Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 609
The siege ladders used by the Liao Army were made by special craftsmen, and they were very strong and strong. There were two huge iron hooks on the top of the head, which hooked the city wall firmly, and it was difficult to cut it off. The Liao Army Han people also inherited the Liao Army. With their bravery, they climbed to the top of the city recklessly, but they were greeted by rolling logs and stones on the top of the city. Stones weighing thirty to forty kilograms and thick logs three feet long fell like hailstones. The soldiers on board screamed and fell to the city.

Similar fierce battles broke out on dozens of siege ladders. Soldiers of the Song Army hid on the horse-faced city and shot arrows at the backs of the soldiers of the Liao Army who were attacking the city on both sides.

For a while, arrows rained down from above and below the city, and the dense arrows made people breathless.

'Woo—'The horn of the Liao army sounded, and another 5000 infantrymen came up, bringing the siege Liao army to 3000. After deducting all kinds of casualties, there were still less than [-].

The siege Liao army gradually concentrated in the two corners of the southwest and northwest. There was no way to set up a formation here. Both catapults and bows and crossbows were much rarer than elsewhere. The Liao army discovered this weakness and gathered in the two corners one after another.

More than [-] siege planes concentrated in these two areas, boom!boom!Two anti-pull siege ladders rushed up, and their ends supported the city wall. Dozens of people on both sides pulled the long ropes together, and a long ladder full of soldiers was erected, leaning directly towards the top of the city. , the biggest advantage of this anti-pull siege ladder is that it eliminates the climbing process and appears at the top of the city in one step.

The disadvantage is that it is cumbersome and needs a point of leverage. Usually, dozens of people pull back together after holding against the city wall.

This kind of anti-pull siege ladder also existed in the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty was a large-scale siege weapon. Eight pulleys were installed and pulled with iron chains. Ladders are more advanced and much more powerful.

The soldiers of the Song army had been prepared for a long time. When the reverse-pull siege ladder was just close to the city wall, dozens of spears pierced it together. The three soldiers on the top were stabbed to death immediately, and fell to the city screaming.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen clay pots filled with kerosene were smashed down, the pots shattered, the kerosene drenched the siege ladder and the soldiers, and a few torches were thrown down, the siege ladder immediately burned, and the twenty people on the ladder burned. Several soldiers were also set on fire, screaming and jumping into the moat.

At this time, nearly [-] soldiers had gathered in the southwest and northwest corners. Seeing that the time was ripe, Cao Wenjing ordered: "Fire iron fire mines to the southwest and northwest corners."

More than thirty ignited iron fire mines were thrown out of the city one after another by small trebuchets. The projection distance of this kind of small trebuchets was about a hundred steps, which happened to be where the siege soldiers were most concentrated.

"Lie down!" someone shouted in the city.

The soldiers of the Song army on the top of the city covered their ears and squatted down, only to hear a series of earth-shattering explosions, flames burst out, black smoke rose into the air, powerful shock waves and iron nails shot in all directions, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and limbs were everywhere. The screams were covered by the explosion, and hundreds of cavalrymen a hundred steps away were also affected. The horses fell to the ground, the cavalry fell, and the city wall shook, and all the soldiers on the siege ladder fell. The whole city was shrouded in acrid smoke.

Yelu Kunping, the general of the Liao army watching the battle from a distance, and the cavalry were all stunned. Of course they knew that this was a firearm of the Song army, but they had never seen such a powerful firearm.

Yelu Kunping ordered without hesitation: "Mingjin retreats!"

'when!when!when! '

The bell rang quickly, and the Liao army withdrew like a tide, but what made Yelu Kunping even more frightened was that only more than [-] people withdrew, and more than [-] iron fire mines from the Song army killed and injured more than [-] people.

In fact, only a thousand soldiers were actually killed by the bombing, and most of them were killed by the shock. This is the first time that Tiehuolei was used on the Song and Liao battlefields. The Liao soldiers have no experience. Fell to the ground, avoiding the concussion of the shock wave, the death toll would probably be reduced by half.

Most of the soldiers killed this time were soldiers from Bohai. They stood behind, and Tie Huolei happened to fall into their group of soldiers, killing nearly 3000 people.

Seeing that the morale of Yelu Kunping was low and it was not suitable to fight any more, he immediately ordered: "The whole army retreats to the camp!"

Amidst the low sound of drums, the Liao soldiers retreated slowly, and withdrew to the camp ten miles away.

Song Jun on the top of the city immediately burst into cheers.

Wang Xuan said excitedly: "With Tiehuolei guarding the city, we will not be afraid of the Liao army!"

Cao Wenjing said lightly: "Although Tiehuolei is a powerful weapon for defending the city, if we rely on him, once the Liao army finds a way to defend, Tiehuolei's power will not be as great as it is today."

"How to defend against iron fire thunder, does the general know?"

Cao Wenjing nodded, "Fan Xianggong told everyone that if you can crawl on the ground before the iron fire thunder explodes and cover your body with a shield in time, the killing effect will be reduced by more than half."

Wang Xuan sighed, "I hope the Liao army will not find a way to defend so quickly!"

Cao Wenjing smiled. Seeing that the enemy army had gone far away, he turned his head and said: "Go out of the city to clean up the battlefield. The injured Han soldiers of the Liao army can be treated, and the other Liao army will be killed!"

The city gates were opened, the drawbridge was slowly lowered, and two thousand soldiers rushed out to clean up the useful spoils, treat the wounded, and burn and bury the bodies.

In the first siege battle, the Liao army failed at the cost of 8000 casualties. A carrier pigeon soared from the top of the city and flew towards Hejian City.

At night, Yelu Kunping was a little restless in the big tent. As the deputy envoy of the South Court, he already understood that the sharp weapon used by the Song Army today was the legendary iron-shelled fire thunder, and he also witnessed the power of the iron-shelled fire thunder with his own eyes. Powerful, more than 4000 Liao troops were wiped out in one explosion, leaving only 1 of the [-] infantry. What should we do next?
Continue to attack the city, or withdraw troops?Or give up Baosai City and go directly to Hejian Mansion to join the East Route Army?
Continuing to attack the city, Yelu Kunping no longer had the courage. He didn't know how many iron fire mines were in the city. If there were a hundred more, the infantry might be wiped out. He couldn't take such a huge risk.

In fact, Yelu Kunping's original intention was to retreat, but the retreat would inevitably be severely punished by the emperor Yelu Hongji, but if he didn't retreat and went around the city to Hejian Mansion, then he would have to give up all his belongings, and he couldn't afford to lose face , the coach does not allow it.

Yelu Kunping paced around a few times with his hands behind his back, but he thought of a way. Since there is no road in the wilderness, he should ram a passage, which is more than ten miles, and go around the city. It can be completed in ten days and a half months at most. , In this way, the luggage can pass.

Early the next morning, [-] cavalry left the camp and headed northeastward. The north of Baosai County was almost covered with wheat fields, but it had been empty for a year and was covered with weeds. With one step, the mud would reach the ankles. Yelv Kunping considered using the cavalry to step out the outline of a road first, and then the infantry would tamp it down.

Although the idea is good, it is not so easy to implement. First of all, there are no tools for ramming the ground. Generally, wood is used for ramming the ground. I can’t see a single tree, and the siege weapons are removed to ram the ground. First, there are not so many rough logs, and second, what should I do after the siege weapons are removed?The Eastern Route Army is still waiting for their siege weapons to support it!
Yelu Kunping still thought of a way to pave a road with gravel, and only need to pave two long and thin roads for the wheels. Thinking of this, Yelu Kunping immediately divided his troops into two groups. On the one hand, he ordered [-] cavalry Repeatedly running and trampling in the field, on the other hand, he ordered [-] soldiers to go to Bailongling, more than ten miles to the south, to collect stones. It was a stone mountain with no trees, only large and small stones.

On the head of Dongcheng, Cao Wenjing watched the [-] cavalry rushing towards the official road more than ten miles away. He sneered and turned back to order: "Light the beacon fire!"

The beacon tower on the top of the city was lit, and it was immediately discovered by soldiers of the Liao army. Someone reported Yelu Kunping, and Yelu Kunping was also stunned. What does it mean that the Song army lit the beacon fire?
Yelu Kunping suddenly felt a very uneasy feeling in his heart. At this moment, he suddenly felt the ground tremble. He suddenly thought of something, and when he turned his head, he saw a black line from the west heading towards his camp.

"not good!"

Yelu Kunping yelled, and immediately shouted: "Quickly order the cavalry to come back!"

His 1000 cavalry were on the road thirty miles to the east, how could they come back so quickly, and the infantry was clearing the road more than ten miles away. There were less than [-] defenders in the barracks. Lived in this extremely short time.

The [-] Song Army cavalry were in ambush ten miles away. Their task was to find every opportunity to destroy the enemy's logistics supplies such as food and grass.

Ten miles is also the boundary of the Liao soldiers' detection posts. Hundreds of detection posts have formed an artificial defense line ten miles away. Once an abnormality occurs, a letter will be sent to the camp immediately.

The beacon smoke from Baosai City sent out a signal, and ten thousand cavalry soldiers of the Song Army rushed out and charged at the Liao army camp. In the blink of an eye, they rushed into the camp. Unable to escape, he was surrounded by the cavalry of the Song Army and killed them all.

The Song army quickly ignited the tents, luggage, food and grass, and then rushed to the south like a gust of wind to encircle and annihilate the [-] Liao soldiers who were quarrying.

(End of this chapter)