Chapter 830 0825 [Can’t defeat the city without walls]
The flow direction of the Laoha River during the Liao and Jin Dynasties was slightly different from that of hundreds of years later.
It was called Tu River at this time and flowed from Yanshan Mountain in the southwest. Passing south of Qijin Mountain, the Liao Kingdom built a city by the river and named it Zhongjing Dadingfu. Its location was dozens of miles west of Ningcheng in later generations.
In Dading Prefecture and its surrounding areas, during the Liao Kingdom, the Xi ethnic group was the main ethnic group, followed by the Khitan ethnic group and then the Han ethnic group.
The Xi people rebelled against the Jin and made a big fuss. The Jin State suppressed it for two or three years before it subsided. Then, the Xi people's migration was disrupted and many Han people were moved over.
At the same time, there were also many Jurchen people who moved here.
In particular, many of the elites who followed Wanyan Zonghan in his southern and northern campaigns moved their tribesmen to Dading Prefecture, Lizhou, and Jianzhou.
…
Hundreds of craftsmen and more than 2,000 herdsmen went to the northwest mountains to cut down trees.
Now these eight wrought iron cannons are all placed between the chariots.
Wanyan Zonghan was very helpless. The Ming army's firearms were too difficult to deal with. There were artillery at long range, muskets at mid-range, and tens of thousands of enemies at close range. How could the elite Jurchens show their full potential no matter how powerful they were?
These herdsmen lacked armor and fell down one after another in the face of the rain of arrows.
They had been able to hold on until now. After facing several rounds of shelling, a group suddenly turned around and ran away, leading more people to throw away the shells and flee.
Now, Wang Yan had filled two-thirds of the vacant city wall, and the remaining one-third was blocked by chariots.
Along the way, cavalrymen fell into pits from time to time. No one knew how many pits Wang Yan had dug.
Yue Fei's idea is very simple, go directly to burn the golden soldiers' food and grass!
In order to paralyze Wang Yan who was guarding the city, they also circled further east to prevent the guards from discovering it with binoculars.
We can only lay siege to the city and call for reinforcements.
In addition, he surrendered to the Jin Kingdom earlier, the population loss was not serious, and he was relatively loyal to the Jin Kingdom.
Wanyan Zonghan immediately climbed on horseback, leaving a force to guard the camp while he personally led the elite troops to fight against the Ming reinforcements.
Moreover, there are also Tang ancient tribes in Linhuang Prefecture, all of whom are descendants of prisoners of war and slaves of the Liao Kingdom. Among them are a large number of Jurchens. Although their descendants have long been Khitanized, they still retain some Jurchen customs and are regarded as Jurchens by the Jin Kingdom.
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Moreover, they would have to ambush and attack by surprise. If the Ming army's reinforcements were allowed to form a car formation, the Jin soldiers would not be able to defeat them no matter how they sent reinforcements!
Wang Yan sat on the tower in the north and watched the Jin retreat with a blank expression.
"Boom!"
The next day, hundreds of Jurchen cavalry and more than 2,000 herdsmen escorted more grain and grass south. The livestock were snatched from the Monan grassland, and the grain was obtained by scraping three feet of ground in northern Shanxi. Wanyan Zonghan turned over the table and fished in the lake. Now
The food and grass in hand are very abundant.
Two more groups of herdsmen cavalry were organized to attack.
The cannonballs were all aimed at the advancing cannons, but unfortunately their accuracy was not good. None of the cannons hit, but more than ten golden soldiers were killed.
Soon, another Qingqi came over from the other side of the Tu River: "One section of the city wall we tore down was filled with earth and rocks. There is also a section that probably won't have time to be filled in. There are many baggage carts placed there. Those baggage carts are not connected with iron chains.
One by one, they were close together, blocking the gap in the city wall. There were Ming troops guarding the cars and behind them."
They were also shooting arrows at the Ming army, but they were all blocked by shields or chariot baffles.
Dading Mansion and Linhuang Mansion both had countless craftsmen, and Wanyan Zonghan brought hundreds of them with his army.
When the Jin soldiers pushed back the cannon and slowly moved towards Beicheng, Wang Yan ordered: "Fire the cannon!"
"Grenadier!"
Finally, Wanyan Zonghan stopped attacking and ordered the entire army to withdraw to the camp.
"Make the Zhennan cannon!" Wanyan Zonghan ordered.
Because the herdsmen and cavalry were too scattered, the eight artillery pieces of the Ming army were too lazy to fire. It was not until the enemy troops were approaching the chariot and became more and more dense that the Ming army's crossbows began to fire arrows.
All the young herdsmen were drawn to fight, and Wanyan Zonghan spread rumors on the grassland that the Ming Emperor planned to massacre all his tribesmen.
More than 40,000 gold soldiers quickly arrived outside Dadingfu City.
Wanyan Zonghan observed the city with a telescope and soon saw Wang Yan on the tower.
Most of the people responsible for pushing the cannon were craftsmen and herdsmen, and only two gunners were veterans.
On the third day, the Jin soldiers had built more than 30 large and small return artillery pieces, and more than 400 simple siege flying ladders.
"Marshal, ten miles south of Wen'an Town, reinforcements from the Southern Bandits have been discovered!"
Hehe, I'm not leaving.
But the problem now is that the cannons can’t be pushed back!
"The main force of the golden army is coming, the main force of the golden army is coming!"
Arriving at Wen'an Town, Li Yanxian directly ordered: "Rely on the houses, rivers and chariots in the town, form a formation on the spot and wait for the friendly forces to converge."
To the south of Wen'an Town is Li Yanxian, who is no longer a pure cavalry general. Part of his cavalry, led by Yan Ping, marched eastward and followed Li Jinyi to attack Jinzhou. The remaining cavalry was mixed with thousands of infantry. Li Yanxian's army His position is higher than that of Yue Fei.
This time the cannon was quite big, and a large part of it was exposed when it was moved into the pit.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The Yanshan Passage is difficult to navigate and the heavy cast iron cannons are difficult to transport. There are only eight wrought iron field cannons here.
There were two gaps in the city wall that were filled with chariots, and the total length was more than 300 meters.
The northern city wall was demolished by the Jin Kingdom a long time ago, and the soil from the wall was thrown into the moat, completely filling in the northern moat.
Of the more than 30 Jin soldiers' returning artillery pieces, nine have been smashed by shells, and three more have fallen into pits and cannot get out.
Wanyan Zonghan personally took a boat and crossed the river northeast of Dading City, picked up a telescope and observed carefully.
Wanyan Zonghan organized a fourth attack, still using herdsman cavalry in the front and elite Jurchen soldiers in the rear. The herdsman cavalry consumed the Ming army's arrows, and the Jurchen elite took the opportunity to rush to the chariot.
Those Jurchen elites were still building wooden ladders, but even the ladders and the people there were destroyed by the explosion.
The bombardment continued until the third round, and finally one of the guns was hit. The cannon was broken on the spot.
In order to save time, they even built equipment around the campfire at night.
The generals of the Ming army all know Wanyan Zonghan's plan, so why are they so impatient?
Li Yanxian formed a formation in Wen'an Town and waited for Li Bao and Yue Fei to come and join them.
"Marshal, there are no Ming troops on all sides, and the southern thieves have all hid in the city." Wanyan Mouyan rushed to report.
Before they had time to dismount and set up wooden ladders, a large number of herdsmen and cavalry retreated. Their loyalty to the Jin Kingdom was, however, compared to the various ethnic groups in Liaodong, and it definitely did not reach the level of fighting to the death.
As soon as Wanyan Zonghan's main force appeared, a line of smoke rose along the mountains. Only an hour later, the news reached Dadingfu City, and then the smoke signal was sent to the south and east.
Ju Ming renamed Huihui Pao as Pingyi Pao, but when it was passed to the Jin Kingdom, it became Zhennan Pao.
Li Yanxian read the secret letter carefully, smiled and said: "Since General Yue said he is sure, I will lend him my cavalry!"
The herdsmen in Linhuang Mansion have poor combat effectiveness as cavalry, but they are still very useful. They can be sent out as light cavalry for exploration, they can also escort livestock and grain, and they can also be used as civilian servants at critical times.
Once the food burning is successful, Wanyan Zonghan can be forced to fight in a decisive battle.
Linhuang Mansion refers to the vast area from Heshiketeng Banner to Horqin Grassland.
Not to mention attacking a fortified city, even if the city wall is torn down and only the chariot formation is used to block it, the golden soldiers will not be able to rush in at all.
The main occupation here is pastoralism, supplemented by farming.
Whenever a Jurchen elite rushed toward a chariot, the grenadiers on the vehicle would lift up thousands of enemies, light them with match ropes, and then throw them over the chariot's baffle.
Under the severe threat of military law, someone finally rushed to the chariot, cut off the rope dragging the wooden ladder, put the ladder on the chariot and tried to climb.
Following Wanyan Zonghan's order, a large number of herdsmen transformed into light cavalry and ran towards the chariot dragging wooden ladders with their horses.
Wanyan Zonghan saw clearly from behind and issued an order: "The first team to flee will be beheaded in public display!"
According to Wanyan Zonghan's idea, the city wall newly built by the Ming army was purely for show, and it would collapse with just a few hits of huge rocks by the Huihui artillery.
Wanyan Zonghan also ordered the execution of more than a dozen of those who fled first, and made the supervising team run back and forth with their heads in hand: "Whoever dares to retreat again will be beheaded!"
Most of the soldiers under his command were from Hebei, and all of them had a blood feud with the Jin Kingdom.
After much deliberation, the method of shelling the city had to be given up, and Wanyan Zonghan ordered a direct attack on the city (car formation).
Moreover, the Jin soldiers pulled down the city wall in advance, and the temporary wall built was not strong, making it difficult for artillery to be placed on it. The other three walls were unable to attack the siege Jin soldiers in the north.
Another round of shelling.
The Qingqi of the Ming Dynasty who escaped back said: "The sky was overwhelming and there were thousands of cavalry opening the way. All the Qingqi of our army were driven back."
One group crossed the Tu River in advance and came to the north of Dading City. One group camped on the east side of the Tu River. The other group continued south and sent out cavalry to detect Ming reinforcements.
Wanyan Zonghan has too many horses under his command, and he can run away at any time if he cannot win.
Wanyan Zongfu was recruiting troops like crazy in Liaodong, and Wanyan Zonghan was naturally the same.
A messenger rushed to Li Yanxian on horseback and handed Yue Fei's secret message to Li Yanxian.
Wanyan Zonghan said: "Keep an eye on the south, and focus on besieging the city and calling for reinforcements. If you encounter a Ming army vehicle formation, attack it if you can. If you can't, cut off the grain road, and attack and kill the grain transport teams."
The nearby Jin soldiers were so frightened that they fled one after another.
Even if the food burning operation fails, we can still retreat into Dadingfu City.
"ah!"
Suddenly, a pit appeared on the ground, and a reciprocating gun and three gunners suddenly fell into the huge pit.
Wang Yan stood on the tower, looked north and asked: "How many Jin soldiers have come?"
Eighty miles north of Dadingfu City, Wang Yan built a beacon tower on Yuanbao Mountain.
Eight of the tanks had been towed away overnight and replaced with artillery pieces to shoot at the siege troops.
Wanyan Mouyan is twenty-four years old this year and cannot be entrusted with important responsibilities yet. The real command must rely on the generals left by Wanyan Lou's room.
But that was all, they were all killed by the Ming army's spearmen.
The Huihui artillery moved slowly, and the Ming army started firing again a mile and a half away. By the fourth round of continuous shelling, the Huihui artillery was still far away from the city wall.
As long as the main force of the Jin army is held here for a few days, several other friendly armies will be able to arrive.
After Wanyan Loushi died of illness, his son Wanyan Mouyan inherited his troops.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
Yue Fei was already playing very aggressively, and Li Bao was even more crazy.
When he heard that Wanyan Zonghan was coming, he immediately withdrew from the city of Xingzhong and let the second-line troops and civilians garrison the city of Jianzhou. He did not even think about rescuing Wang Yan, but led his elite horses to ride north, each with only one mule. Transport grain, want to attack Huihe County, Sanhan County, and directly capture Wanyan Zonghan's rear city.
Li Bao was very relieved about Li Yanxian, Yue Fei, and Wang Yan. Since the three of them could stabilize themselves, why did he have to go all the way to save them? Just cut off the enemy's retreat!