Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 957 [Attack the City and Seize the Stronghold]

Yinzhou City is located in Yuhe Town, Yulin City. The city was built at the intersection of Wuding River and Mingtangchuan.

Surrounded by water on three sides, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it has blocked the Song army countless times.

Zhang Xian led his army from Mizhi Village and bombarded the village for seven consecutive days. He also used muskets and crossbows to protect the civilians and built more than ten floating bridges in Mingtang River. He also left soldiers to build fortifications on the shore day and night to prevent the floating bridges from being dismantled.

A few dozen miles north of this city, in the eastern part of the later Yulin urban area, was the headquarters of the Western Xia Divine Army.

Surrounded by water on two sides and backed by mountains on one side, it is also easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Yao Pingzhong led his troops from Jinning (Jiaxian County) and had been bombarding the city of the Shenyong Army for seven days. He also built more than ten pontoon bridges on the river.

Wang Dewang Yaksha was taken away by Zhang Guangdao when he was in Shanxi, and now he is back under the command of Yao Pingzhong.

Wang De led a small army out of Linzhou (in Shenmu County), and ordered his troops to march out in a swagger, along the Zhuo Lun River to attack Zhuo Lun Village, while he himself led a thousand elite troops, without even siege artillery, along the Quye River (Kuye River) to attack the farther Zihe Branch.

Hiding during the day and moving at night, divine soldiers descend from the sky.

The eight hundred elite soldiers wore medium-sized cotton armor and carried simple wooden ladders to attack the city at night. Wang De led the way and climbed the wall of the village. It took only half a quarter of an hour to rush into the village.

The Xixia defenders fled in terror, not knowing how many enemies were coming.

Immediately afterwards, Wang De took the flag of the Zihechazhai garrison and went to Zhuolunzhai to force the Western Xia garrison to surrender.

He then led his troops northward to attack Nuanquan Peak Village, but the defenders there refused to surrender.

Wang De's army consisted of 16,000 men, but they did not even have a single siege gun. He did not bring any, saying that the targets along the way were all strongholds, there were no real strongholds, and that the mountain roads were rugged and carrying guns would affect the march.

Among these 16,000 men, 10,000 were laborers transporting grain, another 3,000 were garrison troops, and there were only 3,000 truly elite troops.

But those 3,000 elite soldiers were all wearing new cotton armor. The equipment of any soldier was better than that of the middle-level officers of Xixia.

Wang Dexian ordered the grain transporters to raise more flags and set them up at various places under Nuanquan Peak. The flags of the Ming army were everywhere among the grass and trees, as if tens of thousands of troops were coming to attack.

Then he ordered the 3,000 garrison troops to launch a feint attack to consume the defenders' strength and supplies.

The battle lasted until dusk, and they should have retreated to the foot of the mountain and attacked again tomorrow. However, Wang De led 3,000 elite soldiers and bravely climbed the wall of the stronghold, and broke through the stronghold in an instant.

Then he led his army south to join forces with Yao Pingzhong.

At the same time, he sent people north to inform the garrisons in the three cities of Hexi, and asked the garrison commanders there to lead the local grassland cavalry to attack Dijinze in the desert.

On the way, Wang De broke through the Xixia fortress in Tumaochuan in one fell swoop.

A series of battles, including the destruction of four Xixia camps, took only eleven days. Most of the time was spent on marching, and the actual fighting time added up to less than 20 hours.

Of his 3,000 elite soldiers, 41 were killed and more than 200 were injured.

Most of the casualties came from boiling oil, gold juice, wooden sticks and arrows, and the losses caused by actual close combat were very few.

Destroy everything!

The main reason was that this guy was too fierce. He could always find the weak points of the enemy's defenses, and then personally lead the team to climb the ladder to the city. On the city wall, Wang De became more and more courageous in the face of the siege, relying on his medium-sized cotton armor to fight to the death, and his warriors kept climbing up.

Until Wang De cleared the northern strongholds and ran to join Yao Pingzhong's army, Yao Pingzhong was still bombarding the city of the Shenyong Army.

The walls of this city are not high, but they are very, very thick!

Yao Pingzhong bombarded the city for more than ten days, but only managed to collapse one of the city gates, which in turn blocked the city gate. Yao Pingzhong also tried to attack the city, but failed after two days of attack. There were more than 3,000 infantrymen in the city.

In a rage, Yao Pingzhong dug up the ancestral tombs of the Western Xia royal family!

Li Jiqian's ancestors are buried nearby.

"Take it!" said Yao Pingzhong.

But then a group of soldiers were seen carrying boxes outside the moat, and they poured out a pile of bones from the boxes.

A few more soldiers pulled out three pieces of white cloth and held them high.

A piece of white cloth had big words written on it: The body of Li Yichang, the ancestor of Li Jiqian.

Another piece of white cloth read: Dig up their ancestors' graves.

Another piece of white cloth had the words: Grind to dust.

The soldiers raised the bones and smashed them at the skeleton, smashing them into pieces and then collecting them up.

A few cavalrymen rode around the moat, scattering the bones and ashes along the way, and another large group of cavalry followed, trampling the ashes repeatedly with their horses' hooves.

Most of the Tangut defenders in the city did not know Chinese characters.

But two military generals and several civil officials recognized him and became furious, shouting that they wanted to avenge their ancestors.

"General, General Wang De is here with his troops."

"Please ask him to come over!"

Yao Pingzhong met Wang De and asked, "Have the four northern camps been conquered?"

Wang De nodded: "One village was attacked by surprise, two villages were attacked by force, and one village surrendered."

"Okay, you will lead the attack on this city," Yao Pingzhong said, pointing at the city wall. "The east gate collapsed, but only the horse path next to it was damaged. The many war tents and group buildings on the east and north sides were also all destroyed by artillery fire, and most of the parapet was smashed down."

"There are Xixia infantrymen in the city. These bastards are poor and fearless. I was too anxious the other day and only built four ladders to attack the city. Lu Gongche only built two."

"The defenders of this city knew how to deal with firearms. They moved many sacks filled with sand behind the collapsed parapet at night and used them to build fortifications. The firearms soldiers standing in Lu Gong's chariot had a hard time hitting the defenders behind the sacks."

Wang De said: "Although the sand sacks can prevent firearms, they make the top of the city wall narrower, and the enemy's troop transport passage is also narrow. As long as we climb up the city wall and gain a foothold in one or two places, we can take down an entire section of the city wall."

"It's impossible to stand," Yao Pingzhong said, "Those infantrymen are fighting desperately. No matter how I persuade them to surrender, it's useless. Otherwise, how could I grind Li Jiqian's ancestors to ashes?"

Yao Pingzhong's luck seems to have always been bad.

Historically, he was betrayed by his own people.

In this time and space, one either fails to make achievements in the war, or sets an ambush in the war but fails to encounter the enemy.

During this siege, he encountered the Xixia general Yi'e. (Yi'e's surname is unknown, and the historical books are vague and difficult to distinguish, so "口" is used instead of his surname.)
Yi E was originally a general of the Iron Harrier Army, and was promoted to the commander-in-chief by Brother Richard.

In history, he was defeated by Li Shifu, who was determined to return to the Song Dynasty, and even the Iron Harriers suffered heavy losses. Since Wang Shu, the Privy Councilor of Western Xia, was also captured by Li Shifu, he was blamed and no longer valued, and he did not even appear during the rebellion of Xiao Heda.

This man was transferred to the Shenyong Army three years ago. Although he was corrupt, he was not excessive. He was also brave and generous and won the hearts of the soldiers.

Among all the Xixia generals except Brother Richard, Yi E is the most capable fighter now.

Yao Pingzhong continued to have bad luck and encountered an extremely tough nut to crack!

"All units get ready, the Ming army is about to attack the city again." Yi'e hid behind a sack of sand and watched the Ming army outside the city convey military orders.

A total of five cloud ladders, four Lu Gong cars, more than 200 flying ladders, and countless parapets were pushed across the moat from the floating bridge on the river and rearranged.

The Ming army's artillery was still bombarding.

The Ming army's artillery stopped firing only after the siege troops had formed their formation and advanced some distance.

Pushed in the front were the large Lu Gong carts. On the top floor of each Lu Gong cart stood ten musketeers, shooting down at the defenders on the city walls from above.

Five ladders moved forward slowly, and the troop carriages were filled with Wang De's elite troops.

Although his 2900 elite troops suffered more than casualties, those with minor injuries were still able to fight. More than people were responsible for the main attack mission, scattered on five ladders.

Behind the wall of women near the ladder, there are other elite troops following. As long as Wang De can gain a foothold on the city wall, follow-up troops will be able to climb the city wall continuously.

The Xixia women's wall, which had been largely damaged, had sandbags piled up behind it that were more than half a person's height. The Ming army musketeers on Lu Gong's car had difficulty hitting the enemies behind the sandbags, but they used bullets to suppress the defenders so much that they dared not raise their heads.

However, although sandbag fortifications can block bullets, they also make it difficult to place logs, boulders, and gold juice.

"Rockets!" Under Yi E's command, the rocket troops were transferred to the main attack direction of the Ming army and fired at the Ming army's Lu Gongche and ladders.

The Western Xia soldiers tried to burn the Ming army's siege weapons, but with little success, as they were covered with cowhide to prevent fire.

The sandbags on the top of the city wall facing the five ladders were removed and ordered to make it easier for the soldiers defending the city to pour gold juice and throw rolling logs.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After one layer of sandbags was moved away, they were immediately attacked by the musketeers on Lu Gong's carriage.

Although there were blind spots for shooting, the musketeers stood high. The Xixia soldiers carrying sandbags would be in danger if they dared to stand up straight.

After shooting and killing many people in succession, the Xixia defenders lay down behind sandbags and dared not move.

They half-crouched and shot arrows towards the city, and the Ming army archers also hid behind the Xingnu Wall and shot arrows.

Arrows rained down like rain inside and outside the city.

The first ladder had been raised, and the soldier pushing the cart turned the winch, and the wooden ladder rose higher and higher above the city wall - it was similar to a fire ladder.

An officer was responsible for observing the distance and ordered: "Back half a step!"

The soldiers pulled back with the ladders.

The officer shouted again: "Shoot!"

The wooden ladder slowly fell forward, and the two iron hooks at the front were firmly hooked on the city wall.

Wang De hid in the carriage of the ladder. He looked up carefully and found that the muskets in Lu Gong's carriage had effectively suppressed the enemy above his head.

So Wang De rushed out of the carriage and climbed up quickly.

The angle of the ladder on the city wall is not steep, so pouring golden juice is a useless attack at this time. You must throw a wooden stick to make it roll down the ladder.

The two infantrymen bent over, lifted the wooden pole, and threw it out with all their might.

If they were to roll down directly from the top of the ladder, it would be an ineffective attack because there were several anti-collision facilities on both sides of the ladder, which were wooden poles as thick as arms erected to prevent the defenders' wooden poles from rolling down.

"Bang bang bang!"

The musketeers on the two Lu Gong carriages on the left and right of the ladder were all staring at this place.

At the moment when the Xixia infantrymen threw the wooden stick, before they even threw the wood, ten bullets were shot at the two men.

One infantryman fell down directly, and another infantryman was shot in the arm.

The wooden beam fell diagonally on the ladder and rolled down for a distance before being blocked by the anti-challenge stake and hitting the side of the ladder and falling to the ground.

"catapult!"

Many Xixia defenders were either squatting or lying behind sandbags. They could not see what was happening outside, but just tried their best to throw stones over the sandbags.

The stone is not even as big as your head. If it is too heavy, you won’t be able to throw it.

Wang De raised the round shield with his left hand, protected his head and continued to climb up.

A stone fell on the shield, hitting Wang De's arm and causing pain. Another stone fell and rubbed his shoulder.

"Gold juice, gold juice, pour it down!"

Two Xixia defenders came forward carrying an iron pot.

Before he could even fall, ten more bullets were fired. Then a miserable cry was heard, and it turned out that one person was knocked down by a bullet, and the iron pot in his hand fell down. Another person was standing in the blind spot of the shooting, and was not hit by the bullet, but his feet were burned by the spilled gold juice.

At this moment, Wang De climbed to the top of the city wall.

Before he could stand firmly on the sandbag, four spears stabbed at him at the same time and two knives chopped at his feet.

The musketeers didn't dare to shoot again, so Wang De had to solve the problem on his own.

Wang De raised his shield to block a spear, and then pulled out his iron mace to smash another one. The remaining two spears, one pierced his chest, and the other pierced his waist. The huge impact almost knocked Wang De off the city wall. He dropped his shield and grabbed the spear that was piercing his chest and barely stabilized himself.

The other two knives both hit Wang De's instep.

Boots, also cotton boots!

The outer layer is cotton armor and the inner layer is chain mail, which does not affect mobility much.

The 3,000 men under Wang De's command were a key re-equipment force, specifically designed for attacking cities and capturing strongholds.

The two Xixia infantrymen found that they could not cut through Wang De's boots and were stunned for several seconds.

Wang De had already jumped into the crowd, and before his feet touched the ground, he swung his mace and smashed the head of a rifleman.

"Kill him!"

The Xixia main general Yi E was nearby because this was the main attack area of ​​the Ming army.

Yi E even crouched down and personally led his troops to consolidate the defense.

Wang De had been hit by countless swords and guns, but he was only protected by his medium-sized cotton armor, but his skin and bones were still in great pain. He did not rush forward, but stayed within a meter of the spot, repeatedly swinging his iron mace to attack, holding his position and allowing the follow-up soldiers to follow up.

Finally, another soldier climbed up, holding a shield in one hand and a bone flower in the other, and fought side by side with Wang De.

When Yi E came to help in person, Wang De had already had five men climb up the city.

Since he couldn't use his spear, Yie picked up a wrought iron stick. Most of the stick was made of wood, and the front quarter was made of wrought iron, which was very convenient for breaking armor.

"when!"

When the iron mace collided with the iron rod, Yi'e felt that his entire right arm was numb, and he could hardly hold the iron rod with both hands.

He was filled with fear and looked at Wang De as if he was looking at a huge monster.

Wang De didn't care about the attacks from other enemies at all, as his allies would help him resolve them. While Yi Er's arm was shaken and became inflexible, Wang De smashed out with his iron mace again.

Yi Er raised the stick with both hands to block, but was knocked back half a step, barely holding on to the iron stick without letting it fall.

"Hoohoo!"

Wang De swung the iron mace again, making a whistling sound in the air.

Yi Er wanted to raise his stick to block, but found that he couldn't lift his arm. He was so scared that he lay on his back to dodge.

"Oh!"

An iron mace hit Yi'e's chest, denting the cold-forged armor plates. Blood flowed from the corners of Yi'e's mouth, and he did not fall down until he bumped into the soldier behind him.

Wang De rushed forward and smashed down with another mace, hitting Yi Er's helmet hard.

Yi Ze's body immediately stiffened, his pupils dilated, he fell to the ground and twitched, blood continuously flowing out of his helmet.

"Wang Yasha is here, who dares to fight again?"

Wang De shouted.

"Yaksha is coming, run away!"

The Xixia soldiers nearby were stunned, and even the Bu Ba Zi retreated back in fear.

When they heard Wang De call himself a Yaksha and his tall and strong stature, they actually thought that he was a Yaksha incarnate.

When Wang De swung his mace again, the enemies in front of him instantly fled, hoping to get as far away from this yaksha as possible.

(End of this chapter)