The huge sound of cannons almost shook Pizhou City to the ground, and seemed to tear the entire city apart in the blink of an eye. The troops prostrate themselves under the female wall, not daring to raise their heads.
The relatively dry Huaibei region has not yet snowed yet, but the temperature is extremely suitable for Manchus.
Luck Dehun stood at a high place, staring at Pizhou City intently.
However, after two consecutive days of bombing, the expected collapse has not yet occurred.
Luck Dehun witnessed with his own eyes that the cannonball, which was as big as his head, hit the city wall blankly, leaving only a shallow crater, and its power seemed to be reduced by several percent.
This is wrong, very wrong.
"Master, Prince Zheng sent someone to ask, when will the city be captured?"
"Tell Prince Zheng that Pizhou City is very evil!"
Luckard squinted his eyes, wore armor, and walked away in a hurry: "I'll tell you in person!"
With the help of his slaves, he mounted his horse and came to the camp.
"Why, Baylor captured Pizhou City?"
Hauge couldn't help but mocked.
"Commander, there is something strange in Pizhou City!"
Luck Dehun's young face was flushed, but he looked directly at Prince Zheng:
"Pizhou City is built in a strange shape, but it seems to have a special effect on the red artillery."
"What's the effect?" Jierhalang's face looked suspicious. He was a little suspicious that this was an excuse.
"Like a normal city wall, after the red artillery hits, it will make a big hole, but this is not the case in Pizhou City, leaving only a very shallow mark."
Ignoring the strange expressions on everyone's face, Luckdhun gritted his teeth and said, "It seems, it seems that this city wall was specially built for artillery."
"Absurd!" Haug couldn't bear it anymore and refuted directly: "How can there be a city wall in the world that can cope with the red artillery? The power of the artillery is unrivaled in the world."
"Yes, Jinzhou City has been taken, what is the small town of Pizhou..."
"No matter how tough the Grand Bastion is, it still falls into the city..."
Other nobles of the Eight Banners couldn't help but talk.
This made Luckard's forehead full of veins, and he suppressed his anger forcefully.
Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and other Han generals lowered their heads and did not dare to laugh.
Wu Sangui's face was solemn, and he was a little in disbelief.
The strange-shaped Pizhou City is really suspicious. How can there be an invincible magic weapon in this world?
However, the reason why the Manchus were able to rise was that they paid more attention to technology than the Han people.
As the Manchu Qing's support, the red cannon can be said to be a top priority.
If there is such a thing as restraint, wouldn’t it be digging at the root?
At this time, Jierhalang could no longer bear it and stood up directly:
"Come on, let's see with our own eyes!"
Hauge and other Eight Banners generals were also choked and had no choice but to leave.
Climbing to the high ground, Pizhou City comes into view.
The angular Pizhou City is different from other cities. When I first saw it, I just thought that the defender could handle the matter and not defend the city.
If you take a closer look, you will see that the edges and corners are angles to each other, and the wide plane in front forms a narrow triangle shape.
No matter where the attack comes from, the attacking party will be attacked from both sides.
That's all, but under the roaring red artillery, these edges and corners look very stubborn.
"this--"
But under Jilharang's gaze, one of his own artillery shells actually delayed a little while concentrating on the city wall, and then hit again after being deflected a little.
Only fixed potholes are left.
Some cannonballs even slid upwards, dragged several feet and fell.
"Not only is the shape strange, but the bricks and stones used to build the city wall are also weird."
Jirhalang squinted his eyes, took out the monocular telescope presented by the missionaries, and observed slowly.
After a long time, he said in a deep voice: "On the surface of the city wall, many places are not bricks and stones, but rammed earth, which is extremely strong."
"The walls are even sloped, so the shells can easily slide away."
"What?" Hauge was surprised and confused: "When will Mingren know such a thing?"
The other Eight Banners generals were also a little panicked.
The Manchu and Qing Dynasties relied on cavalry and archery for field battles, while artillery was used for sieges. Less than half of it would not be enough.
"Why are you panicking?" Jierhalang's face was gloomy and he said in a deep voice: "No matter how strong the city is, pits will be formed under the artillery fire. It can only last for a day or two at most."
These words finally allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
Luck Dehun also echoed: "Other cities can hold on for two days, but this city can hold on for four days at most, and it will also collapse."
Wu Sangui and other Han generals calmed down and pretended not to hear anything.
However, there was still a trace of worry in Jierhalang's eyes, and he passed the news to Beijing.
Under bombardment day and night by dozens of red artillery pieces, on the fifth day, Pizhou City, which was maintained in every possible way, was already on the verge of danger.
Zhao Guangyuan had no choice but to lead his soldiers and horses to escape into the boat at night, and fled along the Yellow River to Suqian.
As for the remaining grain, all was burned.
The one who is in charge here is Baiwang's Mingwang Camp.
Zhao Guangyuan's soldiers and horses were gathered together, and Suqian City broke through 20,000 soldiers.
"It's only been less than five days, why are you here?"
Bai Wang shouted in a rough voice, with dissatisfaction written on his face.
"It's not bad that I can escape!"
Zhao Guangyuan said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, the Yellow River and the Canal are two-way, otherwise I would have explained it long ago."
Why did he care so much? He sat down and drank three cups of tea before he recovered: "Dozens of red-coated artillery bombardments continued day and night. Pizhou City has only been built for a few months. It is considered good to last for five days."
.”
Hearing this, Bai Wang's face turned ugly: "I haven't built Suqian City for a few more days."
Instead, he kept pacing: "You still have the Yellow River to slip through, but I can only run east, to Shuyang."
"What are you afraid of? I'll run with you."
Zhao Guangyuan didn't take it seriously, but worry appeared on his face: "Looking at it from this point of view, I'm afraid the strategy decided by the imperial court will not be delayed for more than a few days."
"Who says it's not?"
Bai Wang sighed: "Continuous defeats will easily lower morale."
"However, fortunately there are Yangtze River naval forces, and the Manchus and Qing Dynasties cannot cross the Yangtze River."
The next day, the vanguard of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties took a boat and marched towards Suqian City.
It's still the old routine, setting up cannons and filling in the moat at the same time.
On the fourth day, the city wall collapsed.
Who knows, there is something else going on in the city.
The alleys turned into traps. The Ming army dropped gunpowder from time to time and carried out sneak attacks. It took two days to completely occupy Suqian City.
The loss of troops and horses exceeded three thousand.
The men were extremely angry and wanted to massacre the city, but the result was nothing but a few mice.
Wanted to give chase, but Luck Dehun stopped him:
"The Ming army had 20,000 to 30,000 men. If they sent too few, they would fall into siege. If they sent too many, they would fall into the trap of dividing the troops."
He just sent people to occupy the city, and the result was as expected.
The city was deserted, not even a single citizen was left, and the heavy supplies of food and grass were burned to ashes.
What made him grit his teeth even more was that there was not a single village or market town within a hundred miles of the canal, so it was already empty talk to just feed the enemy.
"So ruthless, such a good method!"
Luckede gritted his teeth and became more and more angry.
However, deep down inside I was extremely worried.
If all the cities along the canal were like this, they would suffer heavy losses.