weaving

Chapter 1455 Scattering Beans to Create Soldiers?

On the second day of the eighth lunar month, at 1:15 noon, outside the north gate of Zhuxian Town.

All soldiers of the White Tiger Battalion of the Brave Army are in position and ready to attack the north gate of Zhuxian Town.

At noon, the sky was clear and cloudless, and the high-hanging sun shone with dazzling light.

"Boom!" A cannon shot rang out, marking the beginning of the great battle between the rebel leader Chuang Wang and the Yongyi Army in Zhuxian Town.

First, a cannon shot rang out from the center of the north gate.

Then, another cannon shot rang out from the west side of the North Gate, followed by another cannon shot from the east side of the North Gate.

Just as Gao Yigong was wondering, two more cannon shots were fired from the center of the north gate, and one more shot each from the west and east. After that, there was no further sound, as if the Yongyi Army's artillery had fallen silent.

Wang Erniu was the younger brother of Wang Daniu, a personal guard of the rebel king. After becoming a member of the rebel army, he had always served as a personal guard by Gao Yigong's side.

"Uncle, what's the government army doing? They fired a few shots and then went silent?"

Gao Yigong stood on the gate tower of the north gate of Zhuxian Town, staring intently at the outside world, carefully observing every blade of grass and tree. Although he did not look at Wang Erniu, he said, "Who knows? Maybe the cannonball missed."

But he immediately shook his head and muttered to himself, "That shouldn't be the case. We haven't even fired a few shots at Xianggong Temple. We shouldn't be out of ammunition by now."

"Oh no..." Gao Yigong seemed to remember something: "Oh no!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he heard a series of booming sounds coming from a mile away. Puffs of grayish-white smoke instantly spread out, and one could clearly see black iron balls shooting out of the smoke, heading straight towards the gate of the village.

"Quickly, defend! The government troops are attacking the city!"

However, the cannon fire from the opposing Yongyi Army was too dense, creating a continuous booming sound. Apart from his personal guards, the enemy soldiers who were a little further away could not hear Gao Yigong's shouts clearly at all.

However, even a fool could guess from the current situation that the Yongyi Army was about to attack the city, and this wave of artillery bombardment would inevitably be extremely fierce.

Even without Gao Yigong's reminder, they knew to avoid the intense shelling in front of them. One by one, they either hid behind the crenellations or ran towards the base of the stockade wall, trying to avoid the bombardment.

Most of the men following Gao Yigong were old thieves. They remained calm in the face of the Yongyi Army's artillery barrage. Although they were shocked by the simultaneous firing of so many cannons, they did not run away to avoid them. Instead, they kept their eyes on the incoming cannonballs, estimating their landing points and avoiding them in advance.

Even Gao Yigong felt the same way. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. However, he remained calm and stood there watching the plumes of smoke rising from the North Gate.

Wang Erniu stood in front of Gao Yigong, his expression resolute and courageous, as if he wanted to shield Gao Yigong from the incoming cannonballs.

Although Wang Erniu hadn't considered the power of the cannonball, which could have easily pierced both him and Gao Yigong in one shot, Gao Yigong was very pleased and moved by his loyalty.

Wang Erniu was lucky, or perhaps it should be said that Gao Yigong was lucky...

The cannonballs fired head-on really did bypass the two of them. The closest one came less than two feet away from Wang Erniu, almost brushing past him. Both Wang Erniu and Gao Yigong's faces were stinging from the gust of wind.

Not only were the two of them lucky, but most of the bandits were unharmed, and not many were hit by cannon fire.

Of course, this was mainly because the Yongyi Army's cannons were aimed at the north gate, not at the enemy soldiers on the stockade wall. Otherwise, how could only a few scattered cannonballs have landed on the stockade wall?
As for the North Gate, Gao Yigong was still at ease, because the inside of the gate had been filled with mounds of earth and rubble, and the entire gate opening had been blocked tightly. So what if the North Gate was breached? It would take the government troops two or three days to dig through the North Gate's opening, not to mention the constant attacks and harassment from the bandit troops on the stockade walls!
The Yongyi Army's shelling of the north gate of Zhuxian Town lasted for less than fifteen minutes before it stopped. Just when Gao Yigong thought he could catch his breath, he heard the rumbling of cannons coming from the east and west sides almost simultaneously.

Moreover, the cannon fire from the east side of the north gate seemed to be more intense than that from the west side!
"Uncle, the sound of cannons is rising from the east. Should we send troops to provide support?" a lieutenant reminded him.

Gao Yigong shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice, "No rush, let's wait and see. The government troops haven't started attacking the city yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw billowing smoke rising again from the Yongyi Army's position outside the North Gate, but he did not hear any artillery fire. Just as he was wondering, he saw a sky full of cold light, sparks flying towards the North Gate.

"Rocket, it's a rocket..." Gao Yigong shouted, "Quick, hide, everyone hide!"

Rockets are not as sparse as cannons, and cannons have relatively obvious flight trajectories, making them easier to dodge; however, rockets are too fast, at least faster than cannons made of iron or stone.

Furthermore, the cannonballs rely on bombardment and ricochet attacks. Although they can fire a whole bunch of bullets at once, you can avoid the landing point and the ricochet point as long as you avoid them. After all, such large cannonballs are easy to spot.

Rockets are different. They rely on coverage fire, and they are faster, more powerful, and much smaller. Although they can be seen, it is not easy to accurately estimate their impact point.

This time, the bandits were even more panicked. Even Gao Yigong was dragged behind the crenellated wall by Wang Erniu and other personal guards to avoid the brunt of the Yongyi Army's rockets.

"Beware of the government troops attacking the city! Keep an eye on the outside of the walls!"

Even so, Gao Yigong still shouted loudly to remind the bandits to pay attention to observation and defense.

Unlike the booming sounds of artillery fire, the dense firing of rockets, though noisy, could not completely drown out Gao Yigong's shouts. The bandits hiding behind the crenellated walls peeked out to observe the commotion outside.

Sure enough, Gao Yigong, that old scoundrel, had foreseen everything.

As rockets rained down from the sky, the brave soldiers of the Yongyi Army carried long ladders and rushed towards the walls on both sides of the North Gate. Even more terrifying, they were also pushing a ram, heading straight for the North Gate.

Gao Yigong ignored whether the north gate had been breached or not, and paid no attention to the wrecked vehicle. He simply shouted a warning to his commander: "Watch the ladder. Don't let the government troops climb the wall."

"Get the battering ram and push bar ready, and the long ladder up the wall, then push it open for me!"

…………

"Uncle, government troops are attacking the city from the west..."

"...Government troops are attacking the city from the east..."

"...Government troops are also attacking the city from the south..."

Messages kept pouring into Gao Yigong's group...

Zhuxian Town was besieged on all sides by government troops, with at least four or five thousand troops on each side. The attack was fierce. Although the defensive forces were still sufficient, the situation was already critical.

Gao Yigong couldn't understand why the government army, which had less than 100,000 troops in total, had suddenly transferred more than 20,000 elite government troops to attack Zhuxian Town after deducting the number of troops sent to harass the old camp at Funiu Mountain and to prevent the rebel army from gathering supplies.
If we calculate it this way, the government troops that were confronting Chuang Wang in Xinchengji only numbered fifty to sixty thousand. So how did they manage to drive Chuang Wang's army away from Longwang Temple?

"Could it be... that Zhang Cheng possesses the magic of turning beans into soldiers?"