warring states careerist

Chapter 929

More than ten days later, a fort near Yangxia, Chu State.

This is a typical fortress that Chu State spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in the direction of the Central Plains near the Song State in order to prevent the Mohists from entering the Central Plains westward.

It adopts the angular structure learned from Sishang, covering a large amount of accumulated soil to prevent shelling. Each fortress is not too big, with about 2000 to 3000 people stationed there, equipped with copper cannons and muskets.

There are four such fortresses around Yangxia. The location of Yangxia City is very important, so Chu State built a very strong city here.

To the south of Yangxia is Chen, to the northwest is Xu, to the north is Yuguan Daliang of Chu State, and to the west is the important city of Chu State in the area of ​​Zhumadian.

Now part of the troops of the remaining lords of Chu State are guarding against the Mohist Chu army in Ye, and the other part is led by Da Sima, in Chen Zhinan's bedroom, threatening Cai Shouchun and other important Huai River towns.

After Song Gong announced his renunciation of the title of princes, Shi immediately led more than ten thousand cavalry, 3 thousand infantry and a large number of engineering artillery, etc., to supplement supplies through Shangqiu, relying on farmers to supplement civilians in villages and cities in the west of Song Dynasty, and directly surrounded them. The first fortress of Chu State near Yangxia.

This typical angular structure of the Gunpowder Era fortress cost Chu State a lot of manpower and material resources. After the improvement, if it is a strong attack with heavy casualties, it may take half a year if it is a siege. It seems that it can hold back the main force of the Mohists.

Because the main force of the Mohist family has a shortcoming, the demand for logistics is too great, and there are too many artillery and cavalry, it is impossible to move to the north and south with dry food like the farmers and soldiers in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Therefore, unless there are enough troops to encircle and not protect the logistics, it is necessary to take them all.

Therefore, the calculation of Chu State is very accurate. This kind of fortification tactics can indeed hold back the Mohists, making the tactics of sneak attack and outflanking that the Mohists were best at before invalid.

However, Shi had heard stories about cats and tigers. Since he asked Chu, Wei and other countries to build such fortresses, he naturally had the means to deal with them.

After the army arrived, they immediately took the third step of the Mo family's siege.

Cavalry controls the perimeter of the battlefield.

Infantry weaves wicker baskets for soil.

Artillery cover.

Sappers dug zig-zag trenches to form new artillery positions close to the fort.

This kind of fortress built by Chu State after learning lessons and experience is not impossible to capture, but this siege method still requires a lot of casualties after all.

Naturally, another approach is adopted.

The biggest nemesis of the bastion in the gunpowder era is the explosive bomb, because soldiers need to defend on the fort.

Blooming ammunition is too difficult. The original and simple ones are not impossible to make, but each time they are loaded, they have to use soil and wax to seal the muzzle.

But the Mohists have two things that can be substituted.

Carpenter and mining explosives.

Sishang's technology has developed abnormally.

The original methods of using soil in the chemical industry have been established, such as acid, alkali and supporting mine explosives industry; while the technical progress of basic materials such as materials, cast iron technology, boring tools, etc. that need time to accumulate is much slower. It is not possible to achieve a technological leap quickly from scratch.

Just like electricity, it seems that it should be far behind those primitive handicraft industries. In fact, the difficulty of making a primitive battery and a primitive rotor generator is a hundred times easier than making a boring tool that can dig a practical steam engine. , It is far less difficult than the difficulty of making iron castings that can cast iron cannons... even less than the handicraft difficulty of making a suitable wide-width loom.

So there is a more powerful explosive that is better than black powder but actually very unsafe, but there is no iron pipe or copper pipe that can use this kind of thing.

Some technologies can take a leap, while others can only be accumulated from scratch.

But the living can never be suffocated by urine, so in order to deal with the fortresses built by Wei Hanchu around the Song Dynasty, a roundabout method was adopted - the most important thing is the bullet, and the technological progress is only to shoot the catapult to the fortress , which requires a series of advancements in cast iron technology and boring machine technology.

But if we grasp the key point, why do we have to use chemical energy to launch it?
So the Mohist formed a "behind the times" artillery, using counterweight trebuchets to throw explosives.

This kind of artillery, which is behind the times, is not suitable for long-term combat, because it is not easy to transport, and it is far less convenient than copper cannons.

But when the copper cannon appeared, the foundation of the city defense system was the rammed earth city wall. To deal with the rammed earth city wall, digging pits to bury gunpowder and copper cannons has much greater advantages than the catapult, and it is easy to transport, so the catapult has no value .

But when the vassal states began to build this kind of anti-cannon fortress, unless the artillery produced suitable explosive ammunition, it would be difficult to blast away such a thick fortress by relying on solid ammunition artillery.

Explosives are more advanced than casting cannons, so you can use a trebuchet with explosives as a bomb.

The iron barrels buried in the soil used by later generations used the stone-throwing machine with the superiority of Sishang carpenter, because the iron barrels could not be used at this time and could only be used as large-caliber mortars, and the mortars were too heavy to be used at the door of the house. It's okay, can't run too far.

Because Wei Chuhan wanted to guard against the Mohists, most of the new fortresses were built around the Song Kingdom, and this was within the effective range suitable for transporting trebuchets.

No matter how far away, Wei Chuhan's productivity level simply cannot afford to build so many such fortresses, and it is impossible to build all the forts in the whole territory.

This is to first have the means of cracking, and then lure the enemy to waste manpower and material resources.

Forty heavy-duty catapults were set up under the cover of the artillery. The artillery slammed the artillery on the city to suppress the opponent, and the soldiers beside the catapult began to use the principle of leverage and winches to raise the heavy counterweight.

In addition to using explosives, there are also incendiary materials such as tung oil, because the Chu army in the fortress has a lot of gunpowder, and the previous solid bullets have no way to ignite these things.

The fortress of the Chu people on the opposite side is a defense system against an arquebus and copper cannon as an imaginary enemy; but it is not a system against the mass destruction of projectile explosives as an imaginary enemy.

These heavy and slow trebuchets should have become the dust of history after the appearance of gunpowder, but because of this uneven technological development, they can bloom brilliantly.

And it is likely to lure Wei Han to make wrong judgments, which will affect the overall strategic situation.

Now it is impossible to compromise in this situation. If it is impossible, I hope to lure the princes to fight and defeat them one by one.

The worst case scenario for the princes to send troops after half a year as envisaged by the staff department is because the princes need to coordinate and communicate in order to unify their strategies.

With a battle line spanning thousands of miles, the communication at this time is basically carried by horses. If there is no coordination and a strategy is determined in advance, problems will definitely occur.

The appropriate temptation is to attack Yangxia and take down several fortresses near Yangxia as quickly as possible, so as to tell the princes that the line of defense they spent manpower and material resources on is of no use.

20 years ago, the Mohists could destroy cities in three to five days, and they can do the same today, including Xinzheng and Yangdi in South Korea.

Once Yangxia is besieged, Han and Wei will be the most nervous.

Seven or eight years ago, there was a covenant between Han, Wei and Chu for the defense of the Central Plains, and now Wei Guo is actually unable to fulfill the covenant.

In the direction of Nanyang, if South Korea does not cooperate with the elite and the Qin army, it will not be able to open the situation at all.

If the siege of Yangxia this time can induce South Korea to be unable to hold back, send troops to rescue immediately, and get involved in the war before the princes get in touch, then the future situation of the Mo family will be much better.

Appropriately gathered some field troops in Sishang, tactically called the method of besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements, and strategically called the method of forcing the opponent to send troops to attack each of them, breaking a finger and punching them.

The Chu army in the south of Yangxia must return to help. Once Yangxia is lost, it is equivalent to the Chu army in the south of Yangxia being surrounded. If they retreat too late, they will have no place to retreat.

Near Xiacai three months ago, after more than [-] people from Chu State rushed in and were wiped out, the ruler of Chu State no longer dared to harass with a small number of forces, and could only choose to organize a large-scale operation together.

However, large-scale operations require more time and more supplies.

Although the king of Chu was captured, the lords of Chu State still had a certain amount of power in the north of the Huaihe River and the Fangcheng area. The king of Chu could be re-established, so the lords did not choose to give up.

Among the important ministers of the Chu State, only Da Sima was not captured in the Battle of Zhucheng. Before the Battle of Zhucheng, he was ordered to go to Fangcheng and Chen Cai to recruit an army to cut off the back of the Mohists. fail.

Now Da Sima of Chu is in the south of Chendi, with 3 soldiers available, of which more than [-] are peasant soldiers, and only a few thousand are really capable of fighting.

The Chu State in the Fangcheng area can still gather about [-] to [-] troops, and the composition is similar, with thousands of elites and most of them are peasants and soldiers.

Once the war starts in the future, these troops will be troublesome.But this time Shiqin Shuai Sishang's army attacked, not considering them as opponents.

Surrounding Yangxia, Da Sima of Chu must retreat northward. Once he retreats northward, Shi can rely on his superiority of cavalry to intercept halfway and annihilate them before retreating and joining forces.

After annihilating the [-] farmers and soldiers, the remaining troops of the Chu State must retreat, but they obviously cannot hold on. This is likely to follow the example of Shen Baoxu crying for the Qin court again, begging Han Wei to send troops.

The most suitable target is South Korea's elite field army in Zhengdi.

The first battle of Xihe had just ended, some of South Korea's troops were still in Xihe, and the battle between Qin and Jin was still going on, and they could not retreat in a short time.

If the power of Chu's lordship is completely destroyed, the Mohists can directly threaten South Korea's heart, especially after this siege battle will make South Korea panic because of the Mohist's siege capabilities.

The State of Wei could no longer count on it, and when the Mohists attacked Chu, they made a surprise attack again. Their ambitions were clearly revealed, and the monarchs and ministers of South Korea must have lost their illusions.

Zheng Di's elite Korean army is the field army of South Korea. If this field army can be lured to come forward to rescue the remaining cities and feudal lords of Chu, they can look for opportunities to annihilate them.

If this concept can be realized, the worst situation can be broken and the possibility of the princes joining forces can be completely destroyed.

Once the South Korean field army is eliminated in advance, then on the western front, the army stationed in Chu will only have to deal with Qin State, and the only way Qin State can go is to attack Danyang, where it is doing business, or to attack Nanzheng.

No matter which one, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Danyang has the advantage of the navy, and Nanzheng has the natural danger of the Qinling Mountains.

The crisis on the western front originated from Qin's attack on Nanzheng and Danyang; and the allied forces of Han and Wei attacked Nanyang via Lushan Mountain and Funiu Mountain.

Only with the joint efforts of the three parties can the Mohist army stationed in Chu be under pressure.As long as one side is cut off, the other side is not to be feared.

On the eastern front, if the South Korean field army is destroyed and it is close to Qi's field force, as long as the Mo family chooses to defend and retreat, the Qi army will not be able to break through Sishang's defense line.

Don't dare to go deep alone, the result is that you don't dare to attack Sishang, but can only choose to attack Wei State to seek benefits.

Now the northern princes are most able to fight against Qin and Qi, but the position of Sishang determines that Qi and Qin cannot go east and west. The key is to be in the middle and be able to connect Qi and Qin to form a Han Wei that supports each other. .

Wei Guo has been abolished, as long as South Korea sends troops and seizes the opportunity to annihilate the field army, then the Korean army will be unable to support the Qin army on the west front. Qin Jun has no chance of winning if he chooses to confront the Mohists in Danyang Shangyu; on the east front, South Korea must defend weakly and Qi The state joined forces to advance, and the state of Qi did not dare to attack Sishang.

In this way, the alliance of princes has disintegrated before it was established, and there is no need for a decisive battle in the true sense.

Delaying time, the advantage is on the Mo family's side.

(End of this chapter)