Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1054 1049 [Water is the Most Precious]

Gaochang City was first built in the Western Han Dynasty.

It is a military farming town built by the Han people!

Over the past thousand years, the rulers here have changed constantly, but the Han people ruled for the longest time, followed by the Uighurs, Tubo, Rouran and other ethnic groups.

The Ming Dynasty had sufficient reasons to recover its homeland.

After generations of consolidation and expansion, Gaochang City now has a palace city, inner city and outer city, and there are nine gates in the outer city wall.

The wall foundation is 12 meters thick and the city wall is 11.5 meters high.

Judging from the defensive capabilities of the city walls, it is definitely the largest city in the Western Regions!

Even if the Ming army placed a row of heavy artillery, it would be difficult to directly blow down the city wall, as the giant rammed earth city wall had extremely strong anti-artillery capabilities.

Artillery is not good enough, and the Huihui cannon is even worse.

The rumor that the Yuan army used Huihui cannon to destroy the city of Xiangyang is pure nonsense.

The Huihui cannon only destroyed the fortifications and buildings in Fancheng, and partially damaged the city walls of Fancheng. The Song army defending the city even imitated the Huihui cannon on the spot and fired back.

All of the above mentioned are about Fancheng, not Xiangyang.

The city tower of Xiangyang was only hit by the Huihui cannon. The Song army was trapped in the isolated city with no reinforcements for a long time. As Fancheng on the opposite bank had also fallen, they surrendered the city in desperation.

……

Li Yanxian led his army to Gaochang. There were many fortresses built outside the city, all of which were newly built in the past two years, forming the outer defense system of Gaochang City.

After setting up camp, a meeting was held.

Li Yanxian took out a map of Gaochang, and it was the latest version drawn by the spy at the beginning of this year.

After discussing for about half an hour, Li Yanxian made a decision:
"Gaochang City and the surrounding farmland all rely on the Gaochang River (Mutougou River) for water supply. These forts are all located next to irrigation canals, which also draw water from the Gaochang River."

"We can divide our forces and attack the two forts in the east and northeast at the same time to lure the enemy troops in the city to come to the rescue. Our main force will be stationed in the center to provide support. Once the defenders in the city come out, we will immediately annihilate them quickly."

"After we capture these two strongholds, we will go and take out the stronghold to the north of the city. Then we will cut off the Gaochang River and prevent the river water from flowing into the city. All the river water will flow to the irrigation canal we occupy."

"After blocking the river, we can fill in the moat."

"Let's see how they can hold on without water!"

The laborers and craftsmen all took action, cutting down trees and making siege equipment.

No large-scale equipment was built, only ordinary siege ladders were constructed as quickly as possible, and the target was naturally the various forts outside the city.

More than 10,000 miscellaneous cavalry and two to three thousand elite cavalry from the Western Liao Dynasty were dispersed to interfere with the attack on the Ming army and civilians who were cutting down trees.

All the Ming cavalry were also dispatched to drive away the enemies, and infantry were used to protect the main felling points.

The two sides fought for several days, and the Western Liao cavalry lost more than they won.

Their overall combat effectiveness was too poor, especially those grassland cavalry, who were still using a large number of bone arrows, which were like tickling the Ming army's armor.

For example, the Naiman tribe. At that time, Yelu Dashi only had a few hundred armored cavalry, but he was able to suppress them completely.

"We can't win. The Ming cavalry is too powerful!"

Narheshi said to Taiyang Khan: "Their armor is as good as free. Even the light cavalry sent out for reconnaissance are all wearing light armor. The rest of the Ming cavalry are all wearing armor. Today we rescued a Ming soldier's body. Although the outside is cotton, the inside is full of armor pieces."

Taiyang Khan said with emotion: "The Han land is indeed rich."

"Father, let's just surrender." Narheshi no longer wanted to fight to the death with the Ming army.

Taiyang Khan shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer. There is no such thing as a sure win or a loss in a war. The Liao's elite reinforcements will soon arrive. What if the Liao wins in the end and we surrender early? What should we do?"

Gnarlhide said: "We can't let the tribal warriors die in vain."

Taiyang Khan said: "Tell the leaders of each tribe not to fight to the death when they encounter the Ming army. Just pretend to shoot a few arrows, and flee back immediately when they encounter danger."

Not only did the Naiman tribe passively avoid fighting, but other stationed or nomadic cavalry also chose to paddle during battles.

No one is willing to die for Western Liao!

With this, the Ming army completely gained control of the area surrounding the battlefield, and the Western Liao cavalry only dared to run over, take a few looks and then retreat.

Various small siege weapons were built, and tens of thousands of Ming troops advanced forward, leaving only a few thousand newly arrived soldiers to guard the camp.

Xiao Chala watched the Ming army approaching the fort outside the city without looking through the telescope, but he did not dare to send out a large army to rescue them.

Between the two Western Liao forts in the east and northeast, the main force of the Ming army had formed a large battle array. The front row was a defense line made up of four-wheeled side carriages, countless artillery and muskets, which made Xiao Chala'a's scalp numb.

After the main force of the Ming army built a large formation, it divided into two forces of several thousand people to attack the two Western Liao forts on the left and right.

Xiao Chalabu still mobilized the army to prepare, and even sent part of the army out of the city to form a battle array, just in case he could seize the opportunity to win a partial victory? He couldn't just watch the Ming army take the camp.

"Boom boom boom!"

There were loud gunshots coming from the direction of the two forts, mostly small and medium caliber artillery bombarding the fortifications.

The only two heavy artillery pieces were also dragged out, one for each fort. While the artillery was firing, the civilians began to fill the trenches outside the fort. Those trenches even introduced river water, which was equivalent to a small moat.

If this continues, the moat will be filled up.

Xiao Chala Abu led the main force out of the city and sent out several thousand infantry and cavalry to try to rescue the eastern fort.

As soon as he moved, the main force of the Ming army also moved, and thousands of infantry and cavalry were sent to intercept him.

After a battle, the Western Liao army fled in a panic, and the Ming cavalry chased them until they were close to the Western Liao formation before returning.

That day, around mid-afternoon.

Both Western Liao forts were destroyed, and one of them surrendered during the fighting.

The Ming army's camp also moved here and was divided into two, with two forts as the center of the camp, because there were more abundant water sources here.

The next day, some soldiers were left to guard the camp, and the rest of the troops went to attack the enemy camp in the north of the city.

Xiao Chala Abu sent a large number of miscellaneous cavalry to harass the main force of the Ming army, and sent infantry to attack the relatively "empty" Ming army camp, which did not even have a fortification.

The soldiers guarding the camp had a large number of flintlock rifles and even carried sky-blasting bombs. The moment the grenadiers were dispatched, the Western Liao soldiers who were sent to attack the camp collapsed and fled.

Aksuhe was left in a camp, and when he saw the objects thrown by the grenadiers explode, his eyes almost exploded.

"That's the devil's weapon!" Aksuhe said to himself.

A few days later, the Ming army eliminated all the nearby Xiliao forts, and Gaochang City's outer defense system was completely destroyed.

Moreover, the Ming army cut off the river, allowing it to flow only through the irrigation canals leading to the Ming army camps. Not a drop of river water flowed to the heavily guarded Gaochang City.

The residents in the city have gone crazy. In order to store water, every household has to carry buckets out.

Such a large city naturally also has an urban drinking water system, which is nothing more than digging many artificial rivers and bringing river water outside the city into the city for residents to use.

The water source was cut off and was still flowing downstream. Countless residents rushed to fetch water, and the water levels of the small rivers in the city and the moat outside the city dropped rapidly.

Xiaocharabu collected all containers that could store water and sent troops to store as much drinking water as possible.

Seeing that the river was almost dry, the army even began to expel the people.

The Ming army was not idle either. They sent soldiers to keep a close eye on the nine city gates, and the infantry and cavalry took turns to line up outside the moat for a day and a night. Once they found a city gate open and soldiers and civilians trying to get water from the moat, they would immediately fire at them with crossbows and muskets.

It was not until most of the water in the moat flowed further downstream that the Ming army formed its battle array and slowly withdrew.

During this period, civilians from the Ming army carried soil to fill the moat. The infantry and cavalry guarded the passages along the moat, and the civilians only needed to remove the chariot shields to prevent arrows, and then they could pour soil and rocks into the moat leisurely.

"This city is about to fall," said Aksuhe.

Du Jushi said: "Do you know? This city was built by our ancestors, but unfortunately it was later occupied by foreigners."

Aksuhe was quite surprised: "The people here, and the refugees before, all look different from you."

Du Jushi said: "But many of them are descendants of the Han people, but they have mixed blood with other ethnic groups through long-term intermarriage. Since the Han people built the city here more than a thousand years ago, they have ruled here for most of the time. Even the name of this city and the name of the country destroyed by the Western Liao Dynasty were given by the Han people before the city was built. The terrain is high and open, and the people are prosperous. This is the origin of the name Gaochang, which is clearly recorded in the Northern History."

"No wonder this place is a place of peach blossoms," Aksuhe said, "Our Roman Empire has also lost a lot of territory, and it has also been occupied by foreign tribes. I don't know when we can recover it."

While the two men were chatting, the morale of the defenders was becoming increasingly low.

When the soldiers and civilians in the city have finished drinking their stored water, or are about to run out, some of them will probably think about surrendering.

Xiao Chala Abu had already sent out several groups of messengers, and after paying the price of more than 300 cavalrymen, he broke through the siege and sent the letter for help to the west.

The commander of the Western Liao reinforcements, Xiao Wulila, received the first letter 200 miles away, when the river had just been cut off by the Ming army. When his pioneers arrived 100 miles away, the soldiers and civilians in the city could only rely on stored water to survive.

Li Tiansheng, Deputy Privy Councilor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cavalry, said: "This battle is a bit difficult to fight. With Xiao Chala Abu's command ability, he has lost all the water sources outside the city in such a short time. The strength of the Ming army is stronger than we thought."

Xiao Wulila asked: "What do you think of the chariots and artillery in the letter?"

Li Tiansheng shook his head and said, "There is no way to deal with it."

Xiao Wulila was puzzled and asked, "Why can't the cannon we made fire so quickly? Could it be that the Tanguts who escaped are hiding something?"

The military supervisor Yelu Tiege said: "Those Tanguts who escaped from the Western Xia had only seen muskets and cannons from afar. The Tangut leader who knew the most had only touched the barrels of a Western Xia cannon when he watched the Western Xia artillery performance. According to what these people said, it was not easy for us to imitate the cannon. And the Ming army's cannons must have been modified."

Western Liao also has artillery!
The imitation of artillery was actually quite smooth, and it was successful before Yelu Dashi died. However, the gunpowder ratio was a bit difficult to get right, and although it has been improved many times, its power is still insufficient.

Even the original gunpowder formula was smuggled from the Ming Dynasty at a large sum of money.

The Ming army mixed spies into the caravans to spy on the enemy, and the Western Liao Dynasty could of course bribe the merchants who were greedy for money.

The merchant received the advance payment, asked the folk craftsmen for the recipe, memorized it, and then ran to Western Liao to collect the balance.

At first, the civilian gunpowder formula couldn't even explode, and Yelu Dashi thought he was cheated by the merchants. After adjusting the ratio again and again, it finally exploded, and the power became stronger and stronger.

Firearms cannot be kept secret forever.

Xiao Wulila said: "The Ming army has cut off the water source in the north of Gaochang City. If our army wants to win, we can only fight with real swords and guns. We must take back the water source. If we can't occupy the water source, this battle will undoubtedly be lost!"

(End of this chapter)