Although they lived in the military camp, the soldiers were still uneasy. Gunpowder arrows were constantly shooting into the sky. One night, the alarm bell rang three times. The soldiers kept escaping from the tent. Many of them were barefoot. Later, they simply wore clothes.
Helmet and shoes for sleeping.
However, harassment continued to occur, and it was quiet until dawn, so that every soldier of the Puppet Qi Army had dark circles under his eyes, and everyone stayed up all night.
Li Cheng also had a big problem. Their big tents were not expensive leather tents, which were not afraid of fire. Their tents were ordinary linen tents, not even made of wool. Such big tents were easy to catch fire, so he initially
He decided to build a board-walled military camp, but the current situation did not allow his plan to be implemented.
This is actually the most troublesome aspect for generals in previous wars. The harassment from the enemy keeps the soldiers awake at night and seriously affects their morale for the next day's battle.
Especially after the Song Army used a large number of firearms, harassment caused by burning gunpowder occurred one after another. Fortunately, the Song Army did not use fire kites, otherwise the situation would have been even more chaotic.
Guan Shigu found Li Cheng early in the morning. He suggested to Li Cheng: "We have an army of 100,000 people. It is impossible for everyone to attack the city. I suggest that the army of 70,000 be responsible for the siege and the army of 30,000 be responsible for the siege."
Stay behind, and these 30,000 troops will send 10,000 people to guard the camp every night. Anyone who comes close within three miles will be killed without mercy. In this way, even if you use fire kites, you will not be able to attack the camp. What do you think, general?"
Li Cheng nodded, "What you said makes sense. The number of three thousand people on guard is indeed too small. It is necessary to increase it to ten thousand. In addition, I am considering continuing to build a board-walled military camp and building it outside the fence. It will not affect the current situation."
Military camp.”
Li Cheng immediately divided the work with Guan Shigu and divided the army into two. Li Cheng commanded an army of 70,000 to be responsible for attacking the city, while Guan Shigu commanded an army of 30,000 to be responsible for building camps and guarding. The two men had clear responsibilities and powers, and Guan Shigu immediately sent out
Ten thousand troops carried out external vigilance. This method was indeed effective. That night, the Song army stopped harassing the Puppet Qi Army camp, and the Puppet Qi Army soldiers finally had a good sleep.
By the night of the third day, all the siege weapons had been assembled, and the time was ripe to attack the city.
...........
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
At dawn, earth-shattering war drums sounded in the enemy camp. The north gate of the camp opened, and groups of soldiers filed out, flags fluttering, and murderous intent.
A huge trebuchet appeared in the team, pulled by more than a dozen strong oxen. It was three feet high, with a throwing rod about five feet long. The six giant wheels were taller than a person. It looked like a giant monster, but in the army
There was not just one heavy trebuchet, but twenty heavy trebuchets came out one after another. Each trebuchet was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, as well as matching baffles and iron lumps weighing several thousand kilograms.
The heavy trebuchets of the Puppet Qi Army are old-style trebuchets that require fifty people to pull together, so each trebuchet is equipped with seventy soldiers.
Behind the trebuchet was a mighty army, with a total of 30,000 people. The army had countless oxen and carts, pulling pontoons and heavy siege ladders. The soldiers lined up and kept shouting slogans.
Ten thousand Song troops have been deployed on the city wall, and there are still ten thousand archers under the city wall waiting for the order to go up to the city.
Fifty heavy trebuchets were deployed on the line fifty steps close to the city wall. They were too large to stand on the top of the city, so a special high platform could only be built in the city to specifically place such heavy trebuchets.
There are fifty specialized command soldiers on the city top, each corresponding to a trebuchet. They are the eyes of the trebuchet. Each command soldier is staring at the slowly approaching enemy trebuchet. This is quite similar to that of later generations.
In a tank battle, it depends on who seizes the opportunity and who throws more accurately.
At this time, the twenty heavy trebuchets of the Puppet Qi Army stopped at the 300-step line. The soldiers had placed huge and thick wooden boards in front of them to withstand the shots of bed crossbows and divine arm crossbows at the top of the city.
After the trebuchet arrived at the location, it immediately entered the firing state. Fifty soldiers shouted and struggled to pull down the high throwing pole. Several soldiers had just put a large stone weighing more than 100 kilograms on the trebuchet, and here they were.
At that moment, fifty huge fire oil balls roared out from the top of the city.
The soldiers shouted and released the rope at the same time. The trebuchet bounced up and threw boulders weighing more than a hundred kilograms high. Twenty boulders passed by the opponent's kerosene balls and headed toward the city head and the city.
Fly into the city.
'Bang! Bang! Bang!'
Fifty flaming kerosene balls hit the enemy's position one after another. Some hit the baffle, some missed the target, but there were also 12 flaming kerosene balls that hit the target. The kerosene balls shattered and the fierce flaming oil inside spilled out.
When they came out, a radius of more than ten feet became a sea of fire, and many soldiers turned into burning men, screaming and running. After running for more than ten steps, they fell down and never got up again.
At the same time, some of the twenty boulders hit the city wall, and most of them passed over the city head, roaring towards the city. The Song soldiers shouted to get down, and more than a dozen boulders fell to the ground with a thud. Two of them were heavy-duty ones.
The trebuchet was hit by a huge boulder and collapsed.
"Get ready to shoot again!" the Song army general shouted.
Forty-eight kerosene balls were ignited again and thrown out. They passed over the city and flew towards the enemy's trebuchet array. At this time, the trebuchet array was also in chaos, with flames and smoke everywhere. Li Cheng gave the order
Withdraw the order.
The soldiers desperately pushed the heavy trebuchet back, but after taking less than a few steps, the Song Army's second round of forty-eight huge kerosene balls roared in. This time, they made slight adjustments and the accuracy was much higher. The remaining
The eight trebuchets were all concentrated with fire oil balls, igniting a fire.
The entire trebuchet formation turned into a sea of fire.
Li Cheng sighed, these twenty heavy trebuchets were originally used to deal with the bow and arrow array in the city, but he did not expect that the Song army's trebuchets were sharper and more numerous, and they were no match at all.
Unfortunately, his kerosene was burned and he had to use boulders instead, but the effect of boulders was far inferior to kerosene balls.
At this time, Li Cheng could only count on the shields carried by the soldiers to be effective.
Li Cheng drew his sword and shouted: "Attack the city!"
"Woo——"
The siege horn sounded, and the 30,000 troops gave a shout and ran towards the city wall. At the front were carts carrying pontoons, running towards the moat.
Chen Qing saw it clearly from the top of the city and coldly ordered: "Continue the trebuchets, prepare a large array of bows and arrows with thousands of people on the city, prepare bed crossbows, and divine arm crossbows!"
The Song Army's 10,000-person archery formation has been upgraded and is no longer deployed in the city. Instead, heavy trebuchets are deployed in the city. Ten thousand archers quickly rushed to the south city head. When building the outer city, the position of the archers was already taken into consideration. All archers were deployed in the city.
Crouch and shoot against the wall. This arrangement can avoid a large number of casualties.
At the same time, the medium-sized trebuchets and thousands of crossbows on the top of the city were ready. Looking at the overwhelming and overwhelming puppet Qi army, the heavy trebuchets in the city took the lead in showing off their power. Fireballs streaked across the sky, shooting towards the dense crowd.
The crowd smashed it away.
The soldiers of the Puppet Qi Army dodged one after another, but many soldiers were splashed with burning kerosene on their bodies, and they immediately rolled on the ground wailing.
The bed crossbows still did not fire. Their target was not ordinary soldiers, but the crossbowmen of the puppet Qi army. At this time, five thousand crossbowmen appeared in the crowd. They ran two hundred steps away and put up their shields on the ground.
The soldiers used shields to cover themselves and fired arrows at the top of the city. The arrows shot into the city like normal. Many Song soldiers operating trebuchets were hit by the arrows and fell to the ground screaming.
"Bed Crossbow Launch!"
The red flag was waved from the top of the city, and a thousand crossbows were suddenly fired. A storm of five thousand jackdaw arrows hit the enemy's crossbow soldiers.
The shields erected by the crossbow soldiers had no defensive effect. Within two hundred steps, jackdaw iron arrows could penetrate the bodies of two war horses. In an instant, the crossbow soldiers screamed and fell down, and 1,500 people were shot dead on the spot.
.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
The general shouted urgently, and the remaining three thousand or so crossbow soldiers did not even bother to pick up their shields and ran away, fearing that the second round of crossbows would come.
The 25,000-strong army was getting closer and closer to the city wall, and 10,000 archers and hundreds of medium-sized trebuchets launched. Dense arrows intertwined in the sky, forming a dark cloud of arrows, which fell overwhelmingly into the running enemy crowd.
among.
The puppet Qi army raised their shields to meet them. The shields did effectively resist the arrows falling from the sky. However, some puppet Qi troops were still hit by arrows and fell down. One hundred gunpowder barrels also exploded in the crowd, creating black smoke.
Flying into the air, poisonous nails were shot out in all directions. Many soldiers were unable to get down and were hit by the poisonous nails. They screamed in fear.
The surging Puppet Qi Army soldiers finally rushed to the moat. Thousands of soldiers quickly built pontoon bridges. In just a moment, thirteen pontoon bridges were completed. The Puppet Qi Army soldiers like a sea rushed across the moat and lifted one up.
Heavy siege troops were mounted on the city walls and began to swarm up.
On the top of the city, rolling logs and stones fell like hailstones, and arrows rained down from the top of the city. The two sides launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle.
