The night is already dark. The entire Mingzhou City has long been asleep.
Since the Mongolian Central Route Army stationed in Mingzhou, most of the people in the city have been moved to neighboring areas. Mingzhou City has become a veritable city of barracks.
At this moment, on the desolate city wall, the two commanders of the Central Route Army of the Yuan Dynasty still stood silently. The moon was sparse. A breeze came from time to time. There were insects and cicadas chirping outside the city. This should have been a refreshing moment. It was a night, but the two of them seemed to turn a blind eye. They just looked south. The place they looked at was five miles south of Mingzhou City. There was the camp of the Southern Dynasty army. The distance of five miles had long exceeded that of normal humans. The limit of sight. No matter how good the eyesight of two people is, they can't see in the dark night. Rather than seeing with their eyes, they are feeling with their hearts.
The surrounding personal guards and soldiers guarding the city stayed far away, as if they were afraid of disturbing the two of them.
I don’t know how long it took. Boyan first said: "Marshal Ashu, since entering Mingzhou, the emperor has not given clear instructions to our Central Route Army. Although he has not ordered to defend, our army cannot retreat this time. .”
Ah Shu said "Yeah" and sighed: "There is no way out. Behind us is Dadu."
Boyan couldn't help but look back and said: "In the past few days, I have been thinking that even if the city gate is broken, our army can still engage in desperate street fighting with the Southern Dynasty army in the city. Although our cavalry has lost the advantage of war horses. But the artillery of the South Korean army has also lost its use. In this way, it may be possible to narrow the gap in weapons between the two sides."
Ah Shu thought for a while and said: "Bo Yan, I have thought about this too. Compared with attacking the Southern Dynasty army outside the city, the opportunity of street fighting may be more beneficial to our army. The only risk may be the fire bombs of the Southern Dynasty. .For close range and non-formation melee, the muskets of the Southern Dynasty are roughly the same as the bows and arrows of our dynasty. Their power will be weakened. Fire bombs seem not to be restricted by terrain and formation. However, as long as our army can get close to the enemy in time, Next, the effect of the fire bombs will be partially offset. However, Mingzhou City is small and has only two gates in the north and south. Once it falls into street fighting, it will most likely lead to a situation of endless fighting."
"But it's better than attacking out of the city."
"That's for sure."
"Okay." Boyan, who received the support of A Shu, seemed to have made up his mind. "Marshal A Shu, I will report this matter to the emperor immediately. In addition, early tomorrow morning, I will convene the generals to discuss the details of the street battle."
When a person comes to a crossroads and is faced with two unknown paths that may lead to no return, how should he choose? Of course, many people will say, I don’t make a choice, I go back. But if later Someone is holding a knife and forcing you to make a choice.
For Ashu and Boyan, it is only a matter of time before the Mingzhou city is defeated. There are three options before them. One is to retreat as before, but there is no way to retreat; the other is to break the city after the Song army. We have launched an attack before. This road has also been tried. In the face of firearms, the chance of success is almost zero; the third is to engage in street fighting with the Song army in the city. Although this road has not been traveled, in the face of fire bombs, even with the middle road The bravery of the army can be rewarded, right?
At this point, Boyan can only give it a try. No matter what, there may be a glimmer of opportunity in this third path.
The choice is confusing, but once the choice is made, it can make people relax because they only need to consider what will happen on the chosen road.
As he walked down the city wall, Ah Shu suddenly thought of what Meng Tianxiang said a few days ago. Should he think about the 50,000 troops in the city? After the street fighting, how much of the 50,000 troops would be left?
On the twenty-second day after the continuous bombardment, the south gate of Mingzhou City was already crumbling. All the soldiers on both sides of the Song and Yuan Dynasties knew very well that tomorrow would be the day the city gate collapsed.
In the Song Army's camp, I held the last meeting regarding tomorrow's battle.
I first said: "My generals, since our army's Northern Expedition, it has always been smooth sailing. With the absolute advantage of firearms, most of the Yuan army retreated without a fight. And tomorrow's battle in Mingzhou, that may still be the case. But it may also happen. Street fighting occurs in the city. If the latter situation occurs, it will be the most difficult battle for our army. After several years of hard training, our Song Dynasty army is no longer an army that can only defend the city. Therefore, I believe Even if there is a street fight, our army will have a winning rate of more than 90%. Do you think so?"
"Your Majesty, our army will win."
"Yes. Not bad." I nodded confidently. "General Lu Wenhuan, you will arrange the mission for tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Lu Wenhuan stood up and said. "Generals, according to the information obtained by our army, Mingzhou City is built between two mountains. It is long from north to south and narrow from east to west. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The terrain of the roads in the city is unknown. We will be bombarded tomorrow. After that, there will be two situations. One is the same as in Dengzhou, Nanyang and other places. The Yuan army retreats without fighting. The second is after the city is broken, the Yuan army engages in street fighting in the city. If it is the first situation, there is no need. To prepare, just enter the city directly. But Mingzhou City is the last barrier for most of the capitals of the Yuan Dynasty. So the Yuan army will most likely not give up. Everyone, since our army has artillery, the most difficult siege in the past has become It's easy. What we need to be prepared for is to deal with the street fighting in the city. In close quarters, the firing speed of the muskets is slightly slow. Therefore, the task of the Imperial Guards is to quickly find the shooting points after entering the city and form a line of defense. Form a squad or platoon into a unit. Try to confine the Yuan army within a fixed range. Use muskets and thrown bombs to eliminate them one by one. The task of the remaining troops is to cooperate with the imperial guards to prevent the enemy from getting close to you."
"There are more than 50,000 Yuan troops in Mingzhou City. 40,000 of them are the elite Mongolian middle cavalry. However, they can only fight on foot in the city. The power of the Mongolian cavalry without war horses will be greatly reduced. Generals, in In street fighting, you may encounter many unforeseen situations. This requires our soldiers to deal with various events flexibly. There is only one principle. While preserving yourself, destroy as many enemies as possible. At present, our army The number of grenades we have has reached 28,000. General Wen Zhang, General Li Long. You don’t need to save."
"Yes. Lu Shuai. I will finally understand."
"Now, Lu will talk about the specific tasks of each army." Lu Wenhuan said seriously.
While our army was holding a meeting, Boyan and A Shu in Mingzhou City were also arranging tasks for tomorrow.
In the expectant eyes of tens of thousands of Song Army soldiers, the artillery began its final roar.
After several rounds, all the city walls near the city gate collapsed.
Wanyan Tianlei ordered: "Each artillery position. Move left and right. Target. Walls on both sides of the city gate."
The sound of "Boom, Boom, Boom" sounded again after a few breaths, covering the Song army as they rushed into the city.
Meng Tianxiang and Duan Donglou took the lead. They led the Zhongshun Army and the Xingfu Army towards the city gate. They were followed by the First Division of the Royal Forest Army led by Wen Zhang. They were followed closely by the Second Division led by General Wu Songhan. After that came Li Long.
The 3rd Division of the Royal Forest Army led by the division commander, and the 19th Division led by General Lu Shikui.
Amidst the smoke, one hundred loyal and shun soldiers following Meng Tianxiang threw a hundred bombs into the city gate. When the explosion sounded inside the city gate, except for a small number of soldiers who were looking after the horses, the rest of the soldiers
They all dismounted and rushed in on foot.
The city gate was filled with smoke. There was no Yuan army within sight.
Meng Tianxiang and Duan Donglou discussed briefly. They each led their own troops and moved forward cautiously. Under the command of Wen Zhang, the Imperial Forest Army who entered behind them quickly walked to the city wall as a regiment. Then they crawled on the ground and pointed their guns at them.
In the quasi-city, they are capturing possible targets one by one. The remaining musketeers are in platoon units, using houses as bunkers every few meters to build small positions. After the front position sends a safe signal, the rear position
The soldiers rushed to the front again and built a new position.
This was repeated. After walking about two hundred steps, a dense rain of arrows was shot from a relatively high building. Immediately, countless Yuan troops rushed out of the adjacent houses. They attacked the Zhongshun Army at the front,
The Xingfu Army and the Royal Forest Army attacked.
"Enemy attack. Fight." Meng Tianxiang and Duan Donglou issued the same order from different areas at the same time.
Soon, more and more Yuan troops rushed out from each house. They shouted loudly as they moved forward: "Come on."
As soon as the Song army in front saw the enemy's overwhelming numbers, they began to retreat. The musketeers in the rear position immediately threw grenades and lit match ropes. After a while, gunshots and explosions merged into one. Soon,
drowned out the shouts of the Yuan army.
Rows of Yuan soldiers fell down, and others rushed up.
Gradually, many positions where the bombs were thrown were broken through by the Yuan army. The musketeers did not engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Yuan army, but retreated to the next position. This resulted in more and more musketeers in the rear positions.
With the cooperation of throwing bombs, the Yuan army's attack was temporarily stopped.
As a large number of Song troops entered from outside the city, chaos began to appear in Mingzhou City.
Although Mingzhou City was not small, the influx of more than 50,000 Song troops suddenly made the battlefield seem cramped. Street fighting was different from outdoor fighting. It could only be dominated by small battlefields fought alone one after another.
The Song Army used the Imperial Guard Army as the main force and the Infantry Army as the supplement. They combined firearms and cold weapons to kill Yuan soldiers in front of the positions. In the positions that were breached, the Infantry Army was the main force. The Imperial Forest Army
As an assistant, he fought in hand-to-hand combat with Yuan soldiers.
Although there was no grand scene like an outdoor battle, the brutality of the battle cannot be overstated.
I waited anxiously outside the city. The troops around me entered the city one after another. Only the artillery battalion, 4,000 personal guards and a regiment of musketeers were left.