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

Chapter 446 Artillery vs. Trebuchet

While Chagatai and Kuoduan were thinking about how to deal with the carriage, Shader, Li Pingxia, Lu Wende, and Meng Ying were also discussing countermeasures in the Song Army camp thirty miles away.

Tonight, the Song army wanted to copy the previous routine and use artillery to attack the camp, but unexpectedly they were forced back by the Mongolian army.

At that time, when they found that the Mongolian army only had a few hundred cavalry, the Song army also thought of cavalry to drive them away. However, they thought that the Mongolian army would also send more cavalry, which might develop into a large-scale battle between the Song army's cavalry and the Mongolian army's cavalry.

This meeting was at night, near the Mongolian army camp, and even closer to the Mongolian army camp. It was obviously not the right time, and the Song army was not good at night fighting. The cavalry of both sides fought at night, and it was not certain who had the advantage.

Lu Wende was afraid of a major defeat, so he decided to retreat and gave up the idea of ​​attacking the Mongolian army at night.

The Mongolian army's tactics of hundreds of cavalry coming forward to harass and light fires are still a bit annoying. If there is no Song army cavalry to drive them forward, it will have a greater impact on the Song army's infantry camp. If the Song army sends cavalry to drive them forward, it will be the same as today at noon. , it can easily turn into a melee between cavalry on both sides.

Several people discussed the countermeasures, and early the next morning, the Song troops gathered together and left the camp one after another.

In order to maintain their strength, the Song army advanced twenty miles that day and recamped ten miles away from Qianzhou.

The Mongolian army did not come forward to attack that day. The two sides seemed to have a tacit understanding, waiting for the arrival of the last day.

On the third day, the Song army continued to break out of camp. The entire army huddled together and moved forward. The Mongolian army on the opposite side also gathered outside the camp early.

The Song army used horse-drawn carriages on the periphery, then Shader's cavalry was on the left, Mengying's cavalry was on the right, Lu Wende led the infantry in the center, and Li Pingxia led a group of cavalry in the rear as a reserve team. Everyone was behind the horse-drawn carriage formation, which was quite safe, but the march was a bit awkward. slow.

Of course, if you are confident and capable, you can hit the target directly.

Many of the Mongolian troops carried flags on their backs, and the scene seemed to be filled with military flags waving that covered the sky.

At noon, the Song Army's forward arrived three miles away from the Mongolian Army.

The Song troops behind the carriage quietly watched the Mongolian troops charge. In their eyes, many Mongolian troops were no different from dead people.

"Be prepared, tell the artillerymen not to rush to fire, and to attack the Mongolian army deeper."

With a rumble, large groups of cavalry shook the world. Tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry moved forward in a mighty manner. The scene was quite spectacular.

Today, the Mongolian army was uncharacteristically watching the Song army maneuver their artillery formations quietly, which Lu Wende was not used to.

Although Lu Wende and Shader felt strange, they did not hesitate and immediately decided to push the carriage and artillery forward.

Before he could think of how to give the order, woo, the Mongolian army on the opposite side blew the horn of attack.

The Mongolian army knew that the Song army's artillery and carriages were powerful, and it was said that it would be impossible for them to set up the vehicle and artillery array so smoothly.

At this time, there was only the sound of the Mongolian cavalry charging. Tens of thousands of war horses were galloping, trampling the earth, and the ground was faintly shaking.

In order to let their stone cannons catch the Song army by surprise, Chagatai and Kuoduan did not leave the camp. The entire army gathered in front of the stone cannons and waited for the Song army.

The Song army adjusted the positions of carriages and artillery while gathering all the armies and assigning positions.

Then within two hundred steps, the Mongolian army's horses were basically at high speed.

Eight hundred steps.

Usually, after the Mongolian army reached three or four hundred steps, they began to speed up with all their strength.

The gasoline bombs carried by the Song Army's own trebuchets saved a lot of trouble, and their lethality far exceeded that of giant stone bombs.

His younger brother Lu Wenxin thought for a while and couldn't help but said: "Qianzhou is one of the places with the largest number of Mongolian army craftsmen. It is estimated that there are trebuchets just like Hara Helin."

Three hundred steps.

At this time, Lu Wende looked up and saw that the Song Army's forward carriage formation was less than two miles away from the Mongolian army's formation. The carriages were stopping and artillery was preparing.

Six hundred steps.

Now the Mongolian army was just about to charge and attack, and the Song army stopped on the spot.

"Is there something wrong?" Lu Wende glanced at his younger brother Lu Wenxin strangely.

After the Song army arrived at the scene, the Mongolian army still stood still.

The Mongolian army quickly approached 300 steps.

But after much thought, he found that there was nothing to be afraid of. When it came to the advantages of soldiers and armor, there was no one in the world who could compare with the Song Army.

The Mongolian army on the opposite side used elite Mongolian cavalry on both wings, with a large number of servants in the middle.

I saw the Mongolian army with three layers inside and three layers outside. The dense formation was outside the south gate of Qianzhou, seeming to be waiting for the Song army to attack.

Lu Wenxin's words reminded Lu Wende, and he slapped his forehead: "Ah, maybe the dog Meng Tatar wants to trick us?"

"If it's even, don't shoot high. Let the flintlock guns hold down the horizontal line." Lu Wende ordered one after another.

In order to prevent the fusiliers from firing high and causing the projectiles to drift away, the Song army did not require them to hit the front row. They only had to hold down the horizontal line to have a chance to hit the back row.

In order to prevent the Song army from setting up their formations, the Mongolian army always fought in encounters and did not give the Song army time to set up their artillery formations.

The previous wave of the Mongolian army on the opposite side was already within the firing range of the Song army, but if they wanted to hit deeper, the Song army's artillery would move forward.

The Song Army also did not use the Mongolian Army's trebuchets. The Mongolian Army's trebuchets all required giant stone bullets, which were troublesome to retrieve and required a lot of civilians and labor.

The giant stone bombs look scary, but the real damage they cause to the army is far less than the petrol bombs.

This time the Mongolian army allowed the Song army to approach their formation for about three miles, which meant that the Song army's artillery could also advance within three miles.

Lu Wende and Lu Wenxin had strange looks on their faces.

The Song army besieged Harahe Forest before. After breaking in, they found that there were Mongolian trebuchets inside. However, the Mongolian army's city wall was so narrow that the trebuchets could not go up and they were not used. Instead, the Song army got many trebuchets. .

With the carriages and artillery in place, the Song army began to push forward.

This made Lu Wende and Lu Wenxin instantly forget what they had just remembered.

At a hundred steps, the Mongolian cavalry was at its highest speed.

Now that the Mongolian army has entered three hundred steps, it is still slowly increasing its speed. The whole army is in a jogging state, which is completely different from before.

"Should we fire the cannon?" A general behind Lu Wende asked anxiously.

Today, the Song army pushed forward 150 artillery pieces, and half of the 300 artillery pieces brought by the entire army were at the front.

At this time in the past, the Song Army had already fired the first shot.

hold on? Lu Wende had a vague feeling that something was wrong and wanted to wait, but then he thought about it and found that the Mongolian forward had already entered within 300 steps, and the soldiers and horses in the middle had also entered the artillery range and could be fired.

"Hit." Lu Wende ordered.

Boom, boom, boom, one hundred and fifty artillery pieces of the Song Army fired one after another.

The shells roared out and hit the Mongolian cavalry formation hard. In the Mongolian formation in the distance, people screamed and fell down from time to time.

If you are lucky, you can destroy a line of enemy troops with one shot.

A thousand-mile heavy artillery of the Song Army fired heavy shells.

The cannonball drew a wonderful arc in mid-air and flew hundreds of steps away in an instant.

A Mongolian soldier saw a black light flying down in front of his head. He was so frightened that he quickly bent over and reined in his horse, trying to move to the left.

But the speed of the cannonball was too fast, and there was a companion on his left.

He only had time to move half of his body.

Plop, he suddenly felt his horse tremble all over, and he and the horse fell to the ground.

The cannonball hit his horse's butt directly, and with a kacha sound, his horse's bones were instantly smashed.

The cannonball bounced several inches more, and the other cavalryman behind him didn't even see what it was. His vision went black, and his whole head was cut off by the cannonball.

The cannonball continued to roll back, plopped, and hit the foot of another war horse when it hit the ground.

The war horses screamed and fell to their knees, and the Mongolian soldiers on top also rolled to the ground.

The shells were still rolling back, and Katsa cut off the legs of the fourth horse. This heavy artillery knocked over four Mongolian cavalry in front and back, causing the Mongolian troops on the side to scream in surprise.

However, the Mongolian army's charge was accelerated by 30,000 cavalry. On this huge and vast battlefield, the damage caused by more than a hundred artillery pieces did not seem to have a great impact.

The Mongolian army did not panic on a large scale after suffering a wave of artillery, and the entire army still moved forward slowly and orderly.

Two hundred steps.

At this time, the Mongolian forward had already entered within two hundred steps, but still did not mention the maximum speed.

Lu Wende and Lu Wenxin frowned at the same time. Judging from the Mongolian army's speed and the speed-up process, it didn't look like the assault vehicle artillery array.

The Mongolian army wants to use the old routine to shoot?

That's impossible. This method can be used against other armies, but in front of the Song army, it will be a loss of life.

The Song army's flintlock guns and a large number of bows and arrows could make the Mongolian army fall in pieces.

Out of his trust in the Song Army, Lu Wende didn't think much and could only wait and see what happened and take advantage of the situation.

When the Mongolian army entered within 150 steps, the Song army's second round of artillery fired.

In the past, when the Mongolian army accelerated from two miles away, the Song army's second round of artillery fired. Usually the Mongolian army's forward had already entered within fifty steps, and the Song army attacked the soldiers and horses in the middle of the Mongolian army.

This time it was a hundred steps ahead, which shows how slow the Mongolian army was.

"Woooo" The Mongolian army on the opposite side blew the horn again after entering one hundred and fifty steps.

Rumbling, the Mongolian army finally began to increase its speed, and the horses were getting faster and faster.

But Lu Wende suddenly returned to the Mongolian army as if there were not many troops in front.

Before, the Mongolian army moved forward slowly in a group, and it was not obvious yet. Now the Mongolian army's forward has accelerated and distanced itself from the rear. From the direction of Lu Wende, it can be seen that the Mongolian army's forward cavalry does not seem to be very many.

"Trebuchet." Someone suddenly screamed.

Whoosh, in the Mongolian army formation opposite, there was a loud noise, and a huge stone bullet came through the air.

"Hiss" Lu Wende took a breath, and then realized that the Mongolian cavalry was walking slowly in front, just to cover the trebuchet pushing forward.

Only then did Lu Wende realize why when he looked over just now, he could see the Mongolian military flag covering the sky.

In the Mongolian army, only captains of ten and above would carry flags, which played a role in conveying orders and gathering troops on the battlefield.

Something doesn't feel right today. It's because the Mongolian army is carrying so many flags. It's actually to cover the trebuchets.

At this time, the Mongolian army's trebuchets had advanced to about 200 steps of the Song army.

Following the sound of the first trebuchet, a huge stone projectile weighing hundreds of kilograms broke through the air.

The Song troops in the front row raised their heads one after another, looking at such a large stone bullet with a little horror.

This was the first time in so many years of fighting between the Mongolian and Song armies that trebuchets were used in the wild, and most of the Song armies had not yet reacted.

Everyone was stunned when they saw a huge black shadow approaching above their heads.

Some Song troops wanted to escape, but the Song troops were well-trained and disciplined. The superior officials did not give orders, so everyone could only stand there and watch.

The Mongolian army was lucky. The first stone bullet flew into the Song army's carriage array.

With a bang, the big stone fell heavily, hitting the carriage between the first and second rows.

With a crash, the two carriages shattered into pieces.

Fortunately, the Mongolian army's stone bullets were not round, and the ground was relatively soft. After the huge stone bullets landed, they did not roll far away. They only shook the mountain when they landed, shaking several Song soldiers around them and fell to the ground.

"Damn it, what are you looking at? You have to hide." Lu Wende suddenly came to his senses and quickly ordered the sergeants to stay out of the way.

This trebuchet is slower than the artillery, so you can hide while watching.

As soon as he finished speaking, whoosh, whoosh, trebuchets sounded one after another from the Mongolian army on the opposite side.

Huge boulders fell from there.

A huge boulder flew very far, directly to the artillery position behind the Song Army's carriage.

The Song army lined up two rows of carriages in front. Within twenty steps behind the carriages were all fusiliers, and behind them were artillery pieces.

"Woo!" The Song troops at the scene were so frightened that they squatted down one after another. No one dared to avoid them, so they only dared to squat on the spot.

The stone bullet almost landed against Song Jun's scalp.

Plop, hit an artillery piece.

The cannon bounced off after being smashed, and the stone bullets fell into pieces.

"Ah" many artillerymen on the scene and the fusiliers in front screamed.

Some people were hit by shattered stone bullets, some were swept across by bounced artillery, and some were hit by broken gun mounts.

The stone bullets caused a wave of damage to the Song army, and seven or eight people were injured and fell to the ground.

There were also stone bullets hitting the fusiliers directly.

Phew, the scene was filled with blood and flesh, and two or three fusiliers were smashed to death without lying down.

The first wave of trebuchets hit the Song Army a little confused because they had never encountered them before.

If the Mongolian army suddenly moved up, it would probably catch the Song army by surprise. The Song army's order to avoid has not yet been passed to each battalion, so everyone must be in a panic.

But the Mongolian army did not take advantage of the situation. The Mongolian cavalry, which had been running at high speed just now, reached about seventy or eighty paces of the Song army, and then shot in both directions, using the old routine.

Batu also used this tactic during his Western Expedition in Europe. He first used a trebuchet to smash the horse-drawn carriage formation of the Fangli army, and then rushed in after it was broken.

However, the Mongolian army's trebuchets were much slower than those of the Song army, because their stone projectiles were too heavy to be transported and mounted on the trebuchets.

At this time, there were a large number of civilians and laborers in their army working with the trebuchets, and the process was quite cumbersome.

This is why they are rarely used in the field.

Batu fought a decisive battle at the Seyo River with an army of 100,000 men, but he only brought seven trebuchets.

This time, the Mongolian army backed Qianzhou City and secretly transported more than a hundred trebuchets. After the first wave of trebuchets was thrown, it was so powerful that it caused a large number of casualties to the Song army.

Unfortunately, his speed was too slow. The second wave hadn't started yet, and Song Jun reacted quickly.

"Keep out of the way, keep out of the way."

"The artillery moves back, and the trebuchets are fired first."

"The artillery moves back and the trebuchets are fired first."

Various orders from the scene were passed down frantically.

In case the order was not in place, a large number of cavalry either rode horses or ran all the way to each battalion, verbally repeating it to each commander.

Each commander sent someone to deliver the message to each commander.

Each one sent someone to pass it on to each corps leader.

Sending orders on ancient battlefields is also a complex system and problem that takes time.

Because the Song Army's artillery array was dense and in the center, they received the order immediately.

"Hit!" Song Jun roared.

Boom, boom, boom, the artillery fired in the direction of the Mongolian trebuchet.

(End of this chapter)