Chapter 617 Foxhole
"Don't worry about him. We have to rely on ourselves for Pingyuan City. Tell the soldiers that as long as they can defend Pingyuan City, each of them will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. Let them fight for their lives."
"Yes, Marshal." The general responded and turned to climb the city wall.
But before he took a few steps, a shell suddenly exploded above his head. The general's body shook and fell from the city wall.
Seeing this, Han Qi closed his eyes in pain.
With a fierce heart, he mustered up the courage to rush to the city wall and repeatedly called on other generals to lead the soldiers to fight back.
However, the artillerymen of Qi were now being "taken care of" by the artillerymen of Yanzhou.
On the north wall, the gun carriages of 30% of the artillery had been destroyed, and the gun barrels were lying on the ground.
Around the gun barrels, there were artillerymen lying in groups of three or two.
These soldiers were hit by artillery and died miserably. They were either bloody or missing arms and legs.
What made him even more angry was that the artillery of Yanzhou was still bombarding and artillery was constantly being destroyed.
On the city wall, the situation of other soldiers was equally miserable. The soldiers of Yanzhou fired explosive shells at their heads.
Some soldiers lay on the ground, dying, with iron nails all over their bodies.
Some soldiers screamed in pain in the white smoke, and soldiers kept coming out of the white fog and falling off the city wall.
These scenes made Han Qi's heart almost jump out of his throat.
He had never seen such a battle before. In an instant, he finally understood why Beidi was defeated by the King of Yan in Ningjin Dusi.
It's just that Qi and the King of Yan are incompatible, and only one side can fall in the end. He must fight this battle head-on.
On the one hand, this is to save Pingyuan City, and on the other hand, it is to delay the King of Yan's southward steps and buy time for Qi to unite with other powerful families.
In addition, Sato Masahisa also promised them that Japan would take action to contain the King of Yan.
If many parties can work together, the King of Yan will be cautious, so Qi will be safe.
Thinking of this, he shouted: "Brothers, killing a soldier of the King of Yan will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver. It's time to make a fortune."
The generals of Qi State immediately spread Han Qi's words.
There must be brave men under a heavy reward, and some of the soldiers guarding Pingyuan City this time were prisoners on death row.
Before the battle, Han Qi promised them that as long as they could defend Pingyuan City, they would be exempted from the death penalty and free.
Now there is silver to be taken, and most of these prisoners on death row are brave and fierce.
Hearing this, they immediately ran to the artillery to assist the artillery in pulling the artillery.
At this time, one cannon after another was pushed to the gap between the battlements of the city wall, and the muzzle extended out of the city wall.
Seeing a team of Yanzhou heavy infantry carrying a ladder under the city into the 200-meter range, ready to climb the city wall.
The Qi artillery stuffed grapeshot into the muzzle and aimed at them.
A burst of fire flashed, a loud noise was heard, smoke rose, and the grapeshot flew straight out.
However, this shot did not hit the heavy infantry in the front, and the shells fell on the land about 30 meters to their left front.
The cotton cloth that bound the grapeshot was broken, and small iron balls splashed out.
The heavy infantry stopped immediately. They recognized at a glance that this was not an ordinary shell, but a grapeshot.
The general in charge of the siege immediately ordered the soldiers to retreat.
If it was just an ordinary shell, it would not hinder their siege, but this was a grapeshot.
Although the artillery on the plain city wall was exposed to the wall at present because of the bombardment of their artillery, only 30 or 40 guns were exposed.
But the barrage of grapeshots could still cause them a large number of casualties.
Before the siege, their generals told them that if they found something wrong, they could retreat at any time.
While retreating, they told the musketeers what they found.
Then, the musketeers retreated 400 meters away.
Their unimproved artillery could shoot grapeshot 400 meters away.
Although they knew that Qi's artillery was not as good as their unimproved artillery, they chose to retreat further for safety.
And in the process of retreat, they became a skirmish line to prevent being bombarded by the enemy's artillery.
"What's going on?" The soldiers responsible for the siege suddenly retreated, and Chang Wei frowned.
This is not the style of the soldiers in the palace.
Not long after, Qin Shan came back from the front and told Chang Wei what the heavy infantry had found.
"Grapeshot, no wonder?" Chang Wei suddenly realized.
Looking at Pingyuan City, he snorted coldly, "This damn Japanese really taught Qi a lot of things, but it's a dream to think that it's difficult for us."
After a pause, he said to Qin Shan: "No siege today, let the soldiers take shovels to dig foxholes at night."
This foxhole is also part of the skirmish tactics.
Its purpose is to protect the skirmishers from enemy artillery fire.
In this way, the skirmishers can hide in the foxholes and attack enemy targets safely.
Qin Shan scratched his head. He originally thought that these new tactics had no place to be used, but he didn't expect that they would be used now.
Thinking of this, he admired the King of Yan even more.
What they thought of, the King of Yan thought of, and what they didn't think of, the King of Yan also thought of for them.
…
On the top of Pingyuan City.
The soldiers of Yanzhou retreated, and the soldiers of Qi cheered.
A general laughed: "I thought the soldiers of the King of Yan were so powerful, but they turned out to be just a group of cowards. As soon as our artillery sounded, they were scared away."
"That's right. It seems that they rely on grapeshot to fight against the northern barbarians. Now we have what they have. They can't be defeated if we fight them like this."
"..."
The generals were all in high spirits. Han Qi also pinched his waist with a smile on his face.
Just now he was worried about the safety of Pingyuan City. Now it seems that the troops of the King of Yan will never be able to break through Pingyuan City.
The cheers on the top of the city attracted Shicun Dahe. When he learned that the troops of the King of Yan were defeated, he proudly said to Han Qi: "This is all the credit of our Japanese grapeshot."
He had just hidden in the city, so he naturally didn't want to risk his life for Qi.
The second reason was to organize soldiers to fight in the streets.
Even if the city wall couldn't be defended, he would make the troops of the King of Yan pay a heavy price in taking the city.
Han Qi sneered in his heart, but smiled on his face. He despised the behavior of the Japanese generals, but he had to admit the power of grapeshot.
He casually echoed and said to the Qi generals: "Although the Yanzhou soldiers have retreated, you must not be careless. You must continue to guard the city wall and not lose anything."
The Qi generals agreed in unison.
From noon to night, the Yanzhou soldiers did not organize any more attacks.
As night fell, Han Qi was worried that the Yanzhou soldiers would launch a sneak attack at night, so he asked the generals to be vigilant.
But this night was very quiet again.
But the next morning, when he was sleeping soundly, a Qi general hurried over, woke him up, and led him to the city wall.
"Marshal, look." The general pointed outside the city, and saw that at this moment, within 150 to 200 meters from the city wall, there were pits one after another.
These pits were very deep, and the Yanzhou soldiers standing in them could only show their shoulders and heads.
If they shrank down, they could not see the whole person.
"What the hell is this?" Han Qi couldn't help but curse.
Intuition told him that this thing might be as hateful as the small building built to the north.