"Good, good!" Yang Sichang nodded slightly, with a reserved smile on his face, he seemed quite satisfied with Liu Cheng's arrangement. He glanced down at www.biquge.info mound, and immediately a curious expression appeared on his face: the soldiers and the men, wielding shovels and pickaxes, like spiders spinning silk, built parallel trenches and zigzag passages beside the enemy city, and behind the parallel trenches, messengers on horses, artillery wagons, bands of gunners and jumpers, mountains of wicker baskets and bundles of firewood, all were busy, and everything seemed to be disorganized but orderly.

After observing for a while, Yang Sichang finally gave up his plan to ponder, there was nothing to learn from in the military books he had read in the past, he turned his head to Liu Cheng, and said in a low tone: "Liu Zhentai!" ”

"The last general!" In front of everyone, Liu Cheng always behaved very respectfully, and he bowed his body slightly: "What does the Inspector command?" ”

"I think it's almost ready here, I don't know when the siege will start?"

"The Master Inspector really sees the subtleties and sees the thousands of miles!" Liu Cheng gently patted Yang Sichang's ass, pointed to the two horizontal trenches at the front and said, "My lord, look at the two horizontal trenches at the front, just wait until the gunners and artillery team go in!" ”

"The artillery team is going in too?" Yang Sichang looked at the trench with some surprise, from Cao Wenzhao's mouth, he already knew that Liu Cheng's trench could not only protect the besieging soldiers from being damaged by the cannons, but also serve as a firing position for the gunners, but looking at the width of the trench, it didn't look like a red-clothed cannon that could be accommodated.

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng smiled: "But it's not a red-coated cannon, it's just a light cannon and a mortar cannon." ”

"Light artillery and mortar?"

"Exactly! The light cannon is a miniature version of the red-coated cannon, which can be towed by two horses on a cart, and the infantry of the last general has four guns per battalion, mainly used to kill and wound people; The mortar cannon is a kind of cannon specially used for siege, because of its short shape, like the stone mortar of Chungmi, if you are interested, you can go down with the general to see! ”

"Okay, that's all it takes for this light cannon, I really want to see the mortar cannon!" Yang Sichang stood up and followed Liu Cheng down the mound, and saw four strangely shaped cannons, compared with the red-clothed cannons that are commonly seen, the caliber of these mortar cannons is much larger, but the barrel is much shorter, and the shape is a bit like the stone mortar that Liu Cheng said. The solid cannonballs stacked next to it are big and scary, each of them is almost the size of a watermelon, Yang Sichang has also seen the shells of the red-coated cannon, and knows that the power of this cannon is directly proportional to the weight of the cannonball, it seems that the shells of this mortar cannon are worth four or five shells of the red-coated cannon, is this not amazing mortar cannon actually have such great power? Isn't this shell empty?

Thinking of this, Yang Sichang didn't care about the majesty of the Supervisor, and bent down to push the cannonball hard, but the cannonball only moved slightly, obviously not hollow. He couldn't help but turn around and ask Liu Cheng, "The shells of this mortar cannon are so heavy?" ”

"If it's not heavy, how can you break the city?"

"You're going to use this to break down the walls?" Yang Sichang couldn't help but be speechless, he was different from those rotten Confucians who did not understand the military, he had seen the power of the red-clothed cannon with his own eyes, although it was said in the chapter that this kind of artillery "eroded more than ten miles", but that was just an exaggeration, and it was not enough to destroy the foundation of the city wall that was several zhang thick at that time, so that it collapsed, usually the red-clothed cannon was used to bombard the female wall of the city head and the thinner upper part of the city wall, destroy the foothold of the defenders, and then break in. And listening to Liu Cheng's meaning, this mortar cannon can directly destroy the city wall, and its power is simply incredible.

"Yes, but not today!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "We have to wait until the trench is dug to a distance of only more than 100 steps from the gap, and then we will only bombard the defenders on the head of the city with grenades, so as not to shoot the soldiers of our army digging the trench with bows and crossbow firearms!" ”

Yang Sichang listened to Liu Cheng's words, looked at the short and thick mortar on the ground suspiciously, and finally nodded: "It's okay, then the superintendent is waiting to see Liu Zhentai's good show!" ”

On the tower of the city, Yue Tuo and Kong Youde carefully watched the movements under the city, with years of experience in the battlefield, both of them felt that the long-awaited moment was coming, and the enemy outside the city had to do something. Looking down from the city tower, the Ming soldiers in the trench are like swarms of ants, after the widening and deepening of the people, the trench is even enough to accommodate artillery wagons and cavalry to pass inside, plus the wicker basket at the edge of the trench formed a barrier, the soldiers seem to be in the corridor, very safe. Seeing the infantry and artillery carriages moving forward in the trench, Kong Youde couldn't hold it back, he lowered his voice and said to Yue Tuo: "It seems that the Ming army is about to start, let's shoot a few cannons first!" ”

"Forget it! It's not that I haven't tried, so why waste shells? “

"I think we should shoot a few shots!" This time, Kong Youde unexpectedly insisted: "Lord Yuetuo, look at the soldiers on the head of the city, just watch the Ming army outside the city get closer and do nothing, it will damage morale too much!" ”

Yue Tuo looked around, as Kong Youde said, most of the soldiers were unexpectedly nervous, he knew that this was not a good phenomenon, these were veterans who had seen the battlefield, Kong Youde was right, even if they were to smell the smell of gunpowder and relax, they should also shoot a few shots. He nodded: "Good! But save some gunpowder and cannonballs! ”

In the trench, Acton sat on the ground, with his back against the ditch wall, napping, a shovel close to his leg, and next to him sat or lay a dozen men, compared to the rags of a dozen days ago, now they were completely changed: high cowhide boots, woolen woolen trousers, woolen underwear, woolen lining, woolen leather tunics, sheepskin gloves, cowhide belts, and leather hats with ear protection. Many of these captives are from various parts of Southern Mongolia, and they are also old acquaintances with the border army of the Ming Dynasty, and they also know what kind of virtue is on the other side, and it is common to be in arrears for a year and a half. The princes and the great khans went south to rob gold and silver treasures, silk and silk, and children and livestock; These tribesmen don't dislike anything, any salt, iron, grain, cloth, and even the rags on the dead, anyway, there is nothing lacking on the grassland, and there is nothing to lose. Such a day when you were warm and well-fed was a long time ago in everyone's memory. At first, I was afraid that I would be killed by the firearms on the city, but now I have been digging for so many days, and I haven't seen a few people killed, it's nothing more than digging and digging the soil. From this point of view, it is nothing to give life to this Lord Liu's subordinates.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, don't get in the way!"

A few shouts woke Acton from his dream, and he hurriedly stood up, and saw a dozen Ming soldiers pushing a strange thing over, followed by several carts, led by a lame man, who was shouting at himself in a rough voice: "Quickly let your people dig a deep pit behind and make an ammunition depot!" ”

Acton had been under Liu Cheng for some days, and he had already learned how to identify the size of his official position by the color of the officer's clothes, and saw that this officer was a commander, so he hurriedly answered, and woke up his subordinates to dig a pit according to the command of the lame officer. At this moment Acton heard a muffled noise not far in front of the trench, and then a lot of dirt fell on his head, splashing him in the face. By these days, the laborers had come to know that it was the defenders of the city who had opened fire on them, and that this shelling posed little threat to the people in the trenches, and they did not bother to pay attention to it, but just buried themselves in their work. Acton took off his hat and was about to shake off the mud and sand inside, but he heard the officer behind him scolding loudly: "The Tartars still dare to be rampant, and I will make you look good later!" ”

"Good-looking? Could it be that what else is so powerful about that thing like a stone mortar? Acton turned around and watched curiously as the lame officer adjusted the muzzle of the cannon to the corresponding angle, and then instructed his subordinates to tear the packet, pour the gunpowder into the chamber at the bottom, and then insert the arquebus through the fire opening, and when everything was ready to stop, the lame officer asked two soldiers to carry a cannonball the size of a melon from the car on the side, Acton had also seen the shell of a red-coated cannon when he was in the Houjin army, and knew that it was nothing more than a smooth solid iron ball. However, this cannonball is very strange, not only is it several times larger than the cannonball of the redcoat cannon, but the surface is pitted, as if it is a defective product, and there is a wooden tray under this cannonball, and the cannonball is fastened to a wooden support with two belts, and a wooden pipe sticks out of the top of the cannonball. The lame officer commanded the strange cannonball into the muzzle of the cannon, and ordered: "Get out of the way, it's time to fire!" ”

The soldiers and captives ran away, curiosity keeping Acton from far, his eyes wide around the corner as he watched the lame officer move. I saw the officer make a gesture to his subordinate, and the subordinate hurriedly lit the wooden pipe on the top of the shell, then lit the fuse of the fire port under the mortar cannon, and then helped the lame officer to hide aside.

With a loud bang, Acton clearly saw a black thing erupting from the muzzle of the cannon, and the trajectory was more like flying upwards than forward, until Acton's neck was sore and he saw the cannonball fall downward, and he struggled to climb out of the trench, risking his life to look at the place where the cannonball had fallen, only to see a ball of fire explode on the northwest corner of the city gate.

Yue Tuo pushed away Goshha, who was pressing on him, and spat violently, his mouth full of dust and sulfur, which was the smell of death. As far as the eye could see, there was smoke, bloody limbs, and miserable screams of soldiers, but his ears were only buzzing, and he couldn't hear anything. He reached over the Goshha to ask him what was the matter, but the eyes of the man who turned over were round, a piece of iron was inserted deep into his chest, and there was an open wound in his throat, and he was already out of breath. Yue Tuo suddenly felt an inexplicable tiredness, leaned against the female wall, and closed his eyes.

After a while, Yue Tuo was awakened by a violent shaking, he opened his eyes, but it was Kong Youde, but he only saw the other party's mouth opening and closing rapidly, but he couldn't hear anything, and after a while, he gradually heard the other party's voice clearly, seeing Yue Tuo's reaction to his words, Kong Youde was obviously relieved: "Heshuo Baylor, are you okay?" It scared the hell out of me! ”

"It's okay, it's just uncomfortable!" Yue Tuo moved his body for a moment, and then he felt that his whole body was extremely sore, as if he had been run over by several large carts.

"Hey, it's good if you can save your life!" Kong Youde looked around and said in a low voice: "This is not the place to talk, let's go below!" After that, he couldn't help Yue Tuo to say, so he let the two soldiers half-help and half-drag Yue Tuo down the city, sat down against the root of the city wall, and said with a very serious face: "Heshuo Belle, you were almost hit by the Ming army's flowering bullet, and pushed out more than ten steps, if it wasn't for your Goshha to pounce on it and block it for you, I'm afraid it would have been saved a long time ago!" ”

"Blossom bombs? What is this? Yue Tuo asked in surprise, "Could it be that there are other shells besides the solid iron bullet?" ”

"Not bad!" Kong Youde nodded, his face solemn: "I haven't seen the flowering bomb with my own eyes, but I heard the red-haired instructor mention it a few times in my spare time when I was in Denglai, this flowering bomb is a hollow iron shell, filled with gunpowder, with a fuse, when it is fired above the enemy's head, the fuse is lit, and the gunpowder inside explodes the iron shell, even if it is not hit by the shell, the people around will be killed by the scattered shrapnel, the most powerful." ”

"Huh? This flowering shell is so powerful, why don't I have it in the Golden Artillery Team? ”

"Hey, Peshuo Baylor, listen to me!" Kong Youde smiled bitterly: "Although this flowering bomb has so many benefits, it is a useless embroidered pillow. Do you think about the red-coated cannon that costs thousands of pounds of copper and iron at every turn, for what, isn't it afraid that when the gunpowder inside explodes, the cannon will be blown up? When the cannon was fired, the inside of the cannon chamber was like the alchemy furnace of the Taishang Laojun, only the steel and iron monkey could survive, and the flowering bullet was only a layer of iron shell outside, and most of it exploded inside before it hurt others. ”

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty opened the country, most of Nurhachi's sons and nephews were vulgar and unliterate, and the "Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", and "Water Margin", which had been widely circulated in the market at that time, became an important source for them to absorb the wisdom of Han culture. (To be continued.) )