I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 426: Changing the Method of Attacking the City
Wu Weizhong pointed to Thang Long Fort in the distance and said, "General Pan, look, this side of the wall is the east gate of Thang Long Fort.

During the Yongle reign, the Ming Dynasty recovered Annan and set up Jiaozhi Provincial Administration. Then the court recruited thousands of craftsmen from the interior, and tens of thousands of local laborers, and it took two years to build it. Originally, a new city was expanded to serve as the seat of Jiaozhi Provincial Administration, and to permanently govern Annan.

As fate would have it, they abandoned the city right after the East Gate was built. Now it has become the most solid section of Thang Long City.

The walls of the other three gates were built by the Annan people based on the East Gate, recruiting 100,000 civilians and taking five years to build. They were then repeatedly repaired and reinforced over the next few decades. Although they are not as strong as the East Gate, they are still sufficient. "

Pan Yinglong raised the telescope and saw people coming and going on the city wall, flags flying, and various fortifications, including baffles, spikes, and several pots used for boiling soup.

The city wall was in ruins, with some gaps that looked like artillery positions.

Annan began to use firearms very early, and these cannons were attacked by the Ming army and were destroyed long ago.

More than a hundred meters below the city, a moat meandered around the city wall. It was full of water and was three or four meters wide. A wooden fence was built along the moat.

Behind the fence, another trench was being dug. Thousands of laborers could be seen working hard in the trench. Cartloads of soil were pushed out by wheelbarrows and piled more than ten meters behind the second trench, gradually forming an earth dam.

The earthen dam also meandered around the city wall, running from left to right. On the earthen dam, Ming army officers and soldiers were busy. Every so often, the earthen dam turned into a square earthen rampart with cannons and mortars mounted on it.

The long guns were all 24-jin heavy guns, with the barrels more than a person's length, mounted on gun carriages and sunken in the earthen bunkers. More than a dozen artillerymen were busy.

The gun barrel was cleaned, ammunition was inserted, the angle was adjusted, and the cannon was fired. With a loud bang, the shell whizzed out and hit the city wall heavily. That section of the wall was shaking, and a large cloud of dust rose.

When the dust settled, a group of pits appeared on the city wall.

The mortar is a 36-jin cannon with a short and thick barrel and a huge muzzle. More than a dozen artillerymen are busy around it but there is no chaos.

Clean the barrel and stuff the ammunition in. However, the mortar's shells are fuse shells, so the gunner needs to cut the fuse on the shell according to the measured distance.

The shell was carefully placed into the muzzle with the fuse sticking out.

The two gunners first lit the fuse of the shell and then lit the mortar's primer.

With a muffled bang, the mortar spewed out fire, and in a cloud of green smoke, the shell fell somewhere on the city wall. After a few breaths, a cloud of black smoke rose in the fire and the shell exploded.

Pan Yinglong put down the telescope and asked, "General Wu, are you planning to blow up Thang Long City like this?"

"Yes."

"The effect is not obvious."

"The bombardment at the East Gate is just a diversion. We will focus on the North Gate. We have 22 cannons and 21 mortars there.

The North Gate is close to the Tao River, and every day the brothers from the Right Camp of the Navy would send out four gunboats with 16-jin and 24-jin naval guns to help bombard the North Gate.

"Go and see."

"Let's go around this way."

Quarter of an hour later, Pan Yinglong and Wu Weizhong went around to the north gate, which was indeed very close to Taojiang River.

The Tao River is wide and turbulent in the rainy season, with waves crashing against the embankment on the shore, less than three miles from the north gate of Thang Long City. The nearest section of the city wall is less than a mile from the river.

The Ming army also dug two trenches here and built an earthen dam more than 20 meters high. The dam was covered with artillery positions, and more than 40 long guns and mortars were constantly firing at the north gate.

Six naval warships were parked on the river, firing their guns on one side at the city wall closest to the river.

Pan Yinglong looked through a telescope and found that the section of the city wall at the north gate was severely damaged. It was obvious that a section of the city wall had collapsed and was blocked.

Pan Yinglong pointed at that section of the city wall and was about to ask a question when a large dark cloud floated over from the sky. Wu Weizhong hurriedly called him to go into the wooden village on the earth dam.

As soon as I entered the gate of the wooden village, I heard the sound of heavy rain, and the sky and the earth were instantly covered by heavy rain.

The gunners at each gun position hurriedly packed up the ammunition and moved it to the wooden sentry posts of the gun position fortifications, while covering the guns with oilcloth covers.

The warships on the river also stopped firing.

The deafening artillery sounds just now all stopped, and there was only the dense and noisy sound of rain between heaven and earth, which made the silence seem very eerie.

Wu Weizhong pointed at the heavy rain outside and said, "You see, it's this heavy rain that's causing trouble! We couldn't fire a few shots before it started raining, so we had to stop.

General Pan, we finally managed to destroy the section of the city wall you pointed out just now. However, before we could launch an attack, a rainstorm came and the ground became muddy and full of puddles, making it impossible to attack.

When the rain stopped, the defenders blocked the gap, which was really infuriating."

Pan Yinglong roughly understood it.

"If the weather is fine, it will be ready in half a month."

"Yes, if it was autumn or winter, I would have taken down Thang Long City long ago. But it happens to be the rainy season these few months." "General Wu, by autumn or winter, it will be past March."

Wu Weizhong sighed, "That's why I'm so anxious. Please ask General Pan to come and give us some advice."

Pan Yinglong thought for a moment and asked, "What about digging a tunnel?"

Wu Weizhong pointed to the two trenches in front and said, "General Pan, look at those two trenches. We dug them with great difficulty. The key is that it rains frequently, and the trenches are soaked with water when it rains. In the end, we had no choice but to arrange tens of thousands of Annan laborers to work in sections, with wooden boards separating each section and water trucks to pump water.

The trenches were so difficult to dig, not to mention the tunnels. We tried to dig 100 to 200 meters, and more than a dozen people died. A heavy rain suddenly came, breaking the outer earth dam and rushing into the tunnels. The laborers didn’t have time to run out and were drowned in the tunnels.

"If we can't dig tunnels, we can't bury gunpowder under the city walls and blast open the city."

After hearing what Wu Weizhong said, Pan Yinglong also found the situation very difficult.

The sound of rain outside was getting heavier, as if a lake from the sky was pouring down, wanting to flood the entire earth.

Wu Weizhong's face was filled with worry.

"General Pan, there are only 27 days left. I am at a loss as to what to do, but I don't want my brothers to attack the city like ants, getting exhausted and helpless!"

When ants attack a city, they attack the city regardless of casualties and use human lives to win victory.

Why bother!
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince repeatedly stressed that if a problem can be solved with artillery and strategy, the lives of soldiers should never be sacrificed.

If he fails to complete the military order, he will be dismissed at most. However, if he ignores the lives of his brothers and tries to gain fame for his superiors, and is reported to the Western Garden by the spies of the Imperial Guard, everyone will be doomed.

After a few years, everyone knows the Crown Prince's temper.

Pan Yinglong looked at Wu Weizhong's expectant eyes and said thoughtfully, "Let's try another way to conquer the city. Well, let me see."

When the rain stopped, Pan Yinglong, accompanied by Wu Weizhong, went around to the west gate and the south gate, stopped to observe for more than two quarters of an hour, and then turned to the east gate.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, Pan Yinglong said to Wu Weizhong: "General Wu, I have a plan. This is what we will do."

Wu Weizhong was surprised and delighted, "General Pan, is this okay?"

"According to the students' initial visual observation, there is a 50% to 60% chance of success. The staff officer Nie Qing brought by the students is proficient in surveying and mapping. Immediately ask him to lead the surveying team to test the four gates of Shenglong City. We will have a plan to see if it can be successful."

"Okay! Lieutenant General Xu, immediately send a team of officers and soldiers to escort Staff Officer Nie and the surveying team to survey the siege city." Wu Weizhong immediately gave the order.

"Yes!"

After receiving Pan Yinglong's order, Nie Qing immediately asked the surveying team to pack up their tools.

After a while, a military school student came to visit and asked, "Excuse me, are you Nie Qing, the staff officer of the Xuanweishisi's staff office?"

"Exactly."

"I am Wang Xiaofu, the captain of the left squadron of the front battalion of the Xuanqi Regiment of the Marine Corps. I have been ordered to protect Staff Officer Nie and the surveying team."

"Good work."

The two teams came together and started working immediately.

The surveying team set up telescopes and rulers and began surveying.

Wang Xiaofu led the left team to guard the surrounding area.

It suddenly started to rain, so Wang Xiaofu, Nie Qing and others took shelter in a nearby artillery fortification.

"Captain Wang, where are you from?" Bored Nie Qing, who was hiding from the rain, started chatting with Wang Xiaofu.

"I am from Qufu, Yanzhou, Shandong."

"Oh, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius!" Nie Qing was surprised.

Most of the Marine Corps members were transferred from coastal garrisons and fishermen. Two-thirds of them were from Southern Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. There were relatively few from Shandong and Zhili. Wang Xiaofu was not only from Shandong, but also from Yanzhou, far away from the seaside.

"Haha." Wang Xiaofu laughed twice.

"That place is not near the sea, Captain Wang, how did you get into the Marine Corps?"

Wang Xiaofu said bitterly: "It was because of this hometown of Confucius and Mencius that I was forced to leave my hometown, and then by chance, I joined the Marine Corps."

(End of this chapter)