Chapter 1433 Siege!

October 11, at 1:15 am,
Outside the Yunqian Jinzhi City, as the loud trumpets sounded in the military camp, the originally solemn Daqian military camp immediately became lively, and a large number of soldiers began to gradually gather and walk out of the camp.

Walking in the front was the chieftain army led by Aping Muga. These people did not have uniform clothing and weapons. Most of them were holding cold weapons such as swords and spears, and only a very small number of them were holding hot weapons such as muskets. Their behavior was also very casual, and only under the insults of their respective leaders did they slowly form a line!

Behind them came the soldiers of the First Army. Compared with the chieftain's army, the soldiers of the First Army were all wearing uniform cotton armor. Except for a few who were holding swords and spears, most of them were holding new firearms such as the Weiyuan gun and Fengwu gun. After walking out of the camp, they immediately lined up under the orders of their superiors.

As the queues were formed, some siege ladders and battering rams were pulled out, and at the artillery positions nearby, hundreds of artillerymen were quickly adjusting the firing parameters, preparing to provide artillery cover for the infantry storming the city.

Just as the Daqian army outside the city was preparing for an attack, the people in Jinzhi City also noticed the changes outside the city and became busy and began to carry boulders and logs onto the city walls. The number of guards on the city walls also increased.

After a cup of tea, Li Huan, the chieftain of the Li clan, who received the news, also came to the city wall and observed the situation outside the city with a telescope.

Looking at the neat and orderly formations of the Daqian army outside the city and those firearms that revealed the breath of death, Li Huan's expression became increasingly gloomy...

If the false surrender was to buy himself time to prepare, and the sneak attack on the vanguard of the Daqian army at Gray Snake Ridge was just an appetizer prepared by Li Huan for Zhang Meng.

Then Li Huan secretly contacted Ayushila and planned that when the First Army attacked Jinzhi City, the two sides would cooperate from inside and outside. This was the real killer move Li Huan prepared for Zhang Meng!
In Li Huan's opinion, you, Zhang Meng, can take advantage of the internal conflicts among the chieftains of Yunqian to make small chieftains like Ayushila and Apingmugga work for you and trick the Yaonan Mountain City into opening for you. Then I can also use the same method to treat them!
So after learning that Ayushila had a rift with Zhang Meng because of how he dealt with Xiong Ping, Li Huan realized that his opportunity had come and contacted Ayushila through some intermediaries, expressing his desire to cooperate!
Compared with his good brother Aping Muga, Ayushila was not so keen on joining Daqian. It was Aping Muga who said that if he helped Daqian army to take down the Xiong family, Zhang Meng would hand Xiong Ping over to him to deal with. Ayushila agreed to join Daqian because he wanted to avenge his father.

So when Zhang Meng broke his promise and did not hand over the bear as agreed, Ayushila felt that he had been fooled. He felt that there was no meaning or gain in betraying the chieftain and joining Daqian. He was very angry and regretted joining Daqian!
Therefore, when Li Huan approached him and said that he could hand over the territory of Yaonan Mountain to Ayushila, Ayushila was immediately shaken. In the end, he decided to betray Daqian, whom he had just joined, under the words of Li Huan’s envoy that Yunqian was the chieftain’s Yunqian and the Yunqian people should not kill each other...

After successfully winning over Ayushila and winning the Battle of Grey Snake Ridge, Li Huan's self-confidence was already very high. He even felt that defeating the Daqian army was a sure thing!
He should look further ahead, such as the development of the Li chieftains after the war. For Li Huan, leading the Li chieftains to win the battle against Daqian is his top priority, but this is not his lifelong goal!

Li Huan has only one wish in his life, which is to lead the Li chieftains to unify Yunqian and become the true King of Yunqian!

Therefore, as long as he can successfully defeat the Daqian army, then this invasion of the Daqian army may not be a bad thing for Li Huan!
Although Li Huan had such an idea in the past, he dared not take any action. What he was worried about was that other chieftains in Yunqian would unite and attack him.

Although the Li family chieftain is known as the number one chieftain in Yunqian under the management of Li Huan, Li Huan has absolute confidence that he can defeat the Xiong family chieftain or the Mu family chieftain in a one-on-one battle!
However, if it was a one-on-two fight, Li Huan would not be sure of winning. That was why Li Huan did not dare to act rashly and chose to lie dormant and quietly accumulate strength.

And now that Daqian’s fierce dragon has crossed the river, it can be said that it has completely broken the balance of power in Yunqian. Therefore, as long as Daqian can be driven out of Yunqian, it will be difficult for any force in Yunqian to compete with the Li chieftains. By then, it will be the time for Li Huan to realize his life dream and value...

However, just when Li Huan was fantasizing about becoming the mighty King Yunqian, reality slapped him hard in the face!

Because the news of the collusion leaked out, their conspiracy was discovered by Zhang Meng, and Ayushila's head was hung on the gate because his conspiracy was exposed. After learning the news, Li Huan was also very sad!
However, Li Huan was not sighing for the death of Ayushila. He was sighing because his plan was exposed and his conspiracy failed, and he lost a good opportunity to defeat the Daqian army in one fell swoop!
Although when contacting Ayushila before, Li Huan affectionately called him "my brother" in the letter and promised many conditions including handing over Yaonan Mountain to Ayushila.

But this was just a blank check written by Li Huan. In Li Huan's mind, Ayushila was just a chess piece and a tool for him to defeat the Daqian army!

When the Daqian army was there, Ayushila's existence still had value and significance, but when the Daqian army left, Ayushila lost his value. Then it would be time for Li Huan to reap him. Li Huan, who was determined to unify Yunqian, naturally wanted to hold a key place like Yaonan Mountain in his own hands!
Li Huan planned everything very well, but unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Ayushila leaked the news, which not only caused his own beheading, but also made all of Li Huan's plans come to naught.

After Ayushila's defeat, Zhang Meng handed his troops over to the commander-in-chief Aping Muga. In order to regain Zhang Meng's trust, Aping Muga led his troops and performed very bravely. In just two days, he helped the Daqian army defeat the defenders of Huisheling and captured Huisheling, the eastern gateway of Jinzhi...
After seeing the Daqian army take over Huishe Ridge with great ease, Li Huan, the instigator of all this, felt a little panicked.

But it was too late. Yesterday morning, the Daqian army arrived at the foot of Jinzhi City and set up camp at noon. After lunch, Zhang Meng, who was determined to settle accounts with Li Huan, could not wait to launch a tentative attack on Jinzhi City in the afternoon.

Although it was just a tentative attack, Daqian's artillery still left a deep impression on Li Huan!
At that moment, the walls of Jinzhi City were shaking constantly, which made him think of surrendering again. However, Li Huan himself understood that after the false surrender last time, even if he really wanted to surrender this time, the Daqian army might not accept it!

Therefore, for Li Huan, the patriarch of the Li chieftain clan, his only option now is to fight to the death, all the way to the end!
At this time, looking through the telescope, Li Huan saw that the Daqian army outside the city was about to make preparations. He became more and more nervous. After yesterday's battle, he was originally confident in defending Jinzhi City, but at this moment he had no confidence at all!

At this time, Li Huan's subordinate Bu Huo also came over and reported to Li Huan: "Chief, they are about to attack the city, do you think we should bring those bombs over?"

Hearing Bu Huo's words, Li Huan was speechless and immediately shouted angrily:
“You have a pig brain, you haven’t understood yet. The Daqian army always launches artillery attacks before attacking the city. If you bring those bombs now, when the Daqian army launches artillery attacks later, won’t they blow us up?”

Bu Huo suddenly realized what was going on when he heard this. He knew that he had almost done something bad, so he immediately agreed. Seeing this, Li Huan continued to give instructions:
"Put those bombs away from the city wall now, so as not to be affected by the Daqian artillery attack. After the Daqian army's artillery attack is over, quickly send these bombs to the city wall. These bombs are our trump cards, so we must teach these Daqian bastards a lesson!"

As soon as Li Huan finished speaking, a series of loud noises were heard outside the city, and then someone on the city wall shouted:
"Bombard! Bombard! Bombard!"

"Everyone drop to cover! Everyone drop to cover!"

Li Huan's mind was also confused at this time. Fortunately, the guards around him were loyal. They pulled Li Huan to the ground and protected him with their bodies. The next second, amid countless whistling sounds, powerful artillery shells slammed heavily into the walls of Jinzhi City!

The huge explosion and the shock wave generated by the explosion immediately turned the walls of Jinzhi City into a living hell. Many people were blown to pieces without even a groan. Even if they survived by chance, they had broken arms and legs. For a while, the city walls were filled with wailing.

With the desperate protection of several guards, Li Huan was able to escape danger, but these guards and the one who had just talked to Li Huan, all fell in a pool of blood. Seeing this, Li Huan didn't care about being sad, and called on the soldiers on the city wall to prepare to meet the enemy...
A moment later, under the command of Aping Muga, countless Tusi soldiers carried ladders, battering rams and other weapons and rushed to the city wall. Now it was the turn of the defenders in the city to counterattack. For a while, bows, arrows and muskets rained down on the Tusi soldiers.

The Tusi soldiers who lacked armor protection fell in a pool of blood one after another. When these Tusi soldiers got close to the thick city wall, the defenders in the city attacked them with thunder stones, rolling logs and golden soup. But this was not the most terrifying thing!

When more and more chieftain soldiers gathered under the city wall under the command of Aping Muga, the defenders in the city actually threw down ceramic jars that were lit on fire. These ceramic jars exploded before they even hit the ground.

Under the impact of the explosion, the broken ceramic fragments were as sharp as flying knives. Dozens of ceramic jars fell together. Suddenly, the chieftain soldiers under the city wall all fell in a pool of blood like wheat being cut.

Seeing his people and subordinates suffer heavy losses, Aping Muga, who was commanding the battle, could no longer sit still. He immediately came to Zhang Meng and asked:
"Master Zhang, my people can no longer hold on. Please ask the Daqian army to intervene quickly!"

Facing Aping Muga's request, Zhang Meng didn't even look at him, but just said lightly:
"Now is not the time! Hold on!"

"grown ups!"

A Ping Muga wanted to say something, but before he could finish his words, Zhang Meng's cold voice came to his ears again.
"Violators will be subject to military law..."

Feeling Zhang Meng's cold words, Aping Muga's heart sank, but at this time he had no other choice. He could only hold on and continue to return to the battlefield to command the battle. Zhang Meng smiled slightly when he saw this.

After experiencing the Ayushila incident, Zhang Meng became more aware of the fickleness of the chieftains in Yunqian, so he became more determined to consume them as much as possible.
In addition, Zhang Meng was also very clear that if it wasn’t Aping Muga’s subordinates who died, it would be his, Zhang Meng’s, subordinates who would die!

Although the old saying goes that a kind person cannot command an army, Zhang Meng still wants to reduce his own casualties as much as possible whenever there is a chance. Therefore, he can only apologize to Aping Muga and at most give him more wealth as compensation after taking the city.

Aping Muga led his troops and held out for half an incense stick of time. Seeing his subordinates suffering more and more casualties, Aping Muga was as restless as an ant on a hot pan. At this time, the Daqian army finally moved. Thousands of Daqian soldiers marched towards Jinzhi City under the command of the bugle!
Seeing this, Aping Muga thought that the Daqian army was finally about to enter the battlefield and was extremely surprised for a moment. However, these Daqian soldiers did not launch a charge as he expected, but stopped a hundred steps away from the city, and then the musketeers began to shoot.

The soldiers under Aping Muga, who had originally relied on the city to fight, had thrown away their weapons and armor. When they were attacked by muskets, they immediately lost their arrogance and were killed one after another on the city wall. The accurate shooting skills forced the soldiers to hide behind the battlements and dared not show their heads at all.

At this moment, a messenger came to Aping Muga and conveyed Zhang Meng's latest military order to him.

"The commander orders your troops to continue the attack! Half of the wealth of Jinzhi City will be rewarded to you..."