"Aim, load one round, and fire!" Boom, a three-pound solid cannon shot out of the barrel and hit the city wall hard. The masonry directly at the crenel collapsed directly, and there was no way to stop it. The thundering blow of the heavy artillery sent countless rubbles flying. The soldiers defending at the crenel covered their faces and fell down with screams. There was a wailing sound from the city head.
"All artillery, load one round and fire!" Boom boom boom, as the first artillery shell hit, the artillery that had been lined up under the city roared together, and the shells hit the city wall in pieces, making a huge noise. The vibration made the defenders at the top of the city unsteady, and many people fell directly.
"Fire Gun Camp, press forward!"
"Roar!" Thousands of fire cannon hands flipped down the fire cannons from their shoulders, and the dense fire cannons pointed directly at the city head. Clicking, clicking, they moved in order, approaching the city head under the cover of artillery. Bang bang bang, the sound of firecrackers like exploding beans sounded, and countless projectiles flew towards the city.
"Shield cover, bow and arrow battalion attack!" Another thousand soldiers and horses surged towards the city wall. Bullets were raining down, arrows were like locusts, and the intensive firepower suppressed the defenders at the top of the city so that they could not raise their heads.
On the first day of December, just twenty-five days had passed since the army was reorganized. Faster than expected, four thousand Xinghua troops had already appeared at the gate of Shangwenzhou City. This could be regarded as Gao Heng's first appearance after expanding his army. The original plan to attack Yuan County ended because the defenders of Yuan County simply abandoned the dilapidated city. After seeing the large formation of four thousand Xinghua troops, hundreds of Annan soldiers from the four towns simply did not have the courage to resist and abandoned the city directly. He fled, leaving Yuan County to Gao Heng.
In this case, after successfully taking over Yuan County, Gao Heng commanded the army to go directly south to attack Shangwen Prefecture. Although Shangwen Prefecture is slightly larger than Tuo County and Yuan County, it is still a county after all, so there are not many defenders. There were originally three Qi troops. Because the situation in Tuo County worsened, the court added two more Qi troops. Even so, There are only a thousand people, and they are all soldiers from the Fourth Town. How can they be the opponent of the Xinghua Army with high morale.
Wu Rong commanded the artillery to bombard the city in one round. The combat effectiveness displayed by this group of so-called civilians was even more terrifying than that of the regular army. Especially Gao Heng concentrated the use of artillery and established artillery battalions on the battlefield. The powerful combat power shown in the fire bombardment in the previous episode made people frightened from the bottom of their hearts.
Since it was the first show, Gao Heng naturally wanted to use the elite. Most of the Fire Gun Battalion led by Wang Qi were veterans. Under the leadership of the veterans, although the recruits were not so skilled in their movements, they also made great progress. At that time, the most important thing about the fire cannon tactics was the formation and frequency. When the hit rate of a single fire cannon was extremely low, only by concentrating the firepower and firing it neatly under the command of the officer could the maximum combat effectiveness be exerted.
Wang Qi patiently measured the time. Five companies of a battalion were arranged in five rows, and the three-stage attack was expanded into five-stage attack. After the first row of soldiers fired, they immediately stepped back to reload, making way for the shooting positions of the soldiers behind.
The Xinghua Army fought like this, and the defenders at the city head couldn't stand it. Their number was originally small. The Xinghua Army mainly attacked the east gate, and most of the Annan defenders were transferred there. Who knew they could fight so well? Before the artillery could fire back, it was misfired.
The garrison camp in Wenzhou will shuttle through the rain of arrows and bullets, constantly shouting and ordering the soldiers to fight back. However, the soldiers are humans, not gods. They face the risk of death at any time, and who dares to raise their heads to fight back.
"You bastard! If you don't stand up and defend the city, I will kill you!" The battalion general picked up a soldier who was huddled near the crenel, put the sword in his hand on his neck and said viciously.
"General, spare the villain, spare the villain, they are too powerful, we can't defeat them." The soldier begged for mercy.
"What are you talking about! Disturbing the morale of the army, I think you are looking for death!" He clearly smelled a foul smell. The soldier had been frightened by the artillery fire and peed his pants. The camp general was furious and wanted to kill him as a warning to others. .
"Wu Rong, you fucking heartless cannon, come close and shoot, blow up the city gate for me." A loud roar came from the battlefield, and the soldiers under the city were getting closer and closer to the city under the cover of fire. Since it was the leader The show was of course directed by Gao Heng himself.
However, Gao Heng did not intend to attack the city. From the first day when the Xinghua Army was founded, Gao Heng had a clear goal. Perhaps he was an officer from later generations and had a clear understanding of the lives of his own soldiers. If he could use There is no need to sacrifice the lives of soldiers if firepower can do it.
For example, the Shangwenzhou in front of him was a small city. There was no need to use ants to attack the city. He directly ordered Wu Rong's artillery battalion to push up the unscrupulous cannons. Several squads of heartless cannons immediately separated from the formation, pushing the artillery and followed the gunmen. When they got close to the appropriate position, the five heartless cannons opened fire at the same time, aiming at the city gate and projecting explosive packets.
Boom boom boom, the violent explosion directly blew the city gate into pieces. This kind of city gate made of wood and iron was impossible to be an opponent of the unscrupulous cannon.
The battalion general at the top of the city was about to raise his sword when a huge explosion and shock wave suddenly appeared and knocked him down. When the soldier saw this, he immediately rolled and crawled away from his clutches. The general was so angry that he yelled, "Come back! Come back!"
He put his knife on the ground and was about to get up when a close aide rushed over with a cry: "General, general, the city gate has been blown open!"
The battalion general looked at him in disbelief, and immediately stuck his head out to look down. He saw countless spearmen rushing towards the city gate, obviously intending to invade the city. He was extremely anxious and immediately shouted to his confidants: "Take the people, go down immediately and seal them up." Before he could finish speaking, his whole figure suddenly froze.
The confidant felt his face heat up. The general stood there straight, with red liquid spurting out from his neck. A bullet fired by an unknown soldier from the Xinghua Army penetrated his neck directly, and the blood couldn't stop flowing. The spray came out like a fountain, and the battalion fell straight backwards, twitched a few times and then stopped moving, with his eyes wide open, looking like he was dead.
The confidant fell to the ground, his throat squirming with difficulty. Suddenly, the blood on his face flowed into his mouth. A disgusting salty smell pulled his soul back. He was peeing and peeing on his hands and feet. He fled frantically, shouting: "The general is dead, the general is dead!"
The trees fell and the hozens dispersed. After learning the news, the Annan soldiers immediately dispersed. Originally, they had been forced to fight by the battalion generals. Otherwise, they would have fled just like the Yuanxian soldiers. After all, they saw four thousand fully armed. The appearance of enemy troops carrying heavy artillery would make anyone tremble.
"Kill!" Four thousand troops poured into the city like a torrent.
Three days later, in Shenglong Imperial City, "Father! Father! The ministers can tolerate it because it has nothing to do with themselves. The world belongs to the Zheng family. Of course they don't care, but I can't bear it. Now Please give me 10,000 soldiers and horses, father, and I will set out immediately to crush these mud-legged people!"
"Enough! Shut your mouth! Don't you think it's embarrassing enough?" In the imperial city, a fierce quarrel broke out between the Zheng family and his son. Because today, an even worse news came. After Gao Heng defeated Zheng Fu's army in Laohu Valley, he expanded his army aggressively and attacked the city. Just three days ago, he captured Shangwen Prefecture and defended the city. General died in the battle, hundreds of soldiers were captured, and all the residents in the city were expelled. So far, the three areas of Shang Wenzhou, Tuo County, and Yuan County were all occupied by Gao Heng, leaving only one city in Lang Son Prefecture.
When the news reached Thang Long, the ministers were shocked. However, Annan had been defeated many times in the north, and his morale was low. The army also suffered heavy losses. Sending soldiers to fight again would probably be counterproductive. Therefore, at the court meeting, the ministers basically expressed their objections and believed that they should take a break and slow down for a while. If they lost a few county towns, they would just lose them and they would just take them back later.
But Zheng Zuo couldn't bear it. He had been in the army for so many years, and he had long been tainted with the habits of the army. In Annan, he was a staunch hawk. Whether it was against the Ruan family or some Gao Heng who suddenly appeared, his The opinions must not be compromised, so when the ministers objected, Zheng Zuo immediately angrily attacked them, but it was of no use. Judging from the attitude of Lord Zheng, he should be biased towards the ministers, so as soon as the court meeting ended, Zheng Zuo went to the meeting in private After arriving at the palace, he had a dispute with Lord Zheng.
Lord Zheng roared angrily, frightening the eunuchs and maids waiting outside the palace, fearing that Lord Zheng's anger would affect them.
In the palace, Master Zheng stepped down from the throne, pointed at Zheng Zuo and said: "It's not that I didn't give you a chance, but what about you? Where's your army? You yourself were captured by them, what else do you have to say. That's still the name. When Gao Heng's guys only have a few hundred people, haven't you read the current battle report? They already have thousands of people? Excuse me, how many troops do you want to fight? How many more people can we gather to fight? Do you want to Will it be easier for Lord Ruan to bring back the frontline troops?"
"Father! Don't you know how he grew from a few hundred soldiers to a few thousand soldiers and horses?" Zheng Zuo stepped forward and said tit for tat.
Outside the door, Zheng Wei was rushing over. Master Zheng was looking for him to discuss countermeasures. But as soon as he arrived at the door, he heard Zheng Zuo say such treacherous words. What did he mean? He was blaming Master Zheng for not handing over all the overseas Chinese to Gao. He became bigger and stronger and shifted all the responsibilities to Master Zheng.
"You traitor!" Master Zheng picked up the tea cup on the table and smashed it. Then he felt that the world was spinning and he was about to fall if his feet were unsteady. Zheng Wei rushed in like a whirlwind, without any regard for etiquette. He quickly supported Master Zheng with quick eyes and hands, and said to Zheng Zuo: "Your Majesty, please leave quickly. Let the king be quiet first."
Zheng Zuo snorted and turned around and left the hall.
Master Zheng slowly opened his closed eyes and said, "How dare this traitor say such a thing."
Zheng Wei immediately comforted him: "Your Majesty, the prince is also impatient. Young man, it is understandable. After all, he was captured and suffered great humiliation. His desire to destroy Gao Heng is stronger than any of us."
Lord Zheng shook his head and said: "All the ministers are opposed to the use of troops. If you don't say anything, I want to know, what do you think?"
Zheng Wei thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, we are all people who have studied Sinology. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are familiar with the history books of the Central Plains. Now the enemy's morale is strong, we should avoid its edge. If we fight now, we will definitely No, we have invested more than 20,000 troops and horses, but all of them have been lost. It is impossible to gather more elite troops in a short time."
Lord Zheng said: "I understand that I am opposed to the use of troops. From a national perspective, I do not support the use of troops. It is true that there are no troops available. But what about the current situation? They attacked Wenzhou, where is the next one? Chicken Mausoleum? Qiyuanzhou? Lang Son Prefecture? If the fight continues like this, Thang Long will be defeated. In fact, the traitor just said was right. Using the land to serve Qin is like putting out firewood. Giving him a population made him stronger. "
Zheng Wei paused and said: "Your Majesty, there is only one way for the present plan, negotiation. Only by negotiating again can the crisis be suspended. Let them know the price of death and destruction. Don't they want to live? If pressed, , we really mobilize the troops from all over the country to go on a conquest, but they can't withstand it, so just give it up as soon as it's ready, find a balance point acceptable to both sides, and call it quits."
Master Zheng said: "It's just this time. I don't know what conditions they will propose. If it is too excessive, I will not be able to agree to it."
Zheng Wei said: "It depends on people. I am willing to send an envoy again."
Master Zheng nodded and said, "Then it's all thanks to you."
The Xinghua army attacked quickly and captured two Annan cities in just one month, causing an uproar in the Annan court. With the consent of Lord Zheng, Zheng Wei was sent as an envoy again to negotiate with Gao Heng.
A few days later, there was a busy scene in Shangwen Prefecture. After the city was captured, all the Annan people in the city were expelled according to the Tuoxian model, and the people living outside Tuoxian City could all move to Shangwen Prefecture. Because Yuan County was severely damaged and was temporarily unsuitable for living, we decided to move the people to Shangwen Prefecture in one step.
Then mobilize coolies to repair Yuan County. After the repairs in Yuan County are completed, some soldiers can be stationed first. Their population will definitely expand in the future, and these cities will be useful in the future.
"Military advisor, the Zheng family's court cannot bear the demand for peace." Gao Heng waved the document in his hand and said to Cheng Zilong.
Zheng Wei's mission had already set off, and the notice arrived at the Xinghua Army's defense area first. Gao Heng was very happy to receive the document. Cheng Zilong immediately said: "Haha, this time we captured two cities in a row with thunderous momentum. The Annan people can't sit still. It's okay, we are afraid that they won't come to negotiate. As long as we come to negotiate, we will gain something."
Gao Heng nodded and said, "It's just that I haven't decided what I want yet."
"General, there are three things we lack most right now, materials, population, and territory. The Annan people may not be able to provide the population, but we can make demands for materials and territory." Cheng Zilong said.
