With the power of Hongyi's cannons, the defenders of Ningyuan repelled the first attack of Houjin, and the Ming troops at the head of the city all cheered. Even Zhu Mei, who was silent, said excitedly: "Your Highness, your method is simply too good, in this way, the interval between the firing of Hongyi cannons has been almost halved, which is equivalent to more than a dozen more cannons for us!" ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't have much excitement. He knew very well in his heart that the reason why the Houjin army suffered so many casualties this time was entirely because of the use of dense formations. If the enemy forces are scattered, the power of solid shells will be greatly reduced.

Moreover, it is true that the rate of fire has increased, but it still takes more than three minutes to fire once, which is still 108,000 miles worse than the firing density of modern rapid-fire guns that are several rounds a minute, or even dozens of rounds. If the enemy army desperately attacked the city regardless of casualties, these dozen Hongyi cannons would still be far from enough.

Moreover, it is obvious that this first wave of enemy troops were all Han Chinese who surrendered, and they were originally pawns sent to death in the eyes of the Jurchens, and it didn't matter how many people died. If too much ammunition is consumed on these substitute ghosts, when the Jurchens attack, there will be no ammunition, and no matter how much Hongyi cannons there are, they will be just a pile of scrap metal.

What worries him even more is that the Jurchen cavalry is not idle at this time. Taking advantage of the first wave of the Han Army's Eight Banners attacking the city, they had already made a detour to the south from both sides of Ning Yuan, completely surrounding Ning Yuan.

Yuan Chonghuan also discovered the movement of the enemy army, and said with his eyebrows tightened: "The Jurchen Eight Banner soldiers on each side are at least more than 10,000 people. It seems that Jianyu is dispatched by the whole army this time, and he is determined to win! ”

Zhu Youzhen heard Yuan Chonghuan's words, knowing that he had no bottom in his heart, and his face became even paler.

Yuan Chonghuan hurriedly comforted Zhu Youzhen and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, when the minister raised troops from Qiantun last night, he sent a probe to report to the Governor. It is expected that in the second or third day, the reinforcements of Shanhaiguan will arrive, and when the time comes, the internal and external attacks will be carried out, and the construction will be greatly destroyed. ”

Zhu Youzhen was skeptical of Yuan Chonghuan's words, and thought that with the efficiency of the Ming army, it might take a few days to send troops out of Shanhaiguan; Even if reinforcements come, can they be the opponents of the Jurchen cavalry in the field?

He couldn't help but remind Yuan Chonghuan: "Lord Yuan, if the enemy army is only a feint attack on Ning Yuan, and the real intention is to besiege the city and send reinforcements, then the reinforcements from Shanhaiguan will be dangerous!" ”

"Siege for reinforcements?" Yuan Chonghuan felt very new to this word. But if you think about it carefully, there is really such a possibility, and the face changes color, and fine beads of sweat appear on the door of the head.

Zhu Youzhen sighed secretly when he saw this, thinking that the tactic of "besieging the city and sending reinforcements" would be vividly played by the old man after a few hundred years. For example, the Jinan Campaign, the Liaoshen Campaign, and the Huaihai Campaign in the War of Liberation were all classic examples of siege and reinforcement.

The core idea of this tactic is to attack the enemy and force other enemy troops to come to help. Then a small part of the troops continued to besiege the defenders, and most of the troops looked for fighters in the movement, set up an ambush in advance, and annihilated the reinforcements in one fell swoop with superior forces. Once the reinforcements are gone, the defenders are completely hopeless, and they often collapse without a fight.

At the moment, seeing that the Jurchens were not in a hurry, they obviously didn't want to take down Ning Yuan immediately. Then, they probably just want to besiege the city and send reinforcements.

Yuan Chonghuan was woken up by Zhu Youzhen, and naturally immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. He was very clear about the field combat capability of the Ming army, otherwise he would not have advocated building a city in Ningyuan. It is believed that Wang Zhu Youzhen was trapped in Ningyuan, and Sun Chengzong had to come to help, because no one could afford the responsibility of losing the feudal town. This trick of the Jurchens is quite vicious, and it is exactly "the enemy must be saved"!

The more Yuan Chonghuan thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he couldn't help but tremble: "It's better to break through with His Highness immediately!" ”

Zhu Mei hurriedly said: "Lord Yuan, don't do it!" The defenders now relied on the walls and artillery to maintain their morale and fight to the death against the captives; If you break through, it's actually no different from escaping! That's a thousand miles away, maybe the whole army will be wiped out! ”

"Then what do you say!" Yuan Chonghuan was already in chaos at this time, and his tone was already a little angry.

Zhu Mei fell silent, and he had no other idea than to hold on to the city.

Zhu Youzhen saw that the two of them were out of line, and hesitated for a while and said, "I have a way, but I don't know if it will work..."

"Your Highness, please make it clear!" Before Yuan Chonghuan could speak, Zhu Mei rushed to say unusually. In fact, since Zhu Youzhen came up with the idea of directly cooling down the cannon with water, Zhu Mei has been convinced of him, and has faintly regarded Zhu Youzhen as the coach in her heart, not Yuan Chonghuan.

Zhu Youzhen was encouraged, so he boldly said: "The enemy army pretends to attack the city, but in fact wants to besiege the city and send reinforcements, this is fooling us." Since they fool us, we can't fool them? ”

"Your Highness, what does this 'flicker' mean?" Yuan Chonghuan and Zhu Mei both asked inexplicably.

Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, and smiled embarrassedly: "Flickering, it's blinding, making people's heads like a mess of paste, flickering."

"Oh... It turns out that deception means deception! Yuan Chonghuan suddenly realized, "But I don't know how to fool the enemy?" ”

"Lord Yuan just said that he broke through, and if he really breaks through, it will definitely not work." Zhu Youzhen followed his train of thought and said, "But can we have a fake breakout?" As long as the enemy army does not desperately attack the city, we will pretend to break through. Of course, the enemy army will not let us run out, and once we attack with all our might, we will immediately retreat back and still hold on to the city. In this way, the enemy army will not be able to bother to send reinforcements! ”

Yuan Chonghuan and Zhu Mei listened, but they both locked their eyebrows. After pondering for a long time, Yuan Chonghuan said: "Your Highness, whether it is a real breakthrough or a fake breakthrough, you must pull the team out of the city." But in the field outside the city, our army is really much worse than Jianyu. Once the enemy cavalry swarms, our army will not have time to enter the city at all, and will be annihilated under the city! In case it's too late to close the city gates and let Jianyu follow in, it will be even more troublesome! ”

"This..."Zhu Youzhen didn't expect this layer, and there were no words now.

At this time, Li Chongyao also went to the city. Hearing the conversation of several people, she suddenly interjected: "I think this method of the prince can be tried!" I have a fine cavalry under my command, all composed of the children of the Li family, about a thousand people. In fact, I have long wanted to compete with Tartar knife to knife and gun to gun, so I might as well leave this task of fake breakthrough to me! ”

Yuan Chonghuan shook his head when he heard this: "Miss, you are eager to avenge your uncle, and your mood is understandable. But this battlefield is not a child's play, once you miss, the consequences are unimaginable! ”

As soon as Li Chongyao wanted to argue, the Ming army at the head of the city suddenly made an uproar: "The Tartars are attacking the city again!" ”

Everyone hurriedly raised their eyes and looked into the distance, and when they saw Houjin, they really started a second wave of attacks. This time there is not much difference from the last time, it is still about 3,000 Han people to "send to death", and the goal is to fill the moat.

This time, however, they had learned to be obedient, and instead of using a dense formation, they had spread their ranks apart, with at least two or three feet between the two soldiers.

Yuan Chonghuan saw that the enemy army began to attack the city again, and just wanted to order the cannon, but Zhu Youzhen said: "Don't be in a hurry to open the cannon." This time the enemy forces are so scattered, and the artillery will not have too good an effect. ”

"What then? Watching the enemy fill the moat? Yuan Chonghuan was puzzled.

Zhu Youzhen smiled: "Of course not. Didn't the Jurchens be afraid of being shelled, so they sent these ghosts for the dead? Let's just send a small group of cavalry to protrude through the city and toss around! In case the Tartar cavalry dares to rush up, let's open fire again! ”

"That's it!" Li Chongyao shouted excitedly, "Lord Yuan, give me the task, just so you can also take a look at the strength of the Li family's iron cavalry!" ”

Yuan Chonghuan wanted to stop it again, but when he saw that now except for himself, all the officers and soldiers stood on Zhu Youzhen's side, so he had to nod helplessly.

Li Chongyao was allowed to go down to the city, but Zhu Youzhen hurriedly said: "Miss, be careful!" ”

Li Chongyao's heart warmed, and he smiled at Zhu Youzhen and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely be fine!" ”

Zhu Youzhen was accustomed to Li Chongyao's brutal willfulness, and when he saw her smile at this time, he finally accidentally exposed the girl's gentleness in his nature, and he couldn't help but blush, his heart fluttered, and he almost wanted to get into trouble again.

At the same time, Tong Yang, the Houjin general on the opposite side, shouted helplessly, forcing his subordinates to rush up again.

The first wave of attacks failed, and more than a hundred people died in his battalion, but he did not even touch the edge of the moat. Tong Yangzhen was so frightened that he was going to die, for fear that Nurhachi would be angry and behead him, the main general, for public display.

Nurhachi was not angry, but told him to launch a second wave of attacks immediately and stop using dense formations.

On the one hand, Tong Yangzhen was grateful, and on the other hand, he also felt that the defenders' cannons were too powerful, and his subordinates rushed up without any protection, which was no different from sending them to death.

When he saw that Nurhachi seemed to be in a good mood, he boldly said: "Great Khan, the defenders are under heavy artillery fire, can you let the minions use a few chariots and iron-wrapped carts..."

Before he could finish speaking, Nurhachi suddenly slapped the case and said angrily: "Tong Yangzhen! You dog minion, it's good that Ben Khan didn't kill you, and you still dare to make conditions with Ben Khan? The chariot and the iron-clad chariot are siege weapons, worth more than your life, and you deserve to use them? Don't go to the siege yet! ”

Tong Yangzhen was scolded by Nurhachi, so frightened that he almost peed his pants, and hurriedly hugged his head and ran away.

He had a big bad touch at Nurhachi, and he was full of anger and had to vent it to his men. So he desperately urged the soldiers to charge, to fill the moat, even with corpses!

And these traitor troops have no choice but to admit that they are unlucky, and rush forward with trepidation. I thought that the team was so scattered, although the Hongyi cannon was powerful, it couldn't kill a few people with one shot. Dead friends don't die poorly, as long as that big iron bump doesn't fall on your head, you can smash whoever you want, and it's best to smash Tong Yangzhen, a mongrel!