Every actual battle is a good opportunity to accumulate experience and improve skills. Although the sappers were formed and trained, they still lacked actual combat experience.

After waiting for a long time, the people of the engineering team finally finished the survey and ran back to report the situation to Zhu Yongxing.

"Your Highness, the soil quality is suitable, there is no water above five feet, and the technique of acupuncture and blasting can be practiced." Wang Xie, the captain of the sapper, wiped his sweat, even the soil and mud, and immediately became a flowery face, but he couldn't hide the excitement and excitement in his heart.

"Is a double tunnel possible? How long does it take? Zhu Yongxing felt that since there was an element of increasing actual combat experience, it was better to come to a big one.

Wang Xie thought for a moment and said, "I think it is feasible to humble my position, and it will be enough in two or three days at most." ”

Zhu Yongxing nodded with a smile and said, "Then let it go, let the auxiliary soldiers dig trenches to approach the city first, and also reduce your workload, speed up the cave attack, and strive to break the city in three days." ”

Breaking the city in three days, and not a crazy assault, this is definitely an astonishing speed. Not only did Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan find it unbelievable, but it was something that the Qing army in the city never expected.

As night fell, the moon moved in the dark blue sky, spreading its wings of light around Yongchang City.

Suddenly, the golden drums in the west of Yongchang City rang out in unison, breaking the silence of the night, and also making the nerves of the Qing army defending the city suddenly tense.

Yang Shen was neatly draped and climbed to the city to defend against the enemy. However, the expected battle did not happen, and only the figures outside the city could be seen shaking by the moonlight, and the sound of excavation was incessant.

"This is—" Yang Shen observed for a long time, and said to himself: "Dig a trench to block the city gate, and want to trap our army in the city?" Or follow Zhuge 's plan and sound the golden drum in vain to exhaust our army? ”

Originally, a ditch around the city had been dug outside the city of Yongchang, but the Ming army seemed to feel that it was not enough insurance. Trenches were dug outside the Xiding Gate and Yongzhen Gate in the city, as if to completely besiege Yongchang City.

Yang Shen didn't know why, and the enemy was out of range, so he had to wait and see what happened at the head of the city, and ordered the generals defending the city in other directions to be vigilant. Don't take it lightly.

Thousands of auxiliary soldiers took turns to carry out the construction, and soon dug a circular trench outside Andingmen and Yongzhen Gate, which was more than a foot wide but only five feet deep. The excavated soil accumulated, slowly forming a sheltering wall.

Subsequently, the construction direction turned to Yongchang City, and several trenches at a 45-degree angle to the ring city trench zigzag forward zigzag, 30 meters a fold, and excavated forward at a speed visible to the naked eye. Soon it was cross-connected with the first trench dug by the Qing army.

Trenching? The Ming army had to fill the trenches in this strange way, and it was true that it would reduce casualties. Yang Shen seemed to understand a little, and immediately ordered the artillery in the city to fire to stop the movement of the Ming army.

One by one, the shells burst out of the city, smashing to the ground, kicking up clouds of dirt and dust. But the zigzag trench effectively avoided damage to the personnel, as long as it was not particularly unlucky, just hit by solid shells that fell into the trench. There is almost no danger.

The artillery fire on the city did not stop, but several trenches continued to stretch forward stubbornly. The first trench was broken. He dug into the second trench again, like sharp arrows, stabbing closer and closer to the ancient city of Yongchang.

"Boom!" A roar rang out from behind the earthen walls outside the city, and heavy smoke rose up. A cannonball that spewed sparks, like a meteor dragging its tail in the night, swept through the sky and smashed into Yongchang City.

Half a day. A dull explosion suddenly sounded in Yongchang City. The cannonballs of the Tianwei cannon flew directly over the city walls and hit the city.

"Raise the angle and continue the test firing." Qian Bangchen lay on the earthen wall, observed the impact point with a telescope, jumped down and personally adjusted the elevation angle of the Tianwei cannon.

"Frank Ford's Meteor" (Frank Ford was home to the main arsenal of the American Northern Army)? Zhu Yongxing shook his head slightly. No, it should be renamed Sandbar. Because the barrel of the Tianwei cannon was too short, some gunpowder was wasted because it didn't have time to burn fully, but in terms of momentum, it was quite amazing.

"Boom!" Another amazing launch, the "Meteor of Shaba" flew across the night sky with a bright tail, and a moment later, a brilliant fire burst out from the head of Yongchang City, and the explosion was deafening.

The tactics of combining tunnel blasting and artillery bombardment, which was again Zhu Yongxing's plagiarism, was adopted by the Taiping army when attacking Yifengmen in Nanjing.

It is not only the sappers who test it in real combat and improve their operational capabilities, but also the artillery. Although Zhu Yongxing brought all the shells produced by the Sapa Arsenal overtime, and there were only more than 300 shells, he did not hesitate to smash one-third of them in Yongchang City.

With constant adjustments, the firing frequency of the Tianwei cannon is not high, but it is hitting more and more accurately. At a distance of more than 900 meters, the artillery at the head of Yongchang City had no way to deal with this kind of curved mortar covered by an earthen wall. Range is one thing, and the ballistic curve is even more difficult to solve, even if it is a Hongyi cannon, I am afraid that there is nothing that can be done.

The sound of the golden drum suddenly sounded in the south of the city, and Yang Shen, who had been protected by his own soldiers and got off the city wall, suddenly came to his senses. This is the sound of attacking from the east to the west, and the enemy's main attack is in the south of the city. He roared loudly, and hurried to the south of the city with a sentry to take command.

Not long after Yang Shen left, an explosion sounded in the city. Immediately after, a strong white light flashed, and a big explosion that had never been seen before exploded violently, the earth trembled violently in the explosion, and the dark night sky was a dazzling blood red! The towers of Andingmen began to crumble, raising even thicker smoke and dust.

Martyrdom? Zhu Yongxing was stunned for a moment, and then he understood what it was. The Qing army must have been ill-prepared, and the gunpowder was not stored safely enough, and it was detonated by the shells of the Tianwei cannon.

The vision was blurred, and the smoke and dust from the explosion blocked all the towers, and there was chaos. The people outside the city stared in amazement, eager to know the outcome of the explosion in the tunnel.

"The city is broken?" Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, suddenly had this thought in his heart, and he was about to give an order almost immediately, preparing to enter the city.

"Is this a siege? There is no trench, no charge, no ladder, no climbing the city...... "Zhao Wang Bai Wenxuan swallowed his saliva laboriously, no wonder His Royal Highness Min took the initiative to take the responsibility of breaking the city, and handed over the battle after the city to himself and the King of Jin, it turned out that he was confident and had the chance to win!

"With this sharp weapon, why should my Siamese army be afraid of the Burmese army, His Royal Highness Min still has reservations!" Pabi Luoja's adopted son, Luan Su, and several other Siamese generals watched the astonishing explosion from a distance and couldn't help but reestimate.

"His Highness Min—really, really, it's unfathomable." It took a long time for Long Jizhao to regain the rotation of his eyes, close his mouth that had been open for a long time, and look at the side, several local officials or representatives of local officials still maintained the same appearance as he had just now.

My Long family finally took the right step and hugged His Royal Highness Min's thick legs! Long Jizhao couldn't help but feel proud, Long Er was already a female official, and she got along well with Mengzhu, if she didn't make a mistake, it should be no problem to get a name in the future. When one person attains the Tao, the chicken and dog ascend to heaven. The strength of the Mo Nailong clan is already good, and with the identity of Long'er, the future development is bound to be smooth!

………………

This night, Yang Shen barely closed his eyes, and the Qing army in the city was also disturbed again and again. The explosion in the west of the city, the sound of the golden drum flickered from the east to the south, and it was impossible to figure out where the Ming army was going to attack from. In the second half of the night, the two moats around the city in the west of the city were dug through by the Ming army. The Ming army secretly transported the bombardment cannon to the city, and the fierce bombardment caused many casualties to the Qing army, and most of the artillery at the head of the city was also destroyed.

The sky was slightly bright, and the Ming army ended the operation. Yang Shen led several generals to inspect the city defense, and when he saw the situation in Xicheng, he felt that his confidence was suddenly low.

The tower of Andingmen has collapsed, and the Qing soldiers and civilians are picking up the remaining bricks and rubble. There were still many bodies around the blast site that had not been carried away, some were curled up among the masonry, some were half-poked out of the rubble, and blood was everywhere. The walls were in shambles, with broken weapons and tattered uniforms mixed among the rubble, and a few cannons lying crookedly.

Yang Shen knew that he must not show signs of depression at this time, otherwise his morale would fall even more. The Ming army continued to harass the four cities last night, but dug trenches and blocked all eight city gates. This is not bad in Yang Shen's opinion, there is no way to escape out of the city, and the soldiers in the city have only one way to fight to the death.

"The enemy wants to open the city with artillery, but that is wishful thinking." Yang Shen put on a look of contempt, stretched out his hand and pointed outside the city, and said: "The enemy army is arrogant, and he doesn't know the art of war, and he doesn't even understand the siege of the city. It must be known that if the army is dull for a long time, the siege will be bent, and the city will not be pulled out, and the disaster of this attack will also be the disaster. ”

"What your lord says is very true." The cronies and generals brought by Yang Shen hurriedly echoed: "One is prosperous, then it is declining, and three is exhausted." As long as our army is not intimidated by the enemy's false threat and holds on, the enemy will be overwhelmed and will attack the city, and will suffer heavy casualties in vain. ”

"Your Excellency is wise." Guerrilla Shao Mengkai was very frightened in his heart, the shadow of Tengchong's defeat and escape has not dissipated, but at this time he could not show discouragement, he stretched out his finger and pointed outside the city, and said: "The enemy army is building siege equipment, which shows that its skills are exhausted. ”

That's right, the Ming army outside the city was constantly bringing in timber, several ladders had been made and placed on the ground haphazardly, and there were auxiliaries shuttling in the trenches.

Out of town to drive away? This thought flashed through Yang Shen's mind, but he immediately vetoed it. Seeing that there were already many Ming musketeers in the trenches, going out of the city to drive them away was just a battle. Without the protection of the city walls, a war of attrition was unwilling to be carried out by the Qing army, which was inferior in strength.

"Cover the walls with soaked quilts and straw and bombard them with weak enemy artillery. Only a small number of soldiers were left at the head of the city to monitor the enemy army, and the rest were on standby at any time under the city. The prostitutes in the city went to the city, splashing the blood of black dogs and hating cannons. "Yang Shen had already made preparations, but he didn't expect that the Ming army would still pose a threat to the city wall without Hongyi cannons, and it was so fast.

"Your Excellency is wise."

"Your Excellency is properly arranged, and there is no gap for the enemy army to take advantage of."

"My lord."

Yang Shen's heart was gloomy, he smiled and waved his hand, and continued to inspect the city defense. (To be continued......)