Chapter Thirty-Three: Gunnery Shooting, Shield Soldiers Climbing the City
"Dong dong dong..."
The sound of war drums pushed the armored army of thousands of people forward slowly. No matter howling the cold wind, they could not shake their orderly array. Following the sound of drums, they gradually approached the city wall of Yanshi.
The west-slanting sun's rays shone on the rows of polished armor, reflecting dazzling light. The armored army marched in formation one by one and stopped about four hundred steps outside the south gate of Yanshi County to form a team.
Cui Shijie shouted loudly: "Everyone, please pay attention. After the long ladder is put up on the city wall, all gun soldiers aim at the city wall and shoot freely. All sword and shield soldiers are the first to climb the ladder and climb the city. The first to climb the city will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!"
"Tiger tiger tiger!"
All the sergeants shouted together again.
"The army marched slowly to within a hundred steps, then quickly advanced with ladders, rushed directly to the city wall, and built vertical ladders to build the wall!"
"Press, press..."
After receiving the military order, all the soldiers shouted slogans and slowly advanced to a hundred steps away from the city wall. Everyone shouted and rushed forward.
Zhang Cheng had been holding a telescope on the high platform at the back to observe the situation on the city wall. He saw bandits wearing turbans running back and forth on the city wall against the cold wind.
It can be seen that the bandits are not professional in the deployment of the city defense, and it is even more messy. However, it can also be clearly seen that the city walls are also piled with large logs, stones, bricks and other defensive equipment.
Suddenly, he saw black iron bumps one after another. Zhang Cheng was startled and hurriedly said to Zhang Chengfang beside him: "Quick, send the order, the army rushes to the city, be careful of bandit bombardment!"
After Zhang Chengfang received the order, he called Zhang Jintai to get on his horse and rushed forward, shouting: "The whole army is rushing forward, set up ladders to climb the city, be careful of bandit bombardment..."
"Boom...boom..."
At this moment, Zhang Cheng saw in the telescope two clouds of black smoke rising from the top of Yanshi City, followed by two loud noises, and two black cannonballs flying out of the smoke.
Just as he was about to see the casualties of the sergeants, he saw a flash of fire on the city wall, but it was an artillery piece that may have been filled with too much gunpowder in a panic, causing it to explode. The whole artillery exploded, and the defenders on the city wall
The bandits suffered so many casualties that they no longer dared to use artillery to bombard them.
However, the two cannonballs fired by the bandits caused some damage to the siege troops. One of the cannonballs directly hit a long ladder and jumped left and right, causing the death and injury of five or six sergeants.
The other cannon missed the target and hit an empty space. Although it jumped forward and fell and flew more than ten feet away, it did not cause any casualties to the sergeants.
Zhang Chengfang galloped back to the high platform, his face full of prayers and loudly said: "Father, Commander, Chengfang has come to ask for orders to climb the city. I hope Father will grant me your permission!"
Zhang Cheng just didn't want to let these children put themselves in danger, but at this moment they were eager to fight and couldn't stop them by force. He immediately said: "Okay, the children can have such intentions, but I shouldn't stop them, but you
When you first enter the battle formation, you must pay attention to safety and do not rush forward in a hurry. If you try and fail, you must retreat!"
"Here! Cheng Fang knows about it, please rest assured, Commander-in-Chief."
After Zhang Chengfang sang "Nai" to receive the order, he galloped away on his horse.
…………
Outside the east gate of Yanshi City, the roar of fighting resounded throughout the land.
Jin Yong's right department, the Zhongjia Division, was responsible for attacking the section of the city wall south of the east gate. Zheng Youjin, the 100th General of the A Division, led two guards to supervise the battle. He shouted loudly and urged the soldiers to advance quickly with long ladders.
The layout at the east gate is slightly different from Zhang Cheng's. Zhang Cheng broke up the teams. All the gunmen were responsible for setting up ladders to build the city, while the shield soldiers were responsible for climbing the ladders to climb the city. There were also twelve armored spearmen.
He replaced his sword with a short axe, and climbed into the city with a shield.
But Zhang Guangda's side is slightly different. In addition to the knights in his heavy cavalry department, in addition to charging into the formation and fighting on heavy armor with infantry, Zhang Guangda also led them to practice climbing ladders and climbing the city, cavalry guerrilla warfare, etc.
During this siege, he ordered his heavy cavalry to select 120 sergeants, who were divided into twelve teams to be responsible for climbing the ladders of the Fire Gun Bureau teams to the city, while the remaining knights served as supervisors.
Jiao Shangkuan, an officer of the second team of the First Bureau of Division A, held up one side of the long ladder with his hands and put it on his broad shoulders. He shouted a slogan and rushed towards the city wall.
Just like the south gate, there were also sparse cannon sounds on the city wall, but it seemed that they were not skilled in gunnery, and only three or four small cannons fired only one shot.
When Jiao Shang's broad band set up ladders and rushed a hundred steps closer, white clouds of smoke rose into the sky from the city wall. The bandits guarding the city actually used fire blunderbuss, but they were too impatient and fired a little early.
Zhang Guangda stood on the earth platform in the distance. He also held up a telescope and looked at the battlefield ahead of the siege with concern. When he saw the cannons and cannons firing on the city from a distance, he couldn't help but sigh and said: "Oh, it's a pity that the fight is too early.
Fortunately, the thieves are not good at using guns, otherwise..."
…………
The second team, led by Jiao Shangkuan, carried the long ladder and ran smoothly about twenty steps away from the city wall. He shouted: "Get off the ladder, pull the rope, and build the wall!"
The sergeants acted according to the command. Due to the great momentum of the people carrying the ladder and running, the iron stick at the bottom of the long ladder was firmly inserted into the hard ground.
The first and second sergeants who were responsible for carrying the ladder did not hesitate at all after they got off the long ladder. They all followed the team officer Jiao Shangkuan and ran towards the base of the city wall desperately.
Each of them had a hemp rope tied to their body, and the other end was tied to the top of the long ladder. As they rushed forward, the hemp rope was stretched, and behind the long ladder came the sergeant who was preparing to climb the ladder to the city.
They were also divided into five people on each side. They each held a two-foot-long wooden pole with a forked head that supported the top of the long ladder and raised it high.
"Bang...bang...bang..."
Long ladders were set up on the city wall of the east gate of Yanshi County. The iron hooks on the top of the long ladders instantly hooked onto the city wall. There were actually 17 of the 24 long ladders outside the east gate hanging firmly on the city wall.
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In addition, three long ladders were not hooked and fell under the city wall and fell apart. Another two were pushed sideways by bandit soldiers with hooks and forks when they were about to hang on the city wall.
"Gun soldiers, shoot freely on the city, shield soldiers board the city!"
The shouts of orders and the roars of the soldiers were mixed together under the city wall. I saw strong armored sergeants holding their big shields and trotting up the long ladder and rushing straight towards the city wall.
The musketrymen of Division 1, Division 2, Division 2 saw that the long ladder had been firmly erected on the top of the city. He hurriedly untied the rope from his body, took off the Yunzhou Type 2 flintlock gun he was carrying, and turned around.
Start running backwards.
He turned around and ran about thirty-four steps before standing up. He raised the flintlock gun in his hand and aimed towards the top of the city. He saw a bandit holding a bow and arrow coming out to shoot at the soldiers who were climbing the stairs to the city.
Without saying a word, he took aim and fired a gun. As the smoke rose, the bullets flew away from the gun port in front. He saw the body of the bandit soldier on the top of the city swaying, spitting out a mouthful of bright red, and then fell to the ground.