Chapter 3596: Siege of the City during the Infernal Affairs

『Within three days...』

Time was shortened all of a sudden.

This feeling made Zhang Liao feel very uncomfortable.

Most people still like order rather than chaos.

Although this sudden change is inevitable in a state of war, for Zhang Liao, he smelled more dangerous smells than Wang Yun in this change.

This comes from the lessons of others in the martial arts lecture hall and also from Zhang Liao's prudence.

With short time, it is natural that you cannot prepare enough mud trucks. It is natural to be difficult to congested and stuffed into moats like Luoyang City. This may cause the water in the culvert to be discharged, which will bring more difficulties to the attack.

This mutation beyond control is like the boss suddenly said that he would hold a meeting after get off work. The meeting after get off work may not be really urgent to the point of life and death. It will be too late to the point where the company will go bankrupt tomorrow, but it can show exploitation and control over subordinates, which is precisely the key to temporary notice of meeting after work.

Therefore, for such incidents on the battlefield, the essence is the pulling between the generals of the two sides and the struggle for control of the rhythm.

『Come!』 Zhang Liao ordered in a deep voice, 『Tomorrow, bombard the west gate of Luoyang City!』

The gunpowder and shells of the artillery are not infinite, but Zhang Liao feels that it is now a critical time point.

Even if you cannot directly use artillery to break the city wall, it can be used to disrupt the rhythm of the defenders.

The next morning, a lively scene appeared on the position outside Luoyang City.

The craftsmen were busy on the front line, and determined the shooting boundary with the military academy on the front line one by one, drew out the attack range, and determined the ruler. These things must be made first to prevent anyone from blocking the artillery fire boundary on their side in a confused manner, and then if they cannot effectively cross-cover when the defenders attack, they will lose the meaning of artillery cooperation.

The defenders on the city wall soon discovered the artillery positions arranged by Zhang Liao and began to run around the city wall. Some defenders also tried to use crossbow chariots and catapults to interfere with the construction of artillery positions, but the crossbow chariots and crossbow guns could not penetrate the earth walls of the artillery positions. The accuracy of the catapult was really bad. It was basically unlikely to hit the cannon accurately without the number reaching a certain level.

Moreover, there are two attack arrays on the left and right of the artillery, and some rushers and ladders are prepared respectively. The front row is a large shield and the archers are followed behind, so they may approach the city at any time to attack.

After a few days of running-in, the Cavalry Army is now more proficient in siege battles, especially in the face of a relatively solid city like Luoyang City. It is obviously unrealistic to break through the gates of the outer city or to climb the city to win if a few people climb to the top of the city. Similarly, it is also difficult to capture Luoyang City with artillery alone.

Zhang Liao knew that the reason why Cao's army was desperately defending Luoyang City was to consume the gunpowder cannons of the Cavalry Army. Once the cannon shells were fired, they were basically scrap iron and copper, without any deterrent power.

However, even if it is saving, it should be used when needed.

After the artillery position was set up, the military academy blew a copper whistle and ordered the soldiers to return to the team to avoid the artillery fire.

Craftsmen busy checking gunpowder, shells, and equipment used to clean the inner chamber.

The infantry array protects the two wings of the cannon, while the cavalry is divided into four small formations, both far and near, to prevent the opponent from raiding.

With the short copper whistle as a warning, the flag waved, and a roar resounded through the sky. A thick gray-white smoke rose from the artillery position, and a shell drew an arc and rushed towards the city of Luoyang!

The shells hit the city wall and did not hit the city gate tower directly. However, when the shells hit the city wall, they still brought about large areas of smoke and dust and bricks.

The broken bricks fell down, and the Cao army soldiers on the top of the city were also shouting in panic in the vibration, and the flags and guns were tilted.

Cao Jun Military Academy shouted loudly, and finally restored the array. The second cannon sounded again, and then the panic just now repeated.

The shells bombarded the city walls, shaking the rammed earth walls.

Although most of the kinetic energy will be absorbed by the rammed earth city wall, violent shaking is still inevitable.

The shelling caused panic to the Cao army, but it made the soldiers of the Cavalry very excited, especially the Qiang soldiers. Almost every roar was accompanied by their cheers.

The sound of cannons and cheers seemed to have formed layers of surging waves, making the defenders in Luoyang City unstable and the people's hearts fluctuate...

...

...

Zhang Liao suddenly launched a thunderous offensive, which caught Man Chong off guard.

The Cao army defenders placed at the west gate, whether they are on the city wall or stationed at the city gate, are naturally the most loyal. At least they seem to be more at ease than others on the surface, but loyalty does not represent everything. Faced with a terrifying weapon like artillery, loyalty cannot become an effective shield and exempt all damage.

During the bombardment, there were not many soldiers from Cao's army who died directly, but the indirect damage was not small.

Especially the soldiers who had survived the battle of Tongguan, curled up like frightened birds under the battlements, and were trembling until the judge of the Fighting Army killed several people on the spot, so he could barely control the situation.

The city gate tower, which was knocked down in a corner, became a shadow lingering in the hearts of Cao's soldiers. Even after Zhang Liao stopped the attack, it continued to affect all Cao's soldiers.

All this made Man Chong very worried, diluting the joy that he originally thought he could take the opportunity to make Zhang Liao a wave of joy, and also brought more problems to Man Chong.

Ximen was under tremendous pressure, and now not only can't transfer the defenders of Ximen, but also have to add new defenders from other city gates to strengthen their defense against Ximen.

Now, whether it is to mobilize or not to mobilize Wang Yun, it has become a difficult problem.

After thinking about it, Man Chong decided to draw some soldiers from the north gate to the west gate to strengthen the defense, while the soldiers from the east gate remained motionless.

Because Man Chong didn't know how many people were like Wang Yun at the east gate who were preparing to rebel...

At the same time, Man Chong vaguely felt that this might be a certain agreement between Zhang Liao and Wang Yun.

"It is said that the official Xu is here!"

Man Chong felt that he had to take a risk and could not continue to be beaten passively like this. Otherwise, Zhang Liao would have a round of artillery attack at the west gate today, and tomorrow would be bombarded at the north gate, or other gates. The morale of Cao's soldiers guarding the city would collapse sooner or later!

He must think of something!

Xu Zheng came soon, like a dog, smiling and lowered his head, "What are the envoys' instructions?"

"You keep a close eye on the King of Dongmen..." Man Chong whispered, his voice showing a fierce look, "Go now! Don't worry about other things, just keep a close eye on him!"

"I understand!" Xu Zhengye replied, "If you find anything...

"Don't disturb him..." Man Chong instructed, "Be careful, report to me immediately if there is any situation... Don't act rashly! Do you understand?"

"I understand! I have to understand!"

...

...

No matter how loud the sound is, it will still lead to silence.

Darkness is the back of light.

After Zhang Liao bombarded the west gate of Luoyang City, it seemed that the Cao army defenders were forced to be beaten and a corner of the city gate tower collapsed was really miserable, but in fact, Zhang Liao also encountered problems during the shelling process.

The most direct thing is that the shelling effect is not ideal.

Originally, Zhang Liao's plan was to directly collapse the city gate tower at the west gate, but unfortunately, it only collapsed a corner in the end.

The artillery still seems to have not changed much from the time of Tongguan, but according to the craftsman's explanation, some problems have occurred in the inner chamber of the cannon due to repeated burning and repeated cooling of gunpowder. It is precisely because of these problems that the accuracy of the artillery has decreased. Even experienced craftsmen cannot accurately shoot a certain position, resulting in a large deviation in the bombardment effect of this round.

According to the craftsmen's subsequent summary, the accuracy of these artillery after the Battle of Tongguan will decrease again with the number of times they use until they are completely scrapped, and they have no good way to reverse this process.

Whether it is artillery or shells, the cost is quite high...

Zhang Liao was quite helpless after listening to the craftsman's report.

After all, there is only a trace of bloody skin left, which will still maintain complete attack power and accuracy, which can only appear in the game. The current metallurgical technology is obviously not enough to support the long-term and multiple uses of artillery.

The artillery was still relatively accurate in its early stages of manufacturing, but as the number of uses increased, uncertainty gradually increased. In the later stage, the direction of the shells that were released may not be judged by craftsmen.

This phenomenon is an important reason for the emergence of rifling, but if you want to have rifling, you need more advanced metallurgy and processing technology as a prerequisite...

Feiqian can help craftsmen avoid detours, but they cannot replace craftsmen to walk.

Zhang Liao asked about the lifespan of these cannons, but the craftsmen could not ensure it. They just said that if there was uneven muzzle, they would definitely not be able to use it, but they could not say how many more times they could use it.

When the General of the Cavalry returned to Chang'an, he would also send some artillery again, but the number could not be large. Therefore, to a certain extent, artillery cannot be abused, but can only be used at critical moments to deal with some key fortifications or enemy arrays.

Of course, the craftsmen said that if the cannon could be pushed to a medium-to-close range, the accuracy rate would increase a lot.

But similarly, the middle and short distances mean that the artillery positions bear more dangers.

However, the artillery matter was still a subsequent trouble. After Zhang Liao launched an attack on Ximen, Wang Yun became anxious...

...

...

Wang Yun was also frightened by Zhang Liao's artillery bombardment.

Not only Wang Yun, but other veterans of Cao's army who had experienced the Battle of Tongguan did not want to face the roar of artillery again.

Especially after learning that Man Chong had drawn soldiers from the South and North Gate to support the West Gate and supplemented and replaced the soldiers guarding the city who were injured and killed under artillery bombardment, Wang Yun felt that he could not wait for a moment.

Wang Yun used his nails to pick the old wounds that had scabbed in his palms.

During the Battle of Tongguan, the aftershocks of the bombardment of the artillery seemed to be still circulating in the cracks of his bones.

He held the female wall at the east gate and gasped.

The smoke of gunpowder in the day had dissipated, but Wang Yun felt that the smoke had penetrated into the cracks of the female wall in the east gate, stimulating his nerves and making him tremble.

During the Battle of Tongguan, he saw his fellow villagers cut off by stone slabs lifted from shells, and his upper body was dragging his intestines and wailing to die...

He would rather be killed by swords and guns than be bombarded with artillery to death without a complete body.

"Wang Junhou, are we going to transfer to Ximen?"

Suddenly, the soldiers on the side asked a question, which scared Wang Yun so much that he almost knocked over the arrow pouch.

He looked down at his arrow pouch, reached out to support him, and coughed twice, "It depends on the arrangement of the envoy..."

"Can you not go to Ximen!"

"It's not the final word that Wang Junhou can tell when he goes to that door..."
To be continued...