Ningyuan City has a circumference of nine miles. According to the minimum investment of one thousand people per mile, it is necessary to surround them from all sides. Moreover, the guaranteed number is calculated based on the combat power of the enemy soldiers and the defenders in the city. If the number of people is smaller, Chang Zhifan can unexpectedly choose to defeat him on the premise that his own combat losses are acceptable.

After being educated on the Tianbao Front, Suo Hai and Tulai no longer believed in the story of the Ming army's vulnerable force. At least they understood that this Ming army, which dared to go deep into Ningyuan alone, should not be underestimated. With the 10,000 troops they led, including 3,000 Han military flags, if they wanted to capture Ningyuan City, which had thousands of people stationed, might have to rely on luck.

Luck quickly favored the two defeated generals. The siege sent out caught a living, and forced him to find out that the number of guards in Ningyuan City was about 1,000, with countless food and grass, and military funds. Although the man was just a lonely refugee, he personally participated in the transportation of grain and gunpowder, and he could tell me one or two.

But the refugees did not know that the entire army of the Second Guard Division was here. Although they saw many people coming and going, they could not get a glimpse of the organization. Moreover, with the knowledge of the civilians, there was no way to distinguish between five or six thousand people and tens of thousands of people. They could only be simply called "many, many".

Even so, it was enough to make Suo Hai and Tu Lai extremely grateful.

"It seems that the Ming army really wanted to occupy the important town of Ningyuan, and these thousand troops were to supervise the food and grass." Suo Hai firmly believed in the principle of "the army had not moved the food and grass first", and had no idea about the Ming army's maritime transportation capacity, so naturally he could not understand that the Ming army would deploy tens of thousands of people in western Liaoning in a short period of time.

Tu Lai is more concerned about the overall situation and said, "I don't know where Dorgon went and whether he was entangled by the Ming army. If he could attack our army on both sides, it would be impossible to break Ningyuan."

"Why should the old seventh brother be so depressed?" Suo Hai said carelessly: "The Ming army is not as weak as before, but if you look carefully at the top of Ningyuan city, you can see artillery? There are no cannons here, so what are we afraid of? Will we lose with the battle between Mingdao and Mingjiu?"

Tu Lai shook his head: "Sixth Brother, we have been fighting over the years. But I really think back more than ten years ago, Ming Jun was a soft persimmon that no one could pinch."

Suo Hai and Tu Lai are now considered pillars of the Qing Dynasty. They were still children in the era of Laozi. In the era when Huang Taiji was committed to robbing the west, they were just middle and lower-level officers. At that time, they could not see the full picture of the Ming and Qing war, but they also knew that the Ming army had a case where they took the initiative to attack the 60,000 Manchu army with 10,000 troops and returned to victory.

"It is also because our army is always coated." Suo Hai found a reason: "Now, 70,000 of our ten thousand soldiers are elite soldiers of the Zhenghuang Banner, and the three thousand cavalrymen on the left and right wings of Kalaqin will arrive later. As long as the Ming army dares to fight, it will be impossible to beat him to death!"

"I'm afraid that the Ming army will not dare to fight." Tu Lai sighed: "Our supplies are less than ten days old. Even if we get news from Jinzhou and Shengjing, we don't know if we can transport the food and grass in time."

"Hahaha! Ningyuan City has countless food and grass, isn't it just for our army? Don't worry, Brother, I will lead my troops to capture Ningyuan tomorrow! I think he only has a thousand people. As long as we have a feint attack on both wings and a strong attack in the middle, we will definitely be able to climb the wall in one battle!"

Although Tu Lai is also a reckless person, he has to play a cautious role with this more reckless brother. However, he has limited intelligence and lacks knowledge, except for a nagging: "It's better to be careful." He can't say anything else.

Although Suo Hai made a big talk, he was still a little worried. As the army advanced from Lianshanyi to Balipu outside Ningyuan City, the Ming army's horse exploration retreated all the way, but he did not give in at all. Now, even if the Qing army's horse exploration was in groups of three or five, they might be attacked by the Ming army's horse exploration.

It seems that the army is moving without any obstacles, but it always seems to hit a soft but tough invisible wall, which is completely dark towards the west of Ningyuan.

Although the geography and climate outside the pass made both Suohai and Tulai feel a little more close. However, western Liaoning is not the traditional place for Manchus to live, and they cannot ride a horse with their eyes closed like in Liaodong. This kind of intelligence disadvantage has become increasingly prominent with the advent of the siege.

...

"Is this thing really useful?" Chang Zhifan looked at the newly sent "weapon" from the camp and felt a little puzzled.

"Col. Please rest assured that this thing is for this battle." The officer who rhymes this strange weapon is a captain, with a short and thin figure. It makes people wonder if he can carry a big sword and a spear. However, there are precedents in the army that have been promoted by civil and technical skills. Many excellent gunners themselves are not strong in combat ability, and they all rely on artillery.

"Can this thing really match the five-door-one-seven-door change?" Chang Zhifan felt a little confused. He applied for artillery from the division headquarters, but the division headquarters said that it was inconvenient to transport artillery. He specially gave him a weapon that could match the five-door artillery.

This weapon is very convenient for transportation, all of which are cloth, ropes and bamboo baskets.

"When our hot air balloon is launched, the colonel will clearly see the mobilization of the Donglu within dozens of miles around. At that time, a cannon can be used to support ten balls!" The captain looked familiar and did not care about the silver emblem on Chang Zhifan's shoulder at all.

"With this thing, can you still shoot out ten cannons in one shot?" Chang Zhifan muttered, hoping that five more serious cannons could be used. Not to mention the amount of firepower, there are thirty cannons on the wall of Ningyuan City. Now these cannons are empty, wouldn't it make people feel itchy!

"Captain, what did you call me just now?" Chang Zhifan shook his head, got rid of the troubles of being unable to get what he wanted, and planned to make full use of this "weapon", so he naturally had to establish a good relationship with the captain first.

"Hot air balloon." said the captain.

"I'm telling you what your name is." Chang Zhifan is very sensitive to the name "hot air balloon". He remembers it as soon as he hears it, and can imagine the general appearance.

"Oh, me? My name is Wang Zhong." The captain grinned and said, "Col. Where is the highest point of Ningyuan City? It is best to be in the city."

"In the city, that's the tallest bell and drum tower." Chang Zhifan said: "I have to borrow this thing too?"

"Stand high and look far. If it is on the flat ground, it will reach up to five feet high at most." Wang Zhong said: "Bell and Drum Tower... Hey, this is OK, it's really a bit high!"

"The base is as high as the city wall, which is more than three meters high. The two floors above are more than two meters high, and they are five meters tall together." Chang Zhifan said.

Wang Zhong rubbed his hands and was particularly excited. He said, "That's good!" He waved to the back: "Brothers, let's go to the Bell and Drum Tower, and the things will be brought up!"

Chang Zhifan was also surprised to see that his team matched very strangely. One captain, two lieutenants, four lieutenants, and seven officers alone, and more than thirty auxiliary soldiers, not even a single combat soldier.

"Col. Can you ask someone to help lift the roof?"

"You lifted my roof as soon as you came?"

"Otherwise, how can we climb up?" Wang Zhong felt a little aggrieved.

Chang Zhifan had no choice. These were five cannons! He had to serve them well. He immediately mobilized the civilians in the city and according to Wang Zhong's instructions, he first broke the hip roof of the bell and drum tower, and put a ladder inside, and replaced the tiles on the roof with wooden boards. At least he could make people stay.

Wang Zhong and others did not delay. The already thin body was as agile as a monkey. They went up to the roof in just a few seconds and transported the hot air balloon's airbag and hanging basket together.

Chang Zhifan was curious and climbed up, watching them hold up the airbags, ignite the furnace, and then the huge airbag slowly swelled up. Finally, there was a ball.

"There are two here, but let's take a look at the effect first." Wang Zhong walked to Chang Zhifan and said, "Col. Are there enough coal in the city?"

Chang Zhifan nodded.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince particularly favors black stones such as coal. In addition to being unable to use iron and steel, he wished everyone could use coal. When he was in Shandong, there was not enough coal mines, so he specially asked the Third Division to transport them from Shanxi several times, but it was really aborted because of insufficient transportation capacity. Now Datong, Shanxi has been liberated. Coal and coal have become the most important fuels.

Because the Second Division went to Liao to fight, the temperature was low, and the ballast stones of all sea ships were replaced with coal, and at least 80% of the reserves were piled in Ningyuan, so they could be used as cheap things.

As Wang Zhong's auxiliary soldiers expanded the airbag, they removed the bamboo strips they had supported before. The huge airbag actually floated obediently in the air, with a faint rise.

Chang Zhifan was stunned and finally couldn't help saying, "Isn't this just a Kongming lantern?"

"Yes, it was originally called the giant manned Kongming lantern." Wang Zhong said proudly: "Later, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave him the name: Hot Air Balloon."

"Good guy! Can you be so big!" Chang Zhifan raised his neck and watched the hot air balloon slowly soar into the air.

"This is already small and small." Wang Zhong was also curious about R&D experience when he was trained: "The earliest one was called big. Later, he found that the heat was insufficient and he could not fly at all. Later, he made this after several cuts."

“How high can this fly?”

"I don't know, I didn't let go of the rope anchor to fly over." Wang Zhong said: "It's not mainly because it's flying high, but because it's going to fly for a long time. You think this thing is used as an enemy building. If it's too high, no one can see it. What's the use?"

Chang Zhifan nodded and couldn't help but say, "How can I get up later?"

Wang Zhong laughed and said, "Do you have a certificate?"

"What certificate?"

Wang Zhong took out a tooth sign from his leather jacket inner bag: "Look, 'The Certificate of Huang Mingqin's permission to climb up and rise'."

"This..." Chang Zhifan was stunned.

"What is this? This is an aircraft!" Wang Zhong said proudly: "It is flying into the sky! You can reach the sky by just one person. Isn't that disrespectful to the sky?"

Chang Zhifan even claimed that he was yes and realized that he was being "nightmare". Ordinary people could not even worship "Heaven", but they were afraid of being disrespectful to God, let alone climbing to heaven!

"These lieutenants have not obtained their certificates yet, so they can only watch from below and act as ground staff." Wang Zhong chuckled and comforted Chang Zhifan.

Chang Zhifan finally knew where Wang Zhong’s confidence came from. It’s not that he is a naughty young man who doesn’t know the superiority and inferiority of the people, he really has some support!

——I don’t know where to get this certificate.

Chang Zhifan looked at the slowly rising hot air balloon and felt itchy.
Chapter completed!