stubborn thief

Chapter 315 Liu Chengzong's Teacher
The battle in Bajiao City lasted until the second day, and the city wall remained unscathed, but only three battlements remained on the 150-step-wide west wall, and the sheep and horse wall below the city was also smashed into clods.

Seeing the three parapets standing on the city, Liu Chengzong suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and ordered Huang Shengxiao to knock down the last three parapets with cannons.

In the era when there was no artillery, it would be impossible to knock down [-] parapet walls in one day, but now it is very easy for the artillery troops, but the price is a bit high.

Bombarding the battlements with cannons is fun, but the cost is considered a toothache for Liu Chengzong.

In one day of siege, during the day and night, the Marshal's Mansion fired more than [-] times the twelve red barbarian cannons, together with lion cannons to bombard the wall of sheep and horses, consuming more than [-] catties of gunpowder, and destroyed half of the Kangning Mansion in one day. annual output.

At present, his military nitrate mainly comes from Kangning Prefecture. The seven county governments collect nitrate soil in caves and purify it on the spot.

The finished nitrate that has been decocted in water can already be used as military gunpowder, but the color is not good enough and the purity is not high enough. In this era, going west to the United Kingdom, most countries that do not produce nitrate, all scavenge from the cake. Purified by this method.

At the foot of Nangsuoqian Mobao Mountain in Nangqian County, there is the Kangning Prefecture Arms Bureau established with the help of Huang Shengxiao, the magistrate Yang Dingrui. Yamen of the Arms Bureau.

The rough-processed finished nitrate is purified twice in the Kangning Prefecture Armament Bureau, using plant ash to suspend impurities, repeatedly decocting, and finally purified to needle-shaped nitrate, which has the best medicinal properties at this time.

In fact, at the beginning, their purification method was egg white, which was quite expensive. Later, some veterans who had seen the purification of the Ming army said that plant ash could also be used, and the effect was similar, which greatly reduced the burden of purifying saltpeter.

Right now, the battlements on the west wall of Bajiao City have been destroyed, and the sheep and horse wall below the city has also been smashed to pieces. The defenders can hide as much as they can, and all kinds of firearms on the battlefield have basically stopped firing.

Only the four gunmen on the two buildings fired intermittently at the city wall without the protection of the parapet, relying on the advantages of height and range to further oppress the defenders hiding on both sides of the west wall.

Most of the preparations for the siege have been completed, and the defenders dare not stand on the west wall that lacks the protection of the parapet. This means that when Liu Chengzong's elite soldiers start to attack the city, they can omit the stage of climbing the city, which is the easiest to die in battle. Climb the walls and fight the enemy. .

However, due to the counterattack of the Mongols, the trench filling work outside the city was not smooth, so that everything was ready... the moat was not filled.

Liu Chengzong was willing to call the Mongols' counterattack the Southern Song style of defending the city.

Their specific counterattack method is to arrange at least six return guns on the inside of the city wall. Instead of firing big stone bombs, they use smaller dry mud bombs, which are lighter and have a longer range than big stone bombs. They use watchmen to stand on the city wall as observers. , indicating the shooting angle and direction for the return gun.

This is why Liu Chengzong asked the artillery to destroy the last three battlements. The observers hid behind the battlements, and the guns on the building cars could not hurt them.

Dry mud bombs shatter when hit the ground and weigh about five or six catties. It is difficult to survive if hit on the head, and broken arms and legs are also broken. Moreover, it is difficult to pick up mud bombs outside the city and throw them back.

Due to the problem of the angle, the jack-of-all-trades cannon was useless, and the trench-fillers on the front line could only be held down and smashed. One day, one was killed and seven were injured.

The one who was smashed to death was particularly unlucky. This kind of broken weapon is unreasonable. The soldiers in the trench filling truck in front were working hard. It didn’t smash it, but the soldiers transporting soil behind were trotting all the way happily pushing the Lele cart. , With a bang, a big mud bomb hit the forehead, killing Huangquan.

It directly caused the soldiers who started to transport soil to the front line the next day to be very afraid.

But fear is fear, and the trenches that should be filled must be filled as well. However, Liu Chengzong has assured the Fanbing who transported the earth and rocks that as long as the wooden bridge over the moat is built, he will soon remove the catapult behind the city wall. soldiers revenge.

Accompanied by the loud noise of the weight box falling, there was the sound of the gun arm swinging back from the city wall, and the buzzing sound of the wind passed over the city wall, and several dry mud bombs flew across the moat and hit the offensive position.

Several mud bombs hit the ground and fell to pieces. One mud bomb hit the building car and shattered at the perforation. The bottom came out, put him on the horse and ran to the medical craftsman camp in the rear.

Another shell hit the shield of a gunman, causing him to stumble, but the man stood up in an instant, swung his arms to slap the dust on his body, pointed at the city while pressing the shield, and let the man carry the gun. The gunmen shot and cursed at the Mongolian observers.

The Mongolian observers in the city were so lucky that they wanted to throw their hats: they took advantage of the dog days and cursed people!

Liu Chengzong made two preparations for the demolition of the return artillery on the city wall. On the one hand, he put more troops into the business of transporting soil to fill the river and building wooden bridges, and on the other hand, he was thinking about building a mortar on the spot.

"Master Master, think about it. Build a cannon with a barrel that is only four or five times as big as the muzzle. It will be bigger and heavier, and it will hit a shell that weighs more than ten kilograms. The kind that blooms will go over the city wall and hit the city."

"The commander-in-chief is talking about a bowl of guns?"

Teacher Cheng, I thought about it a little bit, thinking about the difficulty of this matter in my heart.

As for the cannon-making itself, Shicheng and I have presided over the casting of hundreds of small and medium-sized cannons. Regardless of how or what kind of cannons are made, it is not difficult with his skills.

But it is very difficult to make a cannon that meets Liu Chengzong's wishes.

He explained to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, it is easy to cast red barbarian cannons, and there are still fifteen molds in the army, but the cannon that the commander mentioned has no molds and is not waiting for imitation, so it may not be suitable for production. "

Liu Chengzong looked at the pontoon bridge advancing eastward on the moat on the earth hill, and said to Shi Cheng, "It's okay, you can do it freely, if you need to adjust anything, just adjust it, master, we will inevitably attack the city in the future , understand what I mean?"

Li Wanqing stood beside him and said with a smile: "What does the commander mean, that all our deployments in this battle will be used as a model for siege in the future?"

Liu Chengzong nodded, looked at the western wall that had been flattened in the distance, and smiled on his face: "The shape of this city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are soldiers and no civilians in the city. It stands to reason that it is more difficult than attacking ordinary cities."

As he spoke, he turned his head and said: "But because the Tartars have no shortage of guns or cannons, and are not familiar with firearms, now that we have stormed for a day, we have not killed as many people as in field battles. The Chuoke rabbit in the city can be regarded as my siege teacher. "

Liu Chengzong really felt that Chuoke Rabbit could be regarded as his teacher. Relatively speaking, the Lion Army had more experience in field combat, but the experience in siege warfare was close to zero.

A low-intensity siege battle due to the poor equipment of the defenders provided a lot of siege experience for generals and soldiers at all levels, including him.

First clear the strongholds outside the city, set up a siege camp, use large and small artillery to shoot directly at the battlements and horse-faced walls, build siege equipment to suppress the defenders, approach the front line to the moat, and bombard the defenders inside the city wall with curved mortars and bullets. The infantry took the walls.

These experiences will be used in the siege in the future, so he is not worried that the siege battle may be delayed for a long time due to the city defense facilities.

Li Wanqing laughed at first, then returned to seriousness, nodded his head twice and said: "If the defenders in the city are official troops, it will be bowl guns and all kinds of poisonous smoke that are released through the city wall. Armaments such as big and small general guns and hundreds of tigers galloping together will definitely not be so light and light when filling trenches."

Liu Chengzong laughed loudly when he heard the words, patted Li Wanqing and said, "Okay, you, you have seen a lot in Xining Guard, it looks like you have worked hard, like what an officer said."

This time Li Wanqing did not laugh. From shooting down the sky to defending thousands of households in Xining, the days of Liu Chengzong's southern expedition were not easy for him. The various weapons used by the officers and soldiers alone were enough to worry him. Lost hair.

Li Wanqing shook his head after being stunned for a few breaths, and said, "It's not as tiring as the Commander fighting in the south."

Recalling that he moved to various places in the plateau and mountains, in fact, Liu Chengzong felt that he fought the battle calmly due to the strength of the opponent. On the contrary, it was more energy-intensive to complete the laws and regulations and maintain stability after the battle.

He pondered for a moment, and then gave a comment: "The combat power of the Xifan Army is slightly weaker than that of the Landlords in Northern Shaanxi; the armor is slightly stronger than that of the Fenzhou Guard Banner Army in Shanxi; These opponents are not the same."

In the final analysis, Dunyue Dorji, who is the main opponent, is used to living in western Sichuan, and he is not familiar with him, so he always wants to come to him first.

"But there is a chieftain of Jinchuan over there. His territory is between our two counties. He has built countless forts and watchtowers. He suffocates and does not go out. I can't do anything about him. He is still alive and well."

Both Wusizang and Lijiang were too far away, and Liu Chengzong didn't plan to go, so the chieftain of Jinchuan was probably the only regret of Liu Shizi's southern expedition, which made him brood.

As he said that, he suddenly thought of the battle with Gu Yang in the valley, clapped his hands and said: "By the way, I almost forgot, send someone to find my brother, I need rain gear."

Li Wanqing looked up at the sky and asked doubtfully, "It doesn't look like it's raining, does it?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Be prepared, Chuck Rabbit is besieged in the city, nothing else between us, the biggest difference is the firearms, once it rains and my firearms are extinguished, we must fight hand-to-hand. I have got."

He explained: "This is not the only weapon. If someone has weapons and I don't have them, the opponent will win; Big odds."

After all, he asked Li Wanqing: "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, why does my brother have so much gunpowder, [-] catties can be shipped if he wants to, and he said that there may be more in the future, Juerwan produces nitrate?"

"Produce."

Li Wanqing nodded: "There are so many kinds of saline-alkali land in the Hehuang Valley, and this year's spring has harvested a lot, but this is not too much, mainly because the emperor gave a lot."

Liu Shizi was dumbfounded: "Give me the gunpowder, the emperor is in a hurry to climb the tree?"

up a tree?

Li Wanqing thought about what this was saying, shook his head and said: "The commander-in-chief doesn't know something. It's a long story, which is quite strange. Since the commander-in-chief's southern expedition, whether the imperial court or Shaanxi, he sent several officials to Xining. The comfort envoys ask for money and food."

"The commander-in-chief of the Shaanxi army is very clear about the food and salary." Li Wanqing spat at his feet: "The marshal's mansion has money and food, but they didn't give it to them. Anyway, don't care who it is, don't even think about leaving when you come. , so the camps of guards in Hezhou, Lintao, Lanzhou, Langzhuang and other places were quite tense."

Liu Chengzong sneered disdainfully: "The sword is on the verge of breaking out, the Gansu frontier army fought in Lanzhou and drank the northwest wind for three years, do they have the ability to launch a big war?"

Unexpectedly, Li Wanqing really nodded: "Yes, the imperial court is ready. The guards and battalions assembled nearly [-] troops last winter. I had the idea of ​​attacking Xining while you were away. I wanted to start spring this year and not delay the farming season. "

Liu Chengzong frowned, does the court still have the courage?
The army of the Marshal's Mansion can live without relying on the east of Xining for rations, but they can only drink milk, which is a little bit bitter.

The imperial army invaded and suppressed Xining, and the grain production in the Hehuang Valley was basically lost. Can Shaanxi's fragile economic environment withstand it?
If there is a real fight in the east, it will be quite dangerous if there is Chuoke rabbit in the west.

Li Wanqing followed closely and said, "Huang Youcai attacked Qingyang in the east, and there are brothers from the God family who are like Tartars. The imperial court drew six thousand soldiers and horses from Lintao, Hezhou and other places to aid the east. Master Liu wrote to Lian The governors of the three sides were scolded for the state affairs, but everything went on as before without a fight."

Liu Chengzong still didn't understand the logic: "I scolded the court, and the emperor used gunpowder to make up for my insulted heart?"

Li Wanqing was amused: "Why, it's nothing, the imperial court wanted to do something here, so they stockpiled a lot of ordnance and gunpowder, and the general sent people to buy gunpowder from the guards with silver. The number of transactions was chaotic. Officials, some are banner troops, and the prices are different."

He waved his hands, frowned and pondered for a while, then shook his head and said: "Some are cheap, some are double, I know that the highest price is triple, and it was from Kong Xiaochen, the general of Lanzhou who was stationed in Yongtai City, for 500 taels." Silver bought [-] catties of gunpowder."

Liu Chengzong nodded first, then he was stunned and said: "No, three times should be 500 taels, and [-] is almost five times."

Li Wanqing nodded and said, "Yes, the gunpowder cost 440 taels, and the other 1000 taels was a birthday gift for General Kong Cannon's old father, in exchange for a note for battalion guns and guns."

Liu Chengzong scolded with a smile: "It's so easy to make money!"

"Yes, but it's worth the money. It is said that General Kong Shen's insistence not to send troops to Xining during the military meeting also played a role."

While the two were talking, Shi Cheng and I, who had gone to the side earlier to plan the regulation of the mortar, came back with the drawing and presented it to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, the regulations for this artillery have probably been set, but whether the casting is in line with the requirements of the commander or not?" Yes, I can’t guarantee it for the time being.”

After that, Shicheng, I pursed my lips and let out a heavy breath from my nose, and said to Liu Chengzong with a serious face, "I want to try this cannon covered with iron and copper."

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)