"Gudong!" Peng Hua, the runner-up in the martial arts exam, stared blankly and swallowed hard. The sound startled him.
The parade ground was completely silent, with only the sound of the carriages moving. The officers and soldiers were either stunned, or their legs trembled, or they lowered their heads and closed their eyes, not daring to look.
"Whoa!" the driver shouted, and the carriage, which had circled once, came to a halt in the center of the parade grounds. One of the dozen or so riders escorting the carriage ran out and stopped in front of the carriage.
Straightening up on his horse, the burly young officer uttered a resounding voice.
"The traitorous general, Sun Degong, colluded with the Eastern Tartars and was the first to flee in the Battle of Shaling, causing the collapse of our army. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were killed or wounded, and corpses were scattered across the ground. It was a horrific sight."
The officers and soldiers on the training ground turned their eyes over and listened attentively.
"Rebel General Sun Degong led his army to attack Guangning City, hoping to offer it to the Eastern Tartars for promotion and wealth. If the thieves succeed, the Eastern Tartars will brutally slaughter hundreds of thousands of Guangning's soldiers and civilians. Flames will soar to the sky, and people will flee in despair. How many families will be torn apart, and how many others will be killed..."
Listening to this loud accusation, the officers and soldiers' eyes gradually changed.
Sun Degong's entire family was executed, including the old woman and the young woman...poor thing!
But this bastard deserves it. He used the lives of hundreds of thousands of his compatriots to advance himself, and used the blood of his compatriots to earn wealth and glory!
Compassion and compassion are disappearing, and what is coming is resentment and anger, which are rising and spreading.
"Traitors, traitors, pigs, dogs, and beasts... should they be killed?"
The loud-voiced officer's first shout was a little awkward because the officers and soldiers on the training ground didn't react in time.
But the riders who were escorting the train seemed to have gained experience, and they shouted in unison: "He deserves to be killed! He deserves to be killed!"
"Traitor, traitor, pig, dog, beast... Shouldn't his whole family be killed?" The officer widened his eyes and yelled at the officers and soldiers again.
"He deserves to die." The voices were not very loud or uniform.
"Should I kill him?"
“He deserves to die!”
“He deserves to die!”
“Kill, kill!”
"kill!"
………
The shouts grew louder and louder, until the entire parade grounds was filled with shouts of "kill!" They brandished their weapons, venting their deepest resentment through the words "kill."
Killing this traitor a thousand times will never relieve the hatred in my heart!
Lu Xiangsheng, Peng Hua, and Zhang Jingping also had their eyes wide open and were shouting loudly, joining the torrent of anger.
It both boosts morale and shocks people. This is a great trick!
Wang Xianggan and Wu Yongxian, who looked excited, looked at each other and had almost the same idea.
…………Dividing line………………
Ningyuan City.
It was first built in the third year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty and was originally called Ningyuan Weicheng. It is square in shape with city gates in the middle of each of the four sides. The east one is called Chunhe; the south one is called Yanhui; the west one is called Yongning; and the north one is called Weiyuan. There are semicircular urn cities outside the gates.
The city wall is built with blue stone strips at the base, large blue bricks on the outside, giant stone blocks on the inside, and rammed earth in the middle. There are two-story pavilions and corridor-style arrow towers on the city wall, each with a sloping access road.
The city was divided into an outer city and an inner city, with high forts at each corner, protruding from the city walls, used to mount artillery. In the very center of the city stood a bell and drum tower, corresponding to the four arrow towers at the city gates.
At this time, the entire Ningyuan City was being repaired, reinforced, and even renovated. More than 20,000 laborers were busy with the construction, and the scene was bustling with activity.
What's striking is that since yesterday, there have been a few strange people on the construction site. Some of them are dressed like normal civilians, but what are these other people with blue eyes and blond hair?
"Considering the effective range of the muskets, in order to achieve crossfire—" the Portuguese Xavier pointed at the measured white lime line on the city wall, "the distance between the two artillery batteries cannot exceed 100 meters."
After a pause, Xavier added: "Of course, the closer the better. The accuracy of the musket..." Shaking his head, Xavier was not impressed by the accuracy of the musket.
Sun Yuanhua nodded and said, "In addition to muskets, our army also has artillery. We'll use a 100-meter radius! The outer city is over 14 miles in circumference. In addition to the four corner artillery batteries, we can build about 60 pointed battlements to ensure absolute safety."
"It's not a horse mask, it's a deformation of the bastion," Chaviler emphasized solemnly. "A horse mask is square or rectangular, and this is a triangle."
Sun Yuanhua smiled and did not argue with Xavier. He asked people to continue measuring the dimensions and use simple tools to plan the hanging lines.
Since they had to retreat to Ningyuan, Zhu Youxiao's first consideration was naturally that the city was solid and unbreakable.
He ordered Sun Yuanhua to bring the Portuguese with him to prepare to transform Ningyuan City into a strong fortress with the nature of a bastion.
Many ancient Chinese cities adopted the method of building mamian, that is, building protruding rectangular piers at a certain distance from the city wall to facilitate defenders to attack the invading enemy from the side.
According to Chen Gui's "City Defense Records: Secrets of City Defense", "In the old system, a horse-faced tower was erected every 60 steps, extending beyond the city walls for at least 20 feet. Its width varied according to the terrain, and on either side, facing the corners of the city walls, there were towers on top of them."
In the era of using cold weapons, the distance of sixty steps was just within the effective range of bows, arrows and stones.
With the current pointed-shaped construction model, the attacked side will be more tightly protected. Previously, there were often blind spots in the direction facing the square horse face, but now they have been basically eliminated.
Charleville walked aside and took out the blueprint he drew when surveying Juehua Island. While thinking about how to build fortifications, he couldn't help but wonder: It is unlikely that the sea surface that is more than ten miles wide will be frozen, right?
Just as he was pondering this, Sun Yuanhua came over, glanced at the spread-out blueprint, and said, "As the saying goes, it's better to be prepared than to be caught off guard. The defense facilities on Juehua Island must not be neglected. Even though it's rare for the sea surface to freeze over for more than ten miles, we still have to be on guard against any eventuality."
They certainly didn't know that the tragedy of the Juehua Island massacre in history was caused by the freezing of the sea, which gave the Eastern Tartars an opportunity to attack. More than 7,000 lives were lost. It's heartbreaking to think about it.
Zhu Youxiao didn't know whether it was cold every year or just that year was the coldest. But to prevent disasters, the defense facilities on Juehua Island must be complete and must be able to withstand the attack of the Eastern Tartars.
Alternatively, attracting the Eastern Tartars to attack and inflicting heavy casualties with artillery and muskets is also a good idea.
Charleville shrugged his shoulders and said, "Your Majesty's decision, we will definitely implement it seriously."
Sun Yuanhua leaned closer, pointed at the blueprint, and said, "I think the grain storage city on the island should be built here. It's convenient for shipping and has access to the sea. Even if the sea freezes, it's only a dozen miles from the shore. We can't just encircle the island, right?"
Charleville nodded and said, "Actually, we can also use the ship's artillery to create crossfire with the land fortifications, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy landing on the island. In that case..."
Sun Yuanhua paused his finger on the map and said with certainty, "Then build it here. Once the blueprints are drawn, I will submit them to His Majesty immediately."
………………
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