The struggle of the reborn prince

As Qiao's second child said, the collapsed city wall filled the moat and formed a gentle slope.Taking advantage of the smoke and dust, the infantry brigade, which had been on standby for a long time, quickly rushed in through the gap, but the expected fierce battle did not happen. After some searching, they only found a group of militiamen who were obviously frightened, disheveled, and armed with crude weapons.And those 'Gulam' fled into the main building in the castle before the city was broken, leaving only them as cannon fodder.

The small space in the city is not conducive to cavalry combat, and there is no fierce resistance, but the large group of people and horses are easily attacked by the enemy.So Ma Wei ordered the large troops to stop entering the city, and only one infantry brigade entered the city to control the commanding heights and wipe out the remnants of the enemy.The dragoons expanded the search area to prevent enemy reinforcements and escape, while the hussars continued to rest and reorganize, and the second infantry brigade shrank the encirclement and served as a general offensive reserve.

Ma Wei, who entered the city with the second wave of troops, boarded the city wall, and the soldiers cleared an open space from the rubble and became a temporary command post.The smoke and dust gradually dissipated, and the scene in the city was gradually revealed in front of his eyes. He couldn't help but frown. The defense facilities in the city were not just one main building as imagined, but rather ingenious. It is not easy to easily occupy the entire castle, especially It is the thick and tall main building standing in the center of the city.

The situation inside the fort is like the inner city in a large city in the Central Plains. It is an independent and complete defense system composed of the main building and the surrounding auxiliary facilities. Its tightness is simply like a small compound fortress.There are various indications that the castle was not successfully built at one time. At the beginning, the castle only had the main building, and now its surroundings seem to be only part of the garden, but the low wall covered with green vines should be part of the fortifications of the old site.The stream flowing around the main building was formerly the moat of the main building.

With the increase of the castle's existence time, the owner's wealth will increase.This complex building based on the main building was gradually expanded to the surrounding area, and defensive measures including the outer city wall and arrow tower were added.It slowly evolved into a large complex castle with ramparts, inner keep and additional arrow towers.In this way, even if the outer city is captured by foreign enemies.Defenders can also spread their guards to the main building for the final defense, delaying the time of fall.

The basic point of castle defense is to put the attackers in the highest danger and expose the enemy as much as possible; the opposite is to minimize the risk to the defenders.Under normal circumstances, a well-defended castle can be secured with only a small army guarding the castle, but the besieger needs to use a larger army than the defender to capture it.

For the latter would require a large enough army to control the countryside around the castle, to repel troops that relieved the siege, to attack the stronghold directly or to lay siege to it, all of which were extremely force-intensive operations.This is also the reason why Grand Duke Fikia dared to challenge the Song army, which was dozens of times his own, with his meager armed force, but he did not expect that the Song army would adopt such a method with no technical content, and use brute force to forcibly destroy the city walls and watchtowers, etc. Otherwise, even if he loses the battle, it is impossible for Song Jun to break through the periphery in a short time.

And even if the Song army breaks through the periphery now, it does not mark the fall of the entire city.The main building can still be the last stronghold of Duke Fikia. Its thick outer wall is even stronger than the city wall. The height and smooth outer wall make it difficult for attackers to climb up. Minimizing the entrance and exit gates of the main building will also make it impossible for attackers to rely on the number of people. It is easy to break through the superiority.But the defenders in the building have strong protection and the advantage of shooting down, giving the enemy a powerful kill. Sufficient material reserves and a huge water storage tank can also allow them to persist until the enemy is exhausted and retreats helplessly.

It was already evening at this time, and the heavy artillery had not yet been delivered. Considering that it would be more difficult to enter the main building to clear up after dark, Hu Lie, the commander of the First Step Brigade, hoped to use machine guns and rapid-fire guns as cover.Block the arrow holes and platforms upstairs, let him lead the troops to charge once, and try to end the battle before it gets too dark.But his proposal was flatly rejected by Ma Wei, and he did not want major casualties at this time.

"Deputy Commander. Why don't you let Hu Lie try? They have traveled tens of thousands of miles by boat, and they haven't fought a real battle yet!" Li Quan came over and said, obviously after Hu Lie was rejected.He's here to talk.

"Because the brothers left the country thousands of miles away with us, it's not easy for them to come here alive. We can't let them lose their lives under this small city at the end of the day." Ma Wei said in a deep voice.

"Deputy Marshal, I heard that the bullshit grand duke hid his family's savings for several lifetimes in this big tube. If the cannon hits, it will be smashed to pieces!" Li Quan said with some unwillingness to give up.

"Yeah, we've been busy for several days, if we just picked up a bunch of junk and went back, wouldn't our faces be too ugly!" Wang Gang also joked.

"Is your face so valuable? You have to trade the lives of the soldiers!" Ma Wei teased the two of them.

"This... Deputy Commander, we don't mean that!" Wang Gang blushed and said embarrassingly.

"Have you all forgotten the emperor's teachings?" Ma Wei actually understood the thoughts of the two of them. These days, the navy is playing the vanguard, capturing a lot of spoils in Ji Shiguo and Bossaro, while the infantry and cavalry are just acting as soldiers. Porters, to no avail.Today I want to take down the castle completely, get some loot, and make the army look better.

"What can be solved with cannons, don't use guns, what can be solved with guns, don't use knives, and what can be solved with knives, don't use fists!" Li Quan murmured.

"It's okay, I remember everything, but why did the emperor ask us to do this for the generals, don't you understand?" Ma Wei asked sharply again.

"The emperor means to destroy the enemy with absolute superiority in firepower and reduce the casualties of one's own side!" Wang Gang murmured.

"It's good to know, otherwise the emperor spent countless money to equip you with such excellent weapons and build giant warships, just to put it there to save face? If the soldiers are exhausted, you will give the entire castle back to the emperor. I will kill you both!" Ma Wei pointed at the two of them and said, his fingers were about to poke their foreheads.

"The emperor probably won't kill us, he must have chopped off our heads with the Tao, how expensive the bullets are!" Li Quan muttered softly.

"You?!" Ma Wei sighed, "The emperor launched this expedition this time with the intention of opening up trade routes in the Western Regions, so that our merchant ships from the Song Dynasty will be able to sail unimpeded in the Seljuk Empire. The money earned is not comparable to ordering that little thing in the castle, just waiting to be transported back by ship!"

"Hehe, it's our short-sightedness!" Li Quan said with a smile, "Deputy Marshal, but Baghdad is said to be comparable to our Song Dynasty's Bianjing City, and we have to bring some good things back there to dedicate to the emperor. Otherwise, how can I have the face to meet the boss!"

"Hmph, you'd better save your own life. I think the emperor would be happier to see you back alive than anything else!" Ma Wei said with a snort.

"Oh, I miss the emperor a little bit. Since we arrived in the southeast, we haven't seen him for seven or eight years..." Li Quan looked at Dongfang with a dark expression and said...

It was not until the end of the moon that the soldiers besieging the castle had eaten their dinner, and the four heavy artillery arrived at the battlefield under the escort of a commanding marine.Impatient for a long time, Joe's second child immediately took over all the accompanying naval gunners, commanded everyone to push the heavy artillery up the city wall along the simple road that had been repaired, and placed it on the selected artillery position. Reloading, aiming, everything unfolded in an orderly manner.

"Boom, boom..." The four cannons began to test fire accordingly. The flames of the gunpowder burning in the dark were extremely bright, and the huge cannon sound was heard far away in the silent night, and the power was not comparable to those of the light cannons. Yes, a shell hit the platform of the main building, instantly destroying it, turning it into a pile of fragments and falling down.

After the test firing was completed, the heavy artillery salvoed again after readjustment.Qiao's second child did not inherit his father's talent for business, but he took over his advantages of careful planning. He changed the shooting method of destroying the archery building, and started shooting from the top of the main building layer by layer, trying to hit each gun on a point of impact. Point.Of course, this requirement is a bit high, and it would be foolish to use artillery to concentrate on one point, but it is not difficult to spread the impact points in a small range.

After two rounds of salvos, the stones wrapped in the outer layer of the main building became loose, cracked, and fell off one after another under the action of the huge impact. After the third round of salvos, a huge hole was opened in the main castle. Then it was replaced by flowering bombs and projected into the hole along the entrance. After a few explosions, it was estimated that there were no living creatures on this layer. Even if they were not killed by the explosion, they were killed by the shock.Then repeat the same tricks, open holes, drop bombs, and then go to the next level.

Qiao's second move was very damaging. He knew that it would be very difficult to destroy such a tall main building with artillery, even with heavy artillery. But with such a change, the enemies hiding in the building would be destroyed layer by layer from top to bottom. Drive them down and gather them all together.More importantly, many properties in the castle can be preserved, and the wish of the two chief officials can be fulfilled. It really serves multiple purposes!

After an hour of bombardment, the majestic main building has become riddled with holes and crumbling. Only then did Qiao's second concentrate on shooting at the gate, turning the gate that used to only accommodate three people in parallel into a gate that could accommodate two carriages in parallel. City gate hole.Only then did the infantry rush into the building to wipe out the remnants of the enemy. To their disappointment, the battle ended without any decent resistance, and a group of dull-eyed prisoners were escorted out.

When cleaning the battlefield, people found the bodies of Grand Duke Fikia and his wife. Before they could escape from the secret passage, they were crushed to death by falling stones.The chiton knight was blown off his head by a shell. What is exciting is that most of the belongings in the building have been preserved intact, but no one can figure out the exact value. transport ship... (to be continued...)