Fenghou

Tang Qian's main purpose was to kill these three sentinels, create opportunities for Liu Qiong's main force, let them come to the city gate, and shorten the time to enter the city as much as possible, so that they can kill the enemy's barracks by surprise. There are [-] enemy troops, and they will suffer heavy casualties in street fighting.

Tang Qian took out the fire pocket and waved it three times in the air. Liu Qiong, who was ambushing two miles away, saw the three fire spots, and immediately led the army to continue to advance towards the city. Now they don't have to worry about the sentries finding themselves.

At this time, the top of the city was completely under the control of Tang Qian's subordinates. Five hundred soldiers went up to the city one after another, and killed all the remaining soldiers in the entire west city. Patrols, some stood guard, and some leaned on the top of the city and pretended to sleep.

The suspension bridge has been lowered slowly, and next is the city gate. Tang Qian waited patiently, and more than [-] people finally arrived outside the west city gate.

Everything is ready, the only thing left is to open the city gate downstairs.

Tang Qian went down to the city with hundreds of soldiers. As expected, both sides of the city gate and inside the city cave were full of sleeping soldiers.

"Get up! Get up!"

Tang Qian ruthlessly kicked the soldiers inside the city gate, "There is an urgent military situation, we need to open the city gate, go outside, and stay out of the way!"

"What emergency military situation?"

Suddenly there was a stern shout from outside, and a general came up, followed by several subordinates, and he angrily said: "Zhang Dutong has already issued repeated orders, and you are not allowed to open the city gate without authorization under any circumstances, don't you know?"

Tang Qian didn't know who it was, he quietly took a short fine steel spear under his hand, and the general approached the city gate, when he saw Tang Qian's face clearly, he couldn't help but be taken aback, "Who are you?"

"Don't the general know me?"

Tang Qian walked forward with a smile, "We were still drinking together last month!"

"who are you?"

The general took a few steps back and stretched out his hand to draw the knife. Tang Qian waited for this moment, and with a jerk of his hand, the fine steel short spear shot at the opponent like lightning.

The distance is only a dozen steps, the speed is too fast, the general has no time to dodge, 'poof! 'The sharp steel short spear pierced the chest, and the general screamed and was nailed to the ground alive.

Tang Qian shouted, "Do it!"

Hundreds of soldiers drew their swords at the same time to kill the enemy. The enemy soldiers were defenseless, and there were screams around the city gate.

Song Jun took the opportunity to open the city gate, and Liu Qiong yelled, "Rush in!"

The main army of more than [-] marched into the city gate in a mighty manner. They continued to divide into two groups. Tang Qian led [-] soldiers to clean up the enemy soldiers on the four city heads.

And Liu Qiong led an army of [-] into the signing army camp located in the northwest...

At dawn, all the [-] signing troops surrendered except Li Ai, the lieutenant general who led more than [-] people to fight to the death, and the remaining [-] soldiers surrendered. I went to Nanyang County early this morning. No wonder the guards of the soldiers were a little loose today. It turned out that the main general was not there.

Liu Qiong quickly reorganized. He separated all the commanders and generals of the enemy army. If he was willing to go home, he would be paid a travel fee. According to the rules of the Western Army, unless special circumstances are approved by the commanders of the capitals, all other generals who surrendered must undergo martial arts training for one year.

Liu Qiong ordered Zhang Le to lead 5000 people to train more than 8000 surrendered troops. He and Tang Qian led more than 2 troops to kill Nanyang County, 150 miles away to the northeast.

……

Dozens of five-thousand-stone ships have arrived in Luoyang from Mengjin on the Yellow River. The craftsmen rebuilt five of them overnight. Each ship was equipped with five medium-sized trebuchets and two oil fire cabinets, and they were busy until the next day. In the afternoon, the renovation was completed.

Each large ship is composed of a commander, fifty black armored soldiers and 150 ordinary soldiers.

The black-armored soldiers are the armor of Wanyan Zonghan's black-armored cavalry. The Jurchen sentry cavalry that Chen Qing first encountered were also this kind of armor. It can also be shot through by a heavy crossbow within a step, but it is much more flexible than heavy armor. It can run, jump, and operate a catapult. Ordinary crossbows cannot threaten it. As for the explosion of powder barrels and the flying of poisonous nails, It does no harm to it.

Another feature of the black armor is that it can prevent fire oil to a certain extent, mainly because it cannot catch the oil. When you wipe it with a towel, the burning fire oil will be wiped clean immediately.

However, its weakness is also obvious. It is afraid of water. Once it falls into the river, unless someone rescues it, it will undoubtedly die. This is why each black-armored soldier must be equipped with an ordinary soldier. They serve the black-armored soldiers.

There are also a hundred soldiers who are full-time crossbowmen, all of whom are skilled in archery, and are specially responsible for dealing with soldiers manipulating iron chains on both sides of the strait.

As night fell, two hundred small boats full of soldiers followed five big ships sailing from east to west, one mile away was Luoyang City, the big ships pulled up their sails, the wind was very strong at night, and it was the east wind, the sails bulged and speeded up. boat speed.

The key is the first big ship. The general on the first big ship is Hong Wu, the leader who conquered Mengjin Pass. He volunteered, and Yang Zaixing approved him as the leader of the first big ship.

Wearing black armor, Yu Hongwu stood at the bow of the boat with a huge shield in his hand, staring sharply at the front. There was no rubbish on the water in the east, but there were also two iron cables blocking the river. Pile and pontoon.

The city walls on both sides are full of enemy crossbowmen and trebuchets, and there are a hundred bed crossbows. When dozens of crossbows appear on the river in the distance, you can know that the Song army must attack from the east. , He also made full preparations, preparing to use two barrels of weapons to deal with the Song army, a gunpowder barrel and a fire oil barrel.

The speed of the big ship is getting faster and faster, not only with sails, but also with human pull on both sides.

There were still 150 steps away from the city wall, and Zhe Keqiu shouted: "Rocket shoots the sail!"

Dozens of rockets soared into the sky and shot at the sail, Yu Hongwu ordered: "Remove the sail!"

One of the soldiers cut the rope with a single blow, and the sails came crashing down, and the rockets missed the sails, and went straight into the fire or into the ship.

"The trebuchet fires powder barrels, the crossbowman shoots the trackers on the shore, and the floating bridge throws kerosene!" Zhe Keqiu gave three orders in a row.

Dozens of trebuchets were launched, and burning powder kegs flew towards the big ship, and immediately exploded continuously on the ship and in the water, making deafening explosions, poisonous nails splashed everywhere, thick smoke billowed, and the main mast was blown into pieces. Two breaks, half of the mast fell heavily, smashed a trebuchet, and the mast crashed into the water.

At the same time, the two thousand soldiers on the top of the city fired arrows together, and the dense arrows shot at the Laxian soldiers on both sides of the bank. The Laxian soldiers held up their shields to resist, but the arrows were too dense. Ahead is the moat.

"Withdraw the fiber!" Yu Hongwu yelled, the bell rang, and the pulling fiber gave up the fiber rope and retreated one after another.

There were still more than sixty steps away from the city wall, and the big ship rushed towards the city with the help of strong inertia.

The river was on fire, and the enemy dumped hundreds of barrels of kerosene on the floating bridge, turning the river into a sea of ​​flames, and the big ship rushed directly into the sea of ​​flames.

The defensive tarpaulins were also removed from the trebuchets on the big ship. Except for one that was smashed by the mast, the other four were intact. The black armored soldiers manipulated the four trebuchets and began to fight back.

Chapter 972

At the critical moment, the first large ship shook violently. There was a loud noise in the water, the ship shook violently, and stopped.

"General, there are hidden piles under the water, and the ship is stuck."

Yu Hongwu's expression became very serious. This was what they were most worried about, but it happened unexpectedly. He immediately ordered: "Warn the ships behind!"

A big red lantern was hung up to notify the ships a hundred steps behind to stop moving forward, and Yu Hongwu immediately ordered: "Launch the iron fire thunder!"

"Boom! Boom!" The four trebuchets fired iron fire mines at the same time, aiming at the pontoon bridge ahead.

"Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosions, white water jets flew up to a height of one foot, and the water splashed everywhere. One of the iron fire lightning hit the target, a section of the pontoon was blown to pieces, and more than a dozen surrounding wooden piles were blown off.

The power of Tie Huo Lei stunned Zhe Keqiu on the top of the city. Realizing the critical situation, he shouted: "Throw fire oil to burn the boat, shoot from the bed crossbow!"

Dozens of burning kerosene barrels flew towards the big ship, and the big ship suddenly turned into a sea of ​​flames. In the flames, five hundred bed crossbows pierced through the air. Dozens of soldiers were shot down by the bed crossbow arrows, and nearly twenty of them The black armored soldier was shot.

"Dive quickly, the iron fire mine is about to explode."

A box containing four iron fire mines was burning in the raging fire. The match ropes of the iron fire mines were ignited, and the flames flickered. It was unclear whether all of them were ignited or one was ignited. Once it exploded, the whole The ships would be blown to pieces, and there were two hundred soldiers on board.

At this critical moment, a black-armored soldier rushed forward, picked up the Tie Huo Lei box and jumped into the water. The Tie Huo Lei exploded underwater, and the huge waves almost capsized the ship.

The hull of the boat was not destroyed, but a big hole was blown at the bottom of the boat, and the river water rushed in wildly.

The fire on the boat was burning, the cabin was flooded with river water, the big boat began to sink, Yu Hongwu had no choice but to order: "Take off the armor and abandon the boat!"

At this moment, the second round of attack by the enemy army at the head of the city began, and more than [-] barrels of kerosene hit the ship. The fire became more intense, and the black smoke filled the air. More than [-] soldiers were unfortunately hit by arrows.

The crossbowmen on the boat jumped out of the boat and went to the shore one after another. Yu Hongwu and more than twenty black-armored soldiers also took off their armor and jumped into the river to escape.

The whole ship was engulfed in flames and began to sink rapidly, and soon the river flooded the decks and the ship capsized.

Yu Hongwu looked back at the big ship, and the big ship had disappeared, only half of the mast was still exposed on the water.

With a long sigh, Yu Hongwu swam to the shore with all his strength...

The attack fell short, and the generals watching the battle on the shore all sighed, but another trace of worry flashed in Chen Qing's eyes. There were twenty iron fire mines on board, but only five exploded before and after, and fifteen more sank into the river. Never let the enemy get it.

Chen Qing immediately said to Yang Zaixing: "Immediately send the water ghost down to get the Iron Fire Thunder, there are fifteen in total, not one less!"

……

At two o'clock, more than a dozen small boats gradually approached the sinking place. More than 100 water ghosts wearing black water tanks jumped into the water and dived to the bottom. The water ghosts quickly found the sunken boat and began to search in the cabin. , not long after, the water ghosts found three boxes of iron fire mines from the cabin, and none of the covers were removed. There were four boxes in each box, twelve in total.

But there were still three iron fire mines that could not be found. Suddenly, they were discovered by the defenders at the top of the city. The defenders at the top of the city shouted, and more than 2000 defenders shot arrows into the water together. Later, several water ghosts were shot by arrows and unfortunately died in battle. The situation was not good, and the rest of the water ghosts had to evacuate quickly.

However, there are still a few water ghosts left behind. Their task is no longer to search for the iron fire mine, but to investigate the piling situation of the enemy army at the bottom of the water.

In the big tent, Yu Hongwu is reporting to Chen Qing the reason for the failure of the attack.

"Under normal circumstances, ships can rush into the city with the help of inertia, but I didn't expect that the enemy army had installed concealed equipment in the water. The ship was stuck and could not move. It became a living target for the attack from the city. Gunpowder, and the bed crossbow, the 28 black-armored soldiers who died were all shot by the bed crossbow."

Chen Qing nodded and asked again: "Can Yu Tongzhi confirm that only five iron fire mines exploded? We searched repeatedly, and only found twelve, three missing."

Yu Hongwu lowered his head and thought for a while: "The last explosion was in the water. One of our brothers jumped into the water holding the iron fire mine that had been ignited. I can feel it. The power of the last explosion was so powerful that the ship was almost toppled. Turning over is definitely not the power of a single iron fire thunder, it should be several explosions at the same time."

"What's the name of this soldier?"

"It's called Zhang Wen, from Jingzhao Lantian County, and his parents are still there!"

Chen Qing turned to join the army and said, "Write it down, order the military department to find Zhang Wen's parents and give him three times the pension. His parents will be supported by the county."

"Humble job is written down."

At this time, Luo Kuan, the chief craftsman of the Firearms Bureau next to him, said to Chen Qing: "His Royal Highness, we have done experiments many times. If it explodes in a box, then the other iron fire mines put together will be blown up. The iron shell is very Brittle, rough, and easily broken, it will never remain the same, even if it is found, it will be half an iron shell at most, and it is meaningless for the enemy to get it."

Chen Qing nodded, and said to everyone: "The two failed attacks also let us see that the enemy's defense is very tight. According to the information obtained by the water ghost, there are thousands of hidden piles underwater. Not only The entrances and exits at both ends of the Luoshui River were sealed off, and the entrance to the moat was also sealed off, that is to say, attacking from the waterway was no longer realistic, so I decided to give up attacking from the waterway.”

"Then we can only go back to the original idea, blowing up the city gate with an iron rhino?" Yang Zaixing said in frustration.

Chen Qing still shook his head, "Zhe Keqiu is a famous general among Zhe family generals. He is experienced and seasoned. It can be seen from the siege of Luoshui that the defense he deployed was watertight. He blocked the boat with two iron chains and blocked it with hidden underwater stakes. Big ships, kerosene and gunpowder are used very skillfully, and bed crossbows, I am almost sure that he has deployed a large number of bed crossbows on the pontoon bridge in the city and on the shore, just to deal with our wolf pack tactics, so fortunately we did not Use a small boat full of soldiers to force a breakthrough, otherwise the entire army will definitely be destroyed."

Speaking of this, Chen Qing stared at Yang Zaixing and said, "Such an opponent, do you think he will make a mistake and give our soldiers a chance to approach the city gate or the city wall?"

"I don't know, but I should try it!" Yang Zaixing whispered after a moment of silence.

Liu Cui said: "Your Highness, what do you mean that we should abandon the idea of ​​trickery and prepare for a tough battle?"

Chen Qing glanced at Yang Zaixing, and said to Liu Cui and everyone: "We also have advantages, that is, heavy trebuchets and thousand-pace guns. I only discovered now that they are actually the main force to attack Luoyang. Now everyone go back and rest. It's time for the artisans to be busy."

Everyone got up and dispersed, Yang Zaixing stood up and said to Chen Qing in a low voice: "Your Highness, I really don't want to be reconciled to being humbled, I want to try again."

Chen Qing said lightly: "You can try it out, but it's best not to use Tiehuolei, and you can't let Tiehuolei fall into the opponent's hands."

Yang Zaixing resolutely promised: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will never let Tie Huolei fall into the opponent's hands. If I miss and fall into the bandit army, I am willing to use military law to deal with it!"

Chen Qing understood Yang Zaixing's stubbornness very well, and he would never be reconciled to not letting him experience failure, so he nodded and agreed, "Yes! You write a military order, and I will allow you to try."

……

While Chen Qing was discussing countermeasures with the generals in the central army account, the commander-in-chief of Luoyang City, Zhe Keqiu, was also discussing defensive countermeasures with a dozen generals.

Zhe Keqiu said to everyone: "I received a letter from Wan Yanchang asking us to pay attention to the iron fire mines of the enemy army. They are very powerful. A single iron fire mine could destroy the gate of Datong city. I didn't believe it at first, but I witnessed it with my own eyes today, and I realized that this thing is really powerful, if we can't prevent it, Luoyang City will definitely fall."

"Does the commander think that the Song army will attack from Luoshui again?" a general asked.

Zhe Keqiu shook his head, "Frankly speaking, I don't know. If I were Chen Qing, I would definitely give up Luoshui. He should be very clear that Luoshui has no chance. It doesn't matter whether it's a big boat, a small boat or swimming. If they break through Luoshui, they can only attack the city instead."

Speaking of this, Zhe Keqiu sternly said to everyone: "Chen Qing's army is best at sneak attacks at night. I must strictly implement the [-] rules for night defense that I have formulated. Whoever dares not to implement or perfunctory me will be punished by military law." Talk about chopping!"

Everyone saluted in unison: "Follow the order!"

Chapter 973

Yang Zaixing didn't sleep well all night. In his more than ten years of military career, the pressure has never been as great as today. He repeatedly considered various details, various possibilities, and various countermeasures. Go to sleep.

The next day, Yang Zaixing discussed the details of the operation with Li Muqing, the deputy general. Li Muqing was not very in favor of this operation, but seeing that Yang Zaixing had put his heart and soul into it, he no longer objected, and began to fully cooperate with Yang Zaixing's plan.

Night fell again, the night was cloudy, a crescent moon passed through the clouds, and the earth was bright and dark.

Thirty thousand Song troops lay in ambush two miles away. Yang Zaixing personally led a thousand assault troops to crawl forward, about [-] steps away from the city gate, and could no longer move forward. The army is patrolling back and forth.

What Yang Zaixing was worried about was the horse-faced wall. From the horse-faced wall, you can see the situation under the city wall. Although not every city has a horse-faced wall, it is impossible for a big city like Luoyang, Xijing, not to have a horse-faced wall.

But no patrolling soldiers were seen on the horse-faced wall, which made Yang Zaixing calm down a little. He turned his head and waved his hand. Twenty soldiers were running around carrying a large box with an iron rhinoceros in it. It was because Hong Wu led the troops himself.

The 20 soldiers were divided into two groups, one in front and one in the back. The first five people carried the iron fire thunder, and the 15 people in the back were to support them. If they missed, they would quickly withdraw. The 1000 people led by Yang Zaixing were the second wave of support.

Response is the key to Yang Zaixing's plan. As long as the response is timely and sufficient, even if the enemy finds out, Tie Huolei can be snatched back and will not fall into the enemy's hands.

"Wait!" Yu Hongwu called out to five of his men, and he unscrewed the waterproof wooden cover on the Tie Huo Lei, exposing the matchlock and Huo Lei's opening.

"If the situation is critical, start the fire immediately, no matter where it is!"

"Follow the order!"

The five soldiers agreed, and carried the wooden boxes and ran towards the moat a hundred steps away. The moon was covered by clouds and the sky was dark. They ran faster and gradually approached the moat. The moat of Luoyang City is very wide and deep. It was more than ten feet wide. A soldier slipped into the water gently, tested the situation of the moat, and swam back after a while. There was no problem. The others lifted the box and carefully prepared to put it into the water.

Yang Zaixing's heart was almost in his throat, at this moment, a flash of light flashed on the wall facing the horse.

"not good!"

Yang Zaixing immediately realized that something was wrong, and someone was watching over the wall.

I saw hundreds of soldiers standing up suddenly on the top of the city, and they all drew their bows and shot at several soldiers. Hundreds of crossbow arrows were shot down at the same time. The iron rhinoceros like a big wax gourd rolled out and rolled directly into the moat.

Seeing this, Yu Hongwu was heartbroken. He jumped up and rushed towards the moat desperately, but was thrown to the ground by several of his men. Dozens of arrows shot over their heads. A soldier let out a muffled cry, and he was shot in the leg by an arrow.

Yang Zaixing's heart sank into the ice cave with Tie Huolei, he stood up and shouted: "Follow me!"