In the dark night, a fleet of thirty large ships was sailing north in formation. There were trackers on the shore pulling the tow ropes to keep the sailing speed from being too fast.
These thirty large ships are all three thousand stone ships, but they are not cargo ships or passenger ships, but a special type of ships called siege ships.
This is a unique warship of the Western Army. It uses ships to attack the city by using the opponent's moat. It is equivalent to a kind of water nest car. It has a special ladder and a cross-city overpass. It can run directly from the bow of the ship to the top of the city.
Not only that, in order to prevent enemy fire attacks, these ships were covered with rawhide on the decks and sides of the ships, which could protect the ships from fire attacks to a certain extent.
This fleet was originally used to deal with Hedong City, but it was useless. Later it was planned to be used against Linfen County, but it was still useless. This time Chen Qing transferred them to deal with Taiyuan City.
Of course, not every city can use this kind of siege ship. First of all, it must be a big city. The moat is wide, connected to the river itself, and is also part of the water transportation channel. Secondly, the distance between the moat and the city wall cannot be too far. Although the siege ship
The ladder itself can be retracted, and the city wall can be set up five feet apart, but that is too risky. Generally, it is most suitable to be about one foot apart, which is also the most common distance.
The moat of Taiyuan City is about eight feet away from the city wall, which is very suitable for using siege ships to attack the city. Chen Qing's first idea was to use siege ships.
The next morning, a fleet of thirty large ships finally arrived at Taiyuan City and stopped about twenty miles away from Taiyuan City.
At this time, Chen Qing was about one mile away from Taiyuan City, observing this famous city. Taiyuan City was the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty and was named the northern capital. It was built according to the standards of the capital city. The city is tall and generous, and the city head
It can accommodate more defensive soldiers and more large-scale defensive weapons, making it very difficult to attack. If the 20,000 Jurchen troops in the city are properly deployed and defended, they can firmly defend Taiyuan City.
Chen Qing's eyes fell on the water gate. The water gate is not like a city gate. It uses an iron fence that moves up and down, and there are two inside and outside. When it is closed, the iron fence is lowered to withstand the river bed. The water gate in Taiyuan naturally has an iron fence, although
They were far apart, but Chen Qing could still feel how thick the iron fence was. Their gunpowder would at most deform it, but not break it.
The intelligence also said that the iron fences in Taiyuan City were only updated last year, and each one is as thick as a wrist, making them even more difficult to blow apart.
It is unrealistic to cooperate internally and externally. There are no Han people in the city to join the army. They are all Jurchen Army soldiers. Their scouts cannot sneak into the defending army. Moreover, it is said that Wanyan Yinshu has bribed a group of beggars to monitor the whole city for him.
Once there is a gathering of people in the city, the Jurchens will immediately kill them.
This also prevented Chen Qing from sending troops to sneak into Taiyuan City.
Faced with Wanyan Yinshu's watertight defensive deployment, they had no chance of opportunism and could only deploy an actual army to attack.
At this time, a soldier came to report, "To the king of the county, Yang Dutong said that thirty warships have arrived!"
Chen Qing nodded, "Go back to camp!"
More than a thousand cavalry immediately escorted Chen Qing and rushed to the south camp.
At night, a group of 300 Jurchen soldiers surrounded a small courtyard near the south city gate. The Jurchen soldiers kicked open the door and rushed in. A moment later, screams rang out in the room.
Not long after, more than twenty men were grabbed in the yard, all shaking with fear. The Jurchen soldiers tied them up, threw them into a carriage and took them away.
Dozens of Jurchen soldiers began to search the residence thoroughly, but found nothing except a pile of copper coins and a dozen sets of gambling equipment.
Wanyan Yinshuke quickly received a report that a group of twenty-five people were captured near the south city gate. Current interrogation and verification revealed that they were probably gathering for gambling, not Song Army scouts.
The commander on duty bowed and said: "This is a clue provided by a beggar. Please tell me how to deal with it, Marshal."
Wanyan Yinshu nodded and said: "Whether it is Song Army scouts gathering or not, the key is to be able to detect it in time, which proves that our secret strategy is correct. Reward this beggar ten taels of silver. As for the twenty-odd gamblers,
, violated the ban on gatherings, each person will have one hand cut off and released."
"As you command!"
The captain left in a hurry.
Ten days ago, Wanyan Yinshuke issued a ban on gatherings, prohibiting any gathering of more than three men. To this end, gambling houses, inns, and bathhouses were closed, and even restaurants could only allow two people to sit together for meals, unless
It's women or children together, and even the government doesn't allow more than three people to gather together.
At the same time, Wanyan Yinkeshu bribed hundreds of beggars in the city and asked them to secretly monitor the gatherings in the city. This plan was called the dark-eye strategy. Each of these beggars could get one hundred coins a day. If they could
If you find someone gathering, you will be rewarded heavily.
Anyone who violates the ban on gatherings will inevitably be severely punished, ranging from a severe beating to severe amputation of arms and legs, or even loss of life.
The gathering of more than 20 people to gamble was a serious violation of the ban on gatherings. Wanyan Yinshu could only cut off one of their hands, which was considered a mercy.
Not far from the small courtyard where he was arrested, there is a small grocery store. The grocery store is opened by an old couple. There are only two of them in the store, so although the store is close to the South City Gate, Jin
Bing never doubted them.
At night, a man in Tsing Yi knocked on the door of the store and asked, "How many kilograms of candy do I want to buy? Is there any in the store?"
"Yes, come in and talk!"
The man in Tsing Yi ducked into the shop. The door was open, and people could be seen buying things inside.
This grocery store is an important intelligence point for the Song Army. This old couple is the parents of a scout commander. They are from Taiyuan and live in Taiyuan City. It is very suitable for them to open this small store.
Normally, farmers outside the city would come into the city and sell vegetables by the city gate. They were not allowed to enter the city. Many farmers would come to this small grocery store to buy something. Jin Bing did not doubt that if they wanted to exchange information or something, they would buy vegetables and sell them.
They are exchanged directly when the dishes are served, so why bother?
However, the city gates were closed these days, and only a few vegetable sellers were allowed to enter the city for an hour at noon. The Jurchens had to monitor their vegetable sellers, and a ban on gatherings was issued in the city, so this small grocery store became a
The best place for information exchange.
When the old man weighed the sweets, he quietly placed a note in front of the man in Tsing Yi. The man in Tsing Yi looked at the note, and the old man immediately put the note into the stove and burned it.
"Let me tell you, the price of sugar has increased. One pound of sugar costs five hundred cents, and two pounds costs the same."
The man in green clothes put a lot of money on the table and went out with the candy packet. As soon as he came out, a group of patrolling Jurchen soldiers stopped him and searched him all over, including the candy wrappers.
"Why do you come here to buy things?" asked the Jurchen centurion.
"There is no other way. His family is the only one in the city that has brown sugar. His wife needs to drink brown sugar water during confinement to replenish her blood."
The centurion searched his hair again and found nothing suspicious, so he waved his hand and said, "Don't go out casually at night, let's go!"
The man in green bowed, thanked him, and hurried away.
The patrol team did not trouble the grocery store and continued to patrol the streets.
The man in Tsing Yi returned to a closed restaurant in the city and saw the shopkeeper in the backyard. Apart from the shopkeeper, there were no other waiters in the restaurant. There was no other way. Wanyan Yinshike's ban on gatherings and the dark-eye tactics were too vicious. As long as there was
When several clerks are in the store, Jurchen soldiers will come to the door soon. Even if they avoid a severe beating, they will be fined a large sum of money. More importantly, they will arouse the suspicion of the other party.
Shopkeeper Zou Hong could only ask people in Tsing Yi to run errands and deliver news.
"The atmosphere in the city is very tense now. When I came out of the grocery store, I was stopped and searched by patrolling soldiers."
"Now that we are uniting our forces, it is very likely that we will attack the city in an all-out manner, so the Jurchens are also very nervous and have very strict control. Is there any news?"
The man in green nodded, "Break the horse pen and let the horses out tonight!"
"Is that all?"
"That's it."
The shopkeeper Zou Hong pondered for a while and said: "We should be attacking the city tonight. The king wants to release all the enemy's war horses to restrict their escape."
There are still more than twenty Song army scouts with high martial arts skills lurking in the city, but the number is too small to capture the city, so these scouts have been secretly lurking in the warehouse of a shop, never going out, and have not been discovered by the beggars.