Feng Jian waved his hand and said, "I have specifically asked Xilao that Western cannons fired 6 kilograms to three kilograms and six kilograms of solid iron bullets, which can play a huge role in the battle formation, but their effectiveness is average for siege combat. As for using the Folang machine cannon to attack the city wall, it is even more nonsense. As long as the opponent either uses gunpowder to explode directly at the city gate or the city wall, even if these Western cannons are bombarded, it will be difficult to cause huge harm to the city wall." "What you need to consider is how to protect the safety of soldiers when the rebel artillery attacks."

Zhao Shougang was a little worried about the ability of the city wall when he heard the Chen Xiaoshan information that the other party had fifty Western artillery, and he immediately felt at ease when he heard the commander's analysis.

Feng Jian continued to remind: "Tomorrow's defensive battle, I will give you full authority to command. We have made all preparations and are waiting for the rebels to come and die. What you have to consider is how to reduce the casualties of soldiers when the rebel artillery attacks."

...

The atmosphere in Kong Youde's army tent was depressed at this time, and only Kong Youde roared fiercely in the tent: "... Chen Guangfu, you patted your chest and promised me that you could easily take down Xiaohuakou. Now two thousand soldiers attacked Xiaohuakou's peak, and in the end they were defeated. Is it because my Liaodong soldiers were cowardly or the thief entrenched in Xiaohuakou too strong? Chen Guangfu, come and tell me?"

Chen Guangfu was sweating profusely and argued repeatedly: "The general did not know that the thieves entrenched in Xiaohuakou were too fierce. They built defensive walls on all the mountain roads entering the mountain, and the walls were covered with guards. The general sent people to investigate and found out that the only way to occupy Xiaohuakou was to forcefully attack the opponent. The general ordered the soldiers to forcibly attack the thief strongholds in various places. Instead, they were strongly counterattacked by the firearms. The continuous attacks failed to overcome the opponent's defenses, and many soldiers were injured and killed under the opponent's firearms. Our soldiers lacked firearms. It was difficult to pose a threat to the opponent, so they came back to ask the general for help."

Chen Guangfu looked at Kong Youde with a thoughtful look. Then he continued: "How can ordinary bandits have such a powerful attack power? I guess that the ones occupy Xiaohuakou should be a regular army. Why do these people occupy Xiaohuakou? This has to be suspected. The marshal must decide this matter."

Kong Youde frowned, and Chen Guangfu's words sounded the alarm for him. As soon as he entered Pingdu, he realized that something was strange everywhere in Pingdu. First, the whistleman who went out to investigate disappeared for no reason. Then he found that Pingdu City was very difficult to defend, and now he found that the main roads entering and leaving Pingdu and Laizhou were considered to be occupied. All this made him feel uneasy. Kong Youde felt like a big net was slowly surrounding him.

Shaking his head boredly, Kong Youde stared at Chen Guangfu and said, "You understand the importance of Xiaohuakou to our army without saying that it is important for you. Now it is occupied by artificially, which means that our army's retreat has been cut off. This means that the 20,000 people have become an isolated army, blocked between Pingdu City and Xiaohuakou. Therefore, this Xiaohuakou must be taken down. I will hand over all the Folang machine cannons in the cannon camp to you, and even if I use the cannon, I will control Xiaohuakou to me."

Chen Guangfu felt his whole body tremble. Kong Youde's meaning was very clear. Even if he had to use his life to control Xiaohuakou. For this reason, all the Folang machine cannons in the artillery battalion were handed over to him!

However, he obviously felt a sense of fear of the forces guarding Xiaohuakou. The other party built multiple defense points everywhere in the mountain pass, and the opponent's soldiers were hiding behind these defense points. When the soldiers entered the opponent's range, the dense firearms would be fired from different directions. Groups of soldiers would suddenly fall to the ground and scream. This situation of being able to be beaten passively is indeed terrifying.

Chen Guangfu was a little worried about whether the other party had built too many strongholds. With more than 200 Folang machine cannons, he could capture Xiaohuakou.

Seeing that Chen Guangfu was a little hesitant, Kong Youde thought that Chen Guangfu wanted to take the opportunity to threaten him, and his anger surged again. He was full of arrogant soldiers and generals, and he could tolerate them normally, but at the critical moment, he could not let them be arrogant.

He stood up and stared at Chen Guangfu in a fierce manner, and said sternly: "General Chen, are you planning to disobey the order of this general?"

Facing Kong Youde's vicious momentum, Chen Guangfu quickly withdrew his distracting thoughts and shook his head and said, "How dare the last general disobey the general's order? I will lead my troops back to Xiaohuakou tomorrow morning."

Kong Youde snorted, turned to Mao Chenglu, Cao Shao and other important generals, and said: "Tomorrow's siege is different from the past. The defense in Pingdu City is very strict, and it is difficult to hit it with one blow like before. What do you think of? Why do you think it is for me to give it a reference."

Cao Shaozhong said: "The last general believes that it is best to go to nearby villages before the siege tomorrow to catch a group of villages, let them carry soil and rush forward, fill the moat first to benefit our soldiers and then launch a charge.

Kong Youde frowned and said, "It is definitely too late to capture the people now. The civil servants in the camp will carry soil to fill the moat tomorrow, dispatch the general's chariots and then supervise them. Those who dare to shrink and fail to wince immediately will be killed. This matter will fall on General Cao. Before siege tomorrow, three thousand civil servants must be organized to prepare to fill the moat."

"I will obey the order!" Cao Shaozhong said loudly.

Mao Chenglu frowned and thoughtfully, "Dare you ask the marshal, which direction will he plan to launch a main attack tomorrow?"

Kong Youde turned to Mao Chenglu and said, "Our army camp is stationed in the direction of Cheng'en Gate, and of course we must use the North Gate as the main attack direction."

Mao Chenglu looked straight at Kong Youdedao: "From the other party abandoning the military camp outside the city, it is predicted that the other party has concentrated all its forces into the city, and that the other party is ready to stick to it, and the number of soldiers guarding the city will not be too large. The last general thinks that our army cannot fight head-on as soon as it comes up, and needs to slowly suck the other party's morale."

Cao Shaozhong grinned and said a little dissatisfied: "Slowly destroy the morale of the other party. It's simple to say. How can we do it? Li Jiucheng and his team are already in Laizhou and cannot escape. If we are dragged down again along the way and there is no food and food supply, I don't think we need the imperial army to come, and we will be in a mess ourselves!"

In history, Liu Chengzu and Cao Shaozhong represented Kong Youde and contacted Huang Taiji of the Later Jin Dynasty and reached a contract with him. Cao Shaozhong believed that he was Kong Youde's confidant and spoke casually.

Kong Youde ignored what Cao Shaozhong said, but instead looked at Mao Chenglu with a full face: "What is General Mao's opinion? Please tell me clearly."

Mao Chenglu narrowed his eyes and said, "Tomorrow, it is best to divide the soldiers into four routes and launch a test attack on the four city gates at the same time. In this way, you can learn from the strength of the opponent's counterattack power at the top of the city and know where the opponent's defense is. Then concentrate all your efforts to attack the opponent's weak position in the city, so that the opponent's morale will slowly decline, and the city will naturally be easily broken."

Kong Youde thought for a moment and said with a high-five: "General Mao is really awesome. He will act according to this plan tomorrow."

At the fifth update of the next day, the Qi Mingxing in the sky had quietly disappeared. Feng Jian, Chen Suwen, Fang Zengwei and other Pingdu City officials climbed to the top of Pingdu City early and viewed the rebel camps in the distance through a telescope.

The rebel camp was filled with smoke, and the camp was filled with shadows, and it was obvious that it was conducting personnel transfers.

Feng Jian put down his telescope and said to Fang Zengwei who was standing beside him: "Sir Fang, the soldiers on the city wall must deliver every meal in time. It is best to add more meat to the meal during this period of time."

Fang Zengwei put down his telescope and nodded, "Don't worry, Lord Feng, many soldiers are fighting for the hard work of saving the people, and they will definitely not let the soldiers in front be wronged in terms of logistics support."

Chen Suwen slowly put down the telescope in his hand, frowned and said to Feng Jian: "If the rebels choose to attack the city gates at the same time, do you have a way to deal with it?"

Feng Jian sighed: "The rebels only have 14,000 infantry soldiers to conduct siege battles, and two thousand of them have been beaten by Zhou Wei's 3,000 headquarters, which means that there are only 12,000 rebels. In addition, a cannon battalion participated in the attack on Pingdu City. If the opponent divided the troops to attack the four city gates at the same time, it would undoubtedly disperse their attack power. I think Kong Youde and others should not divide the troops to fight."

Chen Suwen frowned and said, "What if the rebels plan to test the defense of my city and launch an attack at the same time?"

Feng Jian pondered: "I reserve a mobile force of one thousand people on the top of the city. If an accident occurs, this reinforcement army can come in handy. If there is a dangerous situation there, you will go there to reinforce."

Chen Suhe seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, "That's good. I always feel that the safety of more than 100,000 people in the city is up to us and others. It is better to think carefully about everything."

Feng Jian stared at his father-in-law. If it weren't for his arrival, his father-in-law would have stayed in Pingdu City in the absence of soldiers and generals, and was finally killed by Kong Youde's soldiers on the day the city was broken.

Feng Jian sighed a little. From this perspective alone, Chen Suwen was a good official who was loyal and respectable. After the restoration and reconstruction of Pingdu City, the later local officials set up sacrificial tablets for Chen Suwen in the Martyrs' Temple, fully affirming Chen Suwen's integrity in living and dying with the city.

Feng Jian shook his head and drove away his distracting thoughts and said with a smile: "After breakfast, the siege battle will begin. Please rest assured, wait for the good news."

As he spoke, he saw a large group of people carrying breakfast to the top of the city with strong shoulders and hands. The aroma of food suddenly filled the city.

I saw a large frame of white flour steamed buns, a large bucket of pork and tofu stewed vermicelli, which exuded an attractive aroma, and the big bucket next to it was full of millet porridge.

The rich and tempting breakfast diluted the tense fighting spirit of the soldiers on the city. The soldiers guarding the city received breakfast in sequence under the leadership of their respective captains.

The person responsible for distributing breakfast was a clerk from the official office. He shouted: "Mr. Chen from Haifang Road and Lord. The magistrate of the prefecture have ordered to ensure that all soldiers have enough food and drink. Everyone can relax their stomachs and keep their food full!"

Some soldiers in Zhenshan Camp smiled kindly. Zhenshan Camp always attaches great importance to soldiers' diets, and fish and meat are common in meals, so they don't care much about the words of this clerk.

It was the people who transported the meal who were swallowing their saliva and watching the soldiers in Zhenshan Camp eat. They were so envious that they could only swallow their saliva in the end.

Feng Jianxiao said to Chen Suwen and Fang Zengwei: "This is the best meal, and my official breakfast is solved here. Are the two adults willing to have a meal together?"

When Chen So heard this, Fang Zengwei and his two men shook their heads and walked down the city.
Chapter completed!