"These people are really desperate. They actually rushed forward with gunpowder bags tied all over their bodies! If dad hadn't been quick to knock him down with an arrow, not only would we have been seriously injured, but this courtyard wall would also have been opened by them.
A gap! The house cannot be defended!" Li Xingxiao said with lingering fear.
"No! Fortunately, dad shot the arrow in time!" His younger brother Li Xingjian also whispered.
"What are you two doing here! Take out your bow and arrow and shoot down!" At this time, their father Li Jiucheng squatted down behind them, reached out and patted their backs hard, and scolded: "Hurry up!
Meet the enemy!"
"Dad, the people under the wall are shooting arrows like crazy right now. If you show your head, you might be shot!" Li Xingjian said.
"Then we must shoot back with arrows! Otherwise, they will let the people with the gunpowder bags get close to the courtyard wall! Once the gunpowder bags blow a gap in the courtyard wall, we still want to defend the courtyard! We must shoot back with arrows!" Li Jiucheng shouted loudly
road.
At this time, their father and son were in the temporary residence of Prince An Zhu Ying, guarding the courtyard wall together with the palace guards and the accompanying guardsmen. The Chinese New Year was approaching in the past few days, and two-thirds of the people in the Suzhou Police Department had gone home to celebrate the New Year.
.Anyway, these days during the Chinese New Year are not the days when the curfew is lifted. There is not much pressure on public security. All they have to do is go back before the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival. So Li Jiuzheng and his family went back to the countryside to celebrate the New Year.
The judge in charge of the Suzhou Police Station today got Zhu Ying's order and hurriedly came back to find them. Although Li Jiucheng and his son were unwilling, they had no choice but to return to the city. But they had not walked a few steps into the city when they heard
The sound of firearms being used came from the direction of the police station, and not only from the police headquarters and the Midtown Police Station, but also from the other four sub-police stations. Chaos also began in the city.
Li Jiucheng took a moment to make a decision after hearing these sounds. He knew very well that the key to this incident was Zhu Ying's safety! As long as Zhu Ying was fine, they would not be guilty of much; but if Zhu Ying was
If something goes wrong, they will definitely be dealt with! It is frivolous to reduce one's position to serve the people, and it is possible for several chief officials to lose their heads! Therefore, Zhu Ying must not be captured and killed! With this idea, Li Jiucheng led the
The two sons and the two policemen who carried the message went to support the palace guards. On the way, he met several policemen and gathered them together. Seventeen or eight people rushed to Zhu Ying's residence. Just behind and behind them, the Dan family
The people came to attack, and they fought fiercely with the rebels.
"Dad." Li Xingjian called again. Seeing his father's expression, he could only risk his head and shoot arrows at the city. Everyone on the entire wall started shooting arrows under Li Jiuzheng's order.
Their arrows killed many rebels, but the rebels' arrows also killed several of them. "Damn, why are there no holes in this wall? Otherwise, we wouldn't have to stick our heads out to shoot arrows."
!" Li Xingjian muttered, he was also worried that he would die in the battle, but he still could only straighten the helmet made of unknown material on his head and continue to risk shooting arrows.
As everyone knows, the rebels below the city are also very worried and scared. Of course, they are not only worried about dying in battle, but also worried about the arrival of reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty. The capture of the city went relatively smoothly. Although the soldiers guarding the city gate were
Every citizen who entered the city was inspected very carefully, but they were only on guard against someone sneaking in to assassinate Zhu Ying. They never thought that someone would rebel openly, so the defense was very lax. The Dan family people suddenly surrounded everyone.
The city wall was taken down.
But they couldn't stop someone from escaping outside the city. These soldiers guarding the city wall knew much more about the city than the Dan family. After all, the Dan family had never planned to openly rebel before, and there were not enough manpower to allow more than 20 people to rebel.
Someone escaped. You know, there are only more than a hundred guards guarding the four walls tonight. No matter how slack the Suzhou Guards, who are closest to Suzhou City, are, there will always be a thousand people in the barracks, even if they are all drinking and playing cards.
It was almost the same when the clock was summoned. In addition to the time it took for the guards at the top of the city to run over, the time it took for them to rush over, and the time they could hold the top of the city, they only had half an hour at most to capture the mansion and capture Zhu Ying alive.
!
But now they have spent two quarters of an hour and still haven't been able to take down the mansion, so why not worry? "Damn it, they haven't been able to take down this wall yet! Where are the other two sides?" Dan Mo, who was personally commanding here, put down his hands.
Clairvoyant cursed in a low voice and asked about the progress of the other two parties.
"The same goes for the north and south. We only put a few people under surveillance on the west, and there will be no progress. And the people in the courtyard have no intention of escaping from the north." His brother Danqing said.
"It's not like Jiubian or Northwest where Mongolian bandits are often found here. How come this mansion is so solidly built that it still can't be conquered after such a long time!" Dan Mo said again.
"Not only is the courtyard well built, but also because the people inside are well guarded." Dan Qing added: "The people inside know that once the courtyard is breached and Zhu Ying is captured alive, even if we don't kill them, they will die in the future. How is that possible?
Not fully defending? And although the courtyard is very big, it is much smaller than the city. They can still defend it with a small number of people, and we don’t have many more people, so we won’t be able to get in for a while." Although Danqing felt worried in his heart.
I am very anxious, but my head is still clear enough to understand this point.
In fact, how could Dan Mo be the one who couldn't understand? It's just that he was too anxious now to care about anything. He was about to shout loudly and organize another charge to send the gunpowder package to the bottom of the courtyard wall, when he heard a slight sound coming from behind.
A delighted voice said: "The cannon is here!"
"The cannon has been brought!" Dan Mo also shouted in surprise. When he turned around, he saw several strong men pulling a car over. On the car was a cannon weighing several hundred kilograms.
"Brother, we finally found the cannon!" When the cannon was pulled to Dan Mo's side, the strong man at the head wiped his sweat and said to him: "The captured people at the top of the city searched for a long time, and finally found a cannon.
There are actually three other cannons hidden inside, but we could only find one cart at the moment, and we couldn’t even find the horse pulling the cart, so we had to pull it over.”
"It's good that the cannon is here!" Dan Mo said in surprise: "Quickly, put the cannon on the mount, aim it at the wall in front of you, and blast it away!"
"Brother, just watch it!" The strong man named Dan Zhi responded, and ordered his men to mount the cannon and start loading gunpowder again.
"Dad, they got the cannon and are about to fire. The courtyard wall can't be defended!" Li Xingxiao shouted.
"Yes, dad, they have artillery, we can't defend it no matter what!" Li Xingjian also said.
"Keep shooting, don't stop without orders!" Li Jiucheng shouted, turned around, jumped down from the furniture piled high on the wall, ran to Cao Ziyu and said: "Master Cao, the rebels have got it.
Cannon, the courtyard wall cannot be defended!"
"You have to keep it even if you can't!" Cao Ziyu shouted.
"But,……"
"Nothing! We must hold on! Everyone continues to shoot arrows! Whoever dares to take a step back, I will kill him for escaping from the battle!" Cao Ziyu said categorically. Didn't he know that the range of bows and arrows is only fifty steps, but artillery can't do it
No matter how old it is, there is always a range of seventy or eighty feet, which is less than three times the difference. Archery on the city top can't stop the cannonballs at all, and it seems inevitable that a part of the courtyard wall will be blown down.
But everyone must hold on. The Suzhou guards outside the city can arrive in less than half an hour at most. As long as they hold on for another half hour, His Highness can turn the corner. Even if some people are killed by cannons, even if everyone is wiped out,
We must continue to persevere!
"Put up all the door panels of the inner courtyard as well." He also ordered at the same time. If the outer courtyard cannot be defended, the walls of the inner courtyard must continue to be defended. Some door panels were removed just now, and now they have to be put back on.
After hearing Cao Ziyu's order conveyed by Li Jiucheng, the people on this wall could only continue to hold on. Everyone shot arrows towards the position of the artillery, as if they wanted to kill the gunner to prevent the cannon from firing. But their arrows did not fly.
It fell to the ground halfway and had no effect; on the contrary, because of these crazy arrows, the gunner's speed increased. Soon, the first shell was loaded, and with a "dong" sound, the shell
It flew out and hit the courtyard wall, making a big hole.
After that, the gunner fired shells continuously, hitting the courtyard wall continuously. Although they did not hit the same place, and they were not powerful enough to collapse the courtyard wall at once, but as the number of pits on the courtyard wall became more and more, it became more and more difficult.
It became more and more shaky. Finally, when another cannonball hit the wall, the courtyard wall collapsed, and it collapsed continuously by more than two feet.
Dan's family immediately burst into cheers, and many people rushed toward the gap with knives and guns.
…
…
"Get up!" Li Jiucheng pulled his two sons out from under the collapsed rubble. He took a closer look and saw that they were not seriously injured. He breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to them loudly.
"The rebels are coming soon!" Li Xingxiao also shouted, and he was about to take up his sword and gun to fight the rebels.
"You don't have to fight hand-to-hand with the rebels here. Retreat to the inner courtyard." Li Jiucheng said, "There are others who are fighting hand-to-hand with the rebels."
Li Xingxiao took a look and saw that dozens of people, led by a man wearing a third-grade military uniform, were running over to prepare for a hand-to-hand fight with the rebels. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Commander Zhu personally led his troops to stop the rebels."
You won’t be able to get in!”
"It's hard to say! Alas," Li Jiucheng smiled bitterly: "Commander Zhu must be leading elite soldiers, but they may not be the opponents of the rebels in such a fight." The people led by Zhu Hengshi are suitable for frontal combat, not in such a small area.
Local melee. Especially the enemy also has artillery. No one knows whether the rebels will rush over next or whether the rebels' artillery shells will fall from the sky. Even if these elite soldiers put up a tight formation, a few artillery shells can destroy it. However,
Li Jiucheng kept talking without stopping, and retreated to the inner courtyard with his two sons and those who were still alive.
But the fact was as he had guessed, the other three cannons were also brought in. Dan Mo ordered one cannon on each side of the north and south, leaving two on this side. He fired four more cannonballs before ordering the charge. The formation of Zhu Hengshi's elite soldiers was destroyed by the cannonballs.
The house was destroyed and soon fell into a melee. The Dan family also had several martial arts masters, and some even threw packets of gunpowder inside. Zhu Hengshi gradually couldn't hold on and retreated.
"I really should not have discussed with Cao Ziyu at that time and directly led the troops to fight the rebels on the street!" Zhu Hengshi said regretfully. He led all elite soldiers. The rebels did not have artillery at that time. They could fight one against ten on the wide street.
The thief would definitely be defeated. But Cao Ziyu disagreed and argued with him for a long time. The rebels surrounded them and they could not get out.
But now that the matter has come to this, Zhu Hengshi can only continue to persevere. He personally rushes to the front line and fights the rebels, and his soldiers also try their best to kill the rebels. But the people sent by Danmo to attack several other places are finally achieved.
After reaching the target, people were sent to support him one after another. There were more and more rebels, but Zhu Hengshi had fewer and fewer soldiers, and finally had to retreat to the inner courtyard.
Several rebels wanted to chase them in, but several pots of boiling water were poured down on the courtyard wall, immediately dousing these people. They immediately howled and rolled into a ball on the ground. Dan Mo knew this kind of burns.
They couldn't be saved, so they gave them a knife to relieve their pain, and then ordered people to attack the inner courtyard.
Attacking the inner courtyard is even more difficult. The people in the courtyard know that they have reached the most critical moment and must hold on. They shoot arrows wildly outside. Even if someone wants to climb the courtyard wall, they will fight back resolutely. The artillery on the Dan family's side cannot be controlled in the courtyard.
, but when firing cannonballs from outside, the inner courtyard wall could not be seen and the target was not accurate. In the end, they had to collapse a few feet of the outer courtyard wall and clean up the rubble and bricks before firing the cannonballs into the inner courtyard. At the same time, Dan Mo
He also did not forget the people on the other two walls of the courtyard. The north wall was the inner courtyard. He also ordered this side to continue bombarding the courtyard wall with artillery, and also called in the people on the south side to attack the inner courtyard.
Faced with the opponent's artillery and being beaten by himself, it was difficult to fight back. Zhu Hengshi found Cao Ziyu and said to him: "We can't continue fighting like this. If we continue fighting like this, our people will be beaten to death on the wall by the opponent, and we won't be able to kill a few rebels."
!”
"Then what do you think we should do?" Cao Ziyu was confused and asked.
"Put them into the inner courtyard! Fight with them! Although the Dan family has martial arts masters, there are not many people after all, and the tricks of the White Lotus Sect cannot be used. Our people are either highly skilled in martial arts or have experienced battles for a long time. All of them are against the enemy.
The thieves may not necessarily lose in a melee!" Zhu Hengshi said. This method does not necessarily guarantee defeat, but if he loses, there will be no way out, and he is forced to come up with this method.
"This," Cao Ziyu hesitated.
"Don't hesitate any more!" Zhu Hengshi shouted.
"But,..." Cao Ziyu was still hesitating, but then he suddenly heard a voice from behind: "Just do what Zhu Hengshi said!"
"Your Highness!" Cao Ziyu shouted.
"There is nothing to hesitate at this time!" Zhu Ying said again, instructing Zhu Hengshi to take over all command, and pulled Cao Ziyu aside and said: "Just listen to him! You have never fought in a war, so you can't compare with him. I
He should have been given full power from the beginning! It’s too late now!”
"Your Highness, I have no objection to giving Zhu Hengshi full power, but his method is too dangerous!" Cao Ziyu said.
"Even if it's dangerous, this is the only way we can survive until the Suzhou Guards arrive!"
"But, if it fails..."
"Don't think about what might happen! And even if it happens, I will never be a prisoner of the rebels!" Zhu Ying said.