Chapter 94 Bombardment of Xiangyang

For the battle of Zaoyang, it can be said to be lackluster. Although Zhang Yingyuan, the general of the army led by Yang Sichang, is also a relatively able to fight, who is it? At the beginning, Zhang Yingyuan defeated Zhang Xianzhong and forced to defeat many righteous troops, but this does not mean that he is Luo Li's opponent. .

And the Ming army in the south can be said to be much worse than the officers and soldiers in the north. At least the Guanning army in the north has more or less done a few moves with Jiannu, but the officers and soldiers in the south are at most fighting and killing with the rebels. Although their organizational ability is stronger than that of ordinary rebels, they can win a few battles. However, it is really not too strong. As long as you slack off a little, you will be surrounded and beaten by a large number of volunteers, so you will be defeated by the mud-legged peasant army from time to time. Therefore, the overall combat effectiveness of the southern officers can be said to be weak.

As their opponent is the Xingtian Army, which has been defeated by the officers and even the Tarot soldiers. Although the number of officers under Yang Sichang is more than double that of Luo Li's headquarters, it is not the opponent of the Xing Tianjun under Luo Li's command at all.

After Luo Li led his troops to Zaoyang, Zhang Yingyuan also tried his best to lead his troops to fight. However, all the officers and soldiers under his command, in front of Xing Tianjun, could be said to be defeated at a touch, and had no power to fight back at all. In addition to shooting a few cannons at the beginning and injuring a small number of Xingtian army, he faced the fire of Xing Tianjun. Shoot, they basically didn't hold on for an hour, and then began to collapse.

Originally, there was also a way of the officer army led by Zhang Ling, who was ordered to attack the flanks of the Xingtian Army. However, before they could kill the flanks of the Xingtian Army, the main force led by Zhang Yingyuan on the front had collapsed, so Zhang Ling was so scared that he turned around and ran away. He did not fight with the Xing Tianjun at all, so he led the soldiers and horses under his command. Run away with the state.

Zhang Yingyuan had tried to save the defeat and collect the soldiers and horses to fight again, but when he saw that Zhang Ling's troops fled, the officers and soldiers who had already collapsed were even more panicked. No one had the heart to fight again. Zhang Yingyuan was angry that he killed several fugitive generals in a row, but he still could not recover the decline. Seeing that Xing Tianjun waved his division to cover up. Zhang Yingyuan had no choice but to protect Yang Sichang and fled to Suizhou.

Luo Li is unreasonable. Although Yang Sichang, who killed him, was defeated and fled, he was not willing to give up. In addition to leaving some troops to keep an eye on Zaoyang City, the rest of the troops waved and covered up. The officers and soldiers who killed directly fell into the water, captured countless weapons, tents, weights and grain. They have been chasing and killed for a day, which can be regarded as a collection. The soldiers returned to Zaoyang City.

Poor Yang Sichang can't read any curse when he meets Xing Tianjun. This time, he completely understands the horror of Xing Tianjun. At the same time, he also thoroughly understands the weakness and incompetence of the officers and army. In the face of such opponents, he also understands the helplessness and pain of those former colleagues who were enemies of Xing Tianjun.

In order to escape for his life, he was already very ill, and even the cart had to be left behind. He was put on the horse by the bodyguards and tied him to the saddle with a rope. Then he desperately rescued him from the battlefield and sent it to Suizhou City.

After arriving in Suizhou City, Yang Sichang was put on the horse and couldn't even stand, even if he couldn't stand in Suizhou City.

After Luo Li defeated Yang Sichang's troops, he refused to let him go. Originally, he didn't bring many artillery, but he captured some artillery from the officers and soldiers under Yang Sichang's command, so he simply acted at the opportunity and set up these captured cannons in Zaoyang City and aimed at Zaoyang City. Head, threaten that if Zaoyang does not surrender, then he will bombard Zaoyang City. After opening Zaoyang City, he will definitely kill the officials and defenders in Zaoyang City!

As a result, the Zhixian and defenders in Zaoyang City saw the prestige of Xing Tianjun and saw the end of a large number of officers and soldiers led by Yang Sichang. How dare they fight with Luo Li? So immediately Zhixian was so scared that he peed his crotch and ignored the order to open the city. Although some people in the city blocked the surrender, the limited officers and soldiers in the city did not do it. They immediately suppressed those who tried to stop the surrender and opened the gate of Zaoyang City.

In this battle, Luo Li gave full play to the tactics of Xing Tianjun. Several battalions of Xing Tianjun staggered to cover the officer's defense line and shot in unison like a shower, so that the officers and soldiers had no power to fight back at all, which completely showed the horror of the Xing Tian Army.

In fact, this can't be all because the officers and soldiers are too weak. After all, whether in terms of tactics, equipment, or even tactical thinking, the Xingtian Army has surpassed at least one generation of all kinds of troops in the world. The Xingtian Army's phalanx has been used in this year. It can be said that all the generals have been transformed and are completely armed with the ideas of the old army. The officers and soldiers who came could not be their opponents at all. What's more, Xing Tianjun's morale was extremely high, and his military discipline was also very strict, and he was not afraid of death. If he met those who were afraid of death desperately, if the officers and soldiers could win, it would really be a ghost.

Therefore, Luo Licai perfectly staged a great defeat to Yang Sichang in Zaoyang, and also added Zaoyang to Xing Tianjun's pocket.

At the same time, the battle between Xiangyang and the bank of the Tang River also started at the same time. The arranged Xingtian Army heavy artillery team fired the first shot to attack Xiangyang on the southwest hillside of Xiangyang City. Then dozens of heavy guns roared like a mountain and smashed the cannonballs like hail to Xiangyang City.

In order to defeat the resistance will of the defenders in Xiangyang City, these heavy guns did not all aim at the city wall. From time to time, they would shoot at several important targets in the city from a distance. After the shells fell in the city, they immediately knocked down the houses in many places in the city, and even the magistrate of Xiangyang Prefecture. After receiving two bullets, a corner of the lobby was bombarded. As for the largest architectural complex in Xiangyang City, the Xiangwang Mansion in the southeast corner of Xiangyang City. Several heavy guns of the Xing Tianjun focused on there. The shells bombarded a partial hall of the Xiangwang Mansion on the spot, and a concubine of the King Xiang was also buried in the ruins on the spot and crushed to death alive. Under the beam, King Xiang escaped from the royal palace overnight, hid in an ordinary house, and jumped his feet and shouted for help.

Of course, as the key target of the shelling, it was the wall. Several Hongyi cannons laid by the defenders on the wall were destroyed not long after the beginning of the artillery battle, but their counterattack was pitifully dead. They just fired a few shots at the hillside, and the soldiers were driven off the wall by dense gunfire.

The condescending shelling of the Xingtian Army was undoubtedly a nightmare for the defenders. They dared not send people to climb the wall to defend it at all. They were afraid that they would force the officers and soldiers to be anxious and rebel in the city. Therefore, from the beginning of the shelling, the officers and soldiers in the southwest corner of the city wall escaped from the city wall, causing a large number of people concentrated in Xiangyang City. The engineers in the southwest corner were able to transport all kinds of materials to the river outside Xiangyang City, and used these wooden boats, wooden boards and other objects to build a pontoon bridge on the city river.

As fierce as a tiger, he sent people to try to burn these pontoon bridges. First, they fired with rockets, and then smashed them with fire oil tanks. Xing Tianjun made several efforts, and the pontoon bridges were burned. Finally, in desperation, Xing Tianjun used the local people who came to help the battle to carry earth bags and spread them on the pontoon bridge, and then to the surface of the bridge. Splashing water, in addition, a large number of firemen were sent to hunt and kill the officers and soldiers who rushed out of the city and tried to burn the pontoon bridge by the river, which built the pontoon bridge.

Generally speaking, although the officers and soldiers have completely lost their initiative in the field operations, they still have a certain ability to defend the city. Under the leadership of the general soldiers, the officers and soldiers in the city still exerted a certain amount of combat effectiveness, and to a certain extent, they still caused some trouble for the attacking Xingtian Army.

However, in the case that Xing Tianjun has a complete advantage of firepower, what fierce as a tiger and Liu Shijie can do is only create some trouble for Xing Tianjun, but they can't fundamentally curb the attack of Xing Tianjun. On the contrary, every time they fight back, they will kill and injure their soldiers, and finally force them to give up this. A counterattack prevented Xing Tianjun from setting up a pontoon bridge on the city and river.

Xiao Tianjian was really angry this time. The order to Huang Shengqiang was that as long as the city did not surrender for a day, the artillery would not cease fire for a day until the city wall collapsed or the defenders in the city collapsed.

Dozens of heavy guns of more than six pounds began to bombard day and night. The power of the six-pound and eight-pound guns was limited, but this time, several twelve-pound and twenty-pound Hongyi cannons brought by Xiao Tianjian from the Guanning Army exerted great power.

More than ten catties and twenty catties of shells roared and landed on the city wall. Each cannon seemed to have triggered a miniature earthquake. Large pieces of city bricks on the city wall will immediately be removed. Even a large pit will appear on the ramted earth wall exposed below. Under repeated blows, soon the wall southwest of the city seems to be removed. The clothes were bare, revealing the core of a large area of the rammed earthen wall. Under repeated bombardments by heavy artillery, the rammed earthen wall began to collapse in a large area.

The shelling lasted for five days, and Huang Shengqiang was also fierce. He broke several six-pound cannons and eight-pound cannons. Even a 24-pound heavy cannon was also fired. Many gunners were killed and injured on the spot. Fortunately, the artillery array was arranged separately, and the ammunition was also stored separately. Otherwise, the losses caused It may be bigger.

This is also the first time that Xing Tianjun has attacked the city with so many heavy artillery. Although Xiangyang City is strong enough, it can't withstand so many heavy cannons to repeatedly shell one point. On the fifth day, the city wall finally began to be built. There were a large number of cracks and even holes. Anyone knows that this wall I can't stand it anymore.

However, as fierce as a tiger still did not give up. When he saw that this section of the wall could not hold up, he cleared a number of private houses in the city, used the buildings of private houses, and the people in the city, and forced them to build another pass wall in the city, forming a rough inner urn city. Although it was in a hurry, it It still played a good defensive role. A large number of officers and soldiers were also transferred to the south corner of the city. Chen was stationed behind this temporary wall in the city, and he got a lot of fire oil, rockets and other things, arranged a large number of archers, and personally supervised the battle, waiting for the Xing Tian Army to burst into the city at any time after the collapse of the city. Medium.

(Chapter 5, is this update speed good, brothers? It's a pity that you may be very happy, but I'm about to die in the cold wind! Ha ha! No more nonsense, you have to continue to work, and there are two chapters of tasks!)