Chapter 208: Siege Plan

"Kill, kill!" Zhentian shouted, floating over the open space outside the salt field. After this period of rigorous training, the newly recruited battalions have already looked like regular soldiers, but the murderous aura revealed during the training has satisfied Zhang Yang.

After this period of time, the base was fully operated, the Tianque Gun, a weapon that everyone liked, was barely assigned to each battalion. Zhangyang's base camp already had two 100-man teams equipped with Tianque Guns, and the other four battalions each equipped with half a 100-man team, a proportion of one tenth.

In the Baiju Salt Field, the endless salt field outside, most of the moisture has evaporated, and the block of crystals has appeared and disappeared.

In the salt field, salt can really grow! This makes the old salt workers ecstatic. This method of making salt has been reduced countless times compared to cooking salt with a plate method. It does not require life and is not polluted. In Zhang Yang's words.

In Dingxi Field, there are always people moving inside the secret wall that is surrounded, but there is no one outside, and no one can walk inside. Only seeing the sentry holding the steel spear, no Yantou Qing dares to break in, otherwise, his body will be really stuck in a few holes.

The salt is dried in the sea water and the coarse salt is purified. This more perfect assembly line has been formed. Large quantities of fine salt have been stored in the warehouse of the salt field. What is needed below is to sell the salt.

Zhang Yang has long been familiar with selling private salt. If the He family in Yangzhou was unwilling to continue working with him, he would directly send Shixin to transport the salt to the big business houses in various roads. Now he is no longer the original Takashiya and can no longer use the cover of the official ship. However, this is better, and he has a broader world. Anyone who sends his subordinate team can take on the task of transporting salt. If you encounter salt dice on the road, you will kill it directly. With the strength, you can only have the confidence to speak.

Good news came from the Shen family. The 200 stones of grain from the Shen family had been transported to the salt farm. Moreover, Shen Wansan, who was rich and powerful, did not accept compensation of ten taels of silver per acre, but devoted them all to Zhang Yang free of charge. In the words of the Shen family, the eldest master of his family heard that Zhang Yang would give double compensation and was grateful. It was a blessing for the people to have such an enlightened adult, not bullying the weak or filling his own pockets. The Shen family was willing to devote all of this land to the adults. The Shen family also hoped to open a business in the east of Xinghua to seek benefits for the people, and so on.

Regarding the Shen family's suggestions, Zhang Yang said that he would support them at the right time. The Shen family also realized that these measures he had here would definitely greatly improve the quality of life of the people. When the living standards were improved, there would be various material needs. The Shen family would seize this market at the earliest time.

He Zhaoyi has been staying at Ruohan's house for a while, and sometimes he would walk around the salt farm and take a look. He didn't say he would leave, nor did he say he would leave. Zhang Yang didn't know how to treat this young lady, so he simply left her aside first and waited for her to find him before talking about it. The two ships of salt can be transported to Yangzhou at any time.

Now, Zhang Yang’s top priority is military action: raiding Taizhou.

In the yamen of Dingxi Salt Field, all the personnel have already settled. Shiyi from the first battalion, Tang He from the second battalion, Lu Zhen from the third battalion, Bian Yuanheng from the fourth battalion, Li Bosheng from the base, Shixin, Shide, Li Shanchang and Shi Nai'an, were packed with the small living room.

These people formed Zhang Yang's current team. The four camps, plus his own base camp, were the main military forces. Li Bosheng was mainly in charge of military supplies, Li Shanchang was responsible for rear construction and food and supplies. This was also Li Shanchang's strength. The distribution of land some time ago was very successful. Shi Nai'an was Zhang Yang's military counselor. Shi Xin and Shi De were naturally the brothers who fought against tigers and father and son soldiers.

"This time I asked everyone to come, just to work together. Our next military operation is about to be launched." Zhang Yang looked at everyone on the top chair and said.

"Okay, the young men under my command are about to get sick, and now there is finally a war." Tang Heda said: "Is it a fight against Xinghua? My base is closest to Xinghua and can undertake the main attack mission."

"That's right, it's too easy for us to capture the small town of Xinghua." Others also agreed. "To capture Xinghua, we can continue to attack Gaoyou and take down the entire Gaoyou Mansion."

"Our next goal is not Xinghua or Gaoyou. It is Taizhou." Zhang Yang said.

What? Taizhou? Everyone was surprised. Their ideas were obviously not as good as Zhang Yang. When they attacked Taizhou, it seemed a bit of a fantasy. How could Taizhou be comparable to cities like Xinghua and Gaoyou? It was a major city! Just say that the tall city was definitely a nightmare for the attackers.

"Brother, if we want to attack Taizhou, we need to make large-scale siege equipment, catapults, ladders, impact vehicles, and arrow towers. It is almost impossible for us to complete now, otherwise we can only use our lives to fill the city wall of Taizhou. No, Taizhou has such a wide moat. If we want to attack Taizhou, it is a bit difficult." Tang He put away the rudeness he had just now and said carefully.

What's wrong with the big brother? Attacking Taizhou? It's so whimsical. As the commander with the most combat experience, Tang He knew the difficulties of siege. The current uprising army cannot be wasted all of its wealth in Taizhou.

"Taizhou, as an important town in Jiangbei in Huainan, has a very important strategic position. To the south, it is the natural danger of the Yangtze River. To the west, it directly threatens Yangzhou, the capital of the entire province. If Taizhou is captured, Gaoyou will lose its aid. It will be easy to attack Xinghua and Gaoyou to the north. In this way, we can expand our occupied area several times. With this base and occupy Taizhou, we can cross the Yangtze River and occupy this rich land of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. At that time, we will develop rapidly and surpass other Red Turban Armys." Shi Nai'an, who was shaking a fan, explained in detail.

Feather fan and Lun Scarf are Shi Nai'an's signature outfit. Although it is very cold now, Shi Nai'an is reluctant to put down the fan. Once he shakes it, countless ideas will come out of his mind.

"Taizhou is important, it is good. When we take down Xinghua and Gaoyou, our strength will grow stronger, we will attack you. Wouldn't we be more sure?" Shiyi asked.

"When we take Xinghua and Gaoyou, the Tatars will definitely know that our next target will be Taizhou. The soldiers are the tricks. We will just run a long distance and take Taizhou off by surprise. In this way, we will reduce the losses than to attack Taizhou in the future." Shi Nai'an continued to explain.

Attacking Taizhou? Everyone thought carefully. This strategy is really feasible and can expand the territory several times in the shortest time. Moreover, after conquering Taizhou, it has a very strong influence and the entire province will be inspired. Now the province's troops are restrained by Guo Zixing and Zhu Yuanzhang of Anfeng, which is a good opportunity for him to attack.

However, Tang He's words just now made sense. It is not as easy to attack a strong city as attacking a salt field. Although there are thousands of people under him, if you are not careful in the city of Taizhou, you will have to be destroyed there if you are not careful.

"Brother, how should we fight this Taizhou City?" Bian Yuanheng asked.

Everyone knows that since the elder brother proposed to attack Taizhou, there must be a way.

Of course, Zhang Yang already had a method, but this method is a bit inhumane. To put it more specifically, it is four words: terrorist attack.

Zhang Yang didn't want to use the methods of siege in this era, such as catapults, ladders, arrow towers, and collision cars. This was just to fill in the lives of humans. He had been to Taizhou City several times. That kind of city was indestructible. If he had to capture it by manpower, all of his thousands of people would have to fill it in it.

The best weapon for siege is cannons. Outside the city wall, a circle of cannons flew away, and the shells collapsed. Then they rushed forward and took them down.

However, Zhang Yang could not use this modern method. Because his blacksmith was not enough. Although he had qualified fine iron, he did not have enough manpower to transform the fine iron into a Tianque gun. The Tianque gun was not equipped, so where could he have the energy to build a cannon? After conquering Taizhou and gaining a large number of blacksmiths, these ideas could be put into action.

This is a vicious cycle. Without artillery and if you can't fight hard, you can't take Taizhou City. If you can't take Taizhou City, you will not have blacksmiths to make weapons.

It really gave Zhang Yang a headache. In a quiet night, Zhang Yang tossed and turned, thinking hard, but suddenly a spark appeared in his mind. In modern times, there are so many high-tech weapons, missiles, aircraft, aircraft carriers, and M countries, but they are overwhelmed by a few Arabs who always cover their faces with cloth. Why? Asymmetric combat, you have precise guidance weapons, and I have terrorist attacks!

In the south where the water network is everywhere, several streams of water flow through each city. As a major city, Taizhou is no exception. Taizhou City is closely connected with water, with dense water networks inside and outside the city, and streets and canals are intersected, forming a city pattern with the Dao River as the long axis of the north and south, and the two cities as their wings. The outer city river and the Yudai River in the city are circling, the water circles, the city holds water, the streets and rivers are parallel, and the water city is integrated, and the shape is like a phoenix.

The river gave the tall Taizhou City a defensive advantage and seemed even more impoverished. However, for Zhang Yang, this moat is not only not a problem, but is Zhang Yang's good helper.

In this era, there were no cars or planes, so if you engage in terrorist attacks, you cannot engage in car bombs or plane bombs, but you can create a fishing boat bomb.

According to Zhang Yang's instructions, Li Bosheng had already made a large "grenade". Anyway, there was no need for a blacksmith. He just needed to let the iron in the steelmaking furnace flow into the manufactured mold, cooled down, and then added the pre-made black gunpowder, plug the leads, and then completed the task.

Each of these grenades is as big as a wine pot, with an iron shell of fifteen kilograms. After being stuffed with black gunpowder, it is amazingly powerful. If it is placed directly under a brick wall, it will be blown to the sky immediately. In the last battle, many small fishing boats were seized, and Li Bosheng had already completed all of them at the base. There were three fishing boats in total, and each fishing boat was loaded with sixty such grenades, and all the leads were connected together. These sixty grenades were already the limit of the ship. If it weren't for the easier control of the small boat, Li Bosheng really wanted to use that big boat to load two hundred giant grenades. It was easy to get close to the Taizhou city gate from the Yudai River in the north.

"Bosheng, tell me something about it." Zhang Yang said.

"Yes, brother." Since Li Bosheng defeated the more with fewer defeated the reed marsh in the base, he has been very excited and longed for the chance to kill the Tartars again. This time, he finally had another chance. Moreover, it was a snack made for the Tartars himself, so how could he not be excited?

"Everyone knows that our victory these times are all attributed to our elder brother. The combo crossbows, Tianque guns, grenades, and steel spears invented by our elder brother are all our magic weapons to defeat the enemy." Li Bosheng said.

"Okay, don't flatter me anymore, just pick up the key points." Zhang Yang said.

Li Bosheng blushed: "Brother, I'm just saying the facts. Do you think, right?"

"Yes, of course, yes." Everyone covered their laughter and agreed with Li Bosheng's words.

"This time, Taizhou City is so tall, we are definitely not able to compete with each other. We can only use unconventional means. The eldest brother specifically told me to give Taizhou City a 'big meal'." Li Bosheng said. The two words "big meal" were also spit out from the eldest brother's mouth. This word is used too appropriately. The Tartars will definitely not be able to bear this big meal.

"We have used grenades to solve the fences these days, so when we deal with the Taizhou city wall, we still use grenades. My brother asked me to make a large grenade." Li Bosheng said, and raised a big guy from the ground.

I saw that this thing was more than one foot high, shining with the luster of iron. The thick belly must have black gunpowder. A handle on it exposed a long lead and was wrapped around the handle.

Everyone looked straight at this thing. This guy, the Tartars in Taizhou City, was really enough to drink a pot.

"I tried this thing once. It was quite powerful. It was buried on the ground and could blow up a big pit. Now, there are three boats in the base, all of which are full of this large grenade. Before the general attack, I was responsible for sailing the boat to the upper reaches of the Dao River in the north of Taizhou. Once I found the signal given by my elder brother, I drove the boat to the Taizhou city gate, ignited the lead line, and then quickly dived and swam ashore. With a rumbling sound, the city gate was solved." Li Bosheng said.

"But, what if the time estimate is not enough and the city gate is blown up before it reaches the city gate?" Lu Zhen asked.

If a person can go up and light it, it will explode when he reaches the city gate. However, that person will be finished. Zhang Yang is not the one who does not pull the light and cannot let the soldiers act as human bombs. Therefore, Zhang Yang's plan is to let someone withdraw before the explosion.

Without a wireless detonation device, it can only be detonated in a time-detonation, that is, make the lead longer.

"We have done experiments with these. On that day, we will observe the water flow in advance and determine the length of the leads. Moreover, this is why we take three ships instead of one ship." Li Bosheng said. "The first one is the longest among the leads, the second one is the second one, and the third one is longer. The first one arrives at the city gate and can explode later. The second one is the second one, and then the third one is the same as the third one, and then go up to expand the results. If the first one and the second one explode early, there will be a third one."

Any three ships could blow up the city gate, but now there are three. I don’t believe that I can’t get rid of the city tower. Anyway, the base has enough iron and gunpowder.

Everyone nodded.

"Our general attack time is set at Mao hour." Zhang Yang added.

At the hour of Mao, it was just dawn. At this time, it should be the time when the officers and soldiers guarding the city were most relaxed. Moreover, it was already dawn, and their own muskets could exert greater power.

"Do you have any questions about attacking Taizhou City?" Zhang Yang asked.

"No, no more," the elder brother was already sure to win. He had such powerful means in the planning tent, so what else to worry about? This time, Taizhou couldn't escape.

"Okay, then I'll announce the combat plan now," Zhang Yang's powerful voice echoed over the room: "Shiyi."

"Yes, brother."

"Leave a team of 100 people to guard the salt field, and the rest, set off by land, hike out at night, and three days later, arrive at Taizhou City, the First Battalion, responsible for the two gates east of Taizhou."

"Affect the order."

“Tang He.”

"Yes, brother." Tang He replied.

"Leave a team of 100 people to guard the killing port and base, and the rest, starting from the waterway, hiding out at night, and three days later, arrive at Taizhou City, the Second Battalion, responsible for the two city gates south of ***."

"Affect the order."

"Lu Zhen, Bian Yuanheng."

"Yes, brother." The two of them answered at the same time.

"Leave a 100-man team of the Third Battalion to guard the Salt Field, the rest of the Third Battalion and the Fourth Battalion, set off from the Salt Field, hiding out at night, walking by land, and three days later, reaching Taizhou City. The two city gates to the west and north of ***." Zhang Yang said.

"Affect the order."

"My base camp, I set out by land and arrived within three days. The first team is responsible for supporting the North City Gate, which is our main attack direction. The second team supports the West Gate and may encounter reinforcements from the Tartars from Yangzhou. The other teams, as reserve teams, support each city gate at any time."

"Li Bosheng"

"exist."

"Take your team and arrive at the designated location in the early morning of three days later and launch an attack on time!"

"Yes, brother."

"Shi Xin."

"Are, brother."

"Taking a few brothers, disguised as small vendors, went to Taizhou City to inquire about the news, and two days later, we would meet with the large army ten miles north of Taizhou City."

"Yes, brother."

"This time is a surprise attack, everyone must keep the secret." Zhang Yang said.

Although the salt field was captured, all the ships were only enough for one battalion to use. Therefore, all the ships were given to Tang He's second battalion, because the city gates on the south and north of Taizhou were connected by rivers, and the rice river flowed in from the north gate and then out from the south gate. Tang He was responsible for the south gate, and the ships would come in handy, while the east and west gates were land. Taizhou is a big city with two city gates on each side. His thousands of troops were dispersed and his troops were very tight. Therefore, the remaining teams in the base camp were used as reserve teams and were ready to support them at any time. Because most of Zhangyang's base camps were equipped with war horses. The first and second teams were equipped with Tianque guns.
Chapter completed!