Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 948 0943 [This is the old place of the Han family]

Brother Richard's rescue army was still on the way to Wei Fu Military Command, and there were already countless cracks in the walls of Tiande Military City.

But it still didn’t collapse!
The city walls here are short and thick, which happens to be the structure that is most capable of withstanding solid artillery shells.

On the third day of bombardment, the Ming artillerymen changed their strategy and concentrated their firepower on the southern city gate.

Even if the shells hit the wrong direction, they could still hit the city wall above, as well as the enemy tower parapets and war sheds on both sides of the city wall.

The city gates before the Ming Dynasty had the chance to collapse together with the walls.

It is not the brick-built arched city gate that people imagine. Most of the city gates in the Song Dynasty still used wooden beams and columns, which of course was because they had never suffered from artillery fire.

In other words, the various architectural structures and materials of the city walls have not changed due to the widespread use of artillery.

The city gate is just one of them, there are other ancillary buildings.

For example, in order to prevent artillery fire, the thin rammed earth parapets were replaced with brick walls, and the old-style parapets were replaced with hanging eye structures. In the late Ming Dynasty, semi-circular artillery platforms and eight-shaped gun holes on the parapets were designed to prevent the attackers from using muskets and artillery.

In addition, the enemy stations are also different.

Most of the enemy towers on the city walls of the Song Dynasty were solid, and the defenders could only transport troops through the horse paths, which made the difficulty of attacking the city much lower. However, in the Ming Dynasty, most of the enemy towers were hollow, and the defenders could quickly move troops inside the enemy towers, which increased the difficulty of attacking the city exponentially.

On the sixth day of artillery bombardment, the south gate wall of Tiande Military City collapsed, along with the city tower above it.

The reason is simple, it is a standard Tang and Song style wooden beam city gate.

The wood used for the wooden beams and pillars is very thick, but if the city gate is hit by dozens of artillery shells, it is possible that it will be directly crushed by the tower and wall above!
But the specific results made both the attacker and the defender very uncomfortable.

It did collapse, but there was no gap, and even the gate was blocked by rammed earth and wood. How could the attackers not be depressed?
The defenders were even more depressed. The front towers that defended the city had collapsed, and the enemy towers on both sides also collapsed. The horse paths there were also broken. In other words, the two central horse paths on this wall were useless. When defending, they had to bring in troops from far away, and they could not quickly deploy reserve troops when they were suppressed by the first to climb.

Yue Fei observed through a telescope and said: "There is no need to wait for the city wall to collapse. We can attack the city now. We only need two cloud ladders and more than ten flying ladders."

Han Shizhong understood what was meant: "Directly attack the enemy tower?"

Yue Fei said: "Continue to bombard the walls on both sides of the enemy tower. One is to suppress the defenders on the city, and the other is to blow up the parapets. Then let the cavalry of various tribes throw guns at the city, and our elite troops of the Ming Dynasty will take the opportunity to attack the enemy tower."

The enemy tower is also called a pier, which can be built independently or against the city wall.

For example, at regular intervals along the Great Wall, there are castle-like buildings, and those "castles" are actually enemy towers.

Many protrusions on the city wall were also watchtowers, with war sheds built on top (which functioned as arrow towers and could also be used for observation). The war sheds were connected to the city through watchtowers and horse paths, so troops could be transported there quickly, and many reserve troops could be placed there, and even small groups of cavalry could be hidden inside.

Generally speaking, the attackers would not attack the enemy towers, and even if they climbed up, they would not be able to stand, and the defenders could continue to attack. If it was a hollow enemy tower like the one in the Ming Dynasty, it would be even more of a nightmare for the attackers.

This moment is very suitable. The city gate tower has collapsed, the war shed on the enemy tower has been blown down long ago, there is nothing left of the parapet on the enemy tower, and the horse path connecting the enemy tower must have been damaged.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery continued to bombard, but the target had changed.

Thousands of herdsmen and cavalrymen of various ethnic groups, in teams of two to three hundred, took turns shooting arrows at the city walls. They rushed to shoot arrows during the intervals between artillery bombardments, and withdrew after shooting two arrows, allowing the artillery to continue to bombard the city walls. The defenders were suppressed to the point that they dared not even raise their heads.

Two siege ladders and a large number of masonry walls slowly advanced towards the two sides of the South Gate.

The main force for the siege was the Ming infantry that was transferred later, as well as many dismounted cavalry from the Ming Dynasty.

When they reached a certain distance, the artillery stopped completely for fear of accidentally injuring friendly forces.

Countless young men from the grassland rode forward and continued to shoot arrows at the city wall. This time they switched to iron arrows and were no longer allowed to use bone arrows or stone arrows.

The defenders, whose parapets had been blown down, could only lie on the city walls.

Someone picked up the arrow and shouted in fear: "It's an iron arrowhead. The enemy is going to attack the city!"

Of course they had to attack the city, and the ladders were pushed over, but the defenders didn't dare to stand up, and until now they haven't seen the ladders.

Ye Lidegui saw it. He was lying on an enemy tower far away from the city gate. "Send a message to the chiefs of the Qigan and Gulu tribes to lead the elite troops to defend the enemy tower at the city gate!"

“They’re coming from all three sides!”

However, tens of thousands of young and strong men from the grassland were seen carrying extremely simple wooden ladders and cooperating in attacking the city from the east, south and west.

Most of these grassland herdsmen were not wearing armor, and their siege ladders were rubbish. Moreover, when they rushed close to the city wall and were shot with a few arrows, they were so scared that they threw away the wooden ladders and ran away. This was purely an atmosphere group to increase the sense of participation.

But the defenders have to be on guard!

Yelu Elitu was so anxious that he sent his son to find a spy: "Go and ask that Guo, we agreed to defect the day after the wall collapsed. What should we do if the Ming army attacks the city even though there is no hole?"

Guo Sichang was also very anxious. His current identity was a herdsman from a tribe near Baotou. At this moment, he had received a defensive mission and it was impossible for him to wander around and contact various tribes.

What made it even more difficult was that the defense zone he was in did not face the Ming army, but only defended the grassland tribes that were dependent on the Ming army.

I have no idea about the progress of the Ming army’s siege!

The chieftain here, Yelu Luma, asked, "Brother Guo, what should we do?"

Guo Sichang said: "Take action immediately. As long as we take action, the other tribes will also take action. Raise the white flag and wave it quickly!"

A plain flag is a white flag without any words on it. It is used as a signal of defection without fear of being mistaken, and it is also easier to find the cloth material.

"Kill the Dangxiang!"

Yelu Luma and his brothers, each leading half of their tribesmen, attacked the defenders on both sides.

Another person held up a plain flag and waved it, and another person stretched out the plain flag and waved it outside the city.

At the Ming army's lookout outside the city, a lookout immediately saw the situation through a telescope and said, "Send the flag quickly. A group of defenders have defected and are fighting on the side of the second enemy tower south of the east city gate. Let the nearby grassland soldiers charge over and seize the city!"

Of course, the flag order could not be so complicated, but it could point out the approximate direction and indicate that there were defenders who defected.

"Brother, the guy surnamed Guo has taken action!"

"We heard it, we saw it, and we took action too."

Xiao Lufen was serving as a reserve in the city, and he kept his eyes on Guo Sichang's direction.

In front of him were the elite Tanguts, who were heading to the city wall through the horse path. In order to preserve his strength, Xiao Lufen did not dare to fight with the elite Tanguts, but instead rushed into the city with a plain flag, and hacked and killed a group of Tangut women who were carrying supplies.

Moreover, he killed the group of women and fled, fearing that the elite troops of the Dangxiang would chase them.

Then he rushed into the streets and alleys and shouted loudly: "The Ming army is entering the city! The Ming army is entering the city!" While shouting, he did not forget to set fire to the houses.

Yelu Elitu was on another wall. He did not see Guo Sichang's signal, but saw Xiao Lufen causing chaos in the city. He immediately called his two sons and brothers and said, "Hurry up and do it. There will be a great reward for your meritorious service. When the whole army is in chaos, we will charge straight at Yeli Degui!"

At the same time, the other two small tribes also raised their flags and defected.

Inside and on the city walls, the Western Xia defenders were in chaos and had no idea who the enemy was.

The elite troops of the Ming Dynasty continued to push up the ladders and the parapets, while the various tribes on the grassland had already set up ladders at the places where the defenders had defected.

The ladder is heavy and has to be pushed forward slowly.

The siege ladders of the grassland warriors were light and simple, and they just carried them and ran away. Under normal circumstances, using such siege ladders would mean committing suicide, but the defenders of the city wall were fighting among themselves and had no time to care about the enemies rushing over.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ye Lidegui called his son and said, "Run quickly, saving your life is the most important thing!"

Ye Lidegui's personal soldiers blew the horn, and the elite Xixia soldiers who were sent to defend the city left the city wall and looked for their horses. They were fully armed, and the warriors of various ethnic groups who defected did not dare to face them. They were frightened and gave way after a few blows.

The chieftain of the Qiganzi rode up to Yeli Degui and said, "If you run away now, what will happen to our people?"

Ye Lidegui said: "How can we defend the city in this situation? If we lose a woman, we can marry another one. If we lose a son, we can have another one. When the imperial court's reinforcements arrive, we can fight back together and find our families! Do you still want to stay? Didn't you hear the various tribes shouting to kill the Tanguts?"

The beggar chieftain gnashed his teeth and had no choice but to abandon the elderly, the weak, women, children, livestock and food, and lead the young and strong men in the tribe to break out to the west on horseback.

In order to obtain iron pots, tea, salt, silk and brocade, Yelu Elitu was determined to kill Yeli Degui and led his troops to charge towards the elite troops of Western Xia.

The idea was great, but it was quickly defeated in a fight.

Yeli Degui led more than 4,000 cavalrymen and rushed out from the west gate and the north gate, while the rest were blocked in the city and could not get out. Among those who managed to get out of the city, more than 1,000 were fully armored, and the rest were young and strong men from various Dangxiang tribes without armor.

"You go chase the fleeing enemy, and I will go into the city to control it." Yue Fei said.

Han Shizhong smiled and nodded: "Okay. Wait for me to come back and have a drink!"

Han Shizhong led the reserve cavalry to chase after the fleeing Ye Lidegui. The ladders that had been pushed to the foot of the city and the dismounted cavalry were all recalled, leaving only the infantry to continue the siege.

Ye Lidegui shouted, "Order all the troops to stop the pursuers!"

The military order was quickly issued, but no one was willing to obey. The Tangut chiefs and their troops fled on horseback at a rapid speed.

Moreover, since they were not wearing armor, they were much lighter and escaped faster than Yelidegui's elite troops!

Han Shizhong led his troops to gallop for more than ten miles and finally caught up with the elite troops of Western Xia.

He divided his troops into two teams to eliminate the enemy, and he led his troops to bypass and continue the pursuit.

After fleeing for another forty miles, both sides were exhausted, with a large number of cavalry falling behind.

The horse Han Shizhong rode was a fine horse given to him by Zhu Mingqin when he was conferred the title. All the recipients of the title had one horse, and the horses they had were different depending on the rank of the title.

At the end of the pursuit, Han Shizhong had left his soldiers far behind, and Yeli Degui was left with only a few riders.

Ye Lidegui was already scared out of his wits. When he heard the hooves of horses behind him weaken, he looked back and was overjoyed. He reined in his horse and said, "There is only one enemy general chasing us. Follow me and kill him!"

This guy, with his son and several personal soldiers, slowed down and stopped, preparing for a fight.

Han Shizhong had already rushed forward, knocked down a personal soldier with one spear, and continued to rush towards Ye Lidegui.

Ye Lidegui's personal soldiers did not stay together when they fled, and there was a distance of hundreds of meters between them.

Han Shizhong knocked down two of them in succession, scaring the third one so much that he rode away on his horse, and then he shot arrows after putting some distance between them.

Ye Lidegui was already counterattacking, but after seeing two of his personal soldiers killed, his own son was also knocked off his horse. He was so frightened that he dared not fight anymore, reined in his horse, turned around and continued to flee.

Also hit a hammer.

Han Shizhong was dressed like a brave cavalry general of the Ming Dynasty. Not only did he wear a reinforced medium-sized armor, but even his horse was covered in a mixture of leather and cotton.

If it weren't for his majestic mount and the heavy load, it would have been impossible for him to chase the enemy at such a high speed for dozens of miles, and to get closer and closer to the enemy.

When Han Shizhong caught up to more than ten meters away, Ye Lidegui slowed down and shouted in Chinese: "I am willing to surrender, I am willing to surrender!"

Han Shizhong sped up his horse, reached out his hand, grabbed Ye Lidegui and threw him to the ground.

Han Shizhong spat and cursed, "If you hadn't surrendered earlier, your grandfather would have chased you for dozens of miles. If you had broken my sacred horse, you would have died a miserable death!"

Let’s talk about Yue Fei.

Yue Fei led his cavalry into the city, shouting along the way: "No killing of prisoners, no looting, hurry up and put out the fire!"

This city was chosen by Emperor Zhu as the seat of the Protectorate. We cannot kill too many people here, and we cannot destroy the facilities in the city.

"The previous murder and robbery were not counted, from now on, anyone who dares to disobey orders will be killed without mercy!"

Yue Fei led his troops to suppress the rebellion in the city and even summoned the chiefs of various tribes to give them a lecture, but he still could not suppress the rebellious soldiers in the city.

The rebels came from all sorts of backgrounds, some followed the Ming army to attack the city, some defected from the city, they robbed women and valuables, some deliberately killed captives to vent their anger, and some even fought over looting.

Yue Fei called several generals and said: "Each of you should lead your troops to suppress the rebellion. Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed immediately, even if they are tribal chieftains!"

The Ming cavalry received the order to suppress the rebellion and began to rampage in the city, killing anyone who was still causing trouble, even killing two chiefs on the spot.

Gradually, the riot in Tiande Military City subsided, and even the spreading fire was stopped.

Yue Fei climbed to the top of the city wall and looked out at the vast grassland and the roaring Yellow River.

In recent years, he has been reading history books and materials compiled by the Ministry of War and the Hanlin Academy. At this moment, he thinks a lot more than ordinary military generals.

The three cities in Hexi that he had captured in a surprise attack were part of Xihe County in the Han Dynasty.

The city captured at this time belonged to Wuyuan County of the Han Dynasty.

The headquarters of the Western Xia Wei Fu Military Command was the Shuofang County of the Han Dynasty.

Yue Fei turned around and looked towards the distant mountains in the north, his expression relaxed and he smiled: "We won't let the Hu horses cross the Yinshan Mountains. We won't let the Hu horses cross the Yinshan Mountains. The Han men have finally returned with their weapons in hand!"

The setting sun leaves no sunset glow, only the endless flow of the Yellow River, as if silently telling those stories about the border.

(End of this chapter)