The soldier who came to deliver the letter was Mu Chunfa, who reported to Chen Qing in detail what happened in the city.
Chen Qing was really surprised when he heard this. He slapped himself on the forehead repeatedly. He actually had such a capable subordinate to solve this difficult matter for him. In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, he even cut off Luoyang's only connection with the outside world.
Zhang Lu is very capable, and Yu Shouzhong is also good. Both of them are worthy of reuse.
Mu Chunfa added: "Manager Zhang doesn't know whether I have succeeded in absconding. If His Highness receives the news, I beg Your Highness to fire three gunpowder arrows outside the east city of Luoyang at five o'clock, he will know that I succeeded."
"I understand, what else is there?"
"Then there is Manager Zhang's next plan. He has two ideas."
"What two ideas do you have, tell me?" Chen Qing suddenly became interested.
"The first idea is to burn down the granaries in the city, and the second idea is to assassinate and kill them."
Chen Qing immediately rejected the plan to burn the granary. The city was running out of food, and the unlucky people were the people. He still needed food from Luoyang to help the victims, and assassinating Zhe Keqiu could speed up the end of the war. Chen Qing asked: "Do you have a plan to assassinate Zhe Keqiu?"
?”
"We have three subordinates in the army. All of them have strong archery skills and strong skills. Each of them has three poisonous arrows, which can be used to assassinate when a war breaks out!"
"Then what? How do the assassinating soldiers escape?"
"You can jump into the moat just like your humble position."
Chen Qing took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and then said: "Then how should I inform Zhang Lu in the city of what decision I have made?"
"After His Highness fired three gunpowder arrows in the east of the city at the fifth watch, and then waited for another two quarters of an hour, if one gunpowder arrow was fired, it would mean that he agreed to the first plan, which was to burn the granary. If he fired two gunpowder arrows, it would mean that he agreed with the first plan.
The second plan can be solved by assassination. If three gunpowder arrows are fired, it means that both plans are not agreed to, so Manager Zhang will give up both plans."
Chen Qing nodded, "I understand, please step back and rest. Someone comes and rewards him with fifty taels of silver!"
"Thank you, Your Highness, for the generous reward!"
At the fifth watch, Yu Shouzhong and two of his men squatted on the high tower of Xiangguo Temple. This is the second tallest tower in the city. It is located in the east of the city. Standing on the top floor, you can look across the city wall and clearly see what is outside the city.
situation.
"General, here we come!"
A soldier shouted, and Yu Shouzhong immediately stood up, lay in front of the window and looked outside the city. He saw a gunpowder arrow flying into the sky from the woods, emitting a bright light, followed by the second and third gunpowder arrows.
The arrow rose, which meant that Mu Chunfa had arrived at the Song army camp safely.
But what Yu Shouzhong is more concerned about is the gunpowder arrow two quarters of an hour later. Was it one, two or three gunpowder arrows?
Another two quarters of an hour passed in the blink of an eye, and two rockets flew outside the east city.
This means that His Highness King Yong agrees with their second plan, to assassinate Zhe Keqiu.
Yu Shouzhong clenched his fist and led his two men away quickly.
There has been a curfew in the city and no residents are allowed to go out. Those caught are severely punished, but the soldiers can't control the small streets and alleys. There are still people in and out, all kinds of people who make a living at night.
Zhang Lu was still waiting in the inner hall! He had stayed up almost all night. At this time, footsteps came from outside and Yu Shouzhong was back.
"What should I say?" Zhang Lu quickly stepped forward and asked.
"Mu Chunfa has successfully arrived at the camp and met His Highness King Yong. His Highness King Yong agreed to our second plan."
"The second option is to assassinate Zhekeqiu!"
In fact, Zhang Lu's first plan was very well prepared. They even obtained a detailed layout plan of the grain and grass. Standing on the roof a hundred steps away, they could launch gunpowder arrows into the fodder warehouse, ignite the fodder warehouse, and thus ignite the entire grain warehouse.
Library.
However, since His Highness King Yong did not agree, they had no choice but to abandon this plan.
The deployment to assassinate Zhe Keqiu and the others has been completed, and they only need to activate this plan. Yu Shouzhong nodded and said: "I will go find the three of them as soon as daybreak!"
At noon the next day, the Song army, which had been silent for four days, began to sound the war drums.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
Eighty thousand troops poured out from the military camp, patrolled and gathered in the wilderness. Urgent alarm bells also sounded on the top of the city. Fifteen thousand troops rushed to the city, of which 10,000 were deployed to the west city.
Twenty large trebuchets also creaked and opened. This kind of trebuchet requires thirty people to operate. It can hit a solid fire cloth ball weighing fifty kilograms one hundred and fifty steps away. With inertia, the fireball can
Rushed out three hundred paces.
Five hundred crossbows were also placed on the top of the city, which could powerfully shoot at targets five hundred steps away.
Zhe Keqiu stood on the top of the city and squinted at the Song army three miles away. The overwhelming army made him feel a little nervous. It was already close to an army of one hundred thousand. This was not to show off, but to show off.
A massive attack on the city.
"Commander, what is that?" a general shouted pointing into the distance.
Zhe Keqiu also saw a huge figure appearing behind the Song army's formation, "It's a trebuchet!"
Zhe Keqiu recognized it immediately, and everyone gasped, especially the last few trebuchets, which were even higher than the city wall. None of them had ever seen such a huge trebuchet.
"That's the Thousand-Step Cannon!"
Zhe Keqiu recognized the tallest large trebuchets, with a range of up to a thousand steps. Their target was not necessarily the city wall. He immediately turned back and ordered: "Clear away all the fire starters within 500 steps of the city wall.
People need to be evacuated too!”
Thousands of soldiers ran up and down, busy in a group. On the top of the city about two hundred steps away from Zhe Keqiu, a soldier stared at Zhe Keqiu coldly. His name was Huang Dong, and he was one of three Song soldiers.
Find the nearest person among the spies.
The fifty heavy trebuchets of the Song Army were like fifty giants, walking slowly among the army. Each trebuchet was pulled by eight oxen, and there were dozens of soldiers beside it who were pushing hard, and behind them was a group of soldiers.
A cart was also pulled by eight oxen. There were huge baffles placed on the long cart. Each baffle was two feet high and consisted of five sections that were temporarily pieced together.
Behind the fifty heavy trebuchets, there are six thousand-step guns. The thousand-step guns are five feet high, with a body like a tall tower and a throwing pole that is ten feet long. Song Army craftsmen spent nearly ten years on it.
It took years to produce twelve throwing poles.
Thousand-step guns are not easy to install and are usually used for defense. Therefore, after this battle, four of the eight thousand-step guns brought will stay in Luoyang, the other four will be sent to Taiyuan, and the remaining four will be
Stay in Jingzhao.
The siege of the Thousand-Step Artillery was of little significance. The attack on Luoyang this time was mainly to test its performance in actual combat. Of course, it also had a target, which was Wengcheng.
Fifty heavy trebuchets were lined up three hundred steps away from the city wall, with a huge defensive baffle placed in front of them. At this moment, the crossbow on the top of the city took the lead in firing.
Two thousand five hundred three-foot-long arrows roared out from the top of the city. They each had a target. Every ten crossbows dealt with a heavy trebuchet. The soldiers of the Song Army were caught off guard. Dozens of soldiers were unable to dodge and were hit by the crossbow arrows.
He was shot and died tragically on the spot.
The remaining more than a thousand soldiers lay on the ground or hid behind the baffles. After a round of arrows, they quickly spliced the baffles and put them in place.
At this time, the large trebuchet on the city head was launched, and burning fireballs rose into the sky. The burning fireworks drew black lines in the air, flew over the wide moat, and hit the ground one hundred and fifty steps away.
On the ground, this solid cloth ball has excellent elasticity, bounces high, and continues to rush forward.
"Bang!" There was a loud noise, and a solid kerosene ball hit the baffle. It bounced high and flew past the top of the trebuchet. It rushed more than a hundred steps before stopping.
It actually flew four hundred steps away, but the effect was unsatisfactory. It didn't cause any substantial damage, and it didn't even touch a soldier. If it were a jar full of kerosene, the entire enemy position would be on fire.
At this time, the Song army began to counterattack. Fifty heavy trebuchets were launched at the same time, throwing out fifty large burning thin-skinned jars, each filled with fifty kilograms of kerosene.
The superb level of the craftsmen of the Song Army was revealed. Only four of the fifty oil jars hit the city wall, and the remaining forty-six oil jars all hit the city wall, and a fire suddenly broke out on the city wall.
There was sudden chaos on the top of the city, hundreds of bundles of wheat straw were ignited, and a fire broke out.
