There is no doubt that the attack on Pingdu City must pay a heavy price for casualties, of course Kong Youde knows this, but he is determined to be ashamed, and the rebel generals under his command cannot disobey it.

"Start the siege!" Kong Youde looked in the direction of Pingdu City and loudly ordered the officers around him.

In the blink of an eye, the snare drums in the rebel camp made a muffled sound of "dong dong". The five thousand foot soldiers in the rebel array, led by Mao Chenglu, began to move forward.

Three thousand people were forced to push the temporarily restructured shield cart and go straight to the Cheng'en Gate moat two miles away, followed by five thousand rebel foot soldiers, followed by sword and shield soldiers, lance soldiers, pikemen, bird guns, archers, and the last part of the foot soldiers carried siege ladders in their hands.

Standing at the head of the city and looking outside, I saw that the siege army composed of 8,000 men and horses was all over the periphery of Cheng'en Gate in Pingdu City, densely packed with mountains and fields.

Fifty Western cannons in Kong Youde's hands were also dispatched, and at this moment, the rebel artillery men were manipulating the artillery and slowly approaching in the direction of Cheng'en Gate.

The 5,000 rebel cavalry under the leadership of Cao Shaozhong was divided into left and right wings, vigilant for the defenders in the city to suddenly kill.

Kong Youde only had 7,000 foot soldiers and more than 100 chariots left around him, and it seemed that he was also preparing to attack at the right time.

Feng Jian was still standing on the city gate tower and using binoculars to check the movements of the rebels, watching the dense shield carts and the rebel foot soldiers following behind him, like a group of locusts crossing the border, he knew where Kong Youde's heart knot, Kong Youde was almost desperate for the shame in Yixue's heart.

Most of Kong Youde's rebels came from the Dongjiang River, and the soldiers regarded fighting on the battlefield as commonplace, and Feng Jian knew better in his heart that the Zhenshan Battalion would receive a real baptism of blood and fire at the head of Cheng'en Gate today.

Repel rebel attacks. For the soldiers of the Earthquake Mountain Battalion, a strong belief in victory will be established. Facing the rebels again, this psychological advantage will affect the duel between the two sides. The soldiers of the Earthquake Mountain Camp will establish a strong mind psychologically, so this duel is a real test for the Earthquake Mountain Camp.

In the hidden position at the head of Cheng'en Gate, the eight Western cannons faded early, and the Western cannons that were originally placed at the south gate were placed on the north gate wall overnight.

Silao led his Western artillerymen, holding rulers and mirrors, and was constantly revising and calibrating, waiting for the order to fire the artillery.

The protruding enemy platform on both sides of the city gate tower hides the bird soldiers of the earthquake mountain camp, and on the enemy platform side are the sword and shield soldiers and pikemen, who are nervously watching the rebels who are attacking the city intensively, and all kinds of garrison materials are neatly stacked not far behind them.

Look closely at each soldier guarding the inside of the walls. There was a package on the outside of its armor, but I didn't know what it contained? The soldiers guarding the city are all cautiously guarded, and there must be a certain danger to defend the city.

The 1,000 soldiers of the mobile unit led by Fan Li were divided into two parts, of which 500 soldiers continued to hide in the shadows, ready to support the danger at any time.

The other part is hidden in the Cheng'en Gate Urn City under the leadership of Fan Li, these 500 mobile soldiers carry two tiger squat cannons, once the rebels break through the city gate of the Urn City, the defenders of the Urn City will cooperate with the bird soldiers on both sides of the enemy platform to rush into the Urn City to cross the attack, and truly form an urn to catch turtles.

The shape of the urn city of Pingdu City is square. It was built on the outside of the city gate, and the two sides were connected to the city wall, and the urn city gate and the city gate were not in a straight line, so that the besieging army was also prevented from directly hitting the city gate with siege equipment.

There was no sheep and horse wall built on the periphery of Pingdu City. Therefore, theoretically, as long as the rebels fill in the moat, they can directly destroy the gate of the urn city, as long as the urn city is destroyed. Then Chengenmen was directly exposed to the rebels.

Seeing that the direction in which the rebels drove Minzhuang was coming in the direction of Wengcheng, it was obvious that Kong Youde's siege strategy was to prepare for a two-pronged approach. The assault on the city walls and the assault on the gates were carried out at the same time.

At the head of the city, Zhao Shougang looked at the shield cart being driven by the rebels. The speed of the cart gradually increased, and it was gradually only two miles away from the city gate.

The rebel cannon came to a slow stop, and the gunners took out the wooden wedges and long iron nails they carried with them to fix the cannons, and piled bags of earth and stones in front of the guns as a barrier, so that the anti-artillery and the gunners were attacked by the enemy.

In this position, the six-pound solid iron bullets fired by the Western cannon were enough to pose a threat to the defenders on the city wall, and the Western cannon itself was protected by an earth and stone wall, so it was not easy to be counterattacked by the opponent's artillery fire.

Zhao Shougang turned his head to look at Feng Jian on the city tower, and saw that he was holding a telescope to carefully observe the movements of the rebels on the opposite side, looking like he was completely letting go.

Zhao Shougang no longer hesitated, and said loudly to the guards on the side: "Order, Western cannon fire!" ”

Just a moment later, the eight Western cannons at the head of Cheng'en Gate let out a deafening roar, and six catties of solid iron bullets whistled and flew towards the rebels who were speeding towards the city gate.

Xilao and other Western gunners controlled the precise angle, and one by one solid iron bullets roared in the rebel columns, and one after another the shield carts were smashed to pieces, and the iron bullets pierced the flesh of the people behind the shield carts, and the power was undiminished, and they continued to wreak havoc in the dense rebel army columns with a slip of blood.

In a round of artillery bombardment, nearly 100 people were killed and wounded by the rebels who buried the moat, and the miserable howls filled the queue, dozens of shield carts became fragments, and the people who were moving forward caused a riot.

After a round of artillery fire at the head of the city, some rebel officers shouted at the people in front: "Speed up the attack, get close to the moat, and the artillery fire at the head of the city will become an ornament, rush quickly!" ”

In the face of the rebels' bright swords and guns, the people could only push the shield cart forward in a panic again, and the speed of pushing the shield cart under the pressure of great fear increased significantly, and the rebel foot soldiers who followed behind were opened for a while.

"Boom Boom"

Under the command of Xilao, the Western artillery at the head of the city continuously spewed out bursts of gunsmoke, and one shell after another once again relentlessly in the rebel ranks.

The front row of the rebels was like being swept by a meat grinder, and the severed human bodies were scattered to the ground, blood gushing and flowing, and this apocalyptic situation finally made the people break down psychologically.

The people who were in the area of the shelling threw down their shield carts and fled in all directions, and a small group of people began to flee, affecting the surrounding people in an instant. Yesterday's scene of Minzhuang's rout and escape reappeared.

But today, all the people who turned back and fled were faced with the merciless killing of the rebels behind them. The 5,000 rebel soldiers were naturally easy to deal with these unarmed people.

The people who ran out of the shield cart array were quickly hacked to death by the rebel soldiers who followed, and the ferocity of the rebels seemed to exceed the artillery fire at the head of the city. The people who had just rioted wept and were forced to push the shield cart again in the direction of the moat.

At this time, the rebels' fifty Western cannons had been placed and their own defense had been completed, and they began to fire solid iron bullets at the head of Pingdu City, suppressing the firing of the artillery at the head of the city, and covering the advance of the shield vehicles.

"Boom, boom!"

Most of the iron bullets bombarded the city wall, and the violent impact made the people standing on the city wall feel a tremor, and a few iron bullets crossed the city wall, and naturally brought many casualties to the soldiers of the earthquake mountain battalion.

Enemy shells raged at the top of the city, but the defenders could not dodge. Life and death depend on each person's own luck.

Feng Jian watched the life that had just been alive turn into a cold corpse in a blink of an eye, and sighed silently: life and death on the battlefield is commonplace, learn to protect yourself, and strive to survive on the battlefield is the ultimate winner.

After a round of artillery fire from the rebels, the hidden Western gunners quickly measured and calibrated the angle of the gun's fire, and the iron bullets once again fired in the rebel array.

The most casualties in this round of shelling were the rebel soldiers, because of a period of delay, the rebel shield car was already less than a mile away from the moat, and the Western artillery was due to the angle of fire. Lack of striking capabilities against close targets.

Most of the people who drove the shield cart felt that there were no more comrades around them, and when they looked back, they found that the cannonballs fired by the other side had fallen far into the array of rebel soldiers.

Some of the people were secretly relieved when they saw the shells bringing bursts of flesh and blood wreaking havoc on the rebel array. I wish I could shoot more shells at the head of the city and kill all the Dog-Day rebels, and be glad that I had passed through the death blockade.

The moat is just around the corner. More than a thousand shield wagons were enough to fill the moat, and how the rebels who followed behind attacked the city had nothing to do with them. Some nimble Minzhuang secretly speculated.

How did they know that they were no longer able to control their own destiny after filling the moat? They will be forced to attack the walls to distract the opponent's defenses.

At the head of the city, Zhao Shougang ordered Xilao to aim the Western artillery at the rebel Western artillery team two miles away, and use the skilled shooting skills of Western craftsmen to compete with the rebels.

At the same time, the bird soldiers on both sides of the city gate were ordered to prepare and enter the firing state, and the sword and shield soldiers and pikemen prepared the gunpowder packs in the package, and ignited the core and threw it at the rebel attack array at the critical time.

This kind of gunpowder bag is the kind of gunpowder bag made by Feng Jian in Dengzhou Shuicheng last time, and now the gunpowder bag in the hands of the soldier has less gunpowder, and it is easy to throw away after igniting the primer, and the relative explosion power will also be reduced.

This is the equivalent of a simple grenade, and a sudden explosion among the rebels is bound to have a huge shock to the rebel soldiers.

Seeing that the rebel shield car array was nearly a hundred steps away from the city, Zhao Shougang waved his hand and said, "Shoot the birds!" The standard-bearer next to him immediately waved his flag and gave an order to the enemy's birds.

In an instant, the roar of bird guns on the enemy platforms on both sides sounded, and the rebel bird guns and archers behind the shield carts began to return fire.

At this time, the head of the city was hit by rebel shells again, but the soldiers of the Zhenshan Battalion who were attacking the rebels on the enemy platform ignored it.

In general, the casualties of the soldiers of the Zhenshan Battalion at the head of the city were relatively light, and they hid behind the battlements of the enemy's platform and condescendingly fired at the rebels, which had a natural advantage, while the rebels could only hide behind the shield carts and fire the bird guns and arrows at the head of the city, so the casualties were large.

But the moat was close at hand, and the people still pushed the shield cart forward, and finally advanced to the moat.

The moat of Pingdu City was eight feet wide and eight feet deep. Originally, before the Jiaolai River was dredged, this moat was in a waterless state, and because it was not excavated and maintained for a long time, the river was full of silt and debris.

After the opening of the Jiaolai River, Chen Suowen accepted Feng Jian's suggestion to re-excavate and maintain the moat, and brought water from the Jiaolai River to fill the entire moat, and took a boat from the moat to the Jiaolai River directly. (To be continued......)