City with thirty-seven taels of silver obtained from his three elder brothers.

Less than a weak crown, ambitious.

His target was the Tatars, who at that time had been blockaded by the Ming Dynasty from all border trade.

Yang Kai is undoubtedly a very capable guy. Of course, he was also lucky, if it weren't for that, he wouldn't have survived until now. Every year, there are many Jin merchants who go outside the border like a carp crossing the river, and there are always a few who come back and make money.

Twenty-three years have passed, and Yang Kai is already a well-known giant in northern Shanxi.

His accumulated fortune was already measured in 100,000 taels of silver, and he had more than twenty caravans and at least a thousand well-armed armed guards, and he had his business in Tatar, Fuyuwei, and even the three Jurchens.

His success even aroused the respect of the family, and just last year, his uncle, who was already in the third rank of the official residence, was anxious about the council of elders in the clan, and finally decided that Yang Kai's branch would be separated from the Yang clan in Jinyang and set up a separate portal. This also officially represents that Yang Kai has grown into a pivotal force in Shanxi's business community.

To be able to accumulate such a huge fortune in such a short period of time, of course, it is impossible to do a serious business with rules and regulations.

In fact, Yang Kai's business, if it is according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, can be regarded as light with a thousand cuts.

There were only four kinds of business he was engaged in: salt, iron, tea, and armor.

And none of these four things was allowed to be trafficked to these old enemies by the Ming Dynasty, and the sale of military armor was a major crime to exterminate the nine clans.

Of course, the rules are set to be violated, and Yang Kai is not the only one to do this kind of prohibited business, they don't even have the patience to rub the edges. Because they have enough connections and strength to deal with any crisis that may arise.

In fact, with the Ming Dynasty now under the glamour is almost erosive decay, unless someone deliberately rectifies them, otherwise, as long as there are channels, there is really no risk.

Seventy percent of Yang Kai's business is in Jurchen.

Compared with the descendants of Genghis Khan, the newly rising Jurchens with the three surnames are stronger and have a stronger desire to expand and attack abroad, so the demand for various strategic materials is naturally greater. Of course, the most important point is that they also had enough money due to the continuous plundering of the Han people in the early days of their fortune. Even if you don't have money, you can exchange it for other things - ginseng, animal skins, deer antler velvet, sand gold, dong pearls, and so on. Compared to these rarities, the Mongols could only provide war horses and slaves, which was naturally not very attractive.

Decades of business with the Jurchens allowed Yang Kai to establish an excellent relationship with the Jurchen magnates, and he was even invited to attend the banquet of the Jurchen Great Khan Wanyan Chen, which was very important for him. It's the glory of a lifetime. And in Yehe City, he also has a good relationship with Gangyi and other powerful people of the Yehenara tribe, and has a transcendent status.

His mansion in Yeh City is a testament to this, actually. Not only Yehe City, but also in the Tulu Pavilion Mountain of the Great Khan of the Jianzhou Jurchens, and in the Wudehe City, the capital of the Beishan Jurchens, each has a residence of this scale.

…,

Every year, Yang Kai stays on the Jurchens' side for a few months, and this time he deserves to be unlucky, he just stayed in Yehe City, and he was supposed to leave for Tuluting Mountain in two days. But he didn't expect that Wu Yijun would come to the city today.

"I deserve to be unlucky." Without the threat of rumbling artillery, Yang Kai, who had calmed down, thought to himself: "However, the strength of the Wu Yi Army is beyond imagination, there are as many as seventy or eighty thousand troops who came here to surprise the Jurchens, how many can stay in Xishenwei?" This Uncle Wu Yi is not a simple character! Now that his reputation is not obvious among the government and the opposition, he knows it, and he knows his name, but he didn't expect it. The strength has grown to this extent. ”

For Wu Yijun and Lian Zining, Yang Kai naturally knows it, in fact. As one of the partners of the Jurchens, he knew Wu Yijun even more than the Ming court, and he felt really heartfelt because of this.

Suddenly. Another rumbling cannon burst interrupted his thoughts.

"Why is it here again?" Yang Kai's face was bitter.

The shelling just now was not a pause at all, but after Liu Zhen received Lian Zining's order, he ordered the artillerymen to adjust the coordinates and increase the angle between the muzzle and the ground.

Due to Lian Zining's influence, there are many words used in Wu Yi's army that have been accepted by everyone, especially in artillery. For example, coordinates, angles, cardinality, and so on.

After the angle was raised, the shelling resumed.

This time, the shells fired farther and most of them landed inside the walls.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Don't grind! ”

The officers of the 10th Guard shouted and cursed, and the whips in their hands kept flicking around. Fell on the heads of some uneyed Jurchen slave soldiers.

Twenty thousand households, a full 20,000 strong Jurchen slave soldiers, have been gathered together. They clenched the steel knives tightly in their hands, looked in the direction of Ye Hecheng, swallowed vigorously in their throats, and their faces twitched a little because of nervousness. Although the Jurchens claim to be natural warriors, the warriors are all fought out of the sea of corpses and blood, and their performance is no different from the new recruits who have just entered the battlefield. And it has not been systematically trained.

Xia Zikai galloped ahead of the army surrounded by a group of guards, and he shouted loudly: "Your Excellency has an order, attack Yehe City!" Do your best, if you can't beat it this time, you will all die! All of them are going to die! So, don't be lucky, in front of you, there is only one way, kill! Kill everyone you see! If you attack the city, you will be allowed to take all that you have taken, and all that you have taken will be your own! ”

"Kill! Kill! Kill! ”

Xia Zikai's handsome face had become hideous, and every time he shouted, the soldiers shouted in unison, and the sound spread throughout the entire front.

The eyes of the Jurchen slave soldiers showed undisguised greed, the hand holding the knife was tighter, coercion and temptation, retreating to death, advancing may not die but may make a lot of money, such means have never been uncommon. But it's always always the best means of motivation.

"All the army, let's go!"

Xia Zi pulled out his saber with a clatter, and pointed directly at Ye Hecheng.

The cannonballs continued to fall, and with the support of the cannons, these Jurchen slave soldiers, who had just become soldiers, were much more emboldened, wielding their only weapon, waist knives, and screaming loudly towards Yehe City.

Like a black tide, it almost drowned Yehe City.

Looking at the black pressure rushing up in the distance, I don't know how many people are charging, the Jurchen defenders of Yehe City are all like white paper, the defenders of Yehe City say that it is a thousand households, but in fact, there are only four or five thousand people in total, and most of the time they are in a state of dissatisfaction, and they are even more dead and wounded in the bombing just now, and now there are only two or three thousand people left.

How to cope?

They were all looking for the backbone, but at this time, Fei Yangguo was gone.

The Jurchen soldiers guarding the city wall finally could no longer support it, let out a shout, and dispersed violently.

The tide flooded the city of Yeh. (To be continued)