Chapter 177 Explosion
Guo Yinqiao's cheeks were swollen like a pig's head, and his newly shaved head attracted everyone's attention as soon as he went up the wall. Everyone pointed and laughed. Mo Kank saw only a crack left. Lao Guo saw all this and hated it in his heart.
Guo Yinqiao was a gunner. His appearance was transformed into this state because he was slapped by the guerrilla general Zhang Dechang. His hair was also shaved off on Zhang Dechang's order.
Yesterday, thieves attacked the city. Like other artillery groups, Lao Guo's cannon has never been idle. But the difference is that other groups have more or less achieved some results. Lao Guo's cannon has not had a thief from the beginning to the end. Hitting. Everyone knew that Zhang Youqi had a bad temper. Seeing him striding over menacingly, Lao Guo trembled and left. In fact, I can’t blame Lao Guo completely. Among all the equipment of the Ming army, artillery is the most precious thing. Among other things, just look at the copper used to cast the cannon. If it is melted and cast into copper coins, a cannon may not be worth much. There must be tens of thousands of them! Therefore, no general would be willing to let the artillery crew practice live ammunition shooting on weekdays. The other artillery teams had more or less fired several artillery pieces before. It had not been more than a year since Lao Guo Chongjun was assigned to the artillery team. The original gunnery commander died of an illness and the team officer was also new. Seeing how old Guo was, With a flick of his finger, he became the gunner-in-command - this encounter was the first time in Lao Guo's life that he fired a cannon!
Zhang Youyi came nearby, crossed his hands and stared fiercely with his two bull-sized eyes, which made Lao Guo tremble even more. No matter what, you have to hit it once. If it's too far away, it's hard to hit, so let's move the thief closer. Not to mention, the thieves really cooperated. A few thieves in front were carrying ladders and running down the wall. Lao Guo directed the artillery crew to lower the muzzle, lower it, and lower it again... Then, the iron ball projectiles came out of the muzzle. Gulu came out and fell to the ground with a thud! At this moment, the igniter's torch was pressed against the fire door, and with a "boom", a loud cannon was fired right under Zhang Guerrilla's nose!
Zhang Dechang's attention was completely attracted by the iron ball that fell on the ground. He thought they would pick it up and stuff it back, but he never expected that these murderers would actually set it on fire! Even though he weighed over forty pounds of iron armor, the sudden loud noise in his ears still startled General Zhang, who jumped up to over three feet high...
Then, Guo Yinqiao's face became what it is now.
This wasn't the end yet. After Zhang Youyi finished beating him, he still couldn't express his hatred. He muttered a few words about "cut off his hair and take the place of his head" and asked someone to shave Lao Guo's head into a bald gourd. It seems that Zhang Youyi also listened to "Three Kingdoms" too much. , still a fan of Cao Cao.
If Lao Guo himself has become so virtuous, he must let out his anger and resentment, right? So his subordinates were all whipped one by one and their heads were shaved. If they weren't wearing military uniforms, they would look like a group of monks helping in the battle. This group of people were laughed at by everyone when they got on the wall, and they all hurried towards the gun emplacement with their heads buried. When passing by Mr. Ji, he heard him say, "Know your shame and then be brave." Although he didn't understand what Mr. Ji meant, the look in Mr. Ji's eyes clearly meant encouragement, so Lao Guo secretly made up his mind: He must hit the target today. A few thieves - even if it wasn't for the sake of not letting Master Ji down, at least they had to avoid a severe beating from Zhang Youyi, right?
outside the city.
More than three hundred desperate people each carried a gunpowder bag. They all saw what happened to the group of people who filled the gunpowder yesterday. Some people knelt down on the spot and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy. Now these people have all turned into corpses beside the queue. Zhang Hu's usual strategy was to coerce the people and serve as cannon fodder. He was even more angry when Niu Youtian said that two damn pigs and dogs ran into the city on the first day. How could there be any mercy? He even more firmly believed in a truth: Only fear from the bones can make these pigs and dogs obey! Therefore, in addition to having soldiers and reliable auxiliaries mixed in with the crowd to supervise the battle every time they charge, a few unlucky people must be killed in front of everyone to scare them.
Every citizen carrying gunpowder was surrounded by five or six other guys carrying bags of earth and rocks. When the gunpowder was stuffed into the hole, they were responsible for blocking the entrance. Each group was assigned three or four auxiliary soldiers holding large shields to provide cover. Zhang Hu also specially mobilized an entire military battalion and divided them into each group to serve as a supervising team.
Zhang Hu and Niu Youtian are very confident about today's attack. After yesterday's experiment, the two kings firmly believe that the first wave of offensive this morning can blow down the west wall, and then the main force will enter the city through the gap and spend most of the day to solve all the problems. The defenders! The advantage in night battles lies with the defenders: most people in this era have night blindness, and the defenders are more familiar with the terrain and will take a great advantage in fighting. Therefore, they must give full play to their huge troop advantage and end the battle during the day. From the day of the siege, the west of the city has been the main direction of attack, and there have been some diversionary offensives in the south of the city. The east of the city has always been peaceful. Zhang Hu hopes that the defenders can escape from there - after all, King Zhang's purpose is to rob the rich Kaifeng Mansion. The beggar soldiers who have nothing but a dead life can just run away. He was so desperate that he jumped over the wall and tried his best.
In order to break the city in one fell swoop, Zhang Hu made full arrangements. Not only did he send out all the archers, but he also attacked eight military battalions at once - half of his personal battalions were sent to Futianze to find cannons. Now here in the west of the city, only half of the battalion and one of Niu Youtian are left. The personal barracks are acting as guards.
The first drumbeat of the day was faintly heard, and a long line of small black dots gradually grew larger in the field of vision of the defenders on the top of the city. A total of 20,000 to 30,000 thieves were pressing towards the west wall. Not long after, the thieves approached. Most of them were old and weak people. Some were carrying long ladder door panels, some were dragging sticks, and some simply ran towards the city wall with empty hands, wiping their tears. Everyone knows that these people are cannon fodder to distract the defenders' firepower. This "technique" is very effective in the first few days: because these "thieves" are easy to beat, the prince's reward is determined there, and no matter who you hit, you will earn money! Less than half of the supplies in the arsenal were consumed. The adults discovered this shortcoming, so they asked the grassroots officers to supervise and judge, and the general's personal soldiers to supervise these junior officers. Only those who are the most threatening thieves will be counted...
Therefore, the defenders did not pay much attention to the large number of civilians. Except for those carrying long ladders who might be looked after by archers, most of the firepower was concentrated around the shield soldiers. They were definitely covering the most threatening target. However, with such a large shield covering it, it was difficult to achieve results - some thieves even held up the door panel to block arrows!
The arrows fired at the top of the city were much denser than before. Ji Shu looked out from the crenellations and saw more than a thousand thieves' archers lined up in two rows by the trench, hiding behind their shields and emerging from time to time. Come and shoot an arrow. Is Thief Zhang going to make a desperate move? The more Ji Shu looked at it, the more unusual he felt. Why were there so many people carrying bags like yesterday? No need to ask, it must still contain gunpowder. The thieves killed so many people yesterday and set off a fireworks show in vain. They are still doing this today. Could it be that there is some mystery in the straw bags carried by others around them? No, you have to take a look!
Ji Shu hunched over and took a few steps back, straightened up and looked around. There was an artillery battery not far to the north. Just as they were about to step over, there was a "boom" and they fired a shot. From the expression of the gunner, it was clear that the thief was not hurt. So Mr. Ji turned around to look for other artillery crews - the next shot would take a long time, and Mr. Ji couldn't wait. There is another cannon a little further to the south. The artillery crew all had shaved heads, probably because the lack of hair was too harsh on the scalp because of the protective lining. They didn't wear helmets, and their bald heads were shining brightly in the sunlight. Master Ji certainly knew what was going on, and he even encouraged them in the morning. Seeing the fireman holding the torch and about to push it down, Ji Shu shouted: "Wait a minute! Let's fire off the cannon later!" As he spoke, he ran over.
Guo Yinqiao's first shot just now failed to hit the thief again. He was so frightened that he didn't know which one he was targeting. Just as he was about to fire the second shot, he heard Lord Ji's cry and tremblingly asked his men to stop and wait for you. Run over. Ji Shu quickly looked outside the city and saw that a group of thieves carrying bags were approaching this way about two hundred paces away. So he pointed at them and ordered: "Change the bullets and beat those thieves!"
Guo Yinqiao whispered: "Sir, Xiaotan can only hit a hundred steps."
Ji Shu stared at the group of thieves who were slowly walking in and said, "It's okay, I'll hit whoever I teach you to hit!"
"Catch." Guo Yinqiao gestured to tilt the muzzle of the gun, and with a click, the iron ball fell out. The loader stuffed a cloth bag filled with gravel lead bullets into the muzzle and compacted it.
"Put this in again," Ji Shu pointed to the iron ball on the ground, and then pointed to an empty gunpowder bag next to it, "Wrap it in that bag."
The friction of the iron ball wrapped in a cloth bag was much greater. Guo Yinqiao rammed it with a mallet a few times before smashing the iron ball into the barrel. Well, he no longer had to worry about the iron ball falling - why didn't he think of this good idea yesterday? ? Lao Guo sighed with emotion as he put his face close to the barrel of the cannon and took a careful aim, "Don't worry, hit closer and hit more accurately!" Mr. Ji from the opposite side also put his face close to the barrel of the cannon and ordered almost with his head above his head.
The muzzle of the gun was tilted downward at a considerable angle. Lao Guo ran behind the gun, exposed a little of his eyes that were swollen into thin slits, stretched out his right hand to cover his eyebrows, and looked down along the straight muzzle. His eyes fell on the outside of the trench, where Lao Guo was waiting. The fireman, whose cheeks were also swollen, held a torch in his hand and licked his lips nervously, waiting for Lao Guo's order.
Several feet and the lower edge of the shield appeared in his sight. Guo Yinqiao raised his right hand, and his field of vision suddenly broadened: Yes, it is this group of thieves! Guo Yinqiao yelled: "Light the fire!" At the same time, he used all his strength to jump into the diagonal thorn...
With the sound of "Boom!", Lao Guo heard the brothers cheering: "Hit! Hit!" before he could get up from the ground. "
Ji Shu was carefully observing the mess in front of him. The big iron bullet smashed a large shield into pieces. The guy holding the shield and the people following behind flew several feet away, and their bodies were distorted. The worst thing was not the two of them, but the guys who were hit by hundreds of gravels and small lead bullets: some were still alive, and some had turned into scattered corpses. But Ji Shu's attention was not here. He was searching carefully to see what was in those bags. That area was burning, the gunpowder was scattered and ignited, but there was nothing else strange? After looking at it for a long time, Ji Shu realized that the other bags contained ordinary soil and gravel.
Ji Shu's head buzzed: Today the thieves are going to stuff gunpowder first, then block the hole and blow it up!
The casualties among the people carrying gunpowder today were not very great. Yesterday's fireworks made the defenders relax their vigilance. Although most people guessed that they were carrying gunpowder, the soldiers, including the generals, did not think as much as Lord Ji did. In addition to this, there are two other reasons that no one can do about: the cannon cannot fire accurately and the archers cannot shoot.
While Ji Shu shouted for everyone to concentrate their firepower on the bag-carrying thieves, the group of people had already passed the covering archers at the edge of the ditch one after another and began to sprint towards the wall. Bricks and stones fell like raindrops on the city, some hit, and more missed. The firepower of the thieves' archers suddenly became intensive at this time. Many stone-throwers on the wall were hit by arrows, and they leaned forward to throw. It was extremely dangerous, so most people threw it down blindly through the wall.
When they approached the blind corner of the wall, the soldiers supervising the battle in each group hurried forward while holding small bucklers to protect their heads. One after another, gunpowder bags were stuffed into the holes, and at the same time, holes were poked out by steel knives. Then it spilled out, drawing a fuse on the ground. Bags of earth and rocks were thrown at the entrance of the cave one after another, and thirty or forty holes were quickly sealed...
Ji Shu on the wall was so anxious that he was so anxious that his intestines were blue with regret: Yesterday the thief wasted his efforts in vain, and then he became careless, thinking that he would never do the same thing again today - otherwise, he would have prepared a row of buckets to pour it down earlier. Nothing happened?
"Throw the torch!" This was Zhang Jian's voice. Ji Shu suddenly realized: Yes, it's just the same as igniting the gunpowder before the thieves block the blast hole, isn't it? "Throw the torch!" Ji Shu also shouted at the top of his lungs.
But...thinking about it now, is it still too late?
That's too late.
Only one of the torches thrown on the wall ignited a gunpowder bag. Amidst the miserable howls, several firemen rolled from a blind corner into the sight of the defenders on the wall and rolled on the ground. At this time, most of the holes dug out had been occupied by thieves. After loading gunpowder, the entrance to the cave was tightly blocked with bags of earth and rocks.
The soldiers supervising the battle no longer paid attention to the people, and ran back to the archer line outside the trench with small shields. The shield soldiers of the traitor also ran back and erected large shields along the outer trench. Thousands of soldiers and auxiliary soldiers of the traitor Hiding behind two rows of shield walls, further away, a squadron of eight battalions of thieves had already moved forward, getting into an attack stance!
All the defenders on the wall went crazy and tried their best to shoot and throw stones at the thieves. However, the thieves' archers did not take the opportunity to shoot at them. A bright light of fire sickles flashed by, and the thieves' line fired the first rocket towards the bottom of the wall. …
The thief's first rocket missed. However, in the blink of an eye, a swarm of fire locusts swooped down and finally ignited the gunpowder on the ground...
"Boom", "Boom", "Boom"!
Deafening explosions exploded one after another, and the west city of Kaifeng suddenly burst into flames, and screams suddenly sounded...
