At dusk on the second day of March in the first year of Chongzhen, Ningyuan City in western Liaoning.
The buzzing sound of bowstrings was like a swarm of bees that came and went, sometimes sounding, sometimes going away, stimulating the nerves of the living and the dead on the battlefield.
The dense explosions of firecrackers at the top of the city resounded endlessly, like deadly Sanskrit sounds, and the white smoke rising from the burning gunpowder formed a continuous white barrage.
More than 3,000 Liao Town fire gunners were hidden in the smoke, constantly using cheap lead to harvest the lives of the attackers. In the distance, only the orange-red fireworks and the beating red tassels behind the crenels could be seen.
Two thousand carriages were like patient beetles, slowly advancing across the moat.
They crossed the pontoon bridge and came to the opposite side of the moat. After stopping for a while, they finally began to attack the enemies who kept shooting at them.
The enemy finally entered the range of the bow and arrow, and accompanied by the buzzing sound of swarms flying by, dense rain of arrows rose from behind the beetle.
The rain of arrows formed a giant black curtain several miles wide, which reflected various terrifying patterns in the dilated pupils of the defenders.
Tens of thousands of arrow clusters hit Xuanhu and Iron Arm's hands, making regular jingling sounds, like a summer rainstorm.
Some unarmored defenders were shot and fell to the ground, their screams masked by the sound of gunfire. On the noisy battlefield, death was a silent thing.
Groups of beetles crossed the moat, and the battle finally heated up, with both sides fighting furiously.
Guns and cannons were fired continuously at the top of Ningyuan City. The Hongyi cannons did not care about other threats, the earth walls that were growing in the distance, the tunnels that were approaching quickly, and they no longer retaliated against the flying crows that killed countless Liao soldiers. All the Hongyi cannons fired. The artillery concentrated its firepower and violently bombarded the carriages approaching the city wall, which was the swarm of beetles that could be seen from mid-air.
More than 30,000 Kaiyuan pioneers entered the area a hundred steps away from the Ningyuan city wall.
The definition of these foreign Liao people is not only cannon fodder, but also a hammer.
Liu Zhaosun wanted to use this big hammer to break through the impregnable Ningyuan defense line, smash the elite defenses of Zu Dashou and Jiubian, and break the backbone of the Ming army.
In the face of the absolute numerical superiority, the various fortifications carefully laid out in Liao Town seemed too redundant.
After more than 3,000 vanguard casualties were lost, the five outer lines of defense consisting of horse pits, trenches, horse traps and iron caltrops were shattered by large iron hammers.
Two thousand carriages were bombarded intensively by Hongyi cannons, they rolled over mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and continued to advance towards the city wall.
"Charge forward! Whoever climbs first will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold! Will be rewarded with a thousand acres of fertile land! Will be promoted to a thousand households! Whoever retreats will have his whole family beheaded!"
A thousand supervising troops composed of Zhenfu soldiers and grassroots officers of the Guards, armed with heavy swords and big bows, followed the shield chariot and rushed across the moat.
The team was followed by the same number of trainers. They raised loudspeakers to the backs of the crowd in front and shouted loudly in Chinese and Mongolian Jurchen.
When the foreign Liao civilians who were charging ahead heard the reward offered by the trainer, they let out strange screams, threw back the slow-moving carriage, and accelerated towards the city wall carrying hooks and ladders.
More than a thousand artillery pieces mounted on the walls of Ningyuan City were desperately bombarding the approaching formation.
Even the squatting tiger cannon was moved to the top of the city by the defenders to bombard the crowds rushing in front of the carriage.
Raindrops of iron bullets fell from the sky, hitting the heads of the enthusiastic crowd and the roofs of the densely packed carriages.
The iron ball smashed the front fender of the truck, and the flying sawdust and iron nails swept through the dense crowd like bullets, causing a shower of blood.
Occasionally, a sacred fire flying crow was ignited by the defenders. The rocket dragged a long tail flame across the city. After flying forward for more than ten steps, it turned around and flew back, and finally crashed into the crowd of screaming and fleeing defenders. This batch of Shenhuo flying crows was transported directly from the Shenji camp of the capital to western Liaoning to reinforce Zu Dashou. Due to the poor manufacturing process, the rockets often performed Brownian motion after being ignited. On the battlefield, they had the magical effect of killing eight hundred enemies and damaging one thousand. effect. Therefore, the defenders would not use this thing unless absolutely necessary.
After the strong men pushed the Hongyi cannon across the pontoon bridge, the Kaiyuan gunners immediately loaded their ammunition and fired back towards the city.
Unfortunately, the city's artillery was already too busy at this time and ignored the provocation of Kaiyuan's artillery. At this time, the defenders could already hear the shouts of the foreign archers behind the carriages under the city.
Finally, the first beetle dragged its heavy armor and slammed into the city wall. Before it could stand firm and think about life, countless medicine cans, rocks, and rolling logs flew down from its head, and all kinds of weapons almost submerged the cart.
The carriage looked like it had just come out of a flour shop. The roof of the carriage was densely covered with dust, dirt and sulfur, making it completely unable to see its original handsome appearance.
The disgraced Beetle wanted to move his body, but found that the surroundings were filled with rolling logs and rocks, making it impossible to move.
The hospitable defenders at the top of the city still felt that this was not enough, and then threw down the torch dipped in tung oil. The torch fell on the tung oil and sulfur, and the unlucky beetle was instantly drowned in the sea of fire.
A group of Mongolian herdsmen rushed out of the cart. They were short and stocky. After looking around, knowing that they could not escape, they simply raised the hook and ladder and put it on the wall above their heads, pretending to be fighting on the city.
However, before the ladder was lifted, the group of Mongolians were shot into hedgehogs by the flying arrows and fell beside the burning car.
This is just the beginning of the offense.
The unfortunate death of the first beetle did not scare away its companions. After all, the dead beetle was only a small one in a tide of two thousand insects.
The sound of attacking trumpets sounded all around.
Two miles away, on four drum carts more than two feet high, sixteen shirtless golden drummers were vigorously swinging their drum hammers, spreading the sound of the drums throughout the battlefield.
The sound of golden drums is particularly majestic and majestic on the battlefield filled with the sound of fire and arrows.
The fifth round of the Rockets' Shenhuo Flying Crow sweep has officially begun.
Two thousand rockets soared into the sky, passing over the narrow moat, past two thousand squirming beetles, past the waves of attacking foreign Liao people, and poured like a red rain on the head of Ningyuan City.
The Liaohuo gunners who were calmly shooting at the top of the city suffered heavy casualties again under the saturation attack of rockets. The ancestral army near the crenel fell like leaves one after another, and their bodies were smashed under the shield car at the bottom of the city, making a disturbing sound. Bang.
A sharp bamboo whistle sounded from behind the city wall, and the elite border troops who came for reinforcements pushed away the corpses on the stone steps and quickly filled the position vacated by the gunman. The first ones to rush up were the Shaanxi Zhen border troops. They held big bows and before they could stand their ground, they fired arrows at the Kaiyuan soldiers and civilians who were starting to climb the city.
Taking advantage of the attack of the divine fire flying crow, the carriages approached quickly and crashed into the city wall, making a dull sound from the Ningyuan city wall.
Groups of Liao civilians emerged from the belly of the carriage. They struggled to put up hooks and ladders on the city wall, regardless of the dense rain of arrows above their heads and the falling logs and rocks.
The hook ladder was set up on the city wall, and the iron hook with barbs on the top was stuck in the gap in the middle of the crenel.
Amid shouts in various dialects, Korean volunteers, Mongolian herdsmen, Jurchen hunters, and strong men from the Liao people swarmed up, each with a sword in his mouth, and climbed quickly towards the city head along the hook and ladder.
Some old and weak people held on to the hooks and ladders at the foot of the city, while those who knew how to shoot hid behind the carriages and fired at the Shaanxi soldiers.
Hundreds of hooked ladders were set up on the city wall. Countless foreign Liao people climbed up the hooked ladders like ants crossing a bridge and launched a frenzied attack on Ningyuan City.
The first wave of Liao Town defenders had suffered all casualties, and the second wave of Liao Town troops had not yet arrived. At this moment, the five thousand defenders guarding the city were all Shaanxi border troops. The Qin people were not afraid of death. Seeing this situation, they all Swinging a heavy knife and throwing an ax, he slashed at the iron hook on the crenel, only to hear the clanging sound, and sparks flying from the metal impact.
Some strong Shaanxi soldiers directly pulled out the iron hooks embedded in the crenels with their hands, called on their companions to come forward, and several of them worked together to push down the hook ladder on the crenel and the foreign Liao people on the ladder.
The firing range of the Hongyi cannon was adjusted to the lowest level. After compacting the iron bullets, the gunners adjusted the muzzle to point dozens of steps away and violently bombarded the hook ladder erected. With the sound of gunfire, the shells smashed into the transport hook. Ladder crowd. The human body and the hook and ladder were beaten to pieces, and the wooden blocks of the hook and ladder flew around with the body fragments. The iron ball continued to be powerful and slammed into the densely packed carriages.
Soldiers from Liao Town climbed onto the city wall one after another to reinforce the Shaanxi soldiers. They held jars of tung oil and sulfur in their arms, with leads already installed outside.
At the command of the commanders of each battalion, hundreds of burning clay pots were thrown out from behind the crenels at the same time. The tung oil and sulfur burned violently and rolled down, forming fire dragons in the air. The foreign Liao people on the hook and ladder were instantly hit by the fire dragons. Swallow······
A hook ladder was overturned, smashed and burned. Some Kaiyuan troops who were lucky enough to reach the top of the city were submerged in the raging wave of enemy troops before they could launch an attack. Hundreds of warriors who were not dead first climbed to the top of the city. He was thrown off the city by the angry Liao soldiers.
After nearly 5,000 casualties, the Kaiyuan Army's first wave of ant siege failed.
But this is only part of the battlefield, and the fierce battle is still going on.
Compared with the battle at the city head, the Kaiyuan Army's ground attack seemed smoother.
The foreign Liao people who had escaped the bombardment of the Hongyi artillery had just approached the city, and were fired cross-fire from the two turrets protruding from three sides of the city. Without the cover of the carriages, these people had nowhere to hide. With the number of casualties, After a hundred people, the officers of the Zhenfu army who crossed the river to take command quickly discovered that there was a blind spot between the corner platforms and under the hell corner platform, which could not be reached by the artillery and muskets of the defenders at the top of the city.
In this way, the five carriages were able to cross the defenders' line of fire and reach the west city gate.
The Liao people behind the carriage immediately launched an attack.
With a burst of earth-shattering shouts, hundreds of Liao people pushed a huge door hammer and slammed into the Ningyuan City Gate.
boom! boom!
The entire Ningyuan City seemed to be shaking.
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