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Chapter 183: Broken Fortress

"emission!"

With the command flag waved down neatly and under the low-temperature sun, the gunner once again obeyed the order, triggering the engine in a neat and orderly manner, and the suspension box filled with iron blocks for counterweight immediately lifted from the solid door frame.

Smashed down.

The cannon tip was pulled by the huge downward momentum, bending like a bow with a loud "squeaking" sound almost in the blink of an eye, and the next moment the tip tail violently swung upwards.

Thirty-six Western Region fighters threw hundreds of large and small mud pellets at Panlong Village at almost the same time, making a whistling sound like a cold wind in the mid-air.

Jiang Ang stood on the wall of the village holding an iron shield, and his eyes were filled with anger when he saw this scene.

No, this was not the attack on the city he had expected.

When he expected to attack the city, the Chushan Army would send hundreds or even thousands of soldiers, carrying ladders and rushing to the wall. However, regardless of casualties, they would hold swords and shields against the rolling stones that they kept smashing down from the wall.

The wood and hot boiling oil rushed upward, and then only a small number of Chushan troops rushed to the wall of the stronghold and fought with them.

Now, the Chushan Army has been advancing in front of Panlong Village since early morning. Not only did they not attack the surrounding city, but they also had hundreds of shield cars, cave cars and other war equipment to protect the shield array.

The large wooden piles and iron wires that came over were built in front of the village wall and on the beach near the lake and bay to build protective nets, dig shallow trenches, and ram earth walls. After that, they were continuously bombarded by stone cannons from the Western Regions...

This was not the attack on the city that Jiang Ang had expected, but Fan Zongqi looked at it all with a stern expression.

Even though the bandit army does not seem to have the ability to counterattack out of the stronghold, and currently relies mainly on warships converted from small boats to approach and harass from lake bays and river branches that have not been completely blocked, their effect is limited, but Fan Zongqi still does not dare to slack off in the slightest.

, constantly ordered to strengthen the defense of the front line and flanks to ensure that the firing of stone cannons in the Western Regions and the transportation of mud pellets and other materials from the rear were not disrupted.

I have to admit that the Western Region stone cannons were extremely terrifying in improving the current siege operations.

The first time that the stone cannons in the Western Regions showed their fierce flames was when Ruyang fell and Yang Lin died heroically in battle.

Before the Battle of Huainan, the Huai Palace Army worked hard to manage Shouchun City for two years, building and strengthening the inner and outer walls. However, faced with the siege of the Red Husbands and Horses, the Huai Palace Army defended the city with 60,000 elite troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians, resulting in casualties.

More than 70,000 people managed to hold on to the city without losing it.

Even on the battlefields on both sides of the old Yingshui River, the Chushan Army suffered a lot when facing the enemy forces west of Beijing and throwing Western Region stone cannons into the battlefield.

The manpower and space required to operate the Western Region Stone Cannon have been greatly reduced. While ensuring that the strength of the front battle formation to withstand counterattacks is not weakened, compared with traditional trebuchets, the Western Region Stone Cannon can be deployed three to four times more in number.

.

In addition, the stability and accuracy of stone cannons thrown by Western Region stone cannons are much higher than those of traditional trebuchets.

A rough estimate is that the advent of stone cannons in the Western Regions has increased the attack power of traditional city wall defense systems by about eight to ten times compared with traditional trebuchets.

The stone cannons of the Western Regions are far superior to traditional trebuchets when used for city defense.

In response to this, after the enemy forces in the west of Beijing took the lead in putting the Western Region stone cannons into the battlefield, Xu Huai not only ordered the ordnance supervisor to immediately imitate a batch of Western Region stone cannons for emergency response, but also asked the ordnance supervisor to continuously develop more durable and more mobile weapons.

of war weapons.

At this time, the batch of stone cannons deployed in groups of four to six in front of Panlong Village were made by Chushan Ordnance Supervisor for more than a year combined with Chushan's smelting and forging technology.

Except for the cannon tip, which requires extremely high elastic toughness, the main structure of the newly built stone cannons in Chushan is basically replaced by angle iron or I-beam iron. The stone cannons in the Western Regions are also usually prefabricated into different components. After arriving at the battlefield,

Then riveting and assembly are performed to achieve the purpose of rapid transportation and rapid deployment.

Compared with stone bullets, the preparation of simply fired clay pellets is faster and cheaper.

Chushan Nancai soldiers and horses raided the outposts outside Panlong Village at night, cut off the rivers and alleys, and laid pontoon bridges and plank roads. In addition to thousands of people and horses accompanied by a large number of war weapons, they advanced to Panlong Village and set up arrays. They also used hundreds of oxen carts to move

Thousands of clay pellets are continuously transported to the battlefield from the rear.

The Dongjing bandit army occupied the beach at the mouth of the Panlong Lake where the Jianshui River flows into the Panlong Lake. On the basis of the five old fishing villages, they also tried their best to build the Panlong Village. The fence walls were filled with rammed earth and were more than two feet high.

A Haogou with a width of more than four to five feet was dug to connect the bay on the west side with the Jiushui River on the east side. Warships could sail directly into the Haogou in front of the village and fight with their backs against the wall of the village; strengthened defenses were added, and every four

At the 50th step, an archery tower and war shed were also built.

However, Panlong Village has not been able to break away from the traditional city defense system. In front of the powerful Chushan Army battle formation, it does not have the ability to counterattack out of the village. It has seemingly solid walls and more than 30 archery towers and battle sheds.

, and the warships deployed in the ditch in front of the village are just living targets for the stone cannons in the Western Regions.

Chushan has long used fire oil tanks in actual combat, but in recent years they have rarely been used in the confrontations between enemies in the west of Beijing and Heluo.

The main reason is that the distance of the hand-thrown fire oil cans is limited. When dealing with the enemy's well-defended front line, the use of fire oil cans in the front line is limited. Once the enemy counterattacks and enters the front line, the large number of fire oil cans will become a trigger.

The unstable factors that cause chaos in the formation.

However, the stability and accuracy of traditional trebuchets are poor. Using trebuchets to throw flammable oil cans and other tinders into enemy cities to set fire to them is still a traditional skill in this world.

The stone cannons from the Western Regions have greater advantages when used to throw fire and oil cans.

After destroying the arrow towers, war sheds, and boats parked in the ditch in front of the village, some of the Western Regions' stone cannons moved forward and continued to pour thousands of fire oil cans into Panlong Village.

After nightfall, Panlong Village, whose internal buildings are mainly wooden sheds and thatched huts, is engulfed in a sea of ​​blazing fire; even in Nancai City, you can see the sky-high flames as if the night has been ignited, turning the night sky into a sea of ​​flames.

The bright moon above was dimmed.

"It's really bullying..."

There was no time to build nearby defensive buildings on the Nancai city wall. It was bare and unblocked. There were piles of bonfires lit on the left and right for lighting. Xu Wukun looked at Panlong Village sinking into the sea of ​​​​fire and said with a smile.

Although Panlong Village is crowded with a large number of women, children, the elderly and the weak, kindness does not control soldiers, and there is no mercy in a life-and-death fight.

Of course, since Panlong Village was so vulnerable, everyone found it boring.

At this time, a messenger came from the battlefield, dismounted and walked to the city wall to report:

"Reporting to Commander-in-Chief, the vanguard troops and horses have already entered Panlong Village. There is little resistance from the rebels. Fan Junhou thought that the rebels would flee into Panlong Lake at any time. The naval warships have already reserved waters to sail to after dark..."

Xu Huai nodded slightly and said to the messenger:

"I sent an order to Fan Zongqi. After capturing Panlong Village, the generals must be restrained from causing more killings. Most of the people in the village are poor people who are forced to make a living and become thieves. If they are not serious criminals, they must be allowed to change their ways.

Women, children, the elderly and the weak also need to be properly accommodated..."

When the messenger got on the horse again and galloped into the dark night, Xu Huai turned around and said to Lu Xiong: "I may not wait until I can capture Meijin, and the two villages of Xundu and Xundu will return to Wuyang with Xuan'er.

Mr. Lu, please come back to Wuyang with us - the time is ripe for the Red Hu people to fully occupy Xixia. If the Dangxiang people cannot resist the Red Hu people, a more cruel attack will come on Huaihe River as soon as one year or as late as two or three years.

Mr. Lu, you don’t want to stand idly by and watch this evil fight anymore, do you?”

"It is said that seventy years of life are rare. My muscles and bones can only support me for another two or three years. Even if I don't want to stand by and watch, what can I do with my old body?" Lu Xiong said with a bitter smile.

"Although the Samurai House mainly teaches combat methods, there is still a need to teach swords, guns and boxing skills," Xu Huai said.

"Grandpa Lu, just go to Wuyang!" Wang Xuan grabbed Lu Xiong's sleeve and begged.

"Okay, don't pull it anymore, your sleeves will be torn!" Lu Xiong nodded and smiled.

Xu Huai looked at Zhao Heng and others and asked: "You all can follow us to Huaishang. If you have any ideas then, please feel free to tell us..."

Zhao Heng and others were from the Bianliang Forbidden Army when Wang Zhen was appointed as the defense envoy of the four walls of the capital, and they were determined to follow the generals on the left and right. After Wang Zhen died of illness, they were disappointed with the court and had no intention of returning to the camp, and escorted Wang Zhen with Lu Xiong.

After the coffin returned to his hometown for burial, he followed Wang Xuan all the time.

Xu Huai married Wang Xuan and brought Lu Xiong to Wuyang. Of course, he also brought Zhao Heng and others and their children to live in Wuyang.

"Follow Xu Hou's order." Zhao Heng and others said.

…………

…………

The buildings in Panlong Village were mainly shacks and huts. Once the fire spread, there was no way to put it out. I don’t know how many people were killed in the flames and drowned. It was nothing but chaos.

No matter how unwilling he was, Jiang Ang had no choice but to board the boat and escape to Panlong Lake through the water gate opened on the south side.

The Dongjing Allied Forces were established in Dongting Lake, marched across the Jingjiang River, and contacted fishermen and boat households in Qianchapu to explore the countryside. Although they did not have any large and sturdy warships, they had plenty of fishing boats and rafts.

After Panlong Village fell into a sea of ​​fire, Hu Danzhou and others realized that they were unable to resist the Chushan Army's attack, and fled from Shuimen into Panlong Lake in panic. Other thieves also scrambled for boats to escape from Panlong Village.

Jiang Ang fled into Panlong Lake, not knowing where Hu Dangzhou and Tian Rusheng were. It was a mess, and many boats even collided with each other. Fortunately, Jiang Ang was riding a formal rowing oar.

The warships and oarsmen had undergone rigorous training, and they quickly broke out from the chaotic group of ships.

Jiang Ang stood on the bow of the swaying ship, turning his head in shock to look at Panlong Village, which was already more than ten miles away, as if a fire dragon was lying across Panlong Lake.

"Master Jiang, past the water entrance in front is Xundu Lake!" someone nearby shouted.

Jiang Ang looked forward and saw that the lake suddenly narrowed under the moonlight, forming a water mouth forty to fifty feet wide. This was already the junction of Panlong Lake and Xundu Lake, passing through a river lane that was forty to fifty feet wide and two to three miles long.

, which is Xundu Lake with a radius of eight or nine miles.

On the south side of Xundu Lake, close to the Jingjiang River, is another large village built by the Dongjing Allied Forces east of the Han River - Xundu Village - and to the east of the Xundu Village is the mouth of the Jingjiang River where the Xun River enters.

As long as you drive into Xundu Lake, you can say that the sea is vast and you can swim in it.

Jiang Ang, feeling a little lucky that he had survived the disaster, couldn't help but said to the people around him: "Jingsheng Hou's troops were not good enough. If he deployed an army of navy to ambush at the mouth of the water, it would be difficult for us to have any wings."

Fly..."

The platoon warship quickly sailed towards the river alley on the south side. It was blocked by the sparse forest on the beach. Jiang Ang, who was standing on the bow, did not see that there were dozens of warships quietly deep in the river alley.

Waiting...


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