The struggle of the reborn prince

Due to the nourishment of the two major rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris, the Armenian Plain in the arid region has been turned into an oasis, the granary of Central and Western Asia, and the richest region of the Seljuk Empire. Created countless lords, big and small.For these Seljuk lords who surrounded him like flies, Song Jun felt that he had launched a counterattack.

The territories of the lords are often towns formed around a tall castle. The nobles constantly broke out in wars for land, food, livestock, and population. The intensive wars led the nobles to build castles to defend their territories.Its function was to serve as a base for professional soldiers, especially knights, and to control the surrounding countryside.When the central power controlled by the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire declined due to various reasons, in addition to its military defense, it also had political uses such as expanding territory and controlling places.

For those small lords who ruled only tens of miles and had a population of several thousand, the Great Song Expeditionary Army disdained to waste their military power to attack, although these people were the most joyful.Because Ma Wei knows the truth of beating a snake to the head. Those small lords are just the vassals of the big nobles, a group of cannon fodder who can't be the masters. If we do it once, it will be a good harvest for both military and material affairs.

On a bright moonlit night, the Great Song Expeditionary Army marching along the main road suddenly turned eastward, marched at a rapid pace for twenty miles, and suddenly appeared on the territory of Grand Duke Fikia, and quickly occupied the small town outside the castle. .The defenders in the city heard the movement but did not come out. By dawn, the Song army had completed the siege.Seeing the dark crowd, he dared not come out again.

The one chosen by Mawei was a hereditary grand duke called Fikia, whose ancestor was said to be the prince of a certain sultan.After becoming an adult, he was entrusted here, and the territory was not large at first.But within a hundred miles.However, with the weakening of the ruling power of the central government of the empire, the princes rose one after another. The descendants of Grand Duke Fikia, relying on the financial resources accumulated by the family for hundreds of years, recruited and raised the cavalry of "Gulam". At this time, they already had more than [-] knights. , eliminated and subjugated many small lords in the surrounding area through war, controlled hundreds of miles on the east bank of the Tigris River, and reached the outskirts of Baghdad.

Ma Wei asked some sensible captives for a long time to question carefully, and led a few generals around the castle.Now holding up the binoculars and looking at it for a long time, he gritted his teeth and showed embarrassment.He felt a little regretful again, he had brought too many people today, so he shrank the enemy back in fright. If he had known that he would have lured the people out of the castle and wiped them out.It also avoids the embarrassment of some dogs biting hedgehogs with nowhere to bite in the face of a heavily guarded castle...

Ma Wei understood that no matter building cities and castles, one principle must be followed, that is, to be able to carry out long-term and effective defense with a small force.With a strong defense, the defenders can stand firm with the advantage of sufficient supplies until the attackers are driven back by the troops who come to relieve the siege, or the attackers will be severely injured when they run out of ammunition and suffer from diseases. forced to evacuate.And the castle in front of me seems to be completely in line with this principle.

The castle was built on a small high hill.Covering an area of ​​about five or six hectares, the surrounding wall is not a square as is common in the Central Plains, but a circle.The wall is about four feet high.There are battlements and crenels, and soldiers in iron armor can be vaguely seen behind.In the four corners of the city wall, there are also arrow towers three or four feet higher than the city wall, connected by corridors.There are shooting holes in the outer wall of the corridor.A moat was dug outside the wall, which was not enough for horses to cross, and there was water in it.

And the high city walls can't hide the majesty of the main building in the city.This fifteen-foot-tall cylinder is the strongest part of the entire fort.According to the captives who were 'interviewed' by Mawei, the walls of the main fort were as thick as one foot and were all made of stone blocks.There are observation rooms and shooting rooms, as well as weapon arsenals, grain depots, water wells, and secret rooms. It is like a maze, where the castellan's family lives. Of course, treasures and gold coins collected by his family over the past dynasties are also stored inside.

"Deputy Commander, how do you fight? The weather will get hotter and hotter soon!" Li Quan asked, wiping the sweat that was dripping from his face.

"It's not easy to fight. The people who built the fort didn't know how to think about it. They only built a gate for each city, and didn't even leave a back door. They couldn't use it if they wanted to use it. !” Ma Wei said with a wry smile.

"Well, it looks like the only weak point in this city is the gate, but it's not easy to take it down!" Li Quan said approvingly.

The city gate is arranged between the two arrow towers. If you rush to the bottom of the city and enter its shooting blind spot, the city gate is just a wooden city gate covered with an iron sheet. It is not difficult to explode if you use the blasting method.But their city gate structure is also different from that of the Central Plains. It is a gatehouse with internal space, which can defend the stronghold of the castle.When the enemy broke through to the gate, the defenders could pass through a tunnel from the passage of the gate to the gatehouse.In the middle or both ends of the tunnel, there are also multi-layered gates.The rolling mechanical action can lift or drop the gate above the gatehouse for solid protection.The gate itself is a heavy wooden or iron fence, and the defenders hide on both sides of the gate to shoot or stab, killing the intruders and making it difficult for the enemy army to break into the city.

"That's obviously a pit, which attracts people to jump down!" Wang Gang said with a snort after hearing this, "Look at the terrain, it's inconvenient for us to charge upwards and shoot, and the enemy hides in the arrow tower and the city wall, condescending, and shoots down." Arrows allow the defenders to defend the city gate from all sides. There is also the corridor bridge, as long as we get to the bottom, they can pour gold soup, hot water, and kill our soldiers. Moreover, the front of the city is open, and we will be completely exposed when we attack In the open area, great casualties will be paid!"

"Deputy Marshal, we should take a long-term plan, prepare siege equipment, or dig trenches to push to the front of the city before launching an attack. We can't attack by force, we can't afford to lose with so few people!" Li Quan echoed.

"There are only 2000 people in the city. What if we attack from all sides to attract and disperse the enemy troops, and then take the opportunity to break through the city? Besides, they are still human, and they will die if they are shot. If the casualties are heavy, they will not be supplemented. How long!" Sun Bin, the commander of the First Brigade of the Expeditionary Army, interjected.

"You think that bullshit grand duke is a fool. He has already prepared to take all the young and strong among his subjects into the castle. Didn't you see that there are only old, young, women and children in the town we occupied? He is afraid that these people will waste The food stored in the fort keeps them out of the fort and leaves them to fend for themselves, and they have made preparations for long-term persistence. If you want to consume them to death, can you afford it!" Li Quan's opponents came up with such a Tiao' idea was very angry and reprimanded loudly.

"What's the matter, I was scared when I encountered a little difficulty. The city of Baghdad ahead is stronger than this one. Seeing you like this, let's not go any further, just board the boat and go home!" Ma Wei looked at several people. The subordinate posed a bunch of difficulties and said with a straight face.

"Deputy Marshal, we didn't mean that..." Wang Gang saw that he was annoyed, and wanted to explain a few words.

"Second Joe, mount the cannon and blast me those noisy things in the city!" At this moment, Ma Wei turned his face and saw a few enemy soldiers in the city pointing and laughing at them, although they couldn't understand what they said What, it's definitely not a good word, he shouted to Qiao Shijun, the commander of the artillery brigade of the expeditionary army who was standing not far away.

"Why, my navy can't command you horse infantry?" But after waiting for a while, Qiao Shijun didn't seem to hear it, and stayed where he was, Ma Wei said angrily to a group of people.

"Second Joe, come here quickly, can't you hear the deputy commander calling you again!" Li Quan shouted as soon as he heard that things were going to go bad.

"Deputy Commander, what you said is too serious. Our navy and cavalry army come from the same school. There is no distinction between internal and external. On the public, you are the deputy commander of the expeditionary army. How dare we violate orders. On the 20th We are your subordinates in [-], and we dare not disobey! It must be that Qiao’s second child has lost his mind again and didn’t hear it. Don’t be angry, I’ll teach him a lesson.” Wang Gang quickly explained.

"Deputy Marshal, what are your orders?" Qiao Shijun hurried over after hearing Li Quan's shout, and asked as if nothing happened.

"The big battle is coming, if you don't hurry up to prepare for the battle, why are you in a daze?" Ma Wei was so angry here, but this kid was so cute, which made him feel very funny, and asked in a low voice.In fact, Qiao's second child is not an outsider, and he has a lot of connections with you. His father is Qiao Kun, the servant of the household department. He met everyone when he was in Xiangyi. En was determined to go, otherwise he wouldn't have given his son such a name. According to his seniority, he should be called you uncles. How can Ma Wei make it out by venting his anger on a 'child'.

"Oh, deputy commander, I'm thinking about how to use artillery to cover the infantry entering the city!" Qiao Shijun responded.He was incorporated into the artillery force after joining the Krupp army in the northwest. This kid was smart and willing to endure hardships. He was good at shooting artillery. With his own efforts, he was promoted step by step to the command of the artillery team directly under the Leopard Wing Army.Considering that the expeditionary force has naval guns to provide firepower, no additional artillery was dispatched. Instead, the artillery units of the brigades and the artillery units directly under the army were combined to temporarily form an artillery brigade, led by Qiao Shijun.

"Do you have an idea?" Ma Wei asked hastily when he finally met someone who was doing 'business'.

"Deputy Marshal, I have some ideas, but they still need to be perfected!" Qiao Shijun said with a smile.

"Okay, tell us, so I can help you with the details..." Ma Wei said happily after hearing this, but before Qiao's second son could speak, he heard the alarm sound.Everyone looked up to the front of the city, and saw the gate of the castle was wide open, the drawbridge was lowered, and a group of cavalry rushed out of the castle... (To be continued...)