The Mongols had just launched a charge towards Zunhua City, when the head of the city suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar!

Through the tongue of fire spewed from the muzzle of the cannon, they were horrified to find that there were dozens of cannons on the head of the city, and at this time they were pouring out their anger at the cannonballs under the city!

The Mongols were no strangers to artillery. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army has attached great importance to firearms, and among the three major battalions of the Beijing Division, there is a Shenji battalion with firearms as the main combat weapon.

For more than 200 years, the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty fought and made peace, and basically never stopped. In countless battles, he naturally also had a deeper understanding of the firearms of the Ming army.

The Mongol cavalry was not afraid of birds. One is that the range of this thing is too close, but fifty or sixty paces, and it can't catch up with the range of a bow and arrow; the second is that the firing is too slow, and it takes more than a minute to shoot a shot; Third, the adaptability is poor, and it cannot be used in rainy and snowy weather; The four are generally accurate, and it is often difficult to aim at fast-moving targets such as cavalry.

During the battle, as long as the cavalry charged, the Ming army using the bird gun often panicked first, and fired indiscriminately without waiting for the enemy to enter the firing range; It's really in range, and it's just reloading ammunition, and it's too late to fire again; When the loading is almost complete, and the cavalry is all in front of you, then only the share of slaughter remains.

If there is a firearm that is a little threatening to the Mongols, it has to be artillery. This thing has a long range, enough to reach hundreds of paces; It's powerful, and a dozen is a big string. But the shortcomings are also very prominent, that is, it is very cumbersome, and a cannon often reaches thousands of catties, which can only be used to defend the city; The firing speed is slower, and it takes a few minutes to fire a shot; And there are shooting blind spots, if the besiegers approach the city walls, the artillery will not be able to hit.

Despite its many shortcomings, the cannon is a cannon after all, and it is still a sharp weapon against the Mongols, who have been galloping the world with war horses and bows and arrows for thousands of years.

The Mongols, having tasted the power of artillery, also knew that this thing was not easy to mess with. Therefore, when entering the country to harass, he will always try to avoid the fortified cities where cannons are stationed, and only attack those villages that are weakly defended.

However, in this raid on Zunhua City, Zhi Leyan had received information in advance that the artillery in the city had been transferred to Liaodong. The soldiers defending the city only had some bird guns, and most of them were rusted and damaged, and less than forty percent of them could be fired. Therefore, he was confident and bold to drive the siege team to more than 200 paces from the city wall, and then launched a charge.

But how can you know that the Qi family's Franc cannon is small and lightweight, and it can be carried with the army. It was also considered his bad luck, and it happened that on the day he led the army to attack the city, he caught up with the Qi family army and entered the city first, and placed the Franco's machine gun on the head of the city.

At this time, dozens of artillery pieces opened fire in unison, and the momentum was extremely terrifying, and even the earth seemed to be shaken. And those Ming troops defending the city had never experienced such a scene at all, and suddenly so many artillery pieces were firing at their side, which frightened them all to the ground and shivered, and some even peed their pants in fright.

However, the Mongols fought all year round and still had a lot of combat experience. Although they collectively pressed the siege city, they were not in a dense formation like the bandits before them, but were more scattered, and there were at least a few steps between people.

Therefore, when the solid bullet fired by the Franc cannon fell into the formation of the Mongols, although the Mongols at the landing point were smashed to the brains on the spot, the people around them were not hurt much. After a volley, only a dozen soldiers were killed, which did not seem to be a serious blow to the Mongol army, which had a total strength of more than 5,000 men.

Zhu Youzhen sighed when he looked at the city, thinking that the artillery of this era was still too backward. If a grenade is equipped, not by the solid iron ball to smash people, but by the shrapnel generated when the grenade lands and explodes, then the effective strike range is not a point, nor a line, but a large area. If that's the case, a salvo of these dozens of artillery pieces will at least knock down 1,800 enemies!

It's a pity that in this era, there are only solid bullets, and grenades don't know when they can be invented.

Even so, the psychological deterrent effect generated by these dozens of Franc cannons is still extremely great. The Mongols, who were already defenseless, were suddenly attacked by artillery at this time, and the battle was in chaos.

Since the decline of the Mongol Yuan, these tribes in the Mongolian steppes have returned to the chaotic state before Genghis Khan's unification of Mongolia. Tribes often fight for water and pastures. And the military strength of the Mongols has plummeted under this internal friction.

For example, this Yanbu, although it is called a tribe, is actually a loose alliance of more than a dozen small tribes. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, their alliance was still relatively stable, and the "Duoyan Sanwei" formed by them was also the best in the world in combat effectiveness.

In the following hundreds of years, there were also constant disputes within the Duoyan tribe, and dozens of fierce battles broke out between small tribes for the position of tribal leader, or for pasture, and even for women. Although the scale is not very large, it is enough to cause a fatal rift in the Duoyan area.

This time, the Celestial Sect led the troops to the expedition, and the Duoyan Department was temporarily unified. However, the leaders of each small tribe all have their own plans, and everyone wants to get more benefits from the Han people, while trying to preserve their own strength.

Therefore, during the day on this day, the Mongols pursued and killed the unarmed people, but nothing went wrong. But at this time, seeing that the defending troops had artillery, none of these leaders wanted their men to be cannon fodder, so they called for their soldiers to retreat.

Although he is the commander of the Duoyan Division, he is not alone in the affairs of the army, and he still needs to gather the leaders of various small tribes to discuss collectively before deciding.

In fact, he knew very well in his heart that the attack power of these artillery pieces was very limited, and as long as the Mongols could rush to the city with one blow, they would enter the dead end of the shooting, and they would no longer have to worry about being bombarded.

But now, seeing that the tribes were only concerned about preserving their strength and retreating one after another, he knew that at this time the army was in disarray, and it was impossible to organize an effective attack. Moreover, in the middle of the night, he couldn't figure out the strength of the Ming army defending the city, so he had to say hatefully: "Withdraw!" Withdraw them all! ”

Seeing that the Mongols had retreated like a tide, all the Ming troops at the head of the city cheered: "Victory!" We won! ”

Zhu Youzhen was also very excited, and when he saw Shi Biao beside him, he excitedly gave him a bear hug.

Shi Biao smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, the enemy army has not really been defeated, but I just don't want to attack the city late at night." You see, they retreated into the camp, but they did not raise the camp, apparently wanting to wait until dawn to see what was going on. Therefore, we must not slack off and be ready to meet the battle at any time! ”

Zhu Youzhen craned his neck and looked into the distance, and when he saw that this was really the case, he suddenly felt like a basin of cold water poured on his head, and he stayed for a long time before saying, "Then what should I do?" They will definitely fight when it is dawn, and the lethality of this Franc machine gun is really limited! Yan Mingtai is really hateful, why did he transfer those four Hongyi cannons! ”

Shi Biao said in his heart, you have never seen the Hongyi cannon, don't listen to the name, it is very ruthless, but in fact, it is not much stronger than the medium-sized Franc cannon of the Qi family's army.

However, he naturally didn't dare to correct Zhu Youzhen's mistakes, but said resolutely: "Your Highness, don't worry! The Mongols did not have too many soldiers and horses, and even if they broke through the range of the Franco's cannons, when approaching the city walls, our troops could still kill and wound the enemy with bows and arrows and bird guns. It will not be easy for them to climb to the top of the city! Moreover, the last general has sent fast horse sentry detectives to Jizhou to report an emergency. Jizhou gets the news and will come to the rescue. At that point, the Mongols will retreat. ”

Zhu Youzhen was still nervous in his heart, thinking that Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jizhou, had already rushed to Shanhaiguan with Sun Chengzong, and now the one in Jizhou City had the final say, I am afraid that it was Tu Zhong, the eunuch who guarded the town. This guy is also in the same group as Wei Zhongxian, right? What if he dies and doesn't save him?

But he was afraid of affecting the morale of the Ming army defending the city, so he didn't dare to express the worry in his heart, so he had to laugh and say: "So there is General Lao Shi!" ”

"It's okay to have the last general sitting here, Your Highness, please go back to the General's Mansion to rest first!" Shi Biao took care of everything, but he actually wanted to send Zhu Youzhen away from this dangerous city as soon as possible. He also secretly sent dozens of Qi family troops to strictly protect the general's mansion. In case the city is broken, as long as he can protect King Xin and Qi Meifeng to break through the chaos, he will die in battle, and he will die as he deserves.

Zhu Youzhen also felt extremely tired at this time, and seeing that the Mongols showed no sign of attacking for a while, he went down the city and returned to the general's palace.

This general's mansion was originally Zhang Ming's mansion, and it was the most luxurious building in Zunhua City. At this time, Zhang Ming was arrested, and this place naturally became Zhu Youzhen's temporary line.

Zhu Youzhen entered the house and went to visit Qi Meifeng's injuries first. Bao Yulian had been waiting beside Qi Meifeng, and when she saw Zhu Youzhen coming back safely, her eyes were filled with tears of joy and said, "Lord Wang, you're back!" ”

"Yulian, thank you for your hard work!" Zhu Youzhen saw that she was haggard and distressed.

"The prince braved the arrows to defend the city, and Yu Lian worked hard, what is it!" Bao Yulian choked up.

"How is Meifeng doing now?" Zhu Youzhen saw that Qi Meifeng was still asleep, and his heart hung again.

Bao Yulian smiled and said, "Don't worry, Sister Meifeng, she is recovering quickly, and she should be able to wake up early tomorrow morning!" ”

At this time, the girl of the other race also came over, bowed deeply to Zhu Youzhen, and said in English: "Thank youforsavingmylife, myprince (thank you for saving me, Your Excellency Prince)!" ”

She had freshened up at this time and changed into Han clothes, but she still couldn't hide the charm of the alien race. Zhu Youzhen's gaze couldn't help but stay on her chest, and remembered her unobtrusive appearance again, and only after a while did he remember that someone was talking to him, and hurriedly stammered: "It's nothing, youarewele (nothing, you're welcome)!" ”

Bao Yu said curiously: "Lord Wang, why do you still speak in Fanbang?" ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled cheekily and said: "This king is erudite and talented, he knows astronomy and geography, but he usually hides it!" ”

Looking at Bao Yulian's eyes full of admiration, this thing almost looked up to the sky and roared, secretly thinking that his English could not even pass the fourth level, and he might not be able to get his graduation certificate.