The Qinzheng Hall of the Imperial Palace.
Li Ye, who had not slept a wink all night, stood on the dragon platform, listening to the rumbling sound of artillery fire and the thundering sound of killings coming into the palace from outside the city, looking at the location of the city gate with gloomy and complicated eyes.
He never expected that his uncle would be so determined to raise troops to rebel. He would attack the city as promised without giving him any time.
The contents of his uncle's reply to his mother in the prince's old residence flashed through his mind, and Li Ye's eyes flashed with deep confusion.
Saffron!
Empress Xiaozhi wrote a letter to her uncle to persuade her uncle to stop fighting and make peace with both reason and emotion, but the reply he received turned out to be a pack of saffron used for abortion.
Li Ye still can't forget the look of despair and grief that the queen mother looked at when she looked at the saffron in the paper bag.
My uncle was so cold-blooded that he didn't even care about his own unborn flesh and blood.
Li Ye, who was thinking about what his mother could do to help him, saw his mother, Chen Jie, holding saffron in her hand, lost in thought, crying softly, and left the prince's old residence in a daze.
My uncle was so heartless towards his mother and the fetus in her belly that there was no need for him to do anything else.
Listening to the increasingly intense shouts of killing outside the city, Li Ye fell weakly onto the dragon chair, staring blankly at the civil and military officials under the dragon platform.
The civil and military officials of the entire dynasty no longer looked as calm as before, and they all stared dumbfounded at the direction of the city wall where the noise of the siege was coming from.
They had the same idea as Li Ye, and they didn't expect that King Bingjian would be so decisive that he wouldn't leave any room for the court.
Here, I and others are still discussing with His Majesty the matter of admonishing him to stop fighting and make peace.
King Bingjian's side had already attacked the city as promised at three o'clock in the morning.
No one dislikes people who stick to their word, but facing Liu Mingzhi who is so trustworthy, the civil and military officials in the court were really unhappy.
The situation has reached this point, which means that between the imperial court and King Bingjian, there can only be one or the other.
Either the imperial court successfully suppresses the rebellion, or the country changes and the dynasty changes.
Many officials who had come to their senses recalled the contents of the memorandum, and secretly glanced at Li Ye, who was sitting on the dragon chair with an expression that was also unable to calm down, and lamented in their hearts.
Your Majesty, Your Majesty, since you came to the throne, you have become more and more skilled in government affairs, and you have become a wise king.
How could I be so confused at this moment?
Xia Gongming, who had been at court for a long time, came out holding the imperial hut.
“Your Majesty, King Bingjian has ordered the army to attack the city, and now the situation has become unstoppable.
It is no longer possible to advise the king to stop the troops and make peace or to use delaying tactics. Let's retreat with all our strength. "
Li Ye looked at Xia Gongming who looked sad and nodded silently: "The matter has come to this, I can only fight back the enemy with all my strength."
"Bingbu, Hubu!"
"I'm here!"
"Food, grass, and defensive equipment will be supplied to our soldiers as quickly as possible to repel the enemy with all our strength."
"I obey the order."
People in the court hall were panicking because of Liu Mingzhi's attack on the city as promised. Nangong Ye, Guan Ninghou and a group of military generals also rushed toward the city wall in a hurry.
Liu Mingzhi's decisive rebellion had caught all the officials in the capital off guard.
"Marquis Guan Ning, you go to the east of the city, Marquis Qingyuan, you go to the south of the city, Uncle Renwei, you go to the west of the city, and I go to the north of the city to find a way out of the city, commanding the troops and horses under his command to assist Marquis Jingyuan in resisting the troops of King Bingjian. "
"yes!"
Under Nangong Ye's order, Guan Ninghou Lu Tao, Qingyuan Hou Yan Benmo, Ren Weibo and Shen Zhong, all veteran generals who had already retreated to the second line, immediately galloped towards the wall they were supposed to hold on to after leaving the inner city. .
The sound of artillery fire in the north of the city became more and more intense. From the main road in the city, you could already see the smoke billowing on the city wall and rising straight into the sky.
The gunners under Chen Jin at Jingyuan Hou finally saw the strength of the elite frontier troops.
The gunners under Jiang Lei are elite soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles and have been trained on the battlefield.
As long as the position of the artillery on the city wall is determined, and the artillery set up by the Forbidden Army gunners on the battlements, under the return fire of the New Army's six-guard gunners, there must be one artillery misfiring within three or five cannons.
"General, we have only destroyed seven enemy artillery pieces, but we have already lost thirty-two artillery pieces.
Among them, two artillery positions on the east side were hit by shell boxes, killing more than 60 brothers at once. "
Jingyuan Hou Chen Jin leaned out and took a sneak peek at Jiang Lei's artillery fire position. He watched the artillery shells that were constantly shooting at the city wall, and hammered the city bricks hard.
The timing and intervals between the firings of these six-guard gunners of the New Army were impeccable, and the artillery pressing on the city wall clearly had a geographical advantage and was unable to fight back.
If you fire three or five cannons, you will be bombarded by flaming shells.
Looking at the artillery general beside him who was mourning for his heir, Chen Jin gritted his teeth.
“Even if all the artillery on the city wall has been blown up, we still have to fight back.
Once the enemy bombards them endlessly, once the city gate is lost and they rush into the city, everything will be over.
Don't feel bad about how many artillery pieces you have lost. You must destroy the enemy's artillery pieces at all costs.
I will immediately send someone to the palace to notify the Ministry of War to mobilize all the artillery in stock for your command.
You think of a way for me to destroy their artillery no matter what. "
"Yes! The last general takes the order!"
Just as the artillery general left, Nangong Ye climbed onto the city wall while panting.
"Jingyuan Hou, how is the situation?"
"Sir, the situation is not good. The enemy infantry is just launching a feint attack to lure our ambushing archers to reveal themselves and provide our soldiers with a position for the enemy's artillery fire."
"How about artillery fire?"
"We are no match at all. The hundreds of artillery pieces on the city wall were suppressed by dozens of enemy artillery pieces and were unable to raise their heads.
Seven enemy artillery pieces were destroyed, but we lost more than thirty. Three gaps were blown out of the crenellations of the city wall on the east side!
Just under the artillery fire, our soldiers on the north wall lost thousands of troops. "
Nangong Ye looked at Jing Yuanhou's distressed expression, leaned out and took a quick glance at the artillery positions outside the city, and then immediately retracted.
Compared with the unsystematic firing method of the forbidden troops on the city wall, the way the gunners under Liu Mingzhi fired was simply superb.
The artillery was spread out in a straight line, covering it with three cannons at intervals.
It can not only take time to cool down the temperature of the gun barrel, but also effectively suppress the counterattack of the artillery on the city wall.
Nangong Ye was very familiar with this method of fighting.
When attacking the city wall of the Kingdom of Jin, Jiang Lei assisted with artillery fire under his and deputy commander Wan Mingliang's subordinates.
Hundreds of artillery pieces were arranged in different levels. After adjusting the firing distance, some of them suppressed the enemy troops on the city wall, and some bombarded the city gates. They easily suppressed the hundreds of Jin artillery pieces on the city wall and were unable to fight back.
It can be said that the way the New Army's Six Guards gunners use artillery is simply several levels ahead of the artillery of other armies.
"Mr. Yong'an, this is not the way to go. If they continue to bombard us endlessly, sooner or later the city gate will be broken open!"
"Marquis Jingyuan, please order the artillery general under your command to pay close attention to the enemy's artillery fire and try to learn from it. Don't blindly bombard at will. In this case, you will not be a match for the enemy at all.
I will immediately find a way to get out of the city and command my troops to assist you outside the city to see if I can share some of the pressure for you. "
"Okay, the general will go to deliver the order immediately. Lord Yong'an, please be careful. There are at least dozens of telescopes observing the movement on the city wall. If you are not careful, you may be targeted by the bed crossbow."
"I understand!"
Nangong Ye looked at the back of Jingyuan Waiter Chen Jin who was leaning against the battlements towards the gunner's position and sighed heavily.
Good gunners are trained through countless wars, not seen. I don't know if the gunners of the Forbidden Army can learn anything secretly in such a critical and short period of time.
"Report, the commander-in-chief, crossbows, catapults, and siege vehicles have been debugged and are ready to assist the gunners and infantry to attack the city at any time!"
Liu Mingzhi put down the telescope in his hand, glanced around at the soldiers and horses arrayed around him, and nodded silently.
"Call Jiang Lei, use all artillery fire.
Jin Yunfei was ordered to send out ten catapults loaded with kerosene bombs and throw them towards the city gate, trying to burn down the city gate as much as possible.
Zhou Baoyu sent an order to send two cavalry units to charge in a roundabout way, covering the defenders on the city wall with a rain of arrows bound by Lei Zhenzi, giving the infantry brothers a chance to tentatively attack the city. "
"Got the order!"
"Commander!"
"exist!"
"Beat the drum to send orders to the three armies, and the cavalry will cover the infantry to attack the city!"
The rhythm of the war drums changed, and all the soldiers and horses of the Sixth Guards of the New Army outside the northern city wall began to move.
With the assistance of artillery, catapults, and crossbows, the infantry who stood still held their shields tightly in front of them and slowly approached the city wall.
The guards on the city wall heard the enemy situation reported by the lookout, and leaned out to look outside the city. Seeing the perfect formation of infantry and cavalry jointly attacking the city, their hearts suddenly trembled, and a feeling of powerlessness arose. idea.
Is this still a cavalry?
After abandoning the horses for infantry, the close coordination between the siege methods turned out to be no less elite than the starting pawns.
However, as soon as they leaned out, they were greeted by more violent artillery fire, which was also mixed with rocks, bed crossbows and other deadly weapons.
At the end of the day, before some stunned Forbidden Army recruits could react, they paid the price with their lives for their carelessness.
