The Ming army pushed several blasting vehicles to the front of the Hanyang city wall one after another, and after letting the bell mouth basically lean against the wall, they began to fix the work, first dropping the wheels and then tamping the tail into the ground. After fixing, the iron bell mouth was topped on the wall, and finally fixing the bell and the car body. These soldiers were trained by the Liu Tichun blasting team. Without the interference of the Qing army, their work was very smooth. Soon the first team completed all the work, and the members of the blasting team responsible for the guidance of this team also leisurely inspected it.

While the Ming army was preparing, Deng Ming kept watching from a distance. In just a few minutes, a team sent out a signal of the arrangement: "It was much easier than I thought, and it was even easier than the exercise in Yiling."

When Liu Tichun was giving a demonstration to Deng Ming, he sent some soldiers to play the Qing army on the wall where the blasting was scheduled to be blasted, simulating boiling oil with cold water and simulating big stones with cloth bags to interfere with the blasting team. Today, Deng Ming also assigned a large number of cover personnel to the blasting vehicle, holding special shields to protect the vehicle and those responsible for fixing.

Soon all four blasting vehicles were placed. After igniting the fuse one after another, they quickly ran towards the Ming army's position.

"It seems that when using blasting vehicles in the future, you still need one or one on the ground, and don't place several vehicles in one breath." Deng Ming said to himself. He sent four blasting vehicles in one breath to improve the effect. However, after the first one was placed, the other vehicles were still in the process of fixing, so the fuse could not be lit immediately. In order to wait for the last one to be placed, the personnel of the other three were unable to retreat from the dangerous area. Fortunately, the Qing army was slow to react and had not come to harass the Ming army under the city, which allowed the Ming army to retreat safely from the front of the city without any danger.

Until the Ming army retreated, there was still no Qing army on this section of the city wall. Zhou Peigong had already told his subordinates that the Ming army had the means to quickly break through the city wall, but there was no conclusion on what means to use. Some Qing soldiers had seen the means of the Ming army in Zhongxiang, and knew that even if the soldiers standing on the destroyed city wall had to lose their arms and legs, they had long been away. Other Qing soldiers had never seen the power of the city wall collapsed in time, and had also heard some descriptions from their companions. Today, Zhou Peigong's deployment frightened everyone. Seeing rows of monks chanting scriptures behind the city wall and yellow paper talismans pasted all over the ground, even the brave soldiers were panicked, and the timid ones were even weaker, and they were all there with the masters.

Especially when they saw that Zhou Peigong and Biaoying guerrillas were also hiding far away, the soldiers felt that even adults with official positions were afraid of the other party's magic, so they were willing to go over and die? In this way, when the Ming army set up the blasting cart, the Hanyang defenders led by Zhou Peigong hid on both sides and stared at them.

Even though Deng Ming wove the fuse as long as possible, the four iron bells still did not explode at the same time. With a few loud noises, a large cloud of smoke and dust rose from Hanyang City, blocking the Ming army's vision.

Based on the previous experience of blasting the city, the infantry should have launched a charge at this time, but today Deng Ming did not move his troops and took the guards and officers to wait patiently for the dust to settle. The Ming army, who received the notice in advance, was still in an orderly attack formation, waiting calmly for the commander's order.

In Hanyang City, Zhou Peigong felt the city wall under his feet shaking for a few consecutive times, and his vision was also blocked by the smoke rising from the sky, and he could not see anything happened on the other side of the city wall.

"It turns out to be gunpowder!" After smelling the pungent smell of gunpowder, Zhou Peigong suddenly realized.

After a while, a large number of monks ran out of the smoke while coughing violently. The wooden fish had long been thrown away, and their clothes and beards were covered with dust.

"Go and see how the city wall is?" Zhou Peigong ordered anxiously. The guerrillas beside him had never seen such a scene. They were stunned when they were watching the smoke. After being awakened by Zhou Peigong's shouts, they hurriedly sent orders behind the city wall, asking their subordinates to rush into the smoke to check the city defense.

Like Li Guoying's Bian, the Bian Battalion of the Governor of Huguang was also armoured cavalry. More than 400 cavalry were ordered to come to Hanyang with Zhou Peigong, half of which were deployed by guerrillas in the camp outside the city gate, intending to wait for an opportunity to attack while the Ming army was digging tunnels. The rest were left by their side as reserves, and they could launch counterattacks or cover guerrilla breakthroughs when necessary - depending on the situation.

Although he heard the clear orders of guerrillas, the cavalry of the Biao Battalion shrank. They had never seen this scene like their immediate superiors. Earlier, Zhou Peigong's costumes made great psychological pressure on these cavalry knights. The cavalry who had been staying in the city had no idea what the Ming army had done outside the city. Seeing the smoke rising into the air, the masters fled one after another, many Qing cavalry had already exclaimed, "The enemy's magic is powerful, and even the Fanyin can't be suppressed!"

When the guerrillas in the Biao battalion urged their subordinates to step forward, Zhou Peigong also ordered the soldiers around him to explore along the city wall, but the Qing soldiers on the city wall were worse than the cavalry in the city. After seeing the Jade Emperor and the Taishang Laojun tablets prepared by Zhou Peigong, they realized that Deng Ming used the Five Thunders X method. These smart soldiers immediately shared their discoveries with other companions. When the smoke rose, the Qing soldiers were very convinced that the Heavenly Court soldiers were obviously crazy. They even dared to use lightning to strike the Jade Emperor's throne. How could they care about the life and death of mortals? What if they did another blow? So, by the coercion and inducement of Zhou Peigong, the Qing soldiers refused to go forward to fight the thunder.

The smoke and dust in front of him gradually dissipated. Ren Tang saw that the large section of the brick wall had disappeared without a trace. The broken bricks and the rammed earth in the wall covered the blasting area. After losing the brick wall, the rammed earth layer that was shattered fell down. The original Hanyang city wall had turned into an inclined earth slope.

"Such a big gap should make Zhou Peigong realize that Hanyang x could not hold on at all." Ren Tang turned to Deng Ming and said that the Ming army had no intention of capturing Hanyang through hand-to-hand street fighting. Such a city-grabbing station may result in the death of hundreds of Ming troops and thousands of injuries. For the Ming army in Chengdu, it is best to avoid such a large loss.

"Yes," Deng Ming nodded. When he discussed the issue of Zhou Peigong with Li Laiheng that day, he pointed out to the other party that only the living meat tickets are valuable, and now for Deng Ming, Hanyang is the meat tickets in his hand: "Give an order."

"Affect the order." Ren Tang replied loudly, turned around and conveyed Deng Ming's order to the flag bearer behind him. Then he turned around and smiled at Deng Ming: "Congratulations to the Admiral for getting the meat ticket."

When Deng Ming and Li Laiheng were discussing that day, Ren Tang was also on the side. As he got along, he became more and more familiar with Deng Ming's ideas. When discussing the combat plan for Hanyang, Ren Tang quoted Deng Ming's theory of meat tickets, saying that if you want to get ransom from Zhang Changgeng, you need two elements. First, of course, the survival of meat tickets, and the second is to make the other party realize that Ming Jun has the ability to tear votes.

Almost as Deng Ming saw the gap, Zhou Peigong and Biaoying Guerrillas also saw the situation at the scene. After seeing the terrifying large gap, Zhou Peigong felt as if his chest was hit hard by a hammer. The not very steep slope could not stop a large number of troops from passing, and such a long gap was even more difficult to repair.

"Have the enemy not rushed in yet?" After a while, Zhou Peigong realized this. He suddenly found that the Qing army officers and soldiers around him were looking at the gap in a daze. If the Ming army had just launched a charge, they would have rushed into the city and started street fighting with the Qing army.

The Ming army outside the city suddenly heard a large number of cheers in unison, which sounded as if they had achieved complete victory. After this cheer, the Ming army turned around and left neatly and returned to their camp.

"Deng Ming withdrew?" After seeing this strange scene, the eyes of the Biaoying guerrillas stared as big as a copper bell. The Ming army outside the city gradually drifted away, and saw their backs getting farther and farther away. The Biaoying guerrillas leaned weakly on the wall, and were attacked by the joy of escaping from death and incomprehensible doubts, and their minds were in a mess.

While the Ming army retreated, several Ming cavalry drove to Hanyang City and shouted loudly to the city tower, claiming that they had a letter of war to hand it over to the prefect Zhou.

The defenders on the city tower recovered from the shock. They did not dare to neglect them. While setting up bows and arrows to prepare for the battle, they quickly sent people to Zhou Peigong to inform him.

"Shu Zhan Shu? The city walls have collapsed. What else do they have to send a war? Do you still want us to go out for field battles?" After hearing the news, Biaoying Guerrilla felt his mind become more confused. He looked back at the gap in the city wall, and suddenly he was clever and turned around and shouted anxiously: "No arrows are allowed!"

Although I don’t know what the Ming army was thinking, the current situation was obviously delayed for a moment. The guerrillas in Biaoba were afraid that the officers on the city tower would engage in reckless activities and shot the Ming army’s envoys to death, causing Deng Ming to return to the army in a furious manner. Although the Ming army had already walked away, the Qing army would definitely not be able to build the city wall before they came back. Even if they returned to the camp and slept again, the Qing army might not be able to block the gap.

"Don't worry, sir," replied the commander hurriedly. The guards on the city tower had already seen the situation on the side of the city wall. They knew that if the Ming army rushed into the city, they would be in a slaughter. They would not dare to provoke trouble: "We are just taking arrows and will never shoot arrows."

"What arrow?" Guerrilla was furious when he heard this. He pointed his arm behind him and pointed to the direction of the city wall: "Will Deng Ming still go to the city gate with such a large hole? Go back quickly and put away the bow. What if he slid his hand and shot the arrow out?"

"I'll go here now." Zhou Peigong said with a gloomy face. After hearing the message sent by the messenger, he was not as excited as the guerrillas in the Biaoying camp. Instead, he forced himself to calm down and think for a while. Now he had probably guessed what kind of war letter Deng Ming was sending back.

Walking up the city tower, Zhou Peigong ordered the archers to put down their bows and lean out from the battlements. He rushed to the Ming knights in front of the city and shouted: "I am Zhou Peigong. Do you have a war letter to give me?"

After confirming that the other party was Zhou Peigong, a knight bent his bow and arrow and shot a letter to the top of the city. At the same time, he shouted: "Admiral Deng is unwilling to hurt the people of Hanyang, so he invites Zhou Gong out of the city to fight a ferocious battle."

After completing the mission, the Ming cavalry turned their horses and galloped to chase the large army.

"What? Invite us out of the city to fight to the decisive battle?" After hearing this, the Biaoying Guerrillas who rushed back together shouted: "Deng Ming has seven or eight thousand men in armor, and there are less than three thousand in Hanyang City. How could we go out to die? We can resist for a while in the street fighting."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to resist for a long time." Zhou Peigong said coldly. At this time, soldiers had already picked up the war letter, held it in both hands and presented it to the prefect Zhou, and reached out to pick up the letter. Zhou Peigong swept the pale face of the Biaoying guerrillas, and put it in his ear and comforted him in a low voice: "Don't worry, I dare to guarantee my life. This letter is definitely not asking us to go out for a decisive battle."

"It's probably because I want to redeem the city expenses again." Zhou Peigong murmured quietly while dismantling the letter.

The voice was very small, and no other soldiers heard it, but the guerrillas in the Bianbat that were next to Zhou Peigong did hear it clearly. The muscles on his cheeks trembled, and he quickly looked around. Seeing that the Qing soldiers were far away, he immediately took a step closer to Zhou Peigong and whispered: "Master, if this is the case, it's better to agree."

Zhou Peigong smiled bitterly when he heard this, but he did not respond and just continued to open the letter.

"Do I have a choice?" Zhou Peigong asked in his heart. As the prefect of Wuchang Prefecture and the custodian of Hanyang, if Hanyang is lost and the court knows, he will not only lose his official position, but also his life will not be saved: "But Deng Ming is really too much, and he is untrustworthy. Last time he lied to me to give me a kickback. If the matter is done, Li Laiheng will confiscate my home."

Thinking of this, Zhou Peigong was already furious: "This time I was going to force me to redeem the city? Do you want to say something to give me some kickbacks? Deng Ming repeatedly played with it, which is really a great humiliation. Humph, a soldier can be killed but not humiliated. At worst, I will die in Hanyang. What's so great? Yes, I will never be humiliated again even if I die!"

Zhou Peigong suddenly unfolded the letter, and almost tore it in half with great force. Seeing this, Biaoying guerrillas were shocked, fearing that Zhou Peigong would come up with a stubborn temper and want the whole army to survive and die together with Hanyang. The city wall collapsed for only half a day. If the Ming army was determined to attack, it would definitely be lifeless. Even if it fought to make up for it, it would be useless. At worst, the Ming army would spend half a day to demolish another section of the city wall.

"If the prefect is better to break the jade," Biaoying's guerrilla mind was moving quickly. Before coming, Zhang Changgeng had already explained that Hanyang could not make any mistakes. If he found that the Ming army had the intention and ability to break Wuchang, then the city alliance would have to agree first. If the governor of Huguang lost his garrison, the court would never spare his life: "The governor said that there is more than one of the prefects in Hanyang's losses, and even the governor could not explain to the court. Now Wuchang is only a few thousand armors, Deng Ming's speed of demolishing the city wall is too fast, and Wuchang is also dangerous. If Wuchang is lost, the governor will be unable to save his life. Well, if the governor is angry, I will hold him back if I have no way out, and then send someone to report to the governor."

Guerrilla made up his mind and secretly looked at Zhou Peigong's expression. He found that most of the anger on his face had dissipated and was reading the war book a second time.

After carefully reading the Zhan Shu again, Zhou Peigong gently rolled up the letter, then pulled the Biaoying guerrillas aside, and whispered to him: "Deng Ming is indeed here to redeem the city expenses, and he also asked his name to ask the official to leave the city and negotiate with him."

"This..." As Zhang Changgeng's personal military commander and accomplice in the murder of Hu Quancai, the Biaoying Guerrillas knew that Zhou Peigong had negotiated privately with Deng Ming many times, but at that time Zhou Peigong was just a staff member of Zhang Changgeng and a young son. But now Zhou Peigong is already the dignified prefect of Wuchang and the imperial court ordered an official. What if Deng Ming turned against him and detained him?

"Looking at the city wall, it collapsed in less than a stick of incense. I see that Hanyang cannot hold on. If this Hanyang is not guaranteed, Deng Ming will take advantage of the great victory and attack Wuchang again, I am afraid that Wuchang will be in danger." Zhou Peigong sighed, his face was sad, and the anger just now disappeared without a trace. Then Zhou Peigong's face changed again, showing a decisive look, and said to the guerrillas with a sigh: "Governor treats me well. At this critical moment, I will not stand up and share the worries of the Governor. Who else?"

Before the touching Biaobawang guerrillas interrupted, Zhou Peigong waved his hand and said resolutely: "I will disguise myself from the city tonight and discuss the truce with Deng Ming about the truce. You can quickly report to the Governor General and ask him to send another official to come. If the officer encounters any accident, someone can take over the duties of his officer."

After discussing with the guerrillas, Zhou Peigong wrote another letter to Zhang Changgeng, describing the current crisis in detail and clearly telling the Governor of Huguang that he could no longer rely on military means to protect Hanyang. At the same time, Zhou Peigong also assured Zhang Changgeng that he would definitely fight in front of Deng Ming, fight for the benefits for the Governor of Huguang as much as possible, and make every effort to reduce the losses that the court would suffer.

After breaking up with the guerrillas in Biaoying, Zhou Peigong returned to the yamen, sat down and took out the war letter hidden in his sleeves, and gently unfolded it for the third time.

In this letter, Deng Ming apologized to Zhou Peigong straight to the point, saying that he had no idea about Li Laiheng's misunderstanding. After the apology, Deng Ming said that he had asked Li Laiheng to return all the property of the Zhou family. As for Li Laiheng's accompanying request, that is, Zhou Peigong paid full taxes, Deng Ming also spoke out bluntly; but immediately afterwards, Deng Ming also said that he had thought of a compensation plan to make up for the losses caused to Zhou Peigong by Li Laiheng's unreasonable request. The specific content cannot be written in this letter. Deng Ming asked Zhou Peigong for an interview and said that if Zhou Peigong knew that there were other gentry in Huguang and the situation was the same as him, Deng Ming was willing to give compensation equally.

"Admiral Deng, Admiral Deng, is this Li Laiheng your subordinate?" After reading the letter, Zhou Peigong put it on the fire and lit it, and watched it with his own eyes as the letter was burned to ashes: "What kind of compensation will it be? Of course I know that many people have been searched by your 'seniors' and taxed. If you can compensate, this is a lot of favors for me."
Chapter completed!