The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The military meeting for defending the city of Weizhou has been held many times. Since the Xixia army approached the city yesterday afternoon, Su Jin, Li Zhong, Jingtai, Pan Jiang, Wei Songhe, and several mid-level generals deployed in Weizhou, as well as Chao Mahan and others have been Stand on the top of the city gate and observe carefully.

Groups of soldiers and horses arrived one after another. Jingtai made a rough estimate and asserted that the number was more than [-]. Everyone was depressed. One hundred thousand troops was already the number of enemy troops they had always thought, and it was already close to the bottom line of psychology. But now it seems that the enemy's army is far more than this number, according to Jingtai's estimation, it should be between [-] and [-].

In this way, the enemy outside the city is three times as many as the defenders in the city. There were originally 5000 defenders in the city, plus the 9 troops Han Qi sent Jingtai to bring reinforcements, plus Li Chong came from the people who came from the city. The men selected among them who can fight are only about [-], which is [-] to [-] less than the enemy.

Su Jin was uncertain, and the expression on his face became more serious. Jingtai comforted him, "Seeing that the soldiers and horses of the western thieves did not carry siege equipment, it seems that there are thousands of black camels in the camp on the right, and they must be carrying a whirlwind." However, it is impossible to use the whirlwind cannon to attack the city. That thing will not work at all under Weizhou's strong city defense. What can you do to me in Weizhou?"

Su Jin felt relieved after hearing Jingtai's words. Without siege equipment, it would be difficult to break through Weizhou's solid city defenses. Using manpower alone would be exactly what he wished for. Weizhou City has sufficient supplies and nearly 60 arrows , and Wai Da is preparing to rebuild the house and collected countless wood and stones on Longshan Mountain, which will become a sharp weapon to defend against the enemy at this moment.

Thick battlements have already been raised on the northern city wall. It used to reach the chest, but now it is almost raised to the neck. That is, the Xixia military master standing under the battlement wall cannot shoot the defenders on the city with arrows, and Pan Jiang found more than 20 dust-covered bed crossbows in the armory deployed in the capital, which greatly improved the long-range shooting ability. Su Jin had seen the power of this thing when he was in Luzhou. The cracked wall and tree are intimidating, and they are indeed a powerful weapon for defending the city.

After a comprehensive analysis, Su Jin felt relieved a lot, and even became eager to try. When he heard that Li Yuanhao might personally sit in the army to supervise the battle, Su Jin suddenly had the urge to slap Li Yuanhao face to face. If this battle made Li Yuanhao lose his temper , I don't know if this mighty Xixia monarch will run away from the city and go into battle in person.

However, in the afternoon, the situation changed suddenly; when Su Jinzheng and Li Chong were taking a nap in the temporary headquarters in Beicheng, Jingtai rushed in, his face changed and even his voice changed.

"Master Su...things are not very good."

Su Jin hurriedly asked: "What's the matter? Did the enemy do anything unexpected?"

Jing Tai said: "I was watching from the top of the city just now, and saw a group of soldiers and horses coming from Longshan Mountain. Something has changed."

Su Jin said: "What's the big deal? The number of people is already several times larger than mine. What's the difference if there are more people? Wait...you mean you came from Longshan?"

"Yes, it came down from Longshan Mountain."

"What are they going to Longshan for?"

Jingtai wiped his sweat and sighed: "What else can we do? Naturally, we need to cut wood for rocks, and they brought back a large amount of wood, and they have already started building things."

Surprised, Su Jin asked, "What did you make?"

Jingtai said with a trembling voice: "Throw...stone...machine!"

……

Su Jin and others stood under the tower and stared dumbfounded at how busy the city was, but they saw piles of wood and stones piled up like hills on the large sandy ground in front of the enemy camp, and soldiers and horses were continuously transporting timber from Longshan. and rocks.

What's even more depressing is that hundreds of craftsmen have already built more than a dozen trebuchets while knocking and beating. The rough wood is connected by mortise and tenon and iron nails, and two stand tall. On the triangular chassis at the bottom Pressed down with big stones, a crossbar is placed in the middle of the two tall masts, and one end of the crossbar is connected with a heavy object and the other end is a spoon-shaped stone pocket.

The trebuchet has a very simple structure. You only need to order someone to pull down one end of the spoon, put a large spoonful of stones on it, and then cut off the rope. The heavy object at the end will fall, and the stones in the spoon will be ejected. come out.

"Didn't you say that Xixia thieves can't make trebuchets at all? You also said that there are very few Xixia craftsmen, and they can only make tables, chairs and benches. How can Xixia make this kind of trebuchet?" Su Jin asked while taking a breath.

Jingtai pointed to the busy craftsmen below the city and said, "Your Excellency, look at the hairstyles and clothes of those craftsmen, they are basically the costumes of the Liao people. It seems that the Liao people and Xixia have joined forces. The Liao people are good at making this kind of siege machine. It was the Liao people who agreed to the Xi thief's request and sent domestic craftsmen to help."

Su Jin gritted his teeth and scolded: "Liaogou is unwilling to be lonely, let's record this account for them, the problem is how to change our play style now that the opponent has a siege machine, we must not be able to fight according to the previous deployment, hey No matter how you arrange it, it will not be easy to handle.”

Pan Jiang suddenly said: "My lord, what better way to lead a group of soldiers out of the city to attack them unprepared, shoot all the wood craftsmen, and teach them how to make trebuchets?"

Jing Tai laughed and said, "Is Commander Pan joking? Killing people in front of 10,000+ cavalry? Isn't this hitting a stone with an egg?"

Pan Jiangdao: "Master Jing, I also know that the possibility of success is not high, but it's just a matter of trying. We can't just sit and watch the thieves build one after another. If they are all built, we will have to It’s a big loss.”

Jingtai sighed silently, agreeing with Pan Jiang's words, but also unable to agree with his proposal; Su Jin waved his hands and said, "Don't mention this matter, the possibility of success is very small, and you are the commander of the army in the city, how can you go in danger."

Wang Chao stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "Xiaozhi is willing to go and have a try."

Su Jin frowned and said, "Don't make trouble, this is not the time to make trouble."

Wang Chao sternly said: "My lord, I'm not making trouble, I'm serious; tonight, the western thieves will rush to make the trebuchet overnight, and I will take a few capable brothers and bring kerosene to make a surprise attack. Do it if you can. If there is no chance to do it, I will not force it, and I will never fight with my life."

Su Jin tilted his head and thought for a while, and felt that there seemed to be a possibility of realizing it. With the skills of Wang Chao and others, as long as they don’t fall into a heavy siege, there is absolutely no problem in returning safely. The problem is that Su Jin knows Wang Chao. I'm afraid he will never come back if he succeeds in his work. Zhao Hu is more suitable than him. This kid will definitely follow the order.

"Brother Dynasty, you have other important things to do. I think Zhao Hu can bring a few people to try this matter. Zhao Hu obeys and immediately selects a dozen people with high martial arts skills from my family's generals, and brings them to the fire at night." Oil tank to try, but there are two points that must be kept in mind, otherwise I will not agree."

Zhao Hu didn't expect that this task would fall on him, he stepped forward happily and said: "My lord is very interesting, don't say two things, even if I agree to ten things."

Su Jindao: "First, don't force meritorious deeds. Western thieves must be very careful at night, so you must never attack by force; second, if you are discovered, withdraw immediately and don't entangle with the enemy. If you agree to these two points, you can do it This matter."

Zhao Hu repeatedly agreed: "Do you dare not listen to what the young master said? The young master is afraid that we will be surrounded by western thieves and cannot be rescued, I understand."

Su Jin said: "It's good that you understand, if you disobey my order, don't follow me from now on."

Zhao Hu stuck out his tongue, and said repeatedly: "How dare you disobey." He went to choose a man.

Li Zhong said softly: "Brother Su, this actually won't help. We should think about ways to deploy the city defense."

Su Jin sighed and said: "Brother Zhao Ting, why don't I know this truth? I am in a hurry to go to the doctor, but I hope it can have a small effect, even if it can delay the time for the western thief's catapult to grow into a large scale. More time to come up with countermeasures."

Li Chong patted Su Jin on the shoulder and said: "Brother Su, don't worry, the storm is here, and this time it must be auspicious. I, Li Chong, firmly support you. You will definitely lead us to defend the city successfully. I firmly believe in this." .”

Su Jin looked into Li Chong's eyes, stretched out his hand to hold him, and was very moved. It was Li Chong who understood the problem. He must have seen his lack of confidence. This was to cheer himself up psychologically so that he could recover. Take it easy.

Su Jin needs time to sort out the current situation. The big battle is about to start. He needs to be quiet and think about the key points of this battle. Facing the biggest big scene since time travel, Su Jin did not Reason not exhausting.