In the dark night, Chen Qing stared at the mouth of the valley. Perhaps the Jinbing general at the mouth of the valley was also staring at Guancheng from a distance.
"Does the commander think Jin Bing can use surprise troops?" Yang Yuanqing walked up to him and asked.
Chen Qing looked up at the dark mountain and nodded, "I was worried about this on the first day I came to Guancheng. How should we respond if the enemy launches an offensive from above us?"
Speaking of this, Chen Qing turned back to Yang Yuanqing and said: "We can dodge even if objects fall from high altitude. What I'm worried about is that the enemy cuts off the water source, mobilizes the soldiers, and looks for all containers to fill the water. From now on, in addition to drinking water for cooking,
and treating the wounded, all other water use has been stopped!”
.........
Chen Qing's worries were not wrong. In the afternoon of the next day, a soldier rushed over and shouted from a distance: "Commander! Commander!"
Chen Qing walked out of the room, "What's going on?"
"You'd better go take a look over there in the cave."
Chen Qing took the leaders to the water storage cave. Chen Qing reached out and touched the moss-covered stone wall. The water flow was gone, and the spring water flowing into the cracks in the stone on the other side had also stopped flowing.
"When did you discover it?"
"I just discovered it and immediately informed the commander!"
Chen Qing nodded and said to Luo Gan: "It seems that your judgment is correct. The enemy has indeed taken action above our heads."
"I suggest that the warehouse be moved. It is too close to the stone wall and can easily be attacked!"
Luo Gan didn't talk much, but every sentence was to the point. But now he had to solve the water problem first. Chen Qing turned back and asked Yang Yuanqing, "Do the soldiers store water?"
"It started last night. All containers, even helmets that are temporarily unused, are used to store water. The pool was almost drained last night!"
When Chen Qing saw that the pool had been filled again, he felt relieved.
At this moment, a commotion was heard outside, and a soldier shouted: "Here we go again!"
Chen Qing led the generals towards the entrance of the cave. As soon as they arrived at the entrance, they saw a flaming fireball falling from above their heads. It was as big as a millstone. It hit the roof of the warehouse hard and bounced off. There were two people on the ground in the distance.
A burning fireball.
One of the fireballs exploded "Bang! Bang!" with loud sounds, flames bursting out, and a column of black smoke rising into the sky.
"It's caltrops!"
The soldiers all exclaimed, they were too familiar with it, it was tribulus among gunpowder weapons.
Yang Hua stepped forward and picked up a black pellet and handed it to Chen Qing. Chen Qing took the heavy caltrop. It looked like a small prickly pear, but the spikes were thinner and longer. If someone stepped on it, it would
Puncture the sole.
"This is the caltrop!"
Yang Hua said solemnly: "It is a sharp weapon used by our Western Army to deal with Xixia cavalry. It is mainly used to deal with war horses. It is exploded with gunpowder wrapped in paper and then thrown away. However, this caltrop is black and has no quenching poison on it."
"What will happen if the poison is quenched?" Chen Qing asked again.
"Quenching the poison is very troublesome. Being shot by one or two is not a big problem. If you are shot by too many, you will be disabled at least, or you will be killed at worst!"
Next to him, Yang Yuanqing added: "It's not that the Jin soldiers were soft-hearted and didn't temper the poison. It should be that they didn't have gunpowder craftsmen in their tents and couldn't re-process them. They could only use the captured Song military firearms directly."
At this time, two more fireballs were thrown from the top of the head, but this time the fireballs were not tied tightly and fell apart after landing. The burning fire cloth was thrown all over the ground, but the fire caltrops inside did not explode.
The golden soldiers above also realized something was wrong, so they stopped throwing fireballs. The soldiers cautiously stepped forward and collected twenty fire caltrops that did not explode.
"Commander, there are twenty fire caltrops in total."
The fire caltrop was about the size of a fist, made of leather paper, and had a string on it for throwing. Chen Qing didn't have time to study it carefully, so he ordered Zheng Ping: "Take a dozen brothers to collect the caltrop and don't step on it!"
"Follow the order!" Zheng Ping ran away.
Chen Qing said to Luo Gan again: "It's too late to evacuate the warehouse supplies now. You lead the soldiers to seal all the warehouse doors with stones. Don't let the fire burn the doors."
"I understand the humble position!"
The enemy's intention of attacking with fire is very obvious, that is, they want to set fire to and burn down the warehouse. The iron caltrops want to hurt the soldiers who are putting out the fire. Unfortunately, the idea is good, but the reality is very pale. The warehouses are all made of stone, and as long as the warehouse door is
Unless it is ignited by fire, the enemy's fire attack is meaningless.
Zheng Ping led his soldiers to quickly collect more than 170 very small iron caltrops and more than 20 unlit fire caltrops.
Zheng Ping placed a pile of caltrops wrapped in cloth on the table, looking down on such firearms.
"In my opinion, this kind of caltrop is just a bluff. In fact, it is useless. You must first heat the soldering iron red, poke it in to ignite the gunpowder inside, and then throw it out. It can be thrown up to seven or eight feet away. One of the caltrops is hit by
There are only eight small caltrops. If you tell me how troublesome it is, I might as well just grab a handful of caltrops and sprinkle them out."
The fuse had not yet been invented during the Northern Song Dynasty, so lighting firearms has always been a troublesome task, and they only played an auxiliary role on the battlefield and could not directly kill the enemy. Therefore, various firearms have been invented for many years, but they have always been useless.
The existence of the Liao and Xixia armies was initially frightened by the sound of explosions, thick smoke and fire, but after everyone got used to it, the Song army's firearms could not stop the attacks of the Liao and Jin soldiers at all.
Unless a barrel of gunpowder explodes, the air waves and shock waves do have a certain degree of lethality, but the cost is not cost-effective. The gunpowder is more often used to support combustion rather than explode.
Yang Yuanqing looked at the firearms and said to Chen Qing: "Actually, we should pay more attention to the enemy's activities on the top of the mountain. Not only have they cut off our water source, will they climb down the cliff at night? I am more worried that the enemy will go around to the south and head towards the mountain.
Nancheng launches an attack!"
"You are right, we must be on guard!"
At this time, a low horn sound came from the distance, and Chen Qing's expression changed. The enemy was about to attack again.
There was a loud rumbling sound in the valley, and soon, more than a dozen strong oxen were dragging five large trebuchets. This trebuchet was assembled by Jinbing craftsmen overnight. The trebuchet was one foot high and long.
The throwing pole is three feet long and can throw a fifty-kilogram object two hundred steps away.
Each trebuchet requires more than twenty people to operate, and is followed by dozens of mule carts, fully loaded with various siege materials.
Two thousand puppet troops and one thousand Jurchen cavalry lined up. The leader of today's attack was a Jurchen commander named Wanyan Chimu. He was Wanyan Ulu's trusted general and was good at attacking cities with weapons.
Not long after, five large trebuchets were lined up two hundred steps away. A huge baffle was placed on both sides of each trebuchet. The baffle was three inches thick, and there were two thick layers of cooked cowhide on it.
Covered, even if the Song army used bed crossbows or divine arm crossbows, they might not be able to penetrate it.
Huge pressure shrouded Guancheng. Facing the five behemoth-like trebuchets, the Song army was at a loss to do anything.
Chen Qing watched for a moment and then ordered: "Order the tiger shooter to shoot the belt tied to the trebuchet!"
The binding belt may be the weak point of the trebuchet, but how easy is it to shoot it off?
The trebuchet opened with a creak, 'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
After firing continuously, five black dots rose into the sky and roared towards the city.
"Squat down quickly!" Yang Yuanqing shouted.
The soldiers on the city head fell down one after another. Bang! Bang! Huge stones hit the city wall and the city head, making a sound of splintering wood.
"No! It's not a boulder."
When Chen Qing turned around, he saw that a large wooden barrel was completely broken into pieces, leaving only two iron rings. Thick black kerosene flowed all over the ground, the city head, the walls and the city head, and there were splashes everywhere.
kerosene.
"No, the enemy will attack with fire!"
Chen Qing shouted, and the second round of the Jin soldiers' attack came. They were five huge fireballs, burning in the air, carrying fireworks and flying towards the city.
The fireball hit the city head and immediately shattered into small fireballs that filled the sky, scattered in all directions, and ignited small packets of gunpowder, making the fire even more intense.
"Boom!" The city top burst into flames, and the soldiers dodged one after another...
Chen Qing looked at the enemy's third round of attack, which turned out to be wooden barrels. He immediately shouted: "All soldiers withdraw from the city!"
The soldiers rushed down the corridor toward the city. The five wooden barrels they threw contained kerosene and gunpowder to support the fire, which made the fire above and below the city even more fierce, and gradually engulfed the city.
This was when the soldiers in Guancheng also shouted. It turned out that the Jin soldiers on the top of the mountain also threw down large wooden barrels filled with kerosene, and fireballs mixed with gunpowder...
..
Not long after, the entire Jianxiao Pass was engulfed in a sea of fire. The flames were raging into the sky, thick smoke filled the air, and the sound was terrifying. The shouts of killing outside were loud...
"Commander, I'm afraid we can't resist anymore. Let's retreat!" Everyone's heads and faces changed.
"No!"
Chen Qing's eyes were filled with red flames, and the fire was soaring to the sky, but his gaze was extremely firm. He shook his head and said: "Unless we all die in battle, the Jurchens will never even think about entering Guancheng!"