Kai Fu Han

Chapter 498 Battle in Cangzhou 5
Zhao'an County is very close to Wumai County, more than 20 miles away.

The army marched until noon and could already see the city wall of Wuma County.

Wumai County is named after the Wumai River, which is located in the north of Wumai County. There is a town called Wumai Town next to the Wumai River.Wukai County is a little far from the river bank, so the water transport terminals are all located in Wukai Town. Wukai County does not have a moat.

"The navy has occupied Wuzhen Town and cut off the connection between other prefectures and counties in Cangzhou north of the Wuzhen River and Wuzhen County." Xu Zhonghui reported: "The Jin army is still in Qingchi County, probably because of our harassment , resulting in the grain and grass not arriving as planned, so we waited in Qingchi County."

The army was resting where it was. Since there was no need to rush to occupy Wuzhu County, there was no need for soldiers to eat dry food.The cooking stoves of each cooking class were quickly set up, the dry firewood that had been prepared was ignited, and rice steamed on the pot.

On the makeshift chopping board, the cook's kitchen knife was chopping vegetables quickly.

"This Jin Army is very strange. Even if they don't know the military situation of our Xinghan League, they shouldn't be so negligent." Liu Xinqi frowned: "Are there any other abnormal signs?"

After Xu Zhong was reminded by Liu Xinqi, he thought for a while and replied: "There is one thing. The Jin army marched south this time and forcibly recruited a large number of civilians along the way. According to spies, the number of civilians gathered in Qingchi County has reached 7. , and it is still increasing. This should be the reason why the Jin army stopped to wait for food and grass. There are too many mouths to eat."

In this era, the general preparation time for a war mobilizing tens of thousands of people is calculated in years.According to this standard, it is understandable that the Jin army marched slower.

However, Liu Xinqi still had some doubts: "The Jin army just waited? Didn't they divide their troops and go out to collect food?"

"That's not true." Xu Zhong also realized something was wrong.

"Go to the front line to investigate in person. I always feel that the Jin Army is holding back some bad tricks. Liu Xinbao will be responsible for the intelligence of the army." Liu Xinqi arranged.

"Yes!" After Xu Zhong accepted the order, he went down to hand over to Liu Xinbao.

At this time Liu Zhijie came over with a plate of food.

"Eat some."

"Okay." Liu Xinqi saw that there was only a pair of chopsticks on the plate and knew that it was for him. Liu Zhijie should have already eaten.

"Are we going to attack the city today?" Seeing Liu Xinqi sitting on the ground, Liu Zhijie also squatted down.

"The small town of Wumai sent [-] troops to Zhao'an County before, but it must be empty now. Just take it today." Liu Xinqi replied.

"Well, then I'll get ready."

"Okay, check again with Liu Xinbao, be careful." All cities in Hebei have already set up listening points, so when the army arrives, the spies in the city will find a way to convey the truth about the defenders in the city.

"no problem."

After Liu Zhijie left, Liu Xinqi quickly finished the food on his plate, and the guard stepped forward to collect the plate.

Just as he was about to ask someone to call Liu Xinbao over, Liu Xinqi came over on his own.

"The handover has been completed. We just sent the golden eagle into the city. The layout of the city is now clear." Liu Xinbao reported directly: "There are only more than 2000 defenders, but there is a lot of food and grass, more than ten thousand stones."

"Okay, it seems that this time the siege must prevent the defenders from jumping over the wall." Liu Xinqi was worried that the defenders would set fire to the food and grass when they saw that they could not hold on.

"Should we arrange for someone to go in and watch first to prevent the defenders from burning food?" Liu Xinbao asked.

"Okay, send some soldiers in and lurk around the food storage point." Liu Xinqi nodded in agreement.

After having lunch and resting for half an hour, the army set off again, heading towards Wuma County.

When they were three miles away from the city wall, the army stopped, and as usual, the surrender messenger rode alone toward the city gate.The heavy artillery battalion of the [-]th Field Brigade moved forward and began to assemble heavy artillery two miles away from the city wall.

The "Jingyan Three-Year Type Heavy Artillery" cannot be used directly on the gun carriage due to its excessive recoil. The gun carriage must be set up first to prevent the recoil from damaging the wheels.

There are matching rough wooden brackets, and all joints and joints are made of iron, and the heavy artillery was erected quickly.Liu Xinqi looked at the courier who persuaded him to surrender in the distance, and shot an arrow from the city gate tower, and shot it in front of the courier's horse, and the courier turned back directly.

"The talks should have collapsed." Liu Xinbao guessed.

"Well, the military leaders of these cities are basically Jurchen Tatars, unlike the previous Bohai County, so they will not surrender easily." Liu Xinqi continued.

The messenger quickly returned and reported the results of the surrender to the frontline commander Liu Zhijie, and then the drummer next to Liu Zhijie began to beat the drum.

This was a signal to attack, and it seemed that persuading them to surrender had indeed failed.

The artillerymen of the ten heavy artillery pieces began to load and insert fuses. After the preparations were completed, everyone except the gunner turned their backs to the artillery and covered their ears.

The muzzle of the gun was calibrated in advance. The Xinghan League's artillery technology has developed so far that there is no need to calibrate the gun in front of the formation.

"Woo!" The brass horn sounded.

The torch came to the fuse and lit it.

"Boom!" "Boom!"...

Ten heavy artillery pieces fired one after another, and the [-]-pound shells flew over two miles in an instant and hit the city gate tower and the city wall. Six of the shells hit directly, and three of them hit the city gate tower.

Half of the city gate tower was directly destroyed.Three small gaps were also blown out of the left and right city walls.

"Calibrate! Target city gate." The commander of the heavy artillery battalion ordered loudly.

The gunners stood up and began to clean the barrel of the gun with a wet cloth, charge and reload, while the gunner made fine adjustments to the gun.

"Ready!" "Launch!"

The heavy artillery array fired another salvo.

This time, five artillery shells landed around the city gate, and the wall in the city gate section was directly destroyed.

"It's so powerful!" Liu Xinbao exclaimed.

"Indeed." Liu Xinqi replied, but he was thinking in his heart that this was just a solid bullet. In the future, with high explosives, he could make some high explosive bombs and the whole tower could be destroyed with one shot.

"Forward!" There was a roar from ahead, and the rhythm of the drums changed accordingly.

The infantry formation began to move forward. Following the infantry formation was the Tiger Crouching Cannon. The Tiger Crouching Cannon's trajectory was projectile, which could avoid hurting one's own people and could be used as support firepower for the infantry to siege the city.

As the infantry formation advanced, the defenders, who were already bombarded by heavy artillery, became even more confused.

When they approached one mile from the city wall, the Tiger Crouching Cannon stopped and started firing. A large wave of explosive shells fell on the city wall, setting off a bloody storm.

The infantry array continued to advance, and when it approached sixty steps, some musketeers lined up and fired at the wall.

The attacking infantry entered the city directly across the gap in the collapsed city wall without any resistance.

"There is a plume of smoke!" Liu Xinbao warned, his tone a little angry: "These dogs really arranged for people to burn food."

Fortunately, after a while, the smoke column became thinner and then disappeared. It should be that the soldiers who entered the city killed the person who set the fire and put out the fire in time.

(End of this chapter)