When Hejian Prefecture was captured, outside the north gate of Baoding Prefecture, a large number of supplies and vehicles gradually arrived under the dim light of the waning moon.
The baggage vehicles arrived a full day and a half late, but arriving safely was a victory.
This means that the siege of Baoding Prefecture is about to begin.
In the early morning of the next day, Zhang Yanling personally inspected the condition of the Tiger Roar Cannon. There was no need to worry about damage to the gun body. It was mainly some small parts. He was worried about damage caused by long-distance transportation. However, the dozen or so repair craftsmen accompanying him all carried spare parts.
Once the parts are damaged, they will be replaced and repaired immediately.
Since this gun was successfully imitated only after the New Year, Zhang Yanling actually did not carry many new Tiger Roar cannons this time, only six. In addition, the three Folan cannons captured from the Folan machine and the ones previously sent
Zhang Yanling also asked for the three trophies given to the Ordnance Department. There were only twelve artillery pieces in total.
Among them, there are eight heavy-duty ones, two medium-duty ones and two light-duty ones each.
Speaking of the captured Fo Lang machine guns, when Zhang Yanling took people to transport them, these three guns were gathering dust in the warehouse. Zhang Yanling was very depressed. It seemed that no one in the imperial court paid attention to this kind of gun. The Ordnance Department also did not copy it at all.
Zhang Yanling was very depressed about the casting plan at the time, but later Zhang Yanling thought about it and realized that it might still be a matter of money.
Casting cannons is a waste of money. The six tiger howling cannons at Wild Dog Ridge cost a huge sum of nearly 30,000 taels of silver. Coupled with the consumption of shells and gunpowder, it is indeed a bottomless pit. If Zhang Yanling hadn't countered the rebellion in Ningxia and
Even if you make a fortune in Guangzhou, you may not be able to hold on.
Although Jishitang's business in selling medicines is very good, and sales of first-aid powder and cooling oil are very good, the arsenal's ability to burn money is absolutely unstoppable.
If it weren't for those two windfalls that filled his own pockets, Zhang Yanling would have been worried about money again.
The twelve cannons were all intact. Zhang Yanling felt relieved. After breakfast, he held a combat meeting to announce the upcoming attack on the city.
The generals were eager to try, but at the same time they were a little worried. With more than 10,000 soldiers and horses attacking a fortified city guarded by more than 30,000 enemy troops, this was probably a unique event. I don’t know why the Marquis had such confidence.
Zhang Yanling didn't do much planning, because he knew that there was actually no need for much planning when it came to attacking a city. It would be useless to attack the city gates but not reach the top of the city. There were many people on the other side, and they had enough manpower to defend them.
.If there are enough defensive materials, basically relying on manpower to rush forward is nonsense.
But Zhang Yanling had a big weapon, which were six Tiger Howling Cannons and six Folang Machine Cannons. Zhang Yanling didn't care about using the twenty-five general cannons, and those things were expensive for Zhang Yanling.
So Zhang Yanling gave everything to Jiang Bin, Xu Tai and others as a favor.
At six o'clock, trumpets and cannons were fired continuously, and war drums were blasted. In the official camp, the flag of General Zhang Yanling, who defeated the rebels, was raised, and a large number of soldiers and horses poured out of the camp and formed an array five hundred steps away from the city.
The defenders on the top of the city also responded immediately. Amid the sound of trumpets, a large number of defenders rushed onto the top of the city. Nearly 6,000 archers crowded the northern city wall.
Although there are all kinds of bows and arrows in hand, including homemade bows and arrows, captured standard crossbows, and some people holding javelins ready to throw. But so many long-range sniper weapons are enough to scare people away.
Not to mention anything else, just the power of resisting enemies from a distance can turn a siege into a brutal massacre.
Everyone in the city could see it clearly, and chills could not help but run down their spines.
Preparations for the siege were proceeding in an orderly manner. In the open space in front of the camp, a short distance from the city head, six Tiger Howling Cannons and six Folang Machine Cannons were nervously setting up their positions.
In order to ensure the accuracy of shooting, the artillery position needs to be leveled, the floating mud removed, and log piles several feet deep are driven. The gun base is then nailed into the log piles with iron drills to form a stabilizing effect like an expansion bolt. This
That's all. In addition, more than ten sandbags were placed on the base to hold it down.
Boxes of artillery shells were sorted and transported behind the artillery position. A thousand rounds of each of solid shells, shotgun shells and blooming shells were prepared. I was not afraid that there were not enough shells, but I was afraid that the artillery itself could not bear it.
At the same time, hundreds of engineers began to build fortifications with mud bags at a distance of 200 steps from the city.
The defenders at the top of the city stared at all this in stunned silence. They didn't know what the other side was trying to do? Didn't the other side want to attack the city? Why did they build fortifications under the city? A distance of two hundred steps was beyond the range of bows and arrows.
What's the point of the distance? They vaguely felt something was wrong, as if there was some conspiracy.
Zhao Sui frowned and stood behind the crenellations of the city tower observing all this. He was in a very bad mood. The scene at the city gate yesterday made Zhao Sui suffer a lot in his heart. For the sake of the overall situation, he had to endure the pain and look at Liu
Seven deaths were in front of him, which put him under tremendous psychological pressure.
Not only was he under psychological pressure, but the surrounding soldiers also looked at him differently. Liu Qi's last words had an effect on these people. Many of them believed in their hearts that they were the ones who refused to die.
Saved.
Most of the people in the rebel army followed Liu Liu, Liu Qi and Yang Hu. In particular, the leaders and generals were basically the team members of Wen'an County when they raised the army. Zhao Sui joined halfway. In the eyes of many people
, Marshal Fengtian and Deputy Marshal Liu Qi valued Zhao Sui so much and regarded him as a brother. But he refused to save him, which was an ungrateful betrayal.
Zhao Sui felt this atmosphere. He wanted to explain to them, but he swallowed his words again. If they understood their painstaking efforts, why would they need to explain themselves? They would understand their decision. If they didn't understand,
Overall, what's the use of explaining it to them?
Zhao Sui simply didn't think about these things and only focused all his energy on defending the city. Last night, he almost stayed up all night, personally supervising the troops and manpower to defend the city and materials, filling the city gate holes, reinforcing the city head fortifications, etc.
Moreover, Zhao Sui made various plans and preparations, and estimated all possible unexpected situations.
In Zhao Sui's opinion, unless the opponent grows wings and flies in, they will not be able to attack Baoding Mansion. No matter the manpower, materials or the strength of the defense, they are enough to block the opponent.
"Send the order! Fire with the crossbow. No matter what they want to do, the crossbow is within reach 200 steps away. By the way, the two captured cannons are also brought to the city and fired at them." Zhao Sui ordered.
.
Everyone took action immediately, and more than ten bed crossbows began to fire, with howling crossbow arrows shooting down. The soldiers who were carrying sandbags to build fortifications were quickly killed and killed more than ten people. Moreover, this bed crossbow was extremely powerful.
Once it hits a person, it can nail the person to the ground, giving people a huge visual impact.
However, the two cannons are not so easy to use. Not only are they not easy to use, but they also have loopholes.
The rebels were all improvised and didn't know how to fire a cannon. They finally figured it out. After firing a cannon, the cannonball drew a weird arc like a deflated ball and fell into the moat near the city wall.
After everyone gathered together, they estimated that the gunpowder was not strong enough, so they increased the amount of gunpowder. They fired again, but there was a loud bang, the barrel of the gun exploded, and more than a dozen rebel soldiers around were covered in blood and flesh, and they flew out and fell far away under the city.
This is really an enemy that I didn't kill, but I was killed all at once.
With this lesson learned, the other cannon no longer dared to fire. Only a dozen crossbows were left firing continuously. This thing is much easier to use than the Zhankou General Cannon. Firearms are just not easy to use. This is already
It became the consensus of the rebels.
Facing the crossbows fired at the top of the city, the officers and soldiers did not flinch. They quickly built a five-foot-thick mud fortification that reached shoulder height. They used this as a cover and extended to both sides.
The bed crossbow could no longer hit them. Although it splashed smoke and dust when it hit the mud bag, and the thick crossbow arrows were deeply embedded in the mud bag, it did no harm to the fortifications and people. The bed crossbow was still powerful.
It is not thick enough to penetrate four layers of mud bags.
The number of crossbow arrows in the Fangzi Crossbow was limited. Since it could not hit anyone and could not threaten the opponent, there was no need to fire. So Zhao Sui ordered to stop shooting. A strange calm returned to the city above and below.
Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of defenders at the top of the city, a 70-step-long mud-packed fortification wall was completed before their eyes.
Then, the mystery was revealed.
Zhao Yuancheng led one hundred and fifty gunners to run into the fortifications, began to unpack their backpacks, took out the polished birdguns, inspected them and loaded them. The fortifications were just right for standing up and placing the barrels of the guns on them.
Take aim on the mud bag. This fortification is prepared for gunners.
From the sound of the bugle, to the preparation of the formation, to the completion of the artillery position and the firing fortifications in front of the battle, the time has also passed from 6 o'clock to the afternoon. I have never seen any soldiers and horses prepare for such a long time before the battle, and they are as long as the defenders on the city.
It's all very annoying.
This group of people had so much free time to work on their own, and they didn't care about the mood of the defenders at the top of the city. They even wanted to shout: Are we going to attack again? Give them a quick word.
Zhao Sui was extremely calm. After observing the opponent's preparations in detail through the telescope, Zhao Sui's worries increased little by little. He was not new to the world. Those behind the fortifications were obviously holding
Firearms, although I have never seen a firearm that can shoot such a distance, but the opponent obviously will not do useless things.
Also, the artillery fire in front of the opponent's camp looks even more terrifying.
Because of the unknown, he felt scared. Zhao Sui decided that from now on, he would never be exposed to their sight. He would only command from the inside of the tower and never show his head.
Zhang Yanling was sitting at the gate of the camp drinking tea. He was not anxious at all. But he knew that once he attacked, many people would die here. The calm in front of him was the silence before death. He wanted to enjoy this peace more.
Death is not a pleasant thing. Besides, many people will die.