Chapter 323: Powder Keg

"Brothers, the Tongguan Pass is ahead. Only by taking this place, Jinzhou will be safe and the enemy will not threaten Yanzhou. Hold your weapons tightly and follow me!"

Amid the sound of cannons, sixty teams carrying ladders were ready.

Each team was led by a small flag, with a total of fifty people.

Before the attack, the general flag circled around the soldiers under his command, shouting to encourage them.

At the same time, the ten ladder teams were led by a captain.

Whether it was a small flag, a general flag or a captain, they would take the lead in the charge in this siege.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The soldiers shouted, this would be the toughest siege they fought in Jinzhou.

In Xincheng, they took advantage of the fact that there were only more than 2,000 soldiers in the city.

In Jincheng, they took advantage of the artillery that blew down the city wall.

But they will not always have advantages on the battlefield.

What's more, they have artillery and flintlock support at present, which already has a great advantage.

"Your Highness has returned to Yancheng, but he has been watching us! This time we will use Tongguan to prove to Your Highness that we can still chew hard bones!" After the generals at all levels encouraged the soldiers, Guan Tong rode his horse back and forth in front of the soldiers, shouting.

Finally, he stopped in front of Chang Wei, and Chang Wei nodded to him.

Drawing the sword from his waist, he pointed to the top of Tongguan and shouted: "Charge!"

"Kill!"

Guan Tong ordered the soldiers carrying the cloud ladders to rush to the city wall.

At the same time, Chang Wei ordered the flintlock team to move forward to suppress the Xiliang soldiers on the city wall.

The artillery stopped at this time, and continued shelling would cause accidental injuries.

On the city wall.

Hearing the shouts and killings, Qu Dan stuck his head out and looked.

I saw the Yan Wang soldiers carrying the cloud ladders and charging.

With a tense heart, he shouted, "Everyone, stand up and defend the city wall!"

After receiving Qu Dan's order, the Xiliang generals on the city wall urged the soldiers to stand up.

The sound of the cannon stopped, and the Xiliang soldiers became bolder.

Seeing that the Yan Wang soldiers carrying the ladders were about to reach the city wall.

They immediately picked up rolling logs and gravel and waited for the Yan Wang soldiers to arrive.

At the same time, the Xiliang archers on the city wall stood up and shot arrows at the Yan Wang soldiers under the city.

"Swish, swish, swish..." The sound of arrows breaking through the air continued to sound.

It fell on the charging Wangfu soldiers like raindrops.

From time to time, the charging soldiers were hit in places not covered by armor, screaming and falling to the ground.

While the Xiliang archers shot arrows, the flintlock soldiers stepped forward.

Lined up under the city and fired at the top of the city.

"Bang, bang, bang..."Dense gunfire sounded.

In the firelight and smoke, the Xiliang archers on the city wall were shot and fell to the ground.

With the help of the flintlock team, the pressure on the Wangfu soldiers in the charge was reduced.

They came to the bottom of the city wall, put the ladder against the city wall, and climbed up along the ladder.

Under the suppression of the flintlock, the Xiliang soldiers lay behind the parapet.

Seeing that the Wangfu soldiers were about to climb the city wall, the Xiliang general immediately ordered the soldiers to pick up the stones in their hands and throw them down.

A Xiliang soldier picked up the stone in fear and stood up, and threw it at the ladder.

As the stone was thrown, his arm was hit.

The pain came, and he squatted under the parapet with his arm covered, screaming.

The other Xiliang soldiers were even more scared when they saw this.

Although there were no artillery, this weapon that the fleeing soldiers could not explain also made them full of fear.

"Everyone get up and kill the enemy, whoever squats behind will be killed without mercy!" The general's voice came.

But not many people paid attention to them in fear.

Seeing this, the general waved his sword and killed a soldier squatting under the parapet.

The pupils of other Xiliang soldiers suddenly dilated.

Gritting their teeth and shouting, they picked up the rolling log and threw it down.

Other soldiers also dumped gravel, hot oil and other things down.

"Reserve troops!"

Below the city, Chang Wei clenched his fists tightly.

The narrow city walls and sufficient troops allowed Xiliang to constantly replace the dead soldiers and maintain the offensive.

Amid the rubble, rolling logs and boiling hot oil, the soldiers of the palace suffered casualties.

Soldiers were constantly hit and fell from the ladders.

"This damn Tongguan." Chang Wei hated Tongguan for the first time.

No matter how much he liked this place before, he even guarded here.

But now it is in the hands of the enemy, and it is a hateful existence in his eyes.

Especially it caused so many casualties to his soldiers.

The battle lasted from morning to evening. Relying on the narrow city walls of Tongguan, the resistance of the Xiliang people was fierce.

When night fell, Chang Wei ordered to stop the siege.

On the city wall, looking at the faded Yan Wang soldiers, Qu Dan's hands were shaking slightly.

If there were no such wall, if there were no 30,000 Xiliang soldiers in the city.

He believed that the city would have been broken by now.

But even so, he was still frightened.

In war, the defenders have the advantage of terrain, and often suffer much less casualties than the other side.

But after comparing the casualties of the Yan Wang soldiers outside the city, he found that his casualties in defending the city were greater than those in attacking the city.

The reason was the strange firearms of the Yan Wang soldiers.

So many soldiers holding such firearms were like the same number of archers.

Many Xiliang were killed as soon as they showed their heads.

Outside Tongguan.

Chang Wei and the captains looked solemn.

After a day of strong attack, they failed to take down the city wall of Tongguan.

This pass faces mountains on two sides and grassland on one side, and only the south gate can be attacked.

This is equivalent to giving Xiliang the opportunity to concentrate its forces to deal with them.

Although the soldiers fought bravely, they could not do anything about the damage caused by stones, rolling logs, and hot oil.

"It's a pity that lime firecrackers can't be used, otherwise it would be much smoother." Guan Tong sounded the lime that played a miraculous role again when attacking Jincheng.

But the situation is different now. Throwing firecrackers from the bottom up will only make the lime float down, which will cause trouble to their own people.

"Firecrackers!" Guan Tong's muttering made Chang Wei stunned for a moment, and a light flashed in his mind.

He looked at the wall facing him and said, "Continue to bombard the weak point of the wall."

Then he said, "Concentrate some gunpowder and make some gunpowder barrels."

Guan Tong immediately understood what Chang Wei was going to do when he heard it.

A touch of joy appeared on his face, and he immediately asked the soldiers to prepare.

Not long after, the roar of artillery sounded again, bombarding the place that had been repaired.

The next day, thirty half-meter-high wooden barrels were moved to the front of the army.

Each barrel was filled with granular gunpowder, and a fuse was inserted into the barrel for ignition.

After a night of bombardment, the blue bricks in the bombarded area completely fell off, leaving only rammed earth.

And the rammed earth was hit by a large and deep hole.

This is what Chang Wei wanted.

Even if the artillery bombardment speed was too slow, he used the gunpowder barrel to directly blow up the city wall.

"Flintlock team, the artillery fully covers the soldiers carrying the gunpowder barrels." Chang Wei pointed to the front, "Blow up this city wall!"