Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

In the early morning of Youzhou City, the air is very fresh, the dewdrops from last night are still hanging on the green grass leaves, and the sky is shrouded in a thin layer of white mist. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was already light, and the sky was a clear blue.

I don't know where there are sparrows chirping occasionally.

Guo Shao strode past the cannon formation with his entourage. He had to feel that the Longxiao Cannon made of bronze was very beautiful, much more beautiful than the cast iron one! After the yellow cannon body is polished and smooth, the workmanship is very good and it looks brand new.

Rows of artillery muzzles were facing the sky obliquely. When Guo Shao looked back, he could see rows of huge black hole muzzles.

The formation is very strong! They are still just mortars for hitting stones, and their actual effect cannot be bombed like the howitzers that can destroy everything in the impression, and their power is very limited; but Guo Shao knows that as long as they are used properly, these things are very effective in siege!

"Come! Cry..." Suddenly a rooster screamed, and Guo Shao followed the sound and was stunned.

It turned out that several soldiers killed a cock and dripped the blood on the barrel of a cannon. The general beside him hurriedly said: "That cannon will be fired first, everyone wants to be lucky."

After Guo Shao made his inspection tour, he left the artillery formation, and he didn't need to personally ask about all the specific tactics.

After a long time, there was a sudden "boom" of a thunderbolt from the blue sky, the ground trembled slightly, and the thunderous roar of cannons tore through the silence of the sky. Thick white smoke rose into the sky.

The neighing of horses and the noise of people increased accordingly, and the birds in the distance were also frightened and flew away desperately.

But after the first shot, it stopped for a while, and then the sound of the artillery on the camp stopped and stopped, as if it was chaotic. The towers and walls in the distance were not affected much, but Zhou Jun's side was full of gunpowder and noisy with people and horses.

Guo Shao didn't say a word, and of course he didn't blame it... The gun was designed by himself, of course he understood. The accuracy of this kind of mortar is really limited, mainly because the casting technology and measuring tools are very rough; how can we hit the target? That's right, try it with one shot! Try out the elevation angle and charge, and because the size of the guns cannot be completely standardized, the shooting parameters of each gun are slightly different. Rao is still unable to be completely accurate, but it can probably hit the target.

The artillery formation fiddled with for more than half an hour before subsiding again.

Previously, the world was like a pool of clear water, with blue sky, green land, fresh air and moist white mist; but now, the world seems to have been poured into a basin of sewage!

The sky above Zhou Jun's camp was full of fog, as if the sky was full of dust, and the smoke from the artillery was mixed with the fog. The camp was full of people coming and going, and it was a mess and busy.

At this moment, a group of horses slowly rushed to the front fortifications, without stopping, and then filled the wood and earth camp, and moved forward slowly.

The cannon fire that lasted for more than half an hour did not cause much damage to the city wall, and most of them missed. It was just a test cannon, and now the cannon fire stopped and never sounded again. Instead, there are crowds on horseback.

Bombardment alone can't test the strength of the opponent's defense, this group of cavalry is a test; and with soldiers and horses approaching to lure the defenders to the city, the first round of salvo can surprise and expand the results of the battle!

Guo Shao and the ministers watched the scene. The inside and outside of the camp looked a bit chaotic, but he could feel the order in the chaos, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to the plan.

The light cavalry team entered the front line like a charge, first rectified, then jogged, and then rushed towards the city wall on fast horses.

The horse team was hardly attacked from a distance, and they reached the moat without any problems, and quickly turned around. The horse team shot many arrows from the side door, and they all shot up the city wall. The moat of Youzhou City is not too wide, and you can hit the top of the city with a horse-throwing projectile by the river.

Guo Shao was hundreds of steps away, so he couldn't quite see the counterattack on the city. But looking at the situation of the Zhou army, the defenders hardly had a strong counterattack.

"Hey!" Wang Pu made a sound, and then there was no more words.

The others didn't respond, they just watched, tossing back and forth for more than half an hour, the rhythm of the battle was not intense, and everyone seemed a little lethargic.

Guo Shao and Wang Pu seem to have the same intuition: the beginning is very strange.

He smelled something unusual.

Of course, cavalry attacks cannot attack the city. After all, horses cannot carry people across the moat, let alone climb the three-foot-high city wall on foot. But in common sense, if you get close to the city, you will be attacked by the defenders. After all, the distance is only twenty or thirty steps away.

Why didn't the defenders counterattack from a distance? It is very likely that there are not many people on the city wall...

The horse team of the Zhou army in the distance detoured and rode and shot outside the city wall, and then the head of the army gradually turned back. A horse team seemed to rush to the wall and then flow back.

Wang Pu said in a deep voice: "The situation seems to be different from what we expected."

Guo Shao did not act rashly. Zhou's army is too large, and its deployment is relatively complicated. It is like a huge ship, and its turn will be very slow... You can't change your strategy just because of a little accident.

The horse team ran very fast, and in a short while, a row of triangular flags were planted fifty steps away from the city wall, and then swarmed back.

When he was a hundred steps away, suddenly a thunderous roar resounded through the heaven and earth. Guo Shao turned his head and saw a row of white smoke rising above the camp, and large stone bombs flew into the sky one after another.

Before the stone bombs landed on the city wall, after a while, the cannons of "Boom boom boom..." roared again, the flames shone, and a row of white smoke rose.

Earth and rocks splashed on the top of Youzhou City, and the scene of the collapse of the parapet wall could be seen from a distance.

The artillery from far and near on the Zhou army camp fired salvos one by one, and the scene was very shocking. The muzzle seemed to be spraying fire | flames together, and the smoke was billowing. The sparse observation posts of archery towers between the artillery formations seem to be erected from the clouds.

The deafening gunfire continued, and the shelling frantically showed no sign of stopping.

Outside the first fortification, a stretch of wheelbarrows had already spread forward amidst the sound of gunfire. Countless soldiers pushed the earth close to the moat like a flood.

The real siege has just begun, and the Zhou army's siege is to roughly fill the river in the front!

When the vanguard of the crowd approached the pennant placed before, the artillery on the artillery array stopped one after another, and everything was in order and coordinated with each other.

The people filling the river only need to take the opportunity to advance twenty or thirty steps to reach the edge of the moat, and pour the soil into it. The moat is not a river with running water, but a very slow, almost still river, so it is very easy to fill the river, only the amount of earth and rocks is a problem!

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a black shadow suddenly filled the city wall, and stones flew out like a hailstorm. Zhou Jun's engineering soldiers were very dense, and there were screams all over the place. From time to time, wheelbarrows toppled over and soldiers fell down.

As soon as this situation appeared, the ministers and generals who were watching by the Chinese army suddenly began to discuss in a low voice.

Wang Pudao: "The defense of Youzhou City has been prepared for a long time, and it seems to be specially aimed at our artillery! The opponent's defense weapons are not on the city wall, but inside the city. Our previous bombardment was mainly aimed at the city wall, and failed to effectively destroy their equipment."

A military general said: "Our artillery hits far, and bombard the equipment in the city again."

Wang Pu frowned and said, "We can't see the city, how do you know where they are located? What's more, if the enemy keeps moving, we have no way of knowing."

Everyone turned their attention to Guo Shao.

Guo Shao didn't say a word, stood on the horse with his sword pressed, and looked at the situation ahead.

He still has no intention of changing his tactics... One is to consider the first wave of siege, if he is repelled immediately, it will affect morale. The opponent used a catapult to smash people and horses, and the lethality was not as good as that of a mortar. The proportion of Zhou Jun's engineering soldiers was not high, and it was far from being defeated. Fighting will kill people! Even if there are casualties, they can't act rashly.

Second, he has not thought of a countermeasure yet. Even if they withdraw, how can they attack again? It is also not a good choice to stop the siege at the beginning.

At this time, Guo Shao felt as if ten thousand animals rushed through his heart, and he was very blocked, but he still acted calmly. The tactics that I personally formulated, I have to carry on even if I am frustrated.

He had to re-examine those "barbarians" in Liao.

Both artillery and tactics are new things in this era, but those people don't seem to be so ignorant and dull, they can adapt and understand the new mode of warfare so quickly.

It can be guessed that Xiao Siwen and other Khitan people understood Guo Shao's siege techniques through the tactical details of the Battle of Jinyang, and it seemed that they really understood the tactical logic.

Guo Shao carefully looked at the stones flying out of the air, it was a parabola... In fact, by drawing the model diagram, he could roughly calculate the position of the opponent's catapult. However, the Liao army still has a simple way to deal with it.

Guo Shao can immediately think of two methods: one, as Wang Pu said, keep moving positions, and Zhou Jun can't know when they move outside the city. Second, bring the catapult close to the city wall. The trajectory of Zhou Jun's artillery shells is still a parabola, with angle restrictions; there is an area inside the city wall that is a dead corner.

At this moment, a general asked, "How should we deal with it?"

Obviously there is no perfect method, but no matter how bad the method is, one should be taken out immediately, at least let the soldiers know what they should do!

Guo Shao immediately said: "The order, all the artillery in the artillery battalion immediately increase the elevation angle, so that the shells can be thrown into the city."

Wang Pu clasped his fists in response, and immediately asked the military officials to arrange messengers to pass on the military orders.

Guo Shao pointed to the front again and said: "When the first batch of men and horses filling the river return and the artillery array starts shelling, order the engineers to reorganize their formation, keep a distance of at least one foot between them, and continue filling the river with a sparse deployment."

"Follow the order."

After a long time, the crowd in the distance gradually receded from the moat. A few hundred steps away, Zhou Jun could be seen paying the price. The ground outside the moat was in a mess. Many wheelbarrows were damaged and left there, and there were many corpses on the ground. More people were brought back with injuries.

The Liao army deployed a large number of catapults in the city, and it seemed that they were well prepared. Maybe they don't know when the Zhou army will attack Youzhou, but they have already guessed to beware of the Zhou army's northern expedition.

!!