Steel Dynasty - Chapter 363

[Chapter 363 Military Town]

the vast grassland, the Qingzhou Army and the Cangzhou Army led by Niu Ben officially met on the grassland. After that, Niu Ben commanded Shanhaiguan.

It has been more than half a month since we set off from Jizhou. During this period, the news that the Jizhou rebels were quelled has also spread.

“General, look!”

As he was marching, Lu Fei suddenly pointed at the mountains that appeared in the distance. Between the mountains, a majestic pass stood between heaven and earth.

This is the gateway to the north of Dayu, Shanhaiguan.

“Shanhaiguan!”

Niu Ben’s eyes flashed with light. For many years, Shanhaiguan, known as the most powerful pass in the world, has been in the hands of the barbarians and became the only place for the barbarians to pass south.

If Shanhaiguan is captured and heavy troops are stationed in the military town inside Shanhaiguan, it will be their hinterland threatening the barbarians from now on, making it easy to attack and defend.

All the generals were looking at Shanhaiguan not far away with excited expressions.

“Advance the whole army! Take Shanhaiguan!” Niu Ben shouted, and the soldiers of the Qingzhou Army immediately quickened their pace.

Since entering the grassland, they have never seen any barbarian soldiers, only some abandoned barbarian packs.

Needless to say, the barbarians naturally retreated with the army.

If Beishan died, the entire Blood Wolf tribe would face extremely severe punishment. With the bloodthirsty barbarians, it was not impossible to massacre a tribe and bury them.

Because of this, the Blood Wolf Tribe was so panicked, and with this in mind, they pursued the victory and captured Shanhaiguan before the barbarians had time to increase their troops.

It was noon at this time, and an hour later, the Qingzhou Army and the Cangzhou Army arrived at Shanhaiguan.

The former military town was now in the hands of the barbarians. Looking at the barbarian soldiers on the wall of Shanhaiguan, Niu Ben ordered to set up camp on the spot.

Luo Xin directed the artillery to push one hundred and fifty artillery pieces to the front of the formation.

The side of Shanhaiguan that used to face the barbarians was a high city wall, and what was in front of Dayu State was the military town behind the city wall.

Now that the military town and city walls are in the hands of the barbarians, if you want to take Shanhaiguan, it is very simple. You only need to capture the military town.

“Liang Yubin, congratulations!”

Because of Jizhou’s outstanding performance on the battlefield, Niuben brought the two of them over during the attack on Shanhaiguan, along with a hot air balloon.

“Here!” Liang Yubin and He Cheng ran over.

At this time, the situation in the military town could not be seen from the outside, so Niu Ben asked the two of them to take a hot air balloon to observe the situation inside.

After receiving the order, the two men immediately started to draw fire and take off into the air with the help of Qingzhou Army soldiers.

“Hey, Governor, how about letting us go up too?” Lu Fei said, licking his face.

Luo Xin and other captains also looked greedy.

The sight of Luo Quan boarding a hot-air balloon on the battlefield in Jizhou made them envious. Now it has become an honor to board the hot-air balloon.

Niu Ben straightened his face and said, “This is a battlefield, not a child’s play house. If you want to board a hot air balloon so much, I will ask His Highness to let you sit as long as you want when I get back. Now cheer up.”

After that, Niu Ben was secretly happy and ran a few steps quickly to reach the hanging basket.

All the generals suddenly showed contempt.

Niu Ben boarded the hot air balloon. At this time, the soldiers held the rope of the hot air balloon and slowly released it. The hot air balloon continued to rise into the sky, and the situation in the Shanhaiguan Military Town was immediately clear.

Holding the telescope, Niu Ben observed carefully.

At this time, the Shanhaiguan military town was in chaos, with slave soldiers and barbarians gathering on the city walls everywhere.

These barbarian soldiers pointed at his hot air balloon and kept saying something, and the scene was very chaotic.

Niu Ben sneered in his heart, just this hot air balloon scared these barbarian defenders.

However, after observing, he frowned. There were about 130,000 defenders in this small military town, most of which were slave soldiers and some were barbarians.

After understanding the basic situation, Niu Ben let the hot air balloon descend and descended to the ground.

“Captain, how is the situation?” Lu Fei asked.

“There are about 130,000 defenders in the city. It seems that Chagatai thought that we might attack the city, so he left most of his troops behind.” Niu Ben said.

“One hundred and thirty thousand?” Lu Fei was immediately in trouble.

In the past, it was the barbarians who attacked the city, but now it was their turn to attack the city. Everyone knew that this siege was not an easy task.

Niu Ben nodded, “It’s too late to attack the city tonight. The old rule is to place the chariots on the outside to prevent sneak attacks by the barbarian cavalry, bury the pots to make rice, and attack the city again early tomorrow morning.”

The generals nodded.

Then, Niu Ben and everyone discussed how to attack the city. It was basically impossible for 40,000 people to attack a city where 100,000 people were stationed.

“General, why not retaliate with tit for tat? Last year in the Battle of Cangzhou, the barbarians tried to blow up our city wall. Why don’t we bring a few barrels of gunpowder and blow up the barbarian wall directly this time. Once the city wall is broken and faced with our musket formation, the barbarian soldiers will not be able to do anything.” Fear.”

Niu Ben nodded, “This is a way.”

Luo Xin also said at this time: “This time the Cangzhou Army brought a new type of artillery shells, called lime bombs. His Highness said that this kind of artillery shells can be used against the soldiers defending the city. It’s not bad. It’s better to use it tomorrow.”

“Why go to all this trouble? Just blast them with 150 artillery pieces and send these bastards directly to their Everlasting Hatred.” Lu Fei said anxiously.

It seemed to others that he was silent.

Niu Ben shook his head and said: “The soldiers who are left on guard should go to eat and rest. We will attack the city tomorrow.”

Lu Fei scratched his head, asking for trouble, and followed the others out.

On the second day, after the soldiers had breakfast, the call for assembly soon sounded in the camp.

At this time, the hot air balloon took off again, and Niu Ben stood on the hot air balloon to see the whole situation.

This time the Qingzhou Army was on the attacking side, with more than 40,000 soldiers arrayed under the city.

The barbarians were swarming on top of the city, and many of the barbarian soldiers were holding bows and arrows.

In fact, what Lu Fei said last night was right. After thinking about it all night, Niu Ben decided to use artillery. This was the advantage of the Qingzhou Army.

One hundred and fifty artillery pieces were placed in a row behind the city gate, one every two meters from one end to the other, stretching for more than 300 meters.

Almost the entire Shanhaiguan city wall is covered by artillery.

Boxes of shells were placed under the artillery, and there were also plenty of gunpowder bags.

The Cangzhou Army even brought catapults and gunpowder cans this time, so they could bomb the city wall from a distance of 200 meters.

The barbarian defenders were not so lucky. The Jizhou station lost all its artillery.

Because they are confident that they will not fail this time, there are no long-range tools for counterattack in Shanhaiguan.

Looking at the dense defenders on the city wall, Niu Benn issued an order on the city wall.

“Hit me hard with artillery!”

After receiving his order, Luo Xin showed a cruel smile, and he shouted at this time: “Fire the artillery!”

“Boom, boom, boom…”

In an instant, one hundred and fifty artillery sprayed There was thick smoke and flames, and the cannonballs hit the battlements hard. Suddenly, rubble flew from the battlements.

The city gate in front of Shanhaiguan suddenly turned into a hornet’s nest under the bombardment of artillery.

(End of chapter)