It took more than half a day for dozens of general guns to be lined up and installed on the top of the cliff on the south bank. In order to get these iron lumps up the cliff, hundreds of people are exhausted, and they use thick ropes and long cables to slowly pull up from the top of the cliff, not to mention, in order to prevent collisions with the mountain rocks on the way, it is also necessary to send people on the mountain road to grasp the direction, adjust the position, and treat these iron lumps like a baby.

Even with such caution, the barrels of the three general cannons were still bumped and deformed by the cliff wall, and Zhang Ning jumped to his feet in distress and screamed.

In the early afternoon, a basket of cannonballs was carried up the cliff, Zhang Ning took matters into his own hands, calibrated the direction and angle, ignited and fired the first cannon, the fire rope snorted and smoked, although the officials hid far away and covered their ears, but the huge sound still pierced into the ear drum, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, the muzzle of the cannon spewed out a puff of black smoke, and the iron bump-like cannonball pierced the sky above the surging Yellow River at a speed visible to the naked eye, and went straight to the top of the cliff on the opposite bank.

The rebels who were busy building fortifications and arrow towers on the other side were also startled by this thunderclap and looked around to find the place where it happened, and the next moment, a stone foundation under construction exploded beside him, and suddenly stone chips flew sideways, mud waves rolled, and after dust and smoke, a group of stunned rebel soldiers suddenly found that the stone foundation of the arrow tower beside them had been blown down in half, and the flesh and blood of seven or eight people and soldiers who were building the base were blurred apart, and the green smoke between the flesh and blood was steaming.

"Boom, boom, boom".

Without waiting for the rebels to understand the situation, there was a loud roar on the top of the cliff on the opposite bank, and the cliff tops around them suddenly bloomed in all directions, and the smoke and dust were everywhere, and the soldiers suddenly understood that the other side was bombarding this place with firearms.

The slightly more shrewd turtles cowered behind the big rocks to dodge, and those who were too panicked fled in a panic to the several stone steps down the cliff. Thousands of people competed for the path down the cliff, and in the panic and pushing, dozens of people screamed and fell to the top of the cliff more than ten feet high, and the situation was unbearable.

The panic on the top of the cliff on the other side fell in the eyes of Yang Yiqing, Jiang Bin, Xu Tai and others, everyone's eyes flashed with excitement, and they looked at the tragic situation on the other side with a little cruelty, Jiang Bin shouted: "Zhang Ning, bomb Lao Tzu and blow up these bastards." ”

Zhang Ning scratched his head and said: "Lord Jiang, the shells are precious, each cannon is only equipped with twenty shells, and if you hit one shot, there will be one less shell, and the people on the opposite side have all fled, and there is still a bombardment?" ”

Yang Yiqing said: "Suspend the bombardment, this thing is really an artifact, as long as they dare not continue to build the arrow tower fortifications, we will achieve the goal, this thing must be used on the blade." The official suddenly felt that if the forced crossing was under the cover of General Zhankou, wouldn't it be twice the result with half the effort? You think, if we suppress the other side with this thing, our men and horses should have a good chance of crossing the river again. ”

Zhang Yonghe said with a smile: "Good way, as long as they dare to continue to build the fortifications of the arrow tower, they will be forced to give up with a few cannons, let's mobilize the boats and men to prepare, and the forcible crossing will be pressed against the opposite side, and when they react, our people may have reached the other side." ”

"That's exactly what I think, you might as well give it a try, come here, pass on my orders, and all armies are ready to force the crossing."

The generals suddenly agreed, each returned to the camp to gather troops and horses, Yansui Town Yulinwei 3,000 men and horses arrived at the dock first, boarded hundreds of simple wooden boats and sheepskin rafts into the water and rowed towards the opposite bank, the rebels on the opposite bank obviously found the intention of the official army, and many heads appeared up and down the cliff top, bending bows and arrows at the river below, intending to prevent the forced crossing.

More than 100 ferries and sheep rafts struggled to move towards the opposite bank in the turbulent river, and after crossing two-thirds of the river, they were gradually approaching the firing range of the feather arrows on the opposite bank.

Perhaps knowing that they would be forced to break through the crossing as soon as they retreated, or perhaps they were forced by the broadswords of the warlords, the rebels did not retreat, but let the shells fall into the crowd on the top of the cliff, setting off a rain of flesh and blood, and still risked being bombed into pulp at any moment to shoot at the river.

The dense rain of arrows made the officers and soldiers who forced their way across the river pay a heavy price, although the formation was very scattered, but still suffered heavy casualties, many people were not hit by arrows, but the sheepskin raft under the seat was shot through and leaked, the entire raft sank into the water, and dozens of officers and soldiers on it were swept down by the surging torrent.

Jiang Bin roared angrily: "Zhang Ning, bombard Lao Tzu and kill these deadly turtle grandsons." ”

Zhang Ning ordered loudly, and the soldiers operating the artillery were busy without time, and one shell after another fell on the heads of the dense archers on the cliff top on the opposite bank, and each shell caused dozens of casualties. But the rebels on the other side still held their positions, as if they were nothing.

At the moment of the stalemate, a violent explosion was heard around him, and in the midst of an exclamation, a general cannon finally exploded into continuous fire, blowing more than ten soldiers to pieces, and dozens of people near the left were injured.

"What's going on?" Jiang Bin shouted angrily.

Zhang Ning ordered the launch to be stopped, and rushed to Yang Yiqing and the others to report anxiously: "Ladies and gentlemen, you can't launch anymore, the muzzle is hot and red, General Zhankou can't withstand such continuous use, and if you launch it again, it will be all destroyed." ”

Yang Yiqing was extremely helpless, so he had to order the horn of the withdrawal of troops, and the boats on the river quickly turned around and came back, and roughly estimated that at least a dozen sheepskin rafts were sunk, and there were at least 500 people on the boats who were killed by arrows and washed away by falling into the water.

Jiang Bin scolded angrily, and the generals also looked ugly, they didn't expect the rebels to be so brave and not retreat, which was unexpected.

"Your Excellency, do not be discouraged, as far as I can see, the casualties of the rebels are at least several times greater than ours, and I estimate that they have suffered at least two or three thousand casualties. You have also seen the power of the explosion just now, it was razed to the ground within a radius of a few zhang, and according to the formation of the soldiers and horses gathered on the opposite side, at least forty or fifty people were killed and wounded in one shot, and they suffered losses no matter how it was calculated. Xu Taidao.

"But we can't cross the river." Lingzhou commander Huang Zheng sighed.

"Why cross the river? Isn't our purpose to put enough pressure on all the soldiers and horses in Ningxia Town to be dispatched? How can the rebels afford such heavy casualties? Our soldiers and horses can be replenished, there are so many people in Ningxia Town, can they afford it? ”

"That's right, we can afford it, they can't." Jiang Bin turned his worries into joy and shouted.

Zhang Ning said worriedly: "Half of the shells have been consumed, and several barrels have also been deformed. ”

Jiang Bin patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, I won't let you change into a light pole, Lord Song said in the capital a few years ago, our Shenshu Battalion will expand the scale of the artillery battalion, as long as the rebels can be quelled this time, are you still afraid that Lord Song will not get you silver to cast a new cannon?" Don't worry, brother, your general Zhankou is here to show his might, this is a great achievement. Mo Duo thought about it, and hurried to repair and inspect it, and did another round before it got dark. Tell your people to aim more accurately, and don't let off empty cannons. ”

Zhang Ning surrendered his promise and rushed back to check the remaining cannons one by one, these iron lumps were terrifying, and the restrictions of the smelting process made these guys only majestic for a while, and they were basically scrapped after dozens of shells. Due to the waste of silver, although these guys are extremely powerful, there is no army in the entire Ming Dynasty that can be on a large scale except for the Shenji Battalion. Lord Song had a great wish to establish an artillery battalion in the Shenshu camp, and Zhang Ning was full of expectations for this. Although I feel sorry for the fate of these guys at the moment, I can only do nothing.

Before dark, the officers and soldiers organized a forced crossing again, and this time they made their thinking clear, not to succeed in landing on the shore, but to force the rebels to go up the cliff to block it, so as to accept the trial of General Zhankou. All the soldiers on board the ships were equipped with large shields to protect against arrows, and the top of the raft was covered with hay to prevent it from being shot through the wooden frame on the top and injuring the airbags below. All the ships were at the critical point of the arrow's range, forcing the rebels to release their arrows, but not in a dense attack.

After cooling, General Zhankou once again exerted his might, dumping hundreds of shells on the heads of the rebels, specifically looking for places with a large number of people to bomb. In the second forced crossing, the casualties of officers and men were less than 100, while the rebels on the other side suffered heavy losses again, with more than 3,000 dead and wounded.

As night fell, the two sides died down and each collected his troops and returned to the camp.

On the north bank, four or five miles away from the bank of the Yellow River, there was a mourning in the rebel camp, and He Jin led a dozen generals to a clearing in the camp in the dim bonfire, where more than 2,000 wounded soldiers were concentrated here.

Most of the wounded soldiers were limbs with incomplete limbs, and the officers and soldiers artillery did not take their lives, but turned them into wastes, they lay on the cold ground crying and groaning, and they all understood that if they lost their healthy bodies, they lost their value, they could not receive their salaries if they could not fight, and they could not work when they returned home, which was basically equivalent to death.

He Jin looked at this qiē with trepidation, and a fear that he had never felt before rose in his heart, after replenishing his troops, he still had 10,000 horses stationed at the Xiya Ferry, but after the consumption of officers and soldiers on this day, two thousand were killed and two thousand were injured, and half of his men and horses were consumed.

When the first shell landed on the cliff, Ho Kam knew that he would suffer heavy losses in order to prevent the officers and soldiers from crossing the river, but he had no choice but to let the Overseers force the soldiers to stick to the top of the cliff and drop arrows, otherwise the officers and soldiers would land on the shore. Once he landed on the shore, a steady stream of officers and soldiers would follow, and he could not rely on the terrain of the Yellow River to defend this place, and once the West Cliff was lost, every qiē was finished, and Ningxia Town would also become the bag of the officers and soldiers, and he could not imagine such a result.

He Jin, who was full of confidence to defend the Xiya Ferry, now has no confidence in his heart, his soldiers and horses can no longer withstand a few rounds, if the officers and soldiers do the same tomorrow, where will they go?

"Adjutant General Ding, you are personally responsible for strengthening the vigilance at night to prevent officers and soldiers from forcibly crossing at night." He Jin sighed and said to Ding Guang beside him.

Ding Guang said in a deep voice: "The lowly will personally arrange it, but it is not a way to go on like this, we must have to think of a countermeasure, otherwise we will lose if we can't survive the three days." ”

He Jindao: "I will go back overnight to report to the prince and ask for more troops to defend." ”

Ding Guang said in a low voice: "My lord, I'm afraid the prince will blame you, the loss of 5,000 men and horses a few days ago, the loss of more than 4,000 soldiers and horses today, and tens of thousands of them are folded in our hands, and the prince will be furious." ”

He Jin looked up at the black sky and said: "Even if the prince cuts off my head, I will go to see him, the West Cliff can't hold it, everyone will lose their heads; I will take all the two thousand wounded soldiers away, let the prince himself see the strong firepower of the officers and soldiers, and let Zhou Ang and them shut up. The imperial court has made a bloody investment, with the help of General Zhankou, this is the help of the Shenji Battalion out of Beijing, which is not something that I He Jin can compete with. ”

Ding Guang nodded and said, "Yes, it's difficult." ”

He Jin said softly: "Do your best, look at the will of heaven, you and I have no choice." With that, he fled with the hilt of his sword in his hand, and left the camp full of mourning for the wounded soldiers.