After the soldiers surrounded Gongchang City for nearly ten days, the Mongolian army began to attack the city.
The sky was slightly bright, and large earthen jars were set up on the east bank of the Wei River, and corpses were thrown into them to refine corpse oil.
There was a strange smell in the air, the aroma of oil mixed with the stench of filth and blood, making people sick to smell it.
"Bang!"
A fireball was thrown out by the cannon truck.
Far away, only falling below the outer city wall, a raging fire was ignited, and the Song army on the top of the city could be seen throwing sand and earth down.
There were terrible screams.
Li Bing turned around and looked at the earthen pot again. His pupils trembled and he pursed his lips.
They were not too close, and their group of prisoners were further upstream. But they could still see the man who was thrown into the earthen pot and roasted in oil, with his hands stretched high and waving violently.
This scene made Li Bing's heart tremble for a long time.
Death is not terrible, but dying like this is too terrible.
Feng Liangzai pushed him hard and said, "Come on, let's dig the Wei River."
"That, that, that... the person is still alive..."
"Then why don't we dig the river quickly?!" Feng Liangzai cursed in a low voice and urged: "You have to work harder to survive. People who are dying are destined to die..."
So Li Bing didn't dare to speak anymore, rushed upstream, and tried his best to move stones to block the embankment.
Feng Liangzai seemed to be frightened, and murmured from time to time: "First there is the Wang family, and then there is Gongchang City."
He seemed to hope that this obedient attitude would allow Gong Chang to return to the way he was when the Wang family was around.
"Big guy, work harder! Let the Weishui River pour into Gongchang City today!"
~~
Gongchang City was built in the Tang Dynasty.
In the 14th year of Zhenguan, Wang Da, the Duke of Yue, built a city when he was guarding Longyou. This is the origin of the saying "The Wang family came first, and then Gongchang City".
Nowadays, many people in Gongchang area think that the "Wang family" refers to Wang Shixian's family.
When Wang Shixian was there, the east city was expanded and repaired. The city wall was built with big stones as its foundation. The city perimeter was nine miles and three meters long, four feet and one foot high, and the trench was three feet and seven feet deep.
At this time, at the top of the city, Li Zengbo used a telescope to look north from the top of Gongchang City, and could see Wuyangyang's prisoners digging the Wei River.
This is a conventional military method. When attacking a city, you first dig the river upstream of the city. There are many purposes. The Mongolian army can more easily cross the Wei River to attack Gongchang City, cut off the water source in the city, or flood the city with water.
When the Mongolian army attacked Zhongxing Mansion in Xixia, they diverted water from the Yellow River into the city. Xixia soldiers and civilians suffered heavy casualties, and the city wall almost collapsed. In an emergency, Xixia King Li An'an had to sacrifice beautiful women, including his own daughter, and a large amount of gold and silver jewelry. , surrendered and negotiated peace, and attached Mongolia to attack Jin.
The question is, does Ashu have the patience and time to attack the city so slowly?
Aren't you afraid of giving Song Dynasty time to concentrate its troops?
Suddenly, I heard a loud noise in the distance.
The Mongolian army had dug the canal to the river bank, and the dam built on the Wei River was closed. The river water finally broke into the canal and spread towards Gongchang City.
It can't be said to be very spectacular, it's like the sky and the earth have been splashed with a big ladle of water, and the streets are overflowing with water after rain.
The river flows under the city wall and continues to flow eastward.
"Bang!"
When the city wall, which was scalding hot from the fire of corpse oil, met the water, the foundation stone underneath cracked.
The river water seeped under the city wall.
"Commander, do you want to fire off the cannon?"
"There's no rush." Li Zengbo raised his hand and said, "The Mongolian army hasn't started to attack the city yet, so there's no rush..."
He looked at the river inside and outside the city, his eyes looking a little slow.
Although the battle in front of him looked huge, he could definitely wait for the river water to slowly soak until the city wall collapsed.
After thinking for a moment, Li Zengbo did not focus on Gongchang again. Instead, he raised his eyes to the sky and thought silently for a long time.
"Could it be that we are pretending to be a long-term siege to attract us to concentrate our forces and encircle the point for reinforcements? Or find a loophole to break out of the siege and enter Guanzhong or even Hanzhong?"
Thinking of this, Li Zengbo felt a little frightened.
He originally hoped that reinforcements would arrive as soon as possible, defeat the Mongolian army, and rescue the people under the city. But at this time, he was worried that the mobilization of troops would cause a worse situation.
But Gongchang has been surrounded, and all he can do is defend the city, and Lian Xixian can only rely on Lian Xixian for the rest.
Before, Li Zengbo had never dreamed of placing his hope in a Uighur...oh, a Uyghur.
~~
"It's done! It's done!"
Feng Liangzai looked in the direction of Gong Chang, with a relaxed expression on his tired face.
He looked around at the prisoners around him and said: "Now the Mongolian army only needs to wait until the river water soaks the city wall. Everyone will survive."
Li Bing also breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.
His left ear is still blocked.
Ever since the Mongolian soldier spat into my ear, maybe it was because of the sand and soil, but it became more and more clogged. It has been almost ten days since I had a buzzing feeling.
Fortunately, at least I no longer have to dig the river like this...
The next moment, a group of Mongolian soldiers came over with scimitars, drove them and gathered them together.
The prisoners were crowded together, there were people everywhere, and the smell of sweat made Li Bing almost faint.
There were screams from behind.
The crowd started to move and rushed toward Gongchang City.
Li Bing was pushed and started to run after him. In the chaos, he grabbed Feng Liangzai's clothes tightly.
"What happened?!"
Feng Liangzai looked a little confused, and after a while he said: "dig the wall... we are going to dig the wall..."
Li Bing's mind buzzed, and he shouted: "Mr. Feng, didn't you say that just digging the river will be enough? We will be honest and obedient... we won't die... you said so..."
He had long thought about dying, but at this point, he had done too much to survive.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Digging for the root of the wall will not necessarily lead to death. If we capture Gongchang earlier, everything will be the same as when Marshal Wang was there."
"But to the city wall..."
"ah!"
Screams rang out not far behind him. Li Bing turned around and glanced, only to see a row of Mongolian soldiers with their bows and arrows drawn, shooting at prisoners like them.
Desperation came over him, and he couldn't help crying.
Weeping loudly, he ran towards Gongchang City. The river was overflowing under his feet and the mud was so muddy that it was difficult to walk. He fell into a ditch outside the city and hid there, at a loss.
"Dig!" someone shouted.
"Dig!" Feng Liangzai also shouted: "If you go back, you will die. You can only survive by digging up the roots of the wall..."
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
Arrows from the Song army came, and some people screamed and fell in the mud.
…
Farther away, the Mongolian army cheered and drove the prisoners with increasing joy, surrounding Gongchang City in all directions.
"Arrow feed, let Song Jun's arrows drink enough blood!"
~~
Tianshui.
Lian Xixian walked into the lobby covered in dust.
A group of armored generals were gathered in front of the map, and they all turned their heads.
"Lian Gong..."
"Tell me about the battle situation."
"Okay, Ah Shu is still attacking Gongchang, and has dug the Wei River to flood the city. It seems that he is planning to besiege the city for a long time."
The atmosphere in the hall was intense.
Bao San's face was full of murderous intent, and even his blind eye seemed to be shining brightly.
He cupped his fist at Lian Xixian and said immediately: "Wang Yixin and others have retracted the northern defense line, Louhu and others have led troops to surround the Mongolian army from the east, and Gao Nianfeng and other troops west of Gongchang are also rushing to provide support.
When we attack from the south, we can severely defeat Ashu at the gate of Gongchang City..."
Lian Xixian didn't say anything, but walked to the map and looked at it.
Guanlong has more than 40,000 troops, of which Li Zengbo led more than 5,000 troops to garrison Gongchang. The remaining troops have surrounded Ashu in just ten days and are slowly advancing.
Lian Xixian was still calculating the progress of various roads, and the generals around him were high in fighting spirit, their fighting spirit bursting out, and they wished they could eat A Shu right away.
"Since Mr. Lian has arrived, he can give the order and fight to the death with the Mongols!"
"Please give the order, Duke Lian..."
"A Shu is going to besiege the city for a long time?" Lian Xixian whispered to himself, raised his hand to stop the generals, and asked: "Has Huhu rushed from the Guanshan defense line to Tongwei County?"
"Yes, he sent a horse over and said that Tongwei County is the worst..."
Lian Xixian said: "Send an order to stop the advance and return to Guanshan immediately. Then send an order to Zhuanglang, Chuanhui, Zhangmianyi and other places to guard the Fanxu Road, Longdi Road, Guanlong Road. Once the Mongolian army is discovered,
, call for help immediately.”
The generals were puzzled, but they still followed the orders and acted.
Lian Xixian turned to Bao San and ordered: "Send an additional thousand people to guard the Qishan Road."
"yes."
"If we send detective horses to garrison in Wen County again, I'm afraid Ashu may be looking for the Yinping Ancient Road, so we must keep a close eye on him."
"yes."
"How many troops have you left to garrison Chencang Narrow Road?"
"..."
Military orders went out one after another.
Lian Xixian changed many of the orders he had made with Li Zengbo before.
Although the military discipline was strict, the generals eventually became more confused and dissatisfied.
"Lian Gong, Ashu has captured the people of Tongwei, Jichuan, and Gangu counties, as well as Ningyuan, Qima and other villages. If we don't destroy the enemy as soon as possible, I'm afraid we won't be able to afford it."
The "consumption" mentioned here refers to the fact that human life cannot withstand such consumption.
The Song army has three times the strength of the Mongolian army. If they can fight A Shu in Gongchang, they may be able to defeat the enemy in one battle, but if they continue to divide their troops to guard, they will continue to be passive.
No one needs to remind Lian Xixian that his scalp has been numb for a long time.
The lives of tens of thousands of people rested on his and Li Zengbo's shoulders. Every decision he made might save tens of thousands of people, but it might also kill hundreds of thousands of people.
He had to explain clearly to the generals, stretched out his hand to draw on the map, and said: "Surround us directly. If A Shu kills us through one of our paths and breaks into Guanzhong or Hanzhong, what should we do?"
Then a general said: "Excuse me for saying this bluntly, our troops are three times the enemy's and we are not afraid of Ashu's breakthrough."
"Yes, the reason why we were afraid of fighting the Mongolian army in the past was because we had no cavalry. Now there are more than 10,000 cavalry in Longxi, which is equivalent to the Mongolian army. They can hold off the Mongolian army with their cavalry."
"Lian Gong, let's fight."
Lian Xixian asked in reply: "What if we lose with more than 10,000 cavalry fighting against 15,000 Mongolian cavalry?"
"There are still more than ten thousand infantrymen, we must win!"
"A general does not think about victory, but thinks about defeat first."
An official sent by the imperial court immediately asked: "Isn't Mr. Lian anxious to save the Gongchang Mansion and tens of thousands of people?"
"The military situation is like a fire. I ask Mr. Lian to put aside his personal grudges with Mr. Li and relieve the siege of Gongchang first..."
"In any case, defeating the Mongols is the most urgent matter..."
Lian Xixian raised his hand again to stop these people.
This is Longxi. He has such prestige that he will not be manipulated by several civil servants under Li Zengbo.
He no longer looked at them, but turned to the generals and said: "I did not say no fight, but I asked you to strictly guard all states, counties and passes to prevent the Mongolian army from entering the hinterland. I will personally lead the cavalry to support Gongchang."
Bao San hurriedly said: "Lian Gong, after dividing the troops, there are only three thousand cavalry left in Tianshui..."
"It doesn't matter, let me support Mr. Li."
~~
Outside Gongchang City, there is the Mongolian army camp.
Several detective horses came and reported the military situation to Ah Shu.
"Ha, Lian Xixian is here?"
Ah Shu originally thought that by holding back the Song army in Longxi, Liu Zheng would be able to advance into Guanzhong and plunder places like Chang'an.
In comparison, Gong Chang is really uninteresting.
But now that Lian Xixian is here, Liu Zheng is probably defeated.
"Qikou is unreliable, just do it yourself."
Ah Shu muttered to himself, walked to the map and looked at it, with greed in his eyes.
He didn't discuss it with anyone, and just kept mumbling to himself.
"Take the Jitou Road back to Guanshan, and then take the Lingtai Road to Fengxiang? No, the Song army will be prepared... Qishan Road... Yinping Road... let's take a look."
The fickle Ah Shu did not rush to make a decision, he just went through each route in his mind.
His strategy is always unknown. It may be to defeat Gongchang, it may be to encircle the point to mobilize reinforcements and sneak attack on Lian Xixian, or he may detour to Guanzhong or even Hanzhong.
We just need to wait for any flaw to appear in the Song Army.
The opponent is a human, and there are bound to be flaws...