In Chongzheng Hall, Emperor Zhao Zhen said: "Yesterday, Du Zhongxiao brought new artillery under the city of Beizhou. In one afternoon, he collapsed all the female walls on the city wall. The generals under the city estimated that the city would be broken in just five days. Isn't it useless to try artillery in the Privy Council before the New Year?"

Xia Xu held the scepter and said, "Your Majesty, Ming Hao's memorial said that the newly cast cannon is ten times larger than the original cannon, and its power is naturally different. It is said that one shot was launched, which shocked the earth, and the female wall collapsed with the cannon. Without the female wall covering, the city wall could not be climbed."

Chen Zhizhong said: "The artillery was originally made by Du Zhongxiao. When he was in Tanglong Town, he was shocked by a few shots. How could it be useless? Others just cast them in the shape of the volcanic army. If they don't know the reason, they will naturally not be able to exert their power when used."

After reading the memorial sent by Minghao, Zhao Zhen had a secret memorial from Li Jihe. Compared with the two, they knew that they had underestimated the power of artillery before. The female wall was not as thick as the city wall, but it was also extremely strong and could collapse with one shot. They could not imagine what power it was.

After discussing the situation on the front line of Beizhou for a while, the battle situation was optimistic and the atmosphere became relaxed.

Gao Ruonen, deputy envoy of Privy Council, said: "If the cannon is so powerful, it is a powerful weapon of the country and should not be easily shown to others. After the Shangyuan Festival, the envoy of the Khitan Kingdom wanted to return north through Beizhou, and he should order Minghao and others to not let the Khitans see the cannon."

Xia Shu said: "This statement is reasonable! At the same time, he ordered his companions to guard against the Khitans to spy on the military information of Beizhou."

The Song Dynasty was always at a disadvantage against the Khitans and relied on strong cities. If the Khitans learned this kind of weapon to siege, the threats faced by the Song Dynasty would be beyond the same as before. Khitan envoys from previous years would spy on information and had to be guarded.

The priests and officials discussed together that the two governments took measures at the same time to prevent the leak of the cannons. As for the small iron cannons in the past, they did not know how much the Khitans knew because they did not pay attention to them, so they now didn't care.

Cannons and gunpowder are not complicated, but in this era, the spread of technology was very difficult, and the Khitan could not learn it for a while. After hundreds of years of communication, the Han people from the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun were under the rule, and the Khitan's technical level was still far inferior to the Song Dynasty.

Song Xiang said: "Du Zhongxiao was outstanding in his management skills when he was on Hedong Road. Although he was not good at literature, he knew everything from all kinds of miscellaneous studies. In addition to making artillery, he also made large trucks for carts to pull goods. In a few years, there were thousands of vehicles on Hedong Road. With this truck, Linfu Road's food supply was much calmer. Everyone has their own strengths, and this person is also a talent."

Chen Zhizhong said: "He can really break through Beizhou City, and he needs to use it when he comes back. I heard that the car and ships made by the Han Promo official in Kaifeng Prefecture were also made by him and Du Zhongxiao. On the machine, this person has a lot of experience."

Several other people said it was. Zhang Fangping, the envoy of the Sansi, said: "Du Zhongxiao set up Tanglong Town as a free trade place during the Volcanic Army. At first, he did not know his intention. For more than a year, he has built a cabinet shop there and made countless profits. In the remote place of Tanglong Town, he earned more than the court station on Hebei Road. Now, most of the money and grain on Hedong Road depend on Tanglong Town, and the capital was exempted from transportation."

Du Zhongxiao did a lot of things in the past, and each one was scattered. However, it was not a shocking great contribution, and it did not fall into the eyes of the priests. Compared with other things, Du Zhongxiao himself was actually the simplest. However, the court was eyeing this war, and all the officials were staring at it. A small merit was noticed by the important officials in the court. The previous scattered contributions suddenly made people feel shining. They were no longer the young official who tried to rush around for the museum and the palace.

It was only then that Zhao Zhen had an impression of Du Zhongxiao. He recalled the remarks he had entered Beijing when he arrived on Hedong Road, and the last time he returned to Beijing to demonstrate guns and cannons, he remembered not much. He didn't remember anything he said at that time and what Du Zhongxiao answered. Fortunately, there were records of these formal meetings. When he went back to look at it, it was necessary to get to know this young man again.

Du Zhongxiao, who was under Beizhou City, knew nothing about the affairs of the court and was conscientiously directing the siege. He knew in his heart that only by breaking Beizhou City could he get his contribution, otherwise everything would be a mirror and a water moon.

In one morning, all the women's walls within thirty feet east of the city gate collapsed, turning into bare city walls.

Wang Ze ordered the soldiers to shoot crossbows for a while and fired a Fengci stone cannon. Seeing that there was no threat to the Song army outside the city, he calmed down and stopped doing these useless work. He urgently recruited manpower and built a temporary shelter with bamboo and wood in the western section where he was bombarded yesterday.

The situation is very obvious. Without cover on the city wall, the advantage of the defenders will no longer exist. Facing ten times more than their officers and soldiers, the city will never be able to defend. Not to mention that Qucheng will never burn, the Song army could not even defend themselves even if they climbed the city under the cover of crossbows.

At this time, the use of the iron cannon will be revealed.

Du Zhongxiao only moved half of the iron cannon to the east side of the city gate, and more than a hundred gates were still retained on the west side, and kept bombarding the city wall. Without the female wall covering, how could the bamboo and wood shields block the artillery? The defenders paid a huge price. The bamboo and wood bunkers were destroyed as they were built and could not be built at all.

Ming Hao and Li Jihe have been watching the battle under the city. After seeing the situation at the top of the city, they said to Li Jihe: "There have always been cannons in the army, but no one knows how to use them. It took a month to waste under the city. As soon as Master Du arrived, the power of the cannons was fully demonstrated, and the city could be broken for a few days!"

Li Jihe sighed a lot: "The official sent me to the city of Beizhou. When he was about to leave, he spoke a stern tone and was extremely dissatisfied with the war. However, hundreds of soldiers rebelled in the city, and the army besieged the city, and could not capture it for more than a month. He sighed that there was nothing left for the officials. I didn't expect that as soon as I arrived here, Master Du arrived and set up a cannon, and the city was like paper. Now, what's the difficulty of breaking the city?"

Minghao nodded: "No, there are many things in the world that you can do at a glance. You can understand what you can do. If you can't do, you don't know how to do it. Muskets and cannons were made by Master Du, and no one in the world knows how to use them better than him."

As long as you capture Beizhou City within the deadline, for Minghao, the setbacks before will be like passing clouds. The most important thing about fighting is the result. It is easy to win, but the setbacks before will be just a joke in the future. If you can't win, you will be full of wisdom and effort, and you will be a defeated general in the eyes of others. Don't talk about the credit, it's good not to be punished.

Wang Ze at the top of the city, looking at the walls on both sides of the city were all bare and gray, and said to Buji: "Shumi, the female walls on both sides of the south gate have been smashed. The official army will seize this city gate tomorrow. How should we guard it?"

Where did Buji have any solutions? After thinking about it, he said, "Only by now, the elite troops in the city were gathered on this section of the city wall and fought to the death with the enemy!"

Wang Ze shook his head: "How to fight to the death? Look at the city walls in the western section, the government army artillery outside is constantly stopping. How many people died today? So many people died, and they can't even build a battle shed. Without a female wall or a battle shed, how can we resist the bows and arrows of the government army?"

Bu Ji was speechless. At this time, anyone could see that it would be difficult for the Song army to attack the city tomorrow. What should I do? Surrender is impossible. What they did before, and surrender is exempted from death. Only by resisting stubbornly. Now the only way out is to escape when the Song army attacks the city tomorrow.
Chapter completed!