Paper Maker: This is the end of the Ming Dynasty in Liaozhai

Chapter 185 An Unexpected Visitor, Mao Wenlong's Messenger

At this time, at the Ming Army's Central Army, there was a harsh metal impact sound.

Ming Jin withdraws troops!

Hearing the sound of gold ringing, countless Ming troops immediately retreated in a swarm, but under the command of the Chinese army, they did not panic.

Soon tens of thousands of Ming troops withdrew from the battlefield, leaving only hundreds of thousands of immobile wounded soldiers mourning under the city wall, and hundreds of corpses of Ming soldiers who died on the spot.

On the tower, Jiang Shizhong watched the retreat of the Ming army, turning a blind eye to the howling wounded soldiers of the Ming army. On the battlefield, it is a kind of happiness to be able to die on the spot. Otherwise, if you are seriously injured and cannot escape back to the camp by yourself, then the end will be Just bleeding to death.

Of course, there are also some kind-hearted generals defending the city. After the battle, they will let the enemy take the wounded soldiers back, but there are also some people who will use the wounded soldiers as bait to shoot and kill the enemies who come to save people.

As the sun set and the afterglow made the sky half bright, dozens of soldiers of the Ming army pushing wheelbarrows slowly approached the city wall. None of the soldiers wore armor or weapons, showing no hostility.

"Captain, do you want them to take away the wounded soldiers and corpses?"

At this time, a hundred households on the city wall came to Jiang Shizhong to ask for instructions.

"Let them take it away."

Jiang Shizhong said calmly, it's not that he has a good heart, but he doesn't want to ruin Da Qi's reputation. Now in Shandong, Da Qi's reputation is even better than that of Ming. Even if Qi wins the world, there is nothing wrong with it. If he prevents the other party from rescuing the wounded soldiers, he will definitely have a reputation for being cold-blooded and ruthless.

Of course, the main reason is that even if these wounded soldiers are rescued, no more than half of them will survive, and they will no longer be a threat in a short time, and will become a huge burden for the Ming army. Therefore, the Ming army not only had to pay a lot of medical treatment, but also had to be taken good care of.

With Jiang Shizhong's consent, the Ming army under the city wall quickly moved more than 100 wounded soldiers to the wheelbarrow, and then headed towards the Ming army camp. At the same time, more than 100 Ming soldiers came towards the city wall pushing carts.

Ming army camp.

Guo Qin, Deng Kui and other generals looked at the wounded soldiers brought back, and their hearts sank. In fact, they preferred that the rebels in the inner city prevent them from rescuing the wounded soldiers.

If they can’t be rescued, at most a few taels of silver will be paid as a pension, but if they are rescued, in addition to the monthly salary, they will also be given food, and it will take at least three months to recover from the wounded. The monthly salary of a soldier is about one tael of silver. In addition to food and medicine, people have to take good care of them.

The cost of supporting a wounded soldier is much higher than the pension. More importantly, the wounded soldier may not be able to be revived. Sometimes he dies after staying for half a month, which consumes a lot of medicine.

But now that they are rescued, they have to hold their noses and admit it. If they die after being rescued, the morale of the army will be lost.

...

After resting for a day, Guo Qin called up the army again and stood in front of the west gate.

At this time, outside the west gate, thousands of repelling horses and antler piles replaced the moat and became a new barrier.

Looking at the densely packed horses and antler piles under the city wall, Deng Kui frowned. If he wanted to get close to the city wall, he had to deal with these things first, but every time he stayed below the city, he would pay a huge price. I don't know how long it will take.

And there is no guarantee that there are only these things in the city. These rebels have been preparing for the war for nearly half a year, and no one knows how many defense equipment they have prepared.

Sending out masters can easily solve these things, but masters are not Chinese cabbage, a guard, at most there are three or five second-rate warriors, all of them are high-level military officers of the guard, and those Jinyiwei masters transferred from various places are also part of the party. It is not appropriate to mobilize these people in order to clear these barriers.

After all, these people are the real trump cards of the army, not cannon fodder. Under the rain of arrows and guns, even if they are all wearing heavy armor, it is difficult to block them, and the opponent is not without experts. If the casualties are heavy, once the opponent leaves the city for a decisive battle , they definitely can't stop it.

"Chief soldier, why don't you go to the governor and bring the Hongyi Cannon over here."

After thinking for a while, Deng Kui said, they also knew the power of the Hongyi cannon, so they would not miss it. When they were in Xuzhou, they cast more than 40 Hongyi cannons, but the Hongyi cannons were too heavy, costing two to three thousand Jin, too slow down the marching speed, they did not bring it this time.

"Let's try it out first."

Guo Qin said in a deep voice: "Besides, when attacking the city, the opponent also has Hongyi cannons, and they are at a high place, and the range is far higher than ours, which is very disadvantageous to us. It is extremely difficult to cast a Hongyi cannon, and we waste a lot of money. , and the effect is not great.”

Casting the Hongyi cannon requires hundreds of craftsmen and special workshops, and it is impossible to move with the army. The nearest workshop is still in Yanzhou Fucheng. Once it is damaged, basically people can only be pulled back to Yanzhou Fucheng. Cannot be reforged at all.

More importantly, the power of the Hongyi Cannon can at most smash the parapet and stomping walls on the city walls, and it is impossible to blow down the city walls. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, all state capitals are building city walls, especially those in Linqing Prefecture. The fortified city is even more impregnable.

Soon, the drums of war are beating!
A series of large and small cannons were pushed to the front of the formation, and the siege ballista also moved forward slowly. This time, in addition to the wooden curtain chariot, there were also siege and crash chariots, 轒辒 chariots, ladders, rushing chariots, and arrows. Towers, battering wagons...

With the beating of war drums, the Ming army slowly advanced, but the formation was a bit messy, and most of the soldiers were hiding behind various chariots.

On the city wall, Jiang Shizhong narrowed his eyes slightly, and then ordered: "Send down the order, and all the Hongyi cannons will aim at those ladders and arrow towers."

The city wall of Linqingzhou City is four or five feet thick, even if those Ming soldiers smashed their heads through it, it is impossible to have a serious impact on the city wall. The only things that can threaten the city wall are ladders, arrow towers, and other siege equipment, including firearms. Inside, they can only hurt the soldiers on the city wall.

After receiving Jiang Shizhong's order, all the Hongyi cannons immediately pointed their muzzles at the moving ladder and arrow tower. The next moment, more than a dozen Hongyi cannons were ignited at the same time.

boom!boom!boom!
Solid cannonballs weighing twenty catties blasted towards the largest arrow tower.

Snapped!
Click!Click!
With a crisp sound, the arrow tower was hit head-on by a shell, and a big hole was smashed out in an instant, while none of the smaller ladders were lost.

"Get on the rocket!"

Seeing the cloud ladder and arrow tower getting closer, Jiang Shizhong gave the order again.

The next moment, thousands of rockets fell like a rain of fire, and every ladder and arrow tower was more or less hit by the rockets. The arrows were already tied with gunpowder and other combustible materials, and when they met wood, they instantly ignited. There was a raging fire.

And the Ming army pushing the ladder and the arrow tower did not hesitate, and picked up the soil on the ground to put out the fire.

At the same time, the tiger squatting guns on the Wengcheng ignited at the same time, and the archers also shot arrows. Thousands of stones and iron beads accompanied by sharp arrows rained down on the army outside the city, and there was another scream. !

As the Ming army got closer and closer to the city wall, the casualties became heavier and heavier. In front of the Juma and sharp piles, thousands of Ming troops approached the city wall under the cover of shields, trying to kill the Juma and antlers. The piles pulled away to clear the way for the ladder.

Snapped!
Click!

A hundred feet away from the city wall, an arrow tower was bombarded by Hongyi cannons and shattered the load-bearing column, and suddenly collapsed. Dozens of archers on the arrow tower fell like dumplings. Ten Ming soldiers pressed down on the ground, screaming again and again for a while.

At this time, thousands of soldiers armed with firearms rushed out of the Ming army's wooden mantle chariots and 轒辒 chariots. For a while, all kinds of firearms and ballistas beat the Qi army on the city wall. .

The next moment, a battering hammer cart, driven by hundreds of Ming soldiers, knocked away all the horses and antlers in front of the city gate, and then slammed into the city wall!
boom!
With a muffled sound, the entire city gate shook.

The soldiers on the Wengcheng shot arrows even more desperately, and the Ming soldiers pushing the hammer carts were hit by arrows one after another, but the next moment, more Ming troops came up and bombarded the Wengcheng with the hammer carts.

After removing the horses and antler piles, the ladder of the Ming army finally got close to the city wall, but the price was that more than a dozen arrow towers were either smashed by Hongyi cannons or ignited by rockets, turning into a big torch, leaving only Three or four are still intact.

"The first person to climb the city will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver, and a hundred households will be sealed off!"

A small flag officer of the Ming army shouted loudly.

"let me try!"

A majestic man shouted loudly, then holding a large shield in his left hand, biting a knife between his teeth, he slowly climbed up the ladder towards the city wall.

The next moment, dozens of large stones fell from the city wall and hit the shield, making a dull sound.

At the same time, on the protruding horse-faced wall of the city wall, the archers shot at the Ming army on the ladder one after another, and the soldiers fell down the ladder one by one.

The big man felt as if his hand holding the shield was about to break off, but he didn't dare to let go. Under such circumstances, with the shield covering him, he still had a chance to survive. Without the shield, he would definitely die.

But immediately after, a jet of black liquid poured down from the city wall, covering the big man. Not only was the shield covered with black liquid, but even the big man's clothes were stained a lot.

Fire oil!
Seeing this, the big man's face changed instantly, and the next moment, several rockets were shot on the fierce fire oil, and a raging fire ignited!
The big man quickly threw away the burning shield in his hand, jumped off the ladder, and then threw himself under the shield of the ladder.

Not only the ladder where the big man was located was attacked by fierce kerosene, but other ladders also started to catch fire. At the same time, on the city wall, the Qi army defending the city also pushed the defending city to crash the car, and the long ram knocked a ladder away from the city wall.

"Ming Jin withdraws troops!"

Seeing that all the soldiers were blocked by the rebels on the city wall, Guo Qin sighed. It took less than half an hour to attack the city, and at least two or 3000 people were killed or injured. Crash is certain.

Soon, the ear-piercing sound of jingling sounded from the Ming army's central army. Upon hearing the sound of mingjin, countless Ming troops retreated slowly with the remaining siege equipment.

...

Ming army camp.

"Chief soldier, the statistics of the casualties have come out. This time there were more than [-] casualties, and many wounded soldiers are still under the city wall. Do you want to send someone to rescue them?"

Deng Kui cupped his hands.

"Pie."

Guo Qin nodded. If the rebels don't stop them now, if they don't send people to rescue them, the morale of the army will be lost.

After a pause, Guo Qin continued, "Take some people to the governor to bring the Hongyi Cannon."

In this siege, the rebel army on the city wall would have killed or injured at most a few hundred people, and they had lost nearly ten times as much as the opponent. If they continued to attack the city, the casualties would definitely not be small, and it would even cause the army to mutiny.

"The last general will go here."

Deng Kui nodded, and then retreated.

.........

The battle situation in Linqingzhou City has fallen into a stalemate. On the side of Jinan Fucheng, Su Hao ushered in an unexpected person.

Mao Chenglu!
Mao Wenlong's adopted son!

"See His Majesty Qi Huang!"

Mao Chenglu saluted respectfully. Although he looked down on Su Hao from the bottom of his heart, he had to bow his head under the eaves.

Looking at Mao Chenglu, Su Hao's eyes were full of strangeness. Mao Chenglu's arrival was really beyond his expectation. Mao Wenlong is a first-rank official, holds Fang's sword, and controls Dongjiang alone. It can be said that he is a warlord. Logically speaking , There is no need to come to him at all.

"General Mao doesn't need to be too polite."

But if you don't understand, you don't understand, Su Hao still smiled and said: "I don't know if Mao Shuai sent General Mao over, what's the matter?"

"Your Majesty Qi Huang, my father sent me here to ask, does Da Qi intend to do business with us?"

Hearing this, Mao Chenglu still said respectfully.

Commerce?

Hearing Mao Chenglu's words, Su Hao raised his eyebrows. He naturally knew about Mao Wenlong's business affairs. Many businessmen in Shandong had business contacts with Mao Wenlong. However, after he took down Denglai Second Mansion, All the docks were controlled, and all merchant ships were confiscated.

Now that Shandong is surrounded by enemies on three sides, it is impossible to think about doing business with Ming, so he is planning to open up maritime trade. Although he still has enough money and food to support an army of nearly 20, he can't just sit and eat all the time, and must open up new money. way.

And Haimao is just right. Shandong is close to North Korea and Japan. It has been the main force for trade with the two places since ancient times, and Haimao can also build a powerful navy. When it is strong enough, whether it is going north to Tianjin or south to Nanjing, the navy will It is a powerful boost.

After thinking about it for a while, Su Hao pulled his thoughts back to reality and began to think about Mao Chenglu's words.

"General Mao, I don't know what you can give us? What do you need from us?"

After thinking for a while, Su Hao asked.

"We have a herbal collection team in Changbai Mountain, and we have all kinds of precious medicinal materials."

Mao Chenglu cupped his hands and said: "Whether it's silver, food, or weapons, as long as His Majesty Qi Huang can take it out, we can exchange it with medicinal materials."

food?weapons?
Hearing Mao Chenglu's request, Su Hao narrowed his eyes. Mao Wenlong has Daming to support him, so there shouldn't be a shortage of food and weapons. Why would he come to him to buy these things?
After thinking for a while, Su Hao said: "General Mao, we have 20 troops here to support, and we don't have a lot of money and food here. We can only take out [-] shi of grain. I don't know how much these grains can be exchanged for." How many herbs?"

(End of this chapter)