"That's no problem, when can you start?" Yang Sichang looked at Liu Cheng suspiciously, and agreed to Liu Cheng's request very happily. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Dongyu has returned to Liaodong, and the Mongolian tribes who stayed behind have also plundered and hid far away to enjoy their spoils, and who will run over to touch the mold? Besides, the besieging army still had more than 20,000 people after Liu Cheng was removed, and it was more than enough to deal with the small group of Mongols that might appear.

"If someone arrives, I can start right away, but the materials I want must be delivered as soon as possible! It should be delivered within 10 days at the latest! ”

After discussing the matter, Yang Sichang returned to his heart, after all, all the materials and personnel that Liu Cheng asked for just now were not available in a day or two. He took two sips of hot wine and stood up: "Okay, I'll go back and prepare these things immediately, Lord Liu, this siege will be handed over to you!" ”

"Congratulations to the Overseer!" Liu Cheng hurriedly stood up and led his subordinates to send Yang Sichang out of the camp. Yang Sichang walked for a while, noticed that Cao Wenzhao was full of worries, and looked like he wanted to speak and stopped, and asked casually: "General Cao, do you have anything to say?" ”

Cao Wenzhao was thinking about his own affairs, but he didn't expect to be seen through by Yang Sichang, and he couldn't help but be a little embarrassed: "The last general won't dare!" ”

"What dare you dare, there is no one here, what do you think of Liu Zhentai?"

Hearing that Yang Sichang's words meant that he regarded himself as a confidant, Cao Wenzhao couldn't help but be secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly smiled: "My lord, the last general said something overstepping, what Liu Zhentai just said, is not so much attacking the city, but building a house under my hometown, as if I am treating the Dongyu in the city as a dead person!" ”

"Hehehe!" When Yang Sichang heard this, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, Cao Wenzhao's words were exactly what he wanted, if others said so, he would never believe it.

Seeing that Yang Sichang was just laughing but not speaking, Cao Wenzhao secretly figured out what was on his boss's mind, and asked in a low voice: "My lord, what if, the last general said that in case, Lord Liu didn't take this Ringer City on time, what are you going to do?" ”

Yang Sichang was obviously in a good mood, and he didn't play any unfathomable tricks like he did on weekdays, but explained to his henchmen with a smile: "Then let Liu Zhentai make meritorious contributions, anyway, I will be content to take this city within three months, and it is better to make merit than to make it!" ”

"The Lord will make the law unfathomable, and the end will be impressed!"

"Liu Zhentai knows how to fight well, and he is the pillar of my Ming Zhongxing, but he is a man who is sharp in life, but he is afraid that he will make too many enemies, if he can frustrate his edge and polish it this time, it will be a good thing for him." Speaking of this, Yang Sichang sighed, and his expression suddenly became serious: "Today's matter is only heard by you, me and him, and you must not say it to a third person, otherwise this inspector will only ask you!" ”

Seeing that Yang Sichang suddenly became violent, Cao Wenzhao hurriedly lowered his head and said respectfully: "Don't worry, Master Inspector, the last general will be tight-lipped!" It's just that there is one thing in the end that you still ask your adult to answer? ”

"What's the matter?"

"The last general wants to go to Liu Zhentai's command and learn this siege method!"

Yang Sichang hesitated slightly, looked at Cao Wenzhao's earnest eyes, and nodded: "It's okay!" ”

The next day, inside the city of Heringle.

It was just dawn, and the faint morning light was weakened by the falling snow, which was a little better than at night, and it was not easy to get out of the warm bed. Still, Yue Tuo got up and prepared to check the sentry, which was the first lesson his grandfather Nurhachi had taught him when he was twelve years old when he first joined the army - what the chief asked his subordinates to do, he had to do better! The cold outside the door was pressing, Yue Tuo wrapped himself in a heavy bearskin coat, while wearing gloves, he used the corner of his eye to confirm whether the unlucky ghost standing guard downstairs was on duty, it was not good to stand in the middle of the night in the snow, Yue Tuo himself had tasted this taste. He nodded slightly to the sentry, took a step, walked through the air, and headed towards the north gate. Long leather boots nailed to the soles of iron pierced through the ice of the cold night, the snow creaking under his feet, and the air from his mouth and nose quickly condensed on his beard, giving Yue Tuo a white scarf.

There is a rammed earth road next to the north gate, and in order to prevent the snow from freezing and slipping, a lot of stones are sprinkled on it, but the road surface has been smoothed by the long-term stepping on the horse, and the gravel is pressed into the rammed earth, and the step by step on it slides. Yue Tuo had just taken two steps when he heard hurried footsteps from above, and when he looked up, he saw that the Han army garrison responsible for defending the west gate was walking briskly down from the city gate, looking panicked. Yue Tuo instinctively felt that something bad was happening: "What's the matter?" ”

"Heshuo Baylor!" For seeing Yue Tuo, the garrison was obviously a little surprised, after all, according to the prior arrangement, the defense of the city was usually the responsibility of the Han army, which was good at using firearms, and the 1,000 Jurchen soldiers were mainly responsible for the task of counterattacking out of the city. He hesitated for a moment and then bowed down and said, "There is movement in the Ming army outside the city!" ”

"There's movement, take me to see it!" Yue Tuo took three steps and made two steps, and ascended to the top of the city, and the garrison pointed to the west: "Look, Heshuo Belle! ”

Yue Tuo narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of the guard's finger, only to see that in the snowstorm, a line of ant-sized figures was in the snow, what did they seem to be doing? Behind them was the black and oppressive Ming army formation, the banner itself was all too familiar - the red bottom, the white pattern, the spear and the fire bolt crossed, it was the Ming army that held the naturalized city of Ningxia.

"What are they doing?"

"It's supposed to be digging a trench, it's digging a trench, and Shobele!" The guard's tone was a little uncertain. However, Yue Tuo didn't blame him, that location was too embarrassing from the city wall, about 4 miles away, what was the use of digging a trench at this distance? If you want to make a blockade, it is too close, and what is the use of a trench, a few planks and a ladder can be crossed, but it is just a waste of soldiers' physical strength.

However, Yue Tuo did not think that the enemy general was a fool, and nearly twenty years of battlefield life had already taught him not to despise the enemy at any time, so he decided to test it first: "Shoot a shot, aim at those enemy soldiers who are digging in the earth!" ”

"Heshuo Baylor, I'm afraid this distance is a bit far, and there are no cannons here at the West Gate." The garrison had a look of embarrassment on his face, as a good student of the Portuguese artillery instructors, Kong Youde's firearms battalion faithfully followed the defensive principle of placing the artillery at the top of the salient to ensure that the city gate could be protected with side-fire fire. A total of eleven red-coated cannons were all arranged on the four corners of the city in the shape of waist drums, and the two gates located at the waist only had a small number of light firearms, which would definitely not be able to hit the enemy at a distance of 1,500 meters.

"Then let the nearest fire be fired, and a shot will be tested, quick!" Yue Tuo's attitude was very firm, although he did not understand the reason why the enemy did this, but he still knew one thing, that is, the enemy's actions must hide the sinister intentions that he did not understand, and what he should do to stop, or at least harass, to see how the Ming army reacted.

"Quick, dig fast, don't be lazy!" Acton waved the whip in his hand vigorously as he urged the working captives in Jurchen and Mongolian. These captured Jurchen and Mongol soldiers, numbering about four or five hundred, were responsible for the initial and most dangerous part of the work (as long as a section was dug, people could dig in the trenches, and they would not show their heads at all, and the danger of being hit by shells was naturally much smaller). The weather was bitterly cold, the wind tore the prisoners' clothes like eager lovers, and the exposed skin was already frozen red, but Acton didn't care, he shook the whip hard, and shouted: "Everyone dig a six-foot long ditch, the ditch must be one person deep, and the bottom of the ditch is five feet wide, so that two horses can go side by side, and after digging, you can go back to rest, and you can eat as much as you want, and there is mutton soup, and there is a nest with a fire kang, and whoever finishes it first will go to rest!" ”

Acton's shouts were torn apart by the wind and snow, but they seemed to have played a role, and the captives' attitude to work was at least hard, if not desperate. Looking at the shovels and pickaxes one after another, Acton's originally anxious expression eased slightly, this was the first task he received under Liu Cheng, and he knew very well that his future fate depended largely on how well these people did it.

Just as the captives were struggling to wield shovels and pickaxes, there was a sound in the air similar to that of a cart passing from a low altitude, followed by a dull loud noise, and a pillar of slush more than ten meters high splashed into the sky more than ten steps in front of the trench dug by everyone, and then the cannonball jumped up, crossed the heads of the captives, and smashed six or seven paces behind the ranks, and rolled more than ten steps before stopping, and then the raindrops of earth and snow fell on people's heads.

"It's a cannon, it's a red-coat cannon!"

"It's the cannon at the head of the city!"

There was a scream from the crowd, and the captives dropped their tools and turned to flee. Acton subconsciously stepped forward to stop him, shouting loudly: "Give me all back to work, we are far enough away from the city wall, just now it was just an accident, no one will be hit by a cannonball!" ”

But no one paid any attention to Acton, or rather no one wanted to pay attention to him, and the crowd rushed up, and at the front was Naransagai, who punched Acton hard and knocked him to the ground: "Damn Sauron, will you sell our lives to our new masters?" "If it weren't for the fact that everyone was busy fleeing for their lives under the threat of shelling, I am afraid that Acton would have been beaten to death by the crowd immediately.

"Bang bang bang!"

A row of gunfire stopped the chaos, and the captives stopped and looked at the Ming army in front of them in fear: the iron-clad spearmen with flat-ended spears, followed by the bird-to-bird guns, the black hole pointed at their chests, and the fire rope wound around the serpentine pole on the medicine pool emitted green smoke.

"All go back to work!" Ah Gui's voice was not loud, but the power behind it made it impossible to look at it directly: "Next time, I won't let the mouth be raised!" ”

Under the threat of the birds, the captives turned around and returned to the trench like tame lambs, picked up their tools and continued to dig up the earth. Gui walked up to Acton, helped him up from the ground, and asked, "Who hit you just now?" ”

"Yes, yes-" Acton lowered his head with some hesitation, Ah Gui guessed the other party's thoughts, and said in a low voice: "Acton, this is not just a matter of you being beaten, some things can be tolerated, but some things cannot be tolerated, your identity is no longer the same as theirs, understand!" ”

Acton came to his senses, nodded, and walked over to the group of captives and took out the few people who had just done it to him. Those who were ordered were immediately dragged out of the crowd by the soldiers, and their necks were tightened with ropes, like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Strange to say, these men who were physically strong and had killed people on the battlefield did not even have the courage to resist a little, they cried and pleaded, but the noose around their necks was immediately tightened, so that they could not speak. After the disposal was completed, Ah Gui walked in front of everyone and said in a loud voice: "You resisted the king, burned, killed and looted, and committed a heinous crime. What you are doing now is just atonement, Acton is an officer appointed by the General Soldier, if you dare to resist Acton, you are resisting the General Soldier, and resisting the Ming Dynasty is committing the following major crimes! With that, he pulled out the dagger from his waist, handed it to Acton, and whispered, "Sharpen your hands and feet!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Acton took the dagger and walked over to the group of men he had singled out, and they were all kneeling on the ground with their arms twisted by two strong soldiers, and pressed their knees against their waists, grabbing their braids or buns so that their heads were thrown back to expose their throats. Acton's gaze swept over, and there was a pleading look in everyone's eyes, even Naransagai, who had always been at odds with him. But Acton knew what to do now, and he slashed the first man's throat with his dagger, the sharp steel blade slicing the trachea and carotid artery, and the powerful pulse pressure spurted blood out of the wound and splattered far away. Acton didn't care about flicking the dagger, slitting the throats of the remaining people in turn, walked up to Gui, and returned the dagger to Gui. Ah Gui nodded with satisfaction, pointed to the corpse on the ground and said loudly: "See, this is the fate of the criminal!" The only way out is to dig as soon as possible, as long as you can dig the trench to a depth of one person, the shells will not hit you! ”

After this episode, the efficiency of the captives was significantly improved, they swung their shovels almost at frantic speed, and the defenders at the head of the city fired a few more shots, but most of the shells fell at the front of the ranks, and it was a little too difficult for the artillery of the early seventeenth century to hit a thin line of horizontal lines four miles away. After seven or eight failed attempts, a ricochet of a cannonball finally landed in the ranks, shattering the body of a captive above the chest, but the people on both sides did not seem to feel the death of their companions at all, and just desperately waved the tools in their hands and dug into the ground under their feet. (To be continued.) )