readx; In the middle of the night, on both sides of the Yellow River, two armies faced each other across the river. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info "Top Novel, the tragic death of hundreds of rebels just now made them dare not attack at the risk of being beaten into a sieve, but the rebel artillery is still hiding behind the river embankment, and it continues to fire on the north bank. Although the rate of fire was not fast and there was no accuracy, it still played a great role in suppression, and the officers and soldiers were dumbfounded for a while, and the rebels couldn't help but feel proud again, feeling that it was not difficult to hold the Yellow River.

However, they did not know that the officers and soldiers had taken advantage of the cover of night to quickly erect two lookouts on the river embankment as high as five feet. The two lookouts are made of sandbags, like pyramids, large and small, with only one person standing at the top.

Don't look at the two piles, but thousands of people lined up in seven or eight columns, passing the sandbags under the embankment one by one to the embankment, piling them up while passing, the higher the pile, the degree of hard work can be imagined. When they finally piled up five zhang high, the thousand people were completely exhausted and paralyzed.

Meng Gong hurriedly ordered two experienced artillerymen to cautiously climb to the top of the platform and look out towards the opposite bank. In this section of the Yellow River, the embankments on both sides are about four zhang high, and now the observation point on the north bank is suddenly five zhang higher, and the field of vision is naturally much larger.

The watchman observed for a while, and shouted to Meng Gong below: "General, the south side of the embankment is pitch black, and you can't see anything!" ”

"Keep watching!" Meng Gong said a little anxiously, "Now we can only wait for the enemy to open the cannon, as long as there is a fire as soon as the cannon is fired, you can see it!" ”

While he was talking, there was another muffled sound on the other side, and the soldiers above immediately shouted excitedly: "Five degrees to the east of the south, three hundred and twenty zhang away!" ”

The artillery below immediately used the lookout as the base point, quickly drew a schematic diagram of the position of the enemy's artillery on the blackboard, and then immediately conveyed it to the artillery of the Yuanrong Cannon and the Xiaoyao Cannon. Although this distance was slightly beyond the effective range of the Easy Cannon, it could still be hit if it was not required to be accurate, so the artillerymen immediately calculated the firing elements according to the schematic diagram, and all the calculations were completed in less than a minute.

"Prepare a salvo and try to knock it out in one go!" Meng Gong ordered loudly.

Among all the officers and soldiers of the three major battalions, the artillery of the Shenji Battalion has the longest training time every day. On the one hand, this is because Zhu Youzhen attaches great importance to firearms, especially to artillery; On the other hand, the training of artillery is less limited by the site. Infantry and cavalry training both require a wide field, and artillery is much simpler, only a small area is enough to train school guns and reload. The artillery that Meng Gong brought this time was the elite of the elite of the Shenji Battalion, more than half of them were the old foundations of the Qin soldiers, and it took less than a minute for the three Yuanrong cannons and the twelve Xiaoyao cannons to be ready.

"Put!"

Meng Gong waved his hand, and the gunners immediately lit the fuse. In an instant, the mountain shook, and the fifteen cannons roared in unison, shaking Zhu Youzhen, who was watching the battle below, to the point that his ears were buzzing.

Immediately afterwards, there was a burst of explosions on the other side, and Meng Gong urgently asked the watchman: "How is it?" ”

"General, it looks like a hit!" The soldier shouted loudly, "That location was blazing just now, maybe the ammunition box was blown up by us!" ”

The soldiers thundered when they heard this, and Meng Gong was also very excited, but he still said calmly: "It doesn't necessarily mean that it will be hit, and besides, the enemy may have artillery in other positions, you continue to keep your eyes open and observe carefully!" Gunners, still in that position, one more salvo! ”

As soon as the words fell, all the torches on the opposite embankment were suddenly extinguished, like a giant dragon suddenly becoming invisible, which looked extremely weird. At this time, Lu Xiangsheng climbed the embankment regardless of the danger, and said happily when he saw this: "It should have really hit, and the rebels are now extinguishing their torches, which means that they also know that this trick is useless." ”

But the gunners fired three more volleys, during which the rebels did not return fire with artillery. Lu Xiangsheng and Meng Gong hurriedly reported the battle situation to Zhu Youzhen, and Meng Gong asked: "Your Majesty, Lord Shangshu, now that the rebels do not fire their artillery and extinguish the torches, our artillery can no longer find a target. Is it possible for the first echelon to attack? ”

Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment and said: "Wait, there is no need to rush to attack at night, just shoot blindly from the Yuanrong cannon." Hong Chengchou is scheming and must not be taken lightly. When daylight came, the battlefield was clearly visible, and he just couldn't play any tricks. ”

Before the words fell, another muffled sound was heard on the other side, and then a cannonball smashed into the river not far from the embankment. The soldier who was on the lookout immediately shouted: "Three degrees to the west of the south, three hundred and thirty zhang!" ”

Everyone couldn't help but let out a cold sweat, thinking that the emperor really said that if he had sent infantry to attack in a hurry just now, maybe he would have been hit by this bombardment, I don't know how many people died!

"Good traitor!" Meng Gong suddenly had a feeling that he had been tricked by the enemy, his face turned red, and he shouted loudly, "School artillery, continue to fire a salvo, and bombard me until dawn!" I'd like to see how many cannons they have, and if they can endure it like a shrunken turtle until tomorrow! ”

"Boom, boom!" The cannon roared incessantly, but the other side fell silent again. Since the emperor did not allow the attack, except for the fifteen-gun artillery that continued to fire, everyone else felt a little bored, and could only count silently in their hearts, hoping that the long night would pass as soon as possible.

Zhu Youzhen also felt a little anxious, because he knew that this kind of blind shooting could play a certain suppressive role, but the damage caused to the rebels was probably extremely limited. It's still early in the morning, how much ammunition does this have to consume? In addition, he always felt that Hong Chengchou was playing some kind of ghost idea, this big traitor who was extremely vicious in history and slaughtered his compatriots more ruthlessly than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, was not a straw bag in terms of combat level.

When he told Lu Xiangsheng about his worries, Lu Xiangsheng also fell into deep thought, and suddenly exclaimed: "Your Majesty, will Hong Wei pretend to confront our army across the river to attract our attention, but secretly send troops from other places to cross the river?" ”

"Quite possibly!" Zhu Youzhen gasped and said, "The river embankment is too long, and although Hao Yongzhong and Li Laiheng each lead three thousand cavalry to patrol back and forth, they may not be able to bump into the enemy. As soon as the enemy forces outflank us from both sides, we are in danger! Meng Gong! ”

"The last general!"

"Don't stop shelling on the other side, and in addition, you must be on strict alert around the camp, and everyone must be in good spirits!"

"Your Majesty, the minister wants to lead a thousand light cavalry with Yang Lukai to find the second general Hao Li." Lu Xiangsheng also advised, "If the rebels cross the river, they can be intercepted and killed in time." ”

"Then there is Brother Lao, and it has to be like this." Zhu Youzhen sighed as he looked at the heavy night, thinking to himself what trick Hong Chengchou was going to play?