Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 425 Hugh's Enemy

Governor Jingxiang's trip to Nanyang still had some effect.

reaction!
As a reward for his hard work to go to Nanyang to sue, Nanyang merchants transported more than 3000 stone potato noodles and [-] catties of iron to the rebels two days later—that is, on March [-]. , five thousand catties of granular gunpowder, and the most terrifying thing is that there are two cannons.This transportation was very easy, as long as it was transported to Xiangyang... The rebel army has now surrounded Xiangyang.

It was Qin Mai who commanded the rebel army to surround Xiangyang.Wang Rui is now commanding 20 elite soldiers to feign an attack on Jingzhou, restraining the governor of Huguang, and finally pieced together the [-] troops to reinforce Xiangyang, cutting off their reinforcement route to Xiangyang. The [-] "army" surrounded Xiangyang, and first smashed the bridgehead for the Heluo new army going south.

When the fleet docked, the rebels cheered and came over to unload the bags of potato noodles and wheat without the need for the boatmen to do anything.The defenders of Xiangyang looked at this huge fleet with complicated expressions, while the generals of the rebel army rejoiced, saying that with so many supplies, they would be more confident in taking Xiangyang.

Qin Mai suddenly saw a familiar figure, greeted him in surprise, and lowered his voice, "Why are you here?"

Dan Danyang cooed at a large ship that had not yet docked: "Let's try a new toy."

Qin Mai's pupils shrank: "You...you brought the cannons here too?"

Dan Danyang said: "Yes, it's here...don't be in a daze, hurry up and call someone to help bring the cannon ashore. Could it be that you want to put it on the boat and fire it at Xiangyang City?" .This technology madman doesn't have many concepts of right and wrong in his mind, only his cannon. It's a trivial matter for him to fire two cannonballs at his own city wall to test the power. Just don't break his cannon.

Qin Mai took people aboard, and when he saw the cannon, it instantly petrified.

The city of Xiangyang was in chaos.Xiangyang has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. When Mongolia destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, it mobilized half of the world's elite soldiers and strong generals to storm the Xiangfan defense line. The boulders thrown by the return artillery almost covered the sky. After 20 years of fierce fighting, the defense line was gnawed down. This shows how strong Xiangyang City is.But now it is the end of Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army defending Xiangyang doesn't even have 20% of the Song army's ability. They only have 20 people, poorly equipped, and can't get enough food, and there are [-] rebels, [-] rebels, boundless Wuyan, when did the defenders see such a scene?All freaked out.The gentry and aristocrats hiding in Xiangyang City were even more frightened and at a loss. The reputation of the rebel army had already spread throughout Huguang. There must be no place to die!At the juncture of life and death, these vampires became extremely generous, reluctantly raising a sum of money to reward the defenders. The magistrate of Xiangfan also went to the city in person to encourage the defenders to fight bloody to the end.But the generals at all levels divided more than half of the money and food, and only a few pitiful pennies were left in the hands of each defender. How could their morale be soaring?The nasty rebels are hiding out of the range of the cannon, shouting to this side with a horn made of iron sheet:

"Brothers guarding the city, we are not traitors, let alone murderous demons! The reason why we want to rise up is purely out of helplessness!"

"The gang of local tyrants and evil gentry exploited us in every possible way, and those ruthless and corrupt officials plundered us in every possible way, forcing our family to die! We had our faces turned to the soil, our backs to the sky, we farmed day and night, and we worked conscientiously in corvee service. In the end, what did we get in exchange? ? Even if we pay all the harvest, it’s not enough to pay the rent and taxes. Our wives and children are separated, and our families are ruined, but they have a lot of fish and meat, and are extravagant and extravagant. Is this fair!?”

"Brothers and officers guarding the city, I am also from the garrison, and I am still a senior officer. Our family has been a military household for generations! I think everyone knows what kind of life we ​​military households live. We have no food. We have food, no clothes to wear, and there are many people who are 50 to [-] years old and still can't find a wife. There is a war, and we have to find ways to get food and weapons to work for those dog officials. Are you willing to continue like this? Stop working for those dog officials and come out. The dog meat is stewed here and the spirits are laid out. We will eat meat in large chunks and drink from big bowls. We will kill those sons of bitches. Even if they are finally destroyed by the court, Die happily too!”

……

Shoutouts like these are more lethal than the longbows and crossbows in the hands of the rebels. The generals of the Ming army have a deep understanding of this. When fighting against the rebels, their own troops often turn against each other before the rebels come into contact. This battle cannot be fought.The officers of the Ming army guarding the city were furious and roared loudly: "The traitor is trying to confuse the crowd again! Plug your ears and don't listen to these outrageous words, or you will be dealt with by military law!"

It’s a good idea to plug your ears. The problem is that there are more than 1 guards and soldiers. If you want them to plug their ears, you have to use a lot of cotton...

The guy in charge of shouting in the rebel army was so tireless that he kept shouting until late at night. The officers tried in vain to threaten the soldiers not to listen, but it was all in vain.The gentry in Xiangyang City were also frightened. The magistrate took the lead and went to Prince Xiang's Mansion to find King Xiang. After a hard battle, King Xiang reluctantly agreed to give out 1 taels of silver. Everyone pooled another 1 taels of silver and bought another. I bought some wine and meat and sent it to the defenders early the next morning. There must be brave men under the heavy reward.

This time, the defenders finally got some wine and meat to eat. As for the silver reward... the old rule, the magistrate first took 1%, then the generals at all levels divided [-]%, and the rest was distributed to more than [-] people. There is not much money left.

But on this day, the rebels changed their tricks again.They pushed over a dozen catapults that had been rushed overnight, and put clay pots weighing about ten kilograms into net bags and launched them into Xiangyang City.Clay pots rained down on the city, and even fell on the city wall. The pots shattered, and thousands of leaflets flew out of them, flying in all directions with the wind.Everyone picked it up curiously, and those who could read read it word by word:

"Open the city gate to welcome the King of Qin, the King of Qin will not pay the food when he comes!"

"Only punish corrupt officials and evil gentry, not harm good people!"

Soon, these leaflets were spread all over the city, the magistrate was shocked, and hurriedly sent someone down to collect the leaflets, and the common people were not allowed to read them, but how could they be banned?The slogans on the leaflets are just a few sentences, and they are easy to understand. The common people who have read the leaflets look at those gentry officials with something wrong...

The magistrate was surprised and angry: "What is the origin of these rebels? They have so many tricks!" Fan Zhong, the commander of Xiangfan, was surprised and angry, and scolded the rebels for being shameless. They only play tricks like this and dare not fight him... In other words, he only dared to hide in Xiangyang City, and dared not step out of the city gate.

A flyer attack caused chaos in Xiangyang City, and the gentry had no choice but to spend money to reward the defenders.Some people yelled to quit, if this continues, before the rebels come into the city, he will go bankrupt!Regarding this kind of live treasure, everyone unanimously commented: "Pure 24K idiot!"Nothing!However, their prospects are also very limited. Apart from rewarding the defenders, they have nothing to do.

Qin Mai snorted disdainfully when he saw that the magistrate had climbed the city wall to reward the three armies again.In his opinion, generals who blindly use harsh military laws to suppress soldiers and frequently reward soldiers when facing the enemy are mediocre generals, and this is the general level of generals in Huguang.When the prefect was hoarse and fierce soldiers bravely killed the enemy to serve the court, a hundred households were wolfing down dog meat and potato noodles in his big tent, and couldn't stop eating four bowls in a row.Finally, he was full, wiped the oil from the corner of his mouth, burped and said, "It's better for you to live a good life, eat meat in big pieces, drink in big bowls, if you can live such a good life for a few days, you will be dead." , It’s worth it! By the way, King Qin, do you really have land after capturing Xiangyang?”

Qin Mai said: "Of course! In so many places we have conquered, we have allocated fields and built schools for children to study. Xiangyang is no exception!" He said loudly: "Our goal is to turn the entire Huguang into a It’s a paradise like Nanyang, where farmers have fields, children have books to study, old people have government support, and there are no cruel officials to oppress the people!”

"To the tiller there is land, and the children have books to read..." Baihu murmured and repeated these two sentences, his eyes brightened, and he asked with hope: "I... can we also get these preferential treatment?"

Qin Mai said: "As long as you join the rebel army and abide by the military discipline of the rebel army, it's fine!"

Baihu gritted his teeth and said, "It was because of King Qin that he died! King Qin, I know that Xiangyang City looks solid, but in fact, a section of the city wall was renovated ten years ago... That section of the city cut corners during the renovation and was vulnerable. If the cannon fires at that section of the city wall, it will surely knock it down in one fell swoop!"

Qin Mai was a little surprised: "How do you know such secrets?"

Baihu smiled wryly: "Because Humble happened to participate in the renovation project of this section of the city wall at that time, and because they withheld the project funds too much, they starved to death more than a dozen brothers..."

On March [-]th, after besieging Xiangyang for five days and using various propaganda methods to make the defenders lose their temper, the rebels finally took action.This morning, under the terrified eyes of the defenders, two giant cannons weighing five or six thousand kilograms were dragged by horses and pushed all the way to Xiaoximen, aiming at this section of the city wall that was severely cut corners. The Xiangyang magistrate's eyes turned black.The propaganda team members who were already familiar with the defenders once again set up their big megaphones and shouted at the defenders on the city wall: "Brothers in the defenders, we are about to attack the city with artillery! The section of the city wall you are defending is in the During the renovation, we cut corners and materials, and you can kick it down, I suggest you leave quickly, or you will be buried alive, don’t blame us for not reminding you!”

Have you ever seen an enemy who is so caring and considerate of the enemy?
The defenders of this section of the city wall were so excited that they were about to cry. They weren't stupid pigs. Some of them even participated in the renovation of the city wall. Don't they know what kind of parallel imports this section of the city wall is?Look at the two 120mm caliber cannons, and look at the unreliable city wall under your feet. Finally, someone screamed: "Run!"Thousands of households and hundreds of households yelled loudly: "Don't run away! Don't run away! These are all rumors spread by traitors, don't listen to their rumors!" If you escape, don't expect your subordinates to stay and stick to the city wall.When the defenders on the city wall had almost escaped, Shan Danyang shouted majestically: "Fire!"

A foreign devil used instruments to measure things and shouted in fluent Chinese: "Distance is 400 meters, target is level, muzzle is depressed a little, standard charge, two salvos, fire!"

The gunner opened the breech breech, stuffed a heavy date-pit-shaped projectile into it, and then used a stick to poke in a medicine bag wrapped in silk, closed the breech, inserted the fuse, and ignited.

After a few seconds————

boom!boom!
The muzzle of the 120mm heavy gun sprayed out two terrifying orange-red smoke flames. The sound of the cannon was like two shocks, which made everyone's ears buzzing. The two almost straight ballistic trajectories hit the city wall fiercely with the momentum of a thunderbolt, and the whole Xiangyang City was shaken by it!The cannonball chopsticks were nailed into the city wall like tofu, and exploded violently. Tons of bricks and soil embryos were thrown into the air. Under the dumbfounded gaze of the defenders, the seemingly solid brick skin collapsed five or six feet away with a bang. For a long section, the soil embryo full of cracks was exposed, and it could be kicked down with one kick.

Another two shells flew over, still in those two positions.After the violent explosion, a section of the ten-foot-long city wall fell down like dominoes, raising smoke and dust soaring into the sky.

The defenders on the Xiangyang city wall fell into a deathly silence. Everyone looked at the collapsed city wall in disbelief, with pale faces.Only four shells, only four shells, once caused the Mongolian cavalry to hit their heads and bleed. The Xiangyang city wall, which had not been allowed to go south for 20 years, collapsed. If they had stayed on that section of the city wall just now, I am afraid they would have turned into meat patties. Bar?
After the deadly silence, there was a roar like thunder: "Fuck, kill those dog officials!!!"

I'm very sorry, I was disconnected from the Internet yesterday, so I didn't update it, sorry for that.

(End of this chapter)