Chapter 737: The Cannon
Although the Zhou army suffered heavy casualties, Yuwen Shenju's face did not change in the slightest. He had long known the strength of the Qi army, and besides, the siege battle was already cruel, and every victory was a pile of flesh and blood.
Standing on top of the chariot, Yuwen Shenju calmly and skillfully gave orders, and the attacking Zhou army constantly changed its formation and rhythm in order to reduce losses and approach Luoyang City faster.
Because a few days ago, the Yellow River burst its banks, and the outside of Luoyang City became Zeguo, and the moat surrounding Luoyang City was also silted up for the sludge, and most of it was filled, and the time was too short, and the Qi army was busy with disaster relief, so that it was not cleaned up, which made the Zhou army's attack much easier, and it did not cost much to rush the city vehicles, cloud ladders and other siege equipment to lean on the Luoyang city wall.
Even so, the Qi army on the defensive, with the support of the city, still has a huge advantage. Rolling wood and stones, swords and arrows rained down on the Zhou army, taking away the lives of each and dyeing the earth brown.
From early morning to sunset, the attack of the Zhou army did not stop for a moment, the earth-shattering shouts of killing have made people's ears ring, and the soldiers on both sides of the battle were also hungry and tired, but they did not dare to relax for a moment, because the slackness of the moment lost their lives.
The ancient city of Luoyang had many scars, mottled and dilapidated, allowing the Zhou army's rushing vehicles to hit again and again, trembling gently, but still standing. There were mountains of corpses under the city walls, and there was a lot of mourning, but no one flinched.
Under the setting sun, Yuwen Shenju's face was a little gloomy. For a whole day, he invested 50,000 soldiers and horses, and killed and wounded nearly 20,000 people, but the Zhou army only climbed the city wall once a quarter of an hour ago, and even for half an hour to be able to hold on, the hundreds of Zhou soldiers were beheaded by the Qi army, and their bodies fell to the bottom of the city, and the flesh and blood were blurred.
Rao is Yuwen Shenju had been prepared for a long time, and the strength of the Qi army was still beyond his imagination. Compared with Luoyang City, Dongyongzhou may be more suitable for a breakthrough, but the Zhou army was defeated there twice, and Dongyongzhou may still be difficult. If you want to break through and attack the hinterland of Qi Kingdom, in addition to attacking, Yuwen Shenju does not have a very good way.
"Send another 20,000 men to attack!"
"Advance the catapult a hundred steps!"
With Yuwen Shenju's order, 20,000 Zhou troops suddenly roared and rushed towards Luoyang City, and the more than 100 catapults that were destroyed by the Qi army in front of the Zhou army also took advantage of the twilight and quickly approached Luoyang City.
In the sharp whistling sound, the huge rock crossed the section of more than 100 meters and smashed into the city, causing a lot of damage at once, causing a riot in the Qi army, and the defense was a little relaxed. The Zhou army under the city shouted in unison, taking advantage of the situation to launch a frantic attack on Luoyang City, and soon hundreds of people climbed to the top of the city and fought with the Qi army.
Fu Fu's face was serious, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes. I thought that Yuwen Shenju would collect his troops and rest and fight again in the future, but he didn't expect that he would send more men again, and he didn't care that his soldiers would be hit by catapults and attacked.
"Artillery ready!"
After glancing at the last ray of sunlight dissipating, Fu Fu's eyes flashed with an inexplicable look, as if he was excited and expectant.
With his order, among the dozen or so arrow towers on the west wall of Luoyang City, each of them had a black, one-person thick cylindrical object poking out, and the hole with a diameter of about twenty centimeters pointed obliquely at the sky, and the black hole was empty, exuding a frightening chill.
Far away, Yuwen Shenju didn't notice the change in Luoyang City, and even if he did, he wouldn't understand what it was. Mo said that it was the Yuwen Divine Move, even in the entire Qi country, there were only a few people who knew about this thing.
This is artillery, the most powerful weapon of the company, which has been developed since the time when it was based in Shandong, and it is not until today that it has been put into the battlefield for the first time.
With the addition of 20,000 fresh troops, nearly 50,000 Zhou troops gathered under the city of Luoyang, which densely covered almost the entire city wall in the west of Luoyang City, which doubled the pressure on the defenders of the city, and more and more Zhou troops attacked the head of the city, forcing the Qi army to retreat one after another.
Yuwen Shenju's eyes flashed, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. After a day of fighting, paying a heavy price, it was finally time to harvest.
Standing up, Yuwen Shenju suddenly raised his sword and shouted: "The destruction of Luoyang City is just around the corner, soldiers, the time to repay the emperor's favor and make contributions has come, and the whole army will attack!" Offensive!! ”
"Kill!"
The 80,000 Zhou troops around Yuwen Shenju suddenly burst out into a thunderous roar when they heard this, and they waved their blades one after another, surging towards Luoyang City like a tide.
"Target Yuwen Shenju, open fire!"
Just when Yuwen Shenju followed the Zhou army towards Luoyang City, Fu Fu in the city suddenly raised his arms and shouted, the sound was like thunder, shaking the four fields.
"Bang bang bang!"
In the city of Zhou Jun surprised, those from the arrow tower out of the cannon mouth suddenly burst out of dazzling fire, just when Yuwen Shenju was shocked, he saw more than a dozen fireballs, dragging a gorgeous tail flame, like a meteor falling from the sky, with lightning speed fell in the Zhou army, one of which was not far from him.
"Boom, boom!"
The roar that shook the nine heavens came out, and in an instant, the shouting and killing sound of Zhou Jun was completely drowned, and in the sky-rushing firelight, Yuwen Shenju only felt a compelling heat Lang carrying the surging qi Lang impact, directly tearing the chariot under him to pieces, and he himself was thrown high, and the severe pain instantly submerged his mind.
The earth trembled violently, countless Zhou troops were directly torn apart, stumps and broken arms mixed with smoke and dust scattered in the sky, and more Zhou troops were directly impacted to the point that their blood was surging, their bones were broken and their tendons were broken. Screams of terror and terrible screams resounded in the sky in an instant.
The unknown fear and shock suddenly permeated the heart of the Zhou army, and even the Zhou army in Luoyang City was so shocked that he slowed down the offensive in his hand. Mo said that Zhou Jun was like this, and even Qi Jun's eyes widened in surprise, and his back was full of cold sweat.
Fu Fu could barely maintain his composure, but from his rapid breathing and the incomparably bright eyes, it could be seen that his mind was also agitated. He finally understood why he was happy to be able to talk and laugh in the face of a million-strong army, and why Wei Xiaokuan's and other famous generals also lowered their noble heads, all because of this artillery.
In terms of range and power, artillery is by no means comparable to catapults. Fu Fu didn't dare to imagine that in the face of such a sharp weapon, he would have the courage to fight.
"Boom, boom!"
After a short pause, the violent roar sounded again, and countless Zhou soldiers were buried in the firelight, which made the already dazed Zhou Jun even more panicked and helpless, and the field was full of all kinds of roars and cries, which was extremely chaotic.
"Yuwen Shenju is dead, the soldiers of Daqi, counterattack!" Fu Fu took a deep breath, suppressed the vibration in his heart, and then shouted loudly.
A word woke up the dreamer, the Qi army at the head of the city was in high spirits, and suddenly roared angrily to kill the Zhou soldiers, and the momentum was like a rainbow for a while, and in just a short time, the Zhou army that was shaken in his heart was driven out of the city of Luoyang.
Ten rounds of shelling in a row, the morale of the Zhou army has been exhausted, and their formation has been completely destroyed by the Qi army, especially the death of Yuwen Shenju has made them lose their fighting spirit.
The heavy city gate opened, and Cheng Yanjin took the lead, leading the Qi army that had long been ready to attack under the city to rush towards the outside of the city.
"Yuwen Shenju is dead, the Zhou army will be defeated, the soldiers of Daqi, kill the Zhou army with me, kill!"
"Kill !!"
The morale of the Qi army was high, at this time, all of them were red, their eyes were bright, as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, and under the leadership of Cheng Yanjin, they were like tigers descending from the mountains, and they rushed madly towards the Zhou army, which was already frightened.
Yang Su was originally cultivating in the camp, but he was suddenly awakened by this earth-shattering loud noise, and his heart suddenly became inexplicably uneasy.
"What's that?"
stared at the direction of Luoyang City, looking at the firelight that broke out from time to time, with a serious face, and muttered to himself. Suddenly, Yang Su's face changed drastically, and a look of horror flashed in his eyes, "Is General Yuwen really killed?" No, it won't! Although he kept emphasizing it, the gloom and uneasiness in Yang Su's heart became more and more intense.
After a short time, Yang Su heard the earth-shattering shouts of killing from under Luoyang City, and the originally mighty Zhou army was panicked like a lost dog, fleeing here in embarrassment.
"Defeated, defeated!"
Yang Su's body staggered, and his face was incredulous. The 150,000-strong army was defeated like this, so suddenly, so inexplicably, so quickly, that he was caught off guard.
"General Yang, the Qi army is coming, what should we do?"
The thousands of Zhou troops left behind in the battalion also discovered the situation on the front line and looked at Yang Sudao in panic.
"Raise the banner and retreat with the whole army!"
Yang Su's face was solemn, he forced himself to calm down, and gave a decisive order. Now the Zhou army has no fighting spirit at all, and there is no battle array, but the morale of the Qi army is high, and it is not a good strategy to fight reflexively, so they can only temporarily avoid their front.
With Yang Su's order, the panicked Zhou Jun suddenly seemed to see a guiding light in the dark night, and no longer fled aimlessly, but converged in the direction of Yang Su's evacuation.
It wasn't until dawn that Cheng Biting Jin stopped pursuing, and at this time he was nearly a hundred miles away from Luoyang City. Of the 150,000 Zhou troops, only more than 30,000 fled back, nearly 100,000 were captured by the Qi army, and the famous Yuwen Shenju was killed in Luoyang City.
This battle seems to be easy for the Qi army to win, but it is not, there is both Fu Fu's calculation and luck.
If it weren't for Fu Fu's deliberate ignorance, Yuwen Shenju relaxed his vigilance and unfortunately lost his life, and the Zhou army was also disrupted by artillery, and his fighting spirit was lost, and the Qi army took advantage of the situation to counterattack and win in one fell swoop.
The power of the cannon is huge, but the process of its manufacture is extremely difficult for the current society, otherwise how could Fu Fu have endured until this time. Moreover, even with happy financial resources, the number of artillery pieces is very limited, and the limitations of technology also make it impossible for artillery to fight for a long time, otherwise there is a danger of exploding.
If Yuwen Shenju knew the defects of the artillery and prepared early, even if there would be a lot of losses, it would not be a complete defeat like this.