The Jin army besieged the city, and the Song emperor’s daughter died

Chapter 196: Giant artillery bombards the city [two chapters in one]

The Jin army's sinking artillery was tall and heavy. Each sinking artillery required more than a hundred people to push forward.

Viewed from the walls of Taiyuan City, more than 6000 sinking artillery pieces, driven by [-] people, slowly moved forward towards the designated position.

Under the tall cannon, the armored cavalry galloped back and forth under the leadership of Wanyan Yinshuke, watching the Taiyuan city gate warily, fearing that the Song army would take advantage of the gap in deployment to launch a surprise attack, and the archers were not idle either. Then they began to line up and assemble, forming a huge fan-shaped formation behind the sunken artillery. If the Song army left the city, they were sure to be suppressed on one side of the moat as soon as possible.

The assault infantry and heavy infantry have not been mobilized yet, but they are already waiting for the heavy artillery to attack. If they can break through the city wall, they will pounce like a pack of wolves and close the gap in the defense. Tear it apart in one fell swoop.

In the center position, Wanyan Zonghan is standing on horseback. On his left shoulder is Haidongqing, who has the title of God of Eagles. He is huge, with a white head and gray body, and his eyes are calm and sharp.Another Haidongqing had already fluttered its wings and was circling and crowing over the battlefield. The sky was gray and the clouds were hanging low. This Haidongqing looked down at the desolate Taiyuan City like a god.

The dozens of messengers waiting beside Wanyan Zonghan only need to wait for the commander of the first army to speak and fine-tune the details on the battlefield. .

In Taiyuan City, Yang Zaixing led 5000 people to the west city wall. The cat was behind the wall, trying not to be discovered by the Jin army below the city.

The military order Yang Zaixing received was that if the Jin army ascended the city to fight, they would move the people and defense equipment to the south city wall and defend the city. If the Jin army did not ascend the city, they would stay put and not move rashly.

On the east wall, Gao Chong had already led 1000 people to prepare.

Gao Chong received the military order, and when the Jin army began to sink cannons to attack the city, he led his men to push several double-width cannons to the south city wall.

Because if the Jin army ordered to climb the city, the top of the city would no longer be hit by long-range firepower, and it would become a hand-to-hand battle. There would never be a situation like the one on TV where one of their own people was climbing the city, and the trebuchet behind them was still pounding the top of the city. Damn it, this kind of two-force style of killing one thousand enemies and losing one thousand five dollars does not exist.

The core of the Jin army's siege warfare was actually to sink artillery and destroy the city.

Compared with fighting on the city, entering through the gap in the city wall will cause significantly fewer casualties on one's own side.

Therefore, all deployments on the battlefield at this time are centered around sinking artillery.

Wanyan Zonghan had to ensure that his heavy cannon would not suffer a fatal blow, so the first round of long-range attacks had to destroy not only the defense equipment and supplies, but also the most important thing was to destroy the Song Army's double-twisted cannon and bed crossbow. A device for long-range attack on sunken artillery.

But after throwing it away for an hour, it was discovered that Song Jun did not place these tools on the south wall, which forced Wanyan Zonghan to change his fighting method.

Seeing that more than fifty sinking artillery pieces were almost arriving at the designated area, Wanyan Zonghan said in a deep voice: "Give me the order to push two up first, and the rest will stay where they are."

Two sinkers were pushed up from the convoy. The gunners estimated the distance between the sinkers and the city wall. When they felt that the maximum output was almost possible, the two sinkers stopped and stood up on the spot. The gunners began to turn the winches. , lift one side of the counterweight high and drop the loading tray.

At this time, five or six people would hold huge stones the size of millstones and put them on the loading tray.

When everything was ready, the winch was released, and one side of the counterweight dropped heavily, ejecting huge stones the size of millstones.

"boom!"

The thrown stones did not hit the city wall, but fell less than a foot away from the city wall.

Obviously, the range is not enough.

The two sinkers slowly advanced for more than a foot, then stopped again and continued the test firing just now.

This time, a boulder as big as a millstone hit the wall of Taiyuan City hard, causing rocks and soil to fly everywhere.

In the absence of laser ranging, the best shooting position can only be found through experience and constant adjustments.

Seeing the city wall being smashed, Gao Chong, who was attached to the east wall, showed his head and observed the Jin army's sinking artillery.

The siege sinking artillery used by the Jin Army at this time was different in appearance from the Song Army's artillery. The Song Army's artillery was pulled by manpower and did not add a counterweight on the other end like the Jin Army. Gao Chong only felt that It's different, but I can't explain why.

Later generations generally believe that this kind of returning artillery did not appear in the Song and Jin Dynasties, but was a heavy siege weapon after the rise of Mongolia, which became a nightmare in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Actually not quite right.

Although historical data do not clearly record that the Jin Army used this type of counterweight trebuchet, as long as we carefully analyze the war situations recorded in historical data, we can know that the military technology of the Jin Army not only did not lag behind that of the Liao and Song Dynasties, but was actually Far beyond that, it can even be said that the Jin Army used the most advanced siege weapons in the world.

Historical data says: "Every time a cannon reaches the city, the upper floors are destroyed. (Song Army's) artillery, stones, and fire are all inferior to those of the Jin camp."

First of all, how does the huge power of "destroying all the upstairs" come from? Because it is a stone that kills people, there is no gunpowder, so for such a huge power, the stone must be big.

The second is "The Song army is inferior to the Jin camp."

It can throw big and heavy stones farther than the Song army. You would say this is because the Jin army is stronger than the Song army, and it is obviously difficult to convince the crowd. Not to mention that when fighting against the Liao army, the Jin army also had the advantage, so There is only one answer, and that is that the Jin Army had already used a counterweighted trebuchet at that time, which was also commonly known as the return artillery.

As for where this "high technology" comes from...

It is inconvenient to go into details.

Seeing the two heavy artillery pieces starting to bombard the city, Wanyan Zonghan stared in the direction of Taiyuan City, wanting to see how the Song army would respond.

You can't just ignore it and let Shen bombard the city. What's the difference between that and Kaicheng's surrender?

On the west city wall, Gao Chong said in a deep voice: "Push those two double-twisted cannons to the south city, quickly!"

The Song army behind him received the order and began to push the double cannon towards the south city wall. Seeing the Song army making a move, Wanyan Xiyin asked: "Commander, do you want a light cannon attack?"

Wanyan Zonghan shook his head: "Let the Song army attack first and see if they can hit the Shen Pao."

What Wanyan Zonghan was thinking about at this time was to use two sinking cannons as bait, firstly to measure the best distance for bombarding the city wall, and secondly to measure the range of the Song army's artillery. If the artillery can't hit the sinking artillery array, half of the battle is already won.

As long as the armored cavalry protects the heavy artillery array and prevents the Song army from coming out of the city to harass, then just let the heavy artillery bombard the city.

If you can't blast a hole in one hour, use two hours. If it doesn't work in two hours, blast it all day long.

No wall can stand forever.

As long as a gap is created, Taiyuan City will be taken.

Sure enough, the twin cannons that were pushed up to the south city wall were not attacked by the Jin army from a long distance. They were safely set up and then loaded step by step. With a dozen gunners pulling so hard, a stone the size of a water tank was blown away. It was thrown towards the two sinking artillery vehicles.

Watching the rocks rolling in the air, from far to near...

But just about two feet away from the two artillery carts, the stone lost its forward momentum and fell solidly, creating a money pit on the ground.

Wanyan Zonghan finally showed joy, but still did not order all the artillery carts to attack. Instead, he waited for the Song army to fire two more rounds at the top of the city. Some stones did hit the cannons, but the stones were too small, so It is the size of a bowl mouth and cannot cause any effective damage to the huge heavy cannon.

After hearing what the ordering soldier said clearly, Wanyan Zonghan smiled and nodded, and ordered all the heavy artillery pieces to move forward using the two cannons as the alignment.As for the inside of Taiyuan City, behind the city wall...

Wanyan Zonghan was not worried at all.

Even if a pair of cannons are placed at the top of the city, they cannot hit them. If they are placed inside the city, they will certainly not be able to hit them.

"Send the order, advance the sinking artillery!"

……

……

As the Jin Army's heavy artillery began to move forward slowly, Yue Fei in Taiyuan City finally felt relieved, and the expression on his face became relaxed: "Prefect Zhang, are you afraid of heights?"

Zhang Xiaochun was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "I'm not afraid."

Yue Fei smiled and said, "Then Magistrate Zhang will go with me to take a look at the hot air balloon?"

Zhang Xiaochun asked: "What are you looking at?"

Yue Fei pointed out across the city wall: "After watching Yan Zonghan's sunken artillery array blossom."

Zhang Xiaochun, who knew nothing about the thunderbolts, was really in no mood to joke: "General Yue, our artillery can't hit the Jin Army's formation at all, so what are you looking at? General, think of a way quickly. If you let the artillery sink, If you smash it like this, it won't take half a day for the city wall to really hold up anymore!"

Yue Fei smiled and said: "The last time Wanyan Zonghan attacked the city, how did Magistrate Zhang respond?"

Zhang Xiaochun was anxious and annoyed: "Oh, the last time the Jin army came to encircle them, they didn't bring these heavy artillery machines at all. But even so, we paid a heavy price and the defense was difficult. If the Jin army used heavy artillery to attack last time, City, Taiyuan City has long since fallen."

While the two were talking, Gao Chong, who had completed his mission, ran down from the city wall: "General Yue, what's next?"

Yue Fei smiled and said, "Do you dare to go out of the city to kill the enemy?"

Gao Chong snorted: "As long as General Yue gives the order, I will lead the men to rush into the Laoshizi sinking artillery array."

Yue Fei shook his head: "General Gao doesn't need to pay attention to the Shen Pao Formation. If he can get out of the city in a while, General Gao will just rush towards the Jin Army cavalry. If he can kill the general, it would be best. If he can't..."

"Nothing is impossible!" Gao Chong paused the Damascus gun in his hand and said confidently.

"Okay!" Yue Fei patted Gao Chong on the shoulder: "I have prepared three thousand cavalry for the general. They are our Song Dynasty's Jingdong Road cavalry army. Although they are not as good as the Jin army's Tiefutu, they are still capable of fighting. Wait a moment To follow the general out of the city, all you need to do is entangle the Jin army’s cavalry.”

Gao Chong clasped his fists: "I have the order!"

Yue Fei turned to look at Wang Zhen aside: "General Wang, if the Jin army infantry ascends the city, in order to relieve the pressure on Yang Zaixing at the top of the city, you see, I have ordered the Wei army to leave the city, but they are not allowed to cross the moat or stay in front of the city gate. After charging out, quickly attack on both sides, just scatter the Jin army crossing the river and kill them."

Wang Zhen nodded: "What if we open the city gate and the Jin army rushes to the door?"

Yue Fei smiled and said, "I have my own plan."

After arranging everything, Yue Fei explained: "Look at my command flag later. If the yellow flag is raised, Gao Chong will lead the cavalry to fight. If the black flag is raised, Wang Zhen will lead Wei's army out of the city. If the red flag is raised, everyone will immediately withdraw into the city. , no delay.”

After that, Yue Fei walked towards several scientific officers from the Academy of Song Dynasty in front of the city gate: "Are you ready?"

The scientific officers nodded and said: "We are all ready, and the hot air balloon can take off at any time."

Looking at the six hot air balloons near the south city gate, Yue Fei pondered for a moment, and then said: "Please stay at the double gun formation, listen to my orders later, and shoot out all the thunderbolts in the shortest possible time. "

After the scientific officers took the order, Yue Fei called Zhang Xiaochun to come over and stood with him in the bamboo basket of a hot air balloon.

The remaining five hot air balloons also had four Song soldiers standing on them, each holding a fire folding bag in their hands. In the bamboo basket of each hot air balloon, there was a wooden box covered with thick sand. In the box, twelve thunder bullets were neatly placed.

As the hot air balloons were ignited, six hot air balloons slowly rose into the sky, crossed the city wall, and floated high in front of the South City Gate.

……

……

Outside the city, in the center of the Jin army, Wanyan Zonghan looked at the six Kongming balls that suddenly rose, and his heart sank.

I see these things every day these days, and I always thought they were used by the Song Army as a lookout, but at this moment, it is a bit weird that they are still rising.

The entire Jin army has gathered under Taiyuan City. You only need to stand at the top of the city to see the battlefield situation clearly. There is no need to rise so high.

Even if we only need one for observation and exploration, why did six suddenly appear?
Wanyan Xiyin had no reasonable explanation for this situation. He just said with relief: "These Kong Ming Spheres don't seem to be a threat. Even if the Song Army shoots them with divine arm crossbows, it will have no impact on the battlefield. After all, there are only those dozen people.”

Wanyan Zonghan thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.

Just treat those Kongming balls as decorations.

Seeing that the heavy artillery had been assembled in place, Wanyan Zonghan immediately ordered to bombard the city.

These heavy artillery bombardments are not like the range attacks of light artillery. The more scattered they are, the better. The larger the area on the city head that can be covered, the better. When attacking a city, heavy artillery is concentrated on one point and bombarded hard. Just smash. Just destroy a section of the city wall.

At the same time, Wanyan Zonghan ordered the heavy infantry to move forward and gather on the other side of the moat where the sinking artillery bombardment was. Since the trench-filling soldiers had already filled the moat, they only needed to wait for the city wall to collapse and create a gap before launching an siege attack.

As the sunken cannon launched boulders the size of millstones, the boulders hit the city wall one after another. The banging sound was endless, and the entire city wall of Taiyuan City began to tremble.

Even Yang Zaixing's troops who were ambushing on the east wall could feel this trembling, and some soldiers also trembled in their hearts.

This was the first time they had seen this kind of heavy artillery attack on the city. They saw huge boulders rolling and falling down in the sky, and the city walls trembled. The huge sense of oppression made everyone breathe heavily.

"Hold on!" Although Yang Zaixing was breathless from the pressure, he still shouted in a deep voice to reassure the soldiers.

On the hot air balloon, Yue Fei pointed to the Jin Army's sunken artillery array and sighed: "This thing is ingenious, it is really a magic weapon for siege."

Cold sweat was already dripping down Zhang Xiaochun's forehead: "General Yue, what should we do? What should we do?"

"Don't be impatient, wait until Wanyan Zonghan reveals his siege engines."

"If this city wall is destroyed, what siege vehicles will be needed?" Zhang Xiaochun watched the boulders flying and smiled bitterly.

(End of this chapter)