Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Baghdad city.

This time Timur did not choose to escape as usual, but seriously strengthened the city defenses and built defensive facilities.

Because he had fought with Ming Dynasty many times, he was familiar with Ming Dynasty's weapons and equipment. Almost all the defense systems he built were aimed at Ming Dynasty's artillery and firecrackers.

After defending the city for three days and paying tens of thousands of casualties, Baghdad was still not captured. Timur felt that he had made the right bet this time.

Because of his military merit, Chang Sheng has been promoted from the commander-in-chief of the first army to the commander-in-chief of the third army, commanding an army of 20 people.

Although there were more troops at hand, the war did not feel easy. Instead, he was troubled by various trivial matters every day.

At this time, he was very envious of Lan Yu. Not only was he not busy when he was the coach, but he also had a lot of free time to wander around every day.

In fact, he also knew what the problem was. The main reason was that he was too careful and had to do many things by himself, which took up a lot of his time.

Although he knew what the problem was, he couldn't change it.

If he didn't keep an eye on many things, he would always worry that something would happen.

Chang Sheng stood on the watchtower, looking at the deep ditches and the walls built with sandbags in Baghdad, and the wrinkles on his forehead were twisted into a Sichuan shape.

He knew very well that this time he should be kicked on the iron plate.

"Fu Zhong, is there still no call from His Majesty?"

"No……"

"Coach, we have been attacking for three consecutive days, but we still cannot break through the outer defenses of Baghdad. If this continues, I'm afraid His Majesty will get angry."

"If we don't return to the city to rescue, we are already sorry for His Majesty. If we fail in the siege, we can only commit suicide in front of the battle to apologize!"

Chang Sheng sighed secretly after hearing this.

"Even if His Majesty is angry, there is nothing we can do. After all, no one could have imagined that Timur would find a way to crack our firearms so quickly!"

Fu Zhong also had a headache when he heard this.

"Who said it wasn't? Who would have thought that this little sandbag would cause us such a big problem."

While the two were talking, the Western Expeditionary Army had already launched another attack.

Three hundred cannons lined up in a row and fired continuously at the fortifications ahead.

After blasting a hole in the sandbag position in front, the Ming cavalry charged forward. As soon as they reached the gap, they were stopped by Timur soldiers who emerged from the tunnel. The two sides started a life-and-death fight at the gap.

Then the big bright fire gunners appeared, shuttled through the gaps between the cavalry, and fired at the enemy on the opposite side.

Everything is going very smoothly. As long as they push through the gap, they can occupy this position.

However, at this moment, a thousand-man cavalry team rushed out of the trench at the gap and charged into the formation with slashes.

While Timur's cavalry was killing indiscriminately, the infantry behind Timur's cavalry were not idle either. They even launched Timur's imperial artillery to attack the front indiscriminately.

Although their artillery has a short range and sometimes explodes, shooting at such a close range can cause considerable damage even if the barrel is filled with iron sand.

Under the volley of artillery fire from the Timur Empire, the Ming Dynasty's cavalry and gunmen suffered heavy losses, and a large number of their own cavalry who rushed out to resist the Ming army fell.

But they don't care, they just want to fight with Ming Dynasty in this way of exchanging lives for lives.

After a big battle, both sides retreated.

Chang Sheng waited quietly until night. Seeing the darkness in the trench opposite, he immediately ordered people to throw kerosene bombs.

After throwing thousands of kerosene bombs, Timur's defense lines were suddenly brightly lit inside and outside.

Chang Sheng immediately ordered his men to charge again. Under the cover of his own artillery fire, [-] cavalry and [-] gunmen went into battle.

The results this time were better than during the day, and they successfully broke through a line of defense.But this does not mean victory, because there are two more lines behind this line of defense, and those two lines of defense are much stronger than this one.

The next day, Chang Sheng summoned the generals as usual to discuss how to quickly break through the enemy's defenses.

"Do you have any good strategies for attacking the city?"

Feng Cheng was the first to stand up and yell.

"Where do you get the good strategy for attacking a city?"

"I'm reluctant to let the child catch the wolf!"

"If General Xiang is so afraid of wolves in front and tigers in back, I'm afraid he won't be able to defeat him even in years of monkey years and horses and months!"

"In my opinion, if we just use cannons to cover up the situation, then charge the entire army, rush into the opponent's trenches and fight with them, they are no match for us at all!"

Hearing this, Chang Sheng ignored Feng Cheng's suggestion. This guy had the same temperament as his uncle Feng Sheng. He would only rush forward in a fight and would not consider anything else at all.

Upon seeing this, Fu Zhong quickly pulled Feng Cheng back to his seat and sat down.

"Brother Feng, don't you know His Majesty's temper? If the casualties are too great, even if we capture the city of Baghdad, we won't get any credit. Instead, we will be condemned by His Majesty!"

"The casualty target given to us by His Majesty is only 2 people in total. According to your style of play, one charge will probably exceed the target!"

After hearing this, Feng Cheng sat on his chair and complained depressedly.

"No one will die in a war, that is, our Majesty demands too much..."

Chang Sheng slapped the table when he heard this.

"Slandering your Majesty is a capital crime!"

When Feng Cheng heard this, he quickly stood up and explained.

"The general did not slander His Majesty, he just complained. I hope the general will forgive me..."

Chang Sheng originally just wanted to give him a beating, but seeing that he had given up, he stopped paying attention to him.

"Continue to discuss how we can capture Baghdad with minimal casualties!"

Fu Zhong said thoughtfully after hearing this.

"In fact, our Ming Dynasty's artillery has a long range and is very powerful. There is no need to waste it on the outer fortifications with them."

"If we directly target the city, the effect may be better."

As soon as Fu Zhong finished speaking, he was retorted by a young general.

"How can we fight directly to the city?"

"The artillery must have a sufficient angle. The city of Baghdad is high and the pool is deep. We can't penetrate it on flat ground. If we want to penetrate it, we must fill in the trenches that are in front of us!"

Fu Zhong rolled his eyes when he heard this.

"Qianjiang Army, calm down. I don't know much about artillery, so I'm just saying casually. If we raise the cannon, can it shoot farther?"

Qian Yumin frowned slightly when he heard this.

"I wonder how high General Fu meant the height of the cushion?"

"There is no point in just a few or two battles. We are now five miles away from the city of Baghdad, and artillery shells cannot hit it at all."

"Unless we place the cannon higher than the city of Baghdad, and we are condescending..."

Chang Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this.

"Is it okay if we just raise the cannon that high?"

"Okay, of course!"

"It's just that in this case, we have to raise the cannon to a height of thirty feet..."

"it is good!"

"This general will give you a whole mountain right now!"

"Mountain?" "Is the general just trying to show off his humble position?"

"Where did the mountains come from in this flat land!"

Chang Sheng smiled and said nothing when he heard this, and immediately dismissed the meeting.

Although Qian Yumin didn't quite understand what Chang Sheng meant, he soon understood what Chang Sheng wanted to do.

Less than half an hour after the meeting ended, the soldiers outside the camp began to get busy nervously.

Chang Sheng divided the 20-strong army into four groups and dug soil and piled mountains day and night.

In order to speed up the progress, he also sent soldiers to summon the local people.

Of course the local people were unwilling to work, but under Chang Sheng's equal measures of kindness and power, they had no choice but to obey.

Chang Sheng distributed food and money to local people who were willing to work for the Ming Dynasty. For those who were unwilling to work for the Ming Dynasty, he provided a one-stop service of killing them all and burning them all.

As for robbing, I'm too lazy to do so. The local people have nothing to exploit, and their wealth is piled in Baghdad.

As long as Baghdad is captured, are you worried about running out of money?
With the concerted efforts of 20 troops and 50 civilians, Chang Sheng built a [-]-foot-tall mountain in just three days.

Standing on the rockery, not only the trenches below are clearly visible, but even the city of Baghdad is right in front of you.

Chang Sheng immediately set up his headquarters on a rockery. While dispatching troops on the mountain and dismantling the layers of defenses outside Baghdad, he ordered the artillery battalion to continue bombarding the city of Baghdad.

In Baghdad.

After Timur established his identity as Ma Heima's heir, he seemed to have aged ten years. Not only did he no longer have the high spirits of the past, he even needed help when walking.

During these seven days of holding on to Baghdad, although he lived on tenterhooks every day, it could also be said to be the pinnacle of his life.

Who would have thought that the mighty Ming Dynasty firearm would be blocked five miles away from Baghdad by him!

Timur would climb the city wall every day and look out, observing the Ming Dynasty's movements and his own casualties.

Although he had suffered more than [-] casualties in just seven days, he was still very happy.

Because this proves that his method works, and sandbags can indeed restrain Daming's firearms!
When he saw the sandbags piled under the city wall, he felt even more secure.

"Ma Heima, you have to remember the methods I used to defend the city these days. Sandbags can defend against the Ming Dynasty's artillery and muskets. As long as our people hide behind the sandbags, we can keep the Ming army out of the battle line!"

"But we can't just squat in the trenches and not get out. That would be a dead formation... We have to move, we have to live..."

"For example, trenches must not be dug straight, they must be curved. At the same time, ambush pits must be set up every fifty steps."

"Although the fire cannon is very powerful, the bullets will not turn. We can ambush in the pit and deliver a fatal blow to the Ming army."

"There is another trick that I think we can try. That is to order people to soak the quilts and hang them on the city wall. It may also have a certain defensive effect."

"I just haven't had time to try it yet. You can try it if you have a chance in the future."

"Yes……"

Just as Timur was teaching Mahema the secrets of defending the city, he suddenly heard a roar and hundreds of artillery shells roaring towards the city of Baghdad.

"Squat down!"

Timur can be regarded as a master after a long period of defeat. In addition, he captured many soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and learned many defensive methods from them. When he saw the artillery coming, he immediately adopted the correct evasive method. .

There was a rumble of explosions, and the city of Baghdad burst into flames. Hundreds of houses were reduced to rubble by the round of artillery fire.Even the city wall of Baghdad had two gaps.

While Timur ordered people to strengthen the city defense, he also ordered people to send his grandson to hide under the city wall and hide in the tunnel.

As for himself, he picked up the telescope captured from the Ming army and continued to look in the direction of the Ming garrison.

He had to figure out why the Ming Dynasty's artillery could penetrate the city.

The city of Baghdad is already higher than the surrounding terrain. In addition, he has set up several defense circles outside Baghdad. Logically speaking, the Ming Dynasty's cannons can't hit it in?

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
Timur looked in the direction of the Ming Dynasty for a while, and soon realized something was wrong. Next to the Ming Dynasty military camp, there was an extra mountain at some point, a mountain higher than the city of Baghdad!

"What's going on? When did there be an extra mountain there?"

"Reporting to His Majesty the Sultan, the Ming Dynasty captured hundreds of thousands of strong men from the surrounding areas and piled them up overnight..."

"Overnight?"

"Impossible, this will take at least three days!"

"It must be because of your poor observation that Ming Dynasty built such a tall mountain under our eyes!"

"Your Majesty, it's not that we are not in a good position to observe. It's because artillery fire was fired every day. There is thick smoke everywhere on the position and we can't see clearly..."

"This……"

Timur nodded dejectedly when he heard this to show his understanding.

In fact, it's useless even if he doesn't understand. How can he send people to fight over and stop Ming from piling up a mountain of dirt?

Now that he can barely defend himself, he has already exerted all his strength. If he urges his soldiers to attack the Ming army camp, the soldiers underground will dare to rebel on the spot!

"Forget it, prepare to abandon the city..."

Timur descended from the city wall dejectedly. He no longer had any hope of holding Baghdad, and only thought about how to safely send Mahema out of the city.

Chang Sheng bombarded Baghdad for a day. When it got dark, he was about to send someone to persuade him to surrender when he suddenly received an urgent telegram from the direction of Kangdu.

"Order: Give me a personal hell for the entire Western world to see!"

When Chang Sheng saw the telegram, his expression became solemn.

Fu Zhong asked quickly when he saw this.

"General, what are the latest instructions from Your Majesty?"

Fu Zhong handed the telegram to Fu Zhong casually. Fu Zhong hurriedly took it and looked a little solemn after reading it.

"General, there are nearly a million people in Baghdad. If..."

Chang Sheng snorted coldly when he heard this.

“What about millions of people?”

"They dare to send people to assassinate His Majesty. That is where our Ming Dynasty will die. Even if they kill all the people in the Timur Empire, it will not be a pity!"

Fu Zhong immediately said seriously when he heard this.

"Correct!"

"If they dare to assassinate our Majesty, it will be a death penalty!"

"Not killing is not enough to make the people angry, not killing is not enough to shock the Western Frontier, and not even killing is not enough to appease His Majesty for his support!"

"General, give the order, what should we do?"

Chang Sheng looked at the city of Baghdad and said to Fu Zhong on the side.

"Load the latest white phosphorus bombs sent from the Military Research Institute!"

"General, we don't seem to have many white phosphorus bombs, only a few thousand..."

"And the people at the Wuhan Institute said that this thing is extremely powerful, especially the thick smoke produced when it explodes, which will kill both humans and animals. Let's use it with caution."

Chang Sheng waved his hands indifferently after hearing this.

"It's okay. There is still a lot stored in Kangdu City. Just ask the baggage team to bring more next time."

"As for the poisonous smoke..."

"The poisonous smoke will eventually dissipate. When it dissipates, won't it be over when we enter the city?"