Steel Dynasty - Chapter 671

[Chapter 670: Lack of Ammunition]

Deng Yuan looked at Juyongguan in front of him with a complicated expression.

Half a month ago, he was leading the army in Bashu to fight against the King of Shu, but in the blink of an eye he was at the gate of Juyongguan.

However, after understanding the current situation, he understood that he could not allow King Zhao to continue attacking King Shu, because if he did not stop King Qi’s army now, he would be afraid that Zhao would be wiped out in the blink of an eye.

“Dong dong dong…”

The war drums were beating, and the soldiers who received the order rushed towards Juyong Pass carrying the ladders.

It is a taboo for military strategists to rush to war before the troops, horses and baggage have arrived. Deng Yuan knew this very well, but when the sound of artillery came from the north of Juyong Pass, he still chose to attack the city, because the barbarians must have launched an attack at this time.

He had heard about the reputation of King Qi’s army even when he was in Bashu. In his opinion, neither he nor the few soldiers and horses provided by the barbarians could defeat Xiao Ming alone.

Only an attack from the north and south can have a chance of winning, so he chose to attack the city not to destroy the city, but to contain some of the troops at Juyongguan so that they could not respond to the barbarian attack in time. Of course, it would be better if he could break the city in one fell swoop.

“I didn’t expect that one day I would join the barbarians in attacking the King of Qi’s troops. It’s really ridiculous and pitiful.” Deng Yuan had a trace of sadness and anger in his eyes.

The person beside Deng Fei was his deputy general Cao Kun. Hearing this, Cao Kun said: “The barbarians are so ambitious. Helping the barbarians capture Juyong Pass this time is not an act of aiding Zhou. But it is difficult to disobey your orders. We can only respect the order of King Zhao.” “

Deng Fei sighed. He had always supported King Zhao and was extremely loyal to King Zhao. These complaints were just dissatisfaction with King Zhao for uniting the barbarians.

After all, he had fought against the barbarians several times, and his generals and soldiers suffered many casualties in the battles with the barbarians.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

As the war drums were beating, a roar suddenly erupted from the top of Juyongguan. The black shells in the fire and smoke rushed towards the soldiers who were rushing towards Juyongguan.

The shells rolled like lightning when they hit the ground. Where the shells bounced, King Zhao’s soldiers screamed. Dozens of soldiers were killed or injured in a straight line.

Seeing this scene, Deng Yuan’s face turned pale. Just this round of shooting would kill hundreds of soldiers.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

The artillery fired again, and there was another bloody storm on the ground.

Cao Kun said at this time: “General, King Qi’s army has always been good at firearms. If this continues, more soldiers will die.”

Deng Yuan looked indifferent, and he said: “There is no war that does not require human lives to deal with King Qi. This is the only way for the army to attack the city. This siege is not only to contain the troops in the city, but also to consume their gunpowder and artillery shells. This time the King of Qi’s army fights from Yunzhou to Qingzhou, and the ammunition supply and food and grass will not be sufficient. In addition, A large amount of ammunition was consumed in Gyeongju. There must not be much ammunition stored in Juyong Pass at this time. When their artillery is out of shells and their muskets are out of gunpowder and bullets, it will be easy to capture Juyong Pass. “

“The general is far-sighted. The general didn’t expect this.” Cao Kun laughed.

Deng Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. The soldiers were rushing towards Juyong Pass one after another. One wave was repelled, the second wave continued to rush forward, and then the third wave…

In the North City, more and more barbarian slave soldiers boarded the City wall, Niu Ben and Lu Fei are becoming more and more anxious. If this continues, it will only be a matter of time before Beicheng is captured.

While he was anxious, suddenly a large number of cavalry soldiers wearing silver breastplates and holding sabers rushed towards the city wall.

Qi Guangyi appeared in everyone’s sight at this time, and he said to Niu Ben; “General, the Qingzhou cavalry is here to support.”

“Why are you cavalry here to join in the fun? This is a battlefield.” Niu Ben said with a frown.

Qi Guangyi said dissatisfied: “General, our cavalry are also soldiers. When we are mounted, we are cavalry. When we are dismounted, we are not inferior to the musketeers.”

“You are so ridiculous. How long does it take to train a cavalry? If you finish the battle, Your Majesty Will you spare us?” Lu Fei also said.

Qi Guangyi said: “What time is it now? If Juyong Pass is lost, no one can escape the knife on the head. The general is not a coward, and the soldiers of the general are not cowards. If the emperor blames him, the general will bear the responsibility alone. “Of course it’s my duty to bear the responsibility.

“

Niu Ben glanced at Qi Guangyi happily. All the generals of the Qingzhou Army were bloody men. “Come on!”

Qi Guangyi was immediately overjoyed and said to his soldiers; “Kill me! Let the musketeers see the power of our Qingzhou cavalry.”

“Kill!” Following Qi Guangyi’s angry cry, 20,000 Qingzhou cuirassiers swarmed onto the city wall, and the situation on the city wall suddenly began to reverse.

The barbarian slave soldiers who climbed the city wall kept falling to the sword.

Facing more and more soldiers wearing silver breastplates, the barbarians temporarily stopped the attack after leaving three to four thousand corpses in another round of attacks.

By this time, the sun was setting, and from morning to evening, both sides fought fiercely for almost the whole day.

Wiping the blood on his face, Lu Fei said: “General, the Zhao army in Nancheng has also stopped attacking.”

After hearing this, Niu Ben finally breathed a sigh of relief, and he said to Lu Fei: “Strengthen your vigilance to prevent the barbarians from playing dirty tricks. “

Yes, General.” Lu Fei responded.

After a pause, Niu Ben said again: “Let the soldiers and artillery count the ammunition immediately.”

After explaining the matter, Niu Ben arrived at the Juyongguan camp. After a while, all the generals returned.

“Fortunately, the general came this time and brought ammunition supplies. Buddha will consume all the ammunition he brought today.”

Luo Xin entered the camp and said.

Ye Qingyun said: “It’s just that if the consumption continues like this, the ammunition brought by the general this time may not last a few days.”

Niu Ben nodded, “Most of the ammunition produced by the military workshop was brought here this time. Originally, this batch of ammunition was used to take down King Zhao in one fell swoop, but something like this went wrong unexpectedly.”

“Big Is there only this much ammunition?” Luo Xin was dumbfounded.

Niu Ben sighed, “You don’t know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive. Now the supply of saltpeter, iron and lead can’t keep up, and the ammunition is consumed too fast. Now you have to use it sparingly.”

Lu Fei When the generals were only responsible for fighting, they never considered the shortage of ammunition.

With a wry smile, Luo Hong said: “I have said that these guns and artillery are made of silver. The money spent by the emperor to set up the firearms camp almost emptied the treasury. No matter how rich Qingzhou is, it will be impossible to win the war in the past two years. Poor.”

Niu Ben glanced at Luo Hong appreciatively. Luo Hong was once the commander of the firearms camp, so he naturally knew about spending money to buy ammunition.

“No wonder the emperor is eager to end the war in the north. It turns out to be this reason.” Lu Fei said, “If we continue like this, the muskets in the hands of the soldiers will be like burning sticks.”

(End of Chapter)