Seeing the muzzles of more than a hundred black guns pointed at him, Li Zicheng's expression changed instantly. He turned to ask Niu Jinxing beside him: "Prime Minister Niu, where are our artillery? Have they been transported to the city wall?"
Niu Jinxing's expression changed slightly, "No, because the artillery was too heavy, we left all the artillery outside the city."
As soon as he said this, Niu Jinxing saw Li Zicheng's face darken, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said: "But King Chuang, don't worry, there are a lot of artillery at the top of the city in Beijing. Let's first order the soldiers to push the artillery.
Just go up to the city wall and prepare for a counterattack."
Hearing what Niu Jinxing said, Li Zicheng's expression returned to normal, "Well, then please trouble the Prime Minister to make arrangements!"
Niu Jinxing secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried down to prepare. Just as he was preparing, at the Zhou army camp outside the city wall, the artillery battalion guerrilla Dong Guodama had already arrived in front of Pang Gang and said: "
I would like to inform the prince that the artillery camp has been prepared. Please let me know if you want to fire the cannon immediately!"
Looking at the dense crowds of people on the city wall, Pang Gang smiled faintly, waved his hand and said: "Don't worry, since we are here, what can we do if we don't say hello to the bandits? Dong Youyi, you first send someone to ask them, are they?
The war is to give us a sure word."
"yes!"
After getting Pang Gang's approval, Dong Guo saluted Pang Gang and then rode back to the artillery camp. After a while, a knight in black helmet and black armor rode his horse to the bottom of the city wall.
He stopped less than a hundred steps away from the city wall. For a time, the eyes of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the battlefield were fixed on him.
I saw this knight slowly riding his horse to a stop and shouting loudly to the city wall: "People on the city wall, listen, I solemnly advise the leader of the thieves, Li Zicheng, on the order of my prince. You and other thieves are causing harm to the people and are causing harm to all directions.
Now we are invading important areas of the capital. If we don't rein in the situation as soon as possible, you will regret it too late when our army attacks the city. Why don't you quickly open the city wall, dismount and surrender!"
This knight was born with a loud voice. In this era without electronic speakers, his voice could be described as "resounding in all directions." Everyone on the city wall, including Li Zicheng, could hear him clearly.
"How could you, Pang Gang, look down on King Gu so much?"
Li Zicheng, who turned pale with anger, shouted without thinking: "Archers, obey the order and shoot that daring madman to death!"
"Fire the arrow!"
"Swish swish..."
Following Li Zicheng's order, the archers on the city wall bent their bows and set arrows, and the arrowheads were shot down the city wall like rain. However, after he finished shouting, the knight seemed to have expected this result.
Yes, he had already kicked his horse and ran back. The flying arrows could only chase after him.
"It's too much to bully others. Pang Gang's kid is too much to bully others!"
Li Zicheng on the city wall was still holding the city bricks with his hand so hard that the veins on the back of his hand were protruding, and his teeth were clenching. He almost roared: "Niu Jinxing, are your artillery ready?
If you're ready, let's fire!"
"King Chuang, don't worry, Prime Minister Niu is still preparing." Someone on the side tried to dissuade him.
Looking at Li Zicheng who was furious at the side, Li Yan was silent. At this moment, he was very disappointed with Li Zicheng. Compared with two years ago, Li Zicheng at this time was like a firecracker. In the past, he could share the joys and sorrows with his brothers.
, the conceited King Chuang has disappeared, replaced by a man filled with arrogance and arrogance.
At this moment, Li Yan was very confused. He didn't know whether it was the right choice for him to work hard for several years to assist this rebel leader who was born as a postman. Judging from the situation in front of him, this scene was very similar to what happened to Ming Dynasty a few days ago. Likewise,
He was surrounded by people, and he was also ordered to leave the city and open the door to surrender. How ironic this scene seemed to him now.
Just as Li Yan's heart was surging, a thunderous sound had already sounded outside. When Li Yan raised his head and looked outside the city wall, Dong Guo was furious when he saw the arrowheads shot down from the city wall.
Come and immediately order the gunner to fire.
As the order was issued, the artillery set up five hundred steps outside the city had sprayed out orange-red flames, and the black projectiles pierced the air and flew towards the city head with a sharp whistling sound.
"Boom boom boom..."
Since it was the first round of test firing, the landing points of these artillery shells were not very accurate. Many projectiles landed in front of and behind the city wall. But there were also more than a dozen projectiles that landed on the city wall. Soon, there were bursts of thunder.
A loud explosion sounded on the city wall. After the projectile exploded, the shells, which were only a few millimeters thick, flew around due to the kinetic energy of the gunpowder explosion.
Projectiles flying everywhere were flying among the densely packed soldiers on the city wall. Many soldiers of the Dashun Army screamed and fell to the ground. The city wall was in a mess. The number of Dashun troops who entered the city yesterday was 160,000. Due to sufficient manpower,
, at this moment, the city walls were filled with dense soldiers. Because there were so many people standing on the city walls, a single cannonball falling would kill more than ten or even dozens of people.
Although the city wall was blown up to pieces, at the artillery camp position more than 500 steps away from the city wall, Dong Guo was still not satisfied with the effect of the first round of shelling. The previous round of shelling had hit a
More than a hundred explosive shells were fired, but only more than 20 landed at the top of the city. The hit rate was too low. In view of this, Dong Guo ordered the gunners to readjust the shooting angle.
After a cup of tea, the artillery battalion, which had readjusted its shooting angle, began to roar again. This time, the accuracy of the artillery fire was much better than that of the first round. Nearly half of the more than one hundred projectiles landed.
On the city wall.
As the projectiles continued to explode, the flames and air waves of the explosion kept devouring the lives of the soldiers on the city wall. In less than half a meal, thousands of soldiers were killed.
"Why is it early?"
Li Zicheng, who was stunned by the bombing, looked at the violent explosions that kept ringing around him. Being protected by more than a dozen guards, he felt panic and anxious. He turned around and yelled: "Where is Niu Jinxing? Where is the artillery he mentioned? Why still?"
If he doesn’t come, you should quickly send someone to tell him. If I don’t give him two more cups of tea, if he doesn’t bring the cannon, I will chop off his head!”
Li Zicheng, who had served in the military for half his life, was not an ignorant country bumpkin. Having fought with the Ming army for more than ten years, he was naturally very familiar with artillery. It was not like he had never fought against Pang Gang's soldiers and horses in the past two years.
In the Battle of Luoyang, his army of more than 100,000 was dispersed by Pang Gang in this way. In the past two years, he has been in constant friction with the Zhou army under Pang Gang on the border of Hubei.
But this was the first time he stood on the city wall and faced such a large-scale artillery bombardment in person. Just then, a shell landed less than ten steps away from him. It blew up more than a dozen of his guards into bloody pieces.
It also aroused his anger even more.
Seeing that artillery shells continued to fall on the city walls, the dense crowd was not only useless for defending the city, but could only increase their casualties. In desperation, Li Zicheng had no choice but to order some soldiers to go down the city wall first and wait until the opponent began to attack the city.
Climb the city wall to defend yourself from the enemy.
The attack lasted for a meal. Almost every cannon under the city fired dozens of explosive shells. Although the quality of Pang Gang's artillery was very good. However, due to the heat of the barrel, the rumbling sound of the artillery slowly slowed down.
stopped.
When the sound of the cannons completely stopped, after another cup of tea, the dust and black smoke on the top of the city were slowly blown away by the majestic wind, and the scene on the top of the city slowly appeared in front of everyone.
The originally neat and majestic city wall was now like a piece of cake that had been bitten by rats. It was now full of pits, bloodstains, and broken walls. No less than 2,000 soldiers were killed by explosive bombs, and many more soldiers were injured.
Soldiers with missing arms and legs were lying on the ground in a mess, wailing loudly. Some of them begged their companions to save him. Others begged their companions to give them a good time. For a while, the sound of howling ghosts and wolves was heard everywhere on the city wall.
Seeing that his soldiers were dead and wounded around him, Li Zicheng took out the sword from his waist and was about to order someone to arrest Niu Jinxing, who had just been responsible for mobilizing artillery to counterattack, for questioning. Then he saw Niu Jinxing running over with a pale face.
He cried and said to Li Zicheng: "King Chuang, I just went over and took a look. Although there were a lot of artillery in the warehouse under the city, there was no gunpowder. Later, I asked the soldiers who surrendered and found out that all the gunpowder in the warehouse was used by the defenders.
The officer stole it and sold it!"
"What!"
Li Zicheng felt his eyes blurred. His feet went weak and he was about to fall. Fortunately, the guards around him held him up. Li Zicheng pointed at Niu Jinxing and shouted angrily: "You idiot, why didn't you take ours when you entered the city yesterday?"
Pull the artillery in. Even if the artillery is not pulled in, it is still good to pull the gunpowder in. You... you are so angry!"
Li Zicheng became more and more angry as he spoke, and then he stretched out his right foot and kicked Niu Jinxing upside down. Looking at Niu Jinxing who fell to the ground, no one came forward to intercede. They could see from this incident that although they usually
Niu Jinxing was eloquent, but he would slip up at critical moments, and because of his negligence, the artillery that Li Yan spent more than a year to forge was left outside the city in vain and was seized by the Zhou army. This crime
Even looking at his head is not an exaggeration.
Looking at Li Zicheng with a murderous look on his face, Niu Jinxing fell to the ground and became anxious. He knew very well that if he couldn't immediately think of a way to defend himself against the enemy, Li Zicheng, who was already red-eyed, would really dare to kill people. Thinking of this,
Niu Jinxing quickly got up and said loudly: "King Chuang, since our artillery has been lost, if we continue to stay at the top of the city, we can only wait to be bombed, which is the only way to die. Why don't we order all our troops and horses to go out of the city and fight with them?"
In the decisive battle with Pang Gang, there may be a chance to turn defeat into victory!"
"You're talking nonsense!"
A loud shout came from behind Niu Jinxing. Everyone turned around and saw that it was Li Yan and Song Xiance who had been hiding in the corner of the city wall to avoid the projectiles. They hurried over and saw Li Yan pointing at Niu Jinxing's nose and shouting: "
Prime Minister Niu, are you crazy? The morale of our army is low now. Going out to the city to fight the enemy is not a decisive battle, it is to die!"
As soon as Li Yan got up from the ruins, he heard that Niu Jinxing was advocating to Li Zicheng to attack the Zhou army who took the initiative to open the city gate and go outside the city in order to save his life. Wasn't this because he didn't think he died fast enough or something? Didn't he understand that?
Is Pang Gang famous for his firearms? It would be okay if our side is in a wide area, but if all the army comes out of the narrow city gate to fight the enemy, the local government only needs to aim the muzzle and artillery fire at the city gate, and how much will it do to ourselves?
Not enough people can die.
"What do you know!" It was about his own life, and Niu Jinxing couldn't care so much. He pushed Li Yan's finger away and retorted loudly: "Li Yan, don't pretend to be in trouble here.
Zhuge Liang, I know, you are just jealous that I have become the prime minister, and you won’t be willing to do it until I get rid of you, right? Don’t think that this prime minister doesn’t know about the good things you have done. You secretly sent several groups of spies to the south a few days ago.
Sentence, it stands to reason that you should have known about Pang Gang's dispatch of troops, but you didn't report a single word to King Chuang, so what crime should you deserve?"
"You...you are talking nonsense!"
Li Yan didn't expect Niu Jinxing to be so shameless. In order to survive, he even beat himself up. He didn't care about the friendship between the two for many years and said such vicious words.
Sure enough, all the surrounding generals, including Li Zicheng, looked at him. Li Zicheng frowned and said, "Master Li, is what Prime Minister Niu just said true? Have you ever sent a sentinel to the south?"
Li Yan was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and said: "Report to King Chuang. The students did send sentinels to the south, but these sentries either disappeared or did not find out any information, so they did not report it to you."
"snort!"
Li Zicheng snorted coldly and then said angrily: "Since you knew that our scouting post was missing, why didn't you report it to Yu Gu as soon as possible? Is it possible that you deliberately concealed the enemy's information and did not report it?"
Li Zicheng's words were like a thunderbolt hitting Li Yan's heart. Ever since he joined Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng had never spoken to him in such a tone. Although Li Zicheng was very dissatisfied with him during this period, he still spoke with a clear tone.
He was not as rude as he was today. Now that he said these words, it was obvious that his dissatisfaction with Li Yan had reached the extreme.
"Hehehe..."
After listening to Li Zicheng's words, Li Yan laughed angrily and said: "King Chuang. I didn't expect that the student has worked hard for you for several years, but in the end he ended up like this? Is this the kind of person the student is in your heart?"
"you........"
Li Zicheng couldn't help but be speechless. At the same time, every detail of Li Yan's surrender to him emerged in his mind. From proposing that he enter Hubei, move to Shaanxi, develop his foundation, and then establish the Dashun regime, everything was like a revolving lantern.
He quickly filtered it in his mind.
"Is Mr. Li really unaware of this?"
Li Zicheng hesitated for a moment. Seeing Li Zicheng's expression, Niu Jinxing beside him became anxious. He knew that he had already broken up with Li Yan today. If he couldn't move it down, even if he could escape death today, he would be in trouble in the future.
There is no good fruit of his own to eat.
Thinking of this, Niu Jinxing became worried, pointed at Li Yan and shouted sternly: "Li Yan, don't try to deceive King Chuang with lies. You sent so many sentries, even if the whole army is wiped out, with your Master Li's
Wouldn't Zhimo know that there must be something going on? Even if you didn't know, wouldn't you report it to King Chuang? And you concealed military information and didn't report it to King Chuang. What crime should you be guilty of!"
"Um!"
After hearing what Niu Jinxing said, Li Zicheng's eyes couldn't help but condense. He felt that Niu Jinxing's words were very reasonable. He turned around and asked in a deep voice: "Master Li, what else do you have to say?"
Looking at Niu Jinxing, Li Yan only felt that the face of his former friend was so ugly. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth and said helplessly to Li Zicheng: "The student has nothing to say."
"Okay, since you still have nothing to say, don't blame Gu Wuqing, here comes someone!" Li Zicheng was about to call someone, but saw all the generals around him kneeling on the ground, and even Song Xiance also bowed.
He said: "King Chuang atones for his sins. Mr. Li is very loyal to you. Although Mr. Li did not report the incident to you, there is a reason for it. At that time, we were busy conquering Beijing, and Mr. Li was very busy all day.
After all, how can you have time to pay attention to a few sentinels? Just spare him this time!"
"Yes, King Chuang." Liu Zongmin on the side also said: "Although I am a rough man, Old Liu, I still have trust in Mr. Li's character. Hasn't he done enough for our rebels in these years? This is not the case.
We can’t all rely on Mr. Li, please ask King Chuang to spare Mr. Li’s life out of past kindness!”
"Please have mercy on King Chuang!"
More than a dozen generals around him also began to plead for mercy.
Looking at the generals kneeling on the ground, Li Zicheng took a deep breath, his eyes changed rapidly a few times, and then he said slowly: "Brothers, please get up. You have all misunderstood what I meant. I didn't say that I wanted to
Mr. Li's fate is to be spared even if he is punished by death. Li Yan, from now on, you will be dismissed from your post as military advisor, but the Henan camp will still be under your command. Are you convinced?"
With tears in his eyes, Li Yan slowly bowed down and said in a trembling voice: "Li Yan thanked King Chuang for not killing him."
After Li Yan finished speaking, he slowly stepped aside, closed his mouth and stopped talking.
After Li Zicheng dealt with Wan Liyan, he turned to look at Niu Jinxing angrily and shouted: "Niu Jinxing, due to your negligence, I will exempt you from the responsibility of prime minister, but in view of your past achievements, I will allow you to temporarily act as military advisor."
What do you think of this position?"
Niu Jinxing trembled and quickly bowed down: "Niu Jinxing thanks King Chuang for his great kindness!"
Seeing Chuang Wang's treatment, everyone's hearts were stirred up. Li Zicheng's treatment seemed very fair. Li Yan was removed from the post of military advisor, and Niu Jinxing was also removed from the post of prime minister. However,
If you think about it carefully, it's not the case. After Li Yan was dismissed from the post of military advisor, he could only lead his battalion of soldiers honestly. He did not have the power to directly contact Li Zicheng and make suggestions. In other words, he had already
He was excluded from the highest power circle by Li Zicheng. Although Niu Jinxing was nominally removed from the post of prime minister, he could still stay by Li Zicheng's side. It was clear to everyone whether this punishment was more serious or less serious!
{PiaoTian Literature www.PiaoTian.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our biggest motivation}