The city gate was blocked by huge rocks, so they hid under the carriage and used axes and pickaxes to chip away at the city wall.
Countless short axes and pickaxes were swung, brick fragments flew from the city wall, and the holes on the city wall sunk inward at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It was as if tens of millions of ants were eating a huge piece of cake. The sound of thousands of people hammering on the city wall made people's scalp numb.
The soldiers defending the city wall were so anxious that they were scurrying around like ants on a hot pot. Their muskets, bows and crossbows had no effect on the shield vehicles, and the Hongyi cannons were not able to shoot enough. They can only throw stone torches at the city at random.
Small bricks hit the top of the cart without any reaction, while big rocks rolled directly off the top of the cart. As for the torches thrown down, since the cart was wrapped with water-soaked cowhide, the firewood couldn't burn at all.
As night fell, the fierce fighting continued.
More and more foreign Liao people poured into this blind spot and joined the wall-cutting army. Thousands of people soon dug three or four large holes more than two feet wide in the west gate wall.
The sound of victory came from the city
········
Five miles northwest of Ningyuan, there is a large tent of the Chinese army in Kaiyuan.
Kaiyuan's messengers with small black flags on their backs were constantly coming in and out of the tent, delivering the latest battle reports from various front lines to Marquis Ping Liao.
The light in the tent became dim, and the candle flickered, reflecting Liu Zhaosun's tall figure.
He put down the "Sou Shen Ji" he was holding in his hand and looked up at the door of the big tent. It was the sentry horse from the cavalry battalion coming over.
The guards searched the sentry horse carefully before letting the man in.
"Has the cavalry battalion set off for Juehua Island?"
The sentry horse quickly said:
"Back to Ping Liao Hou, the cavalry has just set off. Wang Yingguan asked the villain to ask Ping Liao Hou, when will the attack be launched?"
Liu Zhaosun glanced at the sentry horse and said with a smile:
"How come? You, Wang Yingguan, don't ask how to cross the sea?"
"Back to Marquis Ping Liao, the Wang Yingguan said that if there is a boat, take the boat. If there is no boat, let the war horses swim over. Wherever Marquis Ping Liao tells the cavalry battalion to go, he will go!"
Liu Zhaosun put the book of gods and monsters on his desk, stood up, patted the sentry horse on the shoulder, came close to him, and whispered:
"Go back and tell Wang Yingguan that he is the commander of the front line. It is up to him to decide when the cavalry will attack. If my guess is correct, there will be something happening in the next few days..."
The sentry horse was surprised when he heard this. He looked up at Marquis Ping Liao with admiration in his eyes. He gave a military salute to Marquis Ping Liao and hurriedly walked out of the Chinese army's tent.
After the sentinel horse left, calm returned to the big tent again, and the chants of the Hongyi Cannonmen pushing their carts could be heard from outside.
It was heard that Liu Zhaosun picked up "Sou Shen Ji" again, turned to the article about Li Ji killing the snake that he had just read, and started to read the densely packed traditional Chinese characters.
"There is Yongling Mountain in the middle of Minzhong to the east, which is tens of miles high. There is a big snake in the northwest corner of Xinzhong, which is seven or eight feet long and more than ten meters wide. The local customs are always afraid..."
Just after reading a few sentences, the guard came in and said, Kang Xun is here.
Liu Zhaosun had to put down the story of gods and monsters again.
The guards hurriedly walked into the tent with Kang Yingqian, who had a serious look on his face, and then left.
Kang Yingqian was a little surprised when he saw that Liu Zhaosun was the only one in the tent:
"The battle at the west gate was fierce, and the east gate was almost captured several times. Marquis Pingliao was still reading here, motionless as a mountain. He really showed the demeanor of a general."
Liu Zhaosun smiled and asked Kang Yingqian to sit down, poured him a cup of tea himself, and then explained:
"I'm tired of reading military books. I can read some idle books occasionally to change my mind and think about things. To attack Ningyuan, I don't need to personally go to the battle. Deng Changxiong and Wang Erhu are enough. If it's really not possible, plus Supervisor Kang, you are enough. Got it!"
Kang Yingqian laughed, put down the tea cup, put his palms together and said with a smile:
"That's right. Ping Liao Hou has many things to do every day, so he should rest frequently. It is not easy for you to take care of the affairs of millions of people by yourself now. After this battle, Kaiyuan's territory will probably be larger than North Korea and Japan. But I don’t dare to overstep my authority, and I won’t dare to interfere with the war in the future.”
Liu Zhaosun heard that there was something in Kang Yinggan's words, but he didn't point it out and continued:
"Is our territory so big? Eastern Liaoning plus western Liaoning, after all, it's just a small area."
Kang Yingqian said seriously:
"Listening to this tone, Marquis Pingliao is still too young?"
"It's small, compared to the Ming Dynasty, it's too small."
"Does Marquis Ping Liao really want to annex the Ming Dynasty?"
When Liu Zhaosun saw that Kang Ying had almost finished drinking the dry tea, he stopped talking in circles and went straight to the point:
"Kang Supervisor Army, after capturing Ningyuan, where will it go next? I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Kang Yingqian frowned and fell into deep thought. It has always been his dream to enter the customs by riding a dragon. Kang Yingqian has paid too much for this in the past two years and almost lost his life several times.
However, it seems that now is not the best time to enter the customs.
"Marquis Ping Liao, after the battle of Ningyuan, where should Kaiyuan go? I have three strategies here, the upper, middle and lower..."
Liu Zhaosun waved his hand to interrupt.
"Tell me what to do next."
Kang Yingqian's throat squirmed and he opened his mouth wide. He stayed there for a long time and then said:
"Okay, let's talk about the next strategy. The next strategy is to capture Shanhaiguan, chase the enemy to the north, take advantage of the victory to enter the pass, and then capture the capital, establish a country, proclaim himself emperor, and command the world."
"Hahaha."
Liu Zhaosun suddenly laughed, and Kang Yingqian looked confused.
"Command the world? Once you capture the capital, can you command the world? If that's the case, then it will be too easy to conquer the world! I'm afraid that instead of commanding the world, I'll be attacked by heroes from all over the world!"
Kang Yingqian smiled and said nothing.
"What's the best option?"
Kang Yingqian stroked his beard and smiled, and when he was about to speak, Liu Zhaosun said first:
"Let me take a guess first and see if it's what Kang Jianjun thinks."
"Marquis Ping Liao, please speak."
Kang Yingqian acted like he was all ears.
Liu Zhaosun quickly walked to the door of the tent and looked at the hellish Ningyuan battlefield in the southeast.
"Attack the mountains and seas without occupying the mountains and seas. Use the battle of Ningyuan to severely damage the elites of the nine sides, and then make peace with the imperial court."
Kang Yinggan stroked his beard and nodded. Before Liu Zhaosun could continue, he took over the topic again:
"What Marquis Ping Liao said is true. Before entering the Pass, it is necessary to support a vassal king, preferably a close relative. When the time is right, he will take over the throne, enter the Pass, and pacify the world."
Liu Zhaosun stepped forward and took Kang Ying's old hand, which was like a dry branch, and said excitedly:
"Heroes see the same thing, that's pretty much what it means."
Kang Yingqian showed a sinister smile on his face: "Marquis Ping Liao, do you know what storytellers from Tianjin Wei, Linqing, Jining, and Yangzhou are talking about right now?"
"After the battle with General Xuanwu, did Jin Baya stab himself?"
Kang Yingqian shook his head and said with a smile: "Hahaha! Who dares to say that General Xuanwu is a commentator, I'm afraid he will lose his head!"
"Marquis Ping Liao, you are no longer General Xuanwu. You are the number one rebel in the imperial court. The new commentary is about you, and it is called "Zu Fuyu defeated Liaodong with three arrows, and the big-eyed thief lost his life in Feiyunpu"."
Liu Zhaosun's face was full of doubts: "Who is Zu Fuyu? I have never heard of him. Is Zu Dashou his son?"
Kang Yingqian was speechless: "It's Zu Dashou, Fuyu is his name, Zu Dashou, Fuyu. The big-eyed thief is talking about you."
"Oh, oh," Liu Zhaosun chuckled: "Zu Dashou also has a character, Kang Jianjun, why don't you give me a character too?"
Kang Yingqian stroked his beard and smiled and said: "How did Marquis Pingliao ever talk about this? If you want it, I will think of ten or eight for you when I go back today."
The two laughed for a while, and Liu Zhao and Sun Zhengse said: "Okay, let's get down to business. You can continue."
"There are still many misunderstandings about Kaiyuan in the pass. In addition to ordinary people, wealthy families and scholars from all over the country, they heard that Kaiyuan only collected 30% of the rent from tenants, and also funded the poor to study. They hated us Kaiyuan even more..."
Liu Zhaosun said coldly: "Don't worry about the powerful and evil gentry, and don't be afraid of scholars. Great scholars will kneel down and worship you when you enter the pass. As long as we can get the support of the people, that's it."
"Right now, we need to capture Shandong as soon as possible, and at least control several cities along the canal."
Liu Zhaosun refilled Kang Yinggan's glass and continued to say to his old friend:
"It is the name to enter the capital and claim the throne as emperor; it is the reality to guard the canal and control the capital. Don't be in danger just for the sake of fame. You just said that the strategy of supporting the vassal king needs to be polished carefully. If we don't enter the pass, we will Let’s go as far as Shanhaiguan.”
Liu Zhaosun raised his head and looked at Kang Yingqian, his eyes tightened and he said:
"In the past, I only knew how to fight, but not strategy. Now, it's time to send people to contact the imperial court. Although Shen Lian, Pei Dahu and others are dead, our connections in the capital are still there. As long as we are willing to spend money, plus the current open Yuan’s offensive shouldn’t be difficult to negotiate.”
Kang Yingqian asked curiously: "What does Marquis Pingliao want to discuss with the court?"
"Everything east of Ningyuan is under my control. I will give up Dengzhou to serve as a port for the Kaiyuan Army. In this way, I can protect the Ming Dynasty forever, and there will be no more troubles in Liaodong, West Liaoning, and Mongolia."
"This is what I want to discuss with the court."
Kang Yingqian thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "There is no need to say anything about the Supervisor of Ceremonies. No one in the six cabinet departments dares to speak for us. It is impossible for the court to agree to such an aggressive approach."
Liu Zhaosun looked grim:
"Of course I won't agree, so I will beat them in Ningyuan this time until it hurts. So I agreed."
7017k
