While the battle on the Mongolian plains was ongoing, the battle in front of Shanhai Pass was getting more and more intense.
Mangurtai had been blocking the pass with 30,000 soldiers for five days. He had used these five days to finally transport more than 20 long-barreled cannons from Ningyuan to Shanhai Pass. Just for these cannons, hundreds of slaves had fallen along the way.
With the cannons, Mangurtai's confidence was greatly boosted. Although Engudeli reminded him that there were cannons on Shanhai Pass, he said that he already had a way to deal with it.
"I have many shaman priests in my army. They can approach Shanhai Pass at night and use magic to pull up the mud wall. Then, let the slaves pour water on it overnight. By daybreak, it will be frozen solid. The Han have a wall, so we can have one too. Our cannons can hide behind the frozen mud wall and fire, blasting the Han's wall to pieces. "
Mangurtai's idea was really enlightening. Engudeli praised loudly, "Three beilei's idea is naturally excellent." So, they arranged for the shaman priests in the army to sneak to about 1500 meters away from the wall and began to build the frozen mud wall as a fortification.
For the past few days, the 'Revolutionary Army' inside the wall had not paid any attention to the Jurchen army in the north, as if they did not exist. At first, Mangurtai was worried that he would be at a disadvantage without cannons. But now that he had cannons, he could only laugh at the defense of the wall for not knowing their soldiers. "If they came out to fight me a few days earlier, it would be difficult for me to deal with them. But now, I'm not afraid."
The night was dark. The 'Revolutionary Army' did not have flares that could cover more than 1000 meters, so they did not interfere with the Kennu's construction. But when the next day's dawn, Zhou Qingfeng and the others inside the wall could see the results of the Kennu's hard work.
The frozen mud wall was not tall, only about one meter tall, but it was at least half a meter thick. This kind of fortification that looked like a chest wall was not isolated. It was hundreds of meters long and had seven or eight rows in front and behind it. There were more than a dozen of these fortifications in front of Shanhai Pass. Behind each fortification, a large number of elite Jurchen soldiers gathered like ants.
"Not bad, you've grown capable." Zhou Qingfeng scanned the area with his binoculars and found that the fortifications built by the Female Daoists were quite threatening. "As long as they advance two to three hundred meters a day like this, it won't be long before they reach our wall. If we send our troops to dismantle it, I'm afraid we'll have to suffer their bombardment. "
As soon as he finished speaking, one of the cannons on the opposite side suddenly fired. From afar, a black bullet could be seen flying over. A few seconds later, it hit the wall of Shanhai Pass with the sound of a cannon. The outer wall of the wall was immediately hit, leaving behind a hole that was neither deep nor shallow, revealing the grayish-white rammed earth inside the wall.
Gao Daniu, who was standing at the side, had wanted to joke around like Zhou Qingfeng to show his contempt for the enemy. However, when he saw the effect of the bombardment, he immediately said with a serious expression, "Grand Marshal, please retreat behind the wall. I'll immediately order the Longsong Cannons on the wall to return fire. "
Without saying a word, Zhou Qingfeng turned around and left, not wanting to make trouble for his subordinates. Soon, the Longsong Cannons on the wall began to fire intensely. He returned to the Yamen of the General Army inside the pass, and a staff officer came forward to report, "Grand Marshal, the He Zhuo Front Army in the west has entered Qingcheng of the Karaqin Tribe. Just now, they sent a message through spiritual will saying that they are fighting with the Jurchen Mongolian Coalition Army entrenched in Qingcheng."
Zhou Qingfeng was not worried about He Zhuo. He asked, "Have the biplanes that went out to investigate Gai and Dandong returned?"
"Yes," the staff officer said.
"Fill the cabin with explosives. I'm going to fly out …" Halfway through Zhou Qingfeng's words, Xu Bing ran out of the study of the yamen and shouted with a cold face, "Nonsense, who are you now? You're not allowed to go! If you want to go, let Flat Hair go. "
When Xu Bing heard the sound of cannons coming from outside the city, she knew what Zhou Qingfeng wanted to do. She stopped Zhou Qingfeng and left this dirty and tiring work to poor Flat Hair. However, Flat Hair was very happy about it. After listening to Zhou Qingfeng's idea, he happily went to throw explosives on other people's heads.
Outside the wall, Mangul 'tai had already entered the Frozen Earth Workshop he built before the sun rose. He was also very unfamiliar with the construction of field fortifications. This idea was actually put forward by the Dutch instructor. Several gun positions were not only built erect parapets, but also made of wood and mud to defend against artillery shells from both sides.
At the gap of the gun positions, Mangurtai could see the wall in the distance. He had to admire the Han people's ability to build fortifications. It was the wall opposite that blocked the Jurchen Zhenren's way to the south. No matter how chaotic Liaodong was, as long as Shanhai Pass was not lost, the Central Plains would be safe and sound. Even if the Jurchen Zhenren took a detour to Mongolia, she could not stay in the capital for a long time.
"Fire the cannons."
It was the first time for Mangurtai to command the artillery. Although he didn't understand, he had seen a lot of the Ming Army's firearms. In addition, he was taught by the Dutch, so he knew that the artillery had a lot to do with distance and other factors. These days, the artillery that could fire one thousand five hundred meters was already an important weapon of the country. Therefore, the Jurchen Army was full of confidence in their artillery. The enemy had it, they also had it. Naturally, they were not afraid.
The rumbling of the artillery sounded, and more than a dozen black lead balls flew toward the wall of Shanhai Pass. The first artillery shot was not very accurate. Some bullets jumped over the wall, and some hit in front of the wall. However, compared to the artillery soldiers of the Ming Army who didn't even know how to use gunpowder and adjust the angle of the artillery, the Dutch instructor still trained some professional gunners.
The sound of the artillery was very loud. Mangurtai had to stay at the specially built observation point to evaluate the effect of the artillery. According to the opinion of the Dutch instructor, to destroy a large pass like Shanhai Pass, it would probably take half a month of continuous artillery bombardment. The premise was that the other side didn't fight back.
However, the Longsong Cannons on the wall returned fire very quickly. In less than two minutes after the Kennu gunners opened fire, the other side fired very accurate artillery shells. The Longsong Cannons could be made to weigh a few tons. They could use expensive forged barrels and precise rifling. They could also fire oval-shaped solid shells that were machined and had a high degree of consistency.
Mangurtai didn't wait for the second wave of artillery bombardment from his side. He saw the Revolutionary Army's artillery shells accurately hit within one meter of his side's artillery. He saw with his own eyes that a shell hit the frozen wall on the side of one of the artillery positions. The wall that was half a meter thick was penetrated, and countless pieces of frozen soil exploded.
The Kennu gunners were shocked by the artillery bombardment. The frozen soil that exploded flew all over the sky. When they fell, they almost covered their heads and fled. After a long time, they found that their own side was fine. The artillery was also fine. However, there was a big hole on the side of the fortification that had been built overnight. Fortunately, the frozen soil wall was very hard, and there was more than one wall. That was how the gunners and the artillery in the artillery position were protected.
But this was just the beginning …
Soon, Mangurtai realized that the artillery on the top of the Shanhai Pass wall was very accurate. All of them were aimed at the artillery fortification that he had spent an entire night repairing. Although there was no artillery shell that could fly three kilometers to hit the small hole on the artillery position and destroy the artillery that the Great Jin Kingdom had spent a lot of effort to get, hitting the artillery position was not difficult at all.
"Everyone is a cannon. Why are the Revolutionary Army's cannons so accurate?" Mangurtai still remembered the Dutch instructor patting his chest and assuring him that the accuracy of the artillery in this day and age was limited. It was not a problem to hit a target as big as the wall three kilometers away, but it was not easy to hit a target like the artillery position. Now, it seemed that the "not easy" referred to the Kennu and not the Revolutionary Army.
It took five minutes for the Kennu's heavy artillery to fire one round, but the enemy's heavy artillery could fire one round in one minute. The firepower density of the two sides was not of the same era. Hiding in the observation point, Mangurtai immediately felt what it meant to rain bullets, because the artillery shells from the opposite wall were obviously more and more accurate.
Mangurtai did not know whether he should be happy or angry. He was glad that he had found a way to repair the frozen soil fortification, but he did not expect that the Revolutionary Army on the opposite side would use artillery to demolish his fortification. Originally, he thought that the fortification he had built could not be destroyed by a peerless master using top-level spells, and it was impossible to demolish it with manpower. That was right, the Revolutionary Army did not use manpower to demolish it, but the enemy used artillery.
The artillery position was protected by the frozen soil wall, so it could not be destroyed in a short time. Mangurtai could still hear more than a dozen artillery shells on his side continuously firing. The shaman priests hurriedly ran to the front line to boost the morale of the gunners, or to pull up the earth wall to repair the fortification. Just when Mangurtai felt that his side could still hold on, a whistling sound came from the sky.
This whistling sound attracted almost all the Jurchen people on the battlefield to look up. No one could tell what was coming from the sky. Mangurtai reacted quickly. No matter what it was, it was definitely not our Jurchen people.
This Third Beilei had thought that he would have to constantly see the endless tricks of the Revolutionary Army. Now that he saw a strange thing coming from the sky, he did not say anything and took off the strong bow he carried with him. He quickly aimed an arrow and shot it.
The bow Mangurtai used was not ordinary. It was made from the so-called Flood Dragon Tendon and Cang Shan Wood, which took more than ten years to make. The strength of the bow was so great that ordinary people could not pull it even if they tried. He shot an arrow, and the arrow whistled through the air, piercing through the heavy armor.
But so what if it pierced through the heavy armor? The arrow flew more than 100 meters high, but it still could not resist the gravity of the earth, and it turned around and fell. It was still far away from the strange thing in the sky.
Mangurtai was about to shoot another arrow, but the strange thing had already flown away at high speed. It was only a few hundred meters away. He stood on the ground and immediately fell into a state of confusion. He originally felt that his combat power was unparalleled and that there were few opponents in the world. But now, it was flying in the sky. What could he do?
"Where's the messenger on the crane?" Mangurtai ran out of the observation point at the frontline and hurriedly looked for people to deal with the thing in the sky. "Where's the messenger on the crane? Quickly fly up and chase that thing away. "
The number of messenger on the crane in Kennu was small, so they could only run and communicate. At this time, no one knew where they were. Mangurtai brought more than a dozen soldiers to search everywhere. Soon, they found that the monster in the sky had returned. This time, it flew even lower, about 100 meters above the ground.
"Shoot! Shoot! Shoot that thing down. " Mangurtai was anxious. Under his loud shouts, many of the Jurchen elite soldiers who were busy at the frontline took out their bows and arrows. Muskets could not hit targets at high angles, so the Kennu army still kept a large number of bows and arrows. They could be used in this situation.
When hundreds and thousands of arrows flew into the sky, the strange thing in the sky opened the cabin door at the back. A soldier of the 'Revolutionary Army' lit the fuse of the explosives in the cabin and pushed them out.
The monster in the sky immediately threw down one black and deadly thing after another like a hen laying eggs. Mangurtai saw the opportunity quickly and immediately flew away. In the blink of an eye, he hid more than 100 meters away. But his subordinates did not have this ability. They could only stand there blankly and watch the god of death descend on their heads.
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