A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 398 The bloody offensive and defensive battle of Luoyang City

"The thieves' artillery fire is fierce, you hurry to Beiguan for help, and ask General Wang to send the thirty general artillery."

On the gate tower at the west gate of Luoyang, Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military equipment, gave such orders to one of his personal guards.

Indeed, at this time Luoyang Xiongguan was almost shrouded in enemy artillery fire, and the west side of Luoyang was no exception.

Looking down from the city tower, the black siege bandits seemed to spread to the end of the sky.At least from Wang Yinchang's side, the entire west front of Luoyang City, to the corner sight of the north city wall, and the corner sight of the south city wall, there are rushing soldiers and horses everywhere.

Above and below the city, gunpowder smoke filled the air, cannons and arrows flew, and amidst the huge noise, rockets and artillery fired at each other.

There were so many cannons for the burglars to attack the city, beyond the expectations of the soldiers and civilians in Luoyang, and even more unexpected by Wang Yinchang, there were hundreds of cannons brought by the burglars.

Although there are not many generals with a range of one mile for five-jin cannons, there are only a dozen of them for attacking Luoyang City, and only five for the west gate—that’s because Wang Dou captured thirty of them a few days ago The result of the Grand General Furlong's cannon.

However, there are as many as three or four hundred Flang cannons with a one-jin cannon and three-jin cannon with an effective range of about two hundred paces, and there are more than a hundred of them facing the city wall in the western part of Luoyang.

You know, there are only over a hundred artillery pieces in the main city of Luoyang, and there are only more than 30 artillery pieces in the west of the city, so the firepower of officers, soldiers and thieves has been compared.

God knows that the bandits have become smart again. Before they deployed their artillery, they paid the price of a lot of hungry soldiers. They built a lot of earthen platforms within the range of their own artillery. The artillery is like a crenel.

In this way, the artillery of the rogues has a cover, and the earthen platform is several feet above the ground. In addition, the Luoyang city wall is high, and their artillery can adjust the angle of fire. There is no need to worry about hitting the soldiers who are attacking the city ahead, and it is very smooth. It covered the hungry soldiers filling the trenches.

More importantly, the artillery of the Buddha Wolf machine is famous for its fast firing speed, and many cannons are fired in a short period of time. More than 100 of their artillery are constantly bombarding.Each wave is more than 100 solid iron balls of different sizes roaring, which can be described as lightning-fast.

That is, the city of Luoyang is solid, and the walls about four feet high are all covered with big green bricks.However, after being bombarded by these solid iron balls one after another, the bricks and stones caused to splash randomly made people worry whether the city wall of Luoyang would be blown over by them.

Under the fierce artillery fire, it was almost impossible to stand on the crenel. Many officers and soldiers in the west of the city were injured by the rubble caused by the dense artillery hitting the city wall.Although the artillery on the city tried their best to fight back, the effect was not very good.

The gunners in the Chuang army are all former Ming army gunners who defected to the enemy everywhere. They all have similar qualities, and no one is better than the other in training.Even if Fucheng's gunners are better trained, it is quite difficult to counterattack against the superior artillery fire of the rogues.

Moreover, the gunners of the army only need to aim at the city wall and bombard it. The target is large and easy to hit.

On the contrary, the gunners of the officers and soldiers in the city must aim at their artillery on the earthen platform, even if their artillery is placed at two hundred paces, but at this distance, they must bombard the earthen platform, and even bombard the artillery inside the earthen platform. This is an extremely test for them. quality.

Facts have also proved that with the training of the gunners in Luoyang City, it is difficult to bombard the earth platform.Although occasionally artillery hit the earthen platform, the artillery over there was dumbfounded.This ratio is still small, and it cannot change the overall situation.

Wang Yinchang was in charge of defending the west gate. He and a group of officials and generals had long since dared not live in the tower because it was an important target for thieves and artillery.Wang Yinchang looked from the lookout hole on the pile wall and saw the bandit army coming in waves, he couldn't help being extremely anxious, the Luoyang defense beside him was also helpless.

The moat to the west of Luoyang City is very wide, with a depth of five feet and a width of three feet. However, no matter how wide or deep it was, many places were slowly filled up due to the efforts of densely filled trenches and intruders.

The advantage of intruders is that they do not spare manpower, forcing hungry soldiers to carry soil, doors, or long logs, to build wooden bridges over the moat, or to fill sections of trenches.

Those hungry soldiers didn't even have basic equipment, and many of them carried earth bags with bare hands, braved the artillery and rockets on the city, and rushed forward screaming.Just use human life to fill up the moat section by section.

Within dozens of steps below the city, there were already corpses and wounded in a mess, and the blood solidified into reddish brown in the cold wind, but waves of hungry soldiers still rushed forward desperately, making Wang Yinchang shake his head speechlessly.

Due to the cover of artillery, the defenders on the city were not very effective in counterattacking, which made the trench filling effect of those intruders more and more large.

The biggest threat is the thief artillery, Wang Yinchang was so anxious that he thought of Wang Dou's artillery.In the Beiguan battle a few days ago, the Shunxiang Army had an outstanding record in artillery fire.They also had thirty General Fran cannons they had seized.

So Wang Yinchang ordered his own guards to go to Beiguan for help, hoping that the arrival of the gunners of the Shun Township Army could change this situation.

He looked from the top of the city, there was smoke and dust billowing below, people's heads were surging, and the shouts were loud, all the rogue soldiers with red turbans on their heads and all kinds of robes could be seen.

They came up in one wave and changed another wave.Looking further into the distance, two hundred paces away, there are artillery towers erected by the intruders one by one along the west side of the city, where gunpowder smoke rises from time to time, and amidst the sound of the cannons, another cannon ball bombards the city wall. Come.

Several of the earthen platforms are quite large, and the frames inside are full of General Furang's machine guns, and the cannons fired are five catties, extremely powerful.

Behind those earthen platforms, there are all treacherous infantry with shields and broadswords, guarding artillery, and at the same time, they are also the main force who will fight on the city later.Their dense banners spread one after another, spreading to the rear, and I don't know how many formations they formed.

After a large formation of infantry, about two miles away from the city, outside the south gate of Xiguan, on both sides of the plains of the city, seemed to be the cavalry of the intruders.From time to time, they can be seen roaring past in groups of three or four.

Wang Yinchang could see clearly that there was a tall tower floating above the original gate tower of the south gate of Xiguan, which seemed to be the camp of the Chuangjun's Chinese army set up in Xiguan.Commanding soldiers and horses to attack Ximen wave after wave, no wonder Luoyang Simen was under the most pressure.

There may be tens of thousands of soldiers in the western part of the city.

"Thief!"

Wang Yinchang glanced at Xiguan with resentment. While he was anxiously expecting the artillerymen of the Shunxiang Army to come with their artillery, he walked back and forth on the city wall, loudly encouraging the officers and soldiers to defend the city.

Suddenly the Luoyang guard next to him yelled: "Bingxian be careful."

A tiger pounced on Wang Yinchang.

With a bang, a solid iron ball weighing five catties hit the wall behind him hard, making a big gap in the brick wall, and flying stones.The guards beside him covered their heads and fell to the ground, screaming loudly.

"Is the military constitution all right?"

The guard in Luoyang stood up, supported Wang Yinchang and asked loudly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..."

Wang Yinchang got up, it was really dangerous just now.

Yang Shoubei helped Wang Yinchang up, and ordered the Zhuang Ding Township, who was guarding the city, to help those guards go down to the city for treatment.Each army has its own doctors, and all the doctors in Luoyang City are also requisitioned. Among them, the doctors assisted by the Shunxiang Army are the most popular. After all, they are well-trained professional military doctors.

Wang Yinchang was gasping for breath, still in shock. Seeing Luoyang's garrison busy, he couldn't help thinking: "Yang Shoubei has been in Luoyang City for many years, working hard, and just saved his life. He should be promoted later. .”

Suddenly a soldier guarding the city shouted: "Look, what is that?"

……

Wang Yinchang hurriedly looked, and saw dozens of movable wooden bridges behind the Chuangjun earthen platform, each two or three feet long and more than one foot wide, with wheels under them for moving.Dozens of wooden bridges pushed forward, and the defenders on the city were stunned.

Wang Yinchang's face was ugly, and he gritted his teeth and spit out a sentence: "Feiqiao, I didn't expect the thief to use the flying bridge to attack me."

This flying bridge, also known as the trench bridge, is specially used for siege and trench filling. It was the earliest pontoon bridge used by the ancient army.Compared with the local method of filling the moat, it is extremely fast. After all, the moats of many cities are wide and deep. If you want to fill them, you need to pay a lot of effort. The defenders on the city are not vegetarians.

With the trench bridge, it is much more convenient, just one.

The defenders in the city were stunned when they didn't expect that the thieves would build a flying bridge.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that it is not that difficult to build dozens of trench bridges by invading the army and capturing all the cities in Henan Province except Luoyang City, capturing many military artisans and craftsmen, and adding that there are many hungry people in the army.

A crowd of people came over, each trench bridge was pushed by dozens of hungry soldiers, and the surrounding area of ​​the trench bridge was also full of invading infantry guarding with shields.

Wang Yinchang saw that there were two small wheels at the front of those flying bridges. Obviously, when the flying bridges were erected, they were used to fix them and make the bridge more stable.There are pin shafts, pulleys and other devices on each bridge. If several bridges are used together, the width of the bridge will be several feet, tens of feet, which is more convenient for the siege people to pass.

There are also talents among thieves, and this flying bridge is made in strict accordance with the records in "Wu Jing Zong Yao".For the first time, Wang Yinchang felt that today's thieves are not what they used to be.Thinking of the almost complete fall of Henan Mansion, Wang Yinchang suddenly became worried about Daming's future.

But what needs to worry about right now is himself. What surprised Wang Yinchang was that there were countless thieves carrying ladders behind the trench bridge.If you count them casually, there are probably hundreds of them.

Following these ladders, there are countless trespassers and pawns, holding knives and carrying cards, and only waiting for the ladders to approach the city, they will attack the city.

Wang Yinchang's face was livid, Yang Shoubei tremblingly said: "Bingxian, what should we do?"

Wang Yinchang suddenly screamed: "Fire the cannon and kill them."

At this moment, the drums in the Chuangjun sounded like thunder, and it seemed that thousands of people were shouting. They pushed the equipment and rushed forward shouting desperately.Looking down from the sky, countless streams of people with red scarves flocked towards the city wall, like dark clouds covering the sun.

……

On the gate tower of the south gate of Xiguan, there is a big flag with the word "chuang" in it.Under the banner, Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi and other generals who entered the camp, as well as Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing, and Li Yan and other literati stood behind them.

Seeing the impact of thousands of troops and horses under the city, Li Zicheng couldn't help feeling a surge of pride in his heart, which could hardly be suppressed.

Niu Jinxing said: "Congratulations to King Chuang, this battle will definitely be won with one blow."

Li Zicheng laughed loudly, Luoyang City is his own.

……

Cannons were fired continuously on the west side of the city, and a shell hit a moat bridge, causing the intruders and soldiers by the bridge to run wild.Another shell hit a pile of people carrying a ladder, and the intruders there were bloody and bloody, causing heavy casualties.

The Chuangjun artillery below the city was also fired violently to cover the attacking troops.

Their artillery fire was so fierce that the officers and soldiers at the crenel did not dare to raise their heads.

Seeing that dozens of moving wooden bridges were still approaching the city, Wang Yinchang sighed: "Stop the artillery and prepare for melee combat."

He also ordered his personal guards: "Ask for the support of General Wu Qian of the Shun Township Army and let them go to the city to fight quickly."

Soon, Wu Zhengchun in the city led his own Shunxiang army to the west section of the Luoyang city wall and joined the guard of the west gate.

Wu Zhengchun and Shen Shiqi were sent into Luoyang City by Wang Dou to support the various sects in their operations. Of course, they were only used at critical times, and they usually lived in the city to rest.Unexpectedly, as soon as the Chuang army attacked the city, Ximen began to ask for help.

Seeing Wu Zhengchun leading nearly a thousand armored troops to the city continuously, Wang Yinchang heaved a sigh of relief.

In hand-to-hand combat, he knows the situation of his officers and soldiers. In this west gate, there are the original garrison officers and soldiers of Luoyang City, as well as some village braves and community soldiers.It's okay for them to attack from a distance. If the bandits go to the city and fight melee, I'm afraid it will be bad luck, so they can only count on the Shunxiang army.

When Wu Zhengchun came over to salute him, he hurriedly and kindly stopped him and said, "Thieves are rampant, Luoyang is at stake, and the safety of the army and the people depends entirely on Mr. Wu Qian."

Wu Zhengchun's black and thin face was full of determination: "General Dingguo has an order, or he will do his best to assist in defending the city. Don't worry about the military constitution, since the last general has the general's order, he will definitely do his best to live and die with Luoyang City."

As soon as he waved his hand, the sergeants under his command immediately entered the state of combat readiness. The blunderbussmen defended the crenels or the enemy towers facing the horses, and the pikemen stood behind the blunderbuss soldiers.

At this time, the Chuangjun artillery was still bombarding, and solid iron balls hit the brick wall one after another. Wu Zhengchun did not dare to approach the crenel, but just looked out from the observation hole of the crenel.

The dark stream of people on the trench bridge outside was already approaching the moat. Wu Zhengchun looked back at his soldiers and saw that although they were nervous, they were not chaotic at all. The Shun Township Army was well-trained, and even the new army Same.

However, Wu Zhengchun knew that after his subordinates had successfully trained, they had only participated in the battle against bandits before, and there were no vicious fights in the battle of Ruzhou.Right now, the bandits are aggressively attacking the city, which is a test for their own troops. If they survive this test, they will become qualified veterans.

……

The Chuang army stopped after the last round of artillery bombardment, because those trench bridges had already begun to build bridges on the moat, and if they bombarded again, they would accidentally injure their sergeants.

One trench bridge after another outside the city was built, but there was no movement on the city wall. The officers and soldiers guarding the city were nervously waiting for Wang Yinchang's order.

Finally, dozens of moat bridges were built, and amidst the rapid drumbeat of the intruders, countless intruders rushed over the moat bridges against the ladders.

Here, they encountered obstacles, because there was a "sheep and horse wall" about one foot high on the inside of the moat. The sheep and horse wall was thirty steps away from the city wall. To reach the city wall with a ladder, they had to climb over the sheep and horse wall first.

However, the Chuangjun had detected the Luoyang city defenses, and they were prepared. Many hungry soldiers leaned against the sheep and horse walls with door panels and small ladders. After they crossed the sheep and horse walls, they took the ladders over.Looking down from the top of the city, it was dark and full of rogues climbing over the wall of sheep and horses.

(End of this chapter)