The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Jia Chen immediately addressed them and explained the upcoming plans.

Wang Baisheng was no longer as passive as before when it came to improving the defensive fortifications around Qianshandun.

At that point, no one had any reason to object; everyone was simply trying to survive.

The trenches need to be widened and deepened. Now that we have more manpower, efficiency has improved.

Jia Chen also added walls between the moat and the watchtower. He needed to use these to block the northern barbarians' attack first. If things didn't work out, the last resort would be to retreat to the top of the watchtower.

Otherwise, retreating to the top of the platform all at once would put us in a very passive position.

There are more people now than before, and the space on top of the pier is limited. If everyone crowds on it, that's suicide.

Outside the trenches, Jia Chen also ordered everyone to dig many traps, such as horse pits, in order to increase the casualties of the Northern Barbarians in various ways.

Jia Chen now has eleven three-barreled guns, but only eight are actually usable. The other three are either cracked or of such poor quality that they risk exploding and must be discarded.

The three-barreled gun is still effective against close-quarters attacks from the Northern barbarians. Even if it doesn't give them many chances to fire, it can at least unleash a volley, which should be effective.

Now that there are trenches and walls, we can fire more than once, which is a huge improvement over before.

Finally, there was the more than 600 kilograms of gunpowder, which Jia Chen valued highly. Whether or not they could defend Qianshandun depended heavily on this gunpowder.

Jia Chen never expected to be able to annihilate the Northern barbarians who came to retaliate. Once they arrived, their numbers would far exceed his own.

Therefore, their only chance of survival was to inflict heavy casualties on the Northern Barbarians, forcing them to retreat on their own initiative.

This place is merely a place to receive fire. The Northern Barbarians will gain little benefit beyond killing to vent their anger. If too many casualties are suffered here, I believe the higher-ups of the Northern Barbarians will not agree.

Of course, if the Northern Barbarians suffer too many casualties, they may go mad and lose their minds, and do whatever it takes to flatten the front mountain mound.

Regardless of the Northern Barbarians' final choice, Jia Chen had no choice but to do this.

This time, there were more jars, which belonged to Ding Heihu and his men at the watchtower. Using these jars, Jia Chen made dozens of thunderbolts.

In addition to these, Jia Chen also made a large bomb using empty wine jars.

Because the walls of the wine jar are not sturdy enough, if it were to explode directly, it wouldn't have much power.

After all, this is unlike the thunderbolts that Jia Chen made. A single jar of thunderbolts contains no more than ten catties of gunpowder, while this wine jar contains forty or fifty catties of gunpowder.

With so much gunpowder ignited, the instantaneous gas pressure was extremely high. The wine jar could not withstand this pressure and would quickly break. As a result, the gunpowder did not burn completely and could not demonstrate the power of an explosion.

Therefore, Jia Chen planned to bury these wine jars underground and compact them with soil.

Once the gunpowder is ignited, the pressure of the soil is used to ensure that the walls of the jar can withstand the greater pressure of the gunpowder explosion, thereby increasing the power of the explosion.

You could say this is a wine jar landmine.

Jia Chen made a total of ten. Apart from making the Thunderclap Bomb and reserving some gunpowder for the Three-Eyed Gun, he used all the remaining gunpowder. At this point, there was no point in saving any.

Turning gunpowder into a deadly weapon is the best form of defense.

We can't let the fortress be breached, all the people killed, and the gunpowder still be left.

Jia Chen buried these wine jar mines between the trench and the wall bunker. If the Northern barbarians broke through the trench and his side could not defend, he would use the mines to injure the enemy.

Jia Chen knew the principle behind those automatically triggered landmines and was able to make them, since he was familiar with firearms manufacturing in the Ming Dynasty.

These production methods were entirely feasible in the Great Hong Dynasty.

Unfortunately, there were no suitable materials available, so the only way to detonate it was by lighting a fuse.

The jar mine has a long fuse. The fuse is buried underground, and one end of the fuse is pulled behind the wall or bunker so that the soldiers can easily ignite it.

The best method is to put the fuse into a hollowed-out bamboo tube. This method not only protects the fuse from being crushed by the soil, but more importantly, it ensures air circulation, allowing the fuse to obtain oxygen while burning and preventing it from going out due to lack of oxygen.

Unfortunately, Jia Chen had no bamboo, so he could only dig trenches to prepare a path for fire.

At the site where landmines are to be planted, first dig a small trench, then lay the fuse in it, cover it with some branches and grass, and then cover it with loose soil to camouflage it. In this way, a certain space is created so that the fuse can be ignited more easily.

The cattle, sheep, and horses were kept in a specially designated area behind the moat. The area was small, and the cattle, sheep, and horses were almost crammed together.

The horses were fine horses, very valuable warhorses, but Jia Chen knew very well that even if he and his men survived by relying on the watchtower, these horses might not be able to be saved.

If we retreat to the top of the watchtower, everything below will be spoils of war for the Northern barbarians.

I definitely can't let these horses live and be taken back by the Northern barbarians.

No one objected to Jia Chen's plan.

Jia Chen has now established his prestige among this group of soldiers.

Despite his young age, he has always been at the forefront of these battles, and has killed the most enemies.

These stories naturally spread from Wang Baisheng's mouth, and Ding Heihu and the other newly joined soldiers had no doubts.

Because they had witnessed Jia Chen's raid on the camp and his battle with the Northern barbarians.

Furthermore, since Jia Chen was the one who saved them this time, it's natural that Jia Chen, the leader of the front mountain, should take the lead.

Under Jia Chen's orders, everyone had a clear division of labor and went their separate ways.

Everyone was full and had meat at every meal, so they were very motivated.

Of course, the most important thing is that everyone knows that building more defensive fortifications now will increase their chances of survival later.

The past few days have gone smoothly, with no northern barbarians coming to spy on us.

Three days later, northern barbarian cavalrymen began to appear one after another, ranging from one to several men.

They often observe from a distance, not daring to get too close.

Jia Chen is digging some tunnels, horse traps, etc., which need to be kept secret.

If the northern barbarians get too close, Zhao Zheng will lead several skilled cavalrymen out to drive them away.

Jia Chen knew very well that time was running out for him.

Not to mention the northern barbarians gathering around, the northern barbarians who went south to plunder are also about to prepare to return home.

Emubu and his two men were not idle either; they joined in digging ditches and building walls, since their fates were now intertwined with Jia Chen and the others.

Nine days after the raid on the Northern Barbarian camp, Sun Tiechong, who was on lookout duty atop the watchtower, shouted: "Watchtower leader, a large contingent of Northern Barbarians has been spotted to the south, heading towards us!"

Upon hearing his shout, Jia Chen immediately ordered everyone to retreat behind the wall cover, and he quickly climbed onto the platform.

In nine days, Jia Chen and his men had done almost everything they could. They had repaired the fortifications several times. While they couldn't say that the front beacon tower was impregnable, Jia Chen was certain that the Northern barbarians would have to pay a heavy price to capture the place.

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