Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 243 The Second Attack and Defense (2)

This kind of iron pot is used for cooking in restaurants and people's homes in the city. It is not too big, and the mouth of the pot is usually only about one foot. But because it is a cooking pot, it has wooden handles, but the wooden handles were removed by the Ming army at this time. , and replaced it with a five-foot-long handle, so that people can pour oil down without lying on the battlements, reducing the chance of being injured by bows and arrows.

The captive soldiers were obviously testing, and after the third ladder was also defeated by the hot oil, they responded.

As soon as they saw the iron pan, they immediately concentrated their firepower and shot arrows at the crenel. Even if Min Zhuang did not show his head, they were often shot. Instead, they overturned the oil pan in a panic. All the boiling oil was scattered on the battlements and flowed down the walls.

But the Ming army did not give up, still burning oil and pouring water.

The captive soldiers did not intend to give up, and finally all their ten ladders were set up, and they also figured out the tactics of the Ming army, and began to send people to forcibly step on the city, one by one, armored soldiers, quickly climbed the ladders.

After the shield vehicles had been concentrated at the position of the ladder, all the archers began to cover the ladder, shooting arrows towards the crenel without giving the oil pan a chance to be placed on the crenel.

This move of the captive soldiers dealt a blow to the Ming army's oil pot tactics, and for a while the iron pots began to decrease.

"beat!"

There are only ten ladders. Although it allows the captive soldiers to concentrate their forces to break through, it also makes it easier for the Ming army to defend.

"Shield!"

In fact, the oil pan was so suppressed that it could not be broken, and the dense bows and arrows of the captive soldiers covered the crenel, making it impossible to stand here.

Li Wuliu quickly dispatched shield soldiers, who held up their shields to cover Minzhuang, and continued pouring hot oil down.

Immediately knocked down the captive soldiers on more than a dozen ladders that were stepping on the city.

The first wave of siege failed.

The captive soldiers lost a lot. Except for the armored soldiers who took the lead in climbing the city, the people behind were often burned by the boiling oil and died.

Therefore, the first wave of strong attack only lost more than a dozen people.

But this has already made Turg, who was watching the battle behind, frown. He frowned not because of casualties, but because he saw the will of the Ming army. Compared with this casualty, the resistance of the Ming army worried him the most.

Although the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have always dismissed the cities built by the Han people, and Kangxi was even more complacent about not building the Great Wall, but Turge knew very well that it would be very troublesome for the Ming army hiding behind the strong city to stick to it. .

Even in Turg's memory, since the Nurhachi cavalry, there are really not many Ming cities occupied by storm, and every time they fight, they have paid a heavy price.

But the matter has come to this point, Turger has no choice. In fact, since he led his troops south to Haizhou, he has no choice. Those Mongols will be dissatisfied.

Because he couldn't get anything, Turg's trip to the south failed, which was a huge blow to his prestige.

But it is not easy not to go south. Although Abate did not give him an explicit order, if he really does not come, he will completely offend Abate in the future. It is his master Huang Taiji's consistent goal to win over a powerful faction like the Eight Banners like Abate Policy, if Turge offended Abatai, Huang Taiji would be dissatisfied.

So Turge knew in his heart that he had no choice from the beginning, but who pushed him into this situation.

The distinguished Master Bei must not be blamed. You can't blame the master, you can only blame the slaves. Thinking of this, Turg couldn't help but secretly hated him.

"Come on, next time let the person who leads him step up on the city, tell him that as long as he can step on the city and get a foothold, I will keep him safe, and if he can't, he will die!"

Thinking of this, Turg immediately ordered.

On Haizhou City, Yang Chao saw the captive soldiers who had retreated twenty steps after the first failed siege, and were still holding on under the defense of the shield chariot. Yang Chao knew that the captive soldiers didn't just give up just like that. Will also kick the city.

And they were at a distance of about twenty steps, so that the cannons on the city lost their range of fire, and even the tiger squatting cannons were not easy to attack downwards. At this distance, the bows and arrows of the captive soldiers could naturally suppress the bows and arrows on the city. The ones who can shoot at them are the blunderbusses. Unfortunately, there are too few blunderbusses in my hand.

In the final analysis, the overall power is still inferior to the captive soldiers, and Yang Chao does not deny this at all.

The disadvantage of individual soldier quality will not be solved for a long time, or even forever, because nomadic people's life and combat are indistinguishable. They face harsh living conditions and cannot survive without fighting, while farming people need Most of the power is put on peaceful production, so even professional soldiers, the number of years of training is not as good as that of nomadic civilians.

However, although the quality of individual soldiers has natural flaws, it can be compensated for in terms of discipline, that is, relying on teamwork. In this regard, the farming nation is not naturally bad, and even has an advantage, because large-scale production requires collaboration. only possible.

Therefore, the military direction of the farming nation is often to cultivate combat effectiveness through strict discipline.

In all dynasties, the period of military prosperity was always a period of strict system. The Qin Dynasty with cold and strict military law is a typical example.

However, although the development of discipline takes less time than improving the quality of individual soldiers, it cannot be formed overnight. Yang Chao's most optimistic estimate is that it will take ten days for the people of Haizhou to become organized. Under the heavy pressure of the enemy's siege, in normal times, with Yang Chao's experience, it would be impossible within three months.

And even so, after ten days, these folks can only do the most limited defense on the city wall, and it is still impossible for them to attack.

Yang Chao has been on the south wall, and the situation on the east wall keeps getting feedback from the guards. The situation there is also the same as that on the south wall, but it is a little easier, after all, that side is not the main force.

At this time, the battle on the south wall began again, and the second wave of attacks by the captive soldiers began.

This time the attitude of the captive soldiers was much more resolute, and they would not retreat in a deadly battle. They could not repel them even after they stepped on the city and poured more than a dozen pots of boiling oil.

Yang Chao did not refuse the traditional method of defending the city, so there were a lot of rolling logs and rocks on the city wall, but hot oil was the most effective, but it was very expensive to pour the pot of oil like this, Yang Chao I have already collected all the vegetable oil that can be found in the whole city, and it is definitely not enough for a day's consumption. I still need to use the rolling wood and thunder stone to resist later.

Yang Chao hoped that these traditional defensive methods could persist for at least three days, but seeing the current posture of the captive soldiers, it would be really impossible to stop them for three days if they continued to attack like this.

The second wave of captive soldiers retreated, leaving more than 50 people behind.

Yang Chao also took people around the city and asked about the injuries. More than 50 people on his side lost more than ten of them, and the injuries were not optimistic. With face injuries, it would be nice to have one or two lucky survivors.

The rest were Min Zhuang. To Yang Chao's surprise, none of these Min Zhuang deserted after being hit like this.

Of course, there is nowhere to escape. Home is right behind. Where can I escape?

In addition, Yang Chao didn't naively hope that people will fight consciously. Just like captive soldiers, there is a monitoring team patrolling behind. If anyone escapes, he will be killed on the spot. This has already been made clear to these folks.

"My lord, there is no oil!"

Yang Chao walked to an empty frying pan, and a young man in his 20s said dejectedly.

Yang Chao nodded: "There are still rolling logs!"

In fact, there are many ways for the Ming army to defend the city. Qi Jiguang's military book contains a variety of weapons for defending the city. Among them, there are more than ten kinds of firearms. One of them is called Ten Thousand Enemies. Filled with gunpowder, poison and other things, thrown down the city to explode and add poisonous smoke, it is very scary.

But Haizhou City couldn't find anything like it. In the military guardhouse, there were not enough knives and guns, let alone these things.

"My lord, why don't we boil the water, it's almost as good as boiling the water."

Qing Zhuang said in a pleading tone, obviously, the risk of throwing a log down the city is much greater than pouring oil from a frying pan far away.

But the temperature of boiling water is far from being comparable to that of boiling oil. If a pot of boiling water is poured down, unless it directly touches the skin, it may not be able to injure the soldiers, and it will cool down soon, and the lethality is not enough.

Yang Chao was about to refuse, but suddenly his heart skipped a beat, boiling water won't work, use salt water.

Although the temperature is about the same, the killing effect is not the same. Anyone who has been exposed to a wound with salt knows that the pain is too ecstasy. If you pour boiled salt water on it, think about the pain that can cause soldiers The blow may not kill them all at once, but it will definitely make them unable to bear it. The yelling and howling will definitely affect the morale of the captive soldiers.

Thinking of this, Yang Chao immediately said: "Okay, boil the water, but add salt!"

Qing Zhuang sighed, with excitement on his face, as long as he was not allowed to run to the battlements and throw wood, it would be no problem to boil water and pour it down. Even if the captive soldiers shot arrows, there would be soldiers with shields to help them block So, the casualties were actually very small.

And all he has to do is continue to boil the pot. The difference is that he was burning oil just now, and now he is boiling water. As for adding salt, that is even simpler. The most important thing in Haizhou is salt. A hundred tons of salt is still easy.

It's not a pity at all, it's much cheaper than oil.

Yang Chao gave an order, and soon an officer led people to look for salt in Haizhou City.

Yang Chao realized that there was no help for him to stay in the city for the time being, so he went down with them. He was still worried that an accident would happen when he was looking for salt. After all, he had to get something from the salt merchant's house again.

Naturally, Yang Chao would not let his own people go directly to requisition, but instead found Song Lian Dianshi and asked the people from the yamen to come forward, and the local salt merchants were also relieved.

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(End of this chapter)