Eight days later, more than one hundred and twenty large and strange shield wagons were built, with dozens of sacks filled with sand and gravel in front, left and right, and on the roof, with only one cannon muzzle exposed.

Looking at the Hongyi cannon surrounded by shield vehicles, Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu both nodded with satisfaction, as long as there is no problem with the Hongyi cannon, this battle still has to be fought, although the power of the Hongyi cannon is not enough to decide the battle, but the tall city wall of Dezhou City, without the suppression of the Hongyi cannon, if you want to attack the city, you may not be able to fill it with human lives.

"Give the order to go down and reorganize the army!"

Hong Chengchou waved his hand and said.

Soon the drums of war sounded, and more than 100,000 Ming troops began to line up in formation.

On the building car, Hong Chengchou raised the command flag in his hand, and soon, the war drums thundered, and the shield carts equipped with Hongyi cannons were pushed to the front of the formation, and then began to be more accurate.

At the same time, a large number of soldiers carried sacks and slowly approached the city walls under the cover of wooden mantle chariots and shields.

Eight miles!

Six miles!

Five miles!

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

As soon as they approached the range of five miles, the Qi army on the city wall opened fire again, dozens of earth-shattering loud noises, more than 50 solid cannonballs smashed into the Ming army's formation with a piercing scream, and more than 50 solid cannonballs ploughed out of the crowd.

This time, the Ming army did not panic again, but continued to advance under the drive of the generals.

Four and a half miles!

The sound of artillery rang out again, because the distance was closer, more Ming troops entered the shelling range, and the casualties from the shells became even greater this time.

Four miles!

The cannon is sounding again!

On the tower of the city, Tang Xiangjin and Pan Ping both looked at the approaching giant shield car, everyone frowned, with their strength, they could naturally see clearly, the shield car was surrounded by Hongyi cannons.

"Dudu, this Ming army is too cunning, what should we do?"

Liu Liangsheng frowned and said, their biggest advantage is that they occupy the height, the Hongyi cannon can easily hit the Ming army, and the other party can't hit them, and now the Hongyi cannon of the Ming army can be pushed to the city under the cover of this strange shield car, so that their artillery advantage is gone, and under the cover of so many sandbags, it is difficult for them to destroy the Hongyi cannon of the Ming army.

"Put sandbags on them to protect the Hongyi cannons."

Tang Xiangjin said in a deep voice: "We have the protection of the city wall, and the advantage is still on our side."

At this time, the Ming army took advantage of the gap in the shelling to advance hundreds of steps, at this time the Ming army was only three and a half miles away from the city wall, and the next moment, the cannon sound sounded again, and more than fifty solid shells smashed into the crowd again.

Soon the Ming army entered the range of three miles, more than 100 giant shield carts stopped, and the Ming army carrying sandbags in the rear piled sandbags in front of the shield carts, forming a sandbag city wall.

The Ming gunners behind the shield car also made the muzzle of the Hongyi cannon more accurate, and then lit the fire rope.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

A series of earth-shattering loud noises, more than a hundred solid iron balls weighing twenty pounds turned into a small black dot with terrifying kinetic energy under the action of gunpowder, and quickly crossed the sky, and then flew towards the city wall.

Bang! Bang!

Some cannonballs smashed on the wall, directly smashed a big pit, countless rubble flew in all directions, some fell directly into the city, smashed the houses, and some smashed on the city wall, smashing the wall bricks.

At this moment, the entire city wall seemed to be shaking, and countless rubble was splashed everywhere, but all the Qi troops who were splashed by the rubble were injured at least and killed at worst, and for a while, the wails were endless.

"Fire!"

Seeing this scene, Tang Xiangjin gritted his teeth and ordered: "Aim at the Hongyi cannon of the Ming army!"

Although they can also go out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army, but now they have the advantage of the city wall, if they go out of the city, it is tantamount to playing into the hands of the Ming army.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Hearing Tang Xiangjin's order, the Qi army on the city wall opened fire again, dozens of earth-shattering bangs, and more than fifty solid cannonballs

With a piercing scream, it smashed into the sandbag walls of the Ming army.

Under the powerful power of the cannonballs, sandbags were torn apart, a large amount of sand and gravel was poured out, and some shells fell behind the sandbag city wall, killing dozens of Ming troops again.

After a while, the Hongyi cannon of the Ming army was also reloaded, and it opened fire again, and more than a hundred shells smashed on the city wall.

At this time, the Qi army on the city wall was also well learned, lying behind the city wall, dodging rubble and cannonballs.

In this way, the two sides fell into a round of rotational shelling of you and me.

…

Time passed little by little, and as the sun gradually set in the west, the Ming army withdrew from the battlefield, leaving only a sandbag wall hundreds of feet long.

………

Texas City, State Hall.

"Governor, four of our Hongyi cannons have been blown up."

Liu Liangsheng's expression was solemn, the number of shots of a Hongyi cannon is limited, once the number of shots reaches the limit, the barrel will explode, today's artillery battle with the Ming army, each Hongyi cannon fired at least nearly two hundred cannons, and only four were blown up, which is already very good.

"Collect the wreckage and let the artisans reforge it."

Tang Xiangjin said in a deep voice, "How is the situation on the Ming army's side?"

"The specific situation is unknown, but the last time the cannon was fired, the Ming army had nearly twenty Hongyi cannons that did not fire, and I don't know if they were blown up."

Liu Liangsheng shook his head, the Hongyi cannons of the Ming army were all behind the shield car, and there were a large number of sandbags to protect them, which could not be destroyed at all, and I don't know if there was an explosion.

"How many casualties have we had?"

After a pause, Tang Xiangjin asked again.

"There are only more than 600 casualties."

Liu Liangsheng replied: "However, three or four hundred houses in the city were destroyed by the artillery shells of the Ming army."

Although the Ming army fired a lot of artillery, the soldiers were hiding behind the city wall, protected by the city wall, except for a few unlucky soldiers who were hit, most of them were fine.

…

On the other side, in the camp of the Ming army at this time, Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu's faces were gloomy as ink.

The Hongyi cannon has exploded!

Twenty-one Hongyi cannons have been blown up!

They only have more than 120 Hongyi cannons, and they have blown up 21 guns in just one day, how can they fight this, in a few days, their Hongyi cannons will be blown up.

"Fang Dushi, this Hongyi cannon was forged by you by order, what do you say?"

Hong Chengchou looked at Fang Rong, who was kneeling on the ground, and said in a low voice.

"Back to the governor, the Hongyi cannons cast by the lower officials are all allocated by the imperial court, and the lower officials will never cut corners."

Fang Rong replied, but his heart was full of disdain, if he didn't blow up the chamber, there would be a ghost, a Hongyi cannon weighed about three thousand catties, with iron as the core, and the outside was covered with copper, according to the regulations, the ratio of copper and iron was halved.

Although iron is cheaper, the iron-cast Hongyi cannon will have an air cannon when casting, which is easy to explode, and if it is wrapped in copper, the exploding chamber may be much smaller, but this time the court allocated less than 20% of the materials, the copper is less than 20%, and the rest are iron, and the cast cannon will have a ghost if it is not exploded.

Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu are both old fritters in the officialdom, although Fang Rong didn't say it explicitly, but they also heard the meaning of the words clearly.

The materials allocated by the imperial court have cut corners!

"Go down, all of you."

Hong Chengchou waved his hand.

"Yes, Governor."

Hearing Hong Chengchou's words, everyone in the handsome tent saluted one after another, and then retreated.

Soon, only Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu were left in the entire handsome tent.

"Brother Chen, I'm afraid these Hongyi cannons won't last long."

Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Do you want to play the imperial court?"

Without Hongyi artillery, it would be difficult to attack the city, and if you force it, the losses will definitely not be small.

Hearing Hong Chengchou's words, Chen Qiyu fell into deep thought, the meaning of Hong Chengchou's words

It is very clear that the Hongyi cannon is gone, and it is difficult to attack the city, if it is not successful for a long time, Zhu Youzhen will definitely hold the two of them accountable, it is better to take advantage of the problem that has just been discovered now, and shift the responsibility to the household department that allocated the materials for casting cannons.

"Brother Hong, in this way, we will offend more people."

Chen Qiyu sighed, there are definitely a lot of officials who stretch out their hands from it, and if they play it, they will definitely offend a large number of officials, if they don't make contributions for too long, there will be no fewer people who will fall into the ground.

"Brother Chen, as the so-called dead friends don't die poor, those people even dare to take this kind of silver, so we can't take the blame for them."

Hong Chengchou said lightly.

Hearing this, Chen Qiyu was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Then it depends on your wishes, Brother Hong."

………

Not to mention the war between Daqi and Daming, at this time in the Xingyang area of Henan, Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, convened the leaders of the rebels from all walks of life to hold a meeting in Xingyang.

In a large camp, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, He Yilong, He Jin, Xu Chang, Hui Dengxiang, Li Wanqing, Ma Shouying, Ma Jinzhong, Hengtianwang, Jiutiaolong, Shuntianwang and other thirteen largest rebels gathered together.

"Brothers, now that Da Ming has transferred Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu away, it is the time for us to rise."

Gao Yingxiang raised his voice.

"Gao Yingxiang, there is no need to say polite words."

Luo Rucai, who was on the side, waved his hand and said, "Now the newly sent governors of the five provinces from the Ming Dynasty are looking for us, if we are blocked, we will all have to die here."

In the past few years, they have been turned into dogs by the Ming army, and they have been chased everywhere they go, if they hadn't had logistics and ran fast enough, they would have let the Ming army cut off their heads to receive the reward by now.

This time, Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu were transferred, and the Ming army was temporarily unable to pursue them, so they had the courage to be here.

"Since Brother Luo said so, Gao won't grind anymore."

Although the topic was interrupted by Luo Rucai, Gao Yingxiang was not angry, but said with a smile: "Brothers, now we have been wandering around this area, and the Ming army has already set up a net of heaven and earth, just waiting for us to plunge into it, so Gao Mou asked the brothers to come over, just to find a way to break the situation."

"Senior brother, do you have any good ideas?"

At this time, Li Wanqing asked, and Luo Rucai and the others also looked at Gao Yingxiang, now that the encirclement of the Ming army is getting tighter and tighter, they are also very uncomfortable.

"I mean get out of here for a while, divide the troops, and find their own way."

Gao Yingxiang said: "As long as we leave here, if the Ming army wants to catch up with us, then we can only divide our troops, and as soon as the Ming army is small, we will have a chance of winning."

Hearing Gao Yingxiang's words, Luo Rucai, Li Wanqing and others all thought about it, Gao Yingxiang's method was really good, as long as the Ming army was divided, they would have a chance to defeat the Ming army.

"Where do you want to go, brother?"

After a moment of silence, Hui Dengxiang asked, it is okay to divide the troops, but how to divide them is particular, if the direction chosen is not right, it is to attract the strength of the Ming army for others.

Gao Yingxiang said, "I want to go east."

"You're going to take refuge with Su Hao?"

Hearing Gao Yingxiang's words, Luo Rucai frowned, they and Su Hao are not all the way, Su Hao is a traitor of the Ming Dynasty, an official, and they are the people, although Su Hao's power is much stronger than them, but they never thought of going to Su Hao.

Now Gao Yingxiang said that he wants to go east, and to the east is Shandong, what else can he do except go to Su Hao.

"Brother Luo, I didn't want to go to Shandong."

Hearing this, Gao Yingxiang shook his head and said, "Now that Daming's troops are entangled in Shandong by Su Hao, I am ready to take the opportunity to go south to see if there is a chance to attack Jiangnan."

Although Su Hao's power is stronger, he has killed officials and rebelled, how can he be subservient again.

"Since you want to go east, then I'll go north to Shanxi."

For Gao Yingxiang's words, Luo Rucai didn't care much, Gao Yingxiang had nothing to do with Su Hao or not, now Shanxi because of several invasions by the Jurchens, most of the troops are on the side of Datong Mansion, and others

There are very few troops in the locality.

If he can take root in Shanxi, he will not be able to become the next Su Hao, establish power in Shanxi, and ascend the throne as emperor.

…

After discussing for a long time, the Thirteenth Route Righteous Army was divided into three routes, and Gao Yingxiang took Zhang Xianzhong to the east and borrowed Runing Mansion.

Because of the conquest of Daqi, a large number of Henan soldiers and horses were transferred to Beijing, Gao Yingxiang and others did not encounter any major resistance, and dozens of county towns were linked, and they easily entered the land of Longxing in the Ming Dynasty.

Fengyang!

Before arriving in Fengyang, Zhang Xianzhong sent hundreds of elite soldiers of his cronies to disguise themselves as merchants, monks, Taoist priests, beggars and other people to infiltrate Fengyang, and finally attacked Fengyang, the central capital.

After occupying Fengyang, Zhang Xianzhong distributed all the grain in the treasury to the local poor peasants, and gathered the people of Sixiang to cut down hundreds of thousands of pines and cypresses in the imperial mausoleum, and also demolished the Longxing Temple where Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk, and then dug the ancestral tomb of the Zhu family, and at the same time plundered and killed the rich households in Fengyang.

………

Among them, Fengyang was captured, and the news of the imperial tomb being excavated reached Jingshi, Zhu Youzhen vomited blood on the spot, and then put on mourning clothes and ran to Taimiao to ask for guilt.

In the cabinet, Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda, Wang Yingxiong, He Wusu, and Qian Shisheng were all pale and looked panicked.

The sky fell!

The Imperial Tomb has been excavated!

At the beginning, Su Hao's killing of the vassal king was completely insignificant in the face of this matter, but at the beginning, Zhu Youzhen started to kill, killing dozens of officials, big and small, this time such a big thing, when Zhu Youzhen came back from Taimiao, I don't know how many people will be killed.

"Wen Shoufu, how should Your Majesty explain it?"

He Wuyu's voice trembled, Zhu Youzhen is not a broad-minded person, this time the ancestral graves of the old Zhu family have been dug up, and Zhu Youzhen is not crazy to have a ghost.

(End of chapter)