In Liu Chengzong's eyes, the shells falling outside the pass were like cold water poured on hot oil.
With a crash, the originally uneven military formation was scattered as if it had exploded.
Feng Lun shouted from the city: "Quick, clean the barrel and reload!"
Liu Chengzong had been napping at the top of the city wall just now. After shouting twice, he regained consciousness. He stood on the steps leading up to the city wall and shouted to the rebels.
"Wake up quickly, the army is coming!"
Like the officers and soldiers, the sergeants of the Mule Battalion were also very tired.
They fought in Jingjiagou, ate horse meat stewed by the army for them, and traveled forty miles to Shiban Mountain.
He slept in the wilderness on the mountain ridge of Shiban Mountain, slept for two hours, and then walked ten miles to join the battle of defrauding the customs defense.
After the city defenders were wiped out and surrendered, Liu Chengzong ordered them to sleep under the city wall of Yanshui Pass.
How they wish they had a comfortable bed!
At this moment, hundreds of thieves in the Mule Camp were awakened and started to move.
People yawned and stared in confusion, carrying arrows and weapons to the city according to orders, and stringing their bows and crossbows.
The bandit soldiers stood behind the battlements, leaning their spears and hatchets against the wall, holding crossbows and making final preparations. People were not as calm as they seemed on the surface.
Some people's thighs were trembling, some were clenching their fists, and some were trembling with trembling lips, mumbling prayers that no one could hear.
Because they don't even have the strength to stand on one battlement.
Darkness is good, it hides everything, including people's fears.
Liu Chengzong looked past them towards the city.
Outside the wall, illuminated by bonfires, groups of officers and soldiers walked out of the darkness.
They had regained their composure from the panic of being shelled. Under the leadership of junior officers, they approached the city gate with the sound of footsteps and armor scraping, and a huge sense of oppression.
For a moment, Liu Chengzong felt that the hand holding the bow was a little cold.
He was distraught.
There is not only the tension of risking one's life, but also the expectation of the future mixed with excitement and worry.
This is very outrageous. As a front-line commander on the battlefield, even Liu Chengzong himself did not realize that his thoughts were not entirely focused on this battle.
Instead, it floats further away, towards the end of this battle.
Fortunately, Feng Rui was by his side, pulling him back from his thoughts: "Chief, the four cannons are loaded with ammunition."
"Brother Xuzi, do you know what will happen if we win this battle?"
Liu Chengzong raised a finger: "We will be the first among all the rebels in Shaanxi to annihilate the entire guerrilla generals."
He took two deep breaths, looked around, and said, "Brothers, call me, the general asked you to come and eat cannonballs. Did you get your military pay last year?"
The thieves on the city shouted in unison: "The general asked you to come and eat cannonballs. Did you get the military pay last year?"
The officers and soldiers did not respond. They still resolutely carried out the order and approached the city gate step by step.
The people in the city shouted again: "Why don't you surrender to me, Liu Chengzong, and I won't care whether you have enough to eat or not to be hungry!"
The officers and soldiers remained unmoved. The battle line had advanced to more than a hundred steps outside the pass, and they would soon be able to shoot arrows at the rebels at the top of the city.
"After all is said and done, they won't surrender."
Liu Chengzong smiled with satisfaction, turned to Feng Rui and said: "Let's fire off the cannons, get ready to shoot with the crossbow."
Liu Chengzu once told him that the method of persuading surrender before the battle was actually very effective, but it never worked immediately.
This can disintegrate the enemy's will to fight depending on the degree of psychological attack of the words, but it will not eliminate the enemy's will to fight.
The battle will continue to be fought, and the persuasion to surrender before the battle will gradually take effect as the enemy's casualties and difficulties arise, so that the enemy will gradually collapse when encountering difficulties and dangers.
Orders were passed down one after another through the captain and chief of Zuoshao, and people began to select suitable arrows to set up their bows.
Liu Chengzong also took out three arrows, held them in his hand, wrapped them with cloth strips and lit them on fire. He shot the arrows at large elevation angles, small elevation angles, and horizontally before the bow was fully drawn, and then opened the bow and fired.
The distance between the landing point of the feather arrow and several bonfires outside the city gate was different.
Feng Yu's left sentry soldiers used light bows captured by the guards. The power of the bows was generally between forty and fifty kilograms. The range and power of Liu Chengzong's undrawn bows were almost the same as those of them when they were fully drawn.
The bonfires outside the city gate were placed by the defenders earlier, and they were all placed according to the power of the seventy-pound bow.
If the archers on the city shoot at the enemy under the bonfire, most of the time they will miss the target.
However, these three arrows shot by Liu Chengzong were not for people to see. They could not be seen or found in the dark.
It was through the moment when the arrow flew through the air that they had an idea of the range.
The stars in the sky have faded, the moon has disappeared, and the sky is darkest at dawn.
At this time, shooting is not a question of whether you can accurately hit the enemy. As long as the arrow leaves the string, it will be invisible.
boom!
The sound of artillery sounded again, and four more artillery shells flew into the front of the formation, sweeping into the enemy's formation, knocking over seven or eight people, and creating gaps.
The gap was quickly filled. Under the command of the officer, rows of battalion soldiers came forward with bows in hand. They crossed the farthest bonfire and then walked seven or eight steps forward to break through the gap. Then they opened their bows and fired towards the city head.
Liu Chengzong shouted loudly, and people hid behind the battlements to avoid.
A hail of arrows shot towards the top of the city, some nailed to the tower and some hit the city wall.
During the shooting break, Liu Chengzong looked out through the gap in the city wall. He saw a group of infantrymen holding long cards and advancing through the gap between the archers. They held their shields in front of the archers. Then they took ten steps forward with their bows and shot arrows at the city.
They were within range.
The bandit soldiers in the city also began to throw arrows at the enemy troops attacking from the bow, led by Liu Chengzong.
But compared to the official army, their volleys were disorderly and chaotic. They sparsely landed in front of the official army's formation. Their bow power was insufficient, and it was difficult to cause decent damage at this distance.
In the blink of an eye, the officers and soldiers had already deployed five rows of archers in an overlapping formation in front of the pass, and then the formations began to overlap and advance.
People came up from behind and advanced from the front. People shot arrows at the top of the city intermittently. The rain of arrows came so densely and accurately that the thieves on the city did not dare to show their heads.
Then, the gunmen armed with fire blunderbuss, three-eyed blunderbuss, and bird blunderbuss came forward from the rear with their weapons in hand, passed through the cracked formation of archers, and stood thirty steps in front of the pass under the cover of arrow rain.
They had no idea of siege, nor did they possess siege weapons. They only suppressed the city with long-range arrow rain and aimed their firearms at the nearby battlements.
In fact, even at such a distance, it is impossible to shoot accurately in the dark. You can only rely on your senses. If there is a figure shaking on the battlement, you can shoot. Whether you can hit it or not depends on whether you can hit it.
Liu Chengzong twice wanted to shoot the musketeers who came into range, but he was pinned behind the battlements for fear of being hit by the gunners.
The same was generally true for his subordinates. Even the artillerymen were hit in the forehead by the musketeers while shooting, and one of them was directly killed.
In fact, even with such a simple, mechanical and clumsy method, an army with more than three times the strength could kill them on the top of the city.
There is no need for siege weapons. Once most of them are wounded and killed, even if they don't surrender, they can scale Guancheng with a rope.
Liu Chengzong crouched back and forth behind the battlements, constantly standing next to the soldiers who were frightened by the rain of arrows and lead pellets, patting their shoulders or faces, and encouraging them: "Don't be afraid, the occupation will soon turn around!"
This is no lie.
Just before Liu Chengzong encouraged everyone, Feng Yu from Guancheng had already shouted loudly: "Reinforcements have arrived and the enemy is surrounded!"
Bang bang!
As soon as Feng Ru finished speaking, the muffled sound of artillery was heard from behind the enemy's formation.
It's the Tiger Crouching Cannon and the Emerging Pearl Cannon.
The small guns of the light artillery caused a commotion in the enemy's rear, and a cavalry column crashed into the enemy's back.
He arranged for the battalion's artillery posts and Gaoxian right posts on Shiban Mountain, as well as the participating soldiers and post cavalry, to join the battlefield under the leadership of Cao Yao.
The archers who had been suppressed for a long time at the city gate finally launched a condescending counterattack against the government troops again.
