Nanming Engineer

Chapter 430
The heavy rain poured down and fell on the earth with a majestic momentum. There was a vast expanse of water mist between the sky and the earth, and lightning and thunder in the sky. This rain, as the first heavy rain in the flood season since the beginning of summer, affected the entire Shanxi and North Zhili. Looks like it will be down for a long time.

The vast mountains to the east of Lvliang Mountain are also shrouded in wind and rain. Scores of forests are swaying in the wind. The rain falls on the leaves and hits the ground again, seeping into the soil covered with dead branches and leaves, and the moisture rises. Coming up, stubbornly soaring into the air, turning into a misty mist and wandering in the forest, the mountains are surrounded by clouds and fog, adding a bit of mystery.

Marching in this kind of weather is very difficult. A force as strong as the Eight Banners Soldiers is also struggling. They have to stay in the prefectures and counties near Yanmen Pass.

In the dense forest fifty miles west of Xinzhou Fucheng, a rider gallops like flying in the rain. The knight on horseback is wearing a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat on his head. The black crossbow and scabbard at his waist glow in the dark like varnish. The rain hit the horse's head along with the galloping momentum of the horse, and hit the knight like beans, bursting out layers of water droplets like ripples, but the knight's speed did not slow down, like a sharp sword cutting through the waves in the heavy rain.

The horse was covered in water, and it was hard to tell whether it was sweat or rain. The air from its nostrils turned into white mist and drifted into the rain. The knight controlled the reins with one hand, and the bamboo hat was pressed down so low that his face could not be seen clearly. , with the other hand tightly pressing on his abdomen, inside the coir raincoat, the leather armor was soaked by the oncoming heavy rain, the leather armor was white, freshly painted with white paint.

The bright red blood slowly flowed out drop by drop from between his fingers, staining the white armor red.

The horse is still flying with all four hoofs, shuttling among the trees, the knight's legs are kicking the horse's belly constantly, desperately raising the horse's speed to the highest speed, more and more white mist is sprayed out from the horse's nostrils, already To the extreme.

Occasionally, the knight would turn his head and look back, and his face hidden by the bamboo hat would be exposed to the light of lightning for a moment. Rain ran down his face, and he had an anxious expression between his brows. The rough skin and redness unique to the northwest man His face was particularly obvious, and his expression was twisted in pain due to the wound on his abdomen.

He had been listening carefully to the movement behind him, and was also feeling the vibrations on the ground. However, even if the scout's senses were very keen, they would inevitably be affected in such heavy rain. The sound of rain covered everything, and he could not see anything clearly even a foot away. ,can not hear.

Therefore, when a wolf-toothed arrow pierced the water curtain from behind and scattered countless water droplets into his vest, he still didn't know it. The muscles of his whole body were still tense, and he was concentrating on maintaining the best riding position. posture.

The arrow is a heavy arrow, which can break through even iron armor, and the thin cowhide armor cannot stop it at all. The arrow shoots in from the back and emerges from the chest. The wound can accommodate two fingers, and the blood spurts.

A mouthful of blood spurted out from the knight's mouth, and the hand covering his abdomen reflexively touched the crossbow at his waist. As soon as his fingers touched it, his eyes lost the brilliance of life, and the black pupils turned to death gray. His burly body was like He collapsed like mud, and fell powerlessly on the horse.

The horse lost the control of the knight, slowed down, and five horses rushed out from the darkness behind them, catching up like flying.

Lightweight chain mail under the yellow smock, a soft leather helmet on the head, a longbow saber, a buckler throwing axe, and a short rope spear hanging on the saddle. The standard equipment of the Jurchen Yellow Banner Scout can be seen in the room of five.

The five people held the horse and circled around the dead knight. The horse seemed to know that its master was dead, so it hissed sadly and stood silently panting.

Someone kicked him, and the fallen knight was kicked off his horse, his coir raincoat fell apart, revealing his white armor.

"As expected, it was Scout Minggou. He ran quite fast. If we hadn't had the advantage of horse power, we would have almost let him run away." Someone cursed, leaned down, and touched the body with a short spear.

"Take the horse back, take off his crossbow, and cut off his head." The leader said solemnly: "There are many spies on this road, so be careful and stay away!"

The other four agreed and got off their horses to do their work. After a while, the five disappeared into the rain again. The darkness covered up the killing, and even the bloody smell in the air was quickly diluted by the rain.

Only a headless body was left, abandoned deep in the woods.

The friction between scouts like this often happens in heavy rain. Sometimes the Ming army has the upper hand, and sometimes the Qing army has the upper hand. State line, diffuse to Taiyuan.

……

"bump!"

Wang Huan and Ma Wannian worked together to lift a huge stone and put it on the wall with great difficulty.

The stone weighed a hundred and ten catties, and it was quarried from a nearby mountain. It had not been polished, but was cut into a square shape with the fastest and roughest method.

Ma Wannian immersed himself in grinding the stone to the correct position. Wang Huan raised his head, wiped the water on his face, and looked at the rain curtain.

Tens of thousands of people were working around him, and countless figures were running up and down the city. Huge boulders and logs were brought up and built on the city wall. The long-disrepaired walls were heightened and reinforced, and iron cannons were used. The embrasures for shooting were set aside, and the ground was filled with defensive equipment such as shields, maces, rolling logs, and stones.

Under the city wall, there are ditches as wide as ten feet. Sharp horses are placed between the ditches, and sharpened branches are inserted on the side of the ditches, densely packed like hedgehogs. Two earthen walls as high as half a person are in front of the wall , The back of the trench was built, and a wooden fence was erected on the wall. The wooden fence was composed of a tree trunk cut into a sharp shape.

In the middle of the wooden wall, there are three passages left. Each passage is about one foot and five feet wide. It extends back to the gate of Shiling Pass and forms a single passage. Inside the earthen wall, shoot arrows into the passage through the wooden fence, or stab with long spears. Presumably, the people who rush forward will die ugly.

On the closed wall, facing the passage, there are iron cannons with black holes facing this side. The solid iron bullets have a straight trajectory, and one shot can plow a passage out of a bloody path.

The drops of water hit the face, causing pain one by one, and the water that had just been wiped off dripped down the eyebrows again. Wang Huan had to wave his hand and wipe his face again.

"My lord, the Tartars must be suffering from such heavy rain." Ma Wannian washed his hands in the heavy rain, sniffled and said, "I guess it won't come soon?"

"It's hard to say." Wang Huan frowned and shook his head, shaking the water droplets from his white cloth-wrapped head everywhere: "If I were Dorgon, I wouldn't be frightened by the heavy rain."

After a pause, he said again: "On the contrary, I will be very happy."

Ma Wannian imitated Wang Huan and shook his head: "Is it because of our firearms? But we can't use them, and neither can they. Without firearms, will they attack the city?"

Wang Huan looked outside the city, the mountains in the rain and fog were hazy, and the mountains on both sides seemed to be his own extended arms, stretching far into the distance.

"He can't afford to delay, every passing hour is a torment for him." Wang Huan patted the stone that had just been laid, the rain made the stone even colder, and it was as wet as a bloody steel knife.

"He'll come before the rain stops."

(End of this chapter)