Jiuxi

Chapter 537 Chapter 535 [The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying] ()
Push back the time to half a year ago.

At that time, Jing's army had just moved south, Dingfeng Road was still under the control of Qi's army, and the northern part of Dingzhou had not been ravaged by Jing's cavalry.

Qing Yugong led his army to Heluo and began to strengthen the control of border information transmission. At the same time, he eliminated the spies of the Sutra Weaving Department in Heluo City. Of course, he would not forget to find out the reason for Heluo's sudden fall.

The section of city wall that was blown down by Lu Chen's men was rebuilt, but the original traces were not completely erased.

At that time, through Mou Lianghu's retelling, it didn't take long for Qing Yugong to know the cave siege method used by Lu Chen.

As a battle-hardened general, he certainly would not ignore such a method that he had never seen before, and even asked Zhong Xiaotong, the head of the royal family's staff, to take charge of the study of the matter.

There are two difficulties in siegeing a city in a cave. One is to pay attention to the choice of direction when digging a tunnel. The other is that the gunpowder must have enough power, otherwise it will not cause instant collapse, and the city wall will only sink a certain distance at most.

For the Yongqiu City Wall, which is nearly six feet high, just sinking slightly does not mean much.

But as long as the direction is clear, subsequent research is not particularly difficult. For example, in the past, people only used gunpowder to make fireworks, and no one tried to use gunpowder on the battlefield.

Relying on the power granted by Qing Yugong, Zhong Xiaotong summoned countless skilled craftsmen from Jingyan and Yanzhou to finally produce gunpowder with sufficient power.

"That's enough this time."

At this moment, the collapsed wall on the east side of Yongqiu North City proved that Jingjun's efforts from top to bottom were not in vain.

"Yes, handsome father."

In Yongqiu North City, when the dust gradually subsided, the defenders still did not wake up from the shock and fear.

Li Tianrun knew that he was being forced by Emperor Jing, but with Qing Yugong's status and reputation, he was not necessarily in danger.

After Zhong Xiaotong completed all the tests and preparations at the rear, Qing Yugong immediately asked Qing Yu Huaijin to lead Qianqi to bring the people and gunpowder to the front line.

People will always be in awe of the unknown. Whether they are the Nine-Five Masters or the traffickers, when they see this earth-shaking horror scene, their reaction will not be much different, because it is beyond their imagination.

Qing Yugong looked forward calmly, with no trace of pride on his face, and said calmly: "Xiaotong, can't you make more gunpowder?"

Soon, melodious trumpet sounds sounded in the city, spreading in all directions and reaching the ears of the soldiers from various departments in the northern city.

Qing Yugong didn't care about being ridiculed for imitating a young junior. What he cared about was whether he could be effective on the battlefield.

Li Liangyu, who was standing aside, bowed his head in agreement.

Li Tianrun really couldn't guess Qing Yugong's thoughts, but he could also make some preparations in advance. Therefore, facing the dangerous situation, the Jingzhou Governor did not panic at all and said calmly: "Issue an order to Qiu Jixun and Qi Shouzhi, Then you can get ready."

A gap has been opened in this extremely strong city. For the brave and fierce soldiers of Jingjun, the next step is a good opportunity to completely defeat the defenders through this gap.

This conflict between him and Qing Yugong has some subtle doubts that are difficult to explain.

Zhong Xiaotong lowered his head and said: "The villain takes the order!"

Zhong Xiaotong stood nearby and said with regret: "Your Majesty, I have tried my best, but this kind of gunpowder has a very rare raw material. I can't find more at the moment, so I can only make this amount."

On top of a tall building in the North City, the thin Li Tianrun looked at the collapsed city wall in the distance and said slowly: "I see."

For example, when Qing Yugong knew there was danger, he led his troops to Yongqiu City without hesitation and fought without retreating. This is obviously not the judgment of a mature coach.

In this way, it can only show that he has a way to attack Yongqiu in a relatively short period of time.

Qing Yugong did not blame him, but said warmly: "Just don't forget to continue collecting, you can still use it in the future."

Just like the Jing army in Heluo City that day, they fell into serious chaos after the city wall collapsed, and their combat power dropped rapidly. Otherwise, how could Lu Chen break into the city with a similar force?

At this time, the elite Jing army, under the command of the vanguard general He Shilie, was launching a raging attack on the North City of Yongqiu in two ways.

One is the Jing army in other areas of the city wall. They had not evacuated before because the collapse of that section of the city wall would not affect them. So at this time, they took advantage of the confusion of the defenders to launch a more fierce attack.

The second is the two thousand sharp soldiers that He Shilie has prepared. They are rushing towards the collapsed city wall at this moment. They will enter the city through this as soon as possible.

Opportunities on the battlefield are fleeting, and Jing Jun will naturally not miss them.

Under the tower to the north, Qiu Jixun, the commander of the Xu Army of the Qing Dynasty, heard the sound of the trumpet and immediately ordered: "All armies must not panic and evacuate the lower city in order of position!"

The soldiers quickly conveyed the order.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the city wall has collapsed at this moment. It is impossible for Jingjun to send only those two thousand people into the city. A steady stream of troops will inevitably break in next.

At this time, Jing Jun, who was attacking the rest of the city wall, suddenly discovered that although the defenders were in a panic and their formation was not as tight as before, under the command of those generals, the defenders did not collapse!

Naturally, they didn't know that Li Tianrun had repeatedly told generals at all levels long ago that no matter what unknown circumstances occurred, they must stabilize the morale of the military and maintain the most basic organization.

Therefore, these people calmed down one after another after a brief shock. Under their guidance and comfort, although the defenders were not as strong as before, they showed no signs of slacking off.

At least, they can follow Qiu Jixun's arrangements and gradually retreat from the city wall.

On the other side of the gap, two thousand Jingjun elites strode forward. Holding their weapons in one hand and holding the gravel with the other, they crossed over as if they were walking on flat ground, taking full advantage of the Jinglian people's ability to climb.

However, what appeared in their sight was not the panicked defenders and civilians, but a group of warriors who were well-formed and waiting for murderous intent.

Qi Shouzhi, the captain of the Guards Battalion, held a long sword, stared at Jing Jun in front of him with cold eyes, and burst out a syllable from his chest.

"Kill!" More than two thousand soldiers shouted in unison and moved forward in formation.

"kill!"

On one side were the elite personal guards following Li Tianrun, and on the other were He Shilie's carefully selected tiger warriors. The fight for the gap had been extremely fierce from the beginning.

Qi Shouzhi had already told all the soldiers that they were not going to kill all the Jing troops who broke in through the gap, but to block their way to prevent the comrades who were defending the city from being intercepted by the other side.

In other words, they just want to buy enough time for their colleagues to evacuate.

At the front of Jingjun's position outside the city, He Shilie paid close attention to the battle situation.

The defenders on the wall were retreating, as he knew very well, but the vanguard at the breach met with very stiff resistance.

"Da Xiangyin, the prince has an order!"

A herald came up on Pegasus and said: "The enemy has no ambush in the city. Now we can attack with a large army and defeat the Qi army's defense through the gap!"

"Follow the order!"

He Shilie bowed his hands and immediately signaled his subordinates to issue an order to march.

As the drums echoed, the Jingjun infantry formation outside the city began to change. Under the command of He Shilie, a team of three thousand people rushed towards the gap in the north city of Yongqiu.

At the same time, the Qi army was panicked but not chaotic, relying on Qi Shouzhi to lead the guard battalion to block the gap, and the Qing Xu army retreated in sequence.

Perhaps some strong soldiers could not understand. They felt that the best response now was to defend the gap and not give up the outer city of Yongqiu. However, generals at all levels carried out Li Tianrun's military orders meticulously.

In less than half an hour, Qi's army had withdrawn the city wall, and Jing's army was in hot pursuit.

The setting sun is like blood, covering the earth.

There was smoke everywhere, and people kept falling.

"withdraw!"

After receiving the signal from Qiu Jixun's people, Qi Shouzhi led the highly capable personal guard battalion to fight and retreat until they reached the vicinity of the inner city.

More and more Jing troops entered Beicheng through the city walls and gaps. However, what appeared in front of them was not a flat river, but another city wall.

Jing Jun was not surprised by this, because Yongqiu was originally the city of Beiyan, and they were no strangers to the situation inside this big city. Of course, they knew that conquering the outer city was just the beginning, and there was an inner city inside.

But compared with the towering and solid outer city, the inner city, which was less than two feet high, seemed extremely small. Jing Jun was fully confident to break through it directly.

The sky was getting dark, and Jing's army had already occupied the narrow area between the inner and outer city. Surrounded by his soldiers, He Shilie directly passed through the opened North Gate of Yongqiu, Wengcheng and the inner city gate, and came to this narrow area. Looking at the obviously shorter inner city and the defenders above, he said without hesitation: "Attack!"

This time Jingjun didn't need a large ladder. He could just rely on a long ladder that two people could easily lift and put it on the city wall to climb up!

The situation of the defenders was even more difficult at this moment, because the equipment they could use was very limited and they could not cause much damage to Jing's army.

When he thought that he could defeat the Qi army's defense today, and maybe even capture Li Tianrun alive, He Shilie couldn't help but get excited, and he kept urging his warriors to launch the final attack.

At this moment, some black spots suddenly appeared in the sight of He Shilie, who had been staring closely at the inner city wall of Yongqiu.

Immediately afterwards, there were more and more black spots, just like the catapults used by Jingjun before, they were thrown from behind the inner city wall and fell into Jingjun's formation from above.

"careful!"

Jing Jun reminded each other, and the sword and shield soldiers quickly raised their large shields to resist.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

The sound of shattering continued.

At least seven to eight thousand Jing troops gathered in this narrow area, and many people had nowhere to hide. They thought that the opponent had countless catapults hidden in the city, and they thought that the rocks that would hit them would be flying rocks, and they couldn't help but feel desperate. .

But next thing they knew it wasn't flying rocks, but clay pots falling down, which obviously couldn't cause much damage.

After the pottery pot shattered, some strange things fell on Jing Jun's body and the ground, creating a strong and unpleasant smell.

Most of the Jing army had not yet reacted, but He Shilie's expression changed drastically and he shouted sternly: "Retreat!"

The next moment, countless rockets floated up from the opposite side, drew an almost perfect arc in the air, and landed in the area between the inner and outer cities.

No matter how clumsy Jing Jun was, he still knew the function of these rockets and the previous clay pots. There was panic on their faces. Facing the inner city of Yongqiu that was so close at hand, almost everyone turned around at the same time and ran away.

However, after the rocket fell, sparks sputtered everywhere, and if they were contaminated with anything in the clay pot, the sparks would spread at an unimaginable speed.

A fire broke out suddenly, and Jingjun's vanguard fell into a sea of ​​flames.

It's like purgatory on earth!

(End of this chapter)