How could there be such an obvious gap in the wall of Qinwangzhuang? The answer is intentional!

Since determining the strategy of defending the city, Zhu Youzhen discussed with the generals of the Qin soldiers all night how to defend the two cities.

Obviously, Li Zicheng had 20,000 or 30,000 men, of whom more than 10,000 could fight. As for the two cities of Jingyang County and Qinwangzhuang, they are likely to pick one of the key attacks. For Zhu Youzhen, the two cities are equally important, and neither can be lost, so he can only distribute the troops evenly.

As a result, there are fewer troops in each city. The fact that we are outnumbered and that the disparity is too large is the crux of the matter.

To solve this problem, it is nothing more than to start from two aspects: one is to increase one's own forces, and the other is to weaken the enemy's forces.

Of course, this is easier said than done, take this increase in troops as an example, since Yang He is unwilling to transfer troops, there will definitely be no foreign reinforcements. If you want to increase your troops, you can only temporarily recruit from the city.

But Zhu Youzhen knows that the difference between an ordinary person and a well-trained fighter is too great. If the method of "catching strong men" is adopted, it is certainly possible to piece together a team. However, such an army has neither training nor combat experience, and has no combat effectiveness at all. If you drive them into battle like this, you will be sending them to a meat grinder.

Back in the past, during World War II, the Soviet Union adopted this tactic of crowds in the Great Patriotic War, and as a result, millions or even tens of millions of Red Army soldiers were innocently sacrificed. This tactic of killing 1,000 enemies and inflicting 10,000 losses on oneself, of course Zhu Youzhen will not follow suit.

But the Qin soldiers also had an advantageous condition, that is, they were in the position of defending the city. One of the great advantages of defending the city is that there are few opportunities for the soldiers on both sides to fight directly face to face, and the soldiers defending the city can make full use of the city walls and various equipment to kill and injure the enemy from a distance. In this case, the gap between recruits and veterans is narrowed. If you are proficient in one or two tools for defending the city, then the recruits can also be used as veterans.

Therefore, for the first time since the formation of the Qin army, the Qin army carried out a large-scale expansion. In fact, it is said that it is "large-scale", but it is only a temporary conscription of 2,000 people. Moreover, these 2,000 people are all reserves, and when the war is over, they can continue to do their original work. Of course, if you perform outstandingly, you can also transfer to the sequence and become a legitimate officer and army.

The reason why only 2,000 people were recruited instead of more was Zhu Youzhen's own considerations. First of all, the number of equipment that Qin soldiers have is not enough, and it is basically enough to arm 2,000 people. He didn't want to be like in the movie "Soldiers in the City" in his previous life, where only one of the soldiers in a bunch had a gun, and the others could only rush up empty-handed and pick up the guns of their fallen comrades. That is a great irresponsibility for the lives of the fighters!

Moreover, as long as they are soldiers, they have to be trained, and untrained soldiers are not much different from ordinary people. Even when the thieves were in the city, Zhu Youzhen still had to give these recruits the most basic training, at least to make them overcome the fear of death and killing, and ensure that they obeyed the command during the battle. If you can't even do this, then going to the battlefield will also add to the chaos, so it's better not to go. And when time is pressing, the training capacity of 2,000 people is already the limit of the existing capacity.

In terms of the use of new soldiers, Zhu Youzhen also tried his best to distinguish them from veterans. Because they have neither combat experience nor combat skills, if they are allowed to take charge of themselves, there will definitely be big problems. Therefore, Zhu Youzhen arranged auxiliary work for them, such as loading bullets for the birds.

In terms of "increasing troops," there is only so much that Zhu Youzhen can do. As for weakening the enemy's forces, this one is even more difficult. Obviously, it is unrealistic to expect Li Zicheng to take the initiative to withdraw his troops, and the vicinity of Jingyang is full of plains, unlike Fuping and Tongchuan, where there are mountains to exploit, so it is difficult to send troops to take the initiative to attack as he did a few days ago. So all Qin soldiers could do was defend the city.

After careful discussions, everyone agreed that in order to consume a large number of enemy troops, it is necessary to give full play to the power of firearms!

Now the Qin soldiers are not like the previous day when they suppressed the bandits, there are only a few dozen birds. First of all, Zhu Youzhen used various channels to buy more than 200 birds. Secondly, the arsenal of Qinwangzhuang has now also begun to make bird guns, and a total of more than 100 have been made so far.

Originally, according to Zhu Youzhen's original idea, the bird gun, also known as the arquebus, was a variety that should be eliminated, and the flintlock pistol was the direction of development. However, after practice, it was learned that the structure of the flintlock pistol was much more complex than that of the arquebus, and it was quite difficult to prototype it.

As far as the most critical firing part is concerned, a small trigger is divided into a series of small parts such as trigger, trigger spring, pull rod, blocking iron, blocking iron spring, hammer, hammer spring, etc. Any part that is not properly made will result in a failed shot.

In particular, the spring, which is a key component that determines the force of the hammer blow. If the spring is not strong enough, the force of the hammer hitting the flint is not enough. Then the sparks shot out of the flint are not large enough to ignite the black powder.

However, in this era, the production process of springs is still very rough, or the process of the entire machinery manufacturing industry is very backward. Sun Hualong and other craftsmen tried to make it many times, but the springs made did not meet the standards of the parts in the original flintlock pistol. Later, they finally found out the reason, and the steel wire used to make the spring was not up to standard.

Zhu Youzhen did not blame the craftsmen for this, he knew that the progress of science and technology was very difficult and could not be achieved overnight. When the development of flintlock pistols encountered a bottleneck, he decisively ordered the arsenal to produce bird guns in large quantities. The production of this firearm is relatively simple, and it took dozens of craftsmen more than a month to make more than a hundred.

As a result, the Qin soldiers now have about 400 bird guns at their disposal, and their ammunition reserves are also extremely sufficient. The reason why it was not carried in large quantities during the Battle of Fuping was mainly due to the inconvenience of transporting ammunition. And now it's a defense of the city, and the ammunition depot is in the city, so it can be used openly.

In order to give full play to the power of the bird's gun, Zhu Youzhen also deliberately cut down on the unfinished city wall, creating the illusion of a "short board" and luring the thieves to gather here.

And behind the walls, each Birdsmith is equipped with five recruits who are specifically responsible for reloading ammunition! All the Bird Gun has to do is take the loaded gun, light the arquebus, and then point the gun at a random place outside the city walls. After firing, return the bird to the recruit, take the other gun, and repeat.

The burning time of the arquebus is only a few seconds, which is more than a minute compared to the time it takes to reload the ammunition. And the thief general Liu Heizi didn't know what to do, and thought that Qin Bing's bird gun didn't need to be loaded to shoot. This phenomenon was beyond his comprehension, which is why he screamed in fear.

However, under the dense bird's gun, Liu Heizi didn't scream for a while, he was shot in the heart and died screaming. Not only him, but more than half of the hundreds of thieves have been shot to the ground, and the corpses are piling up outside the city wall in an instant!