Boom boom boom...
This is the roar of the Hongyi cannon, which is really as loud as the earth shaking. When Cao Zhenyan, a slave of Zhengbai Banner, heard these roars, his heart almost rose to his throat.
By the way, he is not the one who is being bombarded, but Niu Lu of the Zhengbai Banner Han Army's Hongyi Artillery Team. The 10 Hongyi cannons that are firing now are all controlled by his Han Army and coated minions.
In his position, he shouldn't be worried. The Hongyi cannons used by the Qing Dynasty were of relatively high quality and rarely exploded. Moreover, Cao Zhenyan is also a veteran artilleryman. He has been doing this for many years and has long been familiar with cannons, so he will not destroy the cannons by himself.
But now, it is clear that the cannon and the gunner are fine, but the shells fired seem to have lost their strength. They just hit the round fort made of mud bags a few hundred steps away, but they had no effect... ..
What the hell is going on? The majestic Hongyi cannon can even break a brick-and-stone city into pieces with one shot. Why can't it hit a pile of mud sacks now?
This is impossible!
Could it be that the prince wanted to dig a hole in the saint's grave, which made the saint angry and lowered his magic power, destroying the power of the cannon... What should we do?
In addition, he had a guaranteed deal with Duduo, but despite the Hongyi artillery bombardment for so long, there was no change in the round fort. If the prince gets angry, will Cao Zhenyan's head be moved?
At this time, Duduo was also shocked by the scene in front of him. In his sight, several black dots flew towards the round fort several hundred steps away at a speed visible to the naked eye. Most of them reached high and passed over the round fort. I don’t know where it flew to. But the remaining three or four black spots still hit the outer wall of the circular fortress without any bias, and then... they were gone!
What's going on?
It's a bit disadvantageous to send troops to attack Mingming this time. Not to mention that all the Nikkan leeks have escaped, and even the Hongyi cannons have lost their power... 10 Hongyi cannons started blasting a simple-looking earthen building from yesterday evening. Fort, until now, it has no effect at all.
What's in this sack? Can you even defend against the Hongyi cannon?
"Cao Zhenyan, what's going on? It has no effect at all? Why doesn't your Hongyi cannon work? Is it not broken?"
When Duduo asked, Cao Zhenyan was so frightened that he almost had a heart attack. He hurriedly ran to his master’s horse and knelt down, “If I reply to my master, I don’t know what’s going on... I’m using the Hongyi Cannon.” It’s all good, nothing bad!”
"How come you can't break down an earthen castle if it's not broken?" Duduo shouted angrily.
"This... maybe, maybe it's because the spirit of Saint Kong showed his power in heaven and prevented us from attacking Qufu?"
"Why?" Duduo asked.
"Perhaps he was afraid that the prince would dig his grave..." Cao Zhenyan was also quick-tongued and actually told about the fight... I don't know how this rumor spread? Anyway, the news that Duduo and Hauge were going to dig the tomb of the saint Kong was widely spread in the Qing Dynasty. Some people took it as a joke, and some people actually half-believed it.
With a "pop" sound, the riding whip in Duduo's hand was already whipped up towards Cao Zhenyan's face.
"What nonsense are you talking about, you little bitch?" Duduo was almost furious.
When had he dug a grave? He is the prince! The prince who was born noble was almost the emperor of the Qing Dynasty... Would he dig graves and rob tombs?
"Your Majesty, have mercy on me, Your Majesty, have mercy on me..." Cao Zhenyan also knew that he had spilled the beans and was so frightened that he kowtowed and begged for mercy.
Duduo really wanted to kill this slave who was talking nonsense, but if he was killed, no one would be able to command the Hongyi cannon.
"Go away, go away!" Duduo said, telling people to go away. He swung the whip twice more and felt relieved. When Cao Zhenyan saw that his master stopped beating him, he ran away like a rat with his head in his arms.
Duduo has no intention of arguing with this fool. The Qufu city defense in front of him is giving him a headache!
"He Luohui!" Duduo called his deputy to him, "What do you think we should do?"
"Your Majesty, since bombardment won't do anything, why not attack the city!" He Luohui said, "Let Liu Liangzuo, Xu Dingguo and Wu Weihua's green battalion soldiers come in... It's their turn to work hard!"
Duduo frowned. Of course these green soldiers were willing to sacrifice their lives, but the question was what to buy for them?
The rule of the Qing soldiers is to break the city and then rob it...and the city in front of them is Qufu!
"Your Majesty," He Luohui saw that Duduo was still a little hesitant and advised, "Let's fight...it's just a fort, how much wealth can there be in it? As for the main city of Qufu, it seems that A forceful attack is not advisable."
Duduo thought for a while and felt that this was the truth, "Come here, tell me about Liu Liangzuo, Xu Dingguo and Wu Weihua!"
...
The three traitor leaders all arrived in front of Duduo, all looking eager to try.
Qufu!
That was the territory of the Yan Sheng Gong family. The Yan Sheng Gong family had been rich and noble for more than a thousand years. It would be an understatement to say that their family was as rich as the country.
If this breaks the city, it will be a windfall... The grave of Saint Kong cannot be dug, but the property of Yan Shenggong's family must always be dedicated to the Qing Dynasty. If the three of them get a little bit of glory, they can't dig it. Enough to last several lifetimes.
Duduo looked at the three traitors who were gearing up and ready to do something big, so it was hard to pour cold water on them - there was no oil or water on the way here, and the people below were all staring at Qufu City! If it was really going to break, he couldn't stop it from snatching it! It's not that I'm afraid of anyone's resentment, but I'm afraid that if I stop them this time, no one will work hard next time.
"The three of you each send out 2,000 elite troops to attack the earthen fort... I'll give you half a day to prepare the shield carts and ladders, and start the siege early tomorrow morning!"
"twitter!"
The three traitors all knelt down on one knee and loudly agreed.
At the same time, Shi Kefa on the top of Qufu City was greatly relieved when he heard the roar of the Hongyi cannon suddenly stop.
"Sir, Fort C is basically intact...the Tatars' red cannons are of no use!"
Stewie quickly reported the latest damage to Shi Kefa!
The earthen fortress he called C-shaped fort miraculously withstood the bombardment of the Hongyi artillery - in fact, this was a matter of course! The outer wall of this fortress is divided into three layers. The inner layer is made of logs inserted into the ground one by one, forming a circle, leaving only an opening in the direction of Qufu City. The middle layer is a one-foot-wide seal of earth. It is not rammed earth, but just piled up with the soil obtained from digging trenches. The outer layer is made up of stacked sandbags that are wider at the bottom and narrower at the top - the stacked sandbags will form an inclined surface. The flight trajectory of the cannonballs fired by the Hongyi cannon placed hundreds of steps away is actually arc-shaped, with a parabola, that is, it is dropped from above. Of course they can smash through sandbags effortlessly, but the impact is absorbed by the soft soil, and they can no longer bounce up to cause new damage.
Therefore, it is impossible to destroy the defense of this "sandbag fortress" with only the bombardment of 10 Hongyi cannons - even if Duduo has ten times more cannons, it will be of little use!
However, this kind of fort made of sandbags is not high enough, which is just over a foot, because the outer wall is inclined and easy to climb, and it does not form a crossfire like a bastion. Therefore, it is not easy to defend against a direct attack by infantry.
In fact, building these nine round forts outside Qufu is basically a job for laymen. Building these few forts is not as good as building another circle of forts outside Qufu City.
But laymen also have layman’s ways of playing!
"Dewei," Shi Kefa, a layman, twirled his beard and looked confident, "the Tartars can't attack with cannons, and it's time to attack by force. You should immediately select 3,000 warriors from your father's supervisor and the Kong family's soldiers. , and prepare the Tiger Crouching Cannon and Turtle Dove Foot Fire Gun, ready to launch a counterattack at any time."
"I know, kid!" Stewie paused and asked again, "I wonder how much reward should be given to each person who dares to die?"
"The first battle must be successful," Shi Kefa said, "regardless of the officers and soldiers, each person will be given 5 taels of silver. No heads will be counted. As long as we can win, we will give another 10 taels...the silver will come out of the Kong family's warehouse. Bar!"
