Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 830 0825 [Can’t defeat the city without walls]

The flow direction of the Laoha River during the Liao and Jin Dynasties was slightly different from that hundreds of years later.

It was called Tu River at this time and flowed from Yanshan Mountain in the southwest. Passing south of Qijin Mountain, the Liao Kingdom built a city by the river and named it Zhongjing Dadingfu. Its location was dozens of miles west of Ningcheng in later generations.

During the Liao Kingdom, Dading Prefecture and its surrounding areas were dominated by the Xi ethnic group, followed by the Khitan ethnic group, and then the Han ethnic group.

The Xi people rebelled against the Jin and made a big fuss. The Jin State suppressed it for two or three years before it subsided. Then, they disrupted the migration of the Xi people and moved many Han people over.

At the same time, there were also many Jurchen tribesmen who moved here.

In particular, many of the elites who followed Wanyan Zonghan in his southern and northern campaigns moved their tribesmen to Dadingfu, Lizhou, and Jianzhou.

"The main force of the golden soldiers is coming, the main force of the golden soldiers is coming!"

Eighty miles north of Dadingfu City, Wang Yan built a beacon tower on Yuanbao Mountain.

As soon as Wanyan Zonghan's main force appeared, a line of smoke rose along the mountains. Only an hour later, the news reached Dadingfu City, and then the smoke signals were sent to the south and east.

The Qingqi of the Ming Dynasty who escaped back said: "The sky was overwhelming and there were thousands of cavalry opening the way. All the Qingqi of our army were driven back."

Now, Wang Yan had filled two-thirds of the vacant city wall, and the remaining one-third was blocked by chariots.

Wanyan Zonghan observed the city with a telescope and soon saw Wang Yan on the tower.

The northern city wall was demolished by the Jin Kingdom a long time ago, and the soil from the wall was thrown into the moat, completely filling in the northern moat.

The main occupation here is pastoralism, supplemented by farming.

All the young herdsmen were drawn to fight, and Wanyan Zonghan spread rumors on the grassland that the Ming Emperor planned to massacre all the tribes.

Wanyan Zongfu was recruiting troops crazily in Liaodong, and Wanyan Zonghan was naturally similar.

More than 40,000 gold soldiers quickly arrived outside the city of Dadingfu.

……

Soon, another Qingqi came over from the other side of the Tuhe River: "One section of the city wall we tore down was filled with earth and rocks. There is also a section that probably won't have time to be filled in. There are many baggage carts placed there. Those baggage carts are not connected with iron chains. One after another, they blocked the gap in the city wall and were guarded by Ming troops on and behind the vehicles. "

Moreover, there are also ancient Tang tribes in Linhuang Mansion, all of whom are descendants of prisoners of war and slaves from the Liao Kingdom. There are a large number of Jurchens among them. Although their descendants have long been Khitanized, they still retain some Jurchen customs and are regarded as Jurchens by the Jin Kingdom.

"Make Zhennan cannon!" Wanyan Zonghan ordered.

One group crossed the Tuhe River in advance and came to the north of Dading City. One group camped on the east side of Tuhe River. One group continued south and sent out cavalry to explore the Ming reinforcements.

Wanyan Mouyan is twenty-four years old this year and cannot be entrusted with important responsibilities yet. The real command must rely on the subordinates left by Wanyan Lou's room.

In addition, he surrendered to the Jin Kingdom earlier, the population loss was not serious, and he was relatively loyal to the Jin Kingdom.

Wang Yan stood on the tower, looked north and asked, "How many Jin soldiers have come?"

"Marshal, there are no Ming troops on all sides, and the southern thieves have all hid in the city." Wanyan Mouyan rushed to report.

Wanyan Zonghan said: "Keep an eye on the south and focus on besieging the city and calling for reinforcements. If you encounter a Ming army vehicle formation, attack it if you can. If you can't, cut off the grain road and attack and kill the grain transport teams."

After Wanyan Loushi died of illness, his son Wanyan Mouyan inherited his troops.

Wanyan Zonghan personally took a boat and crossed the river northeast of Dading City, picked up a telescope and observed carefully.

Linhuang Mansion, that is, the vast area from Heshiketeng Banner to Horqin Grassland.

Ju Ming renamed Huihui Pao as Pingyi Pao, but when it was passed to the Kingdom of Jin, it became Zhennan Pao.

Dading Mansion and Linhuang Mansion both had countless craftsmen, and Wanyan Zonghan brought hundreds of them with his army.

The herdsmen in Linhuang Mansion have poor combat effectiveness as cavalry, but they are still very useful. It can be used as a light cavalry to be sent out for exploration, it can also be used to escort livestock and grain, and it can also be used as a civilian husband at critical times.

Hundreds of craftsmen and more than 2,000 herdsmen went to the northwest mountains to cut down trees.

In order to save time, they even built equipment around the campfire at night.

The next day, hundreds of Jurchen cavalry and more than 2,000 herdsmen escorted more grain and grass south. The livestock were snatched from the Monan grassland, and the grain was obtained by scraping three feet of the ground in northern Shanxi. Wanyan Zonghan turned over the table and fished in the lake. Now he has plenty of grain and grass.

On the third day, the Jin soldiers had built more than 30 large and small return artillery pieces, and more than 400 simple siege flying ladders.

When the Jin soldiers pushed back the cannon and slowly moved towards Beicheng, Wang Yan ordered: "Fire the cannon!"

The Yanshan Passage is difficult to navigate, and the heavy pig-iron cannons are difficult to transport. There are only eight wrought-iron field cannons here.

Moreover, the Jin soldiers pulled down the city wall in advance, and the temporary wall built was not strong and it was difficult to place artillery on it. The other three walls were unable to attack the siege soldiers in the north.

Currently, these eight wrought iron cannons are all placed between the chariots.

Eight of the tanks had been towed away overnight and replaced with artillery pieces to shoot at the siege troops.

"Boom boom boom!"

All the artillery shells were aimed at the advancing cannons. Unfortunately, the accuracy was not good. Not a single cannon hit, but more than ten golden soldiers were killed.

The shelling continued until the third round, and finally hit one. The cannon was broken on the spot.

The artillery moved slowly, and the Ming army started shooting again a mile and a half away. After the fourth round of continuous shelling, the returning artillery was still far away from the city wall.

"Boom!"

"what!"

Suddenly, a pit appeared on the ground, and a return gun and three gunners suddenly fell into the huge pit.

This time the cannon was quite big, and a large part of it was exposed when it was moved into the pit. "Boom boom boom!"

Another round of shelling.

Those responsible for pushing the cannon were mostly craftsmen and herdsmen, and only two gunners were veterans.

Their ability to hold on until now was the limit. After facing several rounds of shelling, one group suddenly turned around and ran away, leading more people to throw away their artillery and flee.

Wanyan Zonghan saw clearly from behind and issued an order: "The first team to flee will be beheaded in public display!"

Of the more than 30 Jin soldiers' artillery pieces, nine have been smashed by shells, and three more have fallen into pits and cannot get out.

According to Wanyan Zonghan's idea, the city walls newly built by the Ming army were just for show, and they would collapse with just a few hits of boulders.

But the problem now is that the cannon can't be pushed back!

After much deliberation, the method of shelling the city had to be given up, and Wanyan Zonghan ordered a direct attack on the city (car formation).

There were two gaps in the city wall that were filled with chariots, and the total length was more than 300 meters.

Following Wanyan Zonghan's order, a large number of herdsmen transformed into light cavalry and ran towards the chariot dragging wooden ladders with their horses.

Along the way, cavalrymen fell into pits from time to time. No one knew how many pits Wang Yan had dug.

Because the herdsmen cavalry were too scattered, the eight artillery pieces of the Ming army were too lazy to fire. It wasn't until the enemy troops were approaching the chariot and became more and more dense that the Ming army's crossbows began to shoot arrows.

These herdsmen lacked armor and fell down one after another in the face of the rain of arrows.

They were also shooting arrows at the Ming army, but they were all blocked by shields or chariot baffles.

Before they had time to dismount and set up the wooden ladder, a large number of herdsmen cavalry retreated. Their loyalty to the Jin Kingdom was definitely not to the level of fighting to the death compared to other ethnic groups in Liaodong.

Wanyan Zonghan also ordered the execution of more than ten people who fled first, and made the supervising team run back and forth with their heads in hand: "Whoever dares to retreat again will be beheaded!"

Two more groups of herdsmen cavalry were organized to attack.

Under the severe threat of military law, someone finally rushed to the chariot, cut off the rope dragging the wooden ladder, put the ladder on the chariot and tried to climb.

But that was all, they were all killed by the Ming army's spearmen.

Wanyan Zonghan organized a fourth attack, still using herdsmen cavalry to charge in the front, and elite Jurchen soldiers in the back. The herdsmen cavalry consumed the Ming army's arrows, and the Jurchen elite took the opportunity to rush to the chariot.

"Grenadier!"

Whenever a Jurchen elite approached a chariot, the grenadiers on the vehicle would lift up the enemy, ignite it with match ropes, and then throw it over the chariot's baffle.

"Boom boom boom!"

Those Jurchen elites were still building wooden ladders, but the ladders and the people themselves were all destroyed by the explosion.

The nearby Jin soldiers were so frightened that they ran away.

Finally, Wanyan Zonghan stopped attacking and ordered the entire army to withdraw to the camp.

Wanyan Zonghan was very helpless. The weapons of the Ming army were too difficult to deal with. There are artillery in the long range, firecrackers in the middle range, and tens of thousands of enemies at close range. How can the Jurchen elites show their full potential no matter how powerful they are?

Not to mention attacking a fortified city, even if the city wall is torn down and only a formation of chariots is used to block it, the golden soldiers will not be able to rush in at all.

We can only lay siege to the city and call for reinforcements.

Moreover, they have to ambush and attack by surprise. If the reinforcements of the Ming army are allowed to form a car formation, the Jin soldiers will not be able to defeat them no matter how they attack!
Wang Yan sat on the north tower and watched the Jin retreat with a blank expression.

Most of the soldiers under his command were from Hebei, and all of them had a blood feud with the Kingdom of Jin.

As long as the main force of the Jin army is held here for a few days, several other friendly armies will be able to arrive.

"Marshal, ten miles south of Wen'an Town, reinforcements from the Southern Bandits have been discovered!"

Wanyan Zonghan immediately climbed on horseback, leaving a force to guard the camp while he personally led the elite troops to fight against the Ming reinforcements.

In order to paralyze Wang Yan who was guarding the city, they also circled further east to prevent the guards from discovering it with binoculars.

To the south of Wen'an Town is Li Yanxian, who is no longer a pure cavalryman. Part of his cavalry, led by Yan Ping, marched eastward and followed Li Jinyi to attack Jinzhou. The remaining cavalry were mixed with thousands of infantry. Li Yanxian's military rank was higher than that of Yue Fei.

Upon arriving in Wen'an Town, Li Yanxian directly ordered: "Rely on the houses, rivers and chariots in the town, and form a formation on the spot to wait for the friendly forces to converge."

Hehe, I'm not leaving.

The generals of the Ming army all know Wanyan Zonghan's plan, so why are they so impatient?
Li Yanxian formed a formation in Wen'an Town and waited for Li Bao and Yue Fei to come and join them.

A messenger rushed to Li Yanxian on horseback and handed Yue Fei's secret letter to Li Yanxian.

Li Yanxian read the secret letter carefully, smiled and said: "Since General Yue said he is sure, I will lend him my cavalry!"

Wanyan Zonghan has too many horses under his command, and he can run away at any time if he cannot win.

Yue Fei's idea is very simple, go directly to burn the golden soldiers' food and grass!

Even if they fail to burn food, they can still retreat into Dadingfu City.

Once the food burning is successful, Wanyan Zonghan can be forced to fight in a decisive battle.

Yue Fei was already playing very aggressively, and Li Bao was even more crazy.

When he heard that Wanyan Zonghan was coming, he immediately withdrew from Xingzhong Fucheng and let the second-line troops and civilians garrison Jianzhou Fucheng. He didn't even think about rescuing Wang Yan. Instead, he led his elite horses to ride north, each with only one mule to transport grain. He wanted to attack Huihe County and Sanhan County and directly capture Wanyan Zonghan's rear city.

Li Bao was very relieved about Li Yanxian, Yue Fei, and Wang Yan. Since the three of them could be stable, why did he have to go all the way to rescue them? Just cut off the enemy's retreat!
(End of this chapter)