The war drums were beating rhythmically, and Xiangyong, the auxiliary soldier of the Sui army, who was holding firewood bundles, kept stepping forward, throwing firewood at the gate of Menghai City. The soldiers of the army were hit by arrows, but the auxiliary army of the Sui army continued to step forward one after another, because there was a bad species named Chen who threatened them. If anyone dared to retreat before the battle, they would be sent to attack the city! In order not to climb the towering city wall as a death squad, these auxiliary soldiers of the Sui army, Xiangyong, could only bite the bullet and march forward under the rain of arrows, constantly carrying firewood and grass. Those who fell down rested on the spot, and they no longer needed to be pushed forward by Chen Huaizhong as cannon fodder.
In order to suppress the speed of the Sui army's grass accumulation, the trebuchets in the thief city also started throwing stones. Although there are only eight trebuchets in Menghai City so far due to material reasons, they are all very accurate. Every time the stone bullets were thrown into the auxiliary troops of the Sui army, the stone bullets fell directly and then bounced to injure people. It killed and wounded some auxiliary troops of the Sui army, and even hit the long shield formation of the Sui army twice , smashed the Sui army's archers and shield hands behind the long shield to bloody flying, screamed and died, and also made the bandit soldiers on the city wall cheer like thunder twice.
This is exactly what Chen Yingliang wanted. He pouted his mouth to the side, and Qian Xiangmin, the running dog, immediately rushed forward, risking his way to the catapult position that the Sui army had planned, stretching out his arms and giving a thumbs up, using geometric formulas to calculate the distance, and then A small flag was planted at a suitable position as a guide, and a total of sixteen small flags were planted before running back to give orders to Chen Yingliang. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xutuo, Yang Wang and others beside him were very curious, and asked Chen Yingliang what was the meaning of this? Chen Yingliang didn't hide anything, and replied: "Measure the distance, arrange suitable trebuchet gun positions, and arrange sixteen trebuchets to come forward and throw stones at a 45-degree angle, and you can quickly kill the enemy behind the city wall two-on-one. trebuchet."
"Just stretch out your arms and raise your fingers, and you can calculate the distance?" Zhang Xutuo was taken aback.
"It can be calculated, and it is basically quite accurate." Chen Yingliang nodded, "Yuan Tiangang and I know this method. Later, we taught Qian Xiangmin so that he can play some role on the battlefield. If the old general is interested If so, I can explain it to you in detail when I have time.”
"Your team in Qiao County really has a lot of fighting tricks." Zhang Xutuo shook his head and muttered, while Mulan next to him curled his lips in disdain, and didn't believe Chen Yingliang's nonsense at all.
At this time, the firewood under the city gate had already been piled up to a height of ten feet. Chen Yingliang also took the opportunity to suggest that Zhang Xutuo send out the catapults, and let sixteen catapults go forward to bombard the bandit trebuchets behind the city wall, and demanded that the catapults be sent out. The trebuchet was placed at the position marked by Qian Xiangmin, and Qian Xiangmin measured and calculated the shooting angle before throwing stones. Zhang Xutuo accepted Chen Yingliang's request with suspicion, and arranged for Tang Wanche to lead the trebuchet forward and throw stones according to the instructions of Chen Yingliang's staff.
Sixteen trebuchets equipped with precision round rulers stepped forward according to the order, and arranged them at the marked positions as required. After quickly fixing the bodies at the risk of being hit by enemy stone bullets at any time, they tested Chen Yingliang. The moment of fame and reputation has come. Qian Xiangmin, who was forced to learn many geometric formulas, calculated the angle of throwing stones with a round ruler, and then ordered sixteen trebuchets to throw stones together. Pulling the cable, sixteen stone bombs weighing 120 catties flew into the air, flew out along the pre-calculated parabola, and flew towards the head of Menghai City. Zhang Xutuo, Yang Wang and other Sui army commanders' hearts, It also suddenly mentioned the eyes of the throat.
Most of the missiles directly crossed the city wall and fell into the city. Two stone bombs hit the city wall, and five stone bombs hit the city wall, making a series of loud noises, but the distance was too far to see the stone bombs. real effect. Seeing this scene, Mulan couldn't help curling her lips, saying: "Blowing so hard, it won't help at all."
"Shut up!" Zhang Xutuo, who was in a nervous mood, shouted: "The trebuchets of the bandit army are hiding behind the city wall, can we see it? Pay attention to the number of stones thrown by the enemy, and you will know whether it has any effect."
The Sui army didn't know the effect of throwing stones yet, but Meng Haigong and his wife were terrified on the city wall, because the first round of salvo by the Sui army had actually smashed a bandit trebuchet to pieces, and the remaining stone bullets More than a dozen bandit gunners were injured, and the stone bullets that hit the top of the city wall even smashed several bandit soldiers into meat paste. roof! Frightened, Meng Haigong and his wife rushed to Li Mi, who was calculating the trajectory of the catapult, and asked in unison, "My lord, why did the catapults of the officers and soldiers suddenly shoot so accurately? Even the catapults behind our city wall are so accurate." Hit it?"
"There are arithmetic masters in the enemy team." Li Mi said calmly: "They have calculated the distance and shooting angle, so they can shoot so accurately."
"Then what should we do?" Ma Saifei asked quickly.
"It's okay." Li Mi replied: "First, shoot a few shots at them, and if it doesn't work, change the position of the trebuchet. Our trebuchet is protected by a city wall, and the enemy's trebuchet is in the wilderness. We won't suffer from it. "
At the same time, the counterattack of the bandit trebuchets began. According to the shooting angle calculated by Li Mi, they bombarded the Sui army's trebuchet positions with all their strength. As a result, Zhang Xutuo also immediately saw that the bandit army's trebuchets were missing, and he said happily: "The bandit army only has seven stone bombs, we should have already hit one."
"Look again, I'm not sure yet." Chen Yingliang shook his head, just patiently observing the situation of the catapults of the two armies.
The result of the confrontational bombardment was mutual consumption, which turned out to be the least feared by the Sui army with sufficient resources. After several rounds of confrontation, although one of the Sui army's trebuchets was hit and damaged, it also suffered more than 20 deaths and injuries. However, the number of stones thrown in Meng Haigong City was quickly reduced to five at a time. Seeing this scene, of course the Sui army was full of cheers, and Chen Yingliang finally smiled at Mulan and said, "I disappointed General Mulan, I don't seem to be bragging."
Mulan raised her head, ignoring Chen Yingliang's sarcasm, until Chen Yingliang turned her ugly face to Meng Haicheng, Mulan gave Chen Yingliang a vicious look, and cursed secretly: "Stingy!"
At the same time, Li Mi finally couldn't take it anymore. In order to avoid the long-range bombardment so that he would not even have the power to fight back, Li Mi could only quickly suggest to Meng Haigong to let the trebuchet move its position. Although Meng Haigong immediately accepted the suggestion, he still couldn't help but say He said, "Master, it seems that the enemy's arithmetic master is higher than yours."
"Is it because I don't have enough trebuchets?" Li Mi was furious but didn't dare to explode, he could only sigh inwardly, "It's never a good thing to meet a thief like Chen Yingliang."
Seeing that the enemy stopped throwing bombs, Chen Yingliang immediately understood that the opponent was shifting his position, so he immediately advised Zhang Xutuo to act according to the established plan. The special shells were sent to the fifteen trebuchet teams in front, and they were asked to throw them at the city gate of the bandit army. The Sui army's artillery team, whose morale had been boosted, followed the order and immediately smashed these special shells at the city gate. After the shells hit the firewood piled up by the Sui army, they quickly ignited, emitting thick smoke, and some shells hit the city wall and exploded directly, flying out countless red fire pieces.
"How could the stone bombs of the officers and soldiers catch fire?" Meng Haigong and his wife naturally exclaimed again.
"It's not a stone bomb, it's a fire bomb." Li Mi said calmly, "Empty the tree trunk, fill it with red-hot charcoal, seal it, throw it with a trebuchet, hit it there and catch fire, as described in "Mozi Beicheng" There are things, not surprising. But be careful, the next target of the officers and soldiers must be our city tower."
Li Mi finally miscalculated once this time. The Sui army only threw a round of primitive incendiary bombs, which ignited the firewood at the city gate, and then immediately threw ordinary stone bombs again to bombard the bandit guards on the city wall. The firewood that had been piled up more than ten feet high at the gate quickly ignited a fire that soared into the sky. The flames rose five or six feet high, and the skin of the bandit soldiers on the city wall was oily, and they were forced to retreat or dodge left and right. The iron skin was also burned red, and smoke was emitted from the gaps. The bandit guards poured water on the door to cool down, and tried their best to protect the city gate. The cost of the city gate is not comparable to that of an ordinary door. Difficult, if you can keep it, of course you have to try your best to keep it.
At this point in the battle, although the siege tactics of the Sui army were all within Li Mi's expectations, and the defenders of Meng Haicheng did not reveal any flaws to give the Sui army a chance to break through the city, Li Mi knew that all this was just the beginning. The Sui army that sent troops to attack the city will definitely not really exert its strength until night, and the real test is yet to come. So when the city gate official came to report that the fire was too big to keep the city gate, Li Mi immediately suggested that Meng Hai use sandbags, earth and rocks to completely block the city gate corridor. Meng Haigong hesitated for a long time, and asked repeatedly whether the city gate could be kept. Then he gritted his teeth and ordered: "Block the city gate!"
The city gate officer took the order to go, but just as he left, another messenger ran over from the north gate, saying that the Sui army outside the north gate was acting strangely. When digging the trench, Jiang Shanhe, the guard at the north gate, felt that the situation was wrong, but he couldn't guess the intention of the Sui army, so he had to report to Meng Haigong for instructions. As soon as Li Mi heard the surprise, he quickly asked to go to the north gate to check the situation, but Meng Haigong refused to agree, and shouted: "You stay here, you don't have to worry about the north gate. It is best for the officers and troops not to attack the city. They want to dig trenches as they please." They dig it, send some guys over and fill it up in one night."
Overwhelmed by Li Mi, the right-hand man in tactics, Meng Haigong ordered Jiang Shanhe to ignore the actions of the officers and soldiers. Li Mi had no choice but to stay in the main battlefield of the south gate, but he was very puzzled, and secretly said: "That's not right, the reason for the siege of the soldiers is to siege the city." Three Ques and One, Meng Haigong, this idiot, only opened two main gates for safety. Since the thief Chen Yingliang stormed the south gate, he should deliberately relax at the north gate. Why did he let the officers and soldiers dig trenches and tree fences instead? Want to drive us away? Completely trapped to death, after breaking through the south gate, they will be wiped out? Is this little thief so confident?"
The sun was setting, the fire was still burning under the city wall, and the auxiliary soldiers of the Sui army were still desperately transporting firewood to intensify the fire at the city gate. Fortunately, the corridors of the city gate were completely blocked, so Li Mi and Meng Haigong and his wife didn't have to worry about the officials. The army entered the city directly from the city gate. When the second quarter of the Youshi arrived, all the Sui army's trebuchets, which had been throwing stones, suddenly stopped throwing bombs. While rotating the rope gunners, they pushed the trebuchets forward and rearranged near the city wall. Seeing this scene, Li Mi immediately shouted: "The little thief Chen Yingliang is about to exert his strength, recorder, please send an order to the whole army to be on strict alert! Rotate the archers, just in case."
Meng Haigong hurriedly nodded in agreement, and hastily ordered the whole army to be on alert, rotating archers to replace the bow and arrow team whose physical strength had declined, while Li Mi continued to nervously observe the actions of the Sui army. The body was not fixed, and new shells were sent in a wheelbarrow immediately behind. Li Mi hurriedly looked around with wide eyes, but in the end he could only vaguely see that those new shells seemed to be some tree trunks. The weapon that makes a loud noise like Chen Xiaozei is also installed in a hollowed out tree trunk like a fire bomb?"
The new cannonballs are loaded into the cheek (throwing spoon) at the top of the throwing arm. Many trebuchets do not even need to adjust the shooting angle. They just pull the cable and throw the cannonballs. The machine adjusted slightly, and the shell hit the tower. Seeing this situation, Li Mi's heart also rose to his throat, and he thought: "Chen's new weapon is finally here. Come on, I'm afraid I won't be called Master Li!"
Bang bang, new shells smashed into the city one after another, hitting the towers. As a result, the thunderous noise that Li Mi was most worried about did not appear unexpectedly. Produce countless red charcoal! Li Mi's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets, and he exclaimed: "It's still a fire bomb! What the hell is that little thief Chen Yingliang doing, why is it still a fire bomb?!"
"Fuck you!" Meng Haigong also cursed like a pig, yelling, "Extinguish the fire! Extinguish the fire quickly! Don't let the fire start!"
The fire broke out everywhere, and the bandit army in the city quickly became a mess. In order to save precious houses, barracks and tents, the bandit soldiers rushed to fight the fire with buckets and water, but the city tower that had been baked very dry by the city quickly disappeared. A fire broke out, and Meng Haigong, who was distressed that the city tower was difficult to build, yelled and ordered the soldiers to carry water to put out the fire, while Li Mi stared closely at the Sui army team outside the city, constantly thinking about and analyzing Chen Yingliang's real intentions, and had no time to spare. Heart.
Sure enough, when the Sui army's trebuchets were desperately throwing incendiary bombs, a Sui army team really pushed out the ladder carts. Li Mi groaned in his heart, knowing that Chen Yingliang wanted to take advantage of the chaos to attack the city, and at the same time, the north gate also risked Some fires broke out, and it was reported that the Sui army suddenly fired rockets into the city. Li Mi was not worried, but let Meng Haigong order to put out the fire with all his strength, absolutely not letting a house be burned down.
The Sui army seems to be addicted to setting fires. They set fire to the north and south gates of Menghai City. They also sent a large number of archers to attack the east and west locations without gates, and threw a large number of rockets into the city. In addition, the wind was strong in the evening. It really ignited some houses and barracks, forcing the bandit army and their families to fight the fire everywhere, causing a lot of chaos. Regarding this situation, Meng Haigong and his wife, who had spent countless painstaking efforts and money in this city, of course cursed, while Li Mi continued to observe the enemy's situation calmly, knowing that his old opponent Chen Yingliang's tricks were definitely not over yet, and there were more difficulties and hardships ahead. A test awaits us.
Li Mi miscalculated again this time, and more than half an hour passed quickly. As the sky gradually darkened, the Sui army still did not make any new moves, and continued to throw fire bombs—occasionally even threw in a few barrels of flammable tung oil. , constantly creating fires in the city, and there are no other new moves. Those Sui army teams pushing ladder carts and flying ladders out of battle have also been on standby, as if they are still waiting for fighters to appear.
The city tower with an obvious target has already turned into a huge ball of fire at this moment, and Meng Haigong and his wife, who are heartbroken by a knife, have been forced to give up useless splashing of water to fight the fire. Said: "Reporting, I don't know why, our well suddenly ran out of water."
"There's no water? How is that possible?" Meng Haigong was taken aback, and said casually, "The underground drain is blocked? Can't...?"
"What did you say?!"
Before Meng Haigong could finish his words, Li Mi, who came back to his senses, jumped in front of the messenger like a mad dog, grabbed his collar with both hands and lifted him up, and shouted with red eyes: "Shuijing!" Out of water? Is one well out, or all the wells out? Speak! Speak!"
"Whether all the wells are out of water, I don't know." The messenger was taken aback by Li Mi's madness, and quickly pointed to a spot in the city and said, "That's the place, five or six wells in a row are out of water!"
Li Miru was struck by lightning, and immediately stood on the spot. At the same time, some thieves rushed up the city wall and shouted nervously to Meng Haigong: "It's not good! It's not good! Meng Lushi, the big thing is not good It’s gone! The Hulu River is dry! The Hulu River suddenly ran out of water! There’s no water at all!”
"The Hulu River is out of water? How is it possible?!"
Meng Haigong screamed like a wounded beast, rushed into the city, and went to the side of the Hulu River to check the situation. Li Mi fell to the ground, hammering the ground and crying loudly, "I've been tricked! I've been tricked this time! Little Thief Chen's siege is fake, and so are the so-called new siege weapons. His real purpose is to Cover up his action to cut off the water source! You are too ruthless, treacherous thief, and you deliberately set fire to let us waste a lot of water in the city! Your heart is really darker than ink, and more poisonous than snakes and scorpions!"
Crying hysterically, Li Mi hammered the rough ground crazily, annoyed at his carelessness to the extreme, and also regretted that he had been misled by Chen Yingliang and succeeded to the extreme, his fist was hammered on the rough ground to bleed, but Li Mi, who was heartbroken like a knife, couldn't feel it at all. pain. At this time, a hand was placed on Li Mi's shoulder, and Yang Jishan's familiar voice came, saying: "Master, don't be sad, this is the end, it's useless to regret it. Think of a countermeasure, it's a breakout." , or fight to the death?"
…
Almost at the same time, Yuan Tiangang, who was covered in mud, also galloped back to the Sui army flag formation, and reported to Zhang Xutuo and Chen Yingliang that the tactic of diverting water to divert water had been successful. Cut off. Hearing these good news, Zhang Xutuo was not only not overjoyed, on the contrary he was very quiet, sitting beside the handsome case for a long time without saying a word, Yuan Tiangang was a little anxious, and hurriedly urged: "General, please order to block the Hulu River immediately." The estuary. The dam on the Maceng River can’t last long. If the dam suddenly collapses and the river flows into the Hulu River, Meng Haigong’s army will have enough water for several days.”
Zhang Xutuo nodded, and opened his mouth to call He Yanyu's name. He wanted to slowly order to act according to the plan, but when the words came to his lips, he still couldn't help shouting, "Act according to the plan! It is absolutely necessary for the old man to completely block the mouth of the river. Don't let a drop of water pour into the Hulu River!"
"Decree!"
He Yanyu bowed his hands and agreed, and immediately rushed down to lead the troops to the mouth of the river to block the river. Zhang Xutuo stood up slowly, and said to Yuan Tiangang: "Mr. Yuan, you have worked hard. On behalf of the soldiers who died before, I would like to thank you. This time, I finally have the opportunity to avenge them."
"The commander-in-chief has already said that the students are living on Qiaojun's salary, so they should serve and dare not say thanks." Yuan Tiangang cupped his hands calmly and modestly.
Zhang Xutuo arched his hands again, looked up at the sky, sighed for a long time, and then said softly: "Chen Tongshou, thank you."
"The old general is polite and serves the imperial court. The younger generation is obliged to do so." Chen Yingliang pretended to be modest.
Seeing that Zhang Xutuo finally thanked Chen Yingliang, knowing that the estrangement between the two had been eliminated, Yang Wang, who invited Chen Yingliang here to help the battle with his personal honor, of course laughed, patted Chen Yingliang on the shoulder as a compliment, and then suddenly remembered a big event, He hurriedly said: "By the way, before we were only thinking about how to cut off the water, we didn't think about the weather. What if it rains heavily these days? Wouldn't we have to waste all our previous efforts?"
"Yang Tongshou, can you say something auspicious?" Zhang Xutuo said with some dissatisfaction: "Look at the starry sky, how can it rain?"
"Uncle, don't worry, my nephew has already thought about the weather." Chen Yingliang said with a smile, "Although my nephew doesn't understand the celestial phenomena of Zhouyi, my nephew happens to have an expert in this field, and he is a well-deserved number one expert in the world!"
"By the way, why did I forget Mr. Yuan?" Yang Wang slapped his forehead, and hurriedly asked Yuan Tiangang, "Mr. Yuan, judging from the sky, will it rain heavily during this time?"
Yuan Tiangang smiled and was not in a hurry to give the answer. He just took out three shiny copper coins that never left his body, threw them on the handsome table, and said with a smile: "The answer is this, the word is yang and the back is yin, and the volcano brigade!"
Yang Wang was surprised and paid attention to the hexagrams. Seeing that Yuan Tiangang tossed copper coins six times in a row, it turned out to be a volcanic brigade of yin and yang. Gua?"
"What is the Hexagram of Volcanic Journey? How about good and bad luck?" Zhang Xutuo, who didn't understand the Book of Changes, asked curiously.
"Good luck!" Yang Wang, the former president of Tai Sui National University, replied: "There is a fire burning in the mountains, and the fire will not stop, and the fire will continue to spread forward. We have cut off the water source for the bandit army, and hope that the scorching sun will continue. According to the hexagram It’s good luck—but, Mr. Yuan said it’s a volcano brigade, is it really a volcano brigade?”
Yuan Tiangang smiled but did not answer, while Ma Sanbao on the other side came up and said with a pleasant expression: "Mr. Yuan, no wonder you used your left hand to cover your right hand when divination. Today I finally saw it, so you are also of the same way." Master!"
As he said that, Ma Sanbao took out three dice that never left his body from his bosom, turned his fingers lightly and threw them suddenly, and shouted: "One, two, three!"
The dice rolled and gradually stopped, and it turned out that the three points of one, two, and three were really rolled out. Yuan Tiangang smiled, picked up the dice and twirled it lightly with his fingers, and threw it suddenly, saying: "Four five six!"
The dice rotated rapidly and gradually stopped, and the result was indeed the three points of four, five and six. During the crowd's uproar, another white hand reached out and picked up the three dice. Everyone looked up in surprise, only to find It was Chen Yingliang who rolled the dice, and then Chen Yingliang just didn't speak, and calmly flicked the dice with his fingers, and then suddenly threw it, then smiled and said, "Three sixes!"
When the dice settled, everyone in the Sui army screamed again, and Ma Sanbao widened his eyes again, and exclaimed, "Tong Shou, why are you also an expert in this field?"
"Due to some special reasons, I was forced to learn some." Chen Yingliang said with a smile: "Although I have never been interested in gambling, I seem to be very talented in this area. Once I learn it, I can't forget it even if I want to."
Dumbfounded by Chen Yingliang's and others' show off, Yang Wang was tongue-tied for a long time, and suddenly shouted to the generals of Liang County next to him: "The old man has ordered that anyone who gambles with Qiao County's friendly troops will be treated according to military law and will not be forgiven lightly." ! Tell the people below that this old man is doing it for their own good!"
"Promise!" Liang Jun's generals agreed in unison, with a firm attitude as if they were about to charge to the death. The generals of Qi County next to him were sweating profusely, and completely gave up the idea of taking revenge on the gambling table, and vowed never to gamble with Qiao County's allies for money again. Mulan murmured softly, "A group of liars !"