Chapter 919 The first siege!
After thinking for a while, An Miaoyi made a difficult decision.
“Hand over Ding Meng and the man named Li Ye to the Coordination Office. Let the Coordination Office handle this matter…”

Qiqige was shocked when she heard that. Although she felt that she could not persuade Ye Mingsheng to stop, she should still make an appropriate response to the threat from the Luoan court. After all, the lives of the entire An family were in their hands.

If we hand the matter over to the Coordination Office to resolve now, wouldn't that further irritate the Luoan court?
What if the Luoan court gets angry and kills the entire An family?

Thinking of this, Qiqige couldn't help but admonish:

"Madam, why don't you think about it again? Maybe there is a better solution!"

An Miaoyi shook her head and said with a wry smile:

"Do as I say and leave the matter to the Coordination Office to resolve!"

"I am the mistress of Fengwu Army. On such political issues, I must stand firmly on the side of Fengwu Army and my husband. I cannot waver in this matter!"

"Besides, the Coordination Office has many options. I believe that in their hands, there will be a better solution to this matter!"

Hearing what An Miaoyi said, Qi Qige nodded and said:
"Ma'am, I understand! I'll do it right away without further delay!"

After saying that, Qiqige left. After she left, An Miaoyi was silent for a while, then she went to the window and looked in the direction of Luoan.

Although she was very resolute in doing things, An Miaoyi was also very conflicted and worried in her heart, after all, those were her relatives!

But there is no other way, at such a critical juncture, she must make the right choice. Now her only hope is to believe that the Coordination Office will handle this matter properly and ensure the safety of everyone in the An family...

····································
····································
May, 9th, Weiguan
More than 100,000 soldiers from both sides gathered inside and outside the city. Five days ago, the Fengwu Army finally ended its rest and completed the initial assembly outside Weiguan City.

The 2nd, 9th, 10th and 4th divisions of the Fengwu Army, with a total strength of 75,000 people, arrived outside the Weiguan City, which means that today the Fengwu Army will officially blow the horn to attack Weiguan!
As usual, before the formal attack, the Fengwu Army launched a round of fierce artillery bombardment. Unlike the previous artillery bombardment intended for harassment, this time the Fengwu Army's artillery bombardment involved more than a hundred heavy artillery pieces, and all of them used solid bullets specially made for sieges!

Following Yuan Song's order, hundreds of heavy artillery fired one after another. The heavy shells, accompanied by a whistling sound, slammed heavily into the Wei Pass city wall.

Wherever these shells hit, bricks shattered and walls shook, making the imperial guards guarding the city walls feel terrified as if the sky was falling and the earth was splitting apart. In addition, a considerable number of shells passed over the city walls and hit the imperial guards guarding behind them.

Because they used solid bullets specially used for siege, they were certainly not as effective as fragmentation bullets in killing people. However, this kind of solid bullet weighing dozens of kilograms, with the force of falling gravity, hitting a living person, smashing his brain and turning him into a pool of meat, was extremely horrifying, and caused great psychological damage to the imperial guards...
A stick of incense later, the Wei Pass city wall that had withstood the first round of bombardment was like hell on earth, with broken limbs and the painful wails of soldiers everywhere.

Seeing Ma Chongyang with an expressionless face, he immediately asked the soldiers behind him to carry the wounded away, and the soldiers behind him took over. As a veteran who had been in the military for half his life, Ma Chongyang was accustomed to such scenes in his life, and these would not cause any fluctuations in his psychology!
Although the Luoan court was doing its best to supply all the needs of Wei Guan, the last bastion, the court's power was unprecedentedly weak. Therefore, even if the court tried its best, logistical support was still very difficult. It could only ensure that there would be no problems with food.

Although Wei Guan had some reserves of medicines, the quantity was not too large, so Ma Chongyang had to announce that medicines would not be given to seriously injured soldiers, and only to lightly injured soldiers who were capable of fighting.

Therefore, unless God is willing to take care of those imperial guards who had their hands and feet broken by the Fengwu Army's artillery bombardment, their most likely fate is to spend the last moments of their lives in painful torture.

At this time, the soldiers of the Fengwu Army were also carrying ladders, battering rams, siege hammers and other siege equipment, and under the cover of the second wave of artillery fire from the Fengwu Army, they launched a charge towards Wei Pass.

Looking at these charging Fengwu Army soldiers, Ma Chongyang's heart was burning with passion. During his time at Wei Pass, he was bombarded by Fengwu Army artillery every day. Sometimes at night he dreamed of bombing the Fengwu Army, but due to various conditions, he was not as good as the Fengwu Army, so he could only endure it.

And now that the Fengwu Army has finally launched a charge, he can finally blow up the shells on the Fengwu Army's heads!

Seeing this, Ma Chongyang immediately arranged for his men to move out the Zhengdong Cannon. Due to insufficient production capacity, the Zhengdong Cannon was extremely valuable among the imperial guards.

Therefore, in order to protect the Zhengdong Cannon from being destroyed by the Fengwu Army's artillery shells, Ma Chongyang ordered the Zhengdong Cannon to be taken down from the Wei Pass gun position and placed in the rear.

When the Fengwu Army charged, they would take it out and attack them. Fortunately, the Zhengdong Cannon was not heavy, weighing only more than a thousand pounds, so several soldiers could lift it together!
After a long struggle, more than twenty Zhengdong cannons were finally lifted to the gun positions by the imperial guards, and the gunners began to operate the cannons and fire at the charging Fengwu Army.

With each firing of the Zhengdong cannon, several or even dozens of people in the Fengwu Army's charging team fell down. With the help of a series of long-range weapons such as firearms and bows and crossbows, the charging Fengwu Army also suffered considerable casualties, but none of these could stop the Fengwu Army's soldiers from charging.

They shouted slogans of loyalty to the Marshal, used firearms to fight back at the enemy on the city wall, and continued to approach Wei Pass with difficulty...
At this time, Yuan Song, who was standing on the central watchtower of the Fengwu Army, also noticed the situation on the Weiguan city wall. He immediately ordered his men:
"Have the gunners adjust the firing parameters and knock down as many of the Zhengdong cannons on the enemy's walls as possible!"

"Yes!"

As Yuan Song's order was issued, the gunners of the Fengwu Army began to look for their prey, and soon the red cannons of the Fengwu Army roared again. Soon the first Zhengdong cannon was destroyed by the Fengwu Army artillery, and at this time, after paying hundreds of casualties, the Fengwu Army soldiers also came to the Weiguan city wall, and began to use ladders to climb the city wall and use battering rams to hit the city gate.

The Imperial Guards also used rolling stones, wooden scepters, and even golden weapons to fight back, while at the same time several Zhengdong cannons were destroyed by the Fengwu Army's artillery.

Seeing the precious Zhengdong cannon being blown up three times in a row, Ma Chongyang's eyebrows immediately twisted into a "川" shape, and asked Cao Hui, the lieutenant general in charge of the artillery beside him:

"Can our army's Zhengdong artillery hit the Fengwu army's artillery?"

Facing Ma Chongyang's question, Cao Hui said with difficulty:
"Reporting to the governor, the Fengwu Army's artillery position is about three miles away from us. Theoretically, our Zhengdong cannons can hit it!"

“But our army’s artillery is not as accurate as the Fengwu Army’s artillery, and our gunners lack experience, so the error may be somewhat large…”

After listening to his subordinate's explanation, Ma Chongyang's expression undoubtedly became even uglier, but he didn't know what to say.

After all, first of all, the shortcomings in artillery performance are innate and cannot be changed by human power. Secondly, a good gunner is trained with shells one by one, and because of insufficient production capacity, they dare not let the gunners train with live ammunition, so naturally they lack experience.

In fact, as the commander-in-chief Ma Chongyang, he himself knew that their Zhengdong cannons were not as good as the Fengwu Army's cannons in terms of range and accuracy, and their gunners were not as experienced as those of the Fengwu Army.

But Ma Chongyang still did not expect the current situation. He really did not expect that the gap between the two sides would be so big!

Now Ma Chongyang has to face a dilemma. The first choice is to continue using the Zhengdong Cannon to resist the Fengwu Army. However, although this can kill the Fengwu Army attacking the city, the Zhengdong Cannon will also be subject to concentrated fire from the Fengwu Army's artillery, and the artillery losses will be very large!

The second option is to temporarily withdraw the Zhengdong cannon. Although doing so will currently put the army under more pressure from the Fengwu Army, it will retain some strength for defending the city in the future.

Faced with this dilemma, Ma Chongyang was very conflicted. Now he had finally waited for the Fengwu Army soldiers to attack the city, so he could use artillery to vent his anger. But it had just begun, so did he have to withdraw the artillery?····························
Ma Chongyang felt very aggrieved when he thought of this, but his reason told him that today was the first day that the Fengwu Army officially attacked the city. If all the artillery was used up on the first day, it would be very difficult to hold out for a long time!

Just as Ma Chongyang was struggling between impulse and reason, another Zhengdong cannon was hit by the Fengwu Army's artillery and blew into pieces. Seeing this scene, Ma Chongyang sighed helplessly and ordered Cao Hui beside him: "Leave three Zhengdong cannons, and withdraw the rest!"

"Yes!"

After receiving Ma Chongyang's order, Cao Hui also acted quickly. However, as for the imperial guards who were defending the city, they did not understand why Ma Chongyang gave such an order. When the Fengwu Army attacked the city, shouldn't they do their best to repel the Fengwu Army?

Why should these artillery pieces be withdrawn? With these artillery pieces still there, they could have saved many lives!

Ma Chongyang saw his subordinates' lack of understanding, but he also felt helpless.

If the court could give them sufficient supply and supply him with ten Zhengdong cannons every month, he would not do so even if it was seven. He would definitely fight the Fengwu Army to the end and would never back down. However, the court can only supply three Zhengdong cannons every month, which is already the maximum production capacity······························

So now that it’s all used up, how are we going to defend the city next?
Wear pants that fit your butt. If you are not well off, you have to break a cannon into two!
After fighting for about two hours, the Fengwu Army ended the offensive and called off the troops. Both sides sent out some unarmed soldiers to clean up the battlefield.

Looking at the slowly retreating Fengwu Army, Ma Chongyang wiped the sweat from his face, but he did not feel any joy in his heart.

Today was only the first time that the Fengwu Army resisted the siege, but it was so difficult. This made Ma Chongyang wonder, if the war continued, could he really hold Wei Pass for the court?

If Ma Chongyang was very sure about the answer to this question before today, then after today Ma Chongyang's confidence was shaken a lot.

The only thing Ma Chongyang was thankful for now was that Shangguan Changgong scraped together 50,000 taels of silver for him a few days ago. If it was before, he would have to take out a few thousand taels of the 50,000 taels.

But now he knew the matter was of great importance so he did not dare to be greedy even a tael of silver and distributed it all to the officers and soldiers under him. Although these 50,000 taels of silver could not completely solve the problem of unpaid wages and rewards and pensions for the army, it somewhat alleviated the dissatisfaction of the officers and soldiers·································
Otherwise, with the offensive being so fierce and the soldiers below filled with negative emotions such as dissatisfaction, things will become even more troublesome!
As he was an old man in his sixties, Ma Chongyang had been commanding the battle here when the Fengwu Army was attacking the city. Now that the Fengwu Army had stopped attacking the city, Ma Chongyang felt very tired, so he asked Deputy Governor Tang Peng to clean up the mess while he went back to have a rest.

An hour later, after cleaning up the mess, Tang Peng returned to his tent. He was silent for a long time and then found a letter from the desk.

This letter was written to him by Murong Lun. There were many things written in the letter, but in the final analysis, Murong Lun was mainly asking whether Tang Peng Wei Pass could be defended.

Because I don’t know what impact my answer will have on the life and death of Murong Lun and even the entire Luoan court...

So when faced with Murong Lun's inquiry, Tang Peng thought about it for almost a month, but still didn't know how to answer Murong Lun!
(End of this chapter)