Two hours later, Yelu Chongyuan launched a full-scale attack. After eliminating Yelu Hongji, his 20,000 soldiers and horses were naturally quickly gathered. The 40,000 old and weak soldiers selected together with the 20,000 soldiers and horses were regarded as the first.
The cannon fodder of the echelon went forward; for Yelu Zhongyuan, even if all 60,000 people were killed, he would not feel bad at all, because it would have little impact on his own military strength.
But these 60,000 death squads absorbed a large amount of firepower from the Song army. In order to stop the charge of these death squads, the enemy towers and feathered arrows on the top of the city were almost all shot. They were attacked from all sides at the same time, which suddenly made Su Jin's 80,000 troops look...
Being stretched thin.
The siege battle lasted until the third watch before it came to an end. Dead bodies were everywhere on the city and below. The Liao people rushed like crazy and regardless of life and death, which put huge pressure on the defenders. This rogue siege method, which was cruel and regardless of casualties, made
Su Jin was also surprised.
Fortunately, the Song army had rich experience in defending the city, and the walls and defense system of the imperial city were indeed very strong. They blocked the gaps several times and pushed back the Liao soldiers who rushed to the city. A rough calculation showed that in one afternoon, both sides were in the imperial city.
Nearly 30,000 people were killed or injured in the battle for the city.
The Liao army outside the city stopped attacking and began to rest, but the Song army inside the city could not rest. They were worried about a sudden attack by the Liao army. Su Jin was patrolling at the top of the city, looking at the tired appearance of the soldiers, and felt quite worried;
There are not many left. Although the crossbows left by the Liao army on the enemy tower are still there, they have run out of arrows and have become decorations. Fortunately, they can still order people to go up to the enemy tower and shoot with arrows.
The lack of supplies was okay, but the fatigue of the soldiers could not be solved. After more than half a year of fighting, the soldiers never had a good rest. After taking Linhuang Mansion, they thought they could take a good rest to regain their energy, but it was...
After successive fierce battles, the accumulated fatigue lingered. The reason why the soldiers could persist was entirely due to their spirit.
"Order everyone to sleep on the spot without taking precautions. Just send more people to monitor the enemy's movements and provide timely warning." Su Jin ordered.
"I'm afraid I'll fall asleep and won't be able to wake up. It's so cold that I can't sleep in the tent. Why don't I freeze to death outside?" Pan Jiang frowned.
"Tomorrow I will send people to the city to collect furs and rugs. I don't care about disturbing the people at this time. I'll just take care of it tonight and get some sleep. I'll order the kitchen to boil more hot soup and send it to the top of the city for the brothers to warm up. There are still cattle and sheep in the city.
What?"
"It's gone long ago. There is food, but there is no meat."
"Kill the horses. Kill all the horses pulling the cart. The horse meat will drive away the cold. Although it is a waste of natural resources, we can't care about it. We must defend this place, otherwise we will die."
The generals around him were silent. The commander-in-chief was determined to defend. Usually, the commander-in-chief regarded the horses as treasures. When he was crossing mountains and sandy seas, he was short of water. The commander-in-chief would rather let the horses drink three times a day.
People can only drink it once, which shows how much they value horses. If these war horses were worth hundreds of dollars in the Song Dynasty, it would be a pity that they have to be reduced to providing meat like pigs and sheep at this moment.
In one night, more than 3,000 war horses were slaughtered on the spot. The horse meat was mixed with white rice to make pots of minced meat porridge and sent to the city. The soldiers greedily drank bowls of it and leaned against the city wall around the bonfire.
Snoring loudly, Su Jin did not rest. He led his personal guards to patrol the top of the four cities until daybreak.
The arduous siege lasted for four days. Every day at midnight, the Liao army would start a crazy attack. They would retire to rest and eat at noon, continue in the afternoon, and then continue until dark, so that everyone formed a According to the rules, when the time comes, I will consciously carry the weapon to the top of the city or go down to the top of the city, which is more punctual than going to and from get off work.
Both the attackers and the defenders have become numb. This numbness is not only turning a blind eye to life and death, but also not even caring about their own life or death. The arrows of the defenders have long been used up, and the other things the soldiers have to do every day are
They were moving bricks and stones, always carrying a large bag of stones as weapons in their arms up and down the city walls, so that there was a shortage of bricks and stones in the city, and even a few bluestone roads were pried. The siege troops also ran out of supplies, and catapults
It was no longer usable. It was not that there were no stones thrown at the city head, but that they had fallen apart due to overloaded use, the arrows were completely consumed, and most of the ladders and rams were destroyed. By the morning of the fourth day, the Liao army
There are only more than 300 usable ladders left, which are simply not up to the task of siege.
Yelu Zhongyuan had to order a suspension of the siege. Facing the high wall, there was no way to go up without a ladder. How could we take a human ladder to go up? Although it would be fine even if everyone stood at the base of the city wall now, the Song Dynasty people would only use some stones and bricks to go down.
Smashing them would not cause much damage, but he could not order his soldiers to stare the Song soldiers to death one by one with their eyes.
Yelu Zhongyuan ordered the entire army to repair the damaged trebuchets and build new simple ladders, and sent people quickly north to Wuzhou Yikunning Prefecture to mobilize siege equipment and arrows. He believed that as long as the height is higher,
After a few days of intense attacks, the imperial city will be destroyed, because the Song army obviously has no means to stop their attack. They have nothing but high walls.
Su Jin was worried, the situation was getting more and more urgent. Yelu Zhongyuan was like a mad dog that bit him and refused to let go. He completely ignored the casualties. In four days, the number of casualties on both sides exceeded 90,000. His own soldiers dropped sharply by more than 30,000.
Yelu Chongyuan paid the price of 60,000 men, but even such heavy casualties did not make Yelu Chongyuan give up the attack.
It is true that Yelu Zhongyuan used a stupid method of exchanging lives. He had 160,000 troops, and after 60,000, he still had 100,000, which was more than enough to attack the city. However, Su Jin's army only had 80,000 people, and three of them died in battle.
There are only 50,000 left. The fewer the number, the more flaws will be exposed in the defense of the city, and the Liao people will have a better chance.
The Liao army had been resting for two days. Su Jin knew that this was the last moment of tranquility before the war. Standing on the upper floor of Beicheng Station and watching the carts of supplies being transported from the north to the Liao army camp, Su Jin's heart
When he reached the bottom of the valley, he wanted to lead his army out of the city to seize military supplies, but he knew that would be unwise. How could Yelu Chongyuan give him this opportunity? I'm afraid he had already set up a trap.
Although Su Jin was smart and knowledgeable, he was helpless at the moment. Under Yelu Zhongyuan's stalking like a mad dog, there was really no good way to deal with it. Su Jin realized how lucky he had been in the past six months.
They made a lot of money while the Liao people were internally empty, but now I'm afraid they will even lose their money.
Su Jin summoned all the generals to a meeting in the East City Tower. The atmosphere of the meeting was solemn. Everyone was aware of the seriousness of the situation, and everyone frowned and remained silent.
Su Jin laughed and looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Everyone is as downcast as if they were mourning for a heir. What's going on?"
Everyone, look at me and I look at you rolling your eyes. It’s already this time and the commander is still pretending to be relaxed.
Su Jin coughed and walked past each general with his hands behind his hands, and a calm voice sounded: "We should be happy. Our Northern Expeditionary Army of 200,000 entered Liao in May. It was like entering an uninhabited land, with more than 10,000 troops crossing the border.
There were 18 cities in the city, and nearly 300,000 enemies were wiped out. In the past six months, we had become a thorn in the back of the Liao people, making them restless and furious. We even captured their capital and made them suffer.
Unprecedented humiliation, isn’t this enough for us to be happy about? Isn’t it worthy of our pride? Looking at the past and present, how can that army do such a thing?”
The generals' eyes were bright and their bodies were upright. Su Jin's words made them proud. Looking back on all the incredible things in the past six months, they didn't think much of it at the time. Looking back now, it was indeed a great achievement.
"The ancients said: If you hear the truth in the morning, you will die in the evening. This sentence may not be suitable for the current situation, but what I want to say is that we have made our greatest contribution. For the common people of the country and the country of the Song Dynasty, we
Two hundred thousand people have completed their mission, and our names will be recorded in history books and passed down to the world. Isn't this enough? What's more, we haven't failed yet, and the imperial city is still in our hands. What do we have to worry about? That's it.
So what if the city is destroyed and we die? It just brings a perfect and heroic ending to our glorious Northern Expedition. Although this is not the best ending, it is not as tragic as you think."
The generals felt excited after hearing this, but they were also a little ashamed. Compared with Su Jin, their family's status was much smaller. In terms of official positions, they were important officials in the central government, and they were rich in millions. They were young and brave, and they had many wives and concubines at home.
He can ignore life and death, even though he and others like him can't keep up with him, they still can't let him go.
Su Jin continued: "Of course, surviving is the most perfect result. The Liao people have rested for two days. As expected, tomorrow will be the final fierce attack. The Liao people have mobilized a large number of supplies to come. 80% of the imperial city will be fought tomorrow.
There is no guarantee, so I decided that we can't wait to die here, we have to break out of the siege, one by one, we can't all be bored in the city, today's discussion is how to break out of the siege."