Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 470 Second visit to Zhangzhou
Zhangzhou City was besieged by the Ming army for more than a month. Although the main force of the Ming army left, the peasants and [-] Ming troops outside the city did not rest. Outside the city, criss-cross trenches were dug out, and the long walls were one after another. , it is bound to not give the Qing soldiers in the city a chance to break through.

After Wang Yan left, Li Chengdong sent troops out of the city to test it a few times, but the Ming army was really insidious. Not only did they plant bombs outside the city, but the firecrackers in the hands of hundreds of red-haired ghosts were even faster and more ruthless. As the cavalry of the Ming Army, he failed several times in his attempts.

The newly cast red barbarian cannons transported from Guangjing outside the city joined the battle half a month ago. After Wang Yan persuaded Su Guansheng to allocate 10 taels of silver, the Zhubaofang cast the ten cannons with a new method. When the gun was tested, the chamber exploded, the craftsman died on the spot, and the remaining nine guns were quickly transported to the front line of Zhangzhou.

Relying on the advantage in range, these Hongyi cannons built a high platform outside the city and built a cannon array that was enough to overlook the whole situation.

Howling iron bullets hit the top of the city from time to time, and with the sound of cracking earth, stone and tiles, the tower in the north of Zhangzhou City was hit by an iron bullet, breaking a corner, and large pieces of sawdust and tiles fell down.

After a month of shelling, all kinds of fortifications in Zhangzhou City were damaged, but Li Chengdong reinforced the city very firmly. If the Ming army wanted to break through the city with a few red cannons, it would take at least half a year of bombardment.

At this time, the Qing army in Zhangzhou was also accustomed to the shelling of the Ming army. The soldiers were all squatting under the city wall, and the bolder ones leaned up from time to time to observe the movement of the Ming army outside the city and the city wall that was hit by the shelling. .

The Qing army in Zhangzhou seemed to have been killed for a long time, but as time went by, Li Chengdong became more and more uneasy. According to Zhang Cunren's promise to him, the Qing soldiers in Jiangnan should have entered Fujian, but it has been a month. Why are the reinforcements still there? Didn't appear outside Zhangzhou city?

Li Chengdong led a team of generals to patrol the city wall to check the situation on the city wall. Shells hit the city wall from time to time, but he was not worried about the shelling of the Ming army, because he had figured out for half a month that the Ming army had only Nine Hongyi cannons, these cannons bombarded the city wall several miles long, and the probability of hitting him was very slim.

Suddenly, a whistling sound came straight towards him, and a black iron bullet gradually enlarged, and it hit his position. The speed was too fast, before he could make a move, there was an ear-shattering loud noise, he only felt a slight vibration of the city wall, the iron bullet disappeared a wall, and the place it hit was only ten feet away from him Far.

Li Chengdong couldn't help sweating coldly from shock, but he also let out a sigh of relief. He looked back at the terrified generals of the Qing army around him, but pretended to smile calmly and said: "Zhangzhou City was reinforced by this town, and the city walls are extremely strong. Hundreds of heavy artillery can never break through the city. The generals don't need to worry, just hold on for a while, and when the Jiangnan reinforcements and Governor Zhang's troops arrive, the Ming army outside the city will no longer be arrogant." "Yes, yes." Many Qing Jiang, with an unnatural expression, echoed in a low voice.

On the other side, on the artillery formation of the Ming army, Chen Yujie, the artillery commander who came with the new artillery, put down the binoculars annoyedly, and ordered: "Clean the barrel, move the muzzle to the left one point, and release it~"

Several soldiers of the artillery team immediately stabbed the barrel of the gun with a long pole wrapped in wet cotton cloth, then changed the long pole wrapped in dry cotton cloth and poked it again, then adjusted the gun position and reloaded, but Li Chengdong on the city wall had long since disappeared. not see.

The artillery team lost its target, but the shelling did not stop. In the past half month, the Ming army has formed a pattern. From the early morning, several artillery bombardments took turns until dusk. Of course, sometimes a few artillery pieces were fired suddenly at night, making people The Qing army was very troubled.

As usual, at dusk, under the setting sun, the bombardment that lasted for a day stopped again. After half a month of bombardment, although the northern city of Zhangzhou was riddled with holes, it was still intact on the whole.

The Ming army had already set up various fortifications under the city. The Qing army could not get out of the city, and the Ming army in charge of locking the city was unable to attack.

"Is Wang Duzhen in the tent?" He Zhen came to Wang Shixiu's tent and asked the soldiers.

"Here, the general will let you know." After the soldier finished speaking, he said to the account again.

Obtaining permission, He Zhen came in with a bill. Wang Shixiu put down the "New Book of Ji Xiao" in his hand when he saw him, and said with a smile, "What's the matter, General He?" The warrant was placed in front of Wang Shixiu, and he said: "Wang Du Town, the Duke's army has crossed the Beixi River and is now camping fifty miles east of Zhangzhou City. This is the military order just sent by the Duke. The first is to order the Duke Town tonight. Quietly lead 4000 supervising cavalry to the state camp, and [-] people from the state camp will come over overnight. The second thing is, the state asked us to urge the civilians to dig a tunnel directly under the city and bomb the city with bombs."

When Wang Shixiu heard the words, he opened the warrant to look at it, and then frowned and thought: "Zhangzhou city is strong. If we attack according to the usual tactics, it will be difficult to achieve results. There is indeed another way to dig tunnels. If we can really blow up the towers and walls, it will be very effective. As for the Duke Why did they change troops overnight, they must have come up with some kind of conspiracy."

He Zhen also nodded, "The strategy of blowing up the city is indeed feasible. Although the city of Zhangzhou is strong, we have plenty of medicines. If we use a thousand kilograms, we are not afraid that the bombing will not collapse. If it is successful, the brothers can save as many people as they die. , It’s just a waste of some medicine and some human effort.”

"General He is right, [-] civilians, after the fortification of the city lock is completed, there will be no missions, and now it's just time to use it."

"However, how do we dig this tunnel? Our army rarely uses this method of siege."

Wang Shixiu stood up, took a blueprint from the shelf behind him, spread it on the table quickly, and called He Zhen to watch it together.

This is a Zhangzhou city defense map drawn by the Ming army after more than a month of observation. It not only draws the whole, but also details each part. The towers, horse faces, enemy towers, and city gates are all marked in detail. The height and thickness are also marked.

Wang Shixiu pointed to the map and said, "Since the Duke's order has come, we must act according to the order. Tonight, the town will lead the supervisor to go to the Duke's camp and dig the tunnel. I will leave it to General He. The moat of Zhangzhou City may be For a relatively big question, how to excavate, General He can choose to bombard the North City for many days, and then ask the craftsmen for their opinions."

It was the fourth watch of the night, when people were sleeping soundly, Wang Shixiu led 4000 supervising cavalry, quietly left the Ming army camp outside Zhangzhou City, and not long after, a Ming army of about [-] people led The horses returned to the camp.

　Thank you for coming to give me a smile, Yuedong Woxin's reward.Ask for subscription, ask for recommendation, monthly pass.

　　I went out for a while in the morning, so it was a little late, but it was still the third watch.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)