After the reception banquet, Meng Jiucheng led the guards back to the camp, and Peng Yibin also wanted to go back, but he kept sending each other off and talked with Meng Jiucheng for a long time.

Peng Yibin got the help of Meng Jiucheng, and after capturing Yizhou (now Linyi), he used this place as his base camp. Later, it joined forces with other rebels and the Red Turban Army to break through Pizhou and capture Suzhou, and its strength increased greatly.

But Peng Yibin also faced a common difficulty in the rebels, that is, the problem of money and food. If we cannot be self-sufficient in money and food, our foundation will not be solid, and our stamina will be insufficient.

Although the Red Turban Army has provided some support, it is not gratuitous. After all, the Red Turban Army also needs to develop, and the people under its rule also need food and clothing.

At this point, Peng Yibin has no complaints. It belongs to two families, and you can't let everyone be treated equally.

But in the last joint operation, Peng Yibin also knew that the Red Turban Army had a relationship with the Southern Song Dynasty and got more money and food.

It's not bad to say that you are envious. But more factors are Peng Yibin's loyalty, he has long had the heart to vote for Song, but there is no way out.

Among the leaders of the Shandong and Hebei Righteous Armies at the end of the Jin Dynasty, Peng Yibin was an alternative. Don't look at the Southern Song Dynasty that Meng Jiucheng came into contact with first, but judge from the bottom of your heart that Peng Yibin is much more loyal than him.

Peng Yibin didn't see that Meng Jiucheng would not be a loyal minister of the Song Dynasty, and thought that Meng Jiucheng was attached to the Song Dynasty to resist the gold, and he was really a loyal and righteous hero.

Since then, Peng Yibin has a very good impression of Meng Jiucheng, and often writes to and fro, revealing his intention to vote for Song, hoping that Meng Jiucheng can give him a recommendation.

Meng Jiucheng felt that it was the general trend for the Shandong rebels to surrender to the Song Dynasty, but the most appropriate time was after the Song and Jin wars next year. Now even if he wants to vote, Song Ting will not openly accept it.

Therefore, on the one hand, he analyzed the situation to Peng Yibin in the letter, so that he could calm down a little; On the one hand, Meng Jiucheng also transferred part of the aid from the Southern Song Dynasty to Peng Yibin, and asked Ji Xian to contact the Southern Song Dynasty on behalf of Peng Yibin.

After such an operation, Peng Yibin was satisfied, and he also regarded Meng Jiu as a person of the same kind, with a closer attitude and more active cooperation.

"Pizhou can be abandoned, Yizhou can be protected, and our army can be used as a backup." Meng Jiucheng put forward his own suggestions to Peng Yibin, "Now that you are fighting with the main force of the Jin Army, the chances of victory are not great, so it is better to avoid it as much as possible." ”

Peng Yibin smiled bitterly: "The strength is indeed inferior to the Jin army, but wouldn't avoiding the war give away the occupied land?" ”

Meng Jiucheng shook his head and said, "Brother Peng misunderstood what I meant. Trying to avoid the battle and then fighting, trying to avoid the battle of the large corps, but it is not without fighting. Relying on strong defense, the main roads are fortified, and the resistance is fought one by one, mainly to attrition of the enemy. The Jin army lacks stamina and cannot sustain the war, so if we grasp this weakness, even if there is no big victory, it is expected that there will be no big defeat. ”

Peng Yibin thought about it, although he didn't agree very much, but he also felt that it made sense, but he was not familiar with this kind of tactic.

Meng Jiucheng continued: "For example, Yizhou, strengthening the city defense, hoarding grain and grass, and guarding it with heavy troops, this is a must. There are cities to rely on, even if the combat strength of the troops is slightly weaker, they can also rely on the numerical advantage to inflict heavy casualties on the besieging Jin army. ”

After a pause, Meng Jiucheng continued: "If the Jin army is besieged, the already small number of troops will be pinned, and our army and other righteous armies will be able to attack and plunder other places, how can the Jin army last?" ”

Peng Yibin understood this, didn't the Red Turban Army do this. Every time the main force of the Jin army took care of him, he took the opportunity to attack its weak places, relying on the strength of the attack, and occupied almost the entire Shandong East Road.

"Once Yizhou is surrounded, I don't count on other rebels, and Meng Shuai is the only savior of our army." Peng Yibin also saw that the other rebels were not reliable, so he made up his mind first, but Meng Jiucheng was not easy to refuse.

"Watching and helping each other is what it should mean, Brother Peng doesn't have to be polite." Meng Jiucheng pondered for a moment and said, "I'll send someone to Yizhou to help Brother Peng strengthen the city and bring some weapons and equipment." ”

"The defense of the Red Turban Army can be described as indestructible, Meng Shuai must have a lot of tricks, Peng Mou thanked him here." Peng Yibin arched his hand with a smile.

Meng Jiucheng returned the salute and said: "After Tai'an is captured, our army will return to Laiwu, and it may attack Zizhou with Li Quan's troops." What about Brother Peng, where to go? ”

Peng Yibin said: "Meng Shuai has captured Laiwu, and our army will take the road to Xintai and Mengyin and return to Yizhou. ”

Obviously, Peng Yibin also felt that Hao Ding would be defeated by the Jin army and did not want to return from Surabaya and Pingyi.

Meng Jiucheng nodded, Peng's return to the division is very beneficial to ensuring the safety of the southwest of the base area. And Yizhou happens to be a buffer land, and he doesn't want the Jin army to occupy it.

…………..

There was a moat outside the city, but it looked more like a hastily dug moat, and there were sparse wooden stakes that had been nailed into the ground outside the walls.

Obviously, the rebels advanced too quickly, so that the Tai'an defenders did not have enough time to strengthen the city defenses, and even the dilapidated city walls were hastily repaired.

Because of the absolute superiority of the troops, Huo Yi ordered the rebel armies of all departments to besiege the city on all sides, preparing to annihilate the enemy. Although this might make the defenders fight for the trapped beasts, Huo Yi and the others were not worried.

After observation, Meng Jiucheng found that none of the three gates in Tai'an had a tall urn city structure, but only built simple towers to enhance the defense capabilities of the city gates.

The east gate is even more dilapidated, and there is not even a simple castle tower. So, he decided to choose this place as a breakthrough.

"My lord, the enemy has begun to dig trenches outside the city gates."

The county prince waved his hand, indicating that he already knew. At this time, he was at the east gate, because he also knew that this might be a weak point in the defense, and the actions of the Red Turban Army under the city were clearly visible.

Wan Yan Wulie was a little puzzled, is this enemy going to attack or besiege? After watching it for a long time, he didn't know the essentials, so he had to respond to all changes with no change, and ordered the soldiers defending the city to tighten their guard and not relax.

For the fortified city, let alone in ancient times, even in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, whether it was a Chinese self-made copper cannon, an iron cannon, or a foreign iron cannon imported from abroad, there was not enough ability to overcome the walled city. It seems that the only way to conquer the city held by the enemy is to attack the city through tunnels.

Before the application of gunpowder, there were two purposes of cave attack, one was to dig tunnels into the city, and the other was to destroy the city walls.

It is very difficult to attack the city from the tunnel, and the tunnel must be very wide enough to accommodate a large number of soldiers to enter the city quickly.

Therefore, it is common to dig not all the way through the wall, but to hollow out the underside of the wall, and then use strong wooden stakes to support the foundation of the wall above. When a section of the wall was completely hollowed out, the men were evacuated and the wooden piles that supported the foundations of the wall were set on fire, causing the wall to collapse.

In the Ming Dynasty, the use of gunpowder to blast the city wall during the cave attack began to appear, Li Zicheng attacked Luoyang, Zhang Xianzhong attacked Chongqing, Chengdu, all used this method. But the real widespread use of tunnel blasting was during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Although he has now mastered the technique of tunnel blasting, Meng Jiucheng still believes that there is a lot of room for improvement and improvement in this tactic.

Because he has studied physics and is half a military enthusiast, Meng Jiucheng has very advanced theoretical knowledge on how to increase the power of the explosion and improve the blasting efficiency, such as sealing the medicine room more scientifically, better controlling the direction of the impact of the explosion, and concave charge energy accumulation, etc., but it needs to be tested and perfected in practice.

Now it is not impossible to carry out tunnel blasting, but it is more time-consuming. Therefore, while Meng Jiucheng ordered the sappers to operate, he attacked by artillery bombardment and external blasting.

In principle, the flying thunder cannon is very similar to a large-caliber mortar gun, with a large firing angle and a high ballistic arc, which can be used to bombard targets with close distances, obstacles in the middle space, and cannot be fired horizontally.

The Meteor Cannon, on the other hand, is similar to the giant mortar cannon used in siege, which is more powerful, and the range is several times higher than that of the Flying Thunder Cannon.

About two hours later, the troops made all the preparations for the siege, not only to set up a protective artillery position outside the city gate, but also to tie dozens of ladders with bamboo trees, and for the Tai'an city wall of less than two zhang, even the ladder for climbing the city was relatively easy to make.

The artillery behind the simple earthen wall has been erected, and several artillery backbones have personally measured the range, and after conducting two test firing of solid shells, another door has fine-tuned the elevation angle, loaded with explosive shells, and waited for an order to open artillery bombardment.

Behind the artillery position, two wooden carts were also prepared, with two large wooden boxes on them, heavy and sturdy, filled with gunpowder that had blasted the city gates, and covered with tarpaulins.

Dozens of heavily armored sword and shield soldiers were already ready to go, their mouths and noses covered with wet cloths, ready to cover the two demolition vehicles as they advanced through the city gate.

Peng Yibin came with his personal guards, his expression was still angry, and he said: "Meng Shuai, I have already sent someone to shout under the city, but Jin Bing ignored it and insulted him. ”

"Do not live for yourselves, but teach them a good lesson in a moment." Meng Jiucheng smiled and comforted, disappreciating in his heart, this battle has not yet been fought, persuasion is just a preparation, how can it be so easy?

The sound of drums and trumpets sounded one after another, and then the drums and trumpets of the rebels from other directions responded, and there were more golden soldiers on the city wall, some holding bows and waving knives, and some were placing rolling logs and stones, which seemed very nervous.

"Boom", a thunderous explosion in the distance, causing Jin Bing to look up at the sky, although there are some clouds, but this thunder is a little strange.

"Boom", "boom", thunder sounded continuously, black smoke rose from the direction of the West City Gate in the distance, and the explosion shook the ground slightly.

Although the main attack was in the east, Meng Jiucheng still left three guns at the west gate and played a trick to attack the east from the west.

"Let's get started!" Meng Jiucheng waved his hand and ordered.

Small green flags were raised on the various gun emplacements, indicating that the angle of the artillery had been corrected. Can be launched at any time.

The commander waved the yellow command flag and signaled the gunners to prepare for firing.

The red flag was raised and waved heavily in the air. Suddenly, more than thirty cannons made a dull noise, spewed fire and white smoke, and the shells flew into the air, over the earthen wall, and flew towards the enemy city.

More than ten seconds later, deafening explosions rang out one after another, bricks and stones flew everywhere at the head of the city, and smoke and dust rose high, obscuring people's vision.

The artillery was constantly adjusted and fired, and the fragile gate tower crumbled under the constant tremors of explosions and shock waves.

Before the smoke cleared, Meng Jiucheng had already given an order. Dozens of heavily armored soldiers, either shields or carts, rushed to the city gate, and soon disappeared in the smoke and dust.

Obviously, the defenders of the east gate were blinded by artillery bombardment, and the enemy's attack routine could not be seen clearly in the smoke and dust.

Ten minutes later, dozens of armored soldiers had completed their tasks, emerged from the thin smoke and dust, and rushed back to their original positions.

The smoke of gunpowder slowly dissipated from the city, and I don't know whether it was boiling oil or wood that was ignited, and several fires broke out at the top of the city. A couple of probing creatures peeked out from behind the walls and looked out.

Before the golden soldiers in the city could make adjustments, a deafening explosion rang out again, and the smoke in the sky covered the city gate tightly, and nothing could be seen.

As the wind blew away the smoke and dust, faintly, a large hole in broken bricks, rubble, and wood appeared in front of the eyes of the rebels. Through this large hole, it seems that you have seen the streets of the city and the swaying figures.

The city gate is still blocked, but unfortunately it is not well blocked, how can bricks and tiles and wood work, it should be done with boulders.

Meng Jiucheng sighed with emotion, suddenly came back to his senses, and gave the order to attack the city.

"Rush, kill!" Peng Yibin led his troops to rush forward.

According to the merits of the war, he wanted to get more.

"Kill, rush!" Wang Xian and the others reacted from their shock, and they also shouted loudly and led the team to attack.

That's it, the coordination should be tight, the movements should be habitual, and the enemy should not be given a chance to adjust and breathe.

Meng Jiucheng narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling that his conducting art had improved a little. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a general galloping past him, rushing towards the city.

"You guys, go and protect Captain Han." Meng Jiucheng saw it clearly, and immediately ordered a few guards to follow.

Han Changsheng picked up the axe in his hand, swung a large circle in the air, and rushed into the city without looking back.

Isn't there no future for following yourself?

Meng Jiucheng knew that Han Changsheng was an old man who had followed him for a long time, but there were already a few people with less qualifications than him who had become middle-level officers, but Han Changsheng was still the captain of his own personal guard.

Therefore, he understood Han Changsheng's impulse to make meritorious contributions and his enthusiasm for killing the enemy.

Perhaps, it is time for them to exercise; If there is another opportunity, I will also send them to the martial arts hall for training and experience in the army.

The gates were littered with rubble, and the walls on both sides and overhead were blackened and badly damaged.

Many of the golden soldiers in the city fell to the ground, and there were no obvious scars, but many of them were still bleeding from their noses and ears, and their faces and bodies were covered with a layer of dust.

Earth-shattering, the siege tactics of the Red Turban Army are indeed sharp and abnormal. Huo Yi rushed to hear the news and urged the department to enter the city and participate in the department, and the scene he saw made him puzzled and shocked.

"Marshal." The captain of the guard glanced at the city wall and reminded: "There is a flag, let us pass through the city without delay." ”

"Got it." Huo Yi nodded, retracted the thoughts that were coiling in his heart, and led his men and horses along the streets of the city to attack the west gate directly.

The news that the city had been broken spread rapidly, and the golden soldiers in the city were panicked and already in chaos.

Meng Jiucheng, who had already arrived in the city, could see clearly that the defenders were not prepared for street fighting at all, and the last worry disappeared.