A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 138 The Art of Explosion

(Ladder)

If you want to defend a city, it is definitely not enough to just stand on the top of the city and guard the city gate with soldiers.

Long before the arrival of Nurhaci's army, Lu Cheng had made the most thorough preparations. First, he mobilized the city's reserve soldiers and child soldiers over 12 years old in welfare institutions to help maintain order in the city and prevent riots.

A strict curfew was imposed at night, with a guard post every five steps and a sentry every ten steps. Patrol guards were constantly coming and going to prevent anyone in the city from colluding with the enemy.

At the same time, for some wealthy businessmen in the city who had uncertainties, Lu Cheng sent soldiers to bring their families to the government office and guard them in the name of protection.

Soldiers were sent to guard the city’s water sources, granaries, arsenals, important workshops and other places to prevent any problems.

The logistics department also prepared sufficient supplies, set up medical rescue points, canteens, and city defense material storage areas near the city walls, and arranged for civilians to transport the city defense materials.

Just when everything was ready and the Later Jin army arrived outside the city, Lu Cheng climbed onto the top of the city wall and beat the drum three times. The drum sounds rang out one after another on the city walls and in the neighborhoods of Haizhouwei, which meant that the entire Haicheng officially entered a level one combat readiness state. All residents had to stay at home and were strictly prohibited from going out.

Haizhou City has high walls and a favorable terrain, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. If the Later Jin army wants to capture the city, it must prepare sufficient siege equipment. It takes at least two or three days to build these siege equipment.

The best way to defend a city is definitely not to sit on the top of the city and wait for others to attack, but to constantly create trouble for the enemy before the enemy attacks the city.

Of course, since the Later Jin army was mainly composed of cavalry and had very strong mobility, it was not easy to create trouble for the enemy.

Lu Cheng had arranged one hundred reconnaissance cavalry and 30 special forces outside in advance, waiting for the opportunity to create trouble for the other side.

In order to capture Haizhou City as quickly as possible, Nurhaci ordered craftsmen to cut down trees and make engineering equipment overnight.

However, when the main force of the Later Jin Army began to rest at night, a small group of cavalry suddenly came to the place where the Later Jin Army was building siege equipment, threw out some explosive packs, and turned away.

Explosions sounded one after another, and the siege equipment that the Later Jin craftsmen had worked so hard to build was instantly destroyed. Even many craftsmen were killed or injured.

The entire Later Jin army camp was suddenly shaken. Many people remembered the explosion in Hetuala City. The tragic scene left a serious psychological trauma to many people who saw it.

Not only the people, but also the horses of the Later Jin army were frightened, and the whole camp was suddenly in chaos.

By the time Nurhaci sent troops to chase the sabotaging cavalry, those cavalry had already fled far away and disappeared into the night.

After a round of statistics, although the losses of the Later Jin army were not great, Nurhaci was still upset: "These Ming soldiers are too cunning. This time I must capture Haizhouwei, capture Lu Cheng with my own hands, and chop off his head!"

In fact, since Lu Cheng's night attack on Hetuala, the Later Jin Dynasty has attached great importance to gunpowder. Nurhaci sent people to the Ming Dynasty to buy and collect gunpowder, and at the same time ordered the manufacture of gunpowder to study the use of gunpowder.

But not everyone can handle gunpowder.

Moreover, since the beginning of this spring, Lu Cheng often led cavalry to disguise as horse thieves and rob caravans bound for the Later Jin. Many times, the gunpowder and supplies that the merchants had worked so hard to obtain eventually fell into Lu Cheng's hands.

Therefore, the Later Jin's use of gunpowder is still not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty.

After a period of helpless rage, Nurhaci could only order more cavalry to protect the craftsmen who were making siege equipment so that they could make the equipment with peace of mind.

However, just as the Later Jin army went to sleep, the sound of the marching horn suddenly sounded from the city wall of Haizhouwei. The Later Jin army thought that the Ming army in the city was going to attack at night and had to wake up again. However, the gate of Haizhouwei was closed and there was no movement.

After these two incidents, the Later Jin army, which had come from afar, was destined to have no chance to rest well.

When it was daytime, Nurhaci sent another group of soldiers to assist the craftsmen in making equipment.

But at night, the elusive cavalry squad would always appear in unexpected directions of the Later Jin army, throw a few explosive packs and run away, regardless of how many Later Jin soldiers they could kill, just to prevent them from getting a good rest.

As a result, the Later Jin army had to take turns to rest during the day and be on high alert at night.

Before the battle even started, the morale of the Later Jin army had dropped significantly.

Three days later, the Later Jin army worked overtime and finally produced the siege equipment. After Nurhaci reorganized his troops, he immediately ordered an attack on the city.

In many film and television dramas, sieges usually involve soldiers carrying long ladders and rushing forward desperately. They rush to the bottom of the city wall, set up the ladders, and the subsequent soldiers climb up desperately.

In fact, there are many types of siege equipment, and they are definitely not as simple as a few long ladders.

(Ladder)

The ladder alone is a large and complex machine with wheels at the bottom and a shield in front. It is also equipped with winches, grappling hooks and other tools.

The soldiers hid behind the ladders and were not afraid of the rain of arrows shot down from the city walls.

Of course, ladders alone are not enough. Ancient city walls generally have moats. If the siege soldiers want to reach the bottom of the city wall, they must first cross the moat. This requires the use of a tool called a trench bridge to build a temporary bridge board on the moat.

(Hao Bridge)

(Ancient armored vehicle)

In addition, there are simple "armored vehicles" with wooden boards on the top and left and right, which can withstand rain of arrows from above, etc.

Looking at the various siege weapons outside the city, Lu Cheng smiled slightly. Today, he would let these Later Jin soldiers know what art is.

Seeing the Later Jin army pushing various siege equipment and staring at the rain of arrows from the top of the city wall, when they finally arrived at the foot of the city, Lu Cheng gave an order and a row of soldiers on the city wall took out earthenware bombs and explosive packs, lit them with torches, and threw them at the engineering equipment below.

After a series of continuous explosions, the first wave of offensive by the Later Jin army was easily put out, and various engineering equipment were destroyed, leaving only many broken corpses under the city wall.

Nurhaci, who was standing far away, was furious at the sight, but could do nothing about it.

On the city wall, Lu Cheng was patrolling back and forth. When he came to a soldier, he raised his leg and kicked him: "Where the hell did you throw it just now? Can you throw it farther? What if it explodes our own city wall? I'll punish you to repair the city wall later!"

The soldier was kicked, but he did not dare to show any dissatisfaction and quickly bowed his head to admit his mistake.

A soldier nearby glanced over here, and Lu Cheng walked over and snatched the torch from his hand, and kicked him: "What are you looking at? Hold the torch away from me, are you trying to fly to the sky?"

The first wave of enemy attacks was easily repelled, and the soldiers defending the city were somewhat excited. Lu Cheng immediately ordered the supervision team to maintain order, especially to guard the explosives on the city wall, and absolutely could not let those guys blow themselves up.

Except when the enemy is attacking the city, explosive packs must be placed far away at other times and any open flames are strictly prohibited from approaching.

Moreover, these explosive packs and earth bombs are stored separately, with a limited number stored at each storage point and a distance between the two storage points to avoid large-scale explosions and chain explosions.

After the failure of the first wave of attack, Nurhaci immediately ordered his troops to withdraw, rearrange the manufacture of siege equipment, and think of new methods of siege.

In fact, the Later Jin army was mostly composed of cavalry and was not good at attacking cities. It was only after they subdued some Han soldiers and generals that they learned how to attack cities.

However, those siege methods clearly did not mention how to deal with gunpowder.