Standing on the city wall of Dunhuang, Tang Zhen breathed a long sigh of relief. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Fortunately, he only dispatched the cavalry of the Ming army as the main force of this night attack, and even the only force. More than 2,000 cavalry who were usually reluctant to pull up the city were sent out, and the strength of the guards in the city was not weakened very much.

The Mongol Tatars usually attacked the city in the north and west, and their camps were mainly in the east, west and north. The Huihui artillery camp is located in the north of the city, and the fire oil camp is located in the west of the city, which are the two main directions of the battle of wits and courage between the Shence army and the Mongolian army.

Therefore, when the black army appeared in the east of the city, and a large number of return artillery began to roar, Tang Zhen could only be glad that he did not order the whole army to attack, otherwise the sudden attack of the Mongol Tatars would be enough to catch the few remaining troops in the city by surprise, and even before the Ming army came back to support, Dunhuang City might have fallen into the hands of the Mongol Tatars.

And now the situation outside the city has obviously fallen into chaos that both sides have no way to control, the main remaining forces of Mongolia are all assembled in the camp north of the city, and the fire oil camp in the west of the city was burned by the Ming cavalry, Huo Liang, who led the team, obviously did not mean to return to the city, but took the small number but definitely the elite Ming cavalry after the big waves, and killed in the Mongolian camp. The entire camp west of the city was engulfed in flames, which also caused the Mongol army to be in disarray in the north of the city.

As for the Mongol army in the east of the city, although it is not clear why the fire burned in the west and north of the city at the same time, it still launched an attack on the city of Dunhuang according to its original plan and the orders it received. In fact, at dusk, the return cannons that had already moved to the east of the city frantically poured stone bullets on the city, and a large number of Mongolian soldiers directly pushed the ladder cart forward.

Obviously, the Mongols were also vaguely aware of something, so they had no intention of leaving a back hand at all. Even if the foot soldiers began to storm the city, the return cannon did not stop, obviously wanting to take Dunhuang in a battle when both sides were confused by the two monks.

After all, according to the original plan of the Mongols, even if the main infantry of the Ming army really achieved the purpose of sneaking up on the camp at this time, it should have been dragged by the remaining Mongol army, so it was too late to withdraw into the city. At this time, there should only be some Ding Zhuang defense in the city, and it is the weakest time. The eastern city wall is undoubtedly the most neglected direction by the Ming army because the Mongols have been taking feints, even if the Ming army still has reserves, and it will take some time to move from the north gate to the east gate.

An extremely short period of time may seem insignificant in a long and tragic confrontation war, but it is often the most important period of time that can determine the ownership of the entire city, the victory or failure of the entire war, and even the next step of the entire dynasty.

"Boom!" There was a loud bang, and the entire city wall seemed to shake. The soldiers of the Ming army running back and forth on the city subconsciously bowed their waists. In fact, this is just a subconscious action, everyone knows that in front of such a stone bullet that splits the head and covers the face, the soft body has no ability to resist at all, as long as it is rubbed to the side, it is a dead end.

The arrows whistled back and forth, the figures that emerged in the darkness kept shaking, and people fell one after another under the city, but the places they vacated were immediately topped by soldiers. It was only a brief first encounter, and no one knew how much the Shence Army and the Mongols had fallen.

Because no one cares about this anymore.

No one even cared about the camps in the west of the city, which were burning in flames, and the camps in the north of the city, which were in chaos.

All eyes were glued to the eastern city wall, staring at the thin gate without an urn city.

"Boom!" With a loud bang, a stone projectile hit the corner of the east city gate, directly cutting the platform above the city wall from people's field of vision. Several Ming soldiers who were standing there just now had disappeared, and only a trickle of blood was still flowing under the huge stone bullet.

"Push the stone bullets down, the crossbowmen will take up the empty space, and the artillery will prepare to attack the ladder cart!" Tang Zhen suddenly separated the guards around him who wanted to block the arrows for him, and shouted loudly.

The surrounding soldiers hurriedly stepped forward, and the artillery had already begun to roar.

The cannonballs whizzed out, but they disappeared into the darkness and soon disappeared. Several gunners looked at Tang Zhen with some embarrassment: "Supervisor, the signs we originally arranged outside the city are now invisible at all, it is difficult to set the ruler, and it will not hit at all!" ”

Tang Zhen slammed his fist on the battlements, and dragged a gunner over: "The Mongolian Tartar ladder car is about to come up, if you can't hit the ladder car now, it will be even more difficult for the Mongolian Tartar to kill the city." If you can reset the sign, can you hit the ladder truck?! ”

Several gunners looked at each other in some surprise, and then nodded. They have been in contact with this artillery for a long time, and as long as there is a marker, they are still confident that they can hit it. However, one of the gunners hesitated and said, "But the supervisor ・・・・・・."

Before he could finish speaking, Tang Zhen had already instructed his guards to push a bed crossbow over. Although the huge three-bow bed crossbow was not used by the Shence army because it occupied too much space in the city and was not as powerful as the artillery, this did not mean that the Shence army was not prepared, after all, artillery as a new firearm that was far inferior to the bow and crossbow equipment when it entered the army, no one could guarantee its stability, and there was no way to ensure that this firearm had no other unknown shortcomings.

Just in case, the Shence Army still prepared a large number of bows and crossbows, including the bed crossbow, a large instrument that has supported the entire southern sky on its own for a hundred years.

In the throbbing firelight, even if more than a dozen people pushed together, the huge bed crossbow still moved slowly, and finally the surrounding Ding Zhuang also stepped forward to help, before pushing this behemoth to the battlements. If it weren't for the wheels under the bed crossbow that could be pushed, no one would have dared to imagine how this behemoth would be able to move.

Being big means powerful.

Thick iron arrows were attached to the bowstrings, and canisters of fire oil and earth-shattering thunder were tied to the tips of the arrows. Tang Zhen looked at the gunners around him who were still a little confused, and said in a deep voice: "The range set by this bed crossbow is three hundred steps, and the place where the fire starts after a while is three hundred steps away." ”

The doubts on the faces of several gunners had dissipated, and they nodded solemnly.

Taking a light breath, Tang Zhen shouted in a low voice: "Put!" ”

The bowstring made a screeching sound, and the arrows whistled into the darkness. A moment later, on the ground in the distance, a dazzling light suddenly illuminated the darkness, and the fiery red beating sparks suddenly tore the surrounding night directly, and the ladder cart that was still moving slowly not far away was directly exposed to the firelight.

This time there was no need for Tang Zhen's command, several cannons roared at the same time, the first cannonball hit not far in front of the ladder truck, and the cannonballs that followed behind tore through the walls and shields of the ladder truck, and through the fire and moonlight, you could even clearly see the sawdust flying around.

The ladder cart shook violently a few times, and finally stopped helplessly, and then collapsed amid the exclamations of the Mongolian soldiers.

"Transfer!" Tang Zhen shouted loudly.

There was already a loud roar in the sky, and the revenge of the Mongol Tatars came quickly, and the stone bullets slammed down on the city wall one by one, and they didn't even care about the Mongol foot soldiers who were almost under the city. A large number of improvised ladders protruded from the endless darkness beneath the city, and tightly wrapped rams slowly crossed the filled trenches.

In the final analysis, the Mongolian Tatars still considered the safety of their own people, and the artillery and bed crossbows of the Ming army just now were not fired continuously, so they were not exposed targets. Thus, after a few demonstrative stone projectiles, the Mongol return artillery fell silent again.

In the distance, the sound of trumpets echoed in the Mongolian camp, and the drummers of the Ming army at the head of the city did not hesitate to smash the drum hammer in their hands against the cowhide drum.

The drum hammer smashed the cowhide drum surface, and countless Ming soldiers slowly raised their blades at the same time. Arrows roared down from the city walls, and the rolling stones of the sassalwood rose and smashed down the ladders, and the Mongol soldiers screamed and fell, and red and white blood and brains flowed out, staining the ground and the ladders.

"Burn it!" The leaders shouted and urged the soldiers to come forward, and the prepared fire oil fell down the ladders, although these ladders were burned by applying mud to them, but after all, such a large amount of fire oil had been poured down a few moments later, and it had already penetrated into it along the cracks in the outer layer. Torches were constantly being thrown down from the top of the city, at first just a small spark, and then the entire ladder was completely engulfed by the raging fire.

The Mongol soldiers under the ladder hurriedly spread out in all directions, and the blazing ladder slowly broke into several knots after being licked and burned by the fire, and fell to the ground, leaving only charcoal that completely blended into the darkness and soil.

"Boom!" There was a dull sound, and the ram slammed into the city gate, and the city gate trembled slightly. When renovating the city gate before, Tang Zhen specially changed the city gate that was originally inherited from Dunhuang from the Han and Tang dynasties to the coupon city gate that is now popular and applied in the Central Plains, so as to make the city gate more solid in the face of battering ram impact.

The north gate and west gate of Dunhuang have built urn cities, while the east gate does not have urn cities, so it looks very weak. It is not unreasonable for Mongolia to choose to take advantage of the darkness to attack the eastern gate. The previous attack of the return cannon had cut off a corner of the city gate, and then a stone bullet directly hit the wall next to the city gate, so that there were many large and small cracks on the outer side of the city gate that was originally made of rammed earth, and now the ram hit the city gate, the city gate was very strong because it was specially reinforced, but in this violent shaking, the city wall has been overwhelmed, and the cracks on it continue to expand along the wall.

"Splash the oil down!" Several of them roared and waved their hands, and the soldiers directly raised the large buckets in their hands, and black arcs cut through the sky, and soon splashed on the huge crashing car below. The black liquid that flowed down from the head and face, the Mongolian soldier reached out and touched it, and naturally knew that it was the fire oil that had been spilled, and the centurion and the centurion who led the team at the moment shouted anxiously and retreated.

Several torches were thrown from the city, and the black liquid on the ground was ignited at once, and the raging fire burst into flames, blocking the ramming car and the city gate, and the Mongolian soldiers finally saved their lives. It's just that it's only temporary.

Tang Zhen rushed to the city gate in three steps and two steps, picked up the rocket in the brazier, and the guard next to him had already quickly handed over a bow. Tang Zhen didn't want to draw his bow and arrows directly, and the rest of the crossbowmen also woke up like a dream, a large number of arrows, whether ordinary arrows or rockets, fell densely around the crashing car, but because as the crashing car got farther and farther away, most of these arrows were stopped by the Mongolian soldiers guarding around with swords and shields.

Holding his breath, Tang Zhen's gaze couldn't leave the crashing car that was gradually moving away.

The bowstring in his hand has been stretched to the extreme, and the regretful sighs of the soldiers around him and the expectant eyes looking at him seem to have turned into necessity at this moment. There was only one city left between heaven and earth and the crashing cars in front of them.

The wind blew Tang Zhen's armor and made a crisp sound.

The bowstring loosened with a soft sound.

The rocket whizzed out of the city, arcing in an arc before landing accurately on the crashing vehicle, which had been splashed with fire oil. The flames on a rocket had already ignited all the oil on the surface of the crash car, and the huge crash car was motionless in the crazy burning flames. The surrounding Mongol soldiers scattered in panic, and the Ming army's arrows, artillery, and flying thunder cannons all seemed to have spotted the target's gluttonous beast and released their anger from the city.

Arrows rained down, and shells and explosives were not paused at this moment, smashing heads and faces. The retreat of the Mongol infantry was suddenly disrupted. And the Mongolian soldiers who kept pouring up from outside the city wall in several other places were all in chaos when they looked at the sky-high flames and the undulating explosions on the sides behind them.

At this moment, the Ming army used a net to hold more than a dozen thistles in the city and threw them down the city wall directly, or even picked up the explosive package of the flying thunder cannon and lit it and threw it down. The light and flames of the explosion continued to beat, and the air waves set off by the explosive packs overturned the dense array of soldiers, and even a cloud ladder was directly blown into the air, and then fell heavily to the ground.

Tang Zhen looked at the Mongolian soldiers fleeing in panic under the city, and his face also showed a relaxed look.

During the period when Wang Jin was seriously injured and bedridden, he was always in command of the Shence army. In fact, if you really ask, Tang Zhen is probably not a qualified general in the eyes of most people, after all, Tang Zhen is a civilian official, and has always served as Wang Jin's deputy, and has never led an army alone before, and Tang Zhen is different from Yin Yu, the superintendent of the Tianwu Army, who has a somewhat similar identity, Yin Yu was born as a military attache before Conglong, and has commanded the army in the play many times when Jiang Hao led the light troops to advance, so he must be far richer than Tang Zhen in terms of experience.

In the eyes of many people, Tang Zhen can take advantage of the advantages, and he doesn't seem to be able to find anything other than from Long Shizao. This also made it so that after Wang Jin was injured at that time, there were many appeals in the court, suggesting that His Majesty should transfer the rest of the generals, such as Zhang Jue of the Tianxiong Army or Yin Yu of the Tianwu Army, to go to Hexi for the time being but to serve as the general of the Shence Army to coordinate the overall situation.

Although these concerts were suppressed by Ye Yingwu, it did not mean that Tang Zhen did not hear any rumors. Even Ye Yingwu deliberately revealed something to show his trust in Tang Zhen. Regardless of whether Ye Yingwu's actions seemed to have some conspiracy, Tang Zhen thanked Ye Yingwu for his decision. After all, he knows his personal shortcomings very well, as a civilian official, no matter how hard he trains, he can't really become a complete military general.

Ye Yingwu let go and let him lead the Shence Army, the main force of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and the trust here is self-evident, and there has never been a civilian official in charge of the army before. It is equivalent to saying that Ye Yingwu broke this balance for Tang Zhen.

And Tang Zhen also knew very well that if he won this battle, it was an absolute qualification, and whether he was promoted to the general of the other main army or transferred back to the imperial court as an important member of the military department, the battle of Dunhuang was his own real merit, and to a certain extent, it can be said that the supervisors in the same position had no way to achieve it.

Standing on the city wall, Tang Zhen gently rubbed his fingers that were still aching because of the bow and arrows just now, to be honest, this is the most satisfying time I have learned archery in more than two years. Perhaps sometimes people can only burst into extreme potential when they are forced into adversity and Jedi.

Looking up at the bright moon in the sky slightly, Tang Zhen felt that the sentence just now seemed to be more suitable for Ye Yingwu, and for the young emperor who led the Chinese Han people out of adversity step by step.

"Look, the Mongol Tartars are in chaos!" Suddenly, a sharp-eyed soldier shouted.

Tang Zhen was stunned, and hurriedly looked forward, only to see that the Mongolian Tatar return cannon was vaguely located before, and the fire had already risen, and the tongue of fire licked the black sky, and even took away the brilliance of the bright moon! (To be continued.) )