Seeing that the general attack was imminent, the defenders at the head of Yecheng City suddenly became chaotic, and the Yuan army, which was originally armed with swords, guns, bows and crossbows, turned around and left the battlements, and then the explosions of thunderbolts continued to sound up and down the city wall, and the fire and smoke soon appeared in the sky above Yecheng.

Seeing this, Liu Cun secretly screamed that it was not good, and without thinking too much, he could deduce that the ambush in the city should be discovered or that he had done it in advance.

At this critical moment, Liang Pin, the deputy general of the Haw Par Battalion, flew over: "Report to the lord, there has been a sudden great change in the city, and it can be judged from the successive explosions of thunderbolts thrown by his hands that it is very likely that my brothers were accidentally exposed after the plan was changed, and General Taishi implored the lord to allow him to give the order to blow up the city wall, and then launch a three-sided assault!" ”

"Now that the matter has come to this, let's blow it up, what else do you plead?"

Liu Cun responded without hesitation, and when he saw Liang Pin hurriedly saluting and returning to his horse, Liu Cun hurriedly stopped him: "Wait! What do you mean by 'change plan'? ”

Liang Pin hurriedly explained: "General Taishi is sympathetic to the people in the city, and has been reluctant to blow up the city wall, so he sent a secret order last night, asking General Ni Qing and General Lu Jiu, who presided over the war in the city, to use the three thousand Yuan troops and several officials who have surrendered as much as possible to suddenly launch and open the south gate of Yecheng. ”

"Oh!"

Liu Cun nodded with relief, and then waved his hand: "Go quickly, tell General Taishi and Xu Sheng that they don't hesitate anymore, they can fight as much as they want, there is no need to ask for instructions, I will be responsible for the attack in the north of the city." There is no need for you to be distracted. ”

"Thank you, lord!"

Liang Pin, who was eager in his heart, had no time to express the feelings in his heart. Turning the horse's head and speeding away.

Liu Cun immediately summoned Geng Wu, Zhai Chao, Chen Zhi and other generals under his command. Resolutely changed the original containment feint plan, and issued a series of orders for an all-out attack:

"The situation has changed, in order to better prepare for the siege battle in the other three directions, the 9th Division, the Guards Battalion and the Reserve Brigade must all be engaged in the battle!"

"General Geng Wu, you are responsible for commanding the Ninth Division to attack the north gate and the city walls on both sides, it is best to let the craftsman battalion and the firearms battalion take out all the new rockets and use them, at this time, don't worry about hurting the innocents in the city, only quickly take Yecheng to end the battle." in order to save more people. ”

"My subordinates understand! Please wait and see! Geng Wu stepped forward and responded loudly, taking Adjutant General Zhai Chao and several other generals to return to his Ninth Division.

Liu Cun looked at Chen Dao, a young general with an excited face: "You lead the five hundred elite cavalry of the personal guard battalion to find General Taishi, it is estimated that he will soon need a cavalry that is good at street fighting." ”

Chen Zhiqiang held back his excitement and said hesitantly: "If his subordinates take away five hundred brothers, the guards around the lord will be less than half ......"

"It's okay, Zilong, Zhi Zhen, and Zhao Li are by my side." Liu Cun smiled kindly: "Don't hesitate, go quickly, take out your skills." ”

"Thank you, Lord! The subordinates gathered people to find General Ziyi. Delighted, Chen Zhi turned around and left after saluting.

The sound of drums and trumpets, the neighing of war horses.

As the explosions in the city sounded one after another, the Qingzhou army array waiting outside the north gate of Yecheng changed dramatically. The six sword and shield soldiers had already crossed the twelve spear formations in front, and the five thousand cavalry, which had been intended to be placed on the two flanks of the army formation, were transferred to the front of the Chinese army facing the city gate.

Followed by. More than 500 crossbow carts that were urgently mobilized were pushed to the front of the formation, and slowly advanced to the edge of the range of Yuan's bows and arrows on the city wall, stopped neatly, and lined up.

At this time, more than 2,000 craftsmen wearing black clothes and leather armor drove more than 300 fully loaded carriages to follow, the craftsmen quickly lifted the tarpaulin on the carriage, and moved thousands of long wooden boxes on the carriage to a crossbow cart or so, after the completion of the hundreds of people drove back to the rear army, and the remaining 2,000 craftsmen were divided into groups of five to stand solemnly behind the ballista, proudly shouldering the heavy responsibility of preparing the crossbow soldiers.

Three thousand crossbowmen began to get busy.

The 800 soldiers of the firearms battalion, who were scattered next to the ballistas, unhurriedly opened the boxes, unwrapped the waterproof oil-paper packaging, took out a delicate long arrow containing two catties of black powder and half a catty of iron sand, and quickly installed them in the firing slot of the large ballista, carefully cut through the cover in the middle of the arrow shaft, and pulled out a special fuse.

The small yellow flags next to the ballista were raised one after another, and a clear command came again: "At a distance of two hundred and eighty meters, the fuse fuse is kept twelve centimeters, adjust it immediately, and prepare to launch after ten breaths!" ”

Geng Wu on the high platform of the Chinese army nodded with satisfaction, and soon saw the small red flags raised one after another in the long car formation, and couldn't help laughing, and gave an order to the captain of the firearms battalion who was riding a war horse under the high platform and waiting for orders: "Go back, let all the soldiers of our army take a good look at the power of the new rocket!" ”

"Yes!"

The young captain of the firearms battalion whipped his horse and galloped, passed through the passages between the arrays, and came to the left side of the crossbow array, ignoring the arrows flying sporadically from the city, urging the war horses to patrol from beginning to end, and then returned to the middle of the cavalry formation with two long arrows tied to his back, turned over and dismounted, climbed the makeshift five-foot platform in a few steps, took the command flag from the deputy, and raised it high, and shouted out the command that had been shouted thousands of times but was the first time it had been seen in actual combat:

"Ready, ready--release-"

More than 500 huge wooden mallets waved in response, and more than 500 huge rockets emitting sneering green smoke roared into the air in unison, and thousands of chaotic and anxious Yuan army soldiers on the city squatted down to dodge, but many bold officers stood resolutely, thinking that they were just ordinary crossbow arrows used by the Qingzhou army, and even if they were shot, they could not hurt a few people.

Among them, several generals shouted at their subordinates, who knew the great power of the long crossbow arrows that were flying towards them.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

A series of explosions rang out violently, and the sound was earth-shattering.

Above the north gate and up and down the city wall more than a mile long on the left and right, thick smoke shrouded, red flames flickered, and the huge explosion sound shattered the eardrums of hundreds of Yuan soldiers, and the iron sand that shot out from the sky instantly pierced the armor and unprotected faces of Yuan soldiers, countless figures fell instantly, and fragile lives disappeared in an instant.

But before the surviving soldiers of the Yuan army at the head of the city let out screams and wails, another round of rockets flew in and exploded in the air.

The explosion on the head of the three-mile-long city was like thunder, billowing smoke mixed with flames, churning, one by one the broken bodies of the Yuan soldiers fell to the city, and two war drums with flames rose to the sky, falling heavily to the bank of the moat below, still burning.

**************

PS: Thank you for the big monthly pass of "77 White Bear"! Keep asking for subscriptions, referral tickets, monthly passes, and full praise encouragement! Appreciate! (To be continued......)