Thief Emperor

Chapter 620: The Sound of the Times

Although Zhou Xu did not have much experience in large-scale combat, during his long career as a military governor, the things he did most, apart from sleeping with women, were suppressing bandits and quelling riots.

Otherwise, there would be some minor conflicts with the Fanyang army.

But Zhou Xu is definitely a smart man. Despite his many years of nonsense, his abilities have not been wasted. He is still able to understand the battle situation and command all the troops of the Pinglu Army.

And now, this situation has become obvious.

After two days and two nights of high-intensity attack, the Pinglu Army outside the city paid a considerable price, but tens of thousands of Pinglu Army soldiers were able to attack in rotation in units of duwei battalions, and everyone basically still retained their vitality and combat effectiveness.

The Chuzhou defenders in the city were clearly unable to hold on any longer, and even the supplies for defending the city were running out!

"Thank you, thank you!"

General Zhou shouted, and his deputy general Xie Zhao immediately ran over, walked in front of Zhou Xu, bowed his head, and saluted, "General!"

"Attack, attack!"

Zhou Xu said it twice, and then said in a deep voice: "They can't hold on any longer! You lead the team yourself, and attack for one more day at most. They have to break out of the city even if they don't surrender!"

The five thousand elite Jiangdong soldiers would not have been in such a miserable state even if they had defended the city for a few days against the siege of tens of thousands of Pinglu troops.

If it is a big city like Yangzhou, it can even be defended stably for several months or even half a year.

However, the capital of Chuzhou was too small after all, far from big enough. In addition, the Pinglu Army really spent a huge price to attack Chuzhou. In just two days, Chuzhou was already on the verge of collapse!
Xie Zhao also saw some clues. After hearing Zhou Xu's words, he quickly bowed his head, clasped his fists, and said with a smile: "Yes, General, I will go right away!"

Zhou Xu looked towards the Chuzhou battlefield.

Even this man who had served as the Jiedushi of Pinglu for decades and the local emperor of Qingzhou for decades was a little excited at this moment.

Because now, he is almost certain that there is at least a 90% chance that Li Yun is in this Chuzhou city!

If they could capture Chuzhou and take down Li Yun, not only would the threat from the Pinglu Army for the next ten years disappear, they might even be able to gain enormous benefits from Jiangdong!
Apart from anything else, this time when the imperial court presides over the distribution of food in the southeast, the Pinglu Army will definitely get a big portion, and eat it in big mouthfuls!
As General Zhou was excited, more than 10,000 Pinglu troops, under the command of Xie Zhao, attacked Chuzhou City from all sides of Chuzhou at the same time!
If there are enough troops in Chuzhou City, the attacking party will often not attack the city in this way, but will randomly choose one to three directions from the four city gates to attack the city, so as to maximize the distraction of the defenders in the city.

But now, knowing that Chuzhou is short of troops, the Pinglu Army will naturally send all of them forward.

Maximum pressure!

Li Yun, who was squatting behind the battlements at the north gate, stood up and looked at the large number of enemy troops that were about to rush in. He narrowed his eyes, clenched his fists, and said in a hoarse voice: "Change people, change people!"

"Get the firearm!"

Thunder bombs have been weaponized for a long time.

Since the tank body was cast with pig iron, the yield rate of "Thunder Bomb" has been updated and iterated several times. By the first half of this year, the latest batch of Thunder Bombs can guarantee that nine out of ten can explode!

This standard can be fully applied on the battlefield.

In fact, if Li Yun was willing, he could have applied this thing on the battlefield in the past two years. However, at that time, the thunder bomb had not been fully formed and its power was not strong enough.

In addition, this thing is good for defending the city. There was no good application scenario before, so it was always hidden by Li Yun as one of his trump cards.

He had not even announced the name "Sky-Thunder Bombs". This time when he brought them out, he just called them firearms to avoid leaking the news.

After all, once you hear the three words "Thunder", you can guess 50% to 60% of their uses.

Soon, boxes of firearms were carried onto the city wall.

Li Yun called the captain guarding the city wall, pointed at the firearms, and shouted, "Someone from the guard camp will teach you how to use them in a moment. To put it simply, light them and throw them down!"

"do you understand!"

The captain nodded quickly after being yelled at by Li Yun: "Go back to your seat, I...I..."

"I should understand!"

"it is good!"

Li Yun came down from the tower with a spear in hand and shouted, "The enemy will arrive in a short time. When they can't hold on any longer, use firearms!"

"If you make any mistakes at this time, I will punish you by military law!"

After saying that, Li Yun didn't even look at him, and went down the city wall with his gun in hand.

If it were an ordinary army of this era, Li Yun, as the commander, would have gone up and down the city wall at this critical moment. Even if the soldiers defending the city did not run away, their morale would at least have plummeted.

Most people would think that their main general had run away.

But in the Jiangdong Army, this kind of situation would not happen. No one would think that Li Yun would leave them, and some generals brought out by Li Yun even hoped that Li Yun could escape from Chuzhou City!

After Li Yun came down from the tower with his gun, he strode to the place where the soldiers who had just been replaced were resting.

At this moment, they had just come down for a cup of tea, and many of them collapsed on the ground without saying a word. Many of them were drinking water in big gulps.

There were also people lying on the ground, staring at the sky, not knowing what they were thinking.

"Is there anyone who still has the strength?"

Li Yun took a deep breath and shouted, "I need three hundred people to charge with me!"

As the founder of this army and the most meritorious and capable general in the army, Li Yun's reputation in the Jiangdong Army is unparalleled.

At this moment, as soon as he finished speaking, almost everyone stood up and looked at Li Yun in unison.

"I still have the strength!"

They looked at Li Yun, and Li Yun also looked at them, and couldn't help laughing.

At this moment, he felt that neither the number of troops nor the firearms were important.

Just with this morale, Li Yun will definitely be able to achieve great success!
With this morale alone, he has the qualifications and ability to challenge the heroes of the world!

"well!"

Li Yun shouted "good" twice, and then he said in a hoarse voice: "Brothers, take a break for a while, and then come to the north gate to find me!"

After saying that, he walked out with his gun.

Many people stood up and followed Li Yun back to the north gate.

On the battlefield, the sound of killing was deafening.

The bolt of the north gate creaked as it was hit by the battering ram outside the city.

From the city wall, there were shouts and sounds of swords clashing, it was quite lively.

Li Yun strode up to the city wall and saw at a glance a dozen Pinglu soldiers who had rushed up to the city wall. He strode forward, shot a Pinglu soldier in the heart, then drew his gun and turned around, sweeping another Pinglu soldier off the city wall.

Then, Li Yun looked at the battlefield, made a prompt decision, and shouted: "Fire flares, fire flares, use firearms!"

The purpose of firing flares is to notify the defenders in the other three directions, and at the same time use firearms to maximize the effect!

After issuing this order, Li Yun went down the city wall without looking back and came to the north gate. He took out a black mask from his arms, covered his face with it, and then looked at the north gate in front of him with an expressionless face!
At this time, the captain guarding the city on the tower had already picked up a thunder bomb, lit it with a torch, and threw it down the city without even looking at it!

He didn't know what this thing was, because it was very heavy in his hand, and he even thought it should be used to replace the Rolling Stone.

Just hitting people with iron tools is really too extravagant.

His hands were very fast. He had just thrown out the first thunder bomb when he had already picked up the second one. However, as soon as he took the second one in his hand, he froze in place!
Only a loud "boom" was heard!
Screams were heard from under the city wall. The captain who threw out the first firearm turned back blankly and looked towards the city.

The place where he had thrown the "iron lump" just now had now collapsed, with people lying on the ground wailing everywhere!
What hurt the most people was not the shock wave caused by the gunpowder, but the brittle iron can skin that was exploded by the gunpowder!

After these iron pieces were exploded by the gunpowder, they flew everywhere. Although they did not kill too many people, they at least caused a lot of injuries!

"This this…"

The first captain who threw the thunder bomb was named Huang. He was only in his twenties. When he saw this situation, even he was stunned.

“What is this…what is this?!”

He was stunned!
With a casual throw, at least twenty people were lying under the city wall!

He couldn't help but look at the second thunder bomb in his hand and swallowed hard!

This thing is so damn evil. It looks insignificant, but when it is thrown down, the power is almost as strong as a huge rock!
If we rely on this to defend the city, what do we have to fear no matter how many enemies come?
Although Captain Huang was stunned for a moment, he quickly reacted, looked around, and shouted, "Throw the firearms! Throw the firearms!"

"Remember it all, light it up and throw it down, light it up and throw it down!"

Following Captain Huang's order, more thunder bombs were thrown down from the city wall and exploded in the Pinglu Army formation below the city!

One after another, thunder bombs fell into the crowd and exploded with a loud bang, accompanied by the screams and panic of the Pinglu Army soldiers!
At this moment, the battlefield in the northern city of Chuzhou seemed to have suddenly leapt into a battlefield filled with raging artillery fire!
At the same time, explosions were heard from the direction of the other three city gates.

The north gate of Chuzhou slowly opened.
Li Yun, wearing black armor and a black mask, strode forward, taking the lead and walking ahead of everyone else.
"Their army is in disarray!"

Li Yun turned around and shouted, "It's all my hard work. Good man, now's your chance to build a career with me!"

He rushed forward with his gun in hand and shouted angrily.

"Kill!"

(End of this chapter)