stubborn thief

Chapter 505 Ancient Wave Gorge

Liu Chengzong looked at Lin Chengdong's reply to him, and smiled to the left and right: "Why is this letter so fart-smelling?"

He is not stupid, the highest official position in this city is Li Hongsi, the deputy general, the current guard is Liu Shaozong, the general of Liangzhou Road, and Lin Chengdong, the general of Ganzhou Road, is nothing more than a whole division. retreat general.

With such an identity, he replied boldly saying that Liangzhou City was not hostile to the Marshal's Mansion. Liu Chengzong thought that this promise was not as effective as his fart.

At the front of the battle line, Yang Qi, Beetail Needle, Gao Yingdeng and others stood beside Liu Chengzong. Yang Qi read the letter and said with a smile: "Commander, what is said in this letter is not bad, but Commander, don't fall for it. , They want to lure the commander-in-chief to Duanlong."

Liu Chengzong frowned slightly. His ultimate goal for this battle was to complete the Long Long. Hearing Yang Qi's words, he couldn't help asking: "What are they talking about? Well, at that time Ningxia was still the domain of the Hu people.”

"How many roads have been built in Hexi over the past thousand years. Ningxia takes Songshan Road directly to Liangzhou. It is also very convenient to increase troops to Guyuan in the south. We want to win the front line of Zhongwei, Guyuan, and Baoji. If we don't take Ningxia, breaking Long is nonsense."

Yang Qi shook his head slowly, looked at Liangzhou City, which was a few miles away, like a line in the sky, and said: "The humble job is bold, and it's not a problem."

Liu Chengzong glanced at Yang Qi: "General Yang, what do you say?"

Seeing that Liu Chengzong was not angry, Yang Qi was very happy. He knew that Liu Chengzong had always paid little attention to him, and he was afraid that he would not have the patience to listen to him. From this point of view, even though Liu Chengzong didn't like him, he could still listen to his words. This is a good thing. Phenomenon.

He decided on the spot that he would not go out of the city even if he was killed, and he could survive for a while in the city, but he would definitely be crushed into meat by heavy artillery when he went out to fight in the field.

The cavalry belonging to the chariot battalion of Feng Ru's department clashed with the Gulang defenders when they occupied Songshan Chongbian. Then, in only three hours, five Ming troops came from Songshan, Maya Mountain, and Zhuanglang River Valley. More than a thousand Han Fan cavalry arrived at Gulang.

If Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen hadn't entered the valley, Ding Shaoyin would have been gone long ago.

Liu Shizi thought very well, but the Zhuanglang River Valley army really heard that Hong Chengchou had withdrawn to Ningxia, so he came back north to fight against him.

Fortunately, Liangzhou City is very high. Even if it is four miles away, it looks more than twice the size of their daily training target. Only then can Liu Chengzong be sure that the artillery can fire three shots, and at least one can be hit.

For Chai Shihua himself, he cares more about where his clan is - he is from Xining Wei, and the Chai family was sent to Xining City by Liu Xiangyu to raise children when Liu Chengzong entered Hehuang as a child.

That's why when Liu Chengzong attacked the city, he asked the artillery to approach the city wall and battlement as close as one mile, because when it was one mile away, the hit rate would be effectively increased to three shots and one shot would be hit.

He clasped his fists and said, "War is plain, it's not about victory or defeat, life and death, strength or weakness, just one word, consumption."

In terms of momentum, the Ming army frightened Feng Ru at once. He had never seen the reinforcements of the Ming army so quickly in his life, so he hurriedly asked Tang Qi to send a message to Liu Chengzong, and he said, "Marshal, I seem to have stabbed a beehive." !"

A thousand catty cannon loaded with seven catties of gunpowder, and blasting at the maximum range with eyes closed, can only hit six miles. Even if the target is only as thin as a thread at this distance, at least they can still see a thread.

Because Songshan was surrounded by the Great Wall, there was a commotion at that time because the side wall connecting Ningxia and Liangzhou was buried by yellow sand, and the Mongols entered Songshan stepping on the sand.

Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen were ordered to garrison Zhuang Langwei to guard Songshan in the second side wall.

To be precise, the strategy used by Hong Chengchou is completely the usual tactics of the rogues, retreating in great strides on the battlefield, stretching the combat radius of the officers and troops, and opening up gaps.

Later, Songlu was defeated, and the imperial court rebuilt a Great Wall in the north of Songshan and south of the old side wall that was easily buried by yellow sand, called Songshan Chongbian.

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "Do you think we consume energy?"

Liu Chengzong is not a professional artillery general. His artillery and artillery team have always been operated by others, but after fighting for so many years, he has seen all kinds of artillery. He knows how difficult it is to bombard the city wall four miles away.

Liu Chengzong patted Yang Qi with a smile: "I will consider what you said, let's see how the cannonball hits the city wall first."

There are four generals in this army, namely Cao Wenzhao, Chai Shihua, Ding Shaoyin, and Bai Guangen. Each of them has a reason not to run away.

Even though the Marshal's Mansion tried its best to minimize the impact of war, smallpox, and drought, the number of deaths in Hehuang in previous years was greater than the number of births.

He told Wei Qian'er, don't try to stop all the enemies, I will send you a cannon, and you just pick a lucky one to catch and beat them.

"can!"

Liu Chengzong thought that was not the case. Yang Qigang told me that he felt that the Ming army in the Zhuanglang River Valley would not be able to hold on for long and was about to retreat. As a result, their retreat was cut off, so why not swarm in.

In this way, after two days of delay, Feng Ru was also a real person. He felt that he could resist the enemy, and the situation on the battlefield had been known by the Generalissimo, so he didn't tell Wei Qian'er that he was blocked by a car camp here. More than 1 troops for three days.

Li Hongsi heard the report from the soldiers, the shells blasted out from outside the west gate and landed outside the east gate, everyone was dumbfounded.

"Fire the cannon, hit the city wall, and try to hit a cannon."

The heavy artillery uses a [-]-jin gunpowder pack, and with a larger firing angle, it can blast ten miles away, so that you can't even see the line. Whether it is a siege or a field battle, this is a range that they don't need at all.

Historically, the charge of their artillery has been based on the weight of the shell and the weight of the gunpowder. This works well in the use of light lion cannons and medium-sized jack guns. Artillery is also trained in this way. They are most familiar with this kind of charge. It not only meets the power requirements, but also ensures the accuracy of the artillery.

It’s not that Feng Ru is so ferocious. The Gulang Guardhouse is really easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the river in the gorge intersects two mountains. The ancients said that on the Jingxing Road, cars can’t have square rails, and riders can’t stand in a row. That's probably what it means.

Liu Chengzong was delighted when he heard it, he agreed with Yang Qi's statement, but it sounded like... the advantage was not mine.

Although the Marshal's Mansion is not poor in terms of gunpowder, it should not be wasted if it is poor. Liu Chengzong estimated that only half or even one third of the weight of the ammunition would be enough for this gun.

Switching to a jack cannon, at least three cannons are needed to achieve the same effect.

If Zhuanglangwei cannot be defended, even if the Ningxia frontier army wants to come over, they have to go to the desert, otherwise they will be trapped in the side wall like the Song captives back then.

But in fact, when Ding Shaoyin's car camp was heavily besieged by Xie Erhu and Basang, Chai Shihua's greatest effort was to send cavalry into the barrier wall to send a message, telling Ding Shaoyin that there are reinforcements behind, and you should hold on.

Of course, Liu Chengzong thought that Hong Chengchou didn't have such great courage, but he was beaten to the point where he couldn't help it. He was constantly defeated on the battlefield, and finally retreated to follow the trend... But this is quite a trick.

"Because Gansu has always been barely self-sufficient in grain and grass on the books, but actually relies on Lanzhou for supply, and the situation of the imperial court is even more helpless. They want to adjust grain from Guanzhong."

He is very confident in the quality of his artillery, but in this era, artillery must abide by the Basic Law. It is not easy to shoot accurately. The best artillery and the best gunner can hit a target two feet wide and six feet high two miles away. You can only send one out of six.

When Hehuang was not fighting, every time there was a big drill, each gun was drilled for this event. One thousand catty guns fired 36 guns in a quarter of an hour and could hit six guns. The whole gun could be issued by Liu Chengzong himself. lamb and milk wine.

Yang Qi's words are very interesting. He explained Hong Chengchou's behavior from another angle, and let Liu Chengzong see his past self in Hong Chengchou's behavior.

A gunner of this level and a gun crew with this rate of fire are the best of the best in the world, and even a thousand catties of gunpowder can't feed a single one.

Operating a heavy artillery weighing [-] jin was quite a test for the artillerymen of the Marshal Army, and at a distance of four miles, it was hard to say what hit rate it had.

On the battlefield, this is the width and height of the column of the chief commander appearing two miles away. At this distance, there is no way to distinguish where a person's head and chest are. It can only be seen whether it is a cavalry or an infantry.

What the hell is this?
This thing was an ancestor when it was in the field. Before anyone saw it, a shell fell on its head.

With such a small fortress, it basically blocked the narrowest mountain pass from Gulang Gorge to Liangzhou. Feng Ru led a full-staffed car battalion with many artillery pieces. The posture of the fort is similar, and the entire valley is within his range.

Of course, in a horizontal comparison, Hehuang may be the place with the least number of dead people in Northwest China in recent years, but this is nothing comparable... With whom does he compare, in the whole of Shaanxi, except for the small piece of Guanzhong, where can we talk about governance? place.

"As the commander-in-chief said before, Marquis Wu's Northern Expedition took place a thousand years ago. At that time, Hexi was self-sufficient in terms of food and soldiers. Now there is a white land in Hexi, and even if there are people, it is difficult to settle it. What's more, the commander-in-chief's mansion has no spare power for expeditions and wars, let alone the court. .”

Yang Qi answered firmly, then shook his head and said: "The commander-in-chief must not attack Ningxia. The most suitable places to use troops right now are Liangzhou, Songshan, and Qinzhou."

On the wall, it was nothing more than smashing the outermost city bricks into powder, and the second city bricks were broken, and the face of the third city bricks was not even visible. The only thing that pleased him was hitting the battlements. That cannon directly blasted the battlements.

"Consumption?"

As for Chai Shihua, the army he led was Yang Jiamo's standard battalion. Now that Yang Jiamo is dead, the last army in Gansu has retreated to Liangzhou City... This is the common will of this standard battalion, not Chai Shihua's.

So Chai Shihua is very embarrassed at the moment. He is obedient and goes to Ningxia, fearing that others will accuse him of being a black man for not doing anything; If you have both, you can only lead the most elite troops to hold back the friendly forces.

Even the fortress with the Gulang Guardhouse is very small, like Liangzhou City, which is five feet high and more than eleven miles around the city; Or the kind of playground without a basketball court.

The mountain road to the south is extremely narrow, but even the mountain pass to the north is not very wide once you come out, a little more than a mile.

At this moment, the bee tail needle in charge of the artillery stepped forward and said, "Commander, the artillery is ready."

The shell scraped against the battlements of the west city wall, flew over the entire Liangzhou city, and fell outside the Dongguan city, where it smashed deep into the irrigated soil, leaving a hole a foot deep.

Later, the imperial court built side walls on the west, south, and east sides of Songshan, called Songshan New Side; the central idea of ​​the new side is to enclose all water sources, pasture land, and farmland outside, and leave behind all barren land. Fortresses were built in these places and became the Matsuyama defense system.

It's just that what Hong Chengchou wanted to talk about was Liu Chengzong's supply line, trying to lure Liu Chengzong to make great strides by giving up the land, so as to pull the marshal army to the same position as the official army.

Soon, he had the opportunity to experiment, and the southeast started fighting.

After all, he laughed and said: "As long as our army makes a little move to attack Songshan, the Ming army in the Zhuanglang River Valley will collapse, and even if the commander-in-chief continues to fight, Hong Chengchou will also die. Even if the court changes someone to be the three-sided governor , it will still be broken."

When Liu Chengzong's letter was passed to Wei Qian'er, Wei Qian'er was rushing to the front line, and he was not in a hurry when he got the confidence. Continue to march.

Liu Shizi immediately sent a letter to Wei Qian'er camp behind Feng Ru, telling him that the Ming army's intention was not to confront each other, but to flee to Ningxia by taking advantage of Songshan.

For the vast majority of soldiers, it is normal for artillery shells to damage the battlements, and it is also normal for artillery shells to fly over the entire Liangzhou City, but if the artillery shells that can destroy the battlements can fly over the entire Liangzhou City, then what is the point of view? It's not normal.

Yang Qi nodded: "It's waste. People's lives, money and food are piled up on the front lines. More people are born than die, and more food is planted than eaten. The battle can be fought endlessly. Who can't waste it?" Who loses."

Until last year, that number was close to flat.

Outside the city, Liu Chengzong was also reflecting on the range of this cannon—there was too much gunpowder.

What kind of gun rules and mathematics are bullshit at this distance, such a large target is a line two miles away.

But for this kind of heavy artillery, [-] catties of shells and [-] catties of powder seems... unnecessary.

It's just that he has been expanding and constantly absorbing more people into Hehuang, which makes the population growth under his rule look beautiful.

The situation of Ding Shaoyin and Chai Shihua is a bit complicated. Ding Shaoyin is the commander of the Liangzhou Guard, and he leads the car battalion formed by the Liangzhou Guard Banner Army. Their family is still in the Liangzhou Guard City, let alone guarding Liangzhou. their duties.

Liu Shizi still has self-knowledge about this matter. Since he took control of Hehuang, the area along the Yellow River has become the front line of the war.

But what disappointed him was that the power of the heavy artillery was not as shocking and powerful as he had imagined.

For Li Hongsi and other Liangzhou defenders, what shocked them the most was actually the cannon that was emptied, because Li Hongsi, belatedly, mobilized the defenders to pick up the cannon in the city, but failed to pick it up.

Unexpectedly, the artillery fired one after another, and Liu Chengzong reaped the extraordinary joy with the binoculars. They hit two shots, and even one shot hit the battlements!
Meng, Liu Shizi is 100% sure, Meng.

So ever since he led the army into the Zhuanglang River Valley, he has been standing still while others are moving forward slowly; when others are advancing fiercely, he has been walking slowly and leisurely, and he is also known as protecting the car camp.

When Wei Qian'er rushed to the battlefield, he saw smoke rising from the valley from a long distance away. Two chariot battalions of the same establishment and the same artillery set up a chariot formation in the narrow valley, one south and one north, holding large and small artillery. Yes, it's very exciting.

He turned his head to look at the army, Liu Chengzong sent him the "mighty general" dragged by eight horses, and then turned his head to look at the camp that was confronting Feng Ru, at that moment his eyes were full of curiosity The light of joy.

"Let's go, let's try the cannon!"

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)