The artillery fire of the Perak Army became more and more fierce, causing the bandits to hide everywhere in the fortress. Although the Tiger Crouching Cannon is classified as a light cannon within the Perak Army, it is compared to the heavier urban defense cannon. In fact, the explosive power is not weak, and the damage to personnel is at least greater than that of grenades. Its deflection ballistic energy Go over walls and bombard soft targets such as people inside the fortress. The mother-child cannon was much more powerful. Although it was not able to blow down the fortress wall, it still cracked the stone. The huge explosion and scattered gravel scared a group of bandits who were drawing bows and arrows to huddle behind the arrow stacks. .
Hiding behind a wall is no guarantee of safety. Two bandits were really unlucky. They were squatting behind the crenel, one behind the other. Unexpectedly, a solid iron bullet from the mother-child cannon smashed the crenel and smashed the two men into pieces. mud. For a moment, the broken flesh, bones, blood, water, intestines, stomach and brain were all mixed together... This time, the Perak Army's Tiger Crouching Cannon used shotgun shells, mainly to kill soft targets such as personnel. The mother-child cannon uses solid iron bullets and is mainly used to attack hard targets such as buildings and fortifications. Not to mention the human body being hit, even if it is slightly scratched, the limbs will be broken. Although most of the bandits were brave people, they were petrified by the bloody scene. The brave ones even jumped under the wall to hide, while the timid ones vomited on the spot.
The continuous falling shells caused heavy casualties to the bandits in the fortress. They all huddled in doorways, corners, and walls with their heads in their hands. In fact, these bandits are not stupid. After these rounds of shelling, they also know that these places are safe. No matter how Xia Qihu yells and threatens, he will never go up to the wall again. Although Xia Qihu was anxious, he had nothing to do. If he really used force to suppress them, these bandits who were forced to panic would really dare to draw their swords against him. In desperation, Xia Qihu had no choice but to take a few personal followers and brave the gunfire to climb to the top of the fortress gate, where he lay down at the crenellation in the corner and panted sharply. The thick stone wall here is the strongest part of the fortress, and it faces the direction of the Perak Army's shelling. It is safer than the fortress courtyard where shells are constantly falling. However, this was only relatively safe. The moment he came up, one of his followers was hit in the eye by gravel flying everywhere because he did not bend down quickly. At this moment, he was rolling on the ground and wailing, covering his blood-stained eyes.
A small group of soldiers from the Perak Army came steadily along the mountain road towards the fortress gate under the cover of shields. This scene happened to be seen by Xia Qihu who stretched out his body to look outside the crenel. He shouted hastily: "The Perak Army is coming, hurry up and put them all on the wall." However, no one paid attention to his order and responded. All he howled was the constant sound of explosions. In fact, when the trebuchet was blown up just now, Xia Qihu already had the idea of escape. However, he had been a bandit in Wanjiaping for many years and knew the consequences of defeat. Even if he is the "second in command", if he retreats after defeat, he will not be able to escape Xiong Ben's strict "military law". Moreover, he had received news that Xiong Ben had blocked the gate of Wanjiazhai, in order to force him to lead his men to defend the stone fortress.
Amidst the sound of artillery, Chen Tianxiang, squad leader of the fifth squad of the Perak Army's first company, led his squad soldiers step by step closer to the fortress. At this time, the bandit's bow and arrow fire had been suppressed. Only sporadic stones were thrown at the gate tower, but they were all blocked by the giant shield and did not affect their progress. When they got closer, the Perak Army soldiers discovered that there was a wide and deep trench surrounding the gate. The bottom of the trench was covered with sharp wooden stakes, making it impossible to approach the gate. Chen Tianxiang did not panic. He made a gesture, and the soldier next to him handed him a linen package with a long fuse. This package was actually a pack of explosives. In addition to gunpowder, it was also filled with iron balls the size of pigeon eggs. Although it was not big, it was heavy. Under the cover of his shield, Chen Tianxiang quickly tied the package to the pole behind the tip of the spear with a rope. After lighting the fuse, he threw the spear across the trench, firmly stuck it on the wooden door of the fortress, and then fled with the others. Run down the mountain. This goal-breaking tactic was proposed by the Perak Army during a major debate, and was discussed and practiced repeatedly. The original proposer was Chen Tianxiang.
After the soldiers of the fifth squad ran out for a while, they all lay down under the high ridge on the roadside. They completely lost the calmness of the attack just now. This made Xia Qihu quite proud. It seemed that the Perak Army was in front of high walls and deep trenches. Nothing more than that. Just now it was he and his entourage who were crawling on the gatehouse and throwing stones. But Xia Qihu was not proud for long, because not long after the Perak soldiers ran away, the explosive package nailed to the door exploded. Not only was the wooden gate blown to pieces, but a corner of the sturdy gate tower was also blown down. Xia Qihu and his entourage who were on the gate tower were also hit by the explosion shock wave and fell heavily from the gate tower. Xia Qihu's head hit the stone base in the corner, and he died without a sound. His personal followers were also either dead or injured. One of the unlucky ones was knocked into the ditch and pierced through the chest by a sharp wooden stake, like a fish pierced by a harpoon. His eyes were staring up at the sky, and his mouth was still opening and closing silently.
After the fortress gate was blown down, the Perak Army stopped the bombardment. This caused a brief silence around the fortress. The fierce shelling and huge explosions caused the bandits to hold their breath for fear of attracting shells falling on their heads. The blown-off limbs and the strong blood made the bandit soldiers tremble. At this time, a large number of Perak soldiers were slowly attacking the fortress along the mountain road with spears and giant shields. The defense has been broken and the leader is dead. How long will it take if we don't escape now? At this moment, the desire for life overwhelmed everything, and the bandits rushed towards the door one after another, starting the escape mode. As for how to deal with Xiong Ben's harsh "military law", we have to wait and see. At this time, there were bandits who were quick-thinking and had already considered placing all the responsibility for the failure on Xia Qihu. If the dead don't bear the blame, should the living bear the blame?
It's just that the bandits were really unlucky. There is only one door in this fortress. Although the door is wide open, the drawbridge is damaged by the bomb and cannot be lowered. Without the suspension bridge, the trench filled with sharp wooden stakes was too wide to jump over. Therefore, when the Perak Army arrived in front of the fortress, except for a few bandits who crossed the trench with agility and fled towards Wanjiazhai on the mountain, the rest of the bandits mostly milled around in front of the trench, and some turned back to face the fortress. Rush inside the fortress. The charging soldiers of the Perak Army blocked the escape route of the bandits, and shouted in unison, "Thunderbolts from heaven will punish the rapists and eradicate the evil. Surrender as soon as possible and repent and start anew." Most of the bandits had been blown away long ago. When they heard that the Pili Army had given them a way to survive, they simply stopped running around and knelt on the ground, shouting "spare their lives", and they all surrendered.
