As if to answer Yue Tuo's question, the Ming army outside the city fired another cannonball, compared with the previous time, this time the cannonball landed farther away, directly hitting a two-story house in the city, only twenty or thirty steps away from the two people, the cannonball directly smashed through the roof tiles, fell into the house and exploded. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Yue Tuo and Kong Youde only heard a muffled sound, and then saw the fire spraying out from the doors and windows of the house, the two subconsciously covered their faces and turned their heads, Yue Tuo only felt that something was touched on his feet, and when he looked down, he found that there was half an arm on the ground, which should have been blown up from that room!

"Damn it!" Seeing the burning room, Kong Youdeton scolded: "You guys, go over and put out the fire!" ”

"What's wrong?" Yue Tuo looked at the room, and there was definitely no living mouth in it now.

"There are more than 2,000 sheepskins in it, and the soldiers' warm clothes still point to these sheepskins!" Kong Youde explained while scolding his subordinates. As if to prove his existence, the flowering bullets like Fang Cai fell one after another, and a cloud of fire appeared at the head of the city and in the city, shining on the pale faces of Kong Youde and Yue Tuo, like evil ghosts. Yue Tuoqiang laughed twice: "Forget it, don't worry about the sheepskin, first transfer the gunpowder and grain to the root of the city wall, I think these two things are the most important." ”

Looking at everything in front of him, Kong Youde also showed a desperate expression, he shook his head, gave an order according to Yue Tuo's request, and said blankly: "How is this possible? How is this possible? How could the Ming army hit so many flowering bounces at once? It's not like artillery, it's like a trebuchet, is it the heavens that are going to kill me? ”

Looking at Kong Youde's appearance, Yue Tuo didn't speak, he naturally didn't believe that the Ming army was using trebuchets, just now he saw clearly at the head of the city, the Ming army trench was more than four hundred steps away from the city wall, which was already beyond the range of most trebuchets, and the trebuchets that could project so far were at least two stories high, and before the Ming army could set it up, it had already been discovered by the defenders and destroyed with red-coated cannons. There can only be a reasonable explanation for all this - the Ming army outside the city has learned some kind of method that they don't know and can fire flowering shells efficiently, which is not good news for themselves.

"Master Kong!" Yue Tuo said in a low voice: "When it gets dark, we will break through!" ”

Kong Youde turned his head and saw Yue Tuo's ruthless face, he immediately understood that the other party had no illusions about Shou and Lingel, no army could endure such a one-sided beating, even if the Houjin army could defeat the siege of the Ming army like a god, it would be useless - with the current speed of the Ming army's artillery bombardment, it would not take a few days for all the houses in the city to be destroyed? The cold winter outside the fortress was no joke, as a heavy snowfall would have brought the defenders to an end of the night in the open air, and the cold would have allowed the besiegers to win a complete victory without a single soldier, and Yue Tuo even suspected that the besiegers' shelling of houses had this purpose.

"Good!" Thinking of the dozen or so red-clothed cannons, Kong Youde's face flashed with a painful expression, he knew very well how precious those firearms were to the Jurchens, but it was simply impossible to fight their way out of the encirclement with those heavy guys: "How to break through?" ”

"Let's split up!" Yue Tuo said in a low voice: "You lead the Han army from the west gate, and I lead the Jurchen soldiers from the east gate." If you can break through, you will meet in the sea of water (a lake in Inner Mongolia)! ”

"Good!" Kong Youde's face showed a miserable smile, he understood very well that Yue Tuo was letting himself attract the attention of the besieging side for the Jurchens, and the main direction of the Ming army's attack was at the West Gate, he raised his head: "Heshuo Belle rest assured, the last general will fight to the death tonight and pull the Ming army outside the city to the death!" ”

Looking at Kong Youde's face, Yue Tuo couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, he coughed twice, wanted to say something, but couldn't say it, and finally turned around and went to the east gate. Kong Youde looked at Yue Tuo's back as he gradually moved away, his face full of bitterness.

On the mound outside the city, Yang Sichang grew his mouth, and his face was full of disbelief. As a high-ranking bureaucrat and scholar who has been floating in the sea for more than 20 years, his cultivation and reserve do not allow him to show such a stupid appearance, but the scene in front of him makes it impossible for him to maintain the dignity of the superintendent. Black projectiles were constantly being shot from the trench close to the city walls, and the fire was constantly rising at the head of the city and inside the city, and the screams and explosions could be faintly heard even from their own position, and the guards at the head of the city fled in all directions, in vain to find a safe place, and all this was done without killing or wounding a single of their own soldiers.

"Liu Cheng, no!" In the midst of the chaos, Yang Sichang almost made the big mistake of calling Liu Cheng by his name, which was a huge mistake for a senior official like him, and he hurriedly changed his words: "Liu Zhentai, it's time to go to the city, right?" ”

"No? Wait! Liu Cheng smiled, he can also understand Yang Sichang's performance, it is himself, it is a little unexpected that the effect of these mortar guns is so good, after all, those improved shells are still used for the first time, it seems that at this time, the various forces in the late Ming Dynasty do not know how to use and deal with high-trajectory curved artillery, and it is necessary to form a special siege artillery.

"Wait?" Yang Sichang frowned a little dissatisfied, in his opinion, this is already a good time to attack the city, the defenders at the head of the West Gate City have been basically cleared, and the city is full of fires, obviously the command system of the defending side will definitely be greatly affected, but Liu Cheng's excellent performance has always made him still choose to forbear: "Then what does Liu Zhentai think he should do?" ”

Liu Cheng looked at the sky, it was almost lunchtime, he pointed to the moat and said: "Master Inspector, the progress of the siege is faster than I imagined, the last section of the horizontal trench close to the trench and for the siege infantry team does not need to be dug, it is winter now, and there is no water in the moat, just put in the bundle of firewood to fill a section." Now let the jumpers who ascend the city eat first, and then let the mortars open a gap in the wall with solid shells, and then take turns to charge, I intend to use four to six attacks, exhaust the enemy's physical strength, and at the same time repeatedly kill and wound the defenders with artillery fire, and throw in reserves before dark to launch a final attack! ”

Although he still didn't quite understand all the strange terms in Liu Cheng's words, Yang Sichang still felt the huge power contained in the words, and he nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, just act according to your deployment." Liu Zhentai, if the city is broken this time, it will be a great victory that my Ming Dynasty has not won over the Dongyu for decades, and I must capture Kong Youde and Yue Tuo Erfang alive and sacrifice them to the Son of Heaven! Do you understand? ”

"Yes!" Liu Cheng hurriedly bowed down to receive the order, he gritted his teeth, and said in a low voice: "Master Inspector, the gun has no eyes, you have also seen it, this cannonball is flying sideways, if it touches-"

"Oh!" Yang Sichang smiled: "If that's the case, then I have to forget it, I mean try to take prisoners as much as possible." Liu Zhentai, after this incident, I will definitely ask for credit for you in front of the saint and make you a marquis! ”

"Thank you, sir!" Liu Cheng hurriedly bowed down to thank him, Cao Wenzhao's eyes on the side were already red with envy, for the military generals at that time, Fenghou was already the pinnacle of his life's career, and the young man in front of him, who was only thirty years old, was already just one step away from Fenghou. He gritted his teeth, stepped forward and said loudly: "Master Overseer, the last general also asks for a battle!" ”

"Oh?" Yang Sichang looked at Cao Wenzhao, who was blushing and thick-necked, then looked at Liu Cheng, and said with a smile: "General Cao, this superintendent has already said that I have given full authority to Liu Zhentai to attack the city, if you want to ask for war, you should go to him instead of me!" ”

"Lord Zhentai, please forgive me for the offense that I will do!" Cao Wenzhao immediately realized that he had made a big mistake in a hurry, according to the unspoken rules among the generals of the Ming Dynasty, since Liu Cheng had completed the hardest work of the siege, he should naturally have the right to enjoy great merit, and his behavior of hiding aside during the siege and jumping out when grabbing merit was not a bright move, not to mention that his official position was still under Liu Cheng.

"It's okay, General Cao's loyalty and courage are commendable, what is the crime?" Liu Cheng snorted, he didn't care too much about Cao Wenzhao's reckless behavior, after all, his current official position has reached the peak of the Ming Dynasty's military generals, and then up is the title and some prime ministers' temporary dispatch of military training, he himself is not very interested, if he can take this opportunity to improve the relationship with Cao Wenzhao, and leave a good reputation among the military generals in Shanxi, let him have no credit at all.

"You all retreat, I have something to talk to Liu Zhentai about!" Yang Sichang returned to his seat, Liu Cheng realized that the other party had something important to talk to him privately, he nodded to Hao Shaoqi behind him, signaling him to retreat, and after a while, only Liu Cheng and Yang Sichang were left in the curtain.

"General Liu! Before I left Beijing this time, I was still worried, I couldn't repel the Eastern Captives, for fear of losing the grace of God, but I didn't expect to win so easily, it's all thanks to you! ”

"The Inspector praised it falsely, this time he repelled the Eastern Prisoners, entrusted the Holy Hongfu, the Inspector planned and planned, and the soldiers fought desperately, Liu just did his duty, what merit?"

"You don't have to be too humble! If it is enough to rely only on the holy Hongfu and the soldiers to fight to the death, is it possible that in the past, there was no Hongfu on the Shengshang of Salhu and Dalinghe, and the soldiers did not fight to the death? Yang Sichang smiled: "For example, the kind of mortar cannon just now, I think it is quite ingenious, I have never seen such a sharp weapon in the Shenji Battalion that can hit the cannonball hundreds of steps away and bloom everywhere, can you tell me the reason?" ”

"Yes!" Liu Chengdao: "This flowering bomb actually existed in the Tang and Song dynasties, and it was nothing more than putting gunpowder in a hollow iron shell, then inserting a fuse, lighting the fuse when it was used, and then throwing it out and falling into the enemy formation to explode." It's just that at that time, trebuchets were used, and the ministers used mortar cannons. ”

"Can you fire it with a redcoat cannon?"

"I'm afraid not yet! Because the barrel of the red-coated cannon is too long and the pressure inside is too great, if there is a slight problem with the casting of the iron shell, it will explode in the chamber, and it will not hurt people, but will hurt your own people. ”

"So that's what happened!" Yang Sichang smiled and nodded: "General Liu, you are really ingenious!" ”

"Master Overseer has praised it falsely!" Liu Cheng replied with two sentences, but he was not worried that Yang Sichang would leak the secret of the flowering bomb, because he still had two most critical places that he had not said: one was the wooden letter tube, and the other was the bullet stock, the former was a cut hollow wooden tube, which was placed with a uniform black powder column, sealed with asphalt to protect it from moisture, and had a scale on it. When used, the gunner cuts the signal tube according to the distance of the shot, inserts it into the hole of the flowering shell, and ignites the signal tube when firing, so as to ensure that the shell explodes over the target to achieve the maximum killing effect, and even the delay fuse can be used for the enemy hidden in the house to achieve a better killing effect. The use of wooden cartridge stock can provide a buffer for hollow shells when the ****** burns and explodes, while avoiding the direct action of high-temperature pressure gas on the surface of the sphere. Moreover, the wooden cartridge stock can also hold the breath more effectively (it is impossible to avoid it completely) and improve the utilization rate of gunpowder; There is also a wooden butt that can hold the shell in place, so that the shell does not roll irregularly when moving in the chamber (if the fuse hole rolls to the gunpowder, it will be finished); Finally, the wooden butt can also change the center of gravity structure of the flowering projectile to make its center of gravity more forward, just like a shuttlecock, ensuring that its flight trajectory is more stable and does not deviate from the trajectory. Without these two technologies, even if other forces imitate and manufacture, their effects will naturally be greatly reduced.

"General Liu, I've thought about what you said last time! Although it is a bit reckless, it is indeed the words of public loyalty to the country! After a few words, Yang Sichang's voice suddenly became low, and Liu Cheng immediately realized that he was about to get down to business, and hurriedly said respectfully: "The last general is just a martial artist, and he is naturally not as thoughtful as the ministers in the court, but a fierce loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, the court, and the Son of Heaven is no less than others!" ”

"Good, good, good!" Yang Sichang smiled and nodded: "General Liu, you are the ancestor of your father from the army, I am naturally trustworthy, but what kind of military aircraft you said, there is no precedent in this dynasty, I am afraid that the people in the court are raging, even the saint can't go his own way!" ”

"Master Inspector, if you make a big show in the court, it will naturally not work! Those who are good at fighting have no great feats! ”

Yang Sichang nodded slightly, Liu Chengfang's words were in line with what he thought, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, China's feudal centralized political system had reached a peak, under this system, all interest groups had their own representatives above the court, and a solid system of checks and balances had been reached between them to ensure that the supreme arbiter status of the Son of Heaven was not threatened. In other words, anyone who wants to make big changes through the normal flow of power will be blocked by others, so anyone who wants to do something under this system will not make a big fuss, but will keep their mouths shut, never argue, just do things, and finally come up with a fait accompli that others have to accept. Although what Liu Cheng just said couldn't be brought to the table, it was the only rule that Daming wanted to do something. (To be continued.) )