Please ask me to be the emperor

The location of the bastion was chosen in the northeast corner of Luoyang City, which is both close to Prince Fu's Mansion and Luoyang County Government, but also a certain distance away.

Originally, Governor Zhang, Han Lin and Gao Yizhi proposed three plans after careful inspection.

One is built in the northwest corner of Luoyang. Luoyang City is located just on the north bank of the Luo River, with the Jian River to the west and the Xian River to the east. Only the northwest direction is unobstructed. If a bastion is built here, it will block the enemy's attack route to Luoyang.

One is built in the south of Luoyang. This place is protected by Luoyang City and the three rivers of Jianhe, Luohe and Xianhe. After the fall of Luoyang, you can retreat here and continue to resist.

Another one is built in the northeast corner of Luoyang City. It can not only form a corner with Luoyang City when it is attacked in the north and northwest of Luoyang City, but also facilitate the diversion of water from the Han River to protect the fortress.

After Zhang Shun carefully compared the advantages and disadvantages of the three options, he finally decided to choose the third option.

It turns out that Zhang Shun also has his own reasons.

The first plan seems to be perfect, taking full advantage of the military attributes of the bastion building.

But once the officers and soldiers are unable to make any breakthrough from the northwest side of Luoyang, they will find ways to cross the river to attack.

Although the rebels had the naval advantage of Huang Shoucai, neither the Luohe River, the Jianhe River nor the Xianhe River were large rivers. As long as the officers and soldiers brought heavy red barbarian cannons, they could block the rivers and forcibly cross the rivers.

This is tantamount to deliberately reminding the besieging officers and soldiers to cut off the river channel of Luoyang City before attacking the city. By then, no matter how strong Luoyang City and the bastion are, without the passage of supplies, they will sooner or later end up running out of ammunition and food.

The second plan was to abandon Luoyang City, which was inconvenient to defend and have a large population, at the critical moment, and retreat to a small but strong fortress. It seems to save both troops and food. But it is too close to the river. Once the officers and soldiers use water attack, I am afraid that all the rebels in the bastion will be killed.

Only the third option, seemingly moderate, left some hope for the officers and soldiers from Shaanxi to attack Luoyang. In fact, Luoyang City and the bastion were at an angle, and they were equally impregnable under the defense of the rebel artillery.

Under the cover of Luoyang City and the bastion, there happens to be a wharf to the east of Luoyang City, called "Nanguan Wharf".

The Nanguan Wharf was built during the Sui and Tang Dynasties to facilitate the transportation of supplies and grain from all over the country to Luoyang City through the Tongji Canal.

After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the old city of Luoyang was destroyed and the Tongji Canal was no longer in use. However, the wharf was preserved because of the transportation function of the Luo River. Although it is no longer as prosperous as it used to be, it is still convenient for the transportation of materials.

What's more, at this time, the Yellow River had not yet changed its course to the north. It still passed through Kaifeng and returned to De, passing through Xuzhou and Pizhou to Huai'an Prefecture and entering the East China Sea, which was roughly the same direction as the original Tongji Canal. Although it is not as stable and reliable as the Tongji Canal before, it can still be used.

Zhang Shun chose to build the bastion here, not only with the intention of using Luoyang City and the bastion to defend the Nanguan Pier, but also so that Huang Shoucai, who had the advantage of the navy, could take the opportunity to harass the enemy or supply supplies to the rebels at critical times. idea.

Since bastions are generally lower than traditional Chinese rammed earth city walls, in order to prevent the enemy from capturing Luoyang City, the bastions were bombarded from a high position.

Zhang Shun ordered Governor Zhang, Han Lin and Gao Yizhi to build a fort about three miles northeast of Luoyang City.

The effective range of the Hongyi cannon in this era was generally about one mile, which was roughly equivalent to more than 500 meters in later generations.

In this era, only a few heavy-duty Hongyi cannons and long-diameter artillery could potentially shoot at buildings within three miles. Therefore, this distance is considered a safe enough distance, and it can cover each other's fire and bombard the enemies between Luoyang City and the bastion.

The site had been chosen, and Zhang distributed food and recruited soldiers under the rebel army to dig soil and build a fort.

This move immediately met with strong opposition from Red Lady and Zhang Shenyan. One of the two men was in charge of supplies and supplies, and the other was in charge of internal affairs. Naturally, they knew that the rebel army did not have much food reserves.

Once the rebels carried out large-scale construction work, they would consume food twice as fast as usual under intense physical labor.

Originally, the rebel army did not have much food reserves. If it continued to be consumed like this, I am afraid that the rebel army would have to abandon the city and leave before the officers and soldiers could attack.

So, Zhang smiled and said: "The old mountain chief Zuo Lengchan is a strange man. He came up with a plan for me. He tricked the world into selling food and grass. Is there any risk of food shortage for the rebel army?"

Afterwards, Zhang told these two people the plan of Chief Zuo Shan. Only then did the two men suddenly realize what Zhang Shun's "thousands of gold bought grain" was for.

After receiving the support of two generals under his command, Zhang Shun personally designed the fortress together with Governor Zhang, Han Lin, and Gao Yizhi.

Zhang Shun originally did not understand the design of the bastion. It was only after a rough explanation by Captain Zhang, Han Lin and Gao Yizhi that he discovered that the bastion was a specialized fortress based on the ballistic characteristics of artillery.

For the defender, the bastion should use crossfire as much as possible to maximize the power of artillery and gunfire. For the attacking side, the bastion should use low and thick walls as much as possible to reduce the threat of artillery to the walls.

After rigorous calculations and careful selection by both parties, a five-pointed star-shaped bastion was finally selected as the plan for the new bastion.

Due to different needs, there are four common bastions: polygonal star, six-pointed star, five-pointed star and square.

Among them, the polygonal star shape is suitable for a large bastion covering a large area, while the square shape is suitable for transforming the original square city, perhaps for building a small bastion.

Although the bastion Zhang Shun is planning to build is known as a small fortress, it still needs to accommodate enough personnel and materials to facilitate long-term defense.

After comprehensive consideration, Zhang Shun finally selected the most practical five-pointed star-shaped bastion. Each corner of the five-pointed star-shaped bastion has a strong bastion extending out, which can meet the most basic fire coverage requirements with the minimum amount of construction.

Zhang Shun had some experience in engineering construction in his previous life, and Governor Zhang, Han Lin and Gao Yizhi were all master architects, so building such a small fortress was naturally a piece of cake.

Everyone first set five points as benchmarks, then drove piles, pulled ropes, and drew the location of the trench that needed to be dug.

Then let the rebel soldiers follow the rope instructions to dig out the trench around the five-star shape. The excavated soil was lifted into the trench by a small lever crane designed by Zhang Shun to imitate the tower crane to ram the city wall.

The insufficient rammed earth was taken from the internal space of the bastion and the outer trenches. It took more than a month to finally complete it.

When Song Xiance saw this from the top of Luoyang City, he couldn't help but sigh: "The five stars are coming out of the east to benefit China, and now the purple star is falling in Heluo, which is a sign of the lord's emperor's energy! In my opinion, it is not as good as the name 'Purple Star Castle'," I wonder if that’s okay?”

Chinese refers to the land of Heluo in the past. During the Tianqi period, there was a gathering of five stars in 1624. There were many commentators for a while, and Song Xiance certainly wanted to add insult to injury and take the opportunity to promote the destiny.

Thank you to fan "Zawaki Erxin" for the two tips, thank you to fans "Carpenter Mourinho" and "In the Book" for the tips, thank you for supporting the author!

Regarding the gathering of the five elements during the Tianqi years, judging from the sporadic data of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that "main disasters and abnormality" were the mainstream. But the strange thing is that a lot of information about things that should have caused a political sensation in ancient times has been lost. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty, we should publicize it more vigorously. The author suspects that this astrological prophecy may be detrimental to the Qing Dynasty, so there are very few records handed down!