stubborn thief

Chapter 253 One Cannon, One Sheep
life.

God bestows life, the body is a boat, life is the necessary link for life to reach the other shore, and so is death.

Big guns and wooden cannons roared in the mountains, clouds and mist were covered by clouds of gunpowder smoke, and only lead bullets shot out through the clouds.

The Bianma wall that binds red willows is pierced, and the clay layer is also fragmented.

The wind horse flag hanging in the castle kept swinging, shells crossed the city wall and hit the pile of mani engraved with scriptures, and the soldiers forgot to dodge amidst the cries of their comrades, watching the largest mandala ever built in Nangqian, and The most spectacular conjurer casting spells.

Bai Lijun's dumb Daiben, who failed to obtain a Geshe degree, could do nothing about it.

The soldiers tried their best to draw the single-body longbow to the full, and took advantage of the height to send the arrows extremely high and far, but they were always blown to the other side by the violent mountain wind, unable to touch the mandala that was still smoking and roaring. .

Tiny manpower is not enough to restrain a great magic weapon like black powder.

The charging speed of the big gun is very slow, but the speed of thousands of soldiers transporting the barrel and wood along the mountain is very fast.

At first, only [-] artillerymen bombarded the city with wooden cannons, but when dozens of Liuhe cannons retreated, and there was nowhere to put them, so that they rolled down the cliff, Cao Yao sent the other [-] under his command to assemble wooden cannons. Soldiers were also sent up, holding cannons and firing alternately on the stone steps.

There was a scream in Awang's ear.

Before he could react, shards of flesh and blood splashed on the white walls of the fort.

Awang turned his head back, and the strong lieutenant was looking down at his chest. He slowly reached out and picked out a small piece of broken lead from the shattered cast iron heart guard.

The lieutenant wanted to lift up this piece of lead and show it to Ngawang. It was a magic weapon used by the enemy.

He said, "Fire, cremation."

But the next moment, the lieutenant general's legs could no longer support his heavy body, he swayed twice and suddenly fell down.

Large lead bullets penetrated his chest, but on the back of his chain armor, in the direction of the two ribs, the fine iron ring locks, seven or eight holes were filled with lead sheets.

Ngawangdaiben looked towards the lower outer wall of the castle along the ballistic trajectory, where a soldier with a sling was still standing, no bloodstains or wounds could be seen on the black felt jacket, and he looked as if he had been frightened stupid.

But when a tiger hero in wolf fur ran across the cracked Bianma wall and bumped into him on purpose, his long-dead body fell on his back, stumbling on the inside of the wall, and fell headlong to the ground. In the city.

Awang could even imagine the crisp sound of his body falling on the stone surface.

He shook his head, unable to sew.

The monks at Ganden Monastery never taught him how to treat this kind of injury.

King Bai Li also didn't say how to fight this kind of battle. Seeing that the bravest tiger heroes on the front line had given up the Bianma wall to block the arrows, they retreated to the open space in the city and led the soldiers to prepare for close combat.

Awang couldn't do anything, he was beaten stupid.

This fortress was built 400 years ago. At that time, the firearms used by people were pear flower guns. The weapons installed were strong bows and crossbows.

Therefore, the fortress is impregnable.

But against this kind of enemy?
Monk Awang stood on tiptoe on the top floor of the castle and looked towards the mountain platform. The thick gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated. People were using a cleaning rod more than six feet long to load ammunition into a large gun with a total length of nearly eight feet.

There is a white horse galloping in the open space of the castle. The officer on the horse is wearing an iron helmet with a white tassel on his head. It is the white horse that is blowing the shin-bone horn and making a shrill sound to gather the soldiers.

Gathered about... more than 200 people?

Awang looked for people all over the world, and finally at the back gate of the castle near the west mountain road, he found countless soldiers running in that direction through the city wall.

Someone was already out, running down the hill.

Awang also wanted to run away, but I'm sorry for King Baili, who appreciated him.

So he also walked towards the castle grounds.

He didn't draw his sword, but just twirled the prayer wheel, opened and closed his mouth, and recited scriptures that only he could hear. Standing in a crowd of tiger heroes, he greatly encouraged them.

The white horse was going out of the city to meet the enemy.

The enemy's 'mandala' on the mountain platform is only more than ten feet high and hundreds of steps away from the city gate, and only a few dozen people can stand there.

Baima Ruben stopped Monk Ngawang's idea of ​​going out with him.

He said: This requires supreme bravery to kill the great curse masters in the gunpowder with human power. If they lose to the enemy curse masters, I hope Awangdai can chant sutras for them and guide their souls to the other shore.

The gate of the city was opened, and the white horse walked like this with a knife, and his heart could not be calm for a long time.

He is not afraid of death, and the source of his uneasiness lies in Awang Daiben in the castle... He had never noticed it before, until this battle to interrupt spellcasting, he suddenly realized a problem.

It's not right.

Monk Awang has no tongue, so he recited scriptures by humming in his throat, which was very perfunctory.

If this one-eyed monk can send him to the other shore, his youngest son who can't speak can also send him to the other shore by spinning the prayer wheel.

But Baima Ruben also thought of this.

Cao Yao has been waiting.

According to his thinking, the artillery position is here, and the enemy army can't stand on the red wall of Baicheng, and sooner or later the whole team will attack.

Although this is fundamentally different from Baimaru's purpose of interrupting spellcasting, the process is the same.

The wooden gunners on the mountain road saw the city gate open, so they fired cannons at the top.

The white horse Ruben was extremely conspicuous among a group of tiger heroes in tiger skin and wolf skin. Three shells hit one after another, and he probably only felt one, and rolled down the stone steps.

After reaching seven or eight steps, he tilted his body sideways, rolled out of the stairs, and went down the mountain to meet Liu Shizi along the trajectory of those wooden cannons that were fired and thrown off the cliff.

Wang Wenxiu made all the preparations, but missed the human bomb attack.

When the tiger heroes charged straight down the mountain path, his light blunderbuss team released a row of guns. The heroes swept everything in the mountain path with their corpses, scaring the artillery to dodge one after another until they smashed through the shield wall one by one.

Throwing stones and bows and arrows flew together, and several brave heroes leaped into battle with their swords in hand, and bumped into the veterans who had fought against the battle beside Wang Wenxiu.

The armor collided, and the tiger heroes deliberately avoided the iron arms and slashed at the lion army. They were surprised to find that the iron knife cut on the padded jacket, and there was a sound of iron collision.

What the fuck is this spell?
And on the mountain platform... there is no one who looks like a curse master.

Someone shouted: "It's been tricked, their curse master is down the mountain!"

Morale plummeted for a while, and people scrambled to run up, but they were surrounded by lion soldiers resting on the slopes of the surrounding mountains, and from time to time, wooden cannons loaded with gravel were blasted from the side.

Wang Wenxiu took advantage of the situation and led his troops to attack.

When the tiger heroes were killed or wounded, the remaining Baili soldiers' will to resist quickly receded. Some surrendered, escaped, and some looked for opportunities to push the soldiers around them down the mountain after surrendering.

For a while, the mountain road was in chaos.

The defenders who fled back to the city first were still in shock, which affected the soldiers who were preparing to fight to the death in the city. People scrambled to close the gate.

As the highest commander in the city, Monk Ngawang, who can't speak, is like an outsider. Fortunately, the officers in his army are well-trained... The remaining two Ruru could have completed the mission of commanding the soldiers on his behalf.

This command method of the supreme commander as a mascot may not be weak. In Daming, Yang Yanchang, who is known as the God of War in Yan'an, has won the essence of this automatic command.

I can't say how good it is, I can only say that I have never lost.

Although there were only 200 people, a blue horse Ruben led the centurion to close the city gate and lined up in the city to prepare for possible close combat.

Another dark horse, Ruben, led troops into the two-story stone building below the castle, blocking the siege army with square windows and shooting holes.

Anyway, they didn't dare to stay at the arrow-proof Bianma wall. That thing is not anti-gun, and it is far less reassuring than the stone wall.

The most important thing is the top of the city gate, where there are shooting holes for throwing stones and pouring hot water. The copper pot has been filled with ice, and it can be poured down just waiting for it to heat up.

Unexpectedly, the ice hadn't melted yet, and the siege army didn't need ladders or hit logs. Several lion soldiers rushed towards the city gate with their poles straight.

The native soldiers holding guns and bows through the window were all dumbfounded.

"He, hurry up! Go and tell Ruben that they plan to pole vault into the castle!"

The city gate here is not like the city in the Central Plains. You can walk directly to the gate of the city by taking steps, and the gate of the city is as narrow as the door of a house.

Immediately afterwards, there were several explosions in succession.

The defenders behind the gate were terrified when they heard the clanging of the city gate.

With a bang, he hit the right place, the door bolt fell with a bang, the wooden door was kicked open, and then the armored soldiers rushed into the castle, fighting with the defenders in a small space.

From the moment they entered the castle, the defenders were under great mental stress.

They had never seen such an excessive enemy.

This small castle is just like those castles built by the Ming army on the border. It was born entirely because of the war, but it was born on the top of the mountain, so it naturally made full use of the geographical advantage. Partially gain the advantage of playing more and playing less.

But this advantage disappeared in front of the Lions.

When Wang Wenxiu rushed into the fort, his first reaction was not to let his elite infantry search for the remnants of the enemy, but to let the artillery take the lead, holding the wooden cannon and filling it with a handful of iron slag, blocking the dark corridor.

How to fight this?
A few people took slings and dog-beating clubs and rolled around in the room. When they went out, they planned to smash the stones on the heads of the enemy soldiers on the opposite side of the corridor. Before they took the aim, there was a bang, and the whole corridor was filled with gunpowder smoke.

Shards of iron were sprayed everywhere, and the people outside were beaten to bloody blood every six or seven steps.

Bai Lijun was all sealed in the house. Originally, these wooden cannons that emit smoke and bombs were more like magic weapons than weapons to the soldiers.

Even if a few knowledgeable people said it was a weapon, Bai Li's slaves would not believe it.

It takes superhuman courage just to realize that you are going against a powerful conjurer.

These bird people must be holding the arm of Lord Shi Tuolin, right?

Anyone who could run ran away.

They were in a hurry inside the house when they couldn't get out. Some people turned out of the window in a hurry.

If you are lucky, you will go out, if you are unlucky, you will be suppressed by muskets and wooden cannons, and you dare not show your head.

The disadvantage of being a dumb general is fully revealed at this time.

The two Ruben each had their own information and passed it on to the Chinese army one after another, but the lieutenant general was dead, and Monk Ngawang could not say anything to boost morale.

So much so that the troops in the city wall were still resisting, and the soldiers in the small square in the middle were frightened and fled one after another.

At the foot of the mountain, Bai Yan Taiji sat cross-legged on the ground, with his head raised, puzzled.

He just saw a group of King Bailey's subordinates running down the west side of the castle. When his men climbed the stone steps half a month ago, the enemy was not like this.

He shoots arrows from three sides when approaching [-] steps, fires guns and beats people when approaching [-] steps, and throws stones like rain when he gets close. His desperate attitude of defending the city makes no one of his herdsmen want to chew on this difficult piece. bone.

Why did Liu Shizi's men go up, and before entering the city, the enemy ran away from the west?
Is it because of those wooden cannons that can be built in a while?

The craftsmen were all found by his followers, Yan Taiji knew best how crude the manufacture of those things was.

An apprentice blacksmith may not be able to hit a knife well, but in the same amount of time, he can hit at least twenty iron cylinders in wooden cannons.

The wood is even easier, that is a tree trunk, spruce is everywhere here, the fir tree is very round and straight, cut it into a four-foot pillar with an axe, cut it from the middle, dig out three feet, divide it into six pieces, and plug the iron shell Go in, six in one, one reinforcement of iron bars, one binding of belts and ropes.

Even if the burr of the wooden shell is not removed, it becomes a cannon capable of hitting hundreds of paces.

To put it bluntly, Taiji was thinking about it, why didn't he think of this thing when he went to Tibet?
There are hundreds of these things, Zangba Khan’s thirteen castles, let him demolish them all!

After thinking about it again and again, Taiji wandered down the mountain to check the fallen body of Liu Shizi, followed by the guards.

"You... how many sheep?"

"what?"

Liu Shizi was dumbfounded by the question. He had a soldier who had just rolled down the mountain. This was the fourth one after the war started, and he was knocked down by the enemy who pretended to surrender.

Fortunately, the enemy who hit him was also pulled off by him and used as a meat pad, so he was still alive, but seriously injured.

There was another person before, whether he was knocked down or fell by himself, he was wearing armor weighing forty catties, and he rolled down in a bad shape.

To put it bluntly, Taiji suddenly came to say a few sheep, and Liu Shizi didn't know what he wanted to buy.

"Just this broken cannon and a few sheep, I bought them for Tibet."

Liu Chengzong suddenly realized and rejected him: "This will explode, just in case of urgency, not suitable for you."

Bai Yan squinted his eyes: "You are too uninteresting."

"I'm serious, if you really want it, there are almost a hundred doors that are falling apart on the ground. I'll give you all of them. Don't want sheep, my friend."

After Liu Shizi finished speaking, he shook his head again and said, "But I'm serious, it's not suitable for you."

His soldiers know gunpowder and know how to use cannons. The wooden barrel cannon is just a stopgap measure. The first cannon is loaded with a normal amount of gunpowder, and the second time is not used.

This is a plateau with insufficient oxygen, and the ratio of nitrate and carbon varies with the height of the terrain. Even under normal circumstances, the ratio of nitrate also depends on the purity, so as to maximize the power of gunpowder.

To put it bluntly, none of Taiji's shepherds possessed such knowledge.

The most important thing is the scarcity of the ironware of the Huoluochi tribes. With cast iron, three or five guns and a waist knife can go out.

To hit stone bombs, let's say that the whole army just picks up stones on the plateau.

The soldiers at the foot of the mountain suddenly began to shout long live, and Liu Chengzong raised his head. This strong mountain fort, which he said was planned to be surrounded by the end of the year and defended by the defenders until October, had already planted a banner with his surname on it.

"I can give you all of them, but don't ask me for your cannonballs. I don't have time to make them for you. If you want to ask me for them after you enter Tibet, you can shoot one sheep."

After all, Liu Chengzong clapped his hands: "Let's go, go up and have a look, this castle is easy to defend but difficult to attack."

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)