The siege engines were advancing.
The gunfire roared from the earth mountain, and hundreds of iron bullets passed through the smoke, flew more than 200 steps, and splashed on the rammed earth city wall.
Li Laojiao, wearing a white scarf on his head, carrying two small golden melons, stood at the front of the team with a shield in hand, looked up at the two-foot-high wall, and walked forward with his head held high.
His liver was shaken by the sound of his own artillery.
Li Laojiao's team was frightened even more. The adopted son who was following him asked, "Big, how can we attack the city when the artillery fire from behind is constant?"
"It's okay, Marshal Liu can attack the city, just follow the command."
Having said that, Li Laojiao was still frightened. He swallowed his saliva and asked the Lion Battalion officer standing nearby: "Huang Guan team, this artillery won't cause accidental damage, right?"
Huang Shengxiao, who was promoted to the post captain, shook his head, raised his hand to hold the arrow around his neck, and said nothing.
He knew that if the Hongyi cannon was fired at a low level, Sanzi could only hit 200 steps. This was almost 270 steps. It was uncertain whether a few more cannons would accidentally injure him.
However, even if it was hit by a cannon from the rear, it would at best be an accidental injury, and the iron pellets would no longer have much power when they flew here.
The real threat was the defenders' weapons.
The lion cannons on the riverside were still bombarding the city head in an orderly manner. Pieces of scattered particles were blasted towards the city head, making holes in the rammed earth wall. The defenders hid behind the parapet and did not dare to show their heads.
This was Li Lao Jackal's first battle after joining forces, and he hoped that he could make some meritorious deeds.
Speaking of joining forces, he was quite puzzled. After seeing the combat effectiveness of the Lion Battalion, Li Laojiao thought that defecting to Liu Shizi was a way out.
Therefore, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to being a toolman, raised three thousand stones of food and grass to pay off the debt, and then stayed in Shiziwan.
His original idea was to sell it through the old man of the Liu family and ask the fourth master to put in a good word so that Liu Shishi would take him over.
After all, there was a big gap between his team and the Lion Battalion in terms of combat effectiveness and discipline.
But he never expected that he would be directly recruited into the Yuzi camp by the fourth master, and his staff would be scattered, and he would only be given the staff of a sentry commander.
But if nothing else, he really learned a lot.
Talking about siege, he and Tian Jinan had earlier besieged Heshui, built more than 70 long ladders, directly covered one side of the city wall with ladders, and attached two thousand-man troops to attack the city.
She was stunned by the sheep's stones and rolling logs, and could not attack at all.
When he joined forces here, Marshal Liu's battalion headquarters gave him only one order: to lead the team at the south end of the east gate, cover a siege vehicle frame and go to the top of the city, form a team of 100 men to ascend first, and pretend to attack the city.
The remaining four hundred people were waiting on the side with three long ladders, supported by artillery scattered behind them, trying to prevent the defenders on the city from spraying arrows on them.
Liu Chengzong told him that the long ladder without protection was not put up directly on the city wall.
The purpose is to wait until a gap is opened in the city by friendly forces. Wherever there are no enemy troops, the long ladder will be erected.
The siege was also divided into several complex batches.
In the first batch, Zhang Tianlin and Xiaobai and Xiaohei from the north gate, and Zhong Hu from the Lion Camp at the south wall did not participate in the attack.
The main attacking troops were Li Laozhen in the southern section outside the east gate and Feng Rui in the northern section. There were several long ladders and a siege vehicle on each side.
In the first batch, both the northern and southern sections were responsible for feint attacks.
Li Laojiao was assigned to the southern section of the city wall. He was very unhappy at first. He felt that pretending to attack would mean death.
But Liu Chengzong said no. The feigned attack was not to risk death, but to contain the enemy. Therefore, the possibility of casualties was smaller, and the possibility of casualties was greatest during the breakthrough.
Bang bang!
Several muskets were fired, and the siege vehicle was approaching the expected position. The sentry musketeers armed with three-eye muskets on three sides of the vehicle were already exchanging fire with the enemy troops on the city.
They were directly hit by arrows and volleys of cannon fire from the defenders at the top of the city.
The defenders were so beaten by artillery that they could not lift their heads. When they saw the siege vehicles retracting and retracting the ladders, they reacted violently.
Amidst a series of hissing gunpowder sounds, they ignited a magical arrow chariot. As a large amount of smoke rose from the top of the city, hundreds of rockets shot out of the smoke and fired at the siege vehicle indiscriminately.
The strange roar of the rocket made Li Laojiak feel chills all over his body. He led the team and stood in front of the lower ladder of the siege vehicle.
Li Laojiao had no choice but to lead his troops to the city. His people had never seen artillery and rockets bombarding them wildly. At this time, their morale was so low that they would retreat even if they went up to the city.
Huang Shengxiao stood under the city boarding car, released the blue flag rolled in his palm, and waved it to the artillerymen on the riverside.
Soon, the lion gunner in charge of this section of the city wall also waved the flag. He said to Li Laojiao: "Chief Li, come to the city!"
Li Old Jackal nodded heavily, looked back and shouted loudly to the hundred men who were selected to ascend first: "The commander-in-chief has given an order. The five people who ascend the city first will be rewarded with one hundred shi of food and five hundred taels of silver. Come with me." !”
After that, in the gap between the 180 rockets fired by the magic machine arrow car at the top of the city, he turned around and climbed up the ladder with a big shield on his head.
The soldiers behind him followed suit, each holding a shield in one hand and climbing up the ladder.
At this moment, the defenders in the gap in the city pushed a light general into the gap in the battlements. Two people, one on the left and one on the right, lifted the flat-panel gun carriage and aimed it downwards.
Li Laojiao watched helplessly as the muzzle of the cannon was pointed at him, and shouted: "Jump down!"
He jumped off the side of the ladder truck first.
The soldiers behind him had no time to jump. There was a boom, and dozens of scattered particles sprayed down diagonally, knocking down several siege infantrymen on the long ladder.
Old Jackal Li jumped too slowly, with a hole in his shield and a piece of meat bitten off his leg by an iron ball. He and several soldiers who jumped off the ladder gathered at the end of the team again, shouting to themselves: "While they are changing guns, attack Get up!"
But then, on the horse-facing wall protruding from the city wall, several defenders holding crossbows fired a hail of arrows from the side, knocking down the soldiers on the ladder again.
Then a new divine machine arrow carriage was carried to the battlement by several defenders, ignited, set up, and tilted downwards.
Missing and flying rockets were flying around the city. Huang Shengxiao held a gun and killed a defender carrying a divine machine arrow cart. The arrow cart suddenly raised its head and fired the remaining twenty or thirty rockets towards the river.
But it was too late. Li Lao's jackals under the city had been scattered by the rockets, so they had to regroup.
The first batch of attacks on the southern section of the city wall were completely repelled.
The situation on the northern section of the city wall was similar. Feng Lun's soldiers were also unable to use their flesh and blood to break through the fire network woven with firearms at the top of the city.
However, Liu Chengzong, who was watching the enemy's situation from a high position on Tushan Mountain, showed a relieved smile at this time.
He put down his telescope and said to his left and right: "The defenders of the south wall have moved their troops to the east wall. Zhong Bao, go to the south and set up a flag for your brother, so that the central sentry can start attacking the south of the city."
"Sanlang took a few people to pass the order and tell the ministries that after boarding the city, they would take full control of the city wall and plunder the city walls without authorization."
"Shipan, led thirty servants wearing heavy armor, mixed with Li Laojiao's team from the south section of the east wall to attack the city, climbed the city and pushed north. Shiyou was waiting at the bottom of the city. Every time your brother advanced five steps, he would attack the city through the gap. A long ladder leads up to the city.”
The Han brothers clasped their fists and accepted the order, and then Liu Chengzong asked: "A reward of one hundred stones of grain and five hundred taels of silver. You two want money or grain?"
"I want food."
"I want food."
The two brothers asked for food in unison, and Liu Chengzong smiled: "Well, if you climb the city and break through the gap, you will be rewarded with this."
The two brothers clasped their fists with joy on their faces and said, "Thank you so much, Marshal!"
"Put on your armor and grab your shield, and be careful about the firearms in the city."
The two of them took the order and walked down the mountain. They led their own soldiers to add a layer of mail armor to their cotton armor. They each held weapons and led teams to join Li Laojiao's reassembled siege troops.
Cao Yao saw the reality of the magical arrows on the city. Those rockets were incredibly powerful and had straight trajectories, but there was something wrong with them.
When the soldier carrying the rocket car was knocked down by Huang Shengxiao, the rocket passed over the north bank of the moat like a line, reaching its fastest speed over the moat, and then lost stamina.
Finally, it fell diagonally in the moat, or fell beside them at a speed that could be caught by the artillery.
With the long-range scatter attack of the Hong Yi Cannon, a rivalry between rivals was formed.
Cao Yao clapped his hands and said, "Fortunately, it's well-made, but it was probably made a few years ago and has been replaced with salt."
Liu Chengzong wondered if it wasn't because of the rocket's expiration date, but he understood that it meant that the rocket had expired.
It was originally a very dangerous thing, but the artillerymen had no other choice. Those who had shields would raise their shields, and those with weapons would use them. If there was nothing left, they would dodge and hide. If that didn't work, they would just take it with their hands.
Some of them actually caught it.
The tail of the arrow was held in someone's hand. The gunpowder barrel in front was not completely burned out, so the gunpowder cartridge was leaking out and smoke was rising intermittently.
Originally, the morale of Li Lao Jackal's team had collapsed. Unexpectedly, when the scattered bandits turned around, they saw the artillerymen holding Liu Guoneng in their hands by the river, and they lost all fear of those rockets.
In a blink of an eye, everyone turned back into the fierce bandits who dominated Yanqing.
Finally, we were able to regroup the team. Those with bows fired arrows at the city, and those with blunderbuss fired at the top of the city. In addition, the lion cannon on the riverside fired two well-timed cannons, but they regained the momentum again.
When the Han brothers came over with a team of servants wearing cotton armor and chainmail, they completely stabilized the morale of the army.
Han Shipan came over and scolded him: "Why don't you use wooden curtains? Isn't this a waste of time?"
Old Jackal Li felt a burning pain in his leg. This not only did not make him fearful, but made him so angry that he pulled his hair scarf and threw it to the ground.
"Damn it, no matter what I say today, I will earn a hundred stones of food!"
He no longer took the shield, stuffed two melon hammers into his waist, ordered the two of them to protect him with shields in front, climbed the ladder with bare hands, gritted his teeth, and charged forward again.
Han Shiyou got into the siege vehicle, squatted in the vehicle with his bow in hand, and relied on the shelter made by the two wooden doors to hide the arrows and blunderbuss from the city head. When he found the right opportunity, he released a cold arrow and squatted down after releasing it.
His arrows were cruel and poisonous. One by one, a beryllium arrow five inches wide, hit the neck and wanted to cut off the person's head. A few arrows frightened the defenders on the city so that they did not dare to show their heads.
The wooden curtain cart under the city was finally deployed. Several servants supported the beams and hung the wooden curtain in front of the ladder to cover the arrows and cannons in front.
A bombardment came from the top of the city. This time, it did not penetrate the wooden curtain. Instead, it knocked the hanging curtain back violently, and slapped a soldier who was holding a shield for Li Laojiao down the ladder and threw him to the ground. Half dead.
Seeing that he only had a few steps left to climb the city, Li Laojing took out two pumpkins from his waist and held them in his hands. He pointed at the city and cursed: "Remove the wooden door!"
The moment the wooden curtain was removed, Li Laojiao suddenly jumped out of the ladder and faced the wide-eyed eyes of the defenders who were about to remove the general's cannon. He jumped out on the muzzle of the cannon and hit his face with a hammer. Knocking down the defender: "You coward!"
But it was only cool for a second, and then a few short spears came at him, almost stabbing Old Jackal Li into a bunch at the top of the city. Fortunately, his leg was injured, and he couldn't hold it up when he fell to the ground, so he knelt down and paid New Year's greetings to all the uncles. Only dodged a few spearheads.
Several spear-wielding defenders were stunned. What, what are you doing?
I have never seen anyone kowtow before they attack the city.
At the moment of panic, the fierce bandits under Li Laojiao filed forward from the gap, brandishing swords and hammers at the top of the city and jumped into the defenders' formation to fight. In the blink of an eye, they cut down the defenders within a few steps.
Immediately after the sound of a cannon from the side, the soldiers who raised the fire were stunned. They didn't know why the cannon was ignited. The blast of the cannon not only knocked over Li Lao Jackal's soldiers one by one, but also several defenders were also killed. Overturned to the ground.
Li Laojiao groaned and couldn't stand up at all this time.
When Han Shipan led his team to attack the city, there were almost no people left standing near the gap after being hit by the cannon.
He saw Li Laojiao sticking out his buttocks, which was still oozing blood. He was using a melon hammer to rub his elbows on the ground, and when he climbed to the side of the defeated defender, he gave the hammer a blow.
In the southeast section of the city, defenders were gathering on both sides of the city, but Zhong Hu's troops in the south of the city had also attacked the city. Han Shipan immediately ordered to open up the formation and advance eastward.
Han Shiyou on the siege truck shouted loudly: "Brother, rob the swarm of bees!"
Han Shipan heard his brother's voice and looked in the direction pointed by Han Shiyou on the siege vehicle. He saw a protruding horse-faced wall next to him. A divine machine arrow chariot was placed alone on it. Next to it were several dead bodies and defenders. Has fled eastward.
He immediately led his team to seize the building, picked up the torch, pushed it to the south and set it down towards the assembled defenders.
In the rising smoke, hundreds of rockets were fired randomly on the city wall, covering the ground within forty steps with smoke.
According to the charge of the magic arrow, the rocket should completely clear the city for at least a hundred steps. Han Shipan was so angry that he kicked the arrow cart over and cursed: "It's a jerry-rigged thing!"
However, this really frightened the defenders over there so much that they threw away their weapons and ran towards the south wall. Some of the torches thrown by others ignited the powder barrels and turned themselves into light on the city.
Zhong Hu's troops on the south wall jumped onto the parapet and went straight to the horse path leading up to the east wall, blocking the defenders who wanted to escape from the city. The defenders who had no other option lost the courage to fight to the death and started from the first person. After laying down their weapons, hundreds of people surrendered on a large scale.
At the gap created by Han Shipan, long ladders were set up on the top of the city. More and more siege soldiers climbed onto the top of the city without any threat and formed a line on the city.
Feng Ru's troops in the northern section of the east wall also cooperated with the wooden curtains of siege engines. After the southern section of the city wall fell, they easily made a gap in the city, and then quickly rushed towards the inner gate tower, cutting the defenders' defense line. Make Wengcheng an isolated island.
Several soldiers chased the defenders and rushed down to the top of the city. For some reason, a series of explosions rang out in the deserted Wengcheng, which sprinkled the earth in the sky, and a cloud of nitrous rose from the Wengcheng.
The person who really determined the outcome of this battle was Old Jackal Li who rubbed his butt beside the horse road in the lower city.
He tripped the magistrate on his butt and dragged down the escaping teacher.
When Han Shipan chased after him, he only saw Li Laojing hitting the floor tiles next to the magistrate with a golden melon: "Are you still running? Are you still running? I want you to step on me!"
