The sunset is fiery red, and it is not long before sunset, and in early spring, the evening is actually very short, and after the sun sets, the sky will soon become dark.

On the street of Yongdingmen, Li Daniu led 200 horsemen to rush to the south gate to respond, he was not only worried about the safety of the hosts of the Song Mansion, but also worried about how to pass the Yongding Gate, and thought about a lot of ways along the way, but in the end he could only order his soldiers and horses to prepare for a firefight.

However, he never expected that the gate of Yongding Gate was wide open, and surrounded by dozens of brocade guards and guards of the Zhenguo Mansion, the lords and mothers of the Song Mansion rode into the city with high heads and big horses, and dozens of craftsmen from the rear arsenal drove twenty horses and horses to pull a behemoth wrapped in black cloth and rumbled into the city.

Li Da Niu hurriedly rolled the saddle and dismounted to salute the ladies, and the little county lord split his head and asked, "How is his situation, husband?" ”

Li Daniu shook his head and said, "Your Excellency is retreating to the palace, and I don't know the current situation. There was a fire in the palace before, and there was a fight in front of the Daming Gate, and then the enemy reinforcements from Xuanwu Gate and other places arrived, and the adults did not have enough manpower, so they retreated into the palace to hold on. The lookout post really saw that although the situation was critical, there should be no danger at the moment. ”

The little county lord reprimanded: "How can you let him enter the palace alone and risk it? Won't it stand in the way? ”

Li Daniu said ashamedly: "The villain should die, don't be annoyed, don't worry, don't worry, Madame, I will save my brother even if I die." ”

Ye Fanggu said on the side: "Don't blame Brother Da Niu, in fact, it has nothing to do with him, the husband is forced by the form, and he has to give up the guards around him, and there is no way." Brother Da Niu, you hurriedly took your soldiers and horses to escort us to Zhengyang Gate safely, we were afraid that there would be enemy soldiers on the road to block the sneak attack, so we sent someone to send a letter to you, so that you can bring someone to answer. ”

Li Daniu looked at the behemoth shrouded under the black cloth and said in surprise: "Where do you come from?" What is this thing that pulls? How can the defenders of Yongdingmen allow you to come and go freely? ”

Lu Qingli said: "Brother Niu, don't ask, let's talk about it on the way, this thing is to help the British attack the city, Zhengyangmen can't attack it again, and it will be dangerous for the husband to enter the inner city." ”

Li Daniu was puzzled, but he didn't dare to say much, and hurriedly arranged for the flag school to set up sentry spies on the left and right sides to closely monitor the surrounding situation. The team of hundreds of people moved extremely slowly, mainly because the behemoth pulled by thirty horses was too slow, and it took nearly half an hour to pull this thing from Shilizhuang to the capital before. Yongdingmen Street is also a high-standard avenue, the bottom is stone, the top is paved with green bricks to be extremely solid, walking on such a road, the speed is a little faster, but it is not much faster than ordinary walking. Moreover, on the path that this behemoth walked, the green bricks were broken into pieces, leaving two obvious rutted paths, which shows the heaviness of this thing. At the time of the action, there was also a roaring sound, which made the small bricks of the broken green bricks on the road fly wildly, and the momentum was very intimidating.

Li Daniu finally learned from Lu Qingli's mouth about the Qiē that happened before the Yongding City Gate, and he secretly sweated while smacking his tongue, Brother Nan'er, these ladies were all bold, and they dared to bring more than 100 people to break into the city gate, and they actually succeeded, and held the Yongding Gate in their hands, which was really incredible; It's just that what is this mysterious thing that was dragged from the Shilizhuang Arsenal with great effort, and the ladies took such a big risk to get this thing, and I don't know if it will work.

Yongdingmen Street, which is nearly four miles long, walked for half an hour, but fortunately there was no enemy soldiers on the road, and finally arrived outside Zhengyangmen after the sun completely disappeared. The battle outside Zhengyang Gate continued fiercely, and Zhang Lun had to let the soldiers and horses of the Fenwu Battalion and the Shenji Battalion launch several fierce attacks, losing more than 2,000 soldiers and horses, but he didn't touch the city at all. After an afternoon of fierce fighting, more than 3,000 soldiers and horses have been reduced, and the captain of the Jinyi Guard has also suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

What made Zhang Lun most anxious was that the Zhankou cannon had been scrapped a lot, and the rocket launchers equipped with Mrs. Song had also run out of shells, but the city wall was still standing in front of him, and the defenders above had a good time to fight sporadically from several forts. Artillery, if it weren't for the small number of forts at the head of the city, and the armament of the Zhankou General Cannon, which could only fire dozens of shells, would have been unlucky for the soldiers and horses gathered below.

Zhang Lun's eyes were red and he sighed urgently, and when he was about to order his generals to launch another onslaught before the night came, someone suddenly came to report that the ladies of the Zhenguo Mansion arrived at the rear with a lot of manpower, Zhang Lun hurried to the rear of the street, and saw his own sister leading, seven or eight Song Nan's wives and concubines riding horses, wearing cloaks and hoods, slowly coming under the embrace of hundreds of brocade guards. Zhang Lun was suddenly furious, and shouted angrily: "Sister, you didn't take it with you in the house, what did you do here?" Do you think this is a fun place? I didn't take them back with me yet. ”

The little county lord hurriedly stepped forward to grab his arm and said, "Brother, thank you for sending troops to help your husband, my sister is here to help you." ”

Zhang Lun sighed: "What can you help?" Brother planted this time, the little Zhengyang Gate can't be attacked, your man is trapped in the palace in the inner city, but I can't save him just a stone's throw away, they can easily attack the palace after dark, things are troublesome. ”

The little county lord pointed behind him and said, "We brought the big guy, and I heard that the city wall of Zhengyangmen is quite thick, so we went out of the city to the arsenal and pulled this big iron lump to help." ”

Zhang Lun hadn't noticed the black thing behind them, the tall curtain behind the gray sky. The scenery is not very eye-catching, and the little county lord pointed at it, and he found this big guy.

"What is this?" Zhang Lun was surprised.

The little county lord shook his head and said: "I don't know, Sister Qingli, Sister Kou'er, this is something you made up, hurry up and tell my brother, 100,000 is urgent." ”

Lu Qingli and Yang Qian'er stepped forward to greet Zhang Lun, and Lu Qingli ordered in a crisp voice: "Take off the curtain." ”

Dozens of craftsmen hurriedly climbed up to lift the curtain, revealing the true face of this behemoth, this unveiling did not matter, everyone present almost stumbled, stunned by the appearance of the thing in front of them.

But seeing a big iron bump in the square appeared in the dim twilight, the most striking thing was the thick cannon barrel raised high in front of it, which was long enough to have a person to report the thickness of the cannon barrel, and the black luke exuded a smell of grease, which made people have a bad association, but it was like a tall thing under a man's crotch, looking ugly and ferocious.

"This is the only remaining iron chariot of the arsenal, all around is fine steel armor, the operator is hidden inside, after covering the top cover, no matter the bow and arrow shells outside, it can not move a bit, and the bottom is an iron frame car, with four large iron wheels, there are hooks and cables in the front and rear, and horses can be used to pull the front and back, stupid is a little stupid, it should be quite powerful." Lu Qingli said proudly, her white and tender little hands patted on the black outer steel armor of the iron bumps, like a little lamb slapping a big dinosaur, the contrast was extremely strong.

Zhang Lun couldn't close his mouth for a long time, and said in a circle: "How powerful is this thing?" ”

Lu Qingli shook her head and said, "I don't know." ”

"What?" Not only Zhang Lun, but also all the women of the Song Mansion were all in one place, busy for a long time, but they didn't know how powerful this iron pimple was, if it was useless in a silver-like pewter spear head, it would be in vain to waste so much effort.

"We haven't tested it once, how do we know how powerful it is?" Lu Qingli said aggrievedly.

Yang Ko'er also snorted: "This iron chariot was originally a canceled research and development, how dare Qingli and I test the firing with great fanfare?" This thing must be earth-shattering when launched, if you try it, how can you hide it from others? ”

Zhang Lun wanted to cry without tears, and from his experience, he knew that even after the casting of the Zhankou military cannon was completed, it had to go through test firing and acceptance before it could be delivered, let alone such a big guy. With such a thick and long barrel, the shells used must have been extremely large, and the amount of gunpowder added must have been huge, which was absolutely unbearable judging from the iron quality of the gun's cannon. It's mostly going to blow up, and it's basically a piece of waste.

"It's nonsense." Zhang Lun shook his hand and left: "You immediately go back to the Zhenguo Mansion to stay, Li Daniu, you send people to protect them, don't let them go around." If there is a change in the shape, I will send someone to the Zhenguo Mansion to pick you up and withdraw from the city. ”

Seeing that Zhang Lun was leaving, Lu Qingli hurriedly shouted: "Grandpa Zhang, don't you use this iron chariot?" ”

Zhang Lun turned around and said: "Don't mess around, while there is still daylight, I want to lead people to attack again, there is no hope of attacking the inner city after dark, you are wasting my time, and it is equivalent to burying your husband's life." I can't attack the inner city before dark, and it's hard to say whether your husband can survive this night. ”

Lu Qingli was at a loss, not knowing what to do, Yang Ko'er suddenly knelt down and shouted: "Grandpa Zhang, give it a try, if this thing is useful, the inner city gate can be broken, and the husband will be saved." Besides, Grandpa Zhang didn't break through Zhengyangmen in an afternoon, can it work this time? ”

Zhang Lun said angrily: "Are you canceling me? ”

Yang Ko'er hurriedly said: "Don't dare, the slave family just begged Grandpa Zhang to try it once." ”

Zhang Lun frowned slightly, sighed and said: "That's it, you have to understand, it's natural to try it with this thing, but this has disrupted the order I gave to attack again, I hope you are right, otherwise I won't have time to arrange the last attack before dark." ”

Yang Ko'er nodded again and again: "The slave family understands, thank you Grandpa Zhang, please give the order." ”

Zhang Lun nodded, and re-ordered the generals around him, this time the order was naturally issued around the effect of this iron chariot, all the soldiers and horses gave up the siege equipment such as ladders and hooks, and waited for the city wall to be collapsed and stormed in, which was different from the siege order issued before.

Lu Qingli helped Yang Kou'er up and said in a low voice: "Kou'er, are you really confident?" I don't have any confidence at all, after all, I haven't even tried a test shot of this thing. ”

Yang Ko'er said softly: "Qingli, I'm not sure, but it's better than Grandpa Zhang leading people to rush up to death, if ...... Husband...... That Brother Song couldn't be saved, so I committed suicide to apologize, and that's nothing. ”

Lu Qingli nodded and said, "That's right, it's a big deal to die with your eldest brother." Then he turned around and said, "Pull the iron chariot and come forward as close to the city wall as possible." ”

Twenty healthy horses neighed, straightened their necks and pulled the iron chariot forward, and the earth shook with a bang, leaving a deep trace on Zhengyangmen Square, and the crushed blue bricks and bluestones flew in all directions, startling the surrounding soldiers and horses for a while.

The little county lord came to Lu Qingli and Yang Qian'er and whispered: "This thing that the two sisters spent 180,000 taels of silver to get is best useful, otherwise the husband can't save it, and the two sisters have lived up to his favor for you." When you spend money, your husband will turn a blind eye, and you will toss it, so it depends on your ability at such a critical time, and Mo Jiaofu is disappointed. ”

Yang Ko'er trembled, Lu Qingli pursed her lips and said nothing, stretched out her hand to hold Yang Ko'er's hand, and the two followed the iron chariot and walked forward step by step.

……

The iron chariot rumbled towards the inner city walls, and there was no need to publicize it, this behemoth soon attracted the attention of everyone above and below the city; At the head of the city, Yang Tinghe was climbing the city wall to find Zhang Wei, who was commanding the defense of the city, to discuss the matter of attacking the palace at night, and the muffled sound of the city interrupted the conversation between them, and both of them looked at the city in surprise.

In the twilight, the big black creature had reached the square to the left of the city gate, about five hundred paces from the city wall, and it was not obvious from the outside, but the high muzzle of the cannon at the front could be seen clearly.

"What's that?" Yang Tinghe frowned.

Zhang Wei shook his head and said, "I don't know, it's like a cannon, but how can there be such a cannon?" How can there be such a long and thick barrel? What is Zhang Lun doing? ”

As he spoke, he saw that a group of people had been led away by dozens of war horses in front of the two cannons, and dozens of people were climbing up and down on that thing, and after a while, he saw that the huge cannon was slowly lowered, and it was aimed in the direction of the city wall, and a dozen people carried out six or seven iron shelf-like things to prop up on the ground under the cannon barrel, which seemed a little inexplicable.

There is no way to hold the barrel, the barrel is too long and heavy, and on weekdays, you can only point to the sky at a large angle to maintain balance, and at this moment the barrel is almost parallel to the ground, and the center of gravity is naturally forward. Originally, Lu Qingli and Yang Kouer came up with a solution to increase the weight of iron ingots in the rear, but in this way, the already bulky and unbearable Big Mac had to carry thousands of catties of iron ingots, and it was obviously more troublesome to transfer the movement.

In order to solve the problem of the balance of the gun body, the two of them designed support columns of different lengths suitable for various angles, the upper end is a semicircular groove, which can properly support the gun barrel, and the lower end is buried in the ground, and the sleeper wedge is tightened, which not only plays a supporting role, but also plays a role in fixing and strengthening.

Zhang Wei in the city began to be a little nervous, if he had seen this thing, it would be fine, but unfortunately it was the first time he had seen this kind of thing, and it was because he didn't know it, so he felt that he didn't know the bottom of his heart.

"Marquis Tan, have you ever seen such a thing?"

"I haven't seen it, maybe it's a bluff, it's not that I haven't been to the smelting field of the Weapons Division, the cannon barrel can't be cast so long and thick, and the cannon won't explode when it is fired?" Tan Youdao.

"But it doesn't look like it's a scare thing, but it's like it's really useful; I'm a little hairy in my heart. Zhang Wei said in a low voice.

"What are you afraid of them? Song Nan's rocket launcher was not boasted about in the sky, and isn't it useless today? Zhang Lun asked his brother-in-law for more than a dozen doors, and bombarded the city wall for a long time, but did he collapse one place? If Master Hou is really worried, I will let the cannon at the head of the city concentrate on this thing and blast it into a pile of scrap metal. ”

"Very good, go and order someone to do it, destroy it, and save people's hearts to be unstable." Zhang Wei said busily.

Tan You immediately complied, and ordered the five forts that could still be used at the head of the city to aim their cannons at the iron bumps under the city, and the flag waved over, and the rumbling sound continued to remember, and the dust and smoke around the iron bumps were everywhere, and stones and bricks flew around, and for a time the thing was shrouded in smoke, and there was a scream in the smoke.

Zhang Wei laughed, pointed at Yang Tinghe and said: "Yang Shoufu take a look, but so, make a mystery under our noses, isn't this looking for death?" Do you have a cannon? Master Hou, I also have a cannon. ”

Yang Tinghe stroked his beard and said: "Hou Ye is hard, Zhengyang Gate has to be guarded here, after dark, I want to ask Tan Hou Ye to arrange soldiers and horses to occupy the palace and catch Song Nan, or not to capture Song Nan alive, in short, to recapture the palace and clean up the soldiers and horses of the Jinyi Guard in the inner city." Catching or killing Song Nan, Zhang Lun was not worried. What needs to be worried is that Song Nan is rushing back to the capital's army, Xu Tai and Jiang Bin are Song Nan's sworn friends, and the old man seems to be going to invite other marquis in the regimental camp to discuss and discuss; In this situation, they can't talk about it if they stay out of it. ”

Zhang Wei said: "Once those people see Song Nan falling, they will take the initiative to participate without you asking, the key to the problem is to capture or kill Song Nan, and they have the courage to do so." Having said that, if they want to stay out of the matter, Yang Shoufu will at least force them to hand over their soldiers and horses, and what is the matter if they don't move. ”

Yang Tinghe nodded, patted Zhang Wei on the shoulder and said, "The old man has his own arrangements, and Hou Ye Zhang can keep it with peace of mind, and we will see it tonight." ”

The two of them instantly left the affairs of the city behind, and began to continue to discuss tonight's actions and follow-up plans, but they suddenly heard the exclamations of the surrounding soldiers, and looked at the sound, several generals and soldiers around them looked at the city blankly, and the two also looked at their gaze, and saw that the smoke of gunpowder under the city had dissipated, and there was a mess around the iron lump, and more than a dozen corpses fell horizontally, but the iron lump was still the same, and there was no sign of scrapping from the outside.

"How is that possible? I saw a few shells hit the target, but it was as if they didn't hit. Zhang Wei was stunned.

Tan You was also dumbfounded: "I also saw it, the flank was hit by two lead eggs, why is there nothing wrong?" It killed more than a dozen people who climbed up and down, but what good was that? ”

"Boom, boom again." Zhang Wei yelled.

Tan You ordered again, and the artillery fire at the head of the city roared again, but this time it was even worse, after the smoke cleared, there was no one killed, looking at the people who crawled out of the lid lifted from the top, everyone realized that these people learned to be obedient after the first bombing, and when the shells whistled, these people had already drilled into the belly of the iron lumps, and the shells at the head of the city only hit the outer shell of the iron lumps, and they did not bring any damage to the iron lumps.

Under the city, Lu Qingli and Yang Ko'er followed behind the iron chariot, and when the first round of artillery was fired, the two hid in the parking space to avoid the bombing, but the scattered stones and debris made Yang Ko'er snow white. A small cut was made on the tender cheek, and a lot of blood flowed.

Yang Ko'er didn't care about treating the wounds, and shouted to the craftsmen who were really busy preparing for the launch: "You all be careful, why don't you hide inside?" The whistling of the cannonballs can be heard, you guys are so stupid and so dead. ”

After the second round of artillery was fired, no one was injured, Lu Qingli and Yang Kou'er were relieved, the preparations for the giant iron chariot had ended, but suddenly, Lu Qingli and Yang Kou'er heard a bad news, Huang Erlang, who had been in charge of the research and development of this iron chariot, was killed just now, and as soon as Huang Erlang died, no one else would operate this giant, these people who followed were craftsmen from the arsenal, and they rarely saw this iron chariot on weekdays, so they had no way to start.

Lu Qingli stomped his feet and said: "This is troublesome, how much gunpowder to fill is not messy, Huang Erlang is the most familiar, but he died, can't God help us?" ”

Yang Ko'er tied the wound on her face with a silk handkerchief and said quietly: "I'm here, I'm familiar." ”

Lu Qingli was surprised: "You? If it doesn't work, just in case...... In case the boring ...... is blown up"

Yang Ko'er shook her head and said: "There is no case, you can only succeed, if you don't succeed, you will die left and right." ”

Lu Qingli was stunned for a long time, and finally nodded slowly: "That's what I said, then I'll go in too, and I understand." ”

Yang Ko'er looked at Lu Qingli and nodded slowly, the two clasped their hands, and got into the iron chariot from the small iron door that opened from behind, and more than a dozen craftsmen and auxiliary people also rushed in.