please make me king

Chapter 1174 Defeating Zhengzhou

Although Zhang Shun ordered that Cao Bianjiao and others not be allowed to progress too quickly, but the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were really not strong enough.

No matter how good Chen Yongfu was defending Zhengzhou, it was difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, but she still couldn't resist the powerful power of the rebel army's "infantry and artillery coordination" tactics.

"Kill! Kill!" Chen Yongfu yelled with a hoarse voice, and chopped down the last soldier of the rebel army with a single knife.

"Be careful of shells, be careful of shells!" Chen Yongfu felt that his eyes were empty, but at the same time he heard his son Chen De's panicked warning.

Chen Yongfu didn't care about panting, and quickly rolled over like a lazy donkey, rolling to the side.

And the moment he just landed, the sound of the shell hitting the city wall and the splashing mud were transmitted to his body together.

"Hoo hoo!" Chen Yongfu rolled his head several times, ignoring his back, until there was no sound of shells, and then he got up and looked up.

I saw a few bullet marks and two shattered corpses where I was standing.

"Chen De, Chen De!" Chen Yongfu couldn't help but shouted loudly in a hurry.

"Father, I'm here!" Chen Yongfu had just finished speaking when he heard a familiar voice.

Chen Yongfu turned his head and saw his son sitting slumped behind a parapet, smiling weakly.

"Good boy, as long as it's okay!" Chen Yongfu nodded approvingly.

"Did the thief retreat?" Chen De smiled wryly and shook his head, concerned about the most important issue.

"Retreat! We repelled the thieves again!" Chen Yongfu lay beside the broken parapet, and often glanced at it, only to see that the rebels were retreating to the camp in an orderly manner against the setting sun.

He couldn't help but let out a sigh of emotion, and was about to stand up, but he didn't want his knees to soften, and then he staggered, and a feeling of weakness instantly spread throughout his body.

"Father!" His son Chen De was startled, and quickly stepped forward to support him.

"It's okay, I'm okay!" Chen Yongfu resisted his exhaustion, looked at the stretches of rebel camps outside the city, and shook his head helplessly.

This time the officers and soldiers repelled the thieves, what about the next time?What about next time?
The "thief" has a fresh trick and eats it all over the world. He has no temper at all when he fights officials who rely on "infantry coordination" with one hand.

As soon as a round of bullets rained, the thief rushed up to fight hand-to-hand, risking his life.

Hand-to-hand combat, or so much melee combat!
Chen Yongfu has never encountered an enemy who likes to fight so much in his life.

If the hand-to-hand combat does not gain the upper hand, the thief will suddenly counterattack, and then retreat without looking back.

At first, based on past experience, the officers and soldiers thought this was an opportunity to make a fortune.

As a result, the thieves fired another burst of shells, and the officers and soldiers immediately lost more than a dozen lives.

How is this fight going?
You can't stop it from rushing up, and you can't stop it from going back.

Thieves come when they want, and leave when they want.

Chen Yongfu couldn't bear it anymore, he couldn't help but ordered sharply: "Chen De, send another envoy to Kaifeng for help."

"You tell him to tell Fu Jun that others will send three or two people to send a letter to fool me."

"If the imperial court has no more reinforcements this time, Zhengzhou will not be owned by the state!"

"Father, it's not necessary," Chen De couldn't help but said.

"Last time!" Before Chen De could say anything, Chen Yongfu cut off his words.

Knowing a son is like a father, of course Chen Yongfu knows what Chen De wants to say "no need".

However, he has been loyal for more than ten years, and he really doesn't want to be a "second minister" unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Okay!" Chen De gave his father a serious look, and finally nodded helplessly, planning to wait until dark before sending the messenger out of the city.

Just as the father and son had made up their minds, they never thought that the sound of artillery suddenly sounded outside the city.

"Zhi Niang, these lunatics still want to fight at night!" Chen De cursed, but he didn't care.

Soldiers come to block them, water comes to cover them with soil, thieves rush up, and the worst is to drive them down. Can they still smash down the city wall?
The Chinese-style city walls in this era are all thick rammed earth walls with three-component earth, which have a good energy absorption effect, and it is difficult for ordinary artillery to destroy the city walls.

It was too late to say it, but it was so fast, just as Chen De finished speaking, he felt a vibration in the city wall under his feet, and then a crack appeared not far away.

Chen De was taken aback, and couldn't help shouting: "No, hurry up, get out of the way, the city wall is about to collapse!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that the crack that had just appeared began to spread and expand into the distance.

Then, with a huge vibration and roar, the upper end of a section of city wall on the west side of Zhengzhou slid down from the waist.

"Quick, You Ying, where is You Ying? Get ready to fight!" Chen Yongfu reacted faster than the others, he was stunned for a moment, and immediately responded.

The city wall has collapsed, and the "thief" must take the opportunity to attack the city!

"It's collapsed, it's really collapsed!" Just as the officers and soldiers on the city were shattered, the rebels below the city had already been there, and they were overjoyed.

It turned out that it was getting late, so Cao Bianjiao planned to withdraw his troops at Mingjin and fight again tomorrow.

I never thought that the gunners would come to persuade me: "There is a section of the southern part of the city wall that is seriously damaged and may collapse. Please, General, order another two rounds of bombardment. Maybe this section will collapse. Come down."

"Late makes changes. If the enemy repairs it overnight, I'm afraid all previous efforts will be wasted!"

Cao Bianjiao was hesitant when he heard the words, so he consulted with Zhao Lizi.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Lizi said, "These gunners were carefully trained by King Shun, so they should be safe."

"It's just...it's just that General Hong told us to take it easy?"

"If Zhengzhou is captured in one fell swoop, I'm afraid it will ruin King Shun's plan."

"Big plan? What big plan!" Cao Bianjiao, as the right general of the South Route Army, knew a little more than Zhao Lizi.

He couldn't help sneering: "The better we fight, the better King Shun's plan will be!"

"The artillerymen listen to the order and concentrate their firepower to attack that section of the city wall for me!"

"Zhao Lizi listens to the order and chooses the dead for me. Once the city wall collapses, let me storm in. I will take Zhengzhou City tonight!"

When everything was ready, Cao Bianjiao, the right general, wanted to give it a try and ordered his soldiers to bombard the walls of Zhengzhou City.

It was thought that only a few shots were fired, and the city wall of Zhengzhou collapsed, forming a gentle slope for climbing the city.

It turned out that Zhang Shun was a member of the construction industry in his previous life, and was quite sensitive to civil and structural issues.

Although the Chinese-style rammed-earth city walls are thick and difficult for artillery, they are not without flaws.

If you look at a section of the rammed earth city wall, it is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, which certainly resembles a gravity dam structure.

However, in order to prevent the enemy from climbing, the entire city wall, especially the outer wall is still quite steep, about between eighty-five degrees and ninety degrees.

So if you want to deal with this kind of city wall, although you can't directly destroy and penetrate it, you can choose to bombard specific points, destroy the city wall structure, and cause the upper city wall to collapse.

This time, the rebel gunners used this principle and achieved unexpected results.

"Kill!" Seeing that the city wall had collapsed, how could Zhao Lizi hold back?
He was already wearing double armor, led five hundred men who dared to die, and charged forward at the head of the horse.

(End of this chapter)