The first few steps of the Jin Bing's siege ladder were made of pig iron as thick as the mouth of a bowl and could not be cut. It seemed that the Jin Bing had learned their lesson.
The puppet Qi army had already begun to attack the city. Both sides stopped shooting. The two thousand divine arm crossbowmen retreated to the city. There were only six thousand soldiers fighting fiercely with the enemy at the top of the city.
This is the experience accumulated from many city defense battles. The more defenders on the city, the better. Too many people will cause congestion, hinder support, reduce defense efficiency, and rescue wounded soldiers will not be timely. But too few people
No, it won't work. If you don't get support in time, the enemy will attack the city.
The number of people is not too large and not too small. It can maintain sufficient manpower and maintain rapid maneuverability. This is the best defense method. However, this requires rich experience to deploy properly, and Chen Qing's army does not lack experience.
There are four large horse-faced walls in the south. Fires are burning under the horse walls, making it impossible for the siege soldiers to attack the city head from the horse walls.
There are sixty soldiers on each horse wall, in groups of three. Two of them are auxiliary soldiers, responsible for winding the string, and the other is the archer, one of the best archers in a hundred. They use the divine arm crossbow on the horse wall.
Shoot the enemy siege troops on both sides, specifically select those tall enemies, or shoot the enemy generals.
They are called hunters, and they are one of Chen Qingjun's traditional ways of defending the city. Facts have proved that they are very effective, and can reduce the enemy's offensive strength by at least 30%. It is precisely because of their great effect that the Song Army made an exception in Ma
Fire oil was used around the wall to prevent the enemy from attacking the horse wall.
The boulders on the top of the city were thrown down like hailstones. The soldiers of the Puppet Qi Army on the siege ladder could not withstand the fierce impact of the boulder. Their arms were broken and their heads were shattered. The soldiers screamed and rolled down the siege ladder. The soldiers below
They were all so anxious that they shouted, "Don't come down, come on! Come on!"
Before he finished speaking, a cold arrow shot through Dutou's neck with a 'poof!', and Dutou let out a muffled scream and fell down.
Almost all the leaders of the puppet Qi army standing near the siege ladder and shouting were shot to death by arrows from the hunters on the horse walls on both sides.
"Du Tong!"
The commander Cheng Huan ran over and asked Chen Qing loudly: "Use kerosene! Burn these bastards to death with a fire."
Chen Qing's eyes were as calm as a mountain, and he shook his head, "This is an opportunity to train troops. You are not allowed to use kerosene and fire thunder!"
"I understand the humble position!"
Cheng Huan ran back to the fighting position, roared, pierced the chest of an enemy soldier with a spear, and shouted: "Kill the enemy!"
The huge boulders, morale and overwhelming superiority of troops made the Song army defending the city fight more fiercely. On the contrary, the puppet Qi army had low morale, suffered most of the casualties, and could no longer support it.
Wanyan Chang, who was watching the battle on the top of the mountain, couldn't help but suggest to Wanyan Wushu: "Instead of retreating in defeat, it is better to withdraw the troops proactively!"
Wanyan Wushu nodded, "Send the order to retreat!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The withdrawal bell rang, and the remaining 1,800 puppet Qi soldiers retreated like a tide.
Wanyan Wushu did not care about the fate of the puppet Qi army. He smiled and asked Wanyan Helisa next to him: "What did General Helisa see in this probing attack?"
Wanyan shouted to Lisa and said slowly: "The ten thousand crossbowmen in the city are too great a threat, we must defeat them first."
Wanyan Wushu nodded, "In fact, not only are there ten thousand crossbows in the city, but the archers on the horse wall are also very sharp. Chen Qing lit a fire under the horse wall because he didn't want us to attack the horse wall. It can be seen that he
Attention to the horse-faced wall.”
Wan Yanchang also smiled and added: "There shouldn't be too much kerosene and gunpowder in the city."
Wanyan Wushu pondered slightly and said: "Maybe the opponent just wanted to train their troops, so they didn't use kerosene and gunpowder!"
"I didn't judge that they didn't have much inventory because he didn't use it, but because there was no kerosene in Lin'an, Jingxiang, and Bashu. Chen Qing basically didn't replenish it, and the same was true for gunpowder, so I can conclude that there was no kerosene in his warehouse.
Not much inventory.”
Wanyan Wushu knew that Wanyan Chang's intelligence was relatively powerful. Since he said this, there must be some basis for it. If there was insufficient fuel and gunpowder in the city, that would be a good thing.
Wanyan Wushu suddenly remembered an important event and immediately turned around and asked Li Chengdao: "Has your army controlled the fire oil in Yanzhou?"
Wanyan Wushu also learned not long ago that kerosene was only produced in Yanzhou, so he began to pay attention to it.
Li Cheng clasped his fists and said: "To the marshal of the capital, no one was in charge before, but we have ordered the local government to strictly control it!"
"Local government?" Gu
Wanyan Wushu knew all too well that these so-called local officials were only interested in profit. As long as they had money to take, no matter how strict their control was, they would be full of loopholes.
He frowned and said with great dissatisfaction: "kerosene is not used to make lamp oil or medicine. It is an extremely important military material. How can it be handed over to the local government? It must be controlled by the military. Your Economic Affairs Bureau must immediately take over Yan'an.
Not a drop of the state's fire oil is allowed to fall into the hands of the Song army, otherwise I will deal with it according to military law!"
Although Li Cheng fought with Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, he didn't have as deep an understanding of kerosene as Jin Bing did, so he didn't take it too seriously. When he saw Wanyan Wushu getting angry, he quickly bowed and said: "I am flying pigeons to convey the message.
Order the Jinglue Mansion to quickly dispatch troops to take over the Yanzhou fire oil."
This attitude is almost the same. Wanyan Wushu's expression softened slightly. Compared with the scarcity of kerosene, there are more gunpowder producing areas. Saltpeter is produced in many places, but Wanyan Wushu is more concerned about gunpowder technology. Before Wanyan Chang
It is proposed that the powder keg technology of Chen Qingjun was obtained through Qin Hui of the Song Dynasty, but I don’t know how the progress is?
Wanyan Wushu asked Wanyan Chang again: "How is the progress of the powder keg?"
Wan Yanchang shook his head and sighed: "I did get the powder barrel from Chen Qing's army, but it didn't have a ignition device. I think I was deceived by Chen Qing.
But I heard that the weapons supervisor in Lin'an has started to imitate a large number of copies. It is very likely that they have obtained the technology. I have ordered the men in Lin'an to get the blueprints and gunpowder barrels from the weapons supervisor at all costs. The problem should not be big, but
I’m afraid it’s too late to attack Ganquan Fort this time.”
"Okay! If you don't have gunpowder, use kerosene. Let's rest for a day. The war will officially start tomorrow morning!"
As soon as Chen Qing returned to the military camp, a soldier came to report, "To the commander in chief, the other team's commander sent a letter!"
Chen Qing took the letter and read it again, and said to Yang Yuanqing: "It's a letter from Wanyan Wushu. He hopes that we will return the bodies of the fallen soldiers to them and let them handle it!"
Yang Yuanqing thought for a while and asked: "Did he send someone to collect the body himself, or did we send someone to send it there?"
"The letter didn't say that clearly!"
Yang Yuanqing said: "Let's do this! I suggest setting up a non-combat zone one mile away. The earthen platform in the southeast is just right. You can return the corpses there, exchange prisoners of war, letters, or negotiate. What do you think?
"
Chen Qing nodded, "I think it's feasible!"
He immediately wrote a reply and ordered it to be sent to the Jinbing camp.
After the fierce battle, the Song army began to send people down to the city to collect weapons and arrows, as well as siege ladders and reusable boulders, and brought them back to the city. At the same time, they sent more than a dozen carts full of corpses of Qi soldiers who died in the battle to be transported to non-combatants.
district.
Chen Qing proposed a non-combat zone proposal, and Wanyan Wushu agreed. The Jurchens valued the corpses of fallen soldiers. Of course, they did not refer to the corpses of Han soldiers, but the corpses of Jurchen soldiers who died in battle. They needed to be saved by shamans and then burned.
Burial.
Although Wanyan Wushu also knew about Chen Qing's little plan and wanted to take the opportunity to collect trophies, the proposal of this non-combatant area was beneficial to the burial of Jurchen dead soldiers, so Wanyan Wushu had no objection.
The non-combatant area established by both sides is located in the southeast, about one mile away from the city. It happens to be a large natural platform, covering an area of about ten acres. Both sides set up a large tent on the platform and stationed several soldiers permanently.
More than 3,000 corpses were brought to the platform, and dozens of oxcarts were dispatched to transport the corpses back.
Both sides are very careful in handling corpses. Once a plague occurs, both armies will suffer heavy losses, unless they want to deliberately create a plague to destroy the other side.
The generals of both sides were in their respective camps looking at the return of the corpses on the platform in the distance. At this time, Wanyan Mouyan mustered up the courage to step forward and said to Wanyan Wushu: "Marshal Du, I want to challenge Chen Qing tomorrow due to my humble position!"
Wanyan Wushu was startled, and he immediately remembered what Fan Gong told him. Chen Qing wanted to challenge Wanyan Mouyan in Fengxiang, and almost succeeded.
It would be best if Wanyan Mouyan could kill Chen Qing, but it would not be a pity if he was killed by Chen Qing.
Wanyan Wushu smiled lightly and said: "I'm afraid you are no match for Chen Qing, and you will lose your life!"
"How can I not avenge my father's murder? Even if I die in battle, I will not hesitate to do so. I beg Marshal Du to agree!"
Wanyan Wushu glanced at Wanyan Chang again, "What do you think of the military supervisor?"
Wan Yanchang said expressionlessly: "This is not a matter that the supervisor should be concerned about."
"Okay! If a certain company is approved, I will write a letter to Chen Qing and ask him to fight tomorrow!"
