Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1053: Wu Qu City Defense Battle

Boom! Boom! The sound of the war drums was trembling. Even in the city, the heavy drumbeats still seemed to hit people's hearts directly.

In the crowded Wuqu City, people were already panicking. Many people looked terrified as they listened to the almost non-stop rumbling drumbeats outside the city.

They fled to Wuqu to avoid the heavy taxes imposed by the Hu family that were enough to bankrupt their families, but they never imagined that the Hu family was so stubborn that they actually dared to send a large army to touch the tiger's whiskers of the Ming Dynasty.

"Brother Li, it's not good..." An ordinary scholar found Li Li who had just left the shack and looked towards the city wall. Most of them had already entered Wuqu City, except for a few who didn't have time to enter the city.

"Hu Jinyi is so crazy that he actually dared to attack the Ming Concession... What should we do if the city is breached?"

The scholar said with a worried look on his face.

"His Royal Highness Prince Zhou is known as a famous general, and General Li is also a descendant of a military family. I don't think they will be easily defeated by the Hu family. Moreover, we have all seen the elite of the Ming army. The Annan army under the Hu family will not be a match for the Ming army." Le Loi said, gazing at the city tower in front from afar.

"The Ming army is indeed elite. But... Brother Li, have you ever thought about this? The Ming army only has 2,000 soldiers!" Another scholar was obviously a little panicked, and his voice was trembling. "If His Royal Highness King Zhou had already prepared for the enemy, why not transfer more troops from the Ming Dynasty?"

"The Ming Dynasty... If the Ming people are going to suffer a defeat in the war, they can just board the warships and sail back to the Ming Dynasty. But we..."

"What if the Hu army is angered by the Ming army, enters the city and massacres us all? What should we do?"

"Alas, if I had known that day, I would have stayed at home. Even if I lost my fortune, at least I could have saved my life..."

His statement was affirmed by several ordinary scholars. Many of them looked worried and shook their heads and sighed.

"Then what should we do? Are you still planning to open the city and surrender it to the Hu family?" Li Li became impatient and turned around and angrily scolded his classmate.

"Even if we stay at home at that time, do you think Hu will let us go?" Le Loi said loudly. "Hu is ambitious and the nobles have been plundering Annan for a hundred years. If you give us your property today, he may spare your life. What about tomorrow? What about the day after tomorrow? He wants your property and your wife and daughter. Do you have to give up your wife and daughter for your life?"

"..."

Everyone was silent. The scholar who said "at least you can save your life" was so embarrassed that he didn't dare to look at Le Loi.

They knew that what Le Loi said was right. The nobles bullying men and women was not an isolated case in Annan.

"But... Hu's army is huge, and they have fought Champa many times before. They are not new recruits who know nothing. The Ming army only has 2,000 soldiers. How can they fight?" someone said. "2,000 against tens of thousands, this is several times the enemy! Even if they rely on the power of the city, how can they win?"

"The Ming warships are at the port behind us. They can evacuate at any time. I don't know if the people under King Zhou are willing to defend the city to the death for us Annan people."

This statement was once again supported by many people. Many people nodded their heads, not believing that King Zhou Zhu Su was willing to let the Ming soldiers fight for them, the Annan people.

Li Li felt the blood rushing up his head and said angrily, "What great things can you achieve if you keep sighing and looking ahead and behind?"

"In the past few days, His Royal Highness the King of Zhou and the Ming officials have never abandoned us. They have accepted all those who came to surrender, taken them into the city, and arranged food and accommodation. In return, you guys have spoken ill of them?"

"So what if there is a huge disparity in military strength? The Ming Dynasty only has 2,000 men, but I don't believe there are no passionate men among my Annan people!"

"If the city is in danger, I am willing to be the first to climb the city wall and fight bloody battles with the thieves under Hu's command. You guys have the time to chatter here, why not follow me and go to join the army of His Majesty the King Zhou of the Ming Dynasty!"

"If you don't dare, just shut up and don't shake the people's hearts and hold them back!"

"Bah, His Majesty the King of Zhou taught you the holy books in vain. I, Li Li, am ashamed to be associated with you!"

The few ordinary scholars who made sarcastic remarks were ashamed and dared not look directly at Le Loi. Most people applauded Le Loi's words, thinking that Le Loi had touched their hearts.

"That's right! Rather than living in the hands of the Hu family, it is better to bravely wield the sword. It is better to die in glory than live in disgrace!"

"How could His Royal Highness the King of Zhou be defeated by the Hu family?"

"Brother Li, when you go to join the army, remember to call me, count me in!"

A group of people shouted.

Suddenly, the sound of armor colliding came from the end of the street. Everyone looked back in surprise, only to see teams of Ming army soldiers in bright armor walking towards them from the end of the street.

Two street-cleansing knights galloped past, and the people made way for them.

Wow! Wow! Wow! With the sound of armor plates colliding in unison, the Ming army soldiers, wearing fine steel armor and mandarin duck battle jackets, passed the crowds on both sides of the road and headed towards the city wall. Their footsteps were in unison, making hundreds of people look like one person. The entire square formation was flawless, like a mountain passing by. The Annan people, who were still sighing and groaning in fear just now, were shocked by the momentum of these troops and fell silent.

"one two three four!"

"One, two, three! Four!"

The Ming army shouted strange slogans, gathered at the bottom of the tower, and then climbed up the tower in an endless stream. Their armor reflected in the sun, just like heavenly soldiers and generals standing high in the clouds. In the middle of the tower, a conspicuous yellow umbrella and a large flag with the sun and the moon hanging in the sky were raised high. That was where Zhou Wang Zhu Su was.

A voice came faintly from under the umbrella. "Ming warriors, are you afraid of war?"

"Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!" The Ming army suddenly shouted in unison, their voices like thunder, instantly drowning out the rumbling drums of Hu Jinyao's army outside the city.

Some Annan refugees were caught off guard and stumbled and fell to the ground in fear. In their entire lives, they had never imagined that thousands of people could shout together in such an orderly manner.

The voice under the umbrella continued: "Then, repel the enemy and bring new victory to our Ming Dynasty!"

"Great Ming, long-lasting victory!"

"Victory! Victory! Victory!" The Ming army's shouts became more exciting. Even the tiles in the city were shaken by the shouts full of high morale. Those scholars who had previously said that the Ming people were no match for the Hu family and might escape by boat were silent. Now they just thought that if they were the Hu family, they would run away quickly.

These Ming people are simply impossible to defeat.

"The power of the Ming emperor is so majestic, so majestic!" Le Loi felt his heart shaken.

The mighty Ming army left an indelible impression on him.

The Hu army outside the city seemed to be enraged, and the drumbeats became more rapid, as if to suppress the momentum of the Ming army on the city. However, the more rapid drumbeats at this time only made the people in the city feel their guilty conscience.

Then, deafening shouts and cries of killing were heard from the city wall, and from time to time, rain of arrows streaked across the sky and splashed onto the city wall.

The vibration and loud noise of catapults smashing the city walls could be heard from inside the city from time to time.

However, the umbrellas on the tower and the huge banners with the sun and the moon hanging in the sky remained motionless, as if the rain of arrows and the earth-shaking shouts of killing had nothing to do with him.

Ming soldiers in bright battle jackets also occupied the city walls. The red color from the mandarin duck battle jackets was always on the city walls.

Finally, urgent gong sounds were heard outside the city, and cheers of the Ming army were heard from the city wall, and Hu's army retreated.

"Fifth uncle, we have roughly counted our casualties. Less than a hundred of our soldiers were killed, about fifty were seriously injured, and more than two hundred were slightly injured... The first battle was a great victory for us!" Li Jinglong, fully armed, came to Zhu Su and reported.

Zhu Su was sitting on a high tower, with a yellow umbrella covering him in the shade. He was sitting here to boost morale, as long as he didn't move, the soldiers would always maintain a high fighting spirit... The downside was that he had been sitting there for a whole morning, and had been exposed to the sun for a whole morning, so it was really hot, and his butt was a little sore...

He kept fanning himself with a fan, with a look of no surprise on his face. "Of course. The Hu family wanted to capture this bastion with only 20,000 people, which would make me laugh."

"Do you think this concession is just a small town that he can control? That's ridiculous. Even if Hu Shi mobilizes all his troops, I will definitely make him fail here."

This city, limited by the size of the concession, could not be built into a famous city or port. However, if one thought that a small city would not have strong defense, then Hu Jinyi was wrong.

Like many other newly built concessions in the Ming Dynasty, the Wuqu City, which is backed by the sea, has abandoned the traditional Chinese square structure for its city walls and adopted a Western star-shaped bastion design.

In this way, no matter from which direction the enemy attacks the city, there are always at least two protruding firepower points on the city wall to provide intensive firepower coverage to the attacking enemy.

Coupled with the excellent equipment of the 2,000-man Ming army and the cannons removed from the treasure ships mounted on the city walls, such sufficient firepower could have overwhelmed Hu Jin's army. I don't know where Hu Jin got the courage from, but he only sent out an army of more than 10,000 people and thought he could "quickly conquer" Wuqu City and obtain the supplies in the city.

The defensive power of the bastion was almost fatal to the army that still used cold weapons. In the Battle of Yaksa between the Qing Dynasty and the Tatars, General Lang Tan led a large army and attacked for several months, but failed to capture the Yaksa bastion, which was guarded by only more than 800 Russian remnants. This shows the terrifying defensive power of the bastion.

"Your Highness, do we need to go out of the city to defeat the Annan people?" Gou'er asked Zhu Su.

"No," Zhu Su shook his head. "Our goal is to repel Hu Jilin, not to inflict casualties on him. Hu Jilin's 10,000-plus men must be one of his trump cards."

"If we kill these 10,000 people, what will Hu Jinyi use to fight Ruan Duofang?"

I am still waiting for these two brothers to get along with each other, fight each other for a while, and then I will take action to clean up the mess in Annan, Zhu Su thought to himself.

"But..." Gou'er said with some worry. "There are a lot of people in the city. If the Hu family surrounds it but does not attack, we will be defeated quickly without food and grass supplies."

"If Your Highness wants to hold on, shouldn't you collect food and fodder from Guangzhou, Lianzhou and other places? This will be more secure?"

"That's fine." Zhu Su said. "Hu Jinyi won't want to surround us without attacking."

"He is more impatient than us... Ruan Duofang is sharpening his sword behind him. The reason why he sent troops to attack Wuqu is that he wants to end the war quickly and eat us first."

"But no matter whether he can eat it or not, he has to quickly transfer his troops to Ruan Duofang's place."

"In his mind, the Ming Dynasty may not threaten the Hu regime... But Ruan Duofang is after the chair under Hu Jin's butt and the head on his neck."

"He is Hu Jin's number one mortal enemy... He will not abandon Ruan Duofang and deal with us first."

Zhu Su was very confident.

Sure enough, on the second day, the Hu army, which had not gained any advantage the day before, did not adopt the tactic of encircling but not attacking to cut off the food supply as Gou'er had said, but rushed forward again. For a moment, arrows whistled from the top of the city wall, and fire and smoke flew from the firing of firearms. Simple battering rams and ladders were directly smashed by the crossfire of the bastions before they could get close to the edge of the city wall.

Zhu Su still just sat on the tower, without giving any orders. Relying on the defensive power of the bastion, the Ming army did not need any risky strategies to firmly defend the city. While he was bored, Zhu Su saw that the Annan army seemed to have dug out an earthen wall in the distance. The earthen wall was high, and the Annan army behind the earthen wall seemed to be doing something, but it was hard to see clearly.

"Dig a tunnel..." Zhu Su thought about it for a while and thought of the Annan army's intention. He smiled in his heart. The Annan people were desperate to find a cure, but no one knew how to deal with the tunnel better than me... However, what I used before, such as using a water tank to listen to the sound underground, was a bit troublesome. Now that the equipment of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be overwhelming, I might as well be extravagant.

Zhu Su then sent a messenger to issue his first order in two days: "Go, tell Jiujiang to turn his guns around and aim at that earthen wall, and fire hard at it!"

The messenger followed Zhu Su's finger, looked in the direction of the earthen wall, then clasped his fists and said, "Yes!", and quickly ran towards the place where Li Jinglong was on the city wall.

As a deputy general, Li Jinglong had nothing to do. He knew his own abilities, and Zhu Su had also told him not to interfere easily, so he waited until the siege was over and did some post-event statistics and deployment. Li Jinglong was stunned when he suddenly received Zhu Su's order, thinking, didn't my fifth uncle specifically tell me not to interfere in the war? Why is he giving me an order now?

When Li Jinglong heard that Zhu Su's order was to bomb the earthen wall, he instantly became excited. He didn't know much else, but he was very familiar with firing cannons! He immediately came to the artillery on the city wall excitedly, called the artillery commander, pointed to the earthen wall and said:
"Did you see those lumps of earth dug out by the Annan monkeys?"

"His Royal Highness Prince Zhou has ordered that all of you turn your guns around and fire hard at me!"

(End of this chapter)