Today is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the thirteenth year of the first lunar month, and there are still fifteen years until the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.
Today is the third day of the siege of Haozhou.
The future Hongwu Emperor Zhu Chongba was just an inconspicuous ninth captain, relying on his status as the commander-in-chief's adopted son-in-law to oversee the West City.
Among the famous Huaixi nobles, only Tang He followed Zhu Chongba and helped defend the city.
At this moment, Tang He was still a member of Guo Zixing's Qianhu, not Zhu Chongba's subordinates. In other words, the first minister under Lao Zhu, and also the only minister at present, was Zhang Ximeng, who had just celebrated his twelfth birthday.
Starting a business in fifteen years and building an empire is no more inspiring than the story of starting a business in a garage!
Zhang Ximeng's heart was surging and his blood was boiling, but he was also worried and shuddering.
For three consecutive days, Jia Lu used the collected bastards to attack the city.
Most of these people were bandits from various places, and they had no intention of rebelling against the Yuan Dynasty. They only robbed homes, looted property, and harmed the people. Jia Lu gathered them up and gave them food, which saved a lot of people's suffering.
But Jia Lu is not a bad person. He treats these gathered people as cannon fodder to drain the morale of the materials and materials that defend the city.
"This old man, if I catch him, I will definitely tear off his head!" Tang He said fiercely, and then bit down on the steamed bun in his hand, biting off most of it, as if the steamed bun was Jia Lu's head.
Zhang Ximeng was also holding hot steamed buns, but he was much more elegant than Tang He, and he looked full even if he was starving to death.
"My benefactor, Tang Qianhu, in my opinion, Jia Lu will send out elites today. If the consumption continues, those people may not be willing to sacrifice. After all, they are all bandits, and there are not many good ones.
The officers and soldiers are strong, so they have to obey, but if they are pushed too hard and are not given a way to survive, they will risk their lives at least."
Zhu Chongba thought for a moment and nodded vigorously, "The young gentleman is right, we must be more careful!"
After a few steamed buns, Zhu Chongba and Tang He went back to the city.
Sure enough, as Zhang Ximeng expected, there were many armored soldiers among the Yuan soldiers attacking the city today. These men were muscular, wearing iron armor, holding machetes and axes, and were protected by archers behind them.
They gradually replaced the poorly equipped miscellaneous soldiers and became the main force in attacking the city.
Coincidentally, at this time, more than half of the equipment at the top of the city was consumed, and the casualties of the Red Turban Army began to rise.
From the number of people carried on stretchers, Zhang Ximeng calculated that today's sacrifices were at least twice as many as yesterday's. The entire offensive and defensive battle entered a relatively bloody stage.
But this is just the beginning, because Zhang Ximeng knows very well what the real advantages of Mr. Jialujia, who was born as Minister of the Ministry of Industry and a prodigy in water control, are, and he doesn’t know when he will be able to show his true skills...
While Zhang Ximeng was thinking, suddenly someone at the top of the city exclaimed, Yuan soldiers are taking action!
I saw several earth dragon-like things appearing behind Yuan Bing.
The height is at least about two feet, and it is as wide as three or four carriages put together. As for the length, it seems to be thirty to fifty feet long. In other words, it is more than a hundred meters long.
On the earth, such a huge thing appeared, like a giant beast from the wild, winding its way, and it was natural to cause panic.
"Little sir, Chongba wants you to come up!"
Tang He came down from the top of the city, grabbed Zhang Ximeng's arm, and almost lifted him up without any explanation.
When he saw the monster under the city, Zhang Ximeng also took a breath and forgot about the pain in his arm.
"It's Lu's bus!"
Zhang Ximeng called out his name, and Zhu Chongba's shock turned into great joy, and he was elated. The young gentleman was indeed well-informed. Since he knew him, he must have a solution.
"Little sir, tell me quickly!"
Zhang Ximeng frowned slightly, looked at it again, and finally confirmed that this thing was Lu's car.
It is recorded in "Xu Zi Zhi Tong Jian": Lu Gong's chariot was built, a fairy bridge, a long wooden ladder, and lazy dragon claws were built, and they rushed to the bottom of the city, as high as the city, and they wanted to climb up. "History of Ming Dynasty" also has information about Lu Gong's chariot.
record.
According to records, Lu Gong's chariot was probably a siege equipment that was used in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. When the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties rose, they were good at using small and compact carriages, which were different from Lu Gong's chariot.
It wouldn’t be surprising if this widely used Lugong car was invented by Jia Lu. After all, this kind of behemoth is very suitable for the aesthetics of engineering men.
The biggest feature of Lv Gong’s car is its size.
The height is more than two feet, which can be as high as the city wall, and the length can reach fifty feet. It moves very slowly and clumsily. It requires hundreds of people and a large number of cattle to push it forward smoothly.
The shortcomings of Lu Gongche are obvious, but the advantages are equally outstanding.
First of all, this thing is big and high enough, which naturally eliminates the problem of climbing the city. You can go directly to the city as if walking on flat ground.
Secondly, Lu Gong's car can transport hundreds of people at a time, which can be called a land boat. Once an attack is launched, it will definitely be difficult to deal with.
Furthermore, Lu Gong's vehicle is made of wooden boards and raw cowhide, which is tightly protected and cannot be penetrated by bows and arrows. It is simply a super large armored personnel carrier.
As Lu Gong's chariot approached step by step, the morale of Yuan soldiers outside the city was like a rainbow. Looking up at the huge siege equipment, their confidence doubled, as if Haozhou was within easy reach.
On the other hand, at the top of the city, the soldiers were frightened, their faces turned pale with fright, and they kept trembling. Can they fight against this monster?
Seeing this, Zhu Chongba was also angry, anxious, and furious.
In fact, there is no way to deal with Lu Gongche.
If, as Zhang Ximeng reminded us, we clean the moat, dig ditches, and build sheep and horse walls layer by layer to protect Haozhou. There are ditches and bumps on the road, and layer upon layer of fortifications. If Lü Gongchao wants to get close to the city, he doesn’t know how much he will have to pay.
price.
However, there were too few defense preparations outside the city. It only took Jia Lu more than two days to fill up the moat. He then used various soldiers to lay planks on the road, pile sand and gravel, and finally made three ten-foot-wide strips that could be used by Lu.
The bus moves forward smoothly.
What else can Zhu Chongba say? These insects in the city are really harmful to people!
"My lord, Mr. Lu's vehicles are mostly made of cowhide, so he should be afraid of fire. Let's use crossbow arrows, wrap them in sulfur grease, and burn this big bastard!" Zhang Ximeng thought of a way.
Zhu Chongba decisively agreed. At this moment, Lu Gong's car was only two hundred steps away from Haozhou City.
Zhang Ximeng could clearly see that there was a very conspicuous feather flag on Lu Gong's car. It seemed that it should be used to convey the position to the following troops.
The front car is divided into three layers. Each layer is protected by wooden boards. However, these wooden boards do not block all sight lines. There are still gaps. People inside can observe the situation, and can also shoot arrows and attack.
The defenders at the top of the city.
At the top, there is a guy with disheveled hair holding a sword in his hand, who is responsible for giving orders and directing the movement forward.
Just looking at his appearance, Zhang Ximeng even reminded Zhang Ximeng of Zhuge Liang, who tried to borrow the wind.
To say that this was not done by Jia Lu, I would not believe it even if I beat Zhang Ximeng to death.
At this time, Zhu Chongba had prepared twenty hard crossbows and aimed them at all directions of Lu Gong's car... These crossbow arrows were all dug out from Haozhou's arsenal. The rebels had not yet developed such powerful crossbows.
weapons.
"put!"
Zhu Chongba looked solemn, waved his hand, and twenty crossbow arrows flew out. The crossbowman did not bother to check the results, and hurriedly pulled the string again, placed the flaming crossbow arrows, and fired again.
After three rounds of shooting, no less than twenty crossbow arrows landed on Lu Gong's car. The hit rate was still quite good. But what was surprising was that the cowhide-covered Lu Gong's car only caught fire in one or two places. And the fire was quickly extinguished.
.
What's going on?
Tang He's eyes almost fell off. There couldn't be any magic, right?
Why can't you even light the cowhide?
"It must have been watered!" Zhang Ximeng suddenly gritted his teeth. Jia Lu was so cautious that he even thought of this.
At this moment, Lu Gongcha was already within a hundred steps, like a giant beast approaching its prey.
The soldiers at the top of the city were even more frightened and had great intentions of turning around and fleeing for their lives.
"My dear benefactor, gather your crossbows and shoot in the front!" Zhang Ximeng said eagerly.
Zhu Chongba also reacted immediately. The top and two wings of Lu Gong's car were covered with cowhide, which was very strong. Since the front had to be connected with the city wall, it could not be sealed. It could only be made of hardwood as a frame and then protected by wooden fences. And for archery
, and left a hole.
Zhu Chongba gave the order decisively, and all the crossbows were aimed at Lu Gong's chariot, shooting wildly, and a dense rain of arrows came towards his face.
During the third round of shooting, the guy in charge suddenly standing at the top with his hair disheveled and holding a sword, felt like he was struck by lightning and was hit by two arrows. He took two steps back and fell down from the top floor.
After losing the commander, maybe we can stop.
Just when everyone took a breath, Lu's car continued to move forward, and it turned out that the people below ran up to take over the commander.
This old man Jia Lu really doesn’t make any mistakes!
"Chongba, use that!" Tang He was so frightened that his voice trembled, and he could only take out the hidden trump card. Zhu Chongba's face was heavy, but he was calmer than Tang He. He looked at Zhang Ximeng.
"My benefactor, Lu's chariot is by no means Jia Lu's most powerful weapon. Now that Lu's chariot is getting closer and closer, use an earthen jar to hold the fish oil, throw it out, and continue to burn it! I don't believe it, I can't light it!" Zhang Ximeng bit.
Teeth, shouting with red eyes.
Naturally, his small arms and legs couldn't do the job. Zhu Chongba nodded. He was the first to grab the prepared oil cans and threw them towards Mr. Lu's car, one after another. Soon, the front of Mr. Lu's car was on top.
There are also two wings, both dipped in fish oil.
Covered by another round of rockets.
This time, there were several more places where the fire broke out, especially the front, where there was no wet cowhide to block it, so the fire started so bright that the soldiers in the front row ran backwards in fear...
And along with the fire, a lot of white mist rose from Lu Gong's car.
The water has evaporated!
Seeing the effect, Zhang Ximeng hurriedly shouted: "Quick, shoot more arrows and throw more oil cans!"
Zhu Chongba and Tang He also saw hope and took the lead in throwing. After a while, thick smoke came out from Lu Gong's car, followed by flames. This terrible monster... was finally on fire!