Chapter 169 Siege

Li Chuang made two preparations.

Ying Yi's tyranny frightened him, but the intruders were so weak that Kaifeng had no choice but to fight.

With a strong enemy at hand, according to Li Chuang's temperament, the first choice should be to run away. But after he reached this level and stood at a considerable height, running away was a difficult choice. The key is the lack of supplies. Once they run away, they must abandon most of their troops and ride lightly.

This is not possible.

The higher you stand, the less you dare to fall. Otherwise, the harder you fall, the harder it will be to get up. Once he loses power here, no matter which way he runs, the consequences will be unpredictable.

I have said before that his reputation has been ruined and it will be difficult to regain it.

Reputation is a false thing to say, but it is absolutely impossible to raise a flag for rebellion without reputation. Rogue thieves like him, in the early days, carried the banner of the rebel army, and when the scope of influence was not large, it didn't matter if they messed around. Because most people in the world don't know whether he is good or bad.

But now that the intruder is doing this in the Central Plains, it has shocked the world. Even the common people know that this guy is not a good person.

This has always been the case, whether it is the Yellow Turbans or other 'rebels' from various dynasties and generations, once their reputation is ruined and people see their true colors, they have reached a dead end.

To such an extent that he cannot fall. If you don't fall, you can at least hold on for a while. There are still variables. Once he falls, no one will believe him anymore and he will never get up again.

The first preparation is to open the seal. Must fight.

Even though he knew a powerful enemy was nearby, he still had to fight. In a war, the outcome cannot be determined. As long as there is a time difference and a space difference, there is a possibility of reversal. This is a fluke.

For Li Chuang, as long as he breaks through Kaifeng as quickly as possible, the situation may be improved.

Of course, he also knew that the chances of winning were really slim. Therefore, we need to make second-hand preparations—what should we do if we can’t win? Run away.

That's all.

The Ming army on the top of the city was a little confused at first when faced with the swarming bandits. The vast majority of Kaifeng's current garrison are newly recruited young men. When Chen Yongfu coordinated with Sun Chuanting, he took away almost all those with combat experience. Gao Mingheng had no choice but to recruit young people and offer silver rewards as an incentive.

Fortunately, the walls of Kaifeng City are high and thick, and the thieves look fierce, but in fact it is difficult to attack the city. Gao Mingheng was also considered a ruthless character, and with the dignity of a governor, he was not afraid of arrows and stones, and ran around the city with money. Gradually stabilize the battle situation.

There are thirty cannons at the top of Kaifeng City. When the bandits come, they will be fired first. Use solid bullets first. The solid bullets will hit far away. When you reach within three or four hundred steps, you can switch to loose bullets. Shoot out the loose bullets made of bags of iron nails and gravel. If there is no defense, it will be a large area in one sweep. .

However, the intruder has been around for many years and has rich combat experience. Now that there was no vassal cannon fodder, the shield chariot was placed in front. The rogue soldiers hid behind the shield chariot and slowly moved closer to the city wall.

The current era is at a critical moment in the replacement of hot and cold weapons. For example, when attacking a city, generally speaking, equipment such as ladders and carts are becoming less and less common. Most of them are to go to the city and use gunpowder to blow down the city wall, and then directly break in.

This is the most normal way to play.

Traditionally, when bandits attack a city, they usually use clever methods - first they bury some secrets in the city, and then they cooperate inside and outside.

But Kaifeng is different.

The intruders have been fighting for a year or two, and small tricks like this have long been useless.

We can only attack by force.

Moreover, they risked their lives to attack Kaifeng as an important city in the Central Plains. The height and thickness of the city walls were not much different from those of the capital city. It's hard to blow down the city wall just once or twice. Only by blasting the same place multiple times will you have a chance to blow down the city wall.

But it's hard.

The defending Ming army could not just watch the bandits blast the same position.

The artillery roared and the smoke evaporated. When the bandits entered within a hundred steps of the city wall, the top of the city was like beans exploding. The muskets were fired, and the smoke brought up by the rows of muskets was even stronger than the artillery.

Mixed in among the firecrackers were many arrows.

Five thousand bandits, based on a distance of seven to eight hundred steps, reached the city wall and lost about two to three hundred people. The role of artillery in this era on the battlefield was to deter rather than kill.

The killing range of solid bullets is too narrow, and the penetration of shotguns is insufficient. They are blocked by shield vehicles and cannot cause widespread damage.

However, once the bandits arrived at the foot of the city and formed a certain elevation angle with the city head, the shield cart would not be of much use. The Ming army at the top of the city was condescending, firing muskets and arrows, and screamed all of a sudden.

But the thieves didn't just take beatings without fighting back. At this distance, standing under the city and using firecrackers and bows and arrows can also pose a threat to the Ming army at the top of the city.

For a while, you came and I shot at each other, and the natural city had an advantage. Although most of the Ming troops at the top of the city were new recruits, there were thieves everywhere below the city, so there was no need to aim. Just fire when you encountered a musket, and you would always be able to kill or injure one or two.

After a while, the bandit couldn't stand it anymore and retreated.

The ruthlessness of the bandits is well known, but their attack ability and fighting will are extremely weak. A single bandit can fight fiercely and is much stronger than the Ming army, but on a frontal battlefield, it is often difficult for a bandit to persist for long.

The first batch of five thousand thieves probably lost nearly a thousand people, less than one-fifth of them, and they could no longer bear it. After this group of bandits went down, the intruders did not stop at all, and then threw five thousand people into the battlefield.

Wave after wave put pressure on the city head.

At the same time, a thousand cavalry troops galloped out on each wing. Two thousand horse teams, at least fifty of whom were carrying cloth bags.

Gao Mingheng at the top of the city saw it clearly, and immediately ordered the gunmen to gather the cavalry that came out from both wings of the jet thieves.

The blunderbuss flew by, and a hole was opened in the forehead of a bandit. He fell off his horse and was trampled to a pulp without saying a word.

The horses were extremely fast, and the distance of a few hundred steps was only enough for one round of artillery and two or three shots from the musket. The Ming army at the top of the city were mostly newcomers and had almost no accuracy. They only caused less than 200 casualties to the bandits on both wings.

The bandit cavalry arrived at the foot of the city. The bandit carrying a cloth bag lit it on fire, raised his arms and threw it towards the top of the city.

Chengtoushan also fought back, throwing down objects the size of bowls.

Rumble, the city above and below exploded into pieces!

The thief's explosive bag contains many seasonings - such as lime. The power of the explosion was not strong, so lime was used to make up for it. Once it exploded, the lime would rise up, and the city would suddenly be filled with coughs.

And what was thrown down from the top of the city was ten thousand enemies.

The so-called enemy of ten thousand people can be regarded as the grenade of this era. Or use thin iron sheets or earthen jars to fill them with gunpowder, iron nails, iron flakes, porcelain tiles, etc., and then explode and fly in pieces, causing large-scale damage.

After the tens of thousands of enemies passed, there was another sharp scream, and a stream of flames fell down like meteorite fragments, causing bursts of explosions.

This is a rocket, or a flying crow of divine fire.