Li Zicheng often used two methods of attacking cities.
The first method is to use ladders or battering rams to attack the city. This method has been proven to be effective when attacking small county towns. Small county towns have low walls, narrow moats, and a small number of artillery, so it is no problem to use simple ladders or battering rams.
The second method is the collapse method.
There are also two methods of the collapse method.
The first method was to have the soldiers pry off the bricks on the city wall. Ancient city walls were basically built with adobe, with a layer of blue bricks on the outside. Every time a brick was pried off, the soldiers could take the bricks back to the camp to rest. Those who failed to pry off the bricks would be beheaded when they returned.
After prying the bricks apart, they dug holes along the gaps through the city wall, leaving an earth pillar every three to five steps. When enough holes were dug, they tied a thick rope to the earth pillar and pulled it hard. When the earth pillar collapsed, the city wall would also collapse.
In addition to pulling with a rope, you can also use gunpowder to explode.
The second method is to dig a tunnel from outside the city wall, dig the tunnel directly under the city wall, fill it with gunpowder to blow down the city wall, and then rush in to fight.
However, this method cannot be used to attack Beijing.
First of all, the moat of Beijing City is very deep, so the tunnel must be dug deeper; secondly, the deeper it is dug, the easier it is for water to seep out from below.
Gunpowder becomes useless when it comes into contact with water!
Seeing that the bandits were trying to pry open the bricks on the wall, Lieutenant General Li, the garrison commander of Fucheng Gate, took a bow and arrow and shot the bandits under the city while directing the battle.
"Throw a grenade!"
Boom boom boom!
Huge grenades were thrown down from the city walls. Some exploded in mid-air, while others fell to the ground and waited for a few seconds before exploding.
The shock wave generated by the explosion mixed with iron and lead shots and scattered in all directions.
Some of the civilians, who had no armor to protect them, were shot through the body, some had their eardrums shattered by the shock wave, and some were killed on the spot because they were too close to the explosion.
The defenders on the city did not stop seeing this and kept firing their muskets, pistols, bows and crossbows. The new recruits who could not use weapons continued to throw grenades, bricks, rolling logs and stones.
The civilians who had finally rushed to the bottom of the city wall fell to the ground in an instant under the saturation attack of the defenders.
Corpses, blood, and broken limbs were scattered all over the ground.
The civilians behind were terrified when they saw this. They forgot their mission, dropped the long wood in their hands, and turned and ran.
However, behind them were the Shun Army infantry.
These people followed the civilians for three purposes: first, to let the civilians attract firepower and reduce their own casualties; second, to take the opportunity to attack the defenders; third, to act as military supervisors. If the civilians turned around and ran away, they could execute these people on the spot.
As soon as the laborers turned around, they were hacked to death by the infantrymen behind them.
"Escapers, die!" the infantry shouted.
If they rushed forward, they might still survive, but if they ran backward, they would surely die! The laborers had no choice but to turn around, pick up the logs and rush towards the city wall again.
Chongzhen stood on the top of the city wall and had a panoramic view of all of this.
Cruel, war is so cruel, human life is worthless.
The weapons in the soldiers' hands were like harvesters, reaping countless lives in an instant.
Wang Chengen and three or four eunuchs held up shields and stood in front of Chongzhen, constantly admonishing him: "Your Majesty, this place is too dangerous, get down quickly!"
"Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to stay here for long. Please move to the city."
Chongzhen pretended not to hear and stood there motionless.
Is he afraid? Of course he is!
The biggest scene he had ever seen before traveling through time was the sports meeting organized by the city.
At that time, there were less than 5,000 people in the entire playground and the stands.
Despite this, he was still very nervous when he went on stage to speak!
At this moment, there are tens of thousands of people outside the city!
These people are not unarmed students, nor are they teachers holding chalk, but bandits wielding weapons and killing anyone they see!
They seemed to be fearless and rushed forward desperately despite the arrows and bullets!
The feeling of oppression cannot be described in words!
Looking at the dark and bloodthirsty torrent outside the city, Chongzhen knew that he could not show any fear.
Otherwise, the morale that has been boosted with great difficulty will quickly disappear.
The attack and defense continue.
As more and more bandits rushed to the city, the soldiers defending the city had to lean out and fight back.
Those who use bird guns, crossbows, and small hand cannons are fine, as they can use the battlements as cover.
This is not the case for those using the Five Thunder Divine Machine and the Fire Gun. Weapons based on similar principles require a team of two to fire, with the person in front being responsible for the support and aiming, and the person behind being responsible for ignition and firing.
As soon as the person in charge of aiming showed his body, he was shot and killed by the enemy soldiers under the city with long-range weapons.
For a moment, the casualties of the defenders in the city began to increase.
Liu Fangliang, who was supervising the battle from a distance, used a clairvoyance to observe the military situation and soon discovered something unusual.
There were seven or eight people on the city wall who did not participate in the battle. There were a few eunuchs in front holding shields and blocking the way.
Although it is impossible to see the appearance of the person behind them, the person who can order the eunuchs around must be an important figure.
Liu Fangliang ordered the herald: "Move the cannons forward and blow up those eunuchs holding shields on the tower."
"Yes, sir!"
With Liu Fangliang's order, the Shun army's artillery position began to move forward rapidly.
Before, the shells could only hit the battlements of the city walls, but now they can hit the city gate towers and even fly into the city and damage houses.
Chongzhen also noticed this.
Through the clairvoyance it could be seen that the enemy's artillery was moving forward.
Seeing this, Chongzhen no longer insisted on watching the battle, and immediately walked down the city wall and headed towards the west gate.
He wanted to see how Yan Yingyuan defended the city.
Shortly after leaving, an explosion occurred on the city wall.
An artilleryman accidentally ignited the gunpowder box behind him. The impact of the gunpowder explosion killed all the defenders within a five-meter radius.
Fortunately, sacks filled with sand were piled around the gunpowder boxes as Chongzhen instructed, otherwise the casualties would have been even greater.
Lieutenant General Li of the Fifth Army Battalion ordered replacement personnel from the city walls to go up while observing the bandits' offensive.
The bandit infantry had already arrived at the city and they were divided into two groups.
One group was outside the moat, shooting at the top of the city wall to cover their friendly troops who were lifting bricks below the city wall; another group crossed the moat and joined the brick-lifting team with shields in hand.
Since these people were wearing armor, and some even wore double armor, the arrows could not penetrate them at all.
Lieutenant General Li raised his shield and shouted, "Reserve troops, throw the earth-shattering mines first, then the small ten thousand enemies!"
There are two types of Wanren Di. One is a combustible firearm, which is a hollow ball made of clay with small holes around it. After drying, it is filled with gunpowder and mixed with poison. When the enemy attacks the city, the fuse is lit and thrown under the city. The flames will spray in all directions, rotating continuously and burning the enemy.
Another method is to soak a quilt with gunpowder, roll it up, light it on fire and throw it down to kill the enemy. The quilt soaked with gunpowder will burn violently and fly everywhere. If you touch it, you will be caught in the flames. Unless you take off your clothes, the flames will not go out even if you roll on the ground!
This weapon is very effective against people wearing cotton armor and dark armor!
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