Father can be an enemy to the country

The next morning, the Red River was covered with fog.

The defenders on the top of Thang Long City had been nervous all night and were changing shifts.

The 80,000 most elite imperial guards of Annan all followed Hu Jiyi back to Thang Long. This was the reason why he was able to crush Chen Riwei and the confidence for him to stick to the end.

Hu Jiyi was naturally an excellent general who could stand out from the war with Champa. He divided the defenders into two shifts, took turns on duty, and arranged sufficient reserves. The troops were distributed in an orderly manner. Among them, his younger brother Hu Jimei was sent to lead a heavy army to guard the east wall facing the Red River.

But no matter what, this time they were facing their suzerain country, the Ming soldiers who had been invincible in the world for 20 years.

If they won this battle, they would definitely retaliate against the main force of the Ming army later.

If they lost, they would naturally be doomed.

So Hu Jiyi stayed up all night and discussed with Fan Julun. They thought that the best way was to have a tie. He didn't win and I didn't lose. This way, everyone would save face. Then they could send a generous gift to send the Ming army out of the country.

That marquis would not hold on to this matter anymore, and he could also publicize his glorious deeds of repelling the heavenly soldiers in the country, greatly enhancing his reputation.

So Hu Jiyi rushed to the east wall where the battle was most likely to occur early, and decided to command it personally to facilitate micro-management.

"Brother, why are you here?" Hu Jimei hurried to meet him.

"I'm worried, so I came to see." Hu Jiyi asked in a deep voice: "What's the movement of the Ming army?"

"The fog is too thick, I can't see clearly." Hu Jimei shook his head and said: "But we have a 10,000 stake formation by the river, and they can't even think of a sneak attack."

He meant that after the fall of Thang Long, the king of the Chen Dynasty imitated the rulers of the Wu Dynasty and laid a large number of stakes in the water to prevent the Champa army from attacking from the water again. If you don't know where the passage is, and rush in rashly, the bottom of the boat will definitely be stuck.

Even if you know, you can't tell east from west and south from north in such a foggy day, and you will be at a loss.

"Be careful, don't let the Ming army attack successfully." Hu Jimei warned. If you want to tie, you must first be invincible. He doesn't want to capsize in the gutter.

"Don't worry, brother." Hu Jimei said, "I have doubled the reward money according to your wishes, and told them that there will be a big reward after a big victory. The morale of the soldiers is very high."

"There is no need for a big victory." Hu Jimei shook his head and said, "It's good to let the Ming army retreat when they know the difficulty."

"Ah?" Hu Jimei was stunned.

Hu Jimei didn't explain and continued to patrol on the top of the city. Based on his many years of experience in leading troops, his own city defense is strong, there are many soldiers and generals, and there is sufficient money and food. The imperial army is waiting for him to ascend the throne and reward them greatly, so the morale is naturally high.

Let alone 20,000 Ming troops, even 200,000 would never be able to capture Thang Long City!

He couldn't help but proudly said to his followers: "I want to see what they can use to break my city?!"

Coincidentally, the sun rose at this moment, and under the golden light, the fog on the river surface quickly dissipated, and huge black shadows like hills emerged!

Amid the exclamations of the soldiers, Hu Jinyi also saw those terrifying giants!

"What is that?" Hu Jinyi took a breath.

"It's the giant ship of the Celestial Empire!" The territory of Annan is all coastal areas, and some soldiers have witnessed the heroic appearance of the Shibo fleet on the seashore.

At this time, the fog became lighter and lighter, and the people on the top of the city could also see the tall masts, the huge hull, and the rows of black gun muzzles on the side of the ship.

"The Ming fleet is coming!" The soldiers of Annan were terrified and finally understood what the Ming army was waiting for. It turned out that they were waiting for their fleet to arrive.

It's not afraid of not knowing the goods, but it's afraid of comparing the goods. The Annan navy warships, which looked quite decent at first, became pitiful, weak and helpless small boats in the background of the huge ships of the Ming army...

Many people broke their defense on the spot, beat their chests and stamped their feet in frustration, and cursed the officials for being pig-headed. Why didn't they fight them earlier? At that time, they would have won.

Now it's good, the Ming army's fleet has come, they can fight if they want to, and leave if they want to, and the initiative has completely changed hands!

"Don't panic!" Hu Jinyi hurriedly said loudly to stabilize the army: "It's useless for the Ming army's warships to come over. No matter how powerful their artillery is, they can't blow up our city walls!"

"Yes, your majesty is right!" His brother also quickly echoed: "The Ming army's artillery shells can only blow off the bricks on the outer layer of our city wall, and can't shake the rammed earth wall inside! So their warships are useless! We will definitely be able to hold on!"

~~

On the Red River, the Ming army warships lined up, facing the Thang Long city wall with their side.

The gunners tore off the gun covers and began to load nervously, and the command sounded in every warship.

On the Ming army's flagship "Sanya", Haiguogong Yu Tongyuan had already joined Hu Quan and Yao Guangxiao.

In fact, Hu Quan was not useless during this period. He separated a part of the army to search downstream along the Red River, intercepting all the Annan cavalry heading towards Thang Long, and trying to prevent them from reporting to Hu Jinyi that the Sanya fleet was going upstream. To prevent this guy from jumping over the wall in desperation.

The effect was very good. The Sanya fleet had already arrived at the foot of Thang Long City, but Hu Jinyi was still kept in the dark.

"But Master," Yu Tongyuan asked Yao Guangxiao in disbelief: "Do you really think we can use artillery to knock down such a thick wall?"

Even if the Ming army has now developed a pointed artillery shell specifically for attacking, it can be fired farther and more powerful, and can penetrate four layers of bricks with one shot.

But as Hu Jipi said, this kind of power depends entirely on impact, and the shells without explosive power are most afraid of rammed earth walls. This thing has too strong an ability to absorb the kinetic energy of shells, and it is really silent after one shot.

That is the so-called "the cannon can penetrate several layers of bricks and wood, but only a few feet into the ground."

Facing Yu Tongyuan's doubts, Yao Guangxiao smiled confidently: "Just fire the cannon. If you can't knock down this section of the wall within an hour, I will give my head to the Duke of Haiguo."

"So confident?" Yu Tongyuan was skeptical.

"The master has always been full of confidence. He said before that we will definitely arrive at the same time." Hu Quan undermined Yao Guangxiao.

"Haha, there are indeed some small mistakes, but this time it will definitely not happen." Yao Guangxiao smiled awkwardly.

"Okay, since we are here, let's try it!" Yu Tongyuan nodded and gave the order to fire the cannon.

"Fire!" The herald gave the order, and the gun deck on the flagship roared at the same time.

The other warships heard the gunfire and immediately fired!

Hundreds of flames rushed out, and the deafening gunfire resounded across the river, shaking the "small sampans" of the Annan army to the left and right, and many people fell into the water.

But the Annan navy who fell into the water did not bother to climb back on the boat. They all stared blankly in the direction of Thang Long City, with shock on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight!

It was really a ghost!

The Thang Long City Wall, which was as solid as a rock in the eyes of the Annan people, could not even withstand the first round of volleys, and collapsed in large sections, burying all the densely packed defenders on the city.

The brothers Hu Jiyi and Hu Jipi happened to be on that section of the city wall, so they were naturally not spared...