In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 418 Scorched Earth Policy

But not long after the Song people closed the fort gate, fireworks were set off in the city, and a line of fireworks shot into the sky.

"Open the door quickly, surrender without killing -" Natu'er sent people to recruit people to surrender, hoping to lure the Song army to open the door.

People soon appeared at the top of the city. There seemed to be no troops in the city. The people looked at them and then started to curse.

A Mongolian soldier beside Delbatu raised his bow and fired without saying a word. The people on the opposite side bowed their heads and shrank behind the wall.

This kind of small fort can be breached in less than a quarter of an hour if Natour is given some time to chop some wood somewhere and build a ladder.

But Natu'er and Delbatu looked left and right. They could see a square circle with the naked eye, but not a single tree.

The Song army did this on purpose, and all the trees nearby were cut down.

Fireworks were lit in the fort, and it wouldn't take long for the Song army from Mingsha City to arrive.

"Let's go." Seeing that Natu'er was reluctant to leave and wanted to break the fortress, Delbatu knew that he wanted to kill the people of Song Dynasty to avenge their hatred, so he quickly advised him: "The people of Song Dynasty lit up the fireworks, and the people of Song Dynasty in Mingsha City The army will be here soon."

"Look." Before Delbatu finished speaking, a Mongolian army pointed to the other side. I don't know how many miles away from here, another firework shot into the sky.

This should be Dunbao on the other side, helping to warn and connect the fireworks all the way to Mingsha City so that the Song Army in Mingsha City can see it.

"As long as there is a ladder, it can be broken in a moment. There are no Song troops in the fort, it is all civilians." A Mongolian soldier said unwillingly.

"Bump the door." Natu'er was even more unwilling. Thinking that his son was trapped in Dingzhou City, he still wanted to hit him.

So several Mongolian soldiers dismounted and knocked on the door.

After the first hit, I knew it was impossible.

The door is too heavy and covered with iron.

Some people suggest that one person squats and the other person stands on the other's shoulder to build a ladder.

Natu'er looked at the height of the wall and felt that two people's ladders were useless, at least four or five people were needed.

Everyone was studying how to attack the city, when suddenly a cold light flashed from the top of the city.

"嚅" There was a panic among the Mongolian army. A war horse screamed and its body shook violently. The horse did not fall to the ground. The Mongolian army above was caught off guard and fell off the horse.

"Wow!" Someone from the Song Dynasty cheered in the city wall opposite.

"Damn it." There was a lot of curses at the scene. No one expected that the Song people on the opposite side actually had bows and arrows.

But the people of the Song Dynasty must have poor shooting skills. The Mongolian army was less than twenty steps away from the city wall, but they didn't hit anyone at such a close distance, only their horses.

Even so, the Mongolian army was a little panicked and retreated one after another.

Sure enough, a lot of bows appeared at the top of the city opposite. Many people had just obtained bows. The people were usually trained to use bows and arrows, but after all, they shot very few and their accuracy was not good enough. Plus they were afraid. The first arrow just missed at such a close range. .

When Natu'er and Delbatu saw that the people of Song Dynasty carried so many bows, they knew that it would be difficult to fight.

If there is a ladder, it can naturally be broken through, but there will be casualties.

"Let's go. If you don't go, it's too late." Delbatu urged again.

He has no interest in killing people, and it is important to escape now.

Natu'er looked at Dunbao very unwillingly, and suddenly waved his hand: "Everyone shoots a few arrows, let's go."

There was a roar all around, and the Mongolian soldiers raised their bows, swish, swish, and fired a few arrows into the fortress, and then turned around and left unwillingly.

Natuer led the Mongolian army to continue running, and ran for a while towards another place where fireworks were lit. About four or five miles away, there was indeed a Dunbao.

At this time, he probably saw that the area around Dunbao was full of fields. Dunbao was not big and could not house many people. There would probably be one every few miles.

This is the temporary storage and hiding place of the Song army.

If you encounter Mongolian troops approaching, if you don't have time, hide in first.

Normally, all the people's farming tools are inside, and only a few families usually live inside. Most of the people live in nearby Mingsha City, Weizhou and other places, and only come here when the farming is busy.

The Song army cut down all the trees that could be seen and cut down around the fort. It would be difficult and time-consuming to attack the fort without a ladder.

After the fireworks are lit, Weizhou and Mingsha City, which are dozens of miles away, can be seen quickly.

Natour was sure that he could not attack the fortress, at least not in a short period of time. He could only lead the Mongolian army to turn around and head west.

When they ran to the Hulu River, they saw the Song people harvesting by the river again. Natu'er led his people forward and continued to pursue them.

The people in Song Dynasty ran towards Dunbao one after another, just like before.

Not many people were killed this time, and Natu'er was so angry that he was almost dead. The Song people lit up fireworks again. Natu'er didn't dare to stay long, so he hurriedly continued running west, hoping to cross the Hulu River.

But although Natu'er has stayed in Xixia for several years, he is not familiar with the map here. After all, as a general of Zhongxing Mansion, it is relatively far away from here, and there is no need to go out to check the terrain.

When he got to the river and wanted to cross the river, he realized that the ferry was at Shangyikou in the south. He scolded the Mongolian army who knew the way and asked him why he didn't tell him earlier?

The Mongolian army also looked aggrieved. You didn't say you wanted to cross the river. I thought you were looking for a place to kill the Song people again.

Shangyikou was also a military fort during the Western Xia Dynasty. Later, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was built along Shangyi, and it was considered an important stronghold.

When the Mongolian army took control of Xixia, they only stationed a hundred people at Shangyigou.

After the Song army occupied it, they also only had more than a hundred people stationed in the capital.

If Natu'er hadn't killed people all the way and went straight to the reward, he might have been able to catch the Song army by surprise.

Now that the rye has been harvested recently, the Song Army has also gone out to help.

As a result, this guy wanted to kill Song people along the way, and lit fireworks everywhere in Song people's Dunbao.

The dunbao of the Song Army were all connected in a line to play relay. After the first one clicked, soon the entire dunbao on the west bank of Lingzhou Sichuan began to relay.

Natu'er went south and turned back, wasting a lot of time.

When he ran to the gate of Shangyi, he saw that the gate of the fort was closed and there were countless people above.

"Hiss" Natu'er took a breath and turned pale.

Not only did the Song army who were impressed by the move come back, but they also recruited some people who were harvesting rye nearby to enter the fort. Looking from the direction of the Mongolian army, there were probably hundreds of people in the small fort.

Natu'er was also decisive. When he saw that there were regular Song troops inside, he quickly turned around and ran away.

The Mongolian generals don't know why. The Great Wall has not yet been built near Shangyikou, so you can climb the mountain.

"Is there anyone who can't swim?" Natu'er ran to the north of Hulu River again and asked.

The officers and men looked at each other.

Natul actually planned to wade across the river.

The Calabash River is not too wide, so Natu'er planned to find a short distance to cross the river.

Because war horses can also swim.

Although war horses mainly move in grasslands and open areas, as long as the war horses are driven down the river, most war horses have certain swimming abilities, but they cannot swim too far.

Natu'er himself can swim, and so can Delbatu, but many in the Mongolian army can't. As soon as this question was asked, the crowd panicked.

At last count, after more than 800 rides, only about a quarter could swim.

Natu'er ignored them and said: "If you are willing, go down to the river. If you are afraid of death, surrender to the Song army. We are going to cross the river."

After that, we drove our horses along the east bank of the Hulu River, looking for a short distance from south to north.

They were lucky and finally found a zone about ten meters wide.

Natu'er drove the horse directly into the river and jumped in himself.

The Mongolian soldiers who knew how to do it followed suit one after another, while those who didn't know how to do it watched eagerly from the side.

In this way, Natu'er finally brought out more than 800 horses, but less than 200 horses crossed the river, and many horses and a group of people drowned in the middle.

After landing, they still had more than 180 people and 134 horses.

Delbatu waved to the people on the other side to drive the remaining horses over so that they could use them.

As a result, the people on the other side looked at them without saying a word. After a while, several Mongolian generals gathered together for a discussion. They ignored Natu'er and mounted their horses one after another, turned around and headed north, preparing to climb the mountain into Shaanxi, and then from Shaanxi to Mongolia. run.

Not long after Natu'er crossed the shore, a thousand Song troops from Weizhou City came to Shangyikou, crossed the river and pursued Natu'er.

Natu'er ran wildly and reached the Nine Crossings of the Yellow River the next morning. At this time, there were about a hundred people around him.

Many people were abandoned by him without their horses. Some people's horses crossed the river at that time, but they were probably flooded and injured in the water. They died after not running for a while ashore.

There was no Song army at the ferry, and the Song army did not arrive in time to block him.

But Natour stood at the ferry, looking at less than a hundred people around him, and burst into tears.

At this time, he couldn't help but think of his son Chala in Dingzhou. I wonder how Chala is doing now?

Chala is now engaged in a street fight with the Song army in Dingzhou.

Chala was also a fierce man. He would rather die than surrender, and was leading his army to fight hard with the Song army.

Two days ago, the Song army entered the city in large numbers, and Natu'er also attacked the Song army from behind, but was defeated and fled.

But Chala didn't know what was happening outside.

After the Song army occupied the northern city head, Chala's men retreated from the city wall one after another, and Chala then prepared for street fighting.

At that time, Chala had already seen how the Song army attacked the city.

The Song army first opened the way with gasoline bombs, forced the Mongolian army down the city, and then went up to the top of the city.

Then the petrol bombs were thrown in again, and the Mongolian army was forced into the street. The Song army began to dig out the blockage of the city gate.

After the city gate was blown open, the Song army cleared the road and then poured in like a tide.

At this time, Chala believed that after entering the city, the Song Army's previous routine would no longer work.

The city is connected in all directions and there are various buildings. It is impossible for the Song army to burn forward section by section like this. They will definitely attack street by street on foot and riding.

Because the Song Army's gasoline bombs had limited burning time, they forced the Mongolian Army down from the top of the city. When the Song Army went up, the gasoline at the top of the city was almost exhausted.

The same goes for burning the street behind. The Mongolian army retreated a hundred steps away, and the Song army went down to dig the city gate. The gasoline in front was also burned out, and the Song army could gain a foothold.

If they fight like this in the city and the buildings in the city are set on fire, the Song army will not be able to gain a foothold in a short time, unless they completely abandon Dingzhou City and burn it all the way.

Sure enough, as he expected, after the Song army entered the city, the gasoline bombs basically stopped slowly, and the first thing that came in was not the trebuchets, but the artillery.

Chala assigned troops to guard the streets and prepare for street battles with the Song army.

But seeing the continuous sound of cannons and billowing white smoke in the city, after a while, sentry riders from everywhere came running over and said they couldn't stand it.

The subordinates all said that the Song army pushed the artillery in front and fired first when they saw the Mongolian army. The Mongolian army was beaten so hard that they did not dare to show their heads. They did not dare to stay on the streets or in the alleys.

The Song Army's artillery hit a line. The smaller the alley, the more unlucky it was, and being hit would be extremely miserable.

Some Mongolian troops tried to rush in while the artillery was reloading, but there were flintlock guns and bows and arrows on the opposite side. The Mongolian troops' horses could not pick up speed in the city and could not rush forward at all.

If you abandon your horse and fight on foot, you will die faster.

Cha La had no choice but to divide his troops. All the Mongolian troops entered the house, went to various rooms, or ran upstairs to stop the Song troops with bows and arrows.

So the Mongolian army began to disperse, hiding in various houses in units of ten people or even smaller.

The Song army's artillery could not find its target. Groups of Song troops walking along the street were attacked from time to time by the Mongolian troops in the houses on the left and right. Then the Song army cleared the houses one by one.

The two sides fought fierce house and street battles, fighting for every house. Many people in the city were unlucky and were killed as Mongolian troops.

In fact, when it comes to street fighting, the Mongolian army is still very experienced. During the Western Expedition, the Mongolian army fought many street battles with the enemy. The most famous one was the defeat of Khwarizmo Yulongjie Chicheng. After the city was broken, the two sides continued to fight in the streets for seven days. The same Every room is up for grabs.

There was also a street fight in the city of Samalkan, with both sides throwing kerosene barrels at each other, and the local temples were burned down.

When attacking these places, the Mongolian army was the attacker, and they used fire and threw kerosene barrels without hesitation to cause extreme damage. It was very satisfying back then.

Now the scene is reversed, it is the turn of the Song army to attack and the Mongolian army to defend.

Zhang Neng, the chief general of the Song army entering the city, had never fought in street fighting, but he had learned how to fight in the streets. His Majesty the Emperor summoned the generals and above from all over the country to teach in person.

At first, he did not expect that the Mongolian army would fight with them in the streets. After the Mongolian army broke into pieces and hid in various houses, the Mongolian army either hid in the windows of the buildings or climbed to the roof and fired cold arrows with bows and arrows. The Song army suffered a lot of losses. .

Zhang Neng immediately changed his strategy and stopped advancing along the street.

When encountering such street fighting, His Majesty has only one solution: burn them.

Burn along the road to reduce the casualties of the Song army, even if the entire city is razed.

So when the Song army saw a house, regardless of whether there was anyone or not, they would first use rockets, whoosh, to shoot directly in and set the house on fire. If there were Mongolian troops in the house, they would either put out the fire or be forced out by the fire and flee to other places. room.

If a fire is extinguished, Song Jun will step forward with his shield and throw petrol bombs directly into it.

So starting that afternoon, bang bang bang, from north to south in Dingzhou City, rows of houses were lit up by Song troops. Whether they were hiding in the houses or on the roofs, all the Mongolian troops were forced back by the flames.

Before dark, the Song army had burned more than a thousand houses, and half of the first street to the north was burned.

After dark, the entire Song army withdrew from the city and waited quietly for the flames in the city to burn out. Only a few soldiers and horses were left to guard the north gate.

Flames burned in the city all night long. The Mongolian army put out some of the fires, but failed to save most of them. Later, Chala also ordered not to save the fires. They watched thousands of houses burnt to ashes.

Early the next morning, most of the flames in the city had stopped, and the Song army entered the city again and continued to do the same thing as yesterday.

The Song army used a scorched earth policy and advanced layer by layer, forcing the Mongolian army to retreat south.

That day, the Song Army planned to leave some troops and horses in the city, but the wind blew northward, and the black smoke and fire kept drifting towards the Song Army. The Song Army went out of the city again, only guarding the city gate.

On the third day, the Song army came back and burned the house again.

After five days of fighting, all the Mongolian troops and people in the city had been oppressed by the Song army to the entire southern half of the city.

(End of this chapter)