I

  Chapter 416 414 [Siege heavy artillery]

   Jining.

  The news that Duoduo's main force had left only deceived Fei Ruhe for less than ten days. After all, every city has a Datong army. Although Duoduo came up with all kinds of deceiving tricks, the transfer of supplies still cannot deceive people.

   There is no way to chase after him. If Zhang Tieniu hadn't returned to the army early, Yizhou City could only be carried by the peasants and soldiers defending the city.

  Fei Ruhe chose to attack Jining regardless of the enemy's main force, because the siege artillery was brought in!

  A total of six siege cannons were built, three of which were made in Macau, shipped to the Yangtze River by sea, and then sent to Fei Ruhe by the Grand Canal. The other three were manufactured in Jiangxi and shipped all the way to the battlefield in Henan.

  These siege guns have a body weight of 3.5 tons and a diameter of about 20 cm. According to the British name, they should be called "63-pound guns".

  Zhao Han borrowed this method and localized it, calling it "Forty-seven Jin Pao" (57.15 Jin).

But the "forty-seven catties gun" is really not imposing. Some soldiers followed the name of the Ming Dynasty and still called it "the mighty general gun", or they called it "six thousand catties gun" based on the weight of the gun body (actually 7000 catties). .

  At this moment, Zu Zeyuan has brought the Han army with a white flag to help, and is currently stationed in Jining City.

  Whether it was Hong Chengchou, Zuo Liangyu, or Zu Zeyuan, they didn't care about Fei Ruhe's siege. Because there is a large army stationed in the city, and Jining's city is high and deep, as long as the spies in the city are strictly guarded, Fei Ruhe will not even think about breaking the city for a year.

  Jining city wall is 13 meters high, the wall base is 14 meters thick, and the wall top is 7 meters thick.

  Even if you dig a tunnel and use gunpowder to blow it up, it’s not enough to blow it up with a few hundred catties of gunpowder!

  Hong Chengchou sat on the tower reading a book, and the people outside the city were still filling the moat. Zuo Liangyu was simply basking in the sun, thinking about the situation of the war in his mind, he always felt terrified these days.

   "Big cannon!"

  Suddenly, a soldier defending the city exclaimed.

   The noise became louder and louder, Hong Chengchou finally couldn't sit still, got up and went to see what happened.

  I saw a tripod set up with logs on the shore, and there are only a few tripods like this. The specific details are not clear, there seems to be a pulley (pulley) device, and there are a lot of ropes. The enemy soldiers are pulling the pulley block, and something is pulled from the boat.

  Hong Chengchou snatched the binoculars from the observation soldier's hand, but saw that what was hoisted by the pulley block was a cannon. It is slightly slender than the common Hongyi cannon, but the barrel is really thick.

  Zu Zeyuan also ran over, snatched the binoculars from Hong Chengchou, and said dryly, "This time I'm in trouble!"

   Another artillery officer who mastered mathematics came to the designated artillery position and took out a measuring instrument to measure angles and distances.

  The Ming Dynasty had artillery distance measurement technology. There were hundreds of scales on the pole, and the Pythagorean oblique string was used to measure and calculate. Sun Yuanhua also wrote "Western Magic Machine", which introduced European artillery ranging technology.

  Three siege cannons, with wheeled cannon carriages.

  The civilians pushed the artillery cart to the side of the artillery officer. This kind of cannon carriage is also specially made, made of copper, iron, and hardwood. The recoil force of the siege cannon is fully cushioned by the wheels and the ground.

  After repeated calculations, the Datong Army began to test artillery.

  Hong Chengchou, Zuo Liangyu, Zu Zeyuan and others ran down the tower to escape before loading shells outside the city.

  According to the weight unit hundreds of years later, a cannonball weighs more than 57 catties, and it takes a lot of effort to stuff the cannonball into the barrel!

  In addition to the three heavy siege artillery, twenty-five field artillery were also aimed at the same section of the city wall.

   Here comes the wonderful scene.

  Three heavy siege artillery pieces and twenty-five field artillery pieces fired at the same section of the city wall one after another. Every time a door is fired, the data will be recorded, and then the angle adjustment will be made.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  Most shells were either too far or too close, and only three hit the target, one of which hit the parapet at the top.

  No one could suppress it, and no one suppressed it. Anyway, all the guards on that section of the city wall ran away.

   Every time the heavy siege artillery was fired, it would be pushed back to its original position. There were only ten soldiers pushing the artillery cart.

   "Boom!"

  Finally, a heavy artillery hit, and a 47 Ming Jin (57 Shi Jin) iron bullet hit the city wall hard. The bricks of the outer city wall were smashed into pieces, but the rammed earth city wall inside could absorb the kinetic energy of the shells.

  Jining City Wall is too thick!

  There are only Zu Zeyuan’s Eight Banners of the Han Army in the city, and the rest are all Han surrendered troops, including Shandong surrendered troops and frontier troops surrendered.

  Some Shandong generals have already made up their minds to escape. Whenever the city wall collapses, they will flee at any time. Anyway, it is impossible to work for the Manchu Qing.

  At least, before the Manchus won the battle, they would not give their lives to the Manchus.

  The buildings close to that section of the city wall are simply out of luck. Half a day later, the city wall did not collapse, but the nearby houses collapsed.

  In the evening, the shelling stopped.

  Hong Chengchou carried a lantern and walked into a mostly collapsed shop. He squatted down and stared at the cannonball in a daze. Hong Chengchou had never seen a cannonball as big as his head.

  Zu Zeyuan also came over and knelt down, looked at it for a while and said, "Get out of the city and grab the artillery, we can't let the enemy bombard like this!"

  Zuo Liangyu reminded: "I can't move it."

   "Then blow it up!" Zu Zeyuan said.

  Zuo Liangyu said: "If we can blow up the enemy's cannon, unless our army can win a big victory. Why do we still blow it up? It has already been captured by us."

   "The camp can only be raided at night!" Zu Zeyuan said.

  Zuo Liangyu said: "Attacking the camp at night may only cause temporary chaos. The camp outside the city has always been cautious. If there is only a moment of chaos, where can you find the enemy's giant artillery?"

  Zu Zeyuan fell silent for a moment.

Hong Chengchou said: "The ten kings have brought the main force to Yizhou. Our army must not go out of the city. We can only wait for the news of the ten kings. As for the enemy's giant artillery, let them continue to bombard the city wall. Defend the city at the gap."

   This is bullshit. With the morale of those soldiers and generals in the city, once the city is broken, they will flee immediately.

  But Hong Chengchou couldn't help it. He only had the thousands of white flags inlaid with the Han army brought by Zu Zeyuan.

  The next day, the artillery was launched again to attack the city, still collectively aiming at the city wall yesterday.

   Twenty-eight guns fired in sequence.

   After firing a cannon, immediately clean the barrel and reload the ammunition. At the same time, the second gun fired, and so on, endlessly.

  The civilian troops, under the cover of artillery, continued to fill up the moat.

  The moat in Jining needs to be filled for ten days and half a month. It is wide and deep!

   On the fourth day of the bombardment of the city, Zu Zeyuan finally couldn't bear it, and took Wu Zhenchao Ha Ying out of the city to attack the artillery unit.

  Four thousand Datong gunfire soldiers lined up neatly by the moat.

  Zu Zeyuan stopped and looked around, then went back in despair. He didn't dare to go around from other directions, he was afraid that he would not be able to return to the city if he went too far, and none of the friendly troops in the city was reliable.

   "Report!"

  Yiqi came from the west, detoured a long way to the north, crossed the canal, and finally came to Jining City.

   Before Hong Chengchou asked a question, Zu Zeyuan said, "What military situation?"

  The soldier who sent the letter said: "Juye is gone. Caozhou's rebel army besieged Juye for several days, and some generals in the city rebelled. We should work together from inside and outside to attack Juye City."

  Zu Zeyuan remained silent.

   Hong Chengchou looked helpless, there were too many rebels in Shandong. There were "rebellions" everywhere in the rear. In order to maintain the stability behind him, Zuo Liangyu sent two generals to lead troops back one after another to suppress them.

  This caused the troops to be stretched, unable to take the initiative to attack the rest of the counties, and could only shrink into a group and stick to the city.

  Zuo Liangyu felt that he was ruthless enough, but in the end the Manchus were even more powerful than him, forcibly expropriating food and driving the gentry back!

  Of course, Xu Ying sent a lot of effort to spread rumors, instigate, and link up with the secret agents sent out. The rumors that Han women must first give them to the Tartar official's bridal chamber when they get married have become widely known.

   Datong's secret work only needs to spread the rumors, and there is no need to worry about the follow-up, and the people will spread it by word of mouth.

  The more outrageous the rumor, the faster it will spread!

   Moreover, the common people took the initiative to add oil and vinegar, and the more the content spread, the more evil it became. But no matter how evil it is, some people believe it, because during the reign of Chongzhen, after the Tartars broke through the customs, they once robbed Shandong all the way, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of crimes.

  Yan Yingyuan and other rebels joined forces with Liangshan rebels and rebel soldiers from Caozhou. Now they have finally captured Juye. These mobs have gathered 150,000 troops!

   It is really a mob. Among the 150,000 rebels, only 10,000 can understand the flag order.

  A large number of civilians were mixed with them. These civilians were ruined and had no food to eat. Villages in some counties and counties are empty. Men, women, old and young join the army together, just to eat and drink.

  They hated Zuo Liangyu and Man Qing deeply, and joined the rebel army one after another. Most of them didn't know what to do when they fought.

  But they broke Juye, and the next city was Jiaxiang.

  Once Jiaxiang is defeated, the rebel army can come to Jining and join Fei Ruhe's main force of the Datong Army.

   Jiaxiang County.

  Defender Zhang Yingxiang was already scalp numb, and more than 100,000 people outside the city were killed, and he almost ordered the flag of Datong to be replaced on the spot.

   But the situation of the battle was unclear, Zhang Yingxiang did not dare to defect easily, what if the Manchu Qing army won?

   Don't wait until it gets dark, anyway, his family is not in the city, and neither are his belongings. Before more than 100,000 rebels besieged the city, Zhang Yingxiang led his troops to abandon the city and fled, circled north and rushed to Jining to join Zuo Liangyu.

   The road is not good, the Datong Army navy has occupied the canal near Jining!

   "Why are you here?" Zuo Liangyu asked.

  Zhang Yingxiang replied: "More than 200,000 rebels attacked Jiaxiang, and the humble post really couldn't be defended."

  Zuo Liangyu became more and more worried. The development of the situation was very different from what he imagined.

   This is no longer a war between the Manchu Eight Banners and the Datong Army, but the entire Shandong people who rose up to fight against the Manchus.

  Historically, the Manchu Qing occupied Shandong for ten years before completely eradicating the rebels in Shandong.

  Now the Datong Army is making rumors carefully, colluding and instigating everywhere, and with the Datong Army as its confidence, the Shandong Rebel Army is several times more than in history.

   The vast ocean of the people's war!

   "Boom!"

  The crack in the city wall became bigger, and Hong Chengchou's face became more and more gloomy.

  The Datong navy occupied the canal, and the Jining defenders couldn't leave if they wanted to.

   It is also possible to withdraw the troops, but they cannot take away the supplies and food. Because the more troops are withdrawn by land, the more civilians are needed.

  Once there are more civilians, plus a group of demoralized soldiers and generals, I am afraid that the Datong army will not be able to catch up for a few miles, and Hong Chengchou's side will change from withdrawing troops to fleeing.

   "Boom!"

   Another heavy artillery hit, Hong Chengchou was terrified.

  A messenger ran from the east, and after entering the city, he said in horror: "Sishui County is gone, and the enemy is besieging Qufu County!"

  Zu Zeyuan was terrified: "Where is the army of His Highness the Ten Kings?"

   "The ten kings were defeated and killed!" said the messenger.

  Hong Chengchou and Zu Zeyuan looked at each other, and at the same time looked at Zuo Liangyu.

  Zuo Liangyu is far away, he wants to know the military situation, but Hong Chengchou won't let him listen.

  Jining's side, the general has already left his heart.

  Zu Zeyuan recruited his own soldiers, surrounded Zuo Liangyu and said: "The ten kings have been defeated, and Jining can't stay long. Tonight, take the elite and withdraw to Dongping."

  Zuo Liangyu lowered his head and said, "Okay!"

  Zuo Liangyu was held hostage, and if he said no, he would be hacked to death by Zu Zeyuan.

  (end of this chapter)