Fenghou

Chapter 557 The Golden Lock

The three heavy-duty trebuchets were assembled in just half a day, and at this time, it was already dusk.

Chen Qing rode a horse to inspect the place where the river was blocked and dammed. Thousands of Song soldiers had built a [-]-foot-high dam with [-] sandbags, but there was still a [-]-foot-wide gap, and the river It gushes out from the gap and flows downstream to Jinsuo Pass.

Hu Yanyun, who was in charge of building the fortifications, said to Chen Qing: "The momentum of the river is very strong, and I need to lay dozens of wooden piles in front of the sandbag wall, otherwise the sandbag wall will be easily overturned by water."

"If it is sealed, will the river overflow and affect the soldiers upstream?" Chen Qing asked again.

"Reporting to the capital will definitely affect it, so the time can't be too long."

"How long can the flow be cut off at most?"

Hu Yanyun thought for a while and said: "One hour at most, it will probably not work any longer."

"One hour is enough, listen to my order to stop the flow."

"Humble job understands!"

After inspecting the river dam, Chen Qing returned to the campsite. Three heavy-duty trebuchets were ready, and the scout leader Tang Qian led a hundred scouts to perform special tasks.

Yang Zaixing led [-] cavalry and [-] infantry as the first attacking Song army.

Time gradually arrived at one o'clock, and the Song army began to move. Three heavy-duty trebuchets began to march towards Guancheng under the pull of Jian Niu. In front of them was a two-foot-high baffle, and five baffles were placed side by side On the road, the arrows of the enemy troops at the top of the city were blocked.

The three heavy-duty catapults moved very slowly, and did not reach their respective positions until the second watch, and the craftsmen began to quickly adjust their positions.

At this time, there was a bang on the top of the city, and five hundred soldiers on the top of the city shot crossbow arrows at the three catapults together, but it didn't work. The dense crossbow arrows were blocked by tall wooden boards.

Li Bosheng also hurried to the top of the city. He stared at the three giants [-] paces away for a moment, turned his head and shouted: "The Song army is likely to attack at night, order the whole army to be on alert!"

Suddenly, there were three consecutive 'Boom!Boom!Boom! There was a loud noise, the Song Army's trebuchet had been launched, and three black objects appeared in the air with flames on them, and no one knew what they were.

When three large clay pots filled with kerosene hit the top of the city, they shattered with a bang, and eighty catties of kerosene splashed out, and were immediately ignited, forming a sea of ​​flames.

The soldiers on the top of the city screamed. Many soldiers were ignited by the fire, jumping and jumping, crying and rushing down the city.

Li Bosheng's face turned pale, he suddenly remembered a terrible thing, there are thousands of barrels of kerosene on the top of the city, what if they are all set on fire?
"Move the kerosene down and down! Move the kerosene down and down!"

Li Bosheng stomped his feet anxiously. He had already seen dozens of kerosene barrels burning in the flames, and it was estimated that they would leak soon.

At this time, the second round of trebuchets was thrown, and three large clay pots hit the city again. This time, the three kerosene barrels were overturned, and the kerosene flowed out, burning a large area, and half of the city was ablaze .

Li Bosheng had already been dragged down to the top of the city by the soldiers. The [-] soldiers only moved down [-] barrels of kerosene, and there were more than [-] barrels of kerosene left on the top of the city, but they could no longer go up.

When the third round of fire oil tanks hit the top of the city, the top of the city was already a sea of ​​flames, thick smoke was billowing, and the flames rose into the air. It was impossible for any soldiers to be on the top of the city.

At this time, Tang Qian started. They took a small boat of [-] shi, and a dozen soldiers stood in the waist-deep river and walked towards the city wall. There were two large boxes on the small boat, and each box contained a thousand catties of gunpowder. , the box is made of very strong double-layer beech wood, and the board alone is one inch thick.

Two thousand catties of black powder is one ton of gunpowder, and the explosion is so powerful that it can blow down the city wall.

The Song army had long discovered the power of the big bang. When Li Gang was guarding Bianliang, he used the thunder that exploded violently. The thunder may not be an iron shell, but it may also be a thick-walled porcelain bottle. The key is the amount of gunpowder. A hundred catties of gunpowder can produce a powerful explosive effect.

Although they knew the power of the big bang, the Song Army on Xihe Road didn't use it much. The key was the cost issue. Gunpowder is half a year's production, it can be used once in a while, but there is no condition to use it in large quantities.

The boat approached the city wall, and Chen Qing immediately ordered someone to notify the cutoff.

Hu Yanyun gave an order, and thousands of soldiers came forward with sandbags on their backs, and countless mudbags were thrown down. The wooden stakes prevented the sandbags from being washed away by the water. The sandbags piled up quickly, and the last gap was blocked.

The river dropped rapidly and disappeared, and after a while, a crescent-shaped channel was exposed on the city wall. The Song army stuffed the boats into the channel, and then used huge stones to support the bottom, so that the boats were tightly pressed against the bottom of the city wall.

"retreat!"

Tang Qian yelled, and the soldiers quickly retreated. He took out the fire bag and lit the thick matchlock, which burst into flames.

Tang Qian turned around and ran, and all the soldiers retreated one after another, squatting down covering their ears, even the soldiers operating the trebuchet retreated five hundred steps away.

The sky and the earth suddenly became quiet, followed by an earth-shattering explosion, the earth shook, and a huge mushroom cloud rose. The huge shock wave caused by the explosion of two thousand catties of gunpowder blasted the city wall up, bricks and stones fell rustlingly, and dust filled the air.

When the dust subsided a little, Chen Qing pointed at Zhan Dao, "Go in!"

Yang Zaixing waved his big gun and shouted, "Brothers, follow me!"

"Kill!" Ten thousand cavalry followed Yang Zaixing to kill inside Guancheng.
It was the soldiers in the Guancheng who were greatly affected. They didn't take any precautions. When the river stopped flowing, Li Bosheng led dozens of soldiers to check. They became the first victims. The main general Li Bosheng was blown to pieces. Dozens of other soldiers were also killed.None were spared.

Thousands of soldiers were shocked by the violent explosion, their ears could not hear anything, and great fear shrouded everyone's heart.

"The city wall has collapsed, and the Song army is here!"

I don't know who yelled, and saw the cavalry of the Song Army rushing into the city like a tide. The will of thousands of defenders had been destroyed, and no one had the intention to resist. There is only one choice left, be killed or surrender.

The gate of Guancheng was opened, and the main force of the Song army began to march into Guancheng. At this time, there was a muffled sound in the distance, and white waves rolled on the river bed. Fortunately, the water storage time was not long, and no floods were caused. The river water overflowing the river bed only shallowly submerged the soldiers' ankles.

A cavalryman rushed to report to Chen Qing, "I would like to report to Dutong that the explosion just now collapsed the embankment, and it can't be blocked. The embankment has been completely washed away!"

Chen Qing waved his hand, "Don't worry about the dam, let General Hu Yanyun pack up and go south!"

"Follow the order!"

The cavalry turned and galloped off.

Chen Qing led a mighty army through Guancheng and headed towards Tongzhou.

At this time, Guancheng was still burning, and black smoke enveloped the sky.

Jingzhao City is already full of turmoil. The news of Chen Qing's eastward expedition has some people happy and others worried. The joy is ordinary people. Guanzhong is still the territory of the puppet Qi. Although the puppet Qi army has abandoned Shaanxi Road militarily, the government Jurisdiction did not give up.

The Guanzhong area is the same as the Central Plains. The people are bearing higher taxes year after year. The land tax collected directly has reached five taxes and two, that is, [-]% of the harvest has to be turned over to the government, and the household tax is as high as ten yuan per household per year. There is also [-]% commercial tax.

This is only a direct tax, and there are also terrible indirect taxes, such as the price of salt is [-] yuan per catty, [-] yuan per bucket of rice, and tea and wine tax, etc. The people in Guanzhong have long been exploited to the point of poverty.

Of course Wan Yanchang would not care about this kind of thing, the supplies of their Jinbing were provided by the people in Guanzhong, and more than half of the wealth expropriated was used to support the Jinbing.

This year's tax payment is still under urging, but most of the people have used various methods to delay it, especially the news of Chen Qingdong's levy, which gave them hope. Everyone knows the price of salt and rice on Xihe Road It is much cheaper than Guanzhong, and the tax is extremely low, so that all the people are eagerly looking forward to the arrival of the Song army.

Although the people are happy, the army is very worried. There are only [-] puppet Qi troops in the city. The chief general is Zhong Lin. Zhong Lin was originally Li Cheng's general. Thousands of people stayed behind in Jingzhao City.

Zhong Lin knew very well that his [-] troops could not defend Jingzhao City, but he could not give up Jingzhao City and retreat eastward. Once Wan Yanchang knew that he would give up Jingzhao City, he had to kill him. Lin has been in a state of anxiety.

In fact, not only the general Zhong Lin, but also the ten thousand troops under him are also in disarray. The reason is very simple. These ten thousand troops are all state soldiers from the states in northern Shaanxi. Their hometown has been occupied by the Song army. Jin Bing worked hard?
(End of this chapter)