Longshan Pass and Liupan Pass are the only two passes among the many passes in Longshan that can be used to carry luggage. Among them, Longshan Pass is the main pass, and the road is slightly wider, but it is also a winding road, and you need to circle down the mountain in circles.
The Song army's baggage consisted of 10,000 camels and 3,000 carts.
Full of large baggage such as grain, tents, firearms, kerosene, and siege weapons, it took two days and two nights of walking on the Guangpan Mountain Road, and fifteen carts were rolled over before the entire baggage team crossed Longshan Mountain.
Thirty thousand troops marched eastward with their baggage. Three days later, the army arrived at Pingliang County again. The Song army set up camp five miles west of the county.
The four gates of Pingliang City were closed tightly, and the city was under martial law. No people were allowed to go to the streets. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be killed. The defenders were afraid that there were lurking scouts from the Song Army in the city, so they should work together to seize the city.
The leader of the garrison is called Li Jinrui. He is the younger brother of Li Cheng, the commander of the capital, and can be regarded as one of Li Cheng's most powerful generals.
Of course, Li Jinrui was also a Song general at the earliest, but he was still only the head of the cavalry army. However, it was his elder brother Li Cheng who had the real eye for discerning people. He promoted and promoted him all the way. Now he has been in charge of the army for three years.
Li Jinrui was tall and strong, but his mind was not simple. When the Song army was still a hundred miles away, he ordered the whole city to be under martial law and prohibited people from taking to the streets.
The magistrate also proposed recruiting some civilians to work for the army, but he rejected it. Li Jinrui knew very well that Chen Qing had been plotting to pacify Liang City for a long time, so how could there be no scouts for him in the city?
The soldiers carried thousands of barrels of kerosene to the city walls and deployed them on the north, south and west city walls.
Li Jinrui squinted at the Song Army camp in the distance. He estimated that the opponent's number was around 20,000 to 30,000, which was much smaller than the 50,000 troops he was worried about. In this way, he could hold the camp even if he only had 10,000 troops.
Pingliang City.
Li Jinrui breathed a sigh of relief. He had been very worried these past few days. His brother led a large army to attack Hanzhong, but only gave him 5,000 reinforcements. He was asked to rely on kerosene to defend Pingliang City. But Chen Qing is an expert at playing with fire.
What if he comes prepared?
Now, Li Jinrui felt that even without kerosene, he could withstand the attack of an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people by relying on the tall and thick city walls.
"Go down with the order, beware that the enemy will attack the city tonight, and leave three thousand men to defend the city at night!"
...........
Li Jinrui guessed wrong. After the Song Army set up camp, the first thing they did was to assemble the trebuchets. Thirty heavy trebuchets required 300 craftsmen and equipment to be completed day and night, which also included debugging time.
Chen Qing led a hundred cavalrymen and a dozen craftsmen to the east city. In a wasteland hundreds of miles away from the city wall, Chen Qing saw a mud pit. There was a large black stone in the mud pit, weighing at least fifty or sixty kilograms, and
The description in the scout information is exactly the same, and the distance is also similar.
Chen Qing pointed at the mud pit with his horsewhip and said: "That mud pit is the sign. It is exactly 350 steps from the mud pit to the city wall. This is the credit left by our scouts."
The craftsmen were overjoyed. With this mud pit as a reference, they began to lay wooden stakes one by one for positioning. Perhaps this was the technology of the Song Dynasty. If you want to be precise, you must be meticulous and not careless in every detail.
After a while, they laid thirty wooden stakes and prepared for the attack tomorrow night.
By dusk the next day, all thirty heavy trebuchets had been installed and debugged, and their tall, giant-like figures could be clearly seen on the top of the city.
Li Jinrui was secretly shocked. His guess was correct. Chen Qing had been preparing for so long, and he was indeed well prepared. The thirty heavy trebuchets had a range of at least three hundred steps. The trebuchet at the top of their city was only two hundred steps.
The range of left and right, the range of the divine arm crossbow is not enough, and other ordinary crossbows cannot deal with it, only the bed crossbow.
Fortunately, Li Cheng thought carefully and sent them 300 bed crossbows, with a killing range of 500 steps, which were perfect for dealing with heavy trebuchets.
"Set all the bed crossbows to the east city!"
Li Jinrui has realized that the Song army is likely to attack the city tonight, and it will definitely attack the east city.
...........
At two o'clock, the Song army began to take action. Thirty heavy trebuchets began to line up and drive out of the camp. On average, three healthy oxen pulled one heavy trebuchet. They were all made of metal wheels and walked very smoothly on the mud.
Thousands of Song troops had already deployed the site in advance and placed huge baffles in front of the wooden piles.
Of course, the Song army had to be prepared for crossbow attacks on the city. Fortunately, each heavy trebuchet was made of metal shafts, not Jinren or Xixia trebuchets, and was simply tied with belts.
Thirty heavy trebuchets rumbled slowly in the wilderness. They were huge and majestic, like thirty monsters walking in the wilderness.
Behind the trebuchet was an army of 20,000 men, marching slowly behind the heavy trebuchet.
The alarm bell on the top of the city had already sounded, and all 10,000 defenders were on the top of the city. Chen Qing had no idea of a sneak attack at night. He just wanted to use the night to cover the soldiers' clothing and equipment, so that the defenders on the top of the city could not guess.
reveal their intentions.
Otherwise, seeing thousands of people carrying wet quilts, the guard on the city would have guessed their purpose.
Five hundred engineering soldiers stood behind the baffle. Their task was to lay wooden planks on the moat, so they must be the first to charge, followed by two thousand fire soldiers, then three thousand quilt extinguisher soldiers, and finally two
Whether the main force of ten thousand can capture Pingliang City depends on tonight's move.
Thirty heavy-duty trebuchets were each in place, fully two miles long, and each trebuchet had ten craftsmen responsible for debugging.
At this time, there was a drum sound on the top of the city, and three hundred crossbows were launched at the same time. The dense jackdaw iron arrows were shot towards the trebuchet. The baffle was very high and thick, blocking the trebuchet.
Most of his body, only one head is exposed, and even if this head is hit by a jackdaw arrow, it will be meaningless.
Most of the jackdaw arrows were still crackling on the baffle, and the thirty heavy trebuchets were not affected in any way. The winch turned, the throwing pole was pulled down with a creak, and the heavy iron box at the other end was pulled up.
The principle is very simple, just like a seesaw, one end goes down and the other goes up.
Several Song soldiers carefully placed eighty kilograms of kerosene clay pots on the huge throwing bags. A soldier lit the kerosene with a torch, and a huge fireball instantly formed.
"emission!"
Wang Duo gave an order, and thirty huge kerosene balls rose into the sky and flew towards the city.
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ Twenty-two clay pots of kerosene hit the city head accurately, and the other eight flew into the city. This required fine-tuning, just push back a few steps.
The city was suddenly ablaze, and Li Jinrui immediately realized that the opponent was attacking with fire, but there were still three thousand barrels of kerosene at the top of the city. He shouted anxiously: "Take the kerosene and retreat to the north and south city walls!"
The eight thousand troops quickly retreated to the north and south sides, carrying weapons and fire oil. The fire was so fierce that the trebuchets and crossbows deployed on the top of the city could no longer be taken care of.
At this time, the second and third rounds of clay pots of kerosene were thrown, and the entire city turned into a sea of flames.
Chen Qing coldly ordered: "Attack!"
.........
In the darkness, five hundred soldiers carrying long wooden boards rushed out, followed closely by two thousand Huo Huan, and three thousand soldiers carrying wet bedding.
In just a moment, the siege ladders were erected one after another, and nearly a hundred siege ladders were erected. Two thousand Huohuan soldiers struggled to climb up. They climbed to the top of the city and rushed into the fierce fire.
Chen Qing could see clearly from behind. When three thousand soldiers carrying beddings began to rush to the city, Chen Qing immediately ordered, "Add five thousand more soldiers to the city!"
Liu Cui shouted: "Third Army, follow me!"
Liu Cui rushed forward with five thousand troops...
At this time, Li Jinrui saw that the fire at the top of the west city began to extinguish and the Song army was approaching the city in large numbers. He suddenly realized that something was wrong and shouted: "Rush up and drive the Song army off the city!"
But the puppet Qi army had just rushed forward. In the darkness, the arrows fired from the divine arm crossbows were like a storm, and the puppet Qi army soldiers fell down one after another.
On the other side of the city wall, a thousand fire soldiers holding spears fought fiercely with the enemy. They blocked the enemy.
The fire on the top of the city had been completely extinguished, and soldiers of the Song Army began to run towards the bottom of the city.
"Kill me!" Li Jinrui shouted anxiously.
A soldier suddenly pointed outside the city and shouted: "General! Look."
Li Jinrui looked down at the city, and his heart suddenly went cold. He saw that the suspension bridge had been lowered, and countless cavalry rushed across the suspension bridge and entered the city.