The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 183 Breaking the Inner City
Two days after the imperial army entered Luocheng at night, the battle to attack the inner city officially began.

According to the plan, the siege battles on the other sides started first, and half an hour later, the sound of war drums broke out in the sub-city directly north of Puzhou City.

Li Shouzhen personally led his troops to Zicheng for rescue, leaving Li Chongxun and several other generals to garrison the remaining sides to resist the fierce offensive of the imperial army.

At the time of Yinzheng, Guo Wei led all the soldiers to appear outside the south gate of the inner city on time without lighting torches so as not to alarm the defenders on the city.

Looking from a distance, the South Gate tower was quite well guarded. Burning torches illuminated the tower. In addition to the crossbowmen standing behind the wall stacks to keep vigil, occasionally patrolling soldiers were seen walking past the top of the city.

After a while, shouts of killing came from the west side of the South Gate Tower. Li Chongjin was leading his men to pretend to attack the city to attract the attention of the guards on the city.

Sure enough, the defenders at the top of the city rushed to the west and fired arrows and crossbows to force the officers back.

After a while, Li Chongjin led his men back and raided the city wall again, setting up a ladder to climb the city.

When the rebels organized a counterattack, Li Chongjin decisively led his men to withdraw.

This went back and forth several times, making the rebels on the city very angry and shouting insults. Li Chongjin, with his broken gong voice, was not to be outdone, and hid behind a large shield and quarreled with the rebels at the top of the city.

Seeing that the guards on the south gate were disturbed, Zhu Xiu smiled at Pan Mei and said, "It's your turn!"

Pan Mei was dressed in black, wearing a black headband, and wore leather gloves on both hands. She carried hooks, flying claws, short knives, igniters and candles and other odds and ends. She also carried a light hand crossbow on her back and a matching gun at her waist. The quiver can carry twelve short crossbow arrows.

The equipment all over his body attracted the attention of Guo Wei, Chai Rong and others. Guo Wei admired it while looking at it.

Zhu Xiu didn't have much research on crossbows. The hand crossbow was also made by craftsmen from Chang'an. In order to be lightweight, the lethality was reduced, and it could hardly hurt anyone from twenty steps away.

In the early stages of the development of firearms, crossbows, as long-range killing weapons, have always been valued and governed by successive imperial courts. Most of the skilled crossbow craftsmen were under the control of the imperial courts.

Jingzhou lacks relevant professional talents, so he can only make do with it and encourage craftsmen to make improvements based on his suggestions.

Sure enough, Guo Wei came closer to take a look and curled his lips and said: "This crossbow is too poorly made. If it cannot fire fifty rounds, the string will break and fall apart."

Zhu Xiu said with a look on his face: "Why don't you ask the commander to allocate some crossbow craftsmen to me and let me bring them back to Jingzhou for guidance?"

Guo Wei glared and said: "What a beautiful idea! Craftsmen who are good at making strong bows and crossbows are all listed in the Arms Supervision and are under the unified jurisdiction of the imperial court. Even the Tianxiong Army has few who are good at this!"

Chai Rong nodded in agreement: "Father commander didn't lie to you."

If Zhu Xiu spread his hands, there would be no solution. He could only let the craftsmen in Jingzhou slowly explore.

"But." Guo Wei changed the subject and pulled out the short knife Pan Mei was wearing. He flicked it hard with his fingers, and the blade made a crisp sound. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "What a knife!"

"This sword should be made of the same material as your Yanling sword. If you are willing to give up your skills in forging iron, I can exchange it with you and lend you two crossbow-making masters." Guo Wei offered conditions. .

Zhu Xiu glanced at him with a strange look, thought for a moment and replied: "Just as the commander-in-chief said! I'll trade the hundred-forged steel for a craftsman who specializes in making crossbows!"

Guo Wei pointed at him and said with a smile: "The look in your boy's eyes seems to make you feel that you are at a disadvantage? The person I have replaced for you is definitely easy to use, and is no worse than the master craftsman of Kaifeng Ordnance Supervision!"

"Then thank you for your generosity, Marshal!" Zhu Xiu smiled and cupped her hands.

"As promised in advance, they are only temporarily dispatched. They will come back when they teach your people the craftsmanship!" Guo Wei hurriedly added.

Seeing Uncle Guo's nervous look, Zhu Xiu secretly lamented that only people in power like Uncle Guo who fought on the battlefield could deeply understand how important excellent ordnance manufacturing is to war.

"Then when will you give me your hundred-forged steel?" Zhu Xiu said with a smile: "The forging of hundred-forged steel is more complicated and I can't explain it in a sentence or two. I also ask the commander to send someone to follow me back to Jingzhou. I give them face-to-face guidance until they learn it and figure it out.”

Guo Wei nodded with satisfaction, stroking his beard and laughed.

Chai Rong also smiled and said: "Commander Father knows today why I said that Zhu Xiu came here to do business with you!"

"Hahaha~ Got it! This guy is a profiteer!" Guo Wei laughed.

Everyone laughed, and Zhu Xiu also laughed, but he was slandering in his heart. Uncle Guo sent people to him because he wanted to learn the new things he had invented, and he was just following the trend.

Uncle Guo obviously wants to take advantage of himself, but he refuses to admit it, and he won't say it outright. Being a bitch and setting up a memorial arch, when it comes to adultery, no one is bad.

These are common problems among those in power and positions.

While joking, the time has come, and Zhao Kuangyin and Pan Mei led two hundred soldiers from the Beihu Camp to take action.

Everyone looked around and saw a group of men in black divided into two teams, rushing out from a group of houses and quickly approaching the east wall.

The equipment of this group of men in black is exactly the same as that of Pan Mei. Their actions are uniform, crisp and silent, and they rely on hand gestures to communicate while moving.

Guo Wei's eyes widened and he couldn't help shouting: "You are really well trained!"

It was also the first time for Chai Rong to witness the operation of the Tiger Camp, and he watched intently, fearing that he would miss any of the excitement.

Taking advantage of the darkness, the two teams arrived at the city wall one after another without disturbing the few archers on the city.

The leaders Zhao Kuangyin and Pan Mei gave orders with signs. The soldiers built human ladders close to the city wall and climbed up. There were also people hiding in the dark observing the movements of the guards on the city to pass on news at any time.

Unable to climb up to the top of the city with human ladders alone, the top few soldiers swung their hooks and threw them up to the top of the city, stuck them on the wall stacks, and tightened the ropes to climb up.

In the dark night, only a few black spots can be seen slowly moving upward.

Zhao Kuangyin and Pan Mei climbed up to the top of the city in the second group, and then the soldiers who climbed the city untied the hook ropes to fix them, and threw the ropes down the city. Dozens of ropes hung down, and groups of soldiers climbed up the city.

The inner city is only about four feet high, which is much lower than the height of the city wall that Leihu camp usually trains to climb, so it is not strenuous to climb.

As soon as Pan Mei set foot on the top of the city, she was discovered by archers patrolling the city. Pan Mei rushed forward and stabbed one person to death, while the other screamed out, alarming the other rebels.

After Zhao Kuangyin ascended the city, he led the soldiers to fight, and a large number of rebels rushed to support from the west.

Li Chongjin also set up ladders on the west side and began to storm the city.

Pan Mei and Zhao Kuangyin each led a group of soldiers from the Tiger Camp to quickly attack the city. They used hand crossbows as cover and divided into different fighting groups. After a fierce fight, they finally broke into the city gate and removed the crossbar to open the city gate.

Guo Wei waved to the messenger, who blew the horn, and the army, sheltered in the lanes of residential houses, entered the city from all directions.

Zhu Xiu breathed a long sigh of relief. It was the first time that Weihu Camp had been tested in actual combat. The results seemed to be pretty good. After all, the training for more than half a year was not in vain.

However, attacking the city and seizing the gate is not the serious purpose of Weihu Camp. If it encounters a tall and dangerous city gate like Puzhou Luocheng, it is impossible to achieve the same results by relying solely on manpower and crude equipment.

Zhu Xiu remained sober about this, and used this stormy inner city to practice as a test of the training at the Tiger Camp.

(End of this chapter)