weaving

At noon on March 11th, Chuang, Cao, and Yuan's three rebel armies gathered outside Shangqiu City.

To the southwest of Shangqiu City are the troops of Chuang Wang Li Zicheng's Laofu, to the northwest of the city are the troops of Cao Ying of Luo Rucai, and the troops of Xiao Yuanying are stationed in the west of the city, which is once again located between the troops of Chuang Ying Laofu and Cao Ying.

Xiaoyuanying's station is close to the side of Chuangying, which perfectly explains its location.

In fact, in the heart of King Chuang Li Zicheng, Yuan Shizhong's status was naturally not comparable to that of Luo Rucai. This can be seen from the fact that King Chuang recruited him as his son-in-law. Yuan Shizhong was just his subordinate, unlike Li Guo, Yuan Zongdi and others. The status is equal to, or even slightly inferior to.

At this moment, if you stand on the tall tower of Shangqiu City and look down, you can see that not far outside the city, there is an endless horizon. From north to west, and from west to south, tents are everywhere, and a huge semicircle surrounds Shangqiu. city.

Camps are dotted everywhere, with people and horses coming and going like ants, densely packed and countless, except for the east, which is a little sparse. This is also Li Chuang's strategy - surround three towers!

March 12, at dawn.

There is a slightly special force in the south direction of the city. It is the firearms unit led by Zhang Nai, the young man who broke into the camp. All the artillery that can be collected in the camp, as long as they look slightly refined, are concentrated in him.

Rows of artillery were pushed into the pre-prepared gun positions and stood quietly on standby. The gunners moved or lifted the cannons and gunpowder to the cannons and stood ready. As soon as the order flag arrived, the artillery bombardment of the city would be launched.

In front of the army's artillery array, there was the siege force led by the army general "One Tiger" Li Guo. They had ladders, shields, hoe-heads and other objects, and even arrow towers. They were divided into several groups, heading towards the southwestern corner of Shangqiu City. Spreading on both sides, darkness covered a large area.

In the distance, a large group of thieves gathered directly in front of the city gate. Several battering ram trucks were on standby, and many people worked together to carry thick logs, with the front section covered with a thick layer of iron.

Finally, the bandits launched a massive attack on the city, and in an instant they launched into full swing. The rumble of cannons was mixed with the shouts of killing that shook the sky.

Yuan Shizhong stationed his horse and looked east, and saw smoke rising from both inside and outside the Shangqiu city wall from a distance. The watchtowers and battlements on the top of the west city were constantly destroyed by fierce artillery fire. It was faintly visible that someone was already carrying a ladder and rushing towards the city wall.

He was fascinated by it and thought to himself: "King Chuang is really extraordinary. No wonder he has been able to dominate the world for more than ten years. With such a strong army and so many artillery, what kind of city cannot be conquered!"

As the siege battle became more intense, the roar of artillery became thicker, and the shouts of death became more fierce!

Especially the artillery position of the invading army was filled with gunpowder smoke, with fierce flashes of fire from time to time, and the deafening sound of the artillery. The turrets on the southwest city wall had been blown down, and most of the tall gate towers on the west gate were blown away. Many battlements were also destroyed. It was completely mutilated, and many hot cannonballs roared over the city wall and fell into the city one after another.

In addition to artillery bombardment and the threat of soldiers climbing the city, there were thousands of crossbowmen standing outside the city trench, shooting rows of arrows at the city wall. The defenders on Shangqiu City were under the attack of bows, arrows and artillery fire. He didn't dare to raise his head, let alone stop Cao Cao's army from ascending the city.

Although there are more than a hundred artillery pieces in the Chuang Army, they are basically all captured from all over Henan. Even if they select artillery that looks fine, after all, they are old artillery used by the Ming Army defenders, and many of them are still the same. The old artillery that is more than ten years old is inevitably uneven, and sometimes the artillery explodes.

In this way, after only a few rounds of shooting, each of the cast iron or bronze cannons became hot, especially the twenty carefully selected large iron cannons, whose bodies were even redder.

Not far to the east of these twenty cannons, there was a cannon that had just exploded, killing or injuring more than a dozen cannons. There were also four cannons here that could not be reloaded because the temperature was too high.

Zhang Nai was originally the adopted son of the Chuang King Li Zicheng. He had followed Li Zicheng in the rebellion since he was a child. He was absolutely loyal to the Chuang King. Now, as the commander of the Chuang Army's artillery unit, he is even more eager to make contributions. In addition, since then After his childhood sweetheart Huimei married Yuan Shizhong, his heart was also shattered by love.

Now he has no fear of life and death, and only wants to obey King Chuang's military order: he must fire artillery continuously into the city, causing serious damage and panic to the soldiers and civilians defending the city, so that Li Guo's main siege force can find an opportunity to climb up with ladders. Wall up the city.

At this moment, Zhang Nai had only one thought in his mind, which was to fire as many cannons as quickly as possible to "open the way" for the brothers who climbed the ladder to attack the city. As for personal life and death, he had long forgotten about it - he even wanted to die.

Fight and die for the great cause of becoming a king, don’t complain!

Zhang Nai's body was covered in black and red, with smoke and dust as well as traces of blood. Even his clothes were in tatters. He didn't know when they were scratched, and a big hole appeared on his chest...

Suddenly, a loud noise came from not far away from him. It was a cannon exploding, and a wave of air rushed in. Even though he was more than ten steps away, Zhang Nai was kicked up and fell down. on the ground.

After a while, he finally regained his breath. He felt dizzy and his chest and abdomen were churning. Not to mention how uncomfortable it felt. What frightened him even more was the "buzzing" in his ears. , except that no other sound could be heard.

He was surrounded by brothers from his artillery camp. They were running around, and some people came to him from time to time and shouted, but he couldn't hear even the slightest sound. There was that annoying "buzzing" in his ears. The buzzing sound became more intense.

He managed to sit up, and the military orders given to him by King Chuang kept appearing in his mind. He murmured "Fire the artillery...I want to fire the artillery...", stood up unsteadily, and walked towards the artillery position.

Zhang Nai suddenly grabbed the torch stuck on the ground, came to the gun position, and touched the barrel of the gun. Although it was very hot, it was not impossible to shoot again. He shouted loudly with a hoarse voice, and the gunner ran away. It was filled quickly after coming over.

When he stretched out the torch and was about to light the fuse, a small leader of the artillery team quickly ran to him and loudly reported: "This is Mr. Zhang, the commander-in-chief Mr. Liu waved the blue flag and ordered the artillery fire to stop."

Seeing that Zhang Nai was a little confused, the little leader was afraid that he might not hear clearly, so he added excitedly: "I'm going to climb the city on a ladder soon... I'm going to pour... I'm pouring in!"

Although Zhang Nai's hearing has not fully recovered, he still vaguely heard the words "General Sentence Liu Ye" and "Guan La". After all, they are the shadow of a famous tree. "General Sentence Liu Ye" is in Chuangying had a superior status, second only to King Chuang. Not to mention Zhang Nai, a young general, even generals such as Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Liu Fangliang, and Yuan Zongdi did not dare to be presumptuous when they met him.

His bloodshot eyes were still wide open, but they no longer had the divine light they had just now. They dimmed a lot in an instant. His hands lowered weakly, and he let the torch fall to the ground, muttering in his mouth. Said: "You want to drink it? No more sex... We are going to destroy the city..." .........

"Dong dong dong... dong dong dong... dong dong dong..."

The war drums of the bandit army's siege started beating, and the sound of hundreds of war drums beating at the same time became one, shaking the heaven and the earth.

Amidst the sound of war drums, hundreds of ladders that had been waiting in the dry trench suddenly rushed out of the trench, were carried to the base of the city wall and stood up. Each ladder was carried by about ten people, followed by two more. Thirty thieves and warriors holding shields and swords.

Almost at the same time, thousands of crossbowmen stood on the edge of the city trench. They fired waves of arrows at the top of the city, so heavy that the defenders on the city couldn't lift their heads to cover the siege army's smooth entry into the city. There are also tens of thousands of thieves and soldiers standing behind the crossbowmen, shouting and cheering to frighten the enemy.

Li Zicheng rode his horse and stood on a high hill in the west of Shangqiu City. Luo Rucai was on his left, Song Xiance and others were on his right, and many other important civil and military officials who were not directly tasked with attacking the city gathered behind him.

Liu Zongmin, the chief sentry of the invading army, immediately stood on a high platform not far in front of them. He only used red and blue flags to direct the battle. Outside the three gates of Shangqiu in the north, west and south, there were thousands of cavalry soldiers lined up on each side. Standing there, quietly waiting for the moment when the city gate opens, so that they can rush in, which is what the thieves call - flooding the city!

Seeing that the ladder had been carried to the city root, the general sentry Liu Zongmin immediately ordered the blue flag to be waved. When the crossbowmen at the trench saw the blue flag waving, they immediately ordered to stop shooting to avoid accidentally injuring their brothers.

The moment they stopped shooting arrows, ladders came up against the city wall. The pioneers of the rebel army scrambled bravely to climb up the ladders. They were as agile as monkeys, and they didn't even use their hands to support them. " "Deng, Deng, Deng" stepped on it and went up.

But as soon as the artillery fire and crossbows stopped, the defenders on the city came out again. They also tried their best to prevent the rebels from ascending the city. For a while, rolling wood, stones, and even a few "thousands of enemies" were thrown from the city. There were loud explosions, killing and injuring many bandits.

However, they could not stop the rebels from ascending the city. They did not flinch and bravely climbed up the ladder. There was a rebel leader wearing red cotton armor. As he climbed up, he shouted: "Fill! Fill!" Pour it in!"

But he had just climbed up to the top of the city when he saw an officer jump up, swinging the steel knife in his hand and slashing at him. He calmly raised the shield with his left hand to block, and struck hard with the iron bone in his right hand. The officers and soldiers vomited blood and fell down.

But unexpectedly, another soldier next to him stabbed him with a spear, straight into his waist and abdomen, and blood spurted out immediately. The soldier had no time to withdraw the spear, so he could only push forward with all his strength, and actually killed the red-armored bandit soldier. The leader was pushed down from the city...

At this moment, a shout came from the ladder next to him: "We're going to the city! We're going to the city!"

In the blink of an eye, countless rebel soldiers climbed to the top of Shangqiu City via ladders. Everyone roared: "Kill! Kill! Go to the city!"

The order on the city was immediately in chaos, and the officers and soldiers guarding the city had no fighting spirit. They just ran around to escape for their lives. As more and more rebels climbed up the city, the top of the city was soon completely occupied by the rebels. They rushed down the city wall very quickly, and soon He quickly opened the west gate of Shangqiu City. Li Guo, who had been waiting for a long time, commanded with his sword and rushed into the city with the troops.

Immediately there was a terrifying sound of running and shouting in Shangqiu City: "The thieves have entered the city! Run for your life...run for your life!..."

In just a short time, all the city gates of Shangqiu were opened, and the bandits rushed into the city like a spring. The fierce fighting scene like when they attacked the city was no longer seen, and it seemed even more unexpectedly peaceful. Only one or two sounds could be heard occasionally. Discordant notes of screams and wails.

The sun has risen from the east and hangs high in the sky. The sky is as clear as water, making the scorching sun look particularly beautiful. On top of Shangqiu City, a large flag with the word "Chuang" is fluttering in the wind in the bright sunshine.

…………

When the city of Shangqiu was broken, many of the defenders and defeated soldiers, as well as the officials and gentry in the city, etc., tried to escape through the east gate, but they did not expect that the east gate did not have heavy troops to siege the city, but Li Guo laid one here. More than two thousand cavalrymen weaved a huge net and would never let anyone go.

After a short street battle, the original defenders in Shangqiu City surrendered one after another. They obeyed the orders of the intruders, turned over their military uniforms and put them on. Following the intruders, they also shouted: "The city is broken! The city is broken." Got it!"

After "One Tiger" Li Guo led his army into the city, he went straight to the governor's office of Guide Prefecture and occupied it immediately. At the same time, using this as the center, he quickly occupied all the government offices and official treasuries in Shangqiu City.

At the same time, under his command, the Chuang army also captured the escaped officials and rural gentry. The captured people were gathered in the government office one after another. However, the Shangqiu magistrate Liang Yizhang, who was responsible for the defense of Shangqiu City, was never captured. , just thought he died in the rebel army.

It was not until a few days later that the generals of the intruder army received the news that Liang Yizhang was hiding under a pile of dead bodies. He escaped from Shangqiu City and ran elsewhere that night under the cover of darkness.

Near noon, Li Zicheng, the king of the intruders, and Liu Zongmin, the chief sentry, led Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others on horseback and entered Shangqiu City from the west gate.

Although there was no large-scale resistance in Shangqiu City at this time, order had not been completely restored. Murders, robberies, and rapes were still occurring throughout the city. Of course, most of them were committed by the newly surrendered officers and soldiers. But there were also some soldiers from various rebel battalions involved.

Hearing the screams and wailings coming from all around, King Chuang Li Zicheng couldn't help but frown and asked Liu Zongmin beside him: "Our army has been in the city for more than an hour, why is it still so chaotic?"

Liu Zongmin shook his head and replied: "Firstly, the soldiers and civilians in the city are stubbornly resisting. Instead of surrendering and dedicating the city, they must kill more people to establish their authority. Secondly, our team is so mixed now. There are people from our old mansion and Cao Ying." ’s, and Xiao Yuan’s camp, it is inevitable that there will be chaos for a while, unlike the situation when we broke into Luoyang.”

King Chuang had a premonition that it would not be appropriate to continue the chaos like this. He immediately sent people to see Li Guo and asked him to immediately send people to patrol the city with his own arrows and deliver the order "Seal the Sword"!

No matter which battalion he is in, no matter who he is, if he continues to rape women or kill and rob casually after being told to "seal the sword", he will be beheaded on the spot as a warning to others.

The messengers here galloped to deliver the message, and they continued to march towards the front of the government office. When passing a crossroads, King Chuang saw several houses burning with blazing fire.

He quickly added another order: "You are not allowed to light a fire and burn down the house. If it is already lit, you must quickly put it out." (End of Chapter)