Mao hour and seven quarters.
Yang Jiamo had already retreated to the city wall, and artillery shells were screaming strangely on the wall above his head from time to time. The messenger who was still standing on the wall shouted loudly: "Commander, the last ditch has been filled!"
Yang Jiamo, who was standing on the steps to climb the city, did not speak, but the deputy commander Wang Xingshan, who was wearing fish scale armor and had a pale face, said anxiously: "Commander, the next step is to fill in the moat, I can still go out of the city to form an array!"
Wang Xingshan was hit by a stray bullet from a heavy musket fired by the Marshal's Army half a month ago when he was out of the city in formation. Fortunately, the stray bullet had already hit and shattered, leaving only a small wound in his abdomen, which was not fatal.
Now the lead bullet fragments have been removed by military doctors. He had been lying in bed in the city to rest, but the wounded soldiers couldn't stand it. Liu Chengzong fired more than a thousand cannons in less than two hours.
There were more than 400 seven-pound artillery shells that hit the city alone. Wang Xingshan thought that he would be killed sooner or later if he lay on the couch, so he asked his attendants to put on armor and go to the front line on crutches.
Yang Jiamo took a deep look at him. He understood the significance of Wang Xingshan's words of "leaving the city to form an array." He shook his head and said, "It's not yet time."
Being a general is a profession that goes against human nature. The Yang family has been in charge of Liangzhou's military for generations, and Yang Jiamo has been in the military since he was a child. The generals in Ganzhou and Liangzhou are all his uncles and brothers, and those soldiers also get along day and night, but that was before the war.
When war comes, as a general, there is no friendship to get along with each other day and night, no kindness from uncles and brothers, only armies and missions are left.
You only have one life and only one chance.
As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Junjie, the Ganzhou commander who was supporting Wang Xingshan, echoed: "Marshal Wang is sitting in the city with peace of mind and leading his troops out of the city. We will go ahead and let the thieves know that even if Ganzhou surrenders, the country will There are still heroes in Kansai!"
Yang Jiamo nodded slowly, patted Luo Junjie on the shoulder, and accepted the challenge: "The Luo family in Ganzhou are all hard-core."
Luo Junjie's father was named Luo Yiguan. Faced with the siege of Nurhaci's army, he defended Xiping Fort with 3,000 men. All the reinforcements were defeated. Faced with Li Yongfang's persuasion to surrender, he sternly refused. After running out of gunpowder, Zaibei drew his sword and committed suicide in the north. His last words were: Chen Li Exhausted.
Hearing Yang Jiamo's approval, Luo Junjie smiled calmly. He was destined to die. He clasped his fists and said, "Commander, I am humbled and ready to leave the city."
The troops preparing to leave the city quickly gathered in the urn at the west gate and south gate. At the head of the city, batches of door panels, wooden windows, masonry and earth bags were sent up the city wall by the soldiers, as well as war tents built in advance. , directly built on the city wall as a temporary fortification after the battlements were destroyed.
When the bell and drum tower in the center of Gaotai City rang the bell of Chen hour, the battlefield seemed to suddenly fall into a brief silence. The general cannons and Fran cannons on the city wall were silent, and the Marshal's Qianjin cannon deployed five miles outside the city also died down. .
Only the trench-filling team on the other side of the moat below the city was still working hard under the cover of wooden curtains. During this moment of stagnation, Yang Jiamo ventured onto the city and looked at the enemy situation on both sides of the city wall from the southwest corner tower that had been collapsed by artillery shells.
He saw the Mongolian cavalry outside the west gate dragging earth bags and branches to fill the city trench, and hundreds of artillerymen stationed far outside the south gate pushing artillery carts towards the city wall.
Obviously this is just the calm before the storm. The eighteen artillery pieces will no longer fire. They will approach the firing range and fire flatly. According to Yang Jiamo's understanding of their artillery skills, their artillery accuracy will increase significantly within a mile. .
But for Yang Jiamo, this came at the right time. The offensive and defensive battles between the two sides did not really begin until the Marshal's army approached the moat.
Wang Xingshan, who had just laid down at the base of the city wall, was called up and temporarily served as the guard to defend the west gate. Yang Jiamo expected that the Mongols over there would wait for an opportunity to board the city and cause chaos after filling in the moat.
But there is no land conditions for large-scale siege equipment outside the west gate. The moat and trenches can be filled in, but the paddy fields can be filled in. The small wheel of the siege ordnance is stuck in the field, and it cannot travel two miles in three hours.
As for the northeastern sides, Yang Jiamo only left four hundred troops to guard. The east side was also paddy fields, and the marshal's army had no idea of filling in trenches there, and the north side was the Heihe River.
The siege troops on the other side of the moat were gathering more and more, which was particularly spectacular in Yang Jiamo's eyes.
The entire siege army formed three echelons. At the front were twenty-six wooden curtain carts, which hung thick wooden curtains seven or eight feet square. Spare ropes, wooden beams, and replacement wooden curtain panels were also stacked on the carts.
Civilians and soldiers were pushing carts to bury the trench in the shadow of the huge curtain. They were not in formation, and they were working under the cover of the curtain and equipment. However, Yang Jiamo could tell from the size that this group of soldiers was about the size of the organization. There are thirty hundred troops, half of which are civilians and half of which are soldiers.
The second echelon has only fifteen or six centurions. It looks like the main force of the siege. It is equipped with eight approaching vehicles, eight ladder tube vehicles, a dozen spare long ladders, and another 400 people. Artillery team.
The third echelon was a group of thirty centurions scattered five miles away. Their armor was the most distinctive. Yang Jiamo could even see the marshal's banner belonging to the general military officer there, and Liu Chengzong was there.
The siege vehicle is a siege vehicle built slightly higher than the city wall. It is a wooden shooting platform that can carry a small number of soldiers to shoot at the defenders at the top of the city with its height advantage. At the same time, when approaching the city wall, it can also put wooden planks on the city wall to allow soldiers to board the city. Combat.
At the moment, the Marshal's army's carriage was moving slowly without carrying any soldiers, but Yang Jiamo could already see through his binoculars that there were many muskets on the top of the carriage, very long muskets.
There were nearly 4,000 soldiers in these two echelons, which was equal to the number of defenders still able to fight in the city. Yang Jiamo was not afraid, but as he scanned the front of the formation with his binoculars, he felt chilled from the bottom of his heart.
The civilians filling the trenches were all common people from Gaotai, and a large part of them seemed to be the banner troops and military remnants of Gaotai Qianhu Station. They were all wearing washed-out mandarin duck war jackets.
The soldiers who pushed the siege equipment were uniformly dressed in uniforms of the Ming army. Their clothes were completely different from the soldiers of the Marshal's Mansion who were lined up five miles away.
This is most obvious for officers. Officers of the Ming Army wore cloth armor with upper and lower parts, usually red and blue.
As for the officers of the Marshal's Army, there are only two words: wealth.
It is said that the armor of this group of people is the same as that of the Ming army, with cloth face armor, but they don't wear it. They all carry it on their mules or throw it on the cart.
They were wearing leather-trimmed cotton jackets and cotton trousers. The cuffs, hem, collar trim and collar were all furry, making them look very warm. The cotton jackets and cotton trousers were all covered with chainmail. Yang Jiamo couldn't figure out what Liu Chengzong was doing. Where did you get all that chain mail?
At night, Yang Jiamo also saw them wearing half-sleeved long armor. It was neither cloth nor cotton. It looked like felt but much thinner, but he was unwilling to guess cashmere from the bottom of his heart... This size The cashmere armor is at least five kilograms, and the wool thread alone is worth five taels of silver. If you include the weaver's working hours, it will cost ten taels or more.
The three-layered clothes made of royal brocade and Lu silk worn by Yang Jiamo, the chief soldier, were only worth three taels of silver according to the market price, and even including the embroidery work, they were less than ten taels.
What's the matter, a rebel leader in the Hehuang separatist regime, the squad leader is dressed better than the Ming Dynasty's general officer?
But this was not the reason why Yang Jiamo felt chilled. What really chilled him was the civilians and soldiers outside the city. Those who were filling in the moat of Gaotai were military households from Gaotai. They might have just dredged the silt from the moat last year.
The first group of soldiers to attack Gaotai were the Suzhou Army, under the command of Yang Jiamo, the chief military officer of Gansu.
Not to mention that he didn't understand, Suzhou Battalion Staff General Hu Zhishen, who was commanding the civilians to fill the trenches on the other side of the moat, didn't understand either. He was wondering why General Yang on the city didn't surrender?
All those who died in this battle are our own family members, let alone Gansu. Suzhou has surrendered, Ganzhou has also surrendered, and you, the chief military officer from Liangzhou, are still guarding a high platform here. City, what are you planning for?
In his opinion, Yang Jiamo should run back to his hometown quickly, but Marshal Liu behind him might not let him run back.
But I still don’t understand. Hu Zhishen had no objection to the first batch of his troops attacking Gaotai. As early as two months ago, when Suzhou had just surrendered, Liu Chengzong had made it clear to him, and the Suzhou camp was reorganized. Once completed, we will be sent to the front line to fight.
Hu Zhishen had been on tenterhooks before he came over. He had originally claimed the title of Suzhou Wei's little waste, but he was able to persuade the desperate guerrilla generals Ding Guodong and Qian Zongmi to surrender. These two were the real ruthless men in Suzhou.
Coupled with the deputy general of the Suzhou Battalion, Bee Tail Needle, who was sent by the Marshal's Mansion next to him, what kind of thing is that? Hu Zhishen heard that this bee-tailed needle was from the civilian army, so he surrendered to the Ming army and then to the Marshal's Mansion. Five hundred cavalry overran the formation of ten thousand troops of the Wala Tatars.
The most outrageous thing is that these five hundred people are divided into two groups!
Listening to the Marshal's Mansion, Ding Guodong and Mi Laoyin must be sharpening their knives to kill him; if they don't listen to the Marshal's Mansion, Bee Tail Needle's men really don't have more than five hundred cavalry, and they may need soldiers to assassinate the National Preceptor Khan. Split into two groups and kill him, this useless little snack, no need.
The more than 3,000 people in Suzhou Camp came from Suzhou Guards. It can be said that the generals were all harboring evil intentions until they met Liu Chengzong at the foot of Gaotai City.
To be honest, Liu Chengzong was not very capable, and he was also afraid of being assassinated by surrendered soldiers and generals. This was the first time he met the soldiers of Suzhou Camp, and they did not let them bring weapons when they assembled.
But he is sincere and knows not to discuss ideals with hungry people.
He directly asked people to bring in two months' worth of food for the whole battalion, and then summoned 30 hundred generals to come forward in public, and rewarded each hundred generals with a pig and a sheep, and handed over a cart of soybeans, allowing them to grow bean sprouts and eat them as vegetables.
Then Liu Chengzong pointed to the craftsmen's camp: "The siege equipment has been built; the light and heavy artillery are ready; I didn't bring any money when I went on a long journey. Gaotai City... Take the Hundred Corps as an example. The one who climbs the city first will be rewarded with a hundred and two good horses in the river bend." Ten horses; whoever ascends the city for the first time will be rewarded with one hundred and twenty fine Mongolian horses; whoever ascends the city for the third time will be rewarded with one hundred and twenty donkeys from Guanzhong; after taking the city, the whole camp will be rewarded with three acres of land, and everyone will have a share."
Amidst the cheers of the whole camp, Hu Zhishen felt comfortable. What he was most afraid of was that Liu Chengzong summoned the whole camp to talk about the court's injustice. That was correct and useless nonsense. Soldiers are all common people, and the common people are the simplest. As long as you Let us live comfortably, and whoever you say is dishonest is dishonest.
If you want us to be well fed, clothed, and have a mother-in-law, we can carry the ladder to the imperial court; if you want us to be proud and proud, then we can climb the ladder to fight in front of the court.
Hu Zhishen's anxious heart suddenly returned to his stomach. Mr. Dong Ju, a staff officer with a background in Suzhou Wei Jiaoyu, patted him on the shoulder and twitched his beard, which made it clear that he was not going to die.
The old teacher was a scholar, and understood Liu Chengzong's tricks very clearly. The reward did not mention anything about officers above the hundred general level, and he couldn't move even if he wanted to.
What the soldiers saw was that Liu Chengzong was generous, and what the officers saw was that Liu Chengzong was stingy. So when a rebellious officer jumped out to encourage the soldiers to rebel, the soldiers would be more willing to hand over the officer's head to the generalissimo in exchange for a reward.
Let alone Yang Jiamo who was guarding the city, even if it was Zhu Youjian who was guarding the city, the Suzhou camp could still attack him without fail.
The bells of the hour came from Gaotai City.
The eighteen thousand-pound cannons were slowly pushed to the second line. The artillery team of forty lion cannons under Beetail Needle also slowly approached the moat. The thousand-jin cannons that had built a defensive position also started to move toward the city head at a distance of one kilometer. Attack with temporary and simple fortifications.
However, the general artillery and French guns on the city fell into silence at this time. The artillery no longer bombarded the siege army, as if they were waiting quietly for the marshal's army to completely fill the moat.
The Suzhou battalion soldiers worked harder and harder in this atmosphere. Under the cover of wooden curtains, they alternately filled the moat with sand and gravel, and spread out a series of Hao bridges in the soft wetland filled in the moat, continuing to the other side of the river. approaching.
Even if the artillery at the city head stopped bombarding, the Suzhou Army's wooden curtain car was still cantilevered on the moat. The rear bee-tailed artillerymen pushed forty flexible and lightweight lion cannons and lined up on the flanks of the wooden curtain cart to attack the people on the other side of the moat. Sheep and horse walls are placed alternately.
One kilogram of iron bullets intensively bombarded the three-foot-thick sheep-horse wall on the other side of the river, causing the bricks and stones to fly and the soil to break apart.
Tall carriages were also slowly transported to the bank of the moat. As groups of soldiers boarded the carriages, the defenders on the city could no longer load quails. They could only use Franco-style general cannons on the inside of the city wall. Bombarded with scattered particles.
The bullets were raining down so hard that the Suzhou gunslinger who boarded the car could not lift his head. He could only squat behind the wooden fence and listen to the Huben battalion officers explaining the differences between carrying guns and heavy guns and bird guns, and looking for opportunities to use weak weapons to He used his height advantage to hit the city defenders with lead bullets that could penetrate people's caves and horses.
However, the effect was mediocre, because the intelligence that the marshal's army had moved the Qianjin artillery to a range of one mile was mastered by Yang Jiamo. He had already ordered the artillery at the city head to shrink to the inside of the city wall. If they could not fire, they would not fire. The defenders also hid on the inside of the city wall. On the horse paths and trails leading to the city.
Only three groups of soldiers were left in the ruins of the three city gate towers and the east and west turrets that were riddled with holes. These people were armed with small bead-blasting cannons and prisoner-killing cannons and hid in the shadows of the city gate towers. Waiting for Yang Jiamo's order.
It wasn't until huge cheers came from the city, several three-foot-wide roads had been filled in the moat, and trucks and ladder trucks were advancing towards the city wall that Yang Jiamo finally waved the order, asking his servants to wave the flags on the horse paths and trails.
The Fran cannons on the city wall received the signal and began to release rapid fire to suppress the approaching vehicles. Even though wooden curtains were placed on the top of the city, the bead-blasting cannon and the bandit-killing cannon teams hidden in the city gate tower still fired their cannons. The child splashed towards the car.
At the same time, groups of soldiers carrying shields and defensive equipment were fully armed and ran up the city wall from the horse paths and footpaths. Lines using three-eyed blunderbuss and bird blunderbuss spread out on the city wall. Instead, they were covered by wooden curtains. Shooting at the soldiers below the city from the flank, and dropping flaming poisonous smoke bombs.
Behind them, oil tanks were placed at the top of the city. Under the cover of their shields, the soldiers used fire tubes to pump out kerosene. They pressed the sleeves towards the chariot a few steps away and sprayed the kerosene on the wooden chariot. superior.
Then the clay pots filled with kerosene were set alight and thrown towards the car in the hands of the defenders.
Puffs of flames suddenly exploded on the siege vehicles. After Liu Chengzong captured half of Gansu, the petroleum weapons used for military purposes finally showed their ferocious faces on the Gansu battlefield, turning into flames rising into the sky, destroying the tall buildings. Siege ordnance devoured.
