Seeing that the first ship had passed the bend, Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong immediately relaxed.

On the city wall, a craftsman used a torch to light the match rope. After the match rope was lit, it quickly ignited the gunpowder in the barrel, and a loud noise was heard instantly like thunder.

"boom"

Under the action of gunpowder, the twenty-pound solid iron ball turned into a small black dot with terrifying kinetic energy and quickly crossed the sky, and then flew towards the center of the river.

Bang!

The cannonball did not hit the boat, but hit the river, and a column of water instantly rose into the sky!

At this moment, everyone at the Iron Tower Pier was stunned by the sudden thundering roar and water column, including of course Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong.

However, Wang Congyi and others were stunned. The craftsmen and gunners on the city wall were not aware of this, and they lit the match ropes one after another.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

There was a continuous roar of artillery, and solid artillery shells weighing twenty kilograms hit the dock with a devastating momentum!

】

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Pillars of water rose into the sky, accompanied by the sound of cracking!

The accuracy of the Hongyi cannon is indeed not very good, but there are a lot of cannons and there are many ships on the dock. Twenty-three shells hit four ships, two of which hit the same ship, and a lot of river water

The gurgling water flowed into the cabin of the boat, which already contained a large amount of food. Adding the river water, the hull of the boat tilted in just a moment.

"It's a cannon!"

At this time, Yang Guodong also came to his senses and hurriedly roared: "Let all the ships move back!"

It's a pity that this roar has no meaning at all. The ship is not a human being, so it is impossible to retreat at will.

At this time, the Hongyi cannon that fired first had been reloaded, and the matchlock was lit again.

boom!

The artillery shells once again blasted towards the river with terrifying power.

This time the cannonball did not miss, but directly blasted a large hole in a ship.

At this time, there was a "Peng" sound, and the rear barrel of a Hongyi cannon suddenly swelled in size. At the same time, black smoke came out, and the barrel exploded!

However, the other Hongyi cannons successfully fired their shells, and a large number of shells flew out again. With the first positioning, the accuracy was better this time, and twenty-two shells hit six ships.

It’s over!

It’s all over!

Seeing this scene, Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave. The seven or eight sunk ships had blocked most of the river, leaving less than half of the place that could pass, while the cannons on the city wall continued to fire.

When all the ships were out of the range of the Hongyi cannon, thirty or forty ships were piled up in the river, blocking the entire river. Nothing could pass except water, and the depth of the river was also rapidly increasing.

It dropped from a depth of four to five meters to about one meter, and all the boats were stranded in the river.

…

The imperial army camp.

The atmosphere in the coach's camp was gloomy and gloomy. Everyone looked pale. Sitting here, few of them were fools. Even if they did not know the plans of the rebels in Dongchang Mansion at the beginning, they have all realized it now.

Nearly three million stones of grain were blocked in Jiangnan!

Thinking of this, everyone's hearts felt as if they were frozen by thousands of years of ice. Although 150,000 shi of grain was transported to Beijing last time, the food shortage situation in the capital was still severe. In just half a year before, there was a food shortage in the capital.

After so many mutinies, if the canal cannot be opened again in a short time this time, then the capital will never let them go. Everyone present, one by one, will not be able to escape.

After all, the defeat is temporary. At most, Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong will take the blame, and the others will be reprimanded at most. But this time they were plotted by the rebels, and millions of grains were blocked in the south of the Yangtze River. The entire North Zhili may be affected by this. Collapse, such a big pot, Wang Congyi alone cannot bear it.

"Everyone, what do you think we should do?"

Wang Congyi's expression was calm, and he was worried and worried, but worry could not solve the problem. Things had to be calmed down and figured out how to solve them.

"Governor Wang, those cannons came from the capital a few years ago. They are said to be imitations of Hongyi's cannons. They are very powerful. The great victory at Ningyuan two years ago was largely due to the power of these cannons. The range of this cannon can reach hundreds of feet. If Without destroying these cannons, water transportation will always be under threat from the rebels."

Weihai Guard Commander Qiao Hao cupped his hands and said.

"Of course I understand this."

Wang Congyi sighed: "The problem now is how to destroy these cannons, and we must ensure that the rebels can no longer cast cannons. Otherwise, even if these cannons are destroyed now, it won't be long before the rebels will cast new cannons. By then, Rivers will also be threatened."

"Governor Wang, you don't need to worry too much about this."

Yang Guodong shook his head and said: "Although the Hongyi cannons are powerful, their range is only a thousand feet. As long as these cannons are destroyed now, we can recruit civilians to dig a new section of the river that is beyond the range of the Hongyi cannons. A small section of the river only costs three or four meters." It only takes a few months. The most important thing now is to destroy these cannons and ensure that the food can be transported to Beijing."

Having said this, Yang Guodong couldn't help but sigh. It was the next best thing to destroy those cannons. Those cannons were on the city wall. If you want to destroy them, you have to climb the city wall. If you want to climb the city wall, you need to attack the city with a large army or send out experts. It costs a lot to go up there.

It's a pity that the rebels hit their seven-inch vital point. They didn't have enough time to dig the river channel again. The civilians who were recruited last time have all gone back. Re-mobilization will take at least half a month, plus the time to dig the river channel. It will take at least three or four months.

More importantly, the rebels in the city will never sit back and watch them dig a new river channel. As long as they send people to harass them, the time of digging the river will have to be extended for at least another month or two.

Now most of the grain is in the south of the Yangtze River. In three to five months, whether the capital will still be there or not will be a problem. The Jurchens and Mongols outside the customs are coveting North Zhili. Once there is a major mutiny and riot due to lack of food, then Those Jurchens and Mongols will never sit back and watch.

"The next step is to attack the city with a large army or to organize experts to board the city and destroy the cannons?"

Qiao Hao said sadly that it would be difficult for the army to get by on the lake that was dozens of feet wide. There was a high probability that they would have to organize experts to climb up the city wall and destroy the cannons.

"At the same time!"

Wang Congyi said categorically: "Winning or losing depends on one move. If you don't succeed, you will be benevolent!"

After hearing Wang Congyi's words, everyone remained silent. They just stood up and left silently to make arrangements for the siege.

Soon, war drums thundered, and a large number of Weihu soldiers, driven by their respective superiors, crossed the canal, along with various siege equipment.

"Boom" "Boom"

At this time, there were several gunshots and explosions, and several solid shells fell into the crowd with terrifying kinetic energy, and then bounced continuously. Wherever they passed, stumps and broken arms flew everywhere, and blood and screams could not be heard.

Several artillery shells caused dozens of casualties, and all the guardsmen panicked. However, under the suppression of the military attache and their personal guards, they still managed to maintain the basic formation.

On the city wall, Su Hao, Tang Xiangjin and others looked at the dense army formation below the city. Although with the power of the Hongyi cannon, twenty-three cannons fired at the same time, such a dense formation was enough to kill thousands of people in just a few rounds.

The casualties caused the army to retreat, but in this case, their plan to surround the opponent's masters was in vain.

The next moment, the drums of the attack sounded. A large number of soldiers carried the flying bridge across the river and approached the city wall under the cover of wooden chariots and shields. The siege ballistas also began to move forward, along with siege ladders and siege towers.

Hammer trucks followed suit.

Three hundred feet!

Two hundred feet!

One hundred feet!

"put!"

As the army continued to approach, Tang Xiangjin waved his order, and the archers and the bowl-mouth cannons and tiger squatting cannons on the city wall opened fire at the same time. The arrows were missed, and stones and iron beads rained down from the sky!

In an instant, the imperial army suffered heavy casualties!

However, the signal to retreat was not sounded this time. Instead, the drums of the attack became more and more urgent, and at the same time, more and more soldiers crossed the canal and rushed towards the city wall.

Flying bridges were erected one after another, and a large number of soldiers advanced risklessly on the lake. At the same time, ladders and hammer carts also rushed onto the arch bridge and approached the city wall.

From behind, Wang Congyi looked at the fifty or sixty people in front of him and said solemnly: "Everyone, the imperial court has been raising scholars for hundreds of years, and today is the time to serve the imperial court."

In this expedition, in addition to the masters in the army, there are also masters of Jinyiwei mobilized from Zhending Prefecture, Daming Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture and other places. There are nearly thirty first-rate warriors and seventy or eighty second-rate warriors. In addition to

The remaining masters on the siege front are all here.

"Don't worry, Governor, we will definitely destroy those Hongyi cannons."

Qianhu Yinchen, the Jinyi Guard of Daming Mansion, nodded and said, it would be impossible if he didn't get involved in this kind of thing, but with his strength, even if it was really dangerous, he would be sure to get back his whole body.

At this time, Wang Congyi looked at a middle-aged eunuch wearing eunuch clothes and said solemnly: "Eunuch Lu, I hope you can take action this time."

If Su Hao were here, he would find that this middle-aged eunuch is the eunuch who has been following Wei Zhongxian.

"For eighty thousand taels of silver, our family will make one move."

After hearing Wang Congyi's words, Lu Zhendan said calmly that he was a supervisor sent by Zhu Youjian, and his duty was to supervise Wang Congyi. It was not his duty to go to the battlefield.

"Don't worry, Eunuch Lu, the money will be prepared by the official."

Hearing this, Wang Congyi said in a deep voice that Lu Zhen was the supervisor of the army and was not his to instigate. The guardsmen currently attacking the city were just cannon fodder to attract the rebel forces. It was Yin Shen and the others who really took action. As a martial arts master, Lu Zhen

, he is still a Taoist and martial artist, extremely powerful. If Lu Zhen is willing to take action, the chance of success will greatly increase.

"In that case, let's take action once."
Chapter completed!