On the day when he was preparing to attack the city, Luo Youdu's first consideration was not how to attack, but to prepare the camp's defenses in advance.
Luo Youdu now has some experience in leading troops in war. He knows that a good attack may not necessarily lead to victory. There are too many circumstances that affect the outcome of the war.
Just like Zhao Kuangyin in the Battle of Huainan, thousands of troops defeated him. He went deep into the city of Yangzhou alone many times, and the fight left the Southern Tang Dynasty without any temper.
In the end, Guo Tingwei touched his butt and captured Chuzhou, suffering a small loss.
But as long as you defend well and occupy a favorable position, you can easily overwhelm your opponent.
This is especially true for opponents like the Khitan who are good at maneuvering in the field and catching fighter planes.
Luo Youdu was worried that he would neglect the protection of the camp when he attacked the city, so he made arrangements in advance.
Chang Side, the imperial camp commander, had the strictest military discipline. Luo Youdu arranged for him to lead the Tianwei Army under his command to defend the camp and allow the party to advance. Zhang Qiong each led a cavalry to assist with the attack on the left and right small villages.
Anyway, the siege has nothing to do with their cavalry.
The Khitan people are good at riding horses and archery, and they don't care about their riders at all, using them as foot soldiers.
Luo Youdu was so precious here that he was not willing to let them lose in the siege battle.
After arranging all this in detail, Luo Youdu came outside the front camp to plan the siege.
Luo Youdu personally commanded the offensive and defensive battles of Shuzhou and was well aware of the brutality of the siege.
This is still an attack on a small Shuzhou. If we really want to attack those famous fortified cities in history, we still have to knock out all our good teeth?
Luo Youdu went back and vigorously refreshed his knowledge on siege warfare.
When it comes to attacking a city, there has been no good way since ancient times.
Otherwise, there would be no saying that siege is the best.
Either forcefully attack them, or use various siege equipment to force them.
Luo Youdu always cherished the lives of his soldiers. He happened to be fighting the Khitan and could not be anxious, so he kept delaying the battle in order to build more siege equipment.
When the catapults, crossbows, ladders, trampolines, wooden chariots and other siege equipment were pushed onto the battlefield, Xiao Hunian's scalp felt numb when he looked at Shi Fang from a distance on the city tower.
They were at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, and the only thing they relied on was that the city of Youzhou was high and solid, and the city towers were equipped with a large number of defensive equipment.
But looking at the opponent's posture, it was obvious that he did not want to waste time with them, but planned to end the battle that day.
Shi Fang looked at the soldiers around him and saw the strength of Zhou's troops. They were all frightened. He shouted loudly: "Don't panic. Youzhou City is dangerous and fortified. Our catapults, lathes and crossbows are condescending, and we will keep them safe until they come back."
"Zhang Dutou, push three more riprap trucks over."
They don't have many troops, so they can only win by killing the enemy mechanically.
You must not be stingy in this regard.
everything's ready.
Luo Youdu suddenly waved his hand and said: "Play the drums!"
The deafening drum beats shook the sky.
The exciting drum beat kicked off the siege.
Luo Youdu waved his hand, and the wooden carriages were the first to move. Sixteen wooden carriages were slowly pushed onto the battlefield.
The wooden chariot is the simplest of all siege equipment, but it is the defensive siege equipment that best embodies the wisdom of the ancients.
It is a simple wooden board with four wheels, a long high pole in the center, and a huge screen hung on a bamboo pole.
This screen can be made of wood, leather, or even a cloth tent.
It's a very simple thing, but it can protect against flying stones from catapults and crossbow arrows.
The high-hanging wooden curtain can swing back and forth.
When a flying stone hits the curtain, it is like someone hitting cotton. The wooden curtain will naturally use its soft and delicate force to remove the power of the boulder, and then roll to the ground.
The main function of this wooden chariot is to cover the siege soldiers approaching the city wall. The soldiers hide behind the wooden chariot and are out of reach of arrows and stones.
But this time Luo Youdu did not hide his soldiers behind the wooden chariot, but six catapults.
Behind the catapults are the ladders, the chariots and the soldiers.
The catapults of the Zhou Dynasty and the catapults of Youzhou City only differ in details.
When it comes to accurate range and power, there is no doubt that Zhou's catapult is slightly better.
But this slight victory is not enough to make up for the disadvantages caused by Youzhou's high wall.
In a confrontation with trebuchets, Zhou soldiers must be at a disadvantage.
But with the wooden curtain car, this disadvantage can be restored to the greatest extent.
When Shi Fang saw that the other party actually protected the riprap truck with a wooden curtain truck, he had a faint smile on his face and said: "It is a good idea to protect each other with a wooden curtain truck, but can the wooden curtain truck really be used as my Youzhou city wall?"
Seeing that the opponent had already entered the shooting range, Shi Fang roared: "Hit me!"
There was a trace of sternness on his face. The continuous teasing and the long-term accumulation of powerlessness made his mentality somewhat unbalanced.
These three words are more like catharsis.
Following his roar, dozens of huge flying stones roared and smashed towards the Zhou soldiers below the tower.
Without exception, they all went astray, and the nearest place was more than ten steps away from Zhou Jun's trebuchet.
This catapult can be said to be relatively good at attacking ant-affected enemies, but when it comes to attacking individual targets, the hit rate is really impressive.
Only through constant adjustments can you have a chance of hitting the target.
Shi Fang continued to order: "Recalculate the attack direction and install cannon stones!"
He didn't expect to hit the target with one blow at all.
Youzhou City is short of soldiers and strategic materials such as cannon stones. The warehouses are piled up like mountains. They don't mind consuming a few worthless cannon stones in order to increase the hit rate.
Under the city tower, Zhou Bing's catapults were already in place.
The soldiers of the Zhou army had already received the order, directly installed cannon stones, and launched an attack on the Khitan soldiers on the tower.
It is almost the same as the trebuchet of the Khitan soldiers, and the hit rate of the Zhou army's trebuchet is also extremely average.
This is the fatal weakness of the trebuchet, but even if the hit rate is poor, the city wall will protect it.
The cannon stone hit the city wall and split into four pieces. Compared with hitting the ground and rolling several times, or directly leaving a pit mark, it was undoubtedly more deterrent.
With the support of the artillery and stones coming and going, the Zhou army attacking the city was about to enter the effective range of the bed crossbow for defense.
Shi Fang ordered his people to make all preparations. Compared with the trebuchet lathe, the crossbow is a real weapon for defending the city.
The power may not be comparable to the trebuchet, but the accuracy is not comparable to the trebuchet.
A bed crossbow can fire ten arrows, and fifteen crossbows can fire one hundred and fifty arrows.
Each crossbow arrow is made of iron and is a full meter long.
Not to mention human flesh and blood, even city walls can be shot through.
Luo Youdu estimated the distance and said to himself: "We are almost reaching the effective range of the bed crossbow!"
The Khitan crossbow originated from the Central Plains. The only advantage is that Luo Youdu knew its functions very well.
"Send the order, if Kang meets again, let him attack!"
A strange smile appeared on Luo Youdu's face and he gave the order to attack.
The messengers waved their flags.
A troop of more than a thousand people emerged from the crowd.
They did not rush towards the west tower in the south of the city, but towards the east tower.
Extremely fast!
Shi Fang was shocked when he saw this.
What does it mean?
Are you planning to attack the eastern tower?
Is it possible to fly there?
The west section of the city tower has a moat, but there is no moat on the east section.
Could it be that Zhou Jun has wings this time?
Playing tricks?
"He must have known that he was about to enter the bed's crossbow range and did it on purpose to distract me."
Shi Fang's thoughts were racing, and he felt that this was most likely the case. He immediately ignored it and stared at the siege troops in front of him, silently chanting in his heart: "Get closer, get closer!"
Although he comforted himself for a while, Shi Fang couldn't help but turn to the left out of the corner of his eye.
The next move of the Zhou army on the left left him dumbfounded and at a loss.
The Zhou soldiers who separated from the attacking team had two folding trench bridges and six flying ladders out of thin air. They pushed the folding trench bridge and carried the flying ladders and rushed towards the moat.
The folding trench bridge is a siege equipment specially developed for moats. It is a convenient bridge with extremely high mobility for the siege army.
Generally, moats and trench bridges are enough to cope with the situation, but for a fortified city like Youzhou City, the moat is extremely wide, and a folding trench bridge is needed to reach it.
At this moment, the Zhou soldiers on the opposite side had already approached the moat and began to build a folding trench bridge.
There are only a dozen people guarding that side, and there are no defensive weapons. How can we stop this?
"Quick, hurry up and provide support!" Shi Fang no longer cared about why the folding trench bridge appeared out of thin air. He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely and yelled hastily.
Xiao Hunian didn't want to compete with Shi Fang for command, so he closed his eyes and meditated under the battlements.
Shi Fang is a weak scholar, and when it comes to a critical moment, she has to step up.
Shi Fang, who had been commanding Ruoding, suddenly became panicked. Xiao Hunian just checked the situation and saw that the Zhou soldiers under the east tower in the distance were about to set up a folding trench bridge. His face turned pale and he hurriedly said: "Give me five hundred men."
, I will directly dispatch reinforcements to support you."
She said and rushed directly towards the east section of the city wall.
When Luo Youdu saw that Kang Zaiyu led the Xuanwei army to build a folding trench bridge in a short while, he couldn't help but admired that such experienced people could not be compared with novices.
In this siege, what you are fighting for is time, every minute and every second.
As for the folding trench bridge and flying ladder, of course they were not conjured, nor were they given by God.
And Luo Youdu prepared it last night.
The two thousand soldiers last night didn't just light up their torches to fool people.
He took advantage of the darkness to transport the two folding trench bridges and flying ladders more than 200 steps away from the moat.
The flying ladder is simple, just place it on the ground and cover it with a layer of sand.
It's impossible to see clearly from two hundred paces away.
It was a bit troublesome to fold the trench, so Luo Youdu asked someone to cover it with a tent and then cover it with sand.
From a distance, it just looks like a small mound.
During the day, they were all attracted by the filled-in moat in the western section of the city wall. How could they pay attention to a small mound of earth?
As long as the soldiers of the Xuanwei Army opened their tents, they could obtain folding trench bridges and flying ladders to attack the city.
"shoot!"
The rhythm of the western section of the city wall was disrupted, and finally the crossbow arrows were fired.
The terrifying crossbow arrows shot out in pursuit of the soul. Shi Fang listened to the screams below the tower, but there was no joy in his heart.
Because of the filled moat, he transferred the catapults and crossbows from the east of the city.
Not only is there no one there, there is no hot oil except for stones, wood and hot oil...