warring states careerist

Chapter 790 The Siege of Dangshan ([-])
But before that, there was no such means of using artillery to siege the city. Naturally, Dangshan's defense system did not take into account the threat of bombardment ricochets.

The improvement of any kind of city defense technology has been piled up with countless lives, and there is no exception.

Dangshan considered the concave-convex surface and the thicker outer wall to prevent the city wall from being broken, but it did not consider that the cannon had another use.

In the siege, according to the Mohist system of attacking and defending the city, the artillery replaces the status of the chariots, chariots, and crossbows under the original siege system. The city defense of Dangshan City has given too much consideration to the bronze cannons that replace the chariots. but did not consider the rest.

After half a day of fierce bombardment, only seven people were lost on Sishang's side, which was caused by the artillery bombardment.

The somewhat superstitious Chinese New Year firecrackers carried for unknown reasons did not bless the artillerymen.

Otherwise, there was no loss, and the digging sappers and infantry dug the trenches with little disturbance.

When the bombardment started yesterday afternoon, there were still a few people on the city wall who would choose to fire arrows and crossbows regardless of whether they hit or not, but today there is not a single such person.

Most of the people in the city hid behind the bulge of the city wall, and the large bulge was already full of corpses that died from ricochets.

The only copper cannons in the city that were used to defend the city had also been completely lost. Six of them were destroyed by the irregularly jumping iron bullets, and the rest all retreated to the back.

The envoys of Wei Han and other princes put down their binoculars, looked at each other with lingering fear, and thought in their hearts, if Yangzhai, Anyi, was subjected to such shelling, how long could he last?
What's more, the defense system of these capitals is the rammed earth city before the gunpowder age, which is in line with the best Zhou rites in the Bronze Age, but it does not conform to the rational will of heaven in the new era.

Qi State lost so quickly in the battle between Qi and Mo in the past. Many people were surprised by the rise of Sishang Mo family, but at the same time they couldn't help but feel that Qi State was too weak.

After all, it was not long before the Three Jins defeated Qi, forced the Marquis of Qi to drive for the Yue Kingdom, and begged the Three Jins for three points in the Jin administration.

The Mo family hadn't fought a large-scale battle for a long time, and they had a vague impression that the Sishang righteous division was very capable of fighting, but they had no intuitive impression of how well they could fight.

The siege this time deeply shocked the envoys of various countries. It turned out that the new era that the Mohists had been talking about had really come like this. Compared with the old and the new, the gap was too great.

The envoy of the State of Wei sighed: "The Mohist siege technique lacks ingenuity. But anyone who knows how to fight, knows that the Mohist must attack from this convex fortress, and use force to subdue intelligence, but it has such an effect?"

Han Shi said: "Imperial Father Yueling is not ignorant, but he really can't do it. He naturally knows the direction of Sishang's attack, and also knows the means of Sishang. He even knows that Sishang will attack once the trench is dug under the city wall. City... But the frightening thing is that even if you know it, there is nothing you can do about it.”

"Now that the bronze cannons are firing, what can the defenders do in Dangshan City? Knowing that Sishang will attack from now on, it is impossible to gather at the top of the city to suffer from the flying iron bullets. Otherwise, it will take half a day, and the army's morale will be broken."

"This is a siege, if it is a field battle, it will be even more difficult to fight."

"The artillery bombarded one place fiercely, and you knew that Sishang would break the formation from now on, so what can you do?"

"Assembly of troops, heavy artillery bombardment, the loss will be great."

"If the troops are not concentrated, the Sishang infantry and knights will surely break the formation, and if the formation is broken, the army will die."

"It's really hard to prevent."

He shook his head unconsciously, and his mind became more determined to dissuade the princes from sending troops easily. If he sent troops, there was really no chance of winning at this time.

South Korea itself is not very enthusiastic about sending troops. Koreans pay more attention to Zheng Guo. They have no idea about Song Guo, a wealthy land that is now difficult to crack and has been included in the Mohist sphere of influence.

The envoy of Wei State also had the same meaning.

The offensive and defensive battles of Dangshan City so far have given him a lot of warnings.

If Dangshan still had the original three-building method of rammed-earth city defense, I am afraid that the Mohists would not have had to go to such trouble. They would concentrate their copper cannons and bombard for half a day, and the city wall would collapse, and the city defense would collapse completely.

He recalled Sishang's previous siege methods, most of which were "point attack" combined with gunpowder to break the city.

Through the phenomenon, you can think about the essence, and you can also think about the deep-seated reasons.

Whether it was attacking Teng, breaking Pingyin, or attacking Lucheng before, it was mainly because the copper cannons and logistics of the Mo family were not enough to support a large-scale bombardment, so they had to choose the method of point attack supplemented by gunpowder.

As far as the mobilization and logistical capabilities and the number of copper cannons demonstrated in the battle of Sishang in Dangshan today, I am afraid that there is no need to use the same methods as before.

For example, Daliang, where Wei and Chu were fighting, had fought around the city for nearly 20 years, but if they were targeted by Sishang and concentrated copper cannons, Daliang City would be breached in a few days.

The envoy of the State of Wei thought to himself that the State of Wei does not have the ability to go to war with Sishang now.

Especially from the performance of the Qi-Mo war, Sishang's favorite strategy is to go straight to the rear. Under the current border city defense system, Wei Guo has no ability to hinder the entry of Sishang volunteers.

If the State of Wei really intervenes, during the alliance, Sishang may directly declare war on Wei, drive straight in, and break through [-] cities in the east of the river. Will the State of Wei have the ability to stop it now?
Moreover, if the Mohists and the State of Chu cooperate again and use the return of Liang to Chu as a bait, will the people of Chu really stand by the State of Wei for the sake of "the righteousness of the world"?

The alliance of princes is like a prisoner's dilemma. It is too difficult to trust each other.

Although Dangshan City was about to be breached, the envoys of the State of Wei also saw something different. If several important cities in the State of Wei built such city defenses and learned from the lessons of Dangshan, they could always be defended for more than a month.

The difference between one month and three days is only [-] days, but for the situation where the military situation is on fire, the consequences of these more than [-] days may reverse the situation of the battle and concentrate more troops.

It is not a shame that Dangshan did not last a month, because the envoy of the State of Wei was convinced that Daliang City might not be able to last for three days.

Dangshan can last for so long, which can be regarded as the victory of reason and will.

The envoys of Wei and Han had their own plans in their minds, and what was more important was a few points.

The importance of artillery, more copper cannons means more likely victory.

The importance of the new city defense, the newer the city defense means more time for the main force in the field to mobilize.

And these two points, the messenger had to understand what it meant.

Means more money is needed.

Money comes from taxation, taxation comes from national wealth, and the source of national wealth comes from land.

This means that change is only possible if it continues to change.

A copper cannon easily costs hundreds of catties and turns into copper. What is the price?

A new-style city often needs ten thousand people to build for three years, and ten thousand people do not have enough crops or harvests. Where does the tax come from?
These things don't just change at will.

However, reform will shake the foundations of all countries.

The monarch hates the nobles, but he hates the equality of the Mohists and the meritocracy of choosing the emperor. This balance is originally like this: the Mohists use the meritoriousness to form a delicate cooperative relationship with the monarchs of various countries to suppress the nobles.

But now, the Mohist trend of thought, which originally required subtle cooperation with the monarch, spread like fire. The monarch needed to form an ally with the nobles to fight against equality and the virtuous.

A reason is always needed to maintain the legitimacy of the monarchy.

It is obvious that making up a concept that all people are equal under one person and continuing to use the concept of superiority and inferiority is difficult and easy.

A single hair will affect the whole body, and there is no direction for countries to learn from, because the situation of each country is different.

Wei and Han cannot learn from Qin's reforms, which may lead to internal strife and division, as well as external siege; and vice versa.

It is difficult to learn from and difficult to change, but hoping for more taxes to cast more bronze cannons and build more fortresses is not something that the envoys can consider.

All they can do is to rely on their own intuitive feelings to tell the king that Sishang is invincible, and they should not speak lightly.

…………

Compared with the envoys of Wei and Han, the envoys of Chu State saw and thought more.

He saw through Sishang's siege methods, and besides that, he also noticed that Sishang's army was discussing the tasks of each company.

He didn't understand this, but he was extremely envious.

In previous wars, pawns did not need to know how to fight, nor did they need to know the purpose of the war. There was only one thing they needed to do: aim at the chariots of the nobles, and follow wherever they rushed.

On the side of Sishang, even a Sima Chief or a Corps Chief can know the general purpose. In the eyes of the envoy of Chu State, it should not be exclaimed that it is invincible, but why such an army has not collapsed yet?
If the soldiers know too much, how can the soldiers continue to attack in case the attack is unfavorable?
If the soldiers know too much, what if they shrink back in fear of death?
Those who are good at managing soldiers should put soldiers in a situation where they fear military orders and don't know the overall situation.

Respect the military order, because if the military order is not followed, the battle is invincible.

I don't know the overall situation, because once the soldiers know the overall situation, it is impossible to complete the task of the general.

For example, some things that lure the enemy, such as some things that end the future, if the soldiers know about it, in the eyes of the Chu envoy, they must have heard the news and fled. How could they choose to stick to it?

Based on his experience, if he wants to win, the soldiers must be in a state of confusion, not knowing what they are doing, and only need to obey the military orders, so that the soldiers will be invincible.

Sishang did the opposite. Before attacking the city, they actually asked each company to discuss the tasks of each company. Would it be possible to win by doing this?

He didn't doubt it, because judging from the results of many times before, the Sishang righteous teacher can be said to be invincible and has not been defeated so far, leaving behind many legends.

But this kind of approach is really beyond common sense, and he can't understand it.

With this kind of doubt, he and several Mohists accompanied him to the first camp company that was about to attack the city, after all, the most tragic casualties, and wanted to see what these people were doing.

On a flat ground, the four companies' first battalion regiments were sitting on the ground, divided into several teams, looking at several models of the frontal convex forts piled up with soil on the ground, listening to the explanations of the companies and the brigade commander.

When the Chu envoy saw these elite soldiers, he first praised them in his heart, and secretly said: "The king's chariots are nothing more than that, they are all strong men."

He subconsciously compared the grenadiers who first boarded the camp with Che Guangjingrui from Chu State. These grenadiers who first boarded the camp were all selected tall and strong men, as well as scholars from all over the world who were interested in the world. It can be the essence of the world, after all, if a person is thin and small, he really can't throw the heavy iron thunder too far.

The proportion of Mo people in the battalion is very high, and most of them are veterans who have served over the age, so the momentum is naturally different.

It's just that he was wrong. Compared with Chu Wang Che Guang, it should be Sishang's martial arts knights, who are the real elite who open the gap when the battle situation is anxious.

(End of this chapter)