Chapter 509 Ming Dynasty Artillery
On October 25th, Chiyou City.
Before Ouyang Shuo entered the compound where Chi You trained the blood guards, a bloody smell permeated the air.
"Open the door!"
When the captain of the guard Chen Dameng heard the words, he strode forward and kicked down, the wooden door was directly shattered into pieces, scattered all over the place, regardless of the big lock on the door.
"How rude!"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and walked into the compound.
The scene in front of him made Ouyang Shuo's face turn pale instantly.
Inside the compound, it was simply an endless hell.
I saw severed arms and limbs everywhere in the courtyard. On the courtyard wall, there were bloodstains, covered with red palm prints one by one, and even the ground was stained dark red by blood.
Countless flies and maggots enjoy a rare "feast" in the courtyard.
In one corner of the courtyard, there was a pool made of stone masonry, which was five meters long and three meters wide. The strong bloody smell emanated from this pool.
Walking in, it turned out to be a huge pool of blood, bottomless, filled with countless white bones. The entire blood pool was filled with bright red blood, with blood bubbles bubbling from time to time.
This scene and this situation, I am afraid that only hell can have it!
Ouyang Shuo recalled the records in the "Jiuli Blood Field Manual", and knew that the blood pool in front of him was the key to training the blood guards. The blood guards had to soak in the pool every day to absorb blood energy.
The bones in the pool must be the Han people who were captured, and they were forcibly refined by the blood pool and became the nourishment of the blood pool. How many lives have to be sacrificed for such a large pool of blood.
This situation is really unreasonable.
Only a demon god would act recklessly like this, treating human life as nothing, treating the Han people in his territory as pigs and dogs, and letting him slaughter them.
Even Chen Dameng and the others turned pale when they saw this scene, and felt like vomiting when they heard it.
"Open this place to the outside world for one day, and after one day, it will be completely burned." Ouyang Shuo's face was livid, and he turned and left without looking any further.
"promise!"
Chen Dameng replied heavily, his eyes were also full of anger.
As Han Chinese, seeing the same kind of persecution would make anyone feel bad.
***********
Once the secret of the compound was made public, it immediately caused an uproar in Chiyou City.
Not to mention the Han people in the city, even the Shanman had an expression of grief and indignation when they saw this scene. Because the severed arms and limbs in the courtyard belonged to mountain barbarians.
Countless Han people or mountain barbarians who lost their relatives found their remains in the compound, weeping one by one, making those who heard it cry.
Chi You's image has plummeted so far.
The patriarchs of the various clans of the Shanman no longer dared to put on airs, and ran to the city lord's mansion one by one to hand over invitations, requesting to meet the Marquis of Lianzhou and recognize his status as the "barbarian king".
Ouyang Shuo was indifferent to this.
For these mountain barbarian patriarchs, Ouyang Shuo is still going to fight their spirits.
Freezing three feet is not a day's cold.
***********
Back at the City Lord's Mansion, Ouyang Shuo was still in a difficult mood.
The scene of the blood pool kept reappearing in his mind and could not be erased. The cruelty of the wilderness was once again bloodied in front of Ouyang Shuo, hitting his nerves.
Originally, Ouyang Shuo thought that he was cold enough to face all cruelty calmly. Unexpectedly, what Chi You did once again broke through his bottom line.
The cruelty of the wilderness was more violent than Ouyang Shuo expected.
The bones of the emperor are just talking.
Ouyang Shuo couldn't help asking himself: "Is he really ready?"
"Report to the Lord, there is an urgent military situation!"
The intelligence officer's arrival interrupted Ouyang Shuo's thoughts.
Hearing this, Ouyang Shuo took the secret letter that the Military Intelligence Department had just picked up from the post station. The secret letter was sent by Bai Qi, announcing the latest battle situation of Mulan Fortress.
***********
Magnolia Fortress.
After half a month of careful preparations for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, countless siege equipment and food supplies have already arrived at the frontline Nan Daying.
Along with the materials arrived, there is also a batch of secret weapons.
In addition, Hong Xiuquan sent another 50,000 troops from Tianjing to the South Camp. And let go of the harsh words, and take down the Mulan Fortress at all costs.
At this time, there were less than 40,000 troops stationed in Tianjing City.
Everyone thought that Hong Xiuquan was crazy.
Actually otherwise, Hong Xiuquan, who was reborn once, is a brainless person. He holds a secret weapon in his hand, and he must have a port in order to realize his ambition.
Therefore, no matter how high the price was, Hong Xiuquan would have to capture Mulan Fortress and Lianzhou County. For this reason, he did not hesitate to cooperate with Chi You and contact the threat from the east.
Hong Xiuquan's will cannot be shaken.
...
The South Route Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was formed by merging the former South Route Army and the West Route Army, together with the 50,000 troops reinforced by Tianjing, the total strength reached 200,000, comparable to the West Route Army.
The main general of the army was Yang Xiuqing, and the young general Li Xiu became the deputy general. In addition, there are two generals, Lin Fengxiang and Chen Yucheng, serving as the left and right generals respectively.
This time, Hong Xiuquan was determined to take down the Mulan Fortress and open up the mouth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Just the day before Ouyang Shuo led his troops to Chiyou City, that is, on October 24th, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom South Army stationed in front of Mulan Fortress finally launched the first wave of fierce attack on Mulan Fortress.
The fortress defenders at this time included the third division, fourth division, and fifth division of the Longxiang Army, in addition to the first division of the city guard division led by Zhao Sihu.
As for the garrison division of Lianzhou County, it is still on standby in Mulan City for the time being.
The first wave of attacks by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom suffered unprecedented heavy losses.
Mulan Fortress can be hailed as the number one fortress in southern Xinjiang. It took countless manpower, material and financial resources, and it took nearly half a year to complete. How easy is it? One hundred three-bow and eight-ox bed crossbows and more than fifty catapults equipped on the fortress dealt a head-on blow to the Southern Route Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Before the South Route Army approached the foot of the city wall, the 50,000 vanguard troops were defeated by the rain of arrows and stones.
The sharp arrows fired by the three-bow and eight-ox bed crossbow not only have a super long range, but also have a large number and a fast firing speed. It is simply a row of human flesh harvesters.
A total of one hundred bed crossbows with three bows and eight cows, together with one hundred and fifty ordinary bed crossbows, were installed on the city wall in turn to form a dense defensive network.
The rain of arrows is like a modern machine gun, pouring ammunition without stopping.
In just one morning, the bed crossbow consumed more than 50,000 arrows, which is really terrifying. It means that the Shanhaicheng family has a big business and can bear such a huge consumption of arrows.
In addition to the bed crossbow, the trebuchet is not to be outdone.
The stones provided by Mulan Fortress are all modified "fireballs". A year ago, Ouyang Shuo's frenzied purchase of fire oil once again showed its power.
Huge stone balls were doused with kerosene, and after being ignited, they turned into huge fireballs urging death one after another, drawing arcs of death in the air, and smashing into the army formation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The dense military formation is simply a "paradise" for fireballs.
When a fireball hits, it will cause a large number of casualties. Countless soldiers were splashed by the flames, their bodies were on fire, they screamed fiercely, and ran around. Wherever the fireball rolled, the soldiers fled.
There are countless fireballs in the sky.
At this moment, the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in chaos, and they were out of formation at all.
With the cooperation of three bows, eight cow bed crossbows and trebuchets, the Southern Army lost more than 15,000 soldiers in the first day of fierce attack, but they didn't even touch the wall of Mulan Fortress.
This time, both Yang Xiuqing and Li Xiucheng were shocked.
Such fortresses cannot be conquered by manpower.
Just when Bai Qi thought that the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom would retreat in spite of difficulties, the next day, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom launched a fierce attack on the Mulan Fortress again, with the vigor of "until the goal is reached, vow not to give up".
In the face of the super firepower of the Mulan Fortress, the secret weapon prepared by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had to appear in advance. I saw that as the army moved forward, five artillery pieces appeared in the army formation.
These cannons are Hong Xiuquan's secret weapons.
When Hong Xiuquan revolted, it was the late Qing Dynasty. The use of firearms has become extremely widespread. Therefore, after Hong Xiuquan appeared in the wilderness, he automatically obtained the "Ming Dynasty Firearms Manufacturing Technical Manual".
Unfortunately, the manufacture of firearms has extremely high requirements on materials and craftsmanship, and the failure rate is extremely high. Moreover, most of the firearms are also limited in power and cannot be deployed on a large scale in the army.
The reason why Hong Xiuquan was determined to attack Mulan Fortress was to capture Lianzhou County, and then obtain a port, build warships, and install artillery to realize his ambition.
The five cannons are truly extraordinary.
Facing the copper and iron walls of the Mulan Fortress, the artillery smashed into big holes one by one on the wall. According to the development of this situation, Mulan Fortress may really be penetrated by artillery.
It is a pity that there are only five cannons, and the range is short. They must rely on the cover of the army, braving the dense firepower network composed of bed crossbows and catapults, and pushing to the edge of the city wall before they can be fired.
For a while, both sides suffered losses.
The walls of the Mulan Fortress suffered heavy losses, and the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also suffered heavy losses. Even a precious cannon was hit by a trebuchet and scrapped on the spot.
One day passed, and the Mulan Fortress was finally safe and sound. That night, Bai Qi sent an order to the Lianzhou County Guard Division to immediately enter the Mulan Fortress to assist in the defense of the fortress.
The Southern Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the opposite side also felt uncomfortable. After one day, they lost more than 10,000 soldiers. If the fight continues like this, the South Route Army will collapse if Mulan Fortress is not penetrated.
That night, Yang Xiuqing wrote to Hong Xiuquan, requesting the withdrawal of troops. It is suggested to change the strategic orientation and turn to the Northern Sichuan Province in the north.
Regrettably, Hong Xiuquan rejected Yang Xiuqing's suggestion.
This is also the first time that the two have disagreed. You know, Yang Xiuqing's status in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is second only to Hong Xiuquan.