As was the case when firing, the four iron cannonballs fired by the four bronze cannons, weighing more than ten pounds, were still the fastest of all the projectiles. While the other powder packets were still flying in the air, they had already landed on the head of Shouzhou City. Although due to the short training time, the accuracy of the first actual combat shooting of the Shenji Zhi was relatively poor, and only two of the four shells landed near the intended target - the city gate tower, but whether or not they fell where they should have landed, these four big iron balls left a clear mark everywhere they passed before they completely stopped - two big holes were left on the north gate of Shouzhou City, and a total of more than a dozen soldiers were injured or killed because they were hit. Even Liu Renzhen, who was observing the formation of the Zhou army at the head of the city, was almost hit by broken bricks falling from the city gate.

Liu Renzhen, who was lucky enough to escape, slapped the dust that fell on his body, and secretly called luck in his heart. I thought to myself, if I hadn't stayed on the edge of the city wall because I wanted to observe the enemy's army formation for a while, but had just returned to the city gate tower to rest because I was unwell, I was afraid that I would have been hit by this sudden stone bullet - in Liu Renzhen's knowledge, such an attack could only be done by the stone bullet thrown by the stone thrower.

However, before Liu Renzhen could raise his head again to observe whether the enemy had begun to attack, Sun Yu, the deputy envoy of Jiedu who was standing next to him, suddenly pointed to the sky and shouted: "It's not good, the enemy army has thrown stones to attack the city." After calling out, without waiting for Liu Renzhen to give the order, he had already worked with other generals to pick up Liu Renzhen, who was sick and slow, and hid at the root of the female wall - at this time, the stones thrown by the enemy army could already be seen, and it would definitely be too late to run down the city, and hiding at the base of the wall was the most effective way.

At the same time as Sun Yu shouted, some sharp-eyed soldiers defending the city also saw the black dots in the sky that were falling towards him. So, all the soldiers followed the example of their commanders, hugged their heads and hid in the base of the wall.

It's a pity that all the officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty, including Liu Renzhen and Sun Yu, did not expect that it was this most correct "anti-stone method" in their opinion that made them lose the opportunity to escape from the first line of Zuihou - the attack of the gunpowder bag was mainly aimed at the defenders on the city wall, and if the officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Army ran to the city or the city, there was still a great hope of escaping this catastrophe.

A moment later, hundreds of small gunpowder packets weighing about ten pounds first fell on the city wall and near the left side of the city wall - for the sake of firing safety, the lead of the gunpowder bag left a certain margin to ensure that it would not explode close to the launch position, so the vast majority of the gunpowder packs did not explode immediately after landing, but began to roll around by the inertia of movement.

As a result, a strange scene appeared in front of the eyes of the Shouzhou defenders at this time—hundreds of strange objects, either round or flat, that seemed to be wrapped in linen cloth, and were still sparkling, were rolling around their bodies, or bouncing a few times and then no longer moving.

Just when the officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty hesitated whether they should pick one up and take a look, the sparks that were just bubbling suddenly disappeared, replaced by a dazzling red light, a loud explosion, and a cloud of black and white smoke - the premise that these officers and soldiers were lucky enough to be alive and not blinded by the explosion.

In the continuous sound of explosions, those officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty who thought they could escape the stone bullet attack of the Zhou army were immediately enveloped in flames and smoke. The soldiers who were relatively close to the powder pack were either injured in the face or in the eyes, or at least their ears were ringing in their ears by the loud noise, and they could not hear the sound. Although the soldiers who were far away were not injured, they were also frightened by this sudden turn of events, and they did not know what to do for a while. And the thick smoke that shrouded almost the entire Beicheng city wall inside choked all the officers and soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Liu Renzhen and Sun Yu, the two envoys of the main and deputy festivals, were not spared, although neither of them suffered any injuries, but they were also choked by the pungent gunsmoke, and Liu Renzhen, who was weaker, coughed so much that snot and tears flowed out together. Although Sun Yu, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, could not understand what strange tricks Zhou Jun had used to fill the city with this kind of pungent smoke, he was sure of one thing - the city was by no means a place to stay for a long time, and he should leave as soon as possible.

Therefore, he hurriedly held back his cough and reached out to pick up Liu Renzhen beside him, intending to take him away from the city and go to a safe place under the city to command the battle. However, when he stood up, bent down, and grabbed Liu Renzhen's arm, ready to pick him up from the ground, he suddenly had a premonition of unhappiness, a premonition that danger was approaching. And just as he was hesitating whether to continue to pick up Liu Renzhen and run down the city, or to hide back in the corner of the female wall, a strange howling sound had already appeared above his head. It was the sound of a heavy object flying quickly in the air, and from the magnitude of the sound, Sun Yu could tell that it was already very close to him. ,

The Zhou army used the smoke as a cover to carry out a stone attack on the defenders of Shouzhou - this was an idea of Sun Yu before he died. A huge gunpowder bag weighing 100 catties landed impartially on Sun Yu, who was bending down and bowing his head, and was about to help his boss get up. Although a powder pack is not as hard as a stone, it is in no way lighter than a stone. In the face of the huge momentum, Sun Yu's flesh and blood body was immediately smashed to the point that his bones and tendons were broken, and he died on the spot. However, Sun Yu's death was not the end of this tragedy, but only the beginning.

The castration of the gunpowder bag that hit Sun Yu was weakened a lot, and after rolling on the ground a few times, it stopped. Before Liu Renzhen and the other Southern Tang generals could recover from the shock of seeing Sun Yu being stoned to death, the lead of the giant gunpowder packet just a few steps away from them had already burned to the roots, and an earth-shattering noise followed.

However, unlike the small powder packets in front of them, which only exploded and produced thick smoke, with this loud noise, dozens of sharp iron thistles and hundreds of sharp iron pieces flew out in all directions, harvesting all life within a radius of dozens of steps. Since Liu Renzhen and his subordinates were all within this distance, with the explosion of this huge gunpowder pack, it can be said that the command and leadership organs in Shouzhou City have been wiped out—these people are now lying in holes near the crumbling city tower.

However, what frightened the defending officers and soldiers even more was that all this was only the beginning of their own tragic fate, and similar loud noises and deadly pieces of iron began to appear one after another on and around the city walls, and the original coughing sound was soon replaced by the screams of the wounded soldiers.

After an initial period of confusion and confusion, all the surviving soldiers made the same decision - to flee, to escape the hellish walls, to escape to the strongest houses in the city. As a result, thousands of soldiers poured into the city like a tidal wave, despite the shouts of the officers who were still able to support them. The horse road, which is not wide, was blocked in an instant, and the soldiers who were eager to flee for their lives pushed me and made a mess. The officers were also caught up in it, unable to move, and had no ability to maintain order for the soldiers.

While the soldiers were crowded on the road, a second wave of small powder packs flew into the city again. And, very coincidentally, at this time, the tower, which had been crumbling in the first wave of attacks, finally could no longer support it and collapsed with a bang. In this way, the Southern Tang soldiers, who had long been frightened by the heavy gunpowder packets just now, were even more frightened at this time, and they had no heart to judge whether this time was a small "flying thunder" that was scary and used to release smoke or a big "flying thunder" that could take people's lives—"flying thunder" was the name that these Southern Tang soldiers temporarily gave to these gunpowder packets. They had only one thought now, and that was to get out of the cannibalistic hell as fast as possible. And I don't know who shouted "Liu Jiedu and Sun Deputy Jiedu are dead", which became a straw that overwhelmed the camel, causing the situation in the city to completely get out of control and the defenders in the city to completely collapse.

As a result, the already crowded horse road was completely blocked at this time. In desperation, the able-bodied soldiers at the top of the trail began to push people down the trail, and many of them fell off the trail. The soldiers at the lower end of the road jumped directly from the road to the ground, regardless of the danger. And the soldiers who were caught in the rub even began to wield the knives and guns in their hands to slash and kill indiscriminately, in order to kill a way out for themselves. The result of such a move was naturally a scuffle, and for a time, the shouts and screams of the soldiers were incessant.

In the end, it was the heavy gunpowder packs that crossed the city walls and landed on the road to relieve the soldiers who had fled for their lives. The violent explosion killed dozens of people and injured hundreds of people on the spot, and many soldiers were shocked to the bottom of the horse road, and the originally crowded horse road was empty in an instant, and the Southern Tang soldiers took advantage of this opportunity to swarm down and flee to the city.

Xu Shao'an, who was commanding the battle outside the city, and other Later Zhou generals, and even Sejong Chai Rong, did not expect that the first wave of gunpowder pack attacks would achieve such a result—the city walls were filled with gunsmoke, and they couldn't see that there were basically no living people on the city walls at this time—therefore, under Xu Shao'an's instructions, all the siege equipment troops were still firing gunpowder packs at the city head in order. ,

After the bombardment of the city lasted for about half an hour, Xu Shao'an, who felt that the effect should be similar, waved the red flag in his hand again, and ordered the crossbowmen and carts to step forward and carry out the second step of the siege.

As the red flag in Xu Shao'an's hand waved, the carts, teams of crossbowmen, bed crossbows, bronze cannons, and chariots carrying flintlock muskezeers all began to move, moving slowly in the direction of the city wall.

Because they were worried about the attack of the Southern Tang army at the head of the city—the first time they used gunpowder weapons, no one knew what effect they could achieve—so the chariots walking in front and the crossbowmen in charge of covering were very cautious. Especially the exposed crossbowmen, all of them looked very nervous, and the crossbow arrows that had been wound in their hands kept pointing at the distant city wall, ready to fight back at any time.

However, to the surprise of the soldiers, until they approached the city wall no more than a hundred paces away, there was still no movement above the city. This abnormal phenomenon made the chariot and crossbowmen who were at the forefront hesitate a little, for fear that the other party had set up some ambush in advance, and waited for themselves to get into the trap and then catch them all. However, hesitation is hesitation, and these soldiers did not dare to take a step back without receiving the order to retreat. Now I have no bottom in my heart, and I have to continue to move forward.

While the attacking soldiers were hesitant, Xu Shao'an, Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin and others in the back also felt a little strange. Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin both set their eyes on Xu Shao'an at this time, hoping that this firearms expert could give him an explanation - whether this is because the firearms are too powerful, or whether there is some conspiracy of the Southern Tang Army.

At this time, Xu Shao'an was also a little vague in his heart, and it was the first time that he, a so-called firearms warfare expert, had used this primitive firearm to fight in actual combat. Although he was full of confidence when explaining Jihua to Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin just now, in fact, he didn't have any idea what kind of effect this tactic could achieve. Therefore, in the face of the inquiring eyes of Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin and others, Xu Shaoan's first reaction was to raise the telescope and look at the head of Shouzhou City, so as to grasp the first-hand materials and then explain them to others.

As the gunpowder bag offensive gradually weakened, the gunpowder smoke on the head of Shouzhou City had slowly dispersed at this time, and what caught Xu Shao'an's eyes was the lifeless city head, the collapsed city tower, and the corpses of the soldiers of the Southern Tang Army. Xu Shao'an couldn't believe this situation, he repeatedly observed for a long time before he gave him the monocular that Chai Rong gave him - in order not to attract the attention of others too much, Xu Shaoan did not use the modern telescope he brought to the front line in Huainan - moved away from his eyes, turned his head to Chai Rong and said: "Bixia, as far as the minister has seen, the city is only afraid of ......"

"I'm afraid that there are no living enemy troops on the city," Chai Rong, who was holding a telescope to observe the city, directly said the next half of Xu Shaoan's words.

"I didn't expect these gunpowder packs to be so powerful, but with an attack of half an hour, the enemy army could be wiped out on the city, and Commander Xu is really a master." Liu Guangyi praised on the side - Xu Shao'an's gunpowder bag is powerful, as the deputy capital of the god, Xu Shaoan's superior, his face is also quite bright.

Several waves of gunpowder bag attacks can achieve such an effect, and Xu Shao is also very happy. However, as a modern soldier who knows more about the performance of black powder, reason told him that although the black powder thrown out before and after added up to thousands of catties, its power was not enough to blow up all the defenders on the enemy's city tower - although there were many corpses on the city, it was by no means all the defenders of the Southern Tang Dynasty on this wall, and even half of them could not be reached. The biggest reason why there is not a single living person in the city now is that those Southern Tang soldiers were extremely afraid of this never-before-seen combat method and combat weapon after suffering the first gunpowder attack in this time and space, and thus were scared away.

Thinking of this, Xu Shaoan hurriedly said to Liu Guangyi: "Liu Yuhou praised it. As the last general could see, only a few enemy troops were killed at the head of the city, and the vast majority of the enemy troops should have fled from the city after being frightened by the attack of the gunpowder bag. ”

"Commander Xu is too humble, and it is also a great ability to scare away the enemy troops at the head of the city. It is far easier to deal with a group of fearless routs than it is to deal with a group of strong soldiers with high morale. Liu Guangyi continued to put gold on Xu Shaoan's face.

Before Xu Shao'an could say a few more humble words, Liu Guangyi had already turned to Chai Rong and said: "Bixia, the minister thinks that since the enemy army has been frightened by the firearm attack just now, our army should immediately dispatch the whole army, take advantage of the opportunity of the emptiness of the enemy's city head, Liliang, to climb the city wall and occupy Jinghuai Gate in one fell swoop. ”,

Chai Rong thought for a moment when he heard this, shook his head, and said: "Although what Aiqing said has some truth, but Liu Renzhen is also a resourceful person, and our army must not be guarded against. ”

After speaking, without waiting for Liu Guangyi to argue again, he sent an order to the generals: "Order the left army to immediately move to seize the city, and the other armies will not move for the time being." In addition, in order to prevent the enemy from cheating, the delivery of gunpowder packs to the city gate cave by carts was carried out as usual, and the light stone throwers had to continue to throw gunpowder packs at the head of the city before our troops approached the city wall. ”

Since Chai Rong had already given the decree, it was a holy decree, and the generals hurriedly received the decree and acted quickly.

So, just as the chariots and crossbowmen continued to cautiously approach the city wall, more than 10,000 soldiers of the left army of the Zhou army also began to move, they carried ladders and pushed goose carts, slowly advancing forward, and gradually merged with the chariots and crossbowmen in front.

With the support of the large group of men and horses, the confidence of the originally cautious chariots and crossbowmen increased, and the speed of their advance also increased, and it was not long before they reached the left side of the city wall. At the same time, all the stone throwers in the rear also stopped moving to prevent accidental injury to their own people.

Facts have proved that Xu Shao'an and Chai Rong have overestimated the fighting will of the Southern Tang Army, and their previous worries are completely superfluous, but Liu Guangyi's judgment is more in line with the actual situation. The first Zhou soldier to climb the top of Shouzhou saw only corpses and building wreckage all over the ground, without any sign of the existence of a living person.

As the number of Zhou troops at the head of the city increased, officers at all levels began to lead their soldiers to develop in depth, and soon occupied the Jinghuai Gate and the city walls more than a mile long on each side, until they turned into the city walls on the east and west sides, and encountered slightly decent resistance.

However, the resistance of the Southern Tang defenders on the east and west walls ended there. On the one hand, at this time, the Zhou army had already landed tens of thousands of people, and the resistance and counterattack of the Southern Tang Army were difficult to change the overall situation. On the other hand, the news of the death of Liu Renzhen, Sun Yu and other high-ranking officials had spread throughout Shouzhou City at this time, and the defenders in various parts of the city were immediately in a mess, and it was impossible to counterattack anymore - not only did they not fight back, but the Southern Tang soldiers in the city began to set fire and loot everywhere, hoping to make a fortune before escaping.

At this time, the general of the left army of the Zhou army, who had already commanded the north city gate, sent people to contact the friendly troops operating the carts, asking them to stop stacking gunpowder bags, so that their soldiers could immediately remove the earth, stones, sandbags and other objects blocked at the city gate. On the other hand, they quickly contacted the main force of the Zhou army, which had been pressed on all fronts, and urged them to speed up so that the riots in the city could be quelled as soon as possible.

The so-called "large number of people", at the same time as the cart evacuated with gunpowder bags, many soldiers of the left army started together, and it did not take much time to clear the blockage, and the city gate was also opened, and the Zhou army brigade swarmed in, killing the city, and quickly quelled the plundering of the people in the city by the Southern Tang soldiers.

At the end of the afternoon of May 23 in the third year of Xiande, as Chai Rong led hundreds of civil and military officials into the Shouzhou Jiedu Mansion, the siege of Shouzhou, which lasted for two months, ended with a complete victory for the Zhou army.

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