The battle for Bajiao City continued on the second day, and the city wall was unscathed. However, only three battlements were left on the 150-step-wide west wall, and the sheep and horse wall under the city were also beaten into clods.
Seeing the three parapets standing on the city made Liu Chengzong suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he ordered Huang Shengxiao to knock down the last three parapets with cannons.
In an era without artillery, it would have been impossible to knock down seventy parapets in one day, but now it is very easy for artillery troops, but the price is a bit high.
It was fun to bombard the city battlements with cannons, but the cost gave Liu Chengzong a toothache.
During the first day of the siege, the twelve red cannons of the Marshal's Mansion were fired more than 600 times day and night, and the lion cannon was used to bombard the sheep and horse wall. More than 3,300 kilograms of gunpowder were consumed, and half of Kangning Mansion was destroyed in one day. of annual output.
At present, his military saltpeter mainly comes from Kangning Prefecture. The seven county governments collect saltpeter soil in caves and purify it on the spot. Each county uses the water decoction method from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and then sends the finished saltpeter to the Nangqian Prefecture's Yamen.
The finished saltpeter that has been boiled in water can already be used as military gunpowder, but the color is not good enough and the purity is not high enough. In this era, from the west to the United Kingdom, most countries that did not produce saltpeter bought it from cakes. Purify using this method.
At the foot of Nangsuoqian Mobao Mountain in Nangqian County, there is the Kangning Prefecture Arms Bureau established by Huang Shengxiao with the help of the prefect Yang Dingrui. This thing was originally on the mountain. Later, it was troublesome to transport supplies to various places, so it occupied the site where wooden cannons were made as a new weapon. Ordnance Bureau Yamen.
The rough-processed finished saltpeter is purified twice at the Ordnance Bureau of Corning Prefecture. It uses plant ash to suspend impurities and is repeatedly simmered. Finally, it is purified to needle-like crystallized saltpeter, which has the best medicinal properties.
In fact, at the beginning, their purification method was egg white, which was quite expensive. Later, veterans who had seen the Ming army purify said that plant ash could also be used with similar effects, which greatly reduced the burden of purifying saltpeter.
At present, the battlements on the west wall of Bajiao City have been destroyed, and the sheep and horse wall under the city have also been beaten to pieces. The defenders can hide and hide as much as they can, and all kinds of firearms on the battlefield have basically stopped firing.
There were only four gunmen on two carriages, shooting intermittently at the city wall that was no longer protected by the female wall. They relied on their height and range advantages to further oppress the defenders hiding on both sides of the western wall.
Most of the preparations for the siege have been completed, and the defenders no longer dared to stand on the west wall, which lacked the protection of the parapet. This meant that when Liu Chengzong's elite soldiers began to attack the city, they could omit the climbing stage where they were most likely to die, and directly Climb the wall and fight the enemy. .
However, due to the Mongolian counterattack, the trench filling work outside the city did not go smoothly, so that everything was ready...the moat was not filled in.
Liu Chengzong was willing to call the Mongols' counterattack the Southern Song Dynasty-style city defense.
Their specific counterattack method is to place at least six return artillery pieces on the inside of the city wall. Instead of shooting large stone bombs, they use smaller dry mud bombs, which are lighter and have a farther range than large stone bombs. They use lookouts to stand on the city wall as observers. , indicating the firing angle and direction for the return gun.
This is why Liu Chengzong asked artillery to destroy the last three battlements. The observers hid behind the battlements, and the guns on the building carts could not hurt them.
Dry mud bombs break into pieces when hit on the ground, weighing about five or six kilograms. It is difficult to survive if hit on the head, and can break arms and legs. Moreover, it is difficult to pick up the mud bombs and throw them back outside the city.
Due to the angle problem, the thousand-pound cannon had no use. The trench-filling soldiers on the front line could only be pressed down and smashed. One person was killed and seven were injured a day.
The one who was smashed to death was particularly unlucky. This kind of broken weapon is unreasonable. The soldiers in the trench-filling truck in front were busy working in full swing. It didn't smash it. On the contrary, the soldiers in the back who were transporting earth were jogging along pushing the cart. They were happy. , with a bang, a big mud bomb hit his head, killing him.
This directly caused the soldiers who began to transport soil to the front line the next day to be very afraid.
But fear is fear, and the trenches that should be filled must be filled in. However, Liu Chengzong has promised the soldiers who were transporting earth and rocks that as long as the wooden bridge on the moat is built, he will soon dismantle the catapults behind the city wall to prepare for his death. soldiers take revenge.
Accompanied by the loud noise of the weight box falling, the sound of the cannon arm swinging came from the other side of the city wall. The buzzing sound of wind passed over the city wall. Several dry mud bombs flew across the moat and hit the offensive position.
Several mud bombs hit the ground and broke into pieces. One mud bomb hit the building car and smashed it into pieces at the perforation. The shooter in the car couldn't help shouting in shock. Not long after, a soldier supported a gunman with blood on his face and walked out of the car. The bottom came out, helped him onto his horse and ran towards the doctor's camp in the rear.
There was also a cannonball that hit the shield of a gun bearer, knocking him over. However, the man stood up in an instant, shook his arms to dust himself off, pointed at the city with his shield, and let the gun bearer stand. The gunmen fired and cursed at the Mongolian observers.
The Mongolian observers in the city were so angry that they wanted to throw their hats off: they took advantage of others and still cursed!
Liu Chengzong made two preparations in order to demolish the city wall and return artillery. On the one hand, he put more troops into the business of transporting earth, filling the river and building wooden bridges. On the other hand, he was thinking about building a mortar on the spot.
"Master Craftsman, think about it and build a cannon with a barrel that is only four or five times as big as the muzzle. It is bigger and heavier. It can fire a shell weighing more than ten kilograms. The kind that blooms can go over the city wall and hit the city."
"The commander-in-chief is talking about a cannon?"
Master Cheng, I thought about it for a while and pondered the difficulty of this matter in my mind.
As for the artillery building itself, I have presided over the casting of hundreds of small and medium-sized artillery pieces. Regardless of how to make them or what kind of artillery pieces to make, it is not difficult according to his skills.
But it is difficult to build a cannon that meets Liu Chengzong's wishes.
He explained to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, it is easy to make a red barbarian cannon. There are still molds in the army, but the cannon mentioned by the commander has no molds and no examples of imitations. I am afraid it may not be suitable for production. "
Liu Chengzong looked at the pontoon bridges advancing eastwards on the moat on the mountain, and said to his master, "It doesn't matter. Just go ahead and adjust whatever you need. Master, we will inevitably attack the city in the future." , do you understand what I mean?"
Li Wanqing stood beside him and said with a smile: "Commander, you mean that all our deployments in this battle will be used as a model for siege in the future?"
Liu Chengzong nodded and looked at the west wall with its female wall flattened in the distance, with a smile on his face: "The shape of this city is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the city is full of soldiers but no civilians. Logically speaking, it is more difficult than attacking an ordinary city."
As he spoke, he turned his head and said: "But because the Tatars have no shortage of muskets and cannons and are not familiar with firearms, now we have not killed as many people in a day's force attack as in field battles. The Chuck Rabbit in the city can be regarded as my siege teacher." "
Liu Chengzong really felt that Chuck Rabbit could be regarded as his teacher. Relatively speaking, the Lion Army had rich field experience, but its experience in siege warfare was close to zero.
A siege battle with low intensity due to the poor equipment of the defenders provided a lot of siege experience to generals and soldiers at all levels, including him.
First clear the strongholds outside the city, set up a siege camp, use large and small artillery to shoot directly at the battlements and horse walls, build siege equipment to suppress the defenders, approach the front line to the moat, use mortars to fire explosive shells to bombard the defenders on the inside of the wall, and finally use Infantry captured the city walls.
These experiences will be used in future sieges, so he is not worried that the siege may be delayed due to the city defense facilities.
Li Wanqing laughed at first, then returned to seriousness, nodded twice and said: "If the defenders in the city were government troops, they would have fired cannons and various poisonous smoke across the city wall, and there would also be some on the city. Weapons such as large and small general cannons and hundreds of tigers running together will not be able to fill trenches so lightly."
Liu Chengzong laughed when he heard this, patted Li Wanqing and said: "Okay, you have seen a lot in Xining Guard. It looks like you have worked hard, as an officer would say."
Li Wanqing didn't laugh this time. From shooting the sky to defending Qianhu in Xining, Liu Chengzong's southern expedition was not an easy time for him. The various weapons used by the army alone were enough to make him worried. Hair fell out.
After being stunned for a few seconds, Li Wanqing shook his head and said: "It's not as tiring as the commander-in-chief fighting in the south."
Recalling that he fought in various places in the plateau and mountains, Liu Chengzong actually felt that due to the strength of his opponents, he fought the battle very calmly. On the contrary, he spent more energy on the laws and regulations and maintaining stable governance after the battle.
He pondered for a moment and made a comment: "The combat effectiveness of the Western Fan Army is slightly weaker than that of the landlord regiments in northern Shaanxi; its soldiers are slightly stronger than those of the Shanxi Fenzhou Flag Guard Army; in field battles, the Lion Army after training in Qinghai follows These opponents are different."
After all, Dunyue Dorje, who was the main opponent, was used to being in western Sichuan and was not familiar with him, so he always wanted to come to him first.
"But there is a Jinchuan chieftain over there. His territory lies between our two counties. He has built countless fortresses and watchtowers. He refuses to go out. I can't do anything about him. He is still alive and well now."
Uszang and Lijiang were both too far away, and Liu Chengzong had no intention of going there, so Chieftain Jinchuan was probably Liu Shishi's only regret in his southern expedition, which made him resentful.
As he said that, he suddenly thought of the battle with Guyang in the valley, clapped his hands and said, "By the way, I almost forgot, send someone to find my brother, I need rain gear."
Li Wanqing looked up at the sky and asked doubtfully, "It doesn't look like it's raining, does it?"
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Be prepared. Chuo Ke Rabbit is besieged in the city. The biggest difference between us is the firearms. Once it rains and my firearm goes out, we must fight hand to hand. In war, the battle is all about the lack of human resources." I have."
He explained: "This is not just about weapons. If someone has weapons and I don't have them, the opponent will have a greater chance of winning. If someone doesn't train me and I have them, then I will have a greater chance of winning. Everything must be prepared thoroughly. If others don't have weapons and I don't have them, then naturally we will win." The odds of winning are high.”
After saying that, he asked Li Wanqing: "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, why does my brother have so much gunpowder? Twenty thousand kilograms of gunpowder is just a matter of luck. He also said that there might be more in the future, and there is saltpeter produced in Juerwan?"
"Produce."
Li Wanqing nodded: "There are so many kinds of saline-alkali land in the Hehuang Valley, and a lot of them were harvested in the spring this year, but this is not too much, mainly because the emperor gave us more."
Liu Shizi was stunned: "Give me gunpowder, why is the emperor in a hurry to climb the tree?"
Climb a tree?
Li Wanqing thought about what this meant, shook his head and said: "The commander-in-chief doesn't know anything. It's a long story. It's quite strange. Since the commander-in-chief marched south, the imperial court and Shaanxi sent several officials to Xining, all looking for The Xuanwei envoy is asking for money and food."
"The commander-in-chief of food and salary of the Shaanxi army knows it all too well." Li Wanqing spat at his feet as he spoke: "The Marshal's Mansion has money and food, but it is not given to them. Anyway, no matter who it is, don't even think about leaving after you come. , so the soldiers at the guard stations in Hezhou, Lintao, Lanzhou, Langzhuang and other places were very tense for a while."
Liu Chengzong sneered disdainfully: "It's useless to fight a battle in Lanzhou. The Gansu frontier army has suffered from the northwest wind for three years. Do they have the ability to launch a war?"
Unexpectedly, Li Wanqing actually nodded: "Yes, the imperial court is ready. The guards and battalions gathered nearly 30,000 troops last winter. They had the idea of attacking Xining while you were away. They wanted to start spring this year and not delay the farming season. "
Liu Chengzong frowned, does the court still have the courage?
The troops in the Marshal's Mansion can live without relying on the east of Xining for food rations. They can only drink milk, which is a little bitter.
The imperial army marched into Xining, and the grain production in the Hehuang Valley was basically lost. Can Shaanxi's fragile economic environment withstand it?
If a fight breaks out in the east, it will indeed be quite dangerous if there is a Chucky Rabbit in the west causing trouble.
Li Wanqing followed and spread his hands and said: "There is Huang Youcai in the east who is attacking Qingyang, and there are brothers from the Shen family who are like Tatars. The imperial court sent 6,000 soldiers and horses from Lintao, Hezhou and other places to the east to help. Mr. Liu wrote to Lian The state affairs scolded the three governors, but there was no fight and everything continued as usual."
Liu Chengzong still didn't understand the logic: "I cursed the court, and the emperor used gunpowder to compensate for my humiliation?"
Li Wanqing was amused: "Why? It's nothing. The imperial court wanted to take action here, so they stored a lot of ordnance and gunpowder. The general sent people to use money to buy gunpowder from the guards. The number of transactions was very chaotic, and some of them were from the guards. Some officials and some are flag soldiers, and the prices are different."
He waved his hand, frowned and thought hard for a while, then shook his head and said: "Some are at the same price, some are at double the price. I know that the highest price is three times the price. It was purchased from Lanzhou General Kong Xiaochen who was stationed in Yongtai City for 2,500 yuan." I bought 23,000 kilograms of gunpowder for two taels of silver."
Liu Chengzong nodded first, then froze and said: "No, three times should be one thousand five hundred taels, two thousand five hundred is almost five times."
Li Wanqing nodded and said: "Yes, the gunpowder cost was one thousand four hundred and forty taels. The other one thousand taels was a birthday gift for General Kong Shen's old father, in exchange for a note for the battalion's musket training."
Liu Chengzong laughed and cursed: "It's so damn easy to make money!"
"Yes, but the money is well spent. It is said that General Kong Shen insisted not to send troops to Xining during the military meeting, which also played a role."
While the two were talking, Shi Chengwo, who had gone to the side to plan the specifications of the mortar earlier, came back with a drawing and presented it to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, the specifications of this cannon have been roughly determined, but whether it will be cast to suit the commander's requirements Yes, I can’t guarantee it for the time being.”
Having said that, Shicheng I pursed my lips and took out a heavy breath from my nose. I clasped my fist at Liu Chengzong with a serious face and said, "I want to try this cannon wrapped in iron and copper."
