In the south of Ningxia City, in front of the Anhua Palace.
Zhang Yanling stood on the long street in front of the Anhua Palace with a pale face, looking at the fortress-like palace from a distance. Half of his arms were hung around his neck with gauze, and he looked a little tired.
Although the wound had stopped bleeding, it was very serious and he had lost a lot of blood. Originally, Zhang Yanling should have rested in bed immediately, but if the Anhua Palace was not taken down and Zhu Zhixiu was not taken, how could he feel at ease?
Zhang Yin came on horseback, dismounted quickly, came to Zhang Yanling and bowed his hands in salute.
"Report to the Marquis, the brothers are ready. We will launch an attack immediately. Please give me your instructions." Zhang Yin said in a deep voice.
Zhang Yanling nodded and said in a deep voice: "The palace has high walls and a lot of rebels defending it. How do you plan to attack?"
Zhang Yin said in a deep voice: "Zhu Zhixiu's kennel is indeed very well built. It is stronger than the Black Mountain Fort where Beizhi was originally stationed. With three layers of high walls and three layers of defense, there really is no good solution at the moment. Beizhi plans to use conventional The method of siege is to advance with shields, attack the wall with long ladders, and concentrate the troops to attack from the main entrance wall. I don’t think it will be too difficult.”
Zhang Yanling frowned and thought for a while, then said in a deep voice: "If we attack by force, it will not be difficult to break in, but the casualties may be quite large. Besides, there is a second wall to break into. If we all use the force attack method, we are afraid that A lot of brothers will be lost. I don’t want too many casualties.”
Zhang Yin said: "Master Hou, the general is incompetent. Apart from attacking by force, the general has no other way. We don't have the equipment to attack the city, so that's all we can do. Otherwise, we can only besiege but not attack. Think of something else. He's done it."
Zhang Yanling shook his head and said: "Besieging without attacking? Absolutely not possible. Time is very tight, and we must solve it as soon as possible. Zhu Zhixiu's posture is obviously to hold on and wait for help. The news that Ningxia City has been captured by us will soon spread. The nearby rebels will soon arrive for reinforcements. The soldiers and horses from Lingzhou North Ferry may also come for reinforcements. We must capture Zhu Zhixiu as soon as possible to quell all this as soon as possible. Otherwise, our troops and horses will be greatly restrained here. , we will no longer have the energy to deal with the enemies coming to rescue us from outside the city. Wouldn’t it be possible for them to cooperate inside and outside?"
Zhang Yin nodded and said, "What the Marquis said is true. But at present, it seems that the only way is to attack by force. Don't worry, Marquis. The general has collected a lot of door panels as shields and tied up a lot of ladders. I hope we can reduce casualties and succeed as soon as possible."
Zhang Yanling breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: "Then let's give it a try. In this way, let's feint attack first and test their defensive firepower. I don't want my brothers to be targets for others. If the opponent's defensive firepower is too strong, I will think of other ways. .”
Zhang Yin nodded in agreement, turned around and rode away.
After a cup of tea, the horn sounded and the Zhenwei Army began to attack.
Zhang Yin asked the soldiers of the Zhenwei Army to form an overall shield formation. They were divided into groups of five, with two people holding wooden doors in front as shields, and three people in the back holding ladders. Each group stood side by side, forming a shield for each other. Wooden shield phalanx.
Ten phalanxes composed of dozens of people lined up in a row and slowly approached the first outer wall of the palace.
Although Zhang Yanling was talking about a feint attack as a test, Zhang Yin's idea is that the feint attack can be turned into a formal attack. If the opponent's defense is not enough to stop the attack, hundreds of brothers from these ten square formations will be the first batch to attack the city. The Suicide Squad.
The phalanx advanced slowly. When they approached the wall seventy or eighty steps, the rebels on the wall began to block the attack. In just a short moment, it was like the floodgates of arrows were suddenly opened, and countless arrows flew wildly. The arrows poured down, the arrows were rapid, numerous and fierce, completely unexpected.
Each of the more than a thousand rebel soldiers had a bow and arrow, and they all turned into archers. Zhu Zhixiu's mansion contained a large amount of military supplies, and all of them had been distributed to the traitor soldiers.
The arrows on the wall were so violent that they hit the door panel with a loud sound like a torrential rain. The small door panel was filled with arrows in a short time, and they were densely packed like a giant brush.
The arrows shot from the city wall were actually powerful crossbows. The rebel soldiers on the arrow tower were equipped with powerful crossbows. The power of these crossbows was much greater than the arrows. The shots hit the door panel. , the soldiers holding the door panel could feel the strong vibration.
After all, the door panel is a door panel, not a real shield. The door panels are all made of wooden boards, and the thickness and strength of the wood are very limited. Seven or eight or even a dozen arrows may be fine, but dozens or hundreds of arrows are powerful. How can you hold on when arrows are fired continuously?
Soon, under the intensive bombardment of arrows and powerful crossbows, door panels continued to burst into pieces. Without the protection of the door panels, the soldiers at the rear were completely exposed to arrows and crossbows, and were immediately shot into hedgehogs.
The door panels kept bursting, and the number of casualties continued to rise. In less than thirty steps, there were seventy or eighty casualties. And as the distance progressed, crossbows on the opponent's city walls began to bombard them at fixed points. After several bed crossbows were added, the door panel and shield became even more vulnerable and shattered faster.
Zhang Yin was so angry that he yelled an attack with red eyes, completely forgetting Zhang Yanling's instructions to feign an attack. But soon, Zhao Yuancheng galloped over on horseback and conveyed Zhang Yanling's order to stop the attack.
Only then did Zhang Yin realize that he was on top, and quickly ordered his troops to retreat.
The feint attack lasted less than half an hour, but the Zhenwei Army had already killed more than fifty people and injured hundreds. Fortunately, some of the door panels were thick and full of arrows but were not broken, and the overall formation was kept intact. Withdraw calmly.
Zhang Yin went to see Zhang Yanling in shame, and Zhang Yanling was obviously a little angry.
"Brother Zhang, these are the family assets of the Zhenwei Battalion we brought from the capital. Brothers' lives are precious and cannot be squandered casually. Although there are bound to be casualties in war, you cannot be stupid enough to go and die. I said yes. It's a feint to test the firepower. The opponent's firepower is so fierce that they have to withdraw immediately. How can they attack from above?"
Zhang Yin quickly admitted his mistake.
Zhang Yanling didn't say anything more. He knew that Zhang Yin was actually holding back his anger. He came a little late last night and Zhang Yanling was seriously injured. Chen Shiyi complained about him for a long time, and he also blamed himself very much. At this moment He wanted to resolve the battle as quickly as possible and make up for his mistakes. But it was obvious that this impatience would not help.
The opponent's firepower was so fierce that it was actually beyond Zhang Yanling's expectation. Without siege equipment, a strong attack seemed unadvisable. It was not worth it to kill all his troops for Zhu Zhixiu. Zhang Yanling also We absolutely do not want to inflict huge casualties on our soldiers and horses when victory is already certain.
Zhang Yanling frowned and thought about countermeasures, and everyone around him also frowned and thought.
"Master Marquis, let's dig a tunnel and attack it." Feng Mazi shouted.
"There are more than a hundred steps outside the palace and there is open space. Are you digging a tunnel in front of them?" someone retorted.
"You can dig farther away. Dig all the way to the palace in the middle." Feng Mazi said.
"You can imagine it. How much time will it take? You may not be able to dig it in in ten days and a half. Didn't you hear what the Marquis said? The enemy's reinforcements will be coming soon, and we have to catch Zhu Chixiu as soon as possible."
Feng Mazi curled his lips and stopped talking.
From the high wall of the palace in the distance, a burst of cheers could be heard. The rebels at the top of the city were loudly cheering for their victory.
Chen Shiyi cursed angrily: "You bastards, let them be proud of themselves. After the attack, not a single one of these people will be left behind."
Zhang Yanling squinted at the triumphant rebel soldiers jumping out from behind the wall stacks on the wall. Suddenly his eyes lit up. His frown relaxed and a smile appeared on his lips.
"Yes, hahaha." Zhang Yanling slapped her hand, and the wound on her shoulder socket hurt sharply, and she immediately took a breath of cold air.
Everyone said in unison: "Master Marquis has it?"
Zhang Yanling cursed: "What are you talking about? What do I have? I'm not a woman. I just thought of a good idea. Zhang Yin, quickly organize people and do as I say."
An hour later, two huge wooden towers stood on the street. They were two square wooden towers four to five feet high, with a wooden platform about ten feet high above them. One side of the platform was made of two layers of logs. A sturdy fence was built with seven or eight square holes left.
In fact, the wooden tower is not exquisite at all, it can even be said to be ugly. It is just a wooden frame assembled from a pile of thick logs. But this is what the Marquis said, it does not need to be exquisite and beautiful, it only needs to be sturdy, 4 to 5 feet tall and can be Just push and move.
After the two wooden towers were built, Zhang Yanling ordered people to use horses to drag them more than a hundred steps in front of the Anhua Palace. Then they stopped there.
The troops on both sides looked at these two tall wooden towers, wondering what the purpose of spending more than an hour and hundreds of people building them was. Until Zhang Yanling ordered twenty gunners to board the platform at the top of the wooden towers. , only then did everyone in Zhenwei Camp understand the intention of the Marquis.
That's right, Zhang Yanling wanted to take advantage of the range of the cannon and the height advantage to carry out precise sniper attacks on the defenders on the wall.
The main reason is that the surrounding area of the palace is completely empty and there are no buildings. Zhu Zhixiu has obviously made a plan and refuses to allow any building within a stone's throw around the palace that can block the view or allow people to peek inside the palace. Therefore, Zhang Yanling cannot Do not build temporary high platforms.
And because we couldn't waste too much time, we could only build two. This took more than an hour.
Twenty gunners with accurate marksmanship climbed up to the top of the wooden tower and took their positions. The positions of the defenders on the palace wall were clearly visible. Unless they were lying under the crenellations and pressed against the wall, the tower with a height of four to five feet could completely dominate. I could clearly see their figures hiding behind the crenels.
What's funny is that the rebel defenders on the wall didn't know that their misfortune was coming. They all raised their heads and watched the enemies climbing up in the distance, as if they were just watching the fun.
"Aim! Shoot!" Zhao Yuancheng shouted the command, and the cannon began to roar.
The twenty defenders on the top of the city were shot and howled immediately. Although the distance was far away, the range of the cannon was sufficient. It could penetrate armor in 150 steps. This was no bragging.
After Xu Gao modified the material, the gun can be loaded with paper-packed bullets with a larger amount of powder, making it more powerful and more accurate.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Black smoke was sprayed from the shooting holes, and a dozen more defenders on the wall fell down. Only then did they react. It turned out that the people on the high tower were using them as targets.
For a moment, the wall felt like it was exploding. The rebel defenders hid under the crenellations to avoid becoming live targets.
Zhang Yanling laughed loudly, but the laughter quickly turned into a bitter smile because the wound on his shoulder did not allow him to laugh wildly.