The location they are in is a narrow place on the Taurus Path.
The front suddenly opened up, it was a wider place.
A natural valley mouth is formed here.
Not long from here, you will reach Zitong City.
He had just competed for the task of attacking Zitong, but he had never competed for the Second Brigade.
He has made enough achievements and needs to give opportunities to others.
Han Shuliang also grabbed a mission to attack the Ming army ambushing in the bamboo forest ahead.
The Flying Tigers on the hot air balloon, when they were far away from here.
They saw the Ming army ambushing in the bamboo forest in front of the valley entrance.
The Ming army thought they were moving unnoticed by a hill.
But the height that the hot air balloon flies is much higher than a hill.
They couldn't understand the reconnaissance from the sky.
The Flying Tigers clearly saw the actions of the Ming army.
Han Shuliang watched the artillery battalion dragging three 110 medium-sized artillery pieces.
They lined up in a row, and the soldiers dragged the artillery forward with difficulty.
The ground here has become soft, the cannon is too heavy, and it is not as smooth as walking on the stone road before.
Han Shuliang observed the bamboo forest where the Ming army was ambushing. The farthest place was only 500 meters away from them.
"At such a close range, use shotguns on me.
They also want to hide in the bamboo forest and sneak up on us."
The artillery battalion commander heard Han Shuliang's order.
He directed the artillery and quickly loaded the ammunition.
He took out a small notebook, found the cannonball and shot Zhuyuan, and he adjusted the height of the muzzle.
"fire."
The artilleryman pulled the rope and the gunpowder to ignite the gunpowder in the cannon.
An extremely large number of shotgun shells formed a hail of bullets and hit the bamboo forest four to five hundred meters ahead.
After the screams of humans and donkeys, a huge explosion occurred in the bamboo forest.
The explosion was so large that it flattened the entire bamboo forest.
Han Shuliang and others were more than 400 meters away from the center of the explosion, and many soldiers were scratched by the blown bamboo.
There were dozens of soldiers who launched the attack after firing the cannon.
They were injured by the shock wave of the explosion, and blood flowed from both ears.
He couldn't stand firmly and fell directly to the ground.
Zhu Shi Zhang Chujiu immediately took the doctors accompanying the army to rescue the injured soldiers.
When Han Shuliang saw the explosion, his eyes widened, he took a breath and said, "The Ming army also learned to use gunpowder to attack.
With so much gunpowder, if we hadn’t discovered these Ming troops.
The large army had just walked out of the valley mouth, and the gunpowder was detonated at this time.
Then how big our casualties will be."
Li Wenfang urged: "Brigadier, don't be stunned. Attack quickly. If there are other Ming troops ambushing us, we will be in danger."
Han Shuliang immediately launched an attack.
The soldiers lined up and moved forward with muskets in hand to search for traces of the enemy.
A small number of soldiers continued to search in the direction of the bamboo forest.
The large troops rushed directly out of the valley entrance, along both sides of the valley entrance, carefully searching every place to control strategic points.
Han Shuliang saw all the soldiers from his brigade rushing out of the valley mouth, but still no Ming army was found.
He felt relieved that the Ming army only had this one ambush force.
Han Shuliang's other troops also walked out of the valley mouth. He saw Su Yanyan, Du Shengwen and Wen Qing sitting on the mule cart and greeted them.
This is the second brigade officer who competed with him for the main offensive task.
The second brigade and the first regiment, which were responsible for the main attack mission, all moved forward on mule carts in order to maintain their condition.
Other soldiers of the Second Brigade followed on foot behind the mule cart.
These soldiers only carried weapons and no baggage.
They rode these mule carts, which were used to haul grain.
The food was eaten up by the troops, and the empty mule carts, which were used to transport the wounded, were now used by them.
Su Yanyan greeted Han Shuliang and said, "Good guys, I heard a loud noise from behind and thought something happened.
If this hadn't detonated in advance, and you had so stupidly bumped into it, your meat would have been cooked."
"I'm thick-skinned and can't be familiar with you. Don't worry about me. You should still think about how to capture Zitong.
Look at the methods used to deal with us, Zitong Guard General Zhang Ling, he is not an easy person to deal with."
When Han Shuliang saw the mule cart driving away, he shouted the last few words.
Li Wenfang sighed with emotion and said: "Brigade Commander, Brigadier Su Yanyan, he is an elder who follows Commander Su.
People in the military say that these people have little ability and rely solely on their seniority to get through.
Depending on the situation, Zhang Ling’s methods are not simple, can Brigadier Su take down Zitong?”
Han Shuliang affirmed: "You don't have to wonder, Su Yanyan is not a simple person.
Look at the other elders who followed Commander Su, even if they stayed in the army.
Most of them also manage logistics, or change careers as Zhushi, taking care of internal affairs and the ideological work of soldiers.
Su Yanyan can persist as the main senior general.
He also has some tricks up his sleeve, don't be deceived by his honest appearance, he is a very smart person."
Han Shuliang looked at the artillery brigade and followed the second brigade.
He looked at the cannons passing by, and his mouth watered with envy.
If he has so many cannons, he will not be afraid of any enemy he encounters.
Thousands of cannons fired together, no matter how powerful the enemy army was, they could not withstand it.
Han Shuliang led his troops to continue searching the situation near the bamboo forest.
"Commander Su, chief of staff, division commander, you are here."
Han Shuliang heard Li Wenfang calling Commander Su and the chief of staff.
He knew it was Su He and Li Fengming arriving.
Li Wenfang and the others addressed other staff officers as a certain staff officer. They only used the term chief of staff when addressing Li Fengming.
Han Shuliang trotted up to Su He and the others. He was about to salute and say hello.
Su He interrupted him directly and asked: "What happened with this explosion? Have you investigated it clearly?"
Han Shuliang said directly: "Commander Su, by searching the scene, we can basically deduce what the Ming army wants to do?
The Ming army learned from us and packed large amounts of gunpowder into iron boxes.
This big box, I can infer from the traces, is three meters long, two meters wide and two meters high.
The Ming army put the iron box of gunpowder on the donkey cart and blindfolded the donkey.
The donkey's tail was coated with fire oil.
When we come out, the Ming army will light the donkey tail and the gunpowder fuse.
Just let the donkey cart rush into the formation and kill us in large numbers with gunpowder.
Fortunately, the Flying Tigers discovered them in advance and used a cannon to ignite the gunpowder before these people took action."
After hearing this, Li Fengming said with a solemn expression: "Zhang Ling is imitating the fire ox formation in the pre-Qin period, and directly lets the donkey cart charge into the formation.
No trace of the Ming army was discovered in advance, which really allowed them to succeed in the sneak attack.
It will cause us heavy casualties and we will postpone the attack on Zitong."
Su He said with an extremely certain tone: "Zhang Ling is trying to delay time, he must be waiting for reinforcements.
We must not let him wait for reinforcements and inform Zhang Yuliang to use explosive shells and not be reluctant to use artillery shells.
As long as the logistics are not interrupted, there will be a steady stream of bombs delivered.
Never give Zhang Ling a chance to breathe.
What is the enemy more afraid of? That means we are doing the right thing.
He prevents us from approaching Zitong, so we must capture Zitong as quickly as possible."
…
Inside Zitong City.
Zhang Ling paced the room, waiting for the news from ahead.
He took out half of the gunpowder in Zitong City, imitated the tactics of the thief in yellow, and prepared to give the thief in yellow a big gift.
He transported half of the gunpowder out because he knew that Zitong couldn't hold on.
More than 30,000 people in total were unable to defend Jianmen Pass, a majestic pass.
He only had more than 4,000 people, so he couldn't defend Zitong.
He is waiting for Zhang Erqi, deputy commander-in-chief of Sichuan, who is currently stationed in Mianzhou.
Originally commanding more than 10,000 people, he recruited more than 6,000 people who escaped from Jianmen Pass, and now has a total force of 20,000 people.
When Governor Zhu Xieyuan was about to leave for Huguang, he sent his confidants to convey orders to Zhang Erqi and Zhang Ling.
If the thieves in yellow really attack Sichuan, they will keep the thieves in yellow out of Chengdu at all costs.
Zhu Xieyuan spoke harshly, and neither Zhang Erqi nor Zhang Ling dared to disobey this order.
After Zhang Ling received the order, he took his troops to defend Zitong.
After learning that the thief in yellow broke through Jianmen Pass, he knew that he could not stop the thief in yellow.
Zhang Ling immediately sent someone to send a letter asking for help to Zhang Erqi.
His messenger has returned, bringing news about Zhang Erqi.
Zhang Erqi left 3,000 men to garrison Mianzhou.
He is coming to Zitong with more than 10,000 people and a lot of luggage.
Zhang Ling must defend Zitong before Zhang Erqi's reinforcements arrive.
Once Zitong was captured by the thieves in yellow, he didn't dare to think about the consequences.
If Zitong is lost, Zhang Erqi will definitely not be able to defeat the thief in yellow in the field.
Mianzhou could not be defended either, leaving only the big city of Deyang.
If the thieves in yellow break through Deyang, they can fight all the way to Rongcheng.
Zhang Ling must find a way to guard Zitong, and he must repay Zhu Xieyuan's kindness.
He was a thief a few years ago and wanted to break through Rongcheng. The army was defeated by General Qin Liangyu and his white-pole soldiers.
Later, seeing that the situation was not right, he directly rebelled against She Chongming and even captured his pseudo-prime minister.
She Chongming was furious and executed all his family members, including their ancestral graves.
Zhang Ling is now alone and has nothing to lose. He must repay his benefactor Zhu Xieyuan.
There were rapid footsteps outside the door.
"Sir, I saw a huge explosion. None of the people sent out came back."
Zhang Ling closed his eyes. Many of the people sent out were his servants.
These people did not come back and should have died together with the thief in yellow.
As long as there is an explosion, as long as the thieves in yellow can be delayed for a day or two, Zhang Erqi's reinforcements will arrive.
The thief in yellow marched too fast, far beyond his expectation.
He used various means to constantly interfere with the march of the yellow-clothed thieves, but failed to slow down their march.
……………………
Su Yanyan looked at the small town in front of him. This was his target, Zitong.
He must win this goal quickly to prove his strength.
Su Yanyan was one of the first veterans to attack Sujiazhuang with Suhe.
These people, except for a few people who came forward in the early stage.
A small number of people died, but most of them retreated from the front line.
Commander Su did not neglect them, the elders, and the brothers and their families who died were given the highest level of care.
The brothers who were injured and retired have all entered the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Taxation and other departments as senior officials.
Brothers who are still in the army have also been transferred to Zhushi or logistics officers.
Only a few people are still holding on to the front line.
What bothers Su Yanyan the most is people saying that he relied on his qualifications to get through.
He wants to use his real military achievements to prove to others that he is also a capable person.
Su Yanyan ordered the second and third regiments to surround the other gates of Zitong.
He led a group to attack the northern gate of Zitong.
……………………
Zhang Yuliang watched the artillerymen quickly arrange artillery positions.
Soldiers remove mules from artillery carriage.
They adjusted the direction of the gun carriage and supported it on brackets.
A gun carriage is ready.
The artillery brigade carries a total of one hundred and twenty 110 medium artillery pieces.
The artillery brigade was originally dominated by heavy artillery, with a total of sixty 150-meter heavy artillery.
This time when he entered Sichuan, he could not carry heavy artillery, so Zhang Yuliang replaced all of them with 110 medium-sized artillery pieces.
The artillery brigade deployed sixty 110 medium-sized artillery pieces at the northern city gate of the main attack.
The artillerymen were very skilled. They piled all the ammunition next to the cannon and prepared everything, just waiting for the order to fire.
Zhang Yuliang was very satisfied with the speed of the artillery preparations, and encouraged himself in his heart.
"Let's use the city of Zitong to verify the training results of our artillery brigade for more than half a year."
Zhang Yuliang walked to the artillery position.
He saw the commanders of each battalion gathered together.
They took out pens and paper and wrote.
This is the calculation element of the cannon's shooting.
General Su taught them trigonometric functions and parabolic equations.
In the past, the impact point of cannonballs could only be predicted based on experience.
Now you can directly calculate the approximate impact point of the cannonball on paper through some formulas.
Zhang Yuliang took a closer look and saw many artillery battalion commanders gathered together to study.
They drew the coordinate axes on the paper and were filling in the data to calculate the parabola.
He glanced at the calculation results and said calmly: "You made a mistake, please try again.
The muzzle is raised 47 degrees, and the charge is three-quarters of the charge."
The artillery battalion commander checked his error, calculated it again, and entered the data into the shooting table.
He admired: "The brigade commander is really amazing. He can calculate more accurately just by relying on his mind than by using pen and paper."
Zhang Yuliang smiled and said nothing.
He wrote the artillery operating manual.
If he didn't understand this knowledge, he could still be the commander of the artillery brigade.
Like Niu Siyuan, he could only stay behind to guard the fort.
Niu Siyuan can't learn these mathematical knowledge no matter how hard he studies.
The turret attacks fixed targets and the adjustment angle is limited.
There is no need to master too much new knowledge.
As long as he can use the prepared shooting tables and command artillery based on experience, he is a qualified general.
To be the artillery battalion commander of the main brigade, you need to know some basic mathematics knowledge to be able to serve.
Zhang Yuliang issued an order: "Enter level one to prepare for war.
Attack Zitong's city gate with solid bullets.
Explosive bombs attacked the city wall of Zitong, killing a large number of Ming troops defending the city and creating conditions for the army to attack the city."
The artillery battalion commander assigns tasks to each gunner commander.
According to the calculated shooting elements, adjust the cannon's shooting angle and charge amount.
"The regiment, battalion and company are ready, please give instructions."
"The first regiment, the first battalion, and the second company are ready. Please give instructions."
…
"The Second Battalion and First Company of the Second Regiment are ready. Please give instructions."
Zhang Yuliang saw that the artillery preparations were completed.
He issued orders to the flag soldiers beside him.
"Ask Brigadier Su Yanyan through the flag language whether they are ready."
The semaphore soldier waves the semaphore and repeats the semaphore.
"Report to the brigade commander, Brigadier Su Yanyan has made preparations. They can cooperate with us and launch an attack at any time."
"fire!"
Zhang Yuliang gave an order, and the cannons in the artillery position began to roar.
Ten cannons fired solid bullets, and the big iron ball hit Zitong's city gate accurately.
At the same time, twenty cannons with slightly raised muzzles fired explosive shells.
The cannon is divided into two batches and fires shells alternately to ensure the density of firepower.
There is a huge difference between the blooming bullets used by the cannon and those used by the Flying Tigers.
They are made of cast iron and filled with gunpowder.
The appearance is completely different from the fuze.
The explosive bomb used by the Flying Tigers is more similar to a grenade.
The shape of the shells used by cannons is no longer circular, it is cylindrical.
The cannonball is placed in the breech. The tail end of the cannon is flat, and the muzzle end has a curved tip.
The blooming bomb has a very special fuse. Zhang Yuliang doesn't even know what kind of craftsman can come up with such a fuse.
There is an iron tube inside the bomb, which is filled with special gunpowder.
It is something mixed into the gunpowder that slows down the burning speed of the gunpowder.
The opening of the fuze is on the round side, and the other side is in contact with the gunpowder in the explosive bullet.
This iron pipe constitutes the delay fuse of the explosive bomb.
The round side is aligned with the combustion chamber.
When igniting, the gunpowder pushes the projectile out of the muzzle, and it also ignites the delayed fuse of the exploding projectile.
Different sizes of explosive bombs have different burning times for the delayed fuze.
This requires artillerymen to understand cannons in order to ensure that the explosive shells explode when they hit the ground.
Zhang Yuliang looked at the top of Zitong City with a telescope.
Most of the explosive shells fell on the city wall.
A small amount fell outside the city wall and inside the city.
The explosive bomb landed on the city wall and exploded directly.
……………………
"Sir, it's not good, we are besieged by thieves in yellow clothes.
There are the largest number of thieves in yellow at the North Gate, and they are setting up cannons to prepare to attack the city."
Zhang Ling stood up in surprise and said doubtfully: "How could it happen so quickly? Didn't the troops I sent detonate the gunpowder?
Even if they clean up the bodies of soldiers, they can't do it so quickly."
Zhang Ling muttered as he quickly ran towards the north gate.
He saw that the thieves in yellow had surrounded Zitong.
Zhang Ling knew that Zitong was in critical condition now.
He immediately sent soldiers and told Qingzhuang to go up to the city wall to help defend the city.
He had thought before that the thieves in yellow were marching very fast, or that Zhang Erqi was delayed for some reason.
Before the war, the young people in Zitong City were mobilized to assist him in defending the city.
There are a lot of rolling logs and stones prepared on the city wall, as well as gold juice and nine cannons.
Zhang Ling believed that with his strength, he would have no problem holding Zitong for two days.
When Zhang Erqi arrived, they attacked from inside and outside, catching the thief in yellow by surprise.
By joining forces in one place and relying on the favorable terrain here in Zitong, we can defend for a longer period of time.
They just need to slow down the attack speed of the thieves in yellow.
Governor Zhu Xieyuan and Sichuan Governor Zhang Lun would mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress the yellow-robed thieves.
The thieves in yellow are very powerful and will have a hard time defending with ten times the force.
As long as there is no way to quickly capture Sichuan, with the background of the thieves in yellow, they will definitely not be able to defeat the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Ling saw the artillerymen of the thieves in yellow and adjusted the cannon slowly, not in any hurry.
"Artilleryman, fire for me."
The nine cannons on the top of the city fired. These were not red barbarian cannons, but ordinary iron cannons cast locally in Sichuan.
Zhang Ling saw that the cannonball was still some distance away from the yellow-clothed thieves' position, so it fell.
The cannon's range is not enough to hit the yellow-clad thieves outside the city.
But he was still not nervous, the thief in yellow would definitely attack Zitong.
When they attacked the city, their cannons didn't have enough range and didn't have much impact.
Most of the soldiers of the yellow robed thieves are unarmored soldiers.
The archers on top of the city can also cause great damage to the thieves in yellow.
Zhang Ling saw that the artillery position of the thieves in yellow was filled with smoke.
The artillerymen of the thieves in yellow had already fired, and more than ten cannons were fired at the city gate.
Their efforts were all in vain, he had already blocked the city gate with huge rocks.
The city gate is thicker than the city wall. The thieves in yellow mainly bombarded the city gate, but it was completely useless. It took two days to stabilize the city gate.
"Look, sir, there are cannonballs overhead."
Zhang Ling was distracted just now and didn't notice that the yellow-clothed thieves' position opened fire again.
He heard the shouts of his confidants and saw dozens of artillery shells flying overhead.
"Don't be afraid, everyone, the thieves in yellow actually want to use the cannon as a bow and arrow.
A mature archer can pierce the enemy with a hundred steps.
It is simply impossible to hit wherever the cannon is pointed."
While Zhang Ling was still chattering, he discovered that the impact points of these cannonballs were basically heading towards the city wall.
When he saw this situation, his pupils contracted violently.
This was completely beyond his cognition, and he was aware of the danger of this situation.
"Everyone, hide quickly."
As soon as Zhang Ling said these words, the cannonballs of the thieves in yellow fell on the city wall.
Except for a few of the pointed cylindrical cannonballs that hit people, most of the cannonballs had their front pointed points directly pierced into the masonry.
A cannonball hit the soldier next to him, and blood splashed on him.
He went up and kicked the cannonball down.
"This kind of shell is so strange, the casualties are not..."
There were several loud bangs, and the walls of Zitong City were shaking.
The Ming troops within five to six meters of the center point of the explosion died instantly.
The shock wave swept across any corner on the city wall.
Even if the Ming army was not injured by the explosion, they could not escape the shock wave.
……………………
The artillery fired five salvos in a short period of time.
All the Ming troops at the top of Zitong City disappeared.
Zhang Yuliang immediately asked the flag soldiers to send a message to Su Yanyan that they could attack.
He also issued orders to the artillery battalion commander.
"Standard charge of blooming ammunition, extended fire."
The artillery battalion commander directs the gunner to adjust the cannon's charge and shooting angle.
The artillery battalion fired again, and the impact point of the explosive shells was no longer the city wall, but inside the city wall.
This was to prevent the Ming army below from climbing onto the city wall to defend the city again.
When Su Yanyan saw the news delivered by Zhang Yuliang, he commanded a group of soldiers who had been waiting for a long time to rush to the northern city wall of Zitong carrying ladders.
They approached the northern city wall of Zitong without encountering any resistance.
The soldiers set up a ladder and climbed up the ladder to the top of Zitong City Wall.
They looked at the cannonballs whizzing past above and felt the cannonballs exploding in the city, and their hearts were filled with a sense of security.
They were about to climb to the city wall, took out a grenade from their waists, and pulled the grenade fuse.
Seeing a puff of white smoke coming out of the grenade, the soldier threw the grenade directly onto the city wall.
In this way, the Ming army survived the artillery attack, but they could not avoid the grenades to clear the area. They were completely unable to resist.
The soldier waited until the grenade exploded, then stepped on the ladder and climbed directly to the top of the city wall.
They were armed with muskets and alerted the surroundings.
There was blood and shattered shrapnel everywhere above the city wall.
There were many Ming soldiers lying on the ground, and some Ming soldiers were still wailing in pain.
More and more soldiers climbed up Zitong's city wall.
Zhu Shi Wenqing planted the Great Wall military flag at the head of Zitong City.
This strong city of the Taurus Daoming Army officially changed hands.
