Chapter 60

"These artillerymen, how long have they not practiced?"

On the city gate tower, witnessing the "precision hit rate" of the artillery, Li Mu asked in confusion.

The range is only five or six hundred meters, and it can deviate by a hundred or eighty meters.

No matter how big the error of the artillery is, it shouldn't be so exaggerated.

It's not the problem of the artillery, it's the problem of the people.

"My lord, I won't hide it from you.

This is our first time firing; in the past, we just practiced loading."

The young soldier's excited answer left Li Mu speechless on the spot.

He has seen "horses grazing on the southern mountain," but he has never seen it so thoroughly.

They have never fired live ammunition, so it's not bad to be able to fire the shells out safely, and accuracy definitely cannot be expected.

"Well done, keep working hard and strive to become a qualified artilleryman as soon as possible.

When filling the ammunition, be careful not to hurt yourself.

Turn back and you guys, each get a reward of one tael of silver!"

Li Mu endured the depression and encouraged.

Wasting military equipment is not the responsibility of the small soldiers.

Risking their lives to operate century-old artillery, there is no merit but there is hard work.

The small episode ended, and Li Mu's attention was attracted by the rebel army's movements.

The enemy army is simply too stingy; after throwing a few shells over, without even overturning the commander's flag, these guys started retaliation.

Looking at the rebel army team that launched a charge in a hurry, Li Mu rubbed his eyes.

The formation is simply too chaotic, with dense soldiers rushing forward in a swarm.

"Pass the order down, the artillery can fire freely!"

Li Mu ordered on the spot.

The enemy wants to come over to send heads, he has no reason not to accept.

The roaring artillery fire announced the opening of the Yangzhou defense war.

Charging under the artillery fire, after paying a painful price, the rebel army finally rushed to the side of the moat.

Countless soldiers threw hemp bags filled with mud into the moat, trying to fill the river channel.

Seeing the scene before him, Li Mu couldn't help but show a mocking smile.

Filling the river channel is a big project.

Transporting earth and stone without carts, all relying on human power to carry, how long will this take to get busy.

Not to mention the defenders will intercept, and after launching the siege for less than a quarter of an hour, the enemy's casualties were already over a hundred.

According to this way of fighting, it is purely exchanging human lives for gunpowder.

……

"General Huang, the siege equipment hasn't been built yet; hurry and sound the retreat!"

Zong Guangtai said with a tired heart.

He was busy searching for craftsmen, preparing to build siege equipment, but the Regional Commander launched an attack.

If the enemy army had no defense, launching a surprise attack at night, perhaps there would be hope of success.

Now it is daytime, and the defenders have long been waiting in full battle array.

Without siege equipment in hand, even if they cross the moat, they can only sigh at the city wall.

"Hmph!"

"Those government troops actually dared to shell this general's camp; if we don't launch a counterattack, wouldn't it hurt morale!"

Huang Renlong said with an angry look.

It's simply too bullying; it's just relying on the benefit of artillery, and when his artillery is transported over, he must give the enemy a good look.

"General, endure it for a while.

The righteous armies from all routes are gathering; if we suffer too heavy losses under Yangzhou City, I'm afraid it will affect your status in the righteous army!"

Zong Guangtai advised helplessly.

Anyone with a little military common sense knows that a large city like Yangzhou is very difficult to break without an inside line.

The ones defending Yangzhou now are the Five Cities Military Commission, and their secret lines in the city have been squeezed out of the center of power.

Wanting to open the city gate from the inside, there is almost no possibility.

Choosing to attack the city by force, one must make sufficient preparations.

Just this moat in front of them is not so easy to cross.

Whether it is filling the river or building a bridge, a large amount of auxiliary tools are needed.

"Forget it!

For the teacher's sake, let the government troops in the city live for a few more days.

When the righteous armies from all routes gather, this commander will definitely tear them into pieces to vent the hatred in his heart!"

Huang Renlong said fiercely.

While clamoring fiercely, deep in his heart, he began to beat drums.

A Yangzhou City is so difficult to fight; wanting to seize the Great Dayu's country, I'm afraid it's not easy.

"Mr. Zong, is there any way to quickly expand the number of troops and improve the combat effectiveness of our army?"

Hearing Huang Renlong's question, Zong Guangtai almost vomited blood.

If there were such a good way, the Zong family would have used it themselves long ago.

Just pulling up the current team, they paid the price of losing the leading power.

However, directly refusing would make him seem too incompetent.

After hesitating for a while, Zong Guangtai said slowly:

"Wanting to expand the troops is simple; the general just needs to send troops out to conscript soldiers.

However, Yangzhou Prefecture has long been prepared, and the villages we passed along the way are almost all empty villages.

These people either entered the city or hid in the mountains.

Now that we want to conscript soldiers, we can only send people to further places.

As for improving the combat effectiveness of the army, it is nothing more than strictly enforcing military discipline, strengthening training, and then pulling them to the battlefield to fight a few battles.

Elite soldiers are all fought out; after taking down more places, the troops under the general will naturally become elites."

This kind of perfunctory answer obviously could not satisfy Huang Renlong.

"Thank you, teacher, for your advice!"

While speaking politely, deep in his heart, he had already realized that this Mr. Zong was not the crouching dragon who assisted him in competing for the world.

Wanting to achieve the hegemony of a king or marquis, I'm afraid he still needs to search for more talented strategists.

……

The first round of the siege battle ended, and the originally uneasy defending soldiers had a few more points of confidence.

Sure enough, confidence is given by the opponent.

The rebel army's siege with great momentum didn't even touch the city wall, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

It told everyone with practical actions what a mob is.

"Pass the order down, all soldiers who participated in the battle just now, reward each with thirty coins!

Tell everyone that later, every time they repel a round of enemy attacks, the participating soldiers will have reward money."

It's not that Li Mu is stingy, purely because the enemies all died outside the city, and the defenders didn't get a single head, so they couldn't report the account to the above.

It just so happens that these recruited young and strong men all come from the lowest level of society; talking about building merit and establishing a career will make people sleepy.

The best way to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm is to issue money.

Whether the money is more or less is secondary; the key is to establish his reputation of keeping his word in everyone's mind through the method of full issuance.

Only when the credibility is high enough will people be willing to sell their lives when drawing pies later.

……

"Battalion Commander, I was sent by the Marquis to check the situation on the battlefield.

Just now the enemy army launched an attack from here; I don't know how many casualties there are?"

The person who came was the Marquis of Wuyang's personal guard, who had met Li Mu a few times and could be considered a familiar face.

"Guard Liu, please convey to the Marquis that our side is fine.

Under the bloody battle of the generals and soldiers, hundreds of enemy soldiers were killed, and the first round of the rebel army's attack has been successfully repelled!"

In order to highlight the merit, Li Mu deliberately skipped the question.

He knows how to report; it's just that the military merit of the battle just now was not easy to verify, so he could only handle it in a fuzzy way, focusing on repelling the enemy army.

(End of chapter)