world festival

At this moment, the sound of the drum suddenly stopped, and the Huainan army outside the east gate stopped, just a stone's throw away. In the open space outside the east gate, the soldiers in the first and second rows squatted down one after another. , put the end of the spear in his hand on the ground, and the one behind put the spear on the shoulder of the person in front, instantly turning into a wall of spears.The defenders on the top of the city watched the Huainan army below stop suddenly, and whispered to each other: "Someone said, what are these Huainan soldiers doing? It is supposed to come up to fill the trench. Why are they so tightly tied up there?"

Lu Fang watched with satisfaction the crowds of people on the top of the city, and smiled to Fan Niseng who was standing by in front of him, "It's almost noon, and the weather is hot, so send some courgettes to the defenders in Shouzhou." Fan Niseng ordered it knowingly. He nodded, made a clasping salute, turned around and went to the stone cannon array, drew his knife and chopped it down, shouting: "The cannon has been fired." Then he heard the sound of "hum" incessantly, as if there was a dull thunder in the sky.Above the gate of the east tower, the defenders were looking curiously at the enemy troops on the flat ground, when suddenly another shower of missiles hit them, and they were in a mess. Those who had previous experience immediately found a corner of the wall and crouched down with their heads in their hands. The wise ones also pressed the corpses of their companions on top of themselves.It was pitiful for the new reinforcements who came up later. They were hit one after another. The mud bombs weighed 8 catties each (about 596 grams per catty in the Tang Dynasty, slightly heavier than modern times). Although they could not damage the city walls and buildings, the defenders If it is a limb or head, it will be broken like chopping firewood. If it is the torso, the tendon will be broken and the bone will be broken, and the mouth will vomit blood and die.The pro-army Yaya hacked and killed three or four deserters in a row, and shouted: "The stone bombs over there are almost used up, brothers, hold on, if they fill up the moat and attack, everyone will die. But the rebellious soldiers in front cried: "Don't believe these officials, all the bombs from outside the city are mud bombs, as many as you want." They squeezed the Yaya and the blocking troops to the ground and swarmed down the top of the city. Everyone wanted to leave this ghost place as soon as possible. Alone, only the sound of cursing and calling for help from the wounded soldiers who couldn't move could be faintly heard, even though it was daytime, it was like a ghost.

Looking at this scene, Li Rui opened his mouth wide open in surprise, he couldn't close it from ear to ear for a while, and he could have stuffed a mud ball into it.At this time, another drumbeat sounded in the formation, and the troops in front entered the trench and began to throw soil bags into the trench.Hearing the sound of the drum, Li Rui shivered and woke up.Turning around, he shouted loudly: "This siege battle was fought too easily. The soldiers didn't even lose a single hair, and they wiped out the defenders at the top of the city. Why don't Commander Lu go directly to the city? The crossbow platform at the top of the city, There are no female walls, it is a great time."

Lu Fang didn't answer, and glanced at his subordinates on the left and right, his face was eager to try, and said in a low voice: "That's it for today, just clear the moats, traps, sheep and horse walls."

The subordinates on the left and right were shocked when they heard the words, but the military order was hard to disobey, so they had to bow down and promise.But Li Rui jumped in front of Lu Fang and shouted: "Wait a minute, such a good situation, why don't you break the city in one fell swoop, Commander Lu's actions like this, I will be the supervisor of the army, and I must not agree to it."

The guards around Lu Fang were furious when they heard the words, and stepped forward one after another, some of them had their hands on the handle of the knife at their waists.Lu Fang stopped the crowd with a wave of his hand, and said with a smile: "Yongxin doesn't know something, most of his subordinates are surrendered soldiers, their morale is uncertain, and their equipment and armor are not complete. If they are used to fill trenches and dig ditches, that's all. Paoze, I’m afraid it will collapse at the first touch, and it will ruin the big thing.” He waved his finger at the stone cannon in front of him, and said, “These are all made of wood, and many of them have been damaged. At most, they will be scrapped after three or four shots. Instead of letting the opponent To see through the truth, it is better to maintain the profit and protect the state, and intimidate him."

Li Rui didn't believe it, so he came to a stone cannon in three steps at a time. After a closer look, he found that there were cracks on the shaft of the stone cannon, and the trigger was even a little damaged.I had to turn around and sigh: "If someone has 1000 people in his hands now, Shouzhou City can be taken away with a single flip of the palm. I just hope that Commander Lu Haihan was rude."

Lu Fang stepped forward to help Li Rui up: "It's so polite to be brave, you are like brothers to each other, you treat each other with all your heart, and besides, you are only doing your duty as a supervisor, what's wrong with you?"

36 City drop

Above the east gate of Shouzhou City, Inspector Jiang Congxu was wearing short brown linen clothes like an ordinary soldier. He carefully looked at the dilapidated scene at the top of the city. It's useless to hold on, the moats have been filled up, and the Wengcheng is already in such a state. Even if the city survives, more than half of the soldiers will be killed. Zhu Shijun has no capital, and instead angered The Huainan army, after the city was broken, suffered a lot for the people in the city. You have persisted for almost two months, and you are worthy of Xuanwu Zhu Shijun." He stroked the shattered female wall with his right hand, shook his head and said, "Speaking of it Strange, the Huainan army has such a sharp weapon, why didn't they use it right from the start, why did it take so long? Why don't they use it except for the east gate, and hurt soldiers in vain, could it be that only the general surnamed Lu at the east gate would use it? "

The general at the back replied: "What Duke Ming said is very true. This Shouzhou City is now a naked city. How can it be defended? It is still surrendered. At any rate, the lives of the people in the city have been saved, but is it only the one surnamed Lu?" It doesn't matter if he will come again tomorrow, and he can go directly to the city. The morale of the guards has been extremely low. In fact, only a few hundred people were killed and injured by stone bullets. It's nothing more than a change of life. No one is willing to go to the city for such a high reward for not being able to fight back. If he is forced again, he may mutiny and surrender. Yang Xingmi could have counted on Yang Xingmi to go back and deal with Qian Miao , but the city has become like this in just one day, no matter what Yang Xingmi will not retreat."

Jiang Congxu sighed: "Tonight, you gather the soldiers, seal up the treasury, send people out of the city to contact the Huainan camp, and open the city to surrender tomorrow. Be careful not to disturb the supervising army in Xuanwu Town in the city."

Outside the east gate, in Mo Xie's camp, Lu Fang was inspecting the barracks, followed by Wang Fo'er and Fan Niseng, Fan Niseng looked like he was full of words, but he didn't dare to ask.

The morale of the lieutenant generals was surprisingly high. The soldiers who surrendered were all veterans and ruffians. They had been on the tip of their swords for at least seven or eight years, but there was never a siege without more than half of the corpses of their brothers filling the corners of the trenches. The reason why the Huainan Army asked them to take the lead was also well known, and it was clearly used to consume the arrows and logs from the city as cannon fodder.But after fighting for a day, seven or eight people were killed or injured on the attacking side, and countless people were killed or injured on the defenders. The moats, parapets, crossbow towers, and watchtowers were wiped out in one fell swoop. It's clean, don't say I've seen it with my own eyes, I haven't even heard of it.The eyes of the soldiers looking at Lu Fang also changed from mistrust and hatred in the past to surprise and admiration. From time to time, some people asked the soldiers from Qijiazhuang about Lu Fang's origin with a smile on their faces, and the faces of the soldiers seemed to be shining. Said: "You and a certain Lu are in power. You can shoot the head of the bandit at a distance of 80 steps. You have also seen the battle of Haozhou. I don’t have this ability.” After returning to the camp, the Bian soldier triumphantly faced his brothers in the same tent, claiming that the commander was originally from Kansai, living in Huainan, and he was a descendant of generals for generations. His ancestors followed Emperor Taizong to break Song Jingang, take Luoyang, Go down to Hebei and sweep the Western Regions without service.In the three hours since the soldiers returned to the camp and went to the routine camp at night, Lu Fang's ancestors have already had several versions: Li Weigong, Hou Junji. . . . . . , but there is one thing in common, they all left their names on Lingyan Pavilion.

"The morale of the soldiers in the battalion is very high." Wang Fo'er said in a low voice.

Lu Fang responded casually. He knew that since joining the army, Wang Fo'er was very particular about the distinction between superiors and superiors. He behaved like a Mr. Dong Hong. He would never stop at the camp today to find fault with such a thing, so he waited for his next words.Sure enough, Wang Foer's last sentence has nothing to do with the previous one: "Why did the stone cannon hit so accurately today? Could it be that some kind of magic was cast?"

Lu Fang turned around and asked with a half-smile on his face, "Why are you asking this? Could it be that Li Rui asked you?"

Wang Fo'er smiled and said: "No matter how stupid Fo'er is, he knows that this secret should not be revealed to outsiders, but he is really curious. He has been under the commander's command for more than a year. He knows that he is not a fairy, but today the stone cannon hit so hard. Yes, surprisingly."

Lu Fang laughed and said: "It's really nothing serious. Anyway, Yang Xingmi will send someone to ask tomorrow, and I have to come up with some tricks. Fo'er, look at the difference between the stone cannon and other troops."

Wang Fo'er seemed to have been observing for a long time, and said without hesitation: "It's no different, but the stone cannons in the other camps were pulled by everyone, and some of them used earthen baskets to pull them, but isn't this more troublesome?"

Lu Fang waved his hand and called Fan Niseng over, and said with a smile, "Fo'er has seen it too, nun, tell me the mystery and listen to Fo'er."

Fan Niseng hurried forward two steps, bowed and said, "The secret of this stone cannon is that it is not easy to hit accurately because the landing point of the projectile will change every time. Even if it hits once, it may not be able to hit it next time." Hit the target. The flying distance of the projectile fired by each stone cannon depends on the weight of the projectile and the strength of the lever. These days, the commander asked the mason to polish the stone projectile so that it weighs about eight catties. If the pulling force can be kept consistent, the flying distance of the projectile is certain. So many people can’t maintain a constant pulling force every time, but if you use a soil basket, you only need to constantly adjust the soil in the soil basket. Hit one after another, the bigger and more accurate it will be."

Having said that, Fan Niseng paused for a moment, glanced at Lu Fang, and saw that Lu Fang's expression didn't change, and then continued: "What I said above is only part of it. If someone in the Huainan Army asks, Fo'er might as well tell them. The following is a secret among secrets, I am afraid that there is only one commander in the world who understands the reason, if it is fully understood, the world's strong city is just like a joke, and it must not be told to others." At the last few sentences, Fan Niseng looked serious. , the usual frivolous expression on his face has long since disappeared, and there is no such thing as the usual relaxed scholar.When Wang Fo'er heard this, he took a step back, bowed and said: "For such an important matter, the less people know about it, the better it will be. Fo'er has never been in charge of the artillery team, so it's better not to talk about it."

&n