Ding Degui waited until the hot air balloon landed, and he immediately began to count the number of hot air balloons that had not returned.
At the same time, we began to check the location of the granary and strategic targets in Mengjin County.
Ding Degui wrote a report on this battle and reported it personally to King Su He of Qin.
"Your Majesty, our bombing was very successful this time. It is expected to cause 20,000 Ming army casualties and effectively damage the morale of the Ming army.
However, the Ming army also found counterattack measures, and a total of fifty-six hot air balloons were missing.
I sent people to inquire at nearby military camps, but found no hot air balloons blowing far away.
They were probably shot down by the Ming army and fell into Mengjin City.
I saw the hot air balloons that fell in Mengjin City, and they all chose to die with the Ming army."
Su He had a sad look on his face and said, "I also saw the hot air balloon fall.
The soldiers on the hot air balloon are the most heroic soldiers. They are heroes and will be enshrined in the Martyrs' Pavilion.
The Ming army's countermeasures were very simple. As long as they could make fireworks, they could make this kind of rocket.
Rockets can cause great damage to hot air balloons.
The casualties were huge this time, mainly because we were too comfortable before and didn't understand the Ming army's methods of dealing with hot air balloons.
Next time you use a hot air balloon to fight, adjust the height of the hot air balloon so that it is in a safe position.
It would be better to reduce the accuracy of hot-air balloon bombing and increase the amount of bombs dropped, but to try to ensure the safety of the hot-air balloon troops."
Ding Degui felt relieved after hearing the instructions from King Qin Su He.
With King Qin's instructions, he can increase the height of the hot air balloon in his next battle.
"How are you prepared? It's just after noon, and while the weather is good, can you attack Mengjin County again?"
Su He asked Ding Degui about his preparations.
The wind outside is now gradually increasing.
If the wind direction is stronger, the hot air balloon will be blown too fast by the wind, and the accuracy of the bomb cannot be guaranteed.
Strong winds can easily blow away the hot air balloon and blow it far away from Mengjin.
The wind is so strong that it can be blown hundreds of miles away.
At that time, hot air balloons could only be tied up with ropes and tied in place.
It is used to observe the situation in the city and fight when the wind is howling.
Ding Degui immediately handed the written report to Qin Wang Su He for review.
"Your Majesty, Gao Jie's intelligence is very accurate. The Ming army has deployed a large number of rockets in granaries, military camps and other places.
I and other staff members on the hot air balloon have marked all the granaries in Mengjin County.
There are a total of eleven large granaries in Mengjin County.
The grain stored in each granary was enough to feed the 100,000 Ming troops in the city for two months.
We are directly divided into eleven action groups, each of which is responsible for a granary.
After destroying the granary, other strategic targets were discovered and bombed.
Each granary has a dedicated action team in charge, ensuring that most of the granaries in the city can be destroyed."
Su He looked through the action plan arranged by Ding Degui.
"Just follow this plan, take off when ready, and make sure to blow up the granary in Mengjin County."
The action plan was approved by King Su He of Qin, and Ding Degui returned to the camp of the hot air balloon unit.
The hot-air balloon soldiers are eating, and the logistics department is replenishing ammunition for the hot-air balloon. The main ammunition is heavy fire bombs.
Ding Degui called all the officers of the hot air balloon unit.
He began to divide them into eleven action groups according to their original troops, and arranged them to be responsible for destroying the granary.
After Ding Degui assigned the tasks, the hot air balloon troops were ready to take off again.
He had previously learned about the maximum height of the Ming army's rockets.
Before taking off, Ding Degui specifically stated that all hot air balloons must rise to a position higher than the maximum height of Ming army rockets.
They were not allowed to lower the altitude privately, and if the bombing was not accurate, they would bomb it a few more times.
There are a lot of heavy fire bombs in the logistics warehouse, so there is no need to save ammunition.
As long as they destroy the granary they are responsible for before dark, the mission will be completed.
This is the hot air balloon that Ding Degui rode on, and it also began to be loaded with fire bombs.
He personally led an action team to set off.
Ding Degui directed the hot air balloon to take off. After adjusting the height of the hot air balloon, it began to fly towards Mengjin County.
He flew over Mengjin County and saw the Ming army in the city cleaning the battlefield.
They did not expect that the Qin Army's hot-air balloon troops, which had been bombarding them indiscriminately all morning, would return to the sky above Mengjin County again.
When these people saw the hot air balloon coming, they were so frightened that they immediately ran away and hid in nearby houses.
It's like having a house to block the shock wave of a bomb.
Ding Degui ignored these Ming troops and flew directly towards his target.
He used a telescope to observe the target on the ground, and the hot air balloon flew almost behind the granary.
Ding Degui blew the whistle in his mouth.
The shrill whistle carried far through the air.
Hot air balloons around, hear this whistle.
They immediately ordered the soldiers to load their ammunition.
Ding Degui looked at the bomb-dropping device.
There have been many incidents before where soldiers dropped bombs without turning on the safety fuse due to nervousness on the battlefield.
Craftsmen in the arsenal are improving the cannonballs.
There is something like a small fan on the shell.
When the cannonball descends, the small fan will rotate and fall off due to the air flow.
The small fan is the safety and fuse excitation device of the artillery shell.
Soldiers don't need to do anything extra, they just need to drop the shell and it will automatically open the safety.
Ding Degui continued to use the telescope next to the hanging basket to observe the location of the granary in the city.
He calculated the impact point of the cannonball based on the height of the hot air balloon and the speed of the hot air balloon.
Ding Degui picked up the drum hammer and beat the drum on the hanging basket. The sound of the drum spread far away.
This is an order to drop heavy fire bombs
When the drum sounded, the bombardier immediately turned on the bombardier switch, and the explosive bombs fell directly.
The head of the fierce bomb dropped rapidly from a high altitude, and the small fan at its tail rotated and fell off due to the air flow.
The safety of the fire bomb is released, and the internal collision fuse can be activated.
Fire bombs falling from high altitudes are extremely powerful.
Smash the granary directly and fall into the grain.
The cannonball changes from a moving state to a stationary state.
The internal firing pin is affected by inertia, and the firing pin strikes the fulminant in the shell.
With a bang, the fire bomb exploded, and the ignited mixture of kerosene and sugar spread around the granary.
A raging fire began to burn in the granary.
…………………………
Lu Xiangsheng was in the fortress, listening to the explosions outside.
He immediately sent personal soldiers to go outside to understand the situation.
The soldier soon came back with red eyes.
"Master Lu, the thieves in yellow have ended their attack.
The scene in the city is very miserable, and many brothers are dead."
Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting came out of the fortress when they heard that the attack of the thieves in yellow was over.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and gunpowder.
They heard the wails of soldiers not far away.
Above the fortress that Sun Chuanting was looking at, a large crater was blown by a bomb.
He said with lingering fear: "If the fortress hadn't been built by the rebel Li Zicheng, it would have been able to withstand the powerful shells of the thieves in yellow.
We may not be able to survive this time. Once two of us are killed, the Ming army in Mengjin County will be leaderless, and we don’t know what these people will do.”
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the miserable scene outside and said with emotion: "No wonder Jianmen Pass and Wuzhou City were lost so quickly after the hot air balloons were launched by the thieves in yellow.
The average city cannot withstand such a powerful offensive from the thieves in yellow.
The Tianxiong army who followed me on my expeditions everywhere had fear in their eyes."
Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng immediately sent their own soldiers to various parts of the city to maintain order and count the number of casualties.
When they heard the soldiers returning and reporting the casualties of each army, their faces became gloomy.
These are not numbers, these are living lives.
They did not kill the enemy on the battlefield, but were killed by long-range firearms like the thieves in yellow. They were extremely aggrieved when they died.
Sun Chuanting sighed and said: "The Guan Ning army that can be contacted has now killed more than 1,600 people and injured more than 3,600 people.
These are the units that can be contacted, but there are some units that cannot be contacted, and the casualties are not known at all."
Lu Xiangsheng said in a sad tone: "The Tianxiong Army is similar, with more than 1,500 people killed and more than 4,300 injured.
Now we can count the general troops and garrison troops in various places.
More than 3,500 people were killed and more than 9,000 were injured.
In one attack by the yellow-robed thieves, our army suffered 20,000 casualties.
If they come a few more times, we will definitely not be able to defend the city."
When Sun Chuanting heard the number of casualties, he also felt a huge sense of powerlessness.
He analyzed: "The powerful weapon of the yellow thief should not be a conventional weapon.
Otherwise they would use it immediately.
I feel that this kind of weapon called a hot air balloon has extremely high requirements for its use and strict weather requirements.
Otherwise, the thieves in yellow wouldn't have waited until the wind outside weakened before attacking us."
Lu Xiangsheng watched the west wind blowing through the bare treetops.
He agreed: "I hoped that the wind would weaken and the army would only have servants, so they would have a cotton coat to protect them from the cold.
Most soldiers only wore a few layers of clothing to fight outside, and many soldiers suffered frostbite.
Now I hope the wind is as strong as possible, frostbite is better than death."
He looked at the wind outside now, which was already stronger than when he left the fortress.
"The wind is beginning to strengthen gradually, and the hot air balloon of the thief in yellow should no longer be usable.
The rocket tactics I trained also achieved strong results.
We shot down more than fifty hot air balloons belonging to the yellow thieves.
After they landed, they detonated the explosives and took no prisoners.
This also proves that rockets are extremely effective. Once the attack by the thieves in yellow is over, I will ask the craftsmen to improve the rockets so that they can fly higher."
As soon as Lu Xiangsheng finished speaking, a soldier in the distance ran over with a frightened look on his face and shouted: "Master Lu, the hot air balloon of the thief in yellow is here again."
Lu Xiangsheng's expression changed and he ordered: "Let's enter the fortress quickly and inform the troops not to gather and evacuate.
It's best to hide in the places where people live. I found that thieves in yellow rarely attack people's places of residence."
The Ming army saw the hot air balloon of the thieves in yellow and flew over Mengjin City again.
Soldiers who have experienced bombing have learned to be wise.
They began to disperse, looking for a place to hide from the hot air balloon of the yellow thief.
These Ming troops had already discovered that where there were more people, thieves in yellow would throw bombs there.
Some clever Ming soldiers have discovered that hiding in people's houses will basically prevent them from being bombed.
The Ming army took cover and began to stare at the hot air balloon of the thieves in yellow over the city.
He prayed to the gods and Buddhas in the sky to protect him and prevent the thieves in yellow from throwing explosives at him.
However, they discovered that the thieves in yellow only bombed a few places this time, and the bombs they dropped were not explosives that would explode, but explosives that would catch fire.
The sharp-eyed Ming army general shouted in despair: "We are finished, the thieves in yellow blew up the granary."
He waited until the yellow thief's hot air balloon had flown away long enough for the area around the granary to be safe.
He immediately led his troops and began to rescue the fire in the granary.
There was a well near the granary, and they quickly scooped out a bucket of water.
The Ming army general carried the bucket of water and rushed towards it like a granary that was on fire.
When water was poured on the fire, he discovered that the contents of the fire were floating on the water and burning.
They used well water to extinguish the raging fire in the granary, but it was a drop in the bucket.
"No, the hot air balloon thief in yellow is here again."
All the Ming troops who were putting out the fire immediately fled in all directions.
They heard a huge explosion, and some curious Ming soldiers looked back.
The already burning granary was thrown another round of explosive bombs that could catch fire by thieves in yellow.
The granary was overwhelmed, the wall was blown to pieces, the grain was scattered everywhere, and it burned more violently.
They could all hear the popping sound of popcorn as the grain burned.
Lu Xiangsheng was inside the fortress, listening to the noise outside.
The sound insulation of the fortress is very good, but it can also be felt that the explosion sound outside is much weakened, and the yellow-clothed thieves' attack is not strong this time.
They waited anxiously, and time passed very slowly.
A general came over and said: "Master Lu, Master Sun, the sun has set and the yellow thief's hot air balloon has disappeared."
Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng walked out of the fortress again.
When they opened the heavy iron door, the first thing they felt was a strong smell of barbecue.
Then everyone realized, what is this smell?
Lu Xiangsheng's face turned pale. He had experienced bouts of discomfort in his body after being on the battlefield for a long time.
His masters squatted by the door of the fortress, vomiting constantly.
Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting walked out of the fortress.
In addition to the heavy smell of barbecue, there is also a smell of rice in the air.
Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting once again asked their soldiers to contact various places.
This time, except for the soldiers stationed at the granary, the casualties of other soldiers were very low.
But this attack by the thief in yellow made both of them feel extremely heavy.
Most of the granaries in the city were destroyed by thieves in yellow clothes.
The thieves in yellow used explosive bombs that could catch fire. After blowing up the granary, they directly ignited the grain stored in the granary.
Food is inherently flammable, and the thieves in yellow used special explosive bombs, which produced flames that even water could not extinguish.
When the soldiers saw the granary on fire, they tried their best to save the food, but most of the food was not saved.
Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting followed the strong smell to a nearby granary.
There is still fire inside the granary.
This granary contained tens of thousands of stones of grain, which was directly burned by the thieves in yellow.
A large part of the grain in the granary was harvested from various places by the rebel thief Li Zicheng.
The two of them were full of pessimism about whether they could hold Mengjin County.
Mengjin County has been surrounded by yellow-clad thieves, and no supplies have been brought in from the outside.
Most of the food stored in the city was burned, and the city will soon run out of food.
An army of 100,000 people without food cannot defeat 10,000 ordinary people.
Once food is cut off, Mengjin County cannot hold on.
