Wanyan Wushu was hesitant. In the end, he did not order the 30,000 Jin soldiers from the Dongping Army to be transferred back. Instead, he ordered Li Cheng's 50,000 signed troops to be transferred back from Yidu Prefecture, bringing the number of troops stationed in Jinan Prefecture to 130,000.
The reason why Wanyan Wushu did not call back the troops in Dongping Prefecture was not because of Liu Cui's 30,000 cavalry. If he really decided to call back the 30,000 troops, he would definitely send a large army to respond.
The main reason was that it took time to complete Yan Wushu, and the Western Army's attack speed was too fast. Only two days after the main force of the Western Army captured Rencheng County, the army entered Dongping Prefecture.
If this continues, I am afraid that the main force of the Western Army will have already arrived at the city before the reinforcements from the imperial court arrive.
Wanyan Wushu needed Dongping Mansion to delay the Western Army's eastward advance and buy him eight to ten days.
Unfortunately, his opponent was Chen Qing. Chen Qing did not give him any chance. Two days after the fifteenth army entered Dongping Mansion, they came to Xucheng County and surrounded Xucheng County from three directions: east, west, north and west.
To the south of Xucheng is Shuibo Liangshan, and Jishui is only three miles away from the county seat. Of course, the 30,000 Donghu troops can break out of Nancheng and then retreat to the east toward Jinan Prefecture.
The problem is that this retreat road was reserved exclusively for them by Chen Qing. Chen Qing hoped that the Donghu Army would abandon the city and flee, so that they could be surrounded in the wild without having to enter the city to fight street battles, which would be beneficial to the safety of the people.
Chen Qing, surrounded by hundreds of generals, came to the foot of Xucheng County and looked up at this tall and majestic building. It was even taller and stronger than Rencheng County. Mainly because the terrain of Rencheng County was slightly higher, which made the city wall appear extra tall.
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This may be the reason why the 30,000 Donghu troops defended the city and refused to retreat. The city wall was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the troops at the top of the city were strong. There were forty medium-sized trebuchets and a thousand crossbows, and there were also eight thousand barrels of kerosene.
The food supply is sufficient and can support an army of 30,000 for at least five months.
In particular, when Zhang Zhongxiong's army retreated eastward, it was pursued by tens of thousands of cavalry from the Western Army, resulting in the entire army being destroyed. This sounded an alarm to the defenders and made them dare not retreat easily.
Chen Qing stared at the city head for a moment and smiled: "Everything has two sides, and this city is no exception. On the one hand, it is tall and majestic, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but on the other hand, its weaknesses are too obvious and its foundation is unstable.
, do you understand what I mean?"
Everyone immediately understood, and Yang Zaixing immediately concluded: "Give me three days, I will ensure that the army attacks the city!"
For two days in a row, the Western Army did not attack Xucheng County, and the general of Xucheng County on the top of the city couldn't help but become suspicious.
The chief general of Xucheng County was a famous Jurchen general named Chizhanhui. He was about fifty years old and was granted the title of Meng'an Wanhu. Wanyan Wushu conducted military campaigns in the Central Plains. He served as the governor of Deng, Lai, Yi, and Mi.
As envoy, after Wanyan Wushu was defeated on the Shandong Road, he captured the 20,000 Jurchen army under Chi Zhanhui's command, and appointed him as the defense envoy of the East and West Shandong Road, sitting in Dongping Prefecture and commanding the 30,000 Donghu army.
Chi Zhanhui was experienced in hundreds of battles and had rich combat experience. He knew that the Western Army was attacking quickly and wanted to capture Xucheng County as soon as possible. But now that they had arrived in Xucheng County, they were standing still. This was unreasonable.
On the morning of the third day, Chi Zhanhui received a report that something unusual was found outside the west city. He immediately rushed to the head of the west city and looked outside the city. He saw a wooden house built a hundred steps away, standing alone in the open space. This was
What's the meaning?
A captain asked for instructions: "Let me use rockets to burn down the wooden house and see what they want to do?"
"Okay!" Chi Zhanhui immediately approved his subordinate's request to fight.
Not long after, hundreds of soldiers rushed over and fired rockets at the wooden house a hundred steps away. Unexpectedly, hundreds of rockets hit the wooden house, but the wooden house did not burn. Almost all the rockets were hit by the wooden house and fell to the ground.
Chi Zhanhui was stunned. Hundreds of rockets were fired at him. Even hardwood that was not easy to ignite was about to catch fire. Not only did this wooden house not burn, it was also unbreakable, just like an iron plate.
At this time, another captain discovered the clue. He pointed to the distance and said: "Commander, please look, there is a trench one hundred and fifty steps away. I seem to have seen a figure just now."
Chi Zhanhui stared at it for a long time, nodded and said: "There seems to be a figure, so what?"
"Didn't Captain Ten Thousands think about it? Under this wooden house is actually a passage transfer station, which leads to the trench in the distance. In this way, when the Western Army enters the tunnel from the trench and then enters the wooden house, we will not be able to see it.
Yes, and you can actually guess what the Western Army was doing in a wooden house."
Chi Zhanhui thought and took a breath of air, "You mean, they are digging a tunnel into the city?"
The captain nodded, "Xucheng County has no moat and the terrain is high. Excavation of tunnels is indeed a very good plan."
Chi Zhanhui sneered, "If they want to be a suffocated groundhog, I will make it happen!"
He turned around and walked down the city until he reached the base of the city wall. He turned around and said to Lieutenant General Gao Qianshi: "General Gao can prepare dozens of water jars and put them in the soil, and then arrange for soldiers with keen hearing to stick them to the jar to listen.
, if you hear any movement underground, report it to me immediately!”
After discovering the Western Army's intention, Chi Zhanhui no longer wanted to expose the other party. He pretended not to know that he could use a trebuchet to destroy the wooden house. He also suppressed this idea, lest the other party found out that he had seen through their intention and stopped.
Tunneling plan.
At two o'clock in the middle of the night, Chi Zhanhui was woken up by a push from his sleep. The soldiers said to him: "Brothers heard the noise underground!"
Chi Zhanhui was refreshed and quickly stood up and came to the city wall. He saw a group of soldiers gathered in front of a large vat, taking turns to come forward and listen.
"Here comes the Captain of Ten Thousands!"
Someone shouted, and everyone moved out of the way. Chi Zhanhui stepped forward quickly, and a centurion pointed at a vat and said, "Captain Ten Thousand, this is it!"
Chi Zhanhui stepped forward and listened. Sure enough, there was a faint sound of digging. Chi Zhanhui immediately ordered: "Dig a hole here and prepare poisonous smoke balls!"
The soldiers got busy and began to dig tunnels.
At this time, two hundred steps outside the city, Yang Zaixing stared at the wooden house in the distance. The wooden house was covered with fire cloth, and ordinary rockets could not ignite it.
They are indeed digging tunnels, but the purpose of digging tunnels is not to enter the city, but to blow up the city. This is the biggest weakness of the city. The foundation is unstable. Once the soil below is blown away, the entire city wall will collapse.
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The soldiers have placed a 240-pound iron bull under the city wall and laid out a match rope a hundred steps long. The starting point of the match rope is in the wooden house.
All the soldiers returned to the trench. Yang Zaixing nodded and ordered: "Light the fire!"
More than a dozen gunpowder arrows were fired at the wooden house. The wooden house was open on the side facing the Western soldiers and was filled with hay.
The hay was immediately ignited and burned quickly, and soon a raging fire was ignited. The top of the city was filled with Donghu soldiers who were looking curiously. However, they did not know that right under their feet, a match rope was burning and burning.
Extremely fast.
At this moment, there was a muffled "bang" sound underground, and the entire high ground seemed to protrude upwards, and then sunk down again. Numerous huge cracks appeared in the city wall in an instant. In just a moment, the three-foot-high city wall suddenly collapsed.