3,000 artillery pieces, equal to 6,000 shells, plus the improvised small trebuchet return cannon, the firepower reached the maximum. Suddenly, the main gate of the city was dusty, the broken bricks and tiles flew up, and the arrow towers, guard towers and buildings in the city were smashed to pieces by the iron balls that were shot. Yili is not a vegetarian, how can his fortifications be so simple as the capital, the soldiers have entered the bunkers of the city wall, and the Ming army's attack is only the destruction of the buildings, and the lethality to the soldiers is not very large.

At the same time, he also fought back against the large return cannon on the head of the city, the so-called return cannon is a trebuchet, the principle is the same, but the appearance is slightly different. The firing range of the large return cannon is much higher than that of ordinary artillery, not to mention the small twin-shot artillery like this now, the power is also amazing, and it takes seven or eight people to complete the launch.

But after all, the return cannon is bulky and inflexible, the shells move in a parabolic line, and it is easy to be captured by the soldiers, and the large return cannon at the head of the city is to deal with the tightly arranged thousands of troops and horses, ready to smash a large area and roll over, but obviously the mobility of the Xia Dade Department is higher, although the infantry is mainly but can still dodge. In addition, the target is small and the chain reaction is weak, and the number of return guns is relatively small, only more than 10 units, so the effect is not too obvious, and many return guns are destroyed by artillery hits.

The accuracy of the artillery is not good, and it cannot be used as a tool to assist the attack, Xia Dade stepped forward, holding a spear in one hand and a plate axe in the other, and swung forward together: "Part of it, attack!" ”

The team of 2,000 people had already prepared a splicable ladder and made a simple crash out of logs. Attacking towards the main gate, the sound of killing shook the sky for a while.

Yili crawled the defenders out of the cave and began to shoot arrows at the Ming army. Because the Ming army has rushed to the city by means of the smoke of gunpowder, the archery at this time is nothing more than free shooting, although it is not as spectacular as the ten thousand arrows, but the lethality is not small at all.

Xia Dade ordered the crossbowmen to start shooting arrows and counterattacked, and ordered the second echelon to press. Another 2,000 people pressed it, and Yili Li originally knew that the Han people were scheming, so they arranged defenders at the other three gates. But now it seems that the Ming army just wants to attack the main gate, and there seems to be no other movement. Obviously, the defenders of the main gate could not hold on. Fortunately, the defenders of the other three gates were replenished in time, relieving the pressure on the defenders of the main gate, but at the same time, under the command of Xia Dade, the second part of the Ming army also rushed up.

The art of war is cloudy. Siege is more than three times the strength of the defender. This is the only way to win, but now there are about 2,000 defenders at the main gate, and a total strength of 3,000, and the whole city can be temporarily prepared for battle. On the other hand, there were only 7,000 people on the side of the Ming army, and even if there were not many soldiers in the army, it was enough to rely on the city fortifications to support, in short, the situation was very unfavorable for the Ming army.

Xia Dade let the crossbowmen finish putting away the bows and arrows, and then threw the spear far in front of the city wall and waved the plate axe: "All siege the city!" From the general down, retreat from this spear. Kill it! The rear team slashes the front team, and the small flag slashes the soldiers. The general flag will cut the small flag, the will cut the soldiers, the handsome will cut the generals, and never die! ”

Saying that, Xia Dade rushed forward in the first place, the commander personally charged, the morale of the army was greatly boosted, and the remaining three thousand people rushed over like a flood, each of them bravely marched forward without fear, and suddenly the sound of killing shook the sky and the momentum was like a rainbow. The Northwest people, who have always regarded themselves as fierce, saw this group of Han people who regarded death as home, and suddenly felt timid, and even flinched for a moment.

The battlefield is changing rapidly, not to mention the importance of this moment, that is, the Ming army has overwhelmed the Yili defenders in terms of momentum. The war was brutal, and the battle lasted for an hour, which is not long in a fortified battle, but it is a long time to continue a fortified battle.

Xia Dade sat on the ruined city wall, his legs on the outside, and the axe slashed into a corpse beside him, and stood there. It was with this axe that he used to split the gate of the city that was already on the verge of limit.

Looking at the ruins and rivers of corpses, everything was so gray and dreary in the evening sky, it was impossible to distinguish whether it was the corpse of the enemy or the corpse of our army, whether it was loess or a man, whether it was a living person or a dead person.

"General, you've been shot." One person said behind Xia Dade.

Xia Dade snorted, looked back, and saw an arrow stuck in his shoulder and arm. Xia Dade smiled and said, "It's not in the way." As he spoke, he broke the shaft of the arrow to prevent it from hanging elsewhere. The adjutant general next to him said: "The general can't be like this, let's take a look from the military Lang." ”

"It's okay, my skin is rough and thick, but it's just skin trauma." Xia Dade grinned and said: "You go and straighten it out, don't make any other trouble, of course, there are some things that you still have to turn a blind eye to, and Yili let our brother die so much, you should vent it, who will let them resist." It's inconvenient for me to come forward for this kind of thing, I was too tired from the fight just now, so I sat here and rested for a while. ”

The face of the "this" general sank, and he suddenly thought of Chang Yuchun, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty and the famous general who slaughtered the city.

Xia Dade said: "I know what you are thinking, I mean to kill as little as possible, no matter what you still resist, women and children are not allowed to hurt, and let the soldiers do the rest at will, anyway, we are just attacking and not occupying, and we don't have the strength to occupy." So what should be robbed should be taken, just take it. ”

"Yes!" The lieutenant general was relieved.

But after a while, Lang Zhong came up and said that Lang Zhong was just a barefoot doctor. Seeing that he was clumsy, Xia Dade took a knife and burned it on the fire, dug out the arrows himself and sprinkled them with hemostatic medicine. After Lang Zhong bandaged Xia Dade, Xia Dade waved him down.

It is true that it is inconvenient for Xia Dade to enter the city now, he needs to be chaotic, if the soldiers rob themselves in the situation they are in, they must be unbearable, and they understand their own shortcomings, only out of sight is the best policy, and also try to put the soldiers in the city, anger, anger will bring you into a catastrophe from which you will never recover.

The sunset was like blood, and there were angry shouts and heart-rending cries in the city in his ears, Xia Dade sighed: "Third brother, hurry up and finish this battle, wouldn't it be nice for us to disarm and return to the field together?" ”

Yili brought the army back to defend faster than Xia Dade imagined, at noon on the second day. They had already arrived at the city of Yili. Yili named the Li Khanate because of the city of Yili, and Yili regarded the few decent cities in the Li Khanate as excellent soldiers. Many of your family members and friends are in this bustling city. After they learned the news that the capital of the province was about to be attacked, they could not withdraw their defenses, and they did not withdraw their troops quickly until they agreed with Turpan.

Saving people is like fighting a fire, and if you go back a moment earlier, you can die one less person. The men cast by the wild sand in the northwest did not stop and ran back to their capital. Looking at the wolf smoke billowing and ruined city walls, listening to the silence in the city, most people understood. The city was broken. Many people cried, and as soon as their hearts were extinguished, their bodies collapsed first, and many people couldn't bear the fatigue and fell to the ground, causing chaos in the team for a while. Of course, there are many more who are holding their whips tightly. Hate the East. Han people, you have to pay the price of blood.

The commander led the troops into the city, and the scene of the mountain of corpses in the sea of blood inevitably made these fierce barbarians gag again and again, and then saw that there were no dead in the city, but found that in addition to the old and weak, women and children had their basic rights killed. Yili is a barbarian, the barbarian people are fierce, after the city is broken, the soldiers fight to the last one, and the people still have resistance. Played street fighting with the Ming army. If you talk about horse warfare and cavalry, maybe the Han people can't do it, but if you talk about street fighting. That's not good for the people in the city, the formation strategy of the street battle is both theoretical and practical, and there is no such city in the Ming Dynasty, and the city is nothing at all.

They resisted, Xia Dade was not there, and the deputy general after the instruction did not care, and for a time the heads were killed and blood flowed, but the anger of the soldiers who sacrificed their comrades gradually disappeared, and the anger around them subsided a lot. And now, Xia Dade has withdrawn and withdrawn towards the Ming army's defense line, because he knows that his soldiers can't resist the angry defenders at all, and if the remaining party in the city is not destroyed, if the inside and the outside should be combined, then he will definitely be defeated, not to mention

The Ming army did not kill the old and young, women and children, and did not slaughter the city, not only because the troops were not enough to slaughter the city, but also because of Xia Dade's order. In this battle, more than half of the soldiers of the Ming army died, and with such heavy casualties, the Ming army was already very restrained in not slaughtering the city, which was enough to be called a benevolent and righteous army. But the army that returned to the defense was extremely angry, and even hated the Ming army, so they made a decision to go out to pursue Xia Dade, perhaps they soon realized that this decision was wrong.

The Ming army invaded Yili and replenished food after the city to rest for a while, and retreated that night, no matter who it seems, this is because they know that the troops are insufficient and the soldiers are tired and are all wounded, so they fled in a hurry. The Ming army left more than half a day early, and took away many livestock and horses in the city, but the Li army was different, and the long-term rush to return for reinforcements caused the physical strength of men and horses to reach the limit.

However, anger supported them to resolutely pursue it, and the fatigue of the army was not left behind, and they clearly knew that the Ming army was as exhausted as themselves.

The implementation was indeed the case, although it was half a day early and a large number of horses were replenished, but the Ming army still did not move fast. Although the old department of Shandong Xiangma is called Xiangma, not everyone can ride horses, but after Lu Bing intervened, he spent a lot of money to buy horses and trained them in equestrianism. However, in the face of the changeable terrain in the northwest, their equestrian skills are still a little stretched.

Not to mention the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used the national treasury to train an excellent cavalry, even if this is not yet a direct confrontation with the people on horseback, after the loss of the sixteen states of Yanyun, the Han people lost a rare horse breeding land. Therefore, not only are good horses scarce, but even ordinary horses are also rare, and it is tantamount to a fantasy to form a cavalry-based army. Since they can be sent to the frontier to assist, then the soldiers and horses of this court are the kind that their mothers don't love their uncles, and they don't even know how to lead horses wherever they are on horseback.

The Central Plains is mostly flat, and the cavalry is the natural nemesis of the infantry, so the three thousand battalions of the three major battalions in the capital can be so invincible. It is precisely because of this that the good horses that Lu Bing sent to the capital when he was in Shandong would make the well-informed princes and nobles and even the emperor ecstatic.

People who don't know how to ride are crouched on horseback, sometimes not as fast as walking, and after stumbling for two hours, most of them learn how to ride. Of course, it is only a ride, and the horse walks gently or at a small trot, and if the horse gallops, it will still fall off the horse's back.

Not only that, but horseback riding is also very demanding on the terrain, and when the steep slope is uphill, regardless of whether it is up or down, this group of soldiers will tremble, turn over and dismount and lead away. This kind of back and forth delayed time, although it was faster than walking, but it was far from the speed that Xia Dade wanted. Xia Dade's secret agent can only resign himself to fate, the soldiers come to block the water and cover the earth, and the plan often can't catch up with the changes, life is like this, and even more so on the battlefield, it is not too much to say that it is changing rapidly.

One ran and one chased, and Yili knew that once this attack also hid the army of Licheng into the Ming army's defense line, it would be impossible for him to win them. Relying on the newly recovered Jiayuguan barrier, the constantly improving fortifications of the Ming army, and the large number of Ming troops waiting for work, Yili did not want to directly confront it. The construction fortifications of the Han people are beautiful and unbreakable, even if they are as strong as the Mongolian iron cavalry, they are also blocked from the city by the Han people, and they have fought for three generations of Great Khan.

The pursuers in Yili are not stupid, they know very well, so they must hurry up and eliminate this group of murderers before they go back, and take revenge! (To be continued......)