Feng Jian waved his hand and said: "I specifically asked Xilao, the Western cannon fires six catties to three catties and six taels of solid iron bullets, which can play a huge role in the battle array, but the effectiveness of the siege operation is average, as for the use of the Franco cannon to attack the city wall, it is nonsense. As long as the opponent does not use gunpowder to explode directly at the city gate or city wall, it is difficult to cause great harm to the city wall even if these Western artillery bombardments. "What you have to think about is how to keep the soldiers safe when the rebels are attacking."

Zhao Shougang was a little worried about the bearing capacity of the city wall because he heard Shen Xiaoshan's intelligence mention that the other party had fifty Western artillery, and when he heard the commander's analysis, he immediately calmed down.

Feng Jian then advised: "Tomorrow's defensive battle, this officer will give you full authority to command, we have made all preparations, just waiting for the rebels to come and send them to death, what you have to consider is how to reduce the casualties of the soldiers when the rebels are attacking." ”

……

The atmosphere in Kong Youde's tent was depressed at this time, and there was only Kong Youde's vicious roar in the big tent: "...... Chen Guangfu, you patted your chest and assured Ben Shuai that you could easily take Xiaohuakou, and now two thousand soldiers are attacking a peak in Xiaohuakou, and in the end they are defeated and returned, is it because my Liaodong soldiers are instigated or the thieves entrenched in Xiaohuakou are too strong, Chen Guangfu, you come to tell Ben Shuai? ”

Chen Guangfu was sweating profusely, and retorted repeatedly: "The marshal doesn't know, this thief entrenched in Xiaohuakou is too fierce, and they have built defensive walls on all the mountain roads into the mountain, and the walls are full of guards. The last general sent people to investigate and learned that the only way to occupy Xiaohuakou was to forcibly attack the other party, and the last general ordered his soldiers to forcibly attack the thieves' strongholds everywhere. Instead, they were met with a strong counterattack against the firearms side. Successive attacks failed to overcome the opponent's defenses, and many soldiers were killed and wounded under the opponent's firearms. Our soldiers lacked firearms. It's hard to pose a threat to the other party, so come back and ask the boss for help. ”

Chen Guangfu peeked at Kong Youde with a thoughtful look. Then he continued: "How can ordinary bandits have such a powerful attack power, the last general guesses that it should be the regular army that occupies Xiaohuakou, why do these people want to occupy Xiaohuakou, this has to make people doubt, this matter has to be decided by the marshal." ”

Kong Youde's eyebrows twisted, Chen Guangfu's words sounded the alarm for him, from the moment he entered the territory of Pingdu, he noticed that there were strange things everywhere in the territory of Pingdu, first the sentinel who went out to investigate disappeared for no reason. Then he found that Pingdu City was heavily defended, and now he found that the main roads in and out of Pingdu and Laizhou were considered to be occupied, all of which made him feel uneasy, and Kong Youde felt like a big net was slowly surrounding him.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Kong Youde stared at Chen Guangfu and said: "Needless to say, you understand the importance of Xiaohuakou to my army, and now it is artificially occupied, which is to cut off the back road of our army, which means that our 20,000 people have become a lone army, blocked between Pingdu City and Xiaohuakou." Therefore, this little flower mouth must be taken down. Ben Shuai handed over all the Franco cannons in the artillery battalion to you, even if you use artillery bombardment, you have to control the small flower mouth to Ben Shuai. ”

Chen Guangfu felt trembling all over, Kong Youde's meaning was very clear, even if he used human life, he also had to control Xiaohuakou. For this reason, all the Francophone guns of the artillery battalion were handed over to him!

However, he clearly developed a sense of fear of the forces stationed at Xiaohuakou, where the opposing side had built multiple defensive points and their soldiers were hiding behind them. When a soldier enters the range of the opponent, a dense array of firearms will be fired from different directions. Crowds of soldiers would suddenly fall to the ground and scream screaming, and this situation of being beaten passively was indeed terrifying.

The other side has built too many strongholds and too many dense. With more than 200 Franc cannons, whether he can capture Xiaohuakou, Chen Guangfu has a little drum in his heart.

Kong Youde saw that Chen Guangfu was a little hesitant, thinking that Chen Guangfu wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail, and the anger in his heart surged again, his subordinates were all arrogant soldiers, and he could tolerate them normally, but he couldn't let them be presumptuous at a critical time.

Straightened up, stared at Chen Guangfu with a sinister gaze, and said sharply: "General Chen, are you going to disobey the orders of the commander?" ”

In the face of Kong Youde's vicious momentum, Chen Guangfu hurriedly retracted his distracting thoughts, shook his head and said: "How dare the last general disobey the general's order, and lead the troops back to Xiaohuakou early tomorrow morning." ”

Kong Youde snorted, turned his head to Mao Chenglu, Cao Shaozhong, and other important generals and said: "Tomorrow's siege battle is different from the past, this Pingdu city is heavily defended, it is difficult to do it with one blow like before, what are the high opinions of a few people, you might as well put it forward for the reference of this commander." ”

Cao Shaozhong said: "The last general thinks that before the siege battle tomorrow, it is best to go to the nearby villages to catch a group of villagers, let them carry the soil and rush in front, and fill the moat first, so that our soldiers can charge again."

Kong Youde frowned and said: "It's definitely too late to catch the people now, tomorrow the people in the camp will carry the soil to fill the moat, and then dispatch the general's chariot to supervise, dare to cower and cut it down, this matter will fall on General Cao, and three thousand people must be organized before the siege tomorrow, ready to fill the moat." ”

"The last general obeys!" Cao Shaozhong said loudly.

Mao Chenglu frowned and thought: "Dare to ask the marshal, what direction do you plan to launch the main attack from tomorrow?" ”

Kong Youde turned to Mao Chenglu and said: "Our army's battalion is stationed in the direction of Cheng'en Gate, of course, we must take the north gate as the main direction of attack. ”

Mao Chenglu looked directly at Kong Youde and said: "It is inferred from the other party's abandonment of the military camp outside the city that the other party has concentrated all its troops in the city, and is ready to defend it, and the number of soldiers defending the city will not be too much. ”

Cao Shaozhong grinned, a little unconvinced: "Slowly wear down the morale of the other party, to put it simply, how can it be done, Li Jiucheng and their soldiers and horses have been in Laizhou all the way and must not get out, if we are dragged all the way again, there is no food and material supply, I don't think there is a need for the imperial army to come, we will be in chaos!" ”

Historically, Liu Chengzu and Cao Shaozhong went to contact Houjin Emperor Taiji on behalf of Kong Youde and reached a refuge agreement with him. Cao Shaozhong thinks that he is Kong Youde's confidant, and he speaks a little casually.

Kong Youde ignored what Cao Shao said, but said to Mao Chenglu with a straight face: "General Mao, please make it clear." ”

Mao Chenglu squinted his eyes and said: "It is best to divide the soldiers into four ways to attack the city tomorrow, and launch a tentative attack on the four city gates at the same time, so that you can know where the weak point of the opponent's defense is from the strength of the opponent's counterattack force at the head of the city, and then concentrate all your strength to attack the weak position of the opponent's city, so that the opponent will lose sight of the other, and the opponent's morale will slowly decline, and the city will naturally be easy to break." ”

Kong Youde thought for a moment, clapped his hands and said: "General Mao is really high-minded, and he will act according to this plan when he attacks the city tomorrow." ”

At the fifth watch of the next day, the morning star on the horizon had quietly disappeared, and Feng Jian, Chen Suowen, Fang Zengwei and other Pingdu City officials climbed to the head of Pingdu City early and looked at the rebel camp in the distance through binoculars.

Smoke rose from the rebel camp, and there were many shadows in the camp, apparently in the midst of a personnel transfer.

Feng Jian put down his binoculars and said to Fang Zengwei, who was standing beside him: "Lord Fang, every meal of the soldiers in the city must be delivered in time, and it is best to add more meat to the meals during this period of time." ”

Fang Zengwei put down the binoculars and nodded: "Lord Feng, don't worry, many soldiers are working hard for me to pacify the people, and in terms of logistics support, they will definitely not let the soldiers in front be wronged." ”

Chen Suowen slowly put down the binoculars in his hand, frowned and said to Feng Jian: "If the rebels choose to attack the four city gates at the same time, do you have a way to deal with it?" ”

Feng Jian sighed: "The rebels only have 14,000 infantry to carry out siege operations, and 2,000 of them have been beaten by Zhou Wei's 3,000 headquarters, which means that the rebels only have 12,000 people, plus an artillery battalion to participate in the attack on Pingdu City, if the other party divides its troops to attack the four city gates at the same time, it will undoubtedly disperse their attack forces, I think Kong Youde and others should not divide their troops to fight." ”

Chen Suowen frowned and said, "What if the rebels plan to test the defense of my city and launch an attack at the same time?" ”

Feng Jian groaned: "I reserve a mobile force of 1,000 people at the head of the city, if there is really an unexpected situation, this support army can come in handy, and if there is a danger there, I will go there for reinforcements." ”

Chen seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard this, "That's good, this official always feels that the safety of hundreds of thousands of people in the city is in the hands of me and a few others, and it is better to think carefully about everything." ”

Feng Jian stared at his father-in-law, if he hadn't arrived, his father-in-law would have held Pingdu City without a major general, and was finally killed by Kong Youde's rebels on the day the city was broken.

After the restoration and reconstruction of Pingdu City, the later magistrates set up a sacrificial tablet for Chen Sowen in the Martyrs' Shrine, fully affirming Chen Sowen's integrity of coexisting and dying with the city.

Feng Jian shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts in his heart, and said with a smile: "After breakfast, the siege battle will start, the two adults can rest their minds and wait for the good news." ”

As he spoke, he saw a large group of people carrying breakfast to the city in a blink of an eye, and the aroma of food suddenly filled the city.

I saw large frames of white-flour steamed buns, large barrels of pork and tofu stewed vermicelli exuding an attractive aroma on the city, and the large vat next to it was full of millet porridge.

The sumptuous and tempting breakfast diluted the tense battle mood of the soldiers at the head of the city, and the soldiers defending the city received breakfast in order under the leadership of their respective captains.

The person in charge of distributing breakfast was a warden from the official office, and he said loudly: "Lord Chen of Haiphong Dao and Lord Zhizhou Fang have ordered to ensure that all soldiers eat and drink enough, and everyone can let go of their stomachs and eat full!" ”

Some of the soldiers of the Zhenshan Battalion smiled kindly, and the Zhenshan Battalion has always attached great importance to the soldiers' diet, and fish and meat are also common in their meals, so they don't care much about the warden's words.

When it came to the people who were transporting the food, they swallowed their saliva and watched the soldiers of the Zhenshan Battalion eat, and they were so envious that they could only swallow their saliva in the end.

Feng Jian smiled and said to Chen Suowen and Fang Zengwei: "Such a good meal, the official breakfast is solved here, are the two adults willing to eat together?" ”

Chen Suowen and Fang Zengwei shook their heads and walked towards the city.! (To be continued......)