Chen Qing's supplies, troops and people had stayed in Yelanggou for a few days. They found that Yelanggou was like a maze, with dozens of large and small ravines, one inside each other. It would be difficult to get out after entering. Chen Qing was worried.
When the people got lost, they sent soldiers to stand guard at the entrance of the ravine to prevent the people from entering. It took Zhao Xiaoyi and his men two days to make a map of Yelanggou.
Liu Cui led his men into Yelanggou. He looked at the map and searched all the way. He walked through several forks and went twenty miles deep before arriving at a ravine. There were seven or eight cave dwellings on the innermost mountainside.
There are two secret sentries of the Song Army, and it is also a supply point for grain and grass supplies.
"General Liu!"
A soldier shouted at the entrance of the cave: "There happens to be an eagle letter, it arrived at noon today!"
"Take it down and give it to me, and I won't go up."
Liu Cui ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. The soldiers dropped a roll of ladder and climbed down.
"General, here's a letter for you!"
Liu Cui took the letter, took out the Eagle Letter and looked at it. It was indeed a letter from the commander. The content was just one sentence, ordering him to give up the sneak attack on the enemy camp.
Of course Liu Cui knew the risks of such a sneak attack on the camp. If the sneak attack failed and his men were arrested, a lot of important information would be leaked, so the commander specially sent an eagle letter to inform him.
Of course, this is an order, and orders must be strictly implemented.
Liu Cui received the letter and said to the two soldiers: "The supplies will not be needed for the time being. We will be here in eight days. Please prepare dry food."
The two soldiers quickly bowed and agreed, "I humbly obey your orders!"
Liu Cui turned around and gave another order, and his five hundred men mounted their horses one after another. After a while, they rushed out of Yelanggou at lightning speed and ran towards the north...
Two days later, the war drums rumbled in the Xixia army camp, and 20,000 Xixia troops rushed up the long slope.
"Woo——"
A deep horn sounded, and monster-like trebuchets appeared. Each heavy-duty trebuchet was one foot and five feet high, and its throwing rod alone was three feet long and weighed several thousand kilograms.
There are six huge wooden wheels underneath the heavy trebuchet. Each trebuchet is pulled by twenty healthy oxen, and dozens of soldiers push it hard behind.
This heavy-duty trebuchet can throw fifty kilograms of stones 300 steps away. It is the most commonly used trebuchet for sieges. If it were larger, it would be difficult to carry it.
Ten heavy trebuchets came out one after another, one after another, moving slowly with great momentum.
On the top of the city, Chen Qing stared at the trebuchet moving slowly in the distance. The enemy camp had been brightly lit day and night for the past two days, so they were probably assembling such a behemoth.
"Bed crossbow ready!"
To deal with this heavy trebuchet, they could only use bed crossbows, which were not very effective.
Chen Qing sighed secretly in his heart, they will face the most severe test today.
There were countless siege ladders among the 20,000-strong army. Yang Yuanqing whispered to Chen Qing: "Commander, the enemy's siege ladders are shining in the sun!"
Chen Qing saw that there was indeed a flash of metal at the top of the siege ladder. There were two possibilities, either it was the luster of the big iron hook at the front, or the first few rungs were replaced with metal rods. It was very possible. After all, the Xixia army was trying to attack.
After passing the castle, they got a taste of the power of the long-handled axe, and they must have dared not to report it. They had not sieged the city in the past two days, and they probably just modified the siege ladder and assembled the trebuchet.
Chen Qing's guess was correct. Li Liangfu had already asked Murong Tao in detail about the test attack. He paid special attention to the Song army's use of a long handle to cut off the top rung of the siege ladder. He had experienced it a lot and knew that this was a vicious move, no matter how powerful it was.
Soldiers, if there are no rungs to climb on, they can't grow wings and fly up!
He immediately ordered that the top three rungs of all 500 siege ladders be replaced with iron rods, and ten heavy trebuchets were assembled. It took two days.
Li Liangfu stood in front of the team, squinted at the tall city wall and ordered: "The trebuchet is in place!"
The positions of the trebuchets have been decided. Today they will attack the south city, which is about three hundred steps away from the city wall. This distance is still lethal for the God Arm Crossbow, but if the trebuchets are farther away, it is not impossible, and they can only throw a few dozen
Twenty pounds of small stones means little.
Therefore, the front and sides of the trebuchet must have thick baffles one foot high, like large shields. This was the first method introduced by the Song army, but the Song, Liao, and Xixia families fought for hundreds of years, and everyone fought against each other.
Learned.
Of course, the Song Army's divine arm crossbows and bed crossbows were too powerful. A burst of arrows were fired at them, and none of the surrounding soldiers were spared.
"Control, the enemy has used shields, and our crossbows may not be effective." A deputy commander said loudly to Chen Qing.
"Shoot the top of the trebuchet!" Chen Qing calmly gave the order.
There are many belts tied to the top of the trebuchet, including the throwing pole, which is also fixed on the beam with belts. Those belts will crack after just one arrow is shot. The trebuchet will fall apart within two or three times, but the prerequisite is that the belt must be hit.
is effective.
A thousand jackdaw arrows are fired at a time. If one of them can hit the target, it will be considered a winner.
"Crossbow ready, shoot!"
The command flag was waved, two hundred crossbows were launched at the same time, and a thousand jackdaw arrows roared towards the trebuchet.
Someone yelled next to the trebuchet, and hundreds of soldiers squatted down. The powerful and sharp jackdaw arrows hit the trebuchet. Then there was another scream, and the Xixia soldiers a hundred steps behind fell down one by one.
.
The bed crossbow has a killing range of six to seven hundred steps. Even if the Xixia soldiers standing four hundred steps away were holding shields, they could not escape the fate of being shot through their bodies. In a burst of arrows, nearly three hundred soldiers fell to the ground.
Li Liangfu also discovered this problem and immediately ordered: "The army retreats three hundred steps!"
The 20,000-strong army quickly retreated and was out of the killing range of the crossbows. At this time, the trebuchets began to show their power.
The ten trebuchets swung their throwing rods at the same time and threw ten large rocks weighing fifty kilograms. The large rocks rolled in the air and were thrown towards the city head.
"Dodge!" the commander shouted from the top of the city.
The soldiers squatted down one after another, and Chen Qing was also pulled down by several soldiers. "Bang!" There was a loud noise, and a huge stone hit the battlement. Suddenly, gravel splashed everywhere, and a finger of gravel grazed Chen Qing's face.
passing by the face,
‘Boom!’ The tower was hit, broken wood flew everywhere, and a big hole was smashed through the roof.
Several stones hit the archers behind, and more than a dozen soldiers died tragically on the spot with broken bones and tendons, brains bursting.
Chen Qing saw a soldier being smashed by a huge stone. He was furious and ordered: "Shoot the crossbow again!"
Two hundred crossbows were fired again, and the angry jackdaw iron arrows were fired at the trebuchet. The arrows came so fast that dozens of Xixia soldiers who were operating the trebuchet had no time to escape, and they were shot through the body by the iron arrows.
Crucified to the ground.
At this time, the belt tied to the left side of a trebuchet was pierced by an iron arrow. It broke with a "collapse!" and the left shoulder of the trebuchet suddenly collapsed.
Li Liangfu didn't expect the opponent's crossbow to be so powerful. He was really annoyed because it was only the first round of shooting! The belt was broken by the shot.
He immediately ordered: "Change the fireball!"
'Bang! Bang! Bang!' Huge burning fireballs rose into the sky and flew towards the city. The weight of the fireballs was about thirty kilograms, and their range was far more than three hundred steps. They crossed the city head and headed towards the city.
Fly away.
When Chen Qing saw the fireball, his heart suddenly relaxed, which meant that the opponent's general did not get the Xixia spies' city defense diagram, and he did not know that he was prepared to defend against the fire attack.
In the city, all the houses within 150 steps of the city wall have been demolished, revealing a large open space. The open space in the south is 150 steps wide and four miles long. Such a large open space is very luxurious for Ganquan Fort, which is in short supply of housing. However,
It is necessary, otherwise the enemy's fire attack will turn the entire city into a sea of flames.
The six thousand militia soldiers are currently in response to enemy fire attacks. They are divided into groups of 20 and divided into 300 groups. They are distributed above and below the city. Some hold shields, some hold long forks, some hold shovels, and more
The soldiers carried soil and dug big holes in the ground.
"I'm coming!"
Several huge fireballs flew over the city head first and flew towards the city. The militia soldiers suddenly shouted.
These fireballs are made of thin bamboo slices like lanterns, with a round frame filled with fire cloth, gunpowder, sulfur and other flammable materials. The outside is wrapped with several layers of fire cloth, and then covered with kerosene.
emission.
This kind of fireball shattered after falling to the ground, and various flammable materials were scattered all over the ground, causing large area burning. It was a very powerful firearm. The Xixia Army also used it to cause fires in military camps or the whole city.
Nine huge fireballs hit the ground hard, the fireballs shattered, and the open space suddenly turned into a sea of fire.