The artillery fired a volley, and rounds of artillery shells flew towards the capital gate and the city walls on both sides with the roar of "boom, boom" like lightning. Two of the red cannons were particularly eye-catching, their sound was like thunder, and each shot fired
, will win the involuntary collective cheers from the Song army officers and soldiers.
For the soldiers of the Central Route Army of the Yuan Dynasty, they were used to this kind of scene, but for other troops who saw artillery firing for the first time, it felt like the end of the world was coming.
Soon, the area around the south gate of Dadu City was shrouded in smoke. The Yuan army defending the city could only retreat to the bunker at the base of the city wall. The large defensive equipment such as crossbows and trebuchets were also fired from time to time.
Hit by artillery.
Although the entire bombardment only lasted for more than an hour, the Yuan army and people in the city generally felt panicked. To them, the sound of the cannons was like God being angry.
When Gongsun Xiaochen saw the commander of the artillery battalion, Wanyan Tianlei, playing the flag, he immediately said to me: "Your Majesty, the artillery has reached its firing limit."
I nodded and said, "Okay, here's the order, the Yulin army and the cavalry are behind and ready to throw bombs to avoid the Yuan army from attacking. The other armies will retreat as planned."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
When the army slowly retreated, Kublai Khan, protected by Yin Tianya, A Shu and others, walked out of the bunker under the city wall, quickly climbed up the city wall, and looked south.
Namuhan, who recovered from the artillery fire, said: "Father, please let me lead ten thousand elite cavalry to attack."
Kublai Khan shook his head and said: "No, Namuhan, you don't know how powerful the bombs thrown by the Southern Dynasty are. Our cavalry was completely restrained by them."
Back in the palace, Kublai Khan left the prince Zhenjin and the general Boyan alone.
"Zhenjin, General Boyan, I have recently discussed with the Supreme Master Enjiya, and I plan to let you two lead the 10,000 most elite Dasu Guards among the Qixue Army to leave Dadu the day after tomorrow and go to Xanadu (in today's Inner Mongolia)
), and at the same time
All the craftsmen related to musket making in the weapons prison and the craftsmen above the imperial master level were taken away. After arriving in Xanadu, the garrison and officials there were all controlled by real gold, and they immediately began to develop a new generation of firearms, such as artillery, artillery, and artillery.
bomb."
"emperor."
"Father."
After hearing this, the two of them suddenly felt their hearts sinking. This was clearly like explaining the funeral arrangements. Although Kublai Khan's face was calm, they both knew very well that Dadu might not be able to defend it anymore, but they had no choice but to do so.
There was no reason to convince Kublai Khan, after all, no one could defeat the Southern Dynasty's firearms.
Kublai Khan interrupted: "I know what you want to say, but there is no need to say anything. Just follow it. General Boyan is really young and lacks experience and experience. You need to be by his side at all times."
Tips."
Boyan looked solemn and said: "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Well, you have to remember that although we are the eagles of the desert and have incomparable advantages for the Southerners, we also need to learn from our strengths and offset our weaknesses and try our best to develop the 'technology' that Zhao Fu of the Southern Dynasties called us. When our strength is not enough, we must learn to work hard.
taste
We must wait until our dynasty's firearms comprehensively surpass those of the southern dynasty, then our dynasty will resume its southern expedition." At this point, Kublai Khan sighed and said, "It's a pity that I understood it too late.
"I am not as good as Zhao Yu."
In fact, it is commendable that Kublai Khan was able to understand the importance of technology in a short period of time. However, Kublai Khan would not know that technology is only an important factor in the rise and fall of a country, as Guo Kan and I said
, the one-step-ahead ideology was the root cause of Song’s victory and Yuan’s defeat.
The next day, after the Song army's bombardment, Kublai Khan officially announced at the court meeting that Zhenjin would be crowned prince and the successor of the Yuan Dynasty would be determined.
After accepting the congratulations from all the officials, Kublai Khan continued: "My dear friends, General Boyan is both civil and military, loyal and courageous. I specially appoint General Boyan as the prince's tutor and return to Xanadu with the prince Zhenjin."
Boyan came out and said: "Yes, I will obey the order."
According to Mongolian customs, the successor chosen by the Mongolian Khan needs to return to Xanadu to pay homage to his ancestors and accept the congratulations of the major tribes.
"Okay, you go down and get ready. Tomorrow is an auspicious day, so you can set off early tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Father."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Zhenjin and Zhenjin left, Kublai Khan said: "Wu Liang joins the stage, have you made plans for street fighting in Dadu?"
"Back to the Emperor, the plan has been finalized. Starting yesterday, each army will be deploying defenses in their respective areas."
"Well, Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, I want you to be able to come in but not get out. Give me the order to seal the south gate from today on."
Wu Liang came to the stage and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
In the next month, as long as the weather is good, I will lead the army to the capital of Dadu every day to conduct artillery bombardments. On November 2, the Gunpowder Supervisor sent the last batch of firearms before the war, including five thousand
ordinary throwing bombs, a thousand enhanced throwing bombs, 100,000 rounds of musket ammunition and ten artillery pieces.
The two subordinate factories of Lin'an Gunpowder Supervision are in operation day and night. The workers are divided into three shifts and continue production and assembly, so that the monthly output of projectiles can reach more than 6,000. In the past two months, for the Battle of Dadu, I have asked
Lu Xiufu of the Military Academy ordered that 90% of the grenades be allocated to the Northern Expeditionary Army on the central route. This was also one of the reasons why the eastern and western armies were making slow progress due to insufficient firearms.
Kublai Khan did not order repairs to the damaged city walls. Kublai Khan knew very well that this could only be a futile effort that wasted people and money. At the beginning of the shelling, everyone in the Yuan army felt that it was a kind of torture. Later, this kind of torture
Slowly being replaced by numbness. Many soldiers even thought secretly, hoping that Dadu's city walls would be destroyed by the Song army's artillery as soon as possible, so that they could fight to the death with the Song army in the city.
On November 6th, the city gate of Dadu was finally blasted with artillery to create a big hole. At the same time, the city wall within 40 to 50 meters on both sides of the city gate had also been blown into broken rocks. No one could stand in it.
Stand on it.
The soldiers on both sides already understand that the decisive battle will begin tomorrow.
After experiencing sunny weather for several consecutive days, the weather suddenly became extremely cold. It seemed to be infected by the war. On November 4th, the weather became more desolate and quiet. The cold wind blowing from time to time was very disturbing.
I felt a chill that pierced my heart. Although most of the soldiers of the Song Army were from the south and had rarely experienced such severe cold, they did not pay attention because of the heat and tension in their hearts.
"Winter is coming, can spring be far behind?"
Before giving the order for the general attack, I said to myself. I said this loudly, and all the generals around me heard it.
Following Lu Wenhuan's order, fifty-two cannons fired their final roar at the southern city wall of Dadu.
Amidst the bursts of artillery, a regiment of the Zhongshun Army and the Yulin Army, who were the vanguard, took the lead in rushing towards the city gate. The Yuan Army's defensive crossbows, trebuchets and other large weapons on the city wall were basically destroyed by the artillery.
When heading towards the city gate, they did not encounter any obstacles. When they rushed forward, six hundred officers and soldiers of the Loyal and Shun Army abandoned their horses and walked in unison, and threw the grenades in from the blasted hole. After the explosion, everyone
Rush into the city without hesitation.
After entering the city, a second batch of projectiles was thrown forward from the culvert entrance of the city gate. Then they dispersed in the thick smoke. While moving forward slowly, a third round of projectiles was thrown. When
When this round of grenades exploded, the soldiers of the first regiment of the Royal Forest Army who followed them also rushed into the capital one after another.
After the more than a thousand Song troops entered the city, they did not move forward quickly. Instead, they dispersed to the left and right along the city wall in companies or divisions. Once they found Yuan troops in front, they threw grenades. The first group to enter the city
Each of these 1,500 Song troops carried five projectile bombs. When more than six or seven thousand projectiles exploded one after another, the first line of defense built by the Yuan army near the city wall was completely destroyed.
At the same time, the artillery stopped firing, and the following Song troops rushed into the city one by one. Under the command of their respective superiors, they scattered forward, left, and right.
It was the first time that so many missiles were used in the early stages of entering the city. This was because I had learned the lessons from the Battle of Mingzhou, and secondly, I was worried that Kublai Khan would ambush a large number of bows and arrows inside the city gate.
The soldiers and musketeers stopped our army in front of the city gate culvert, and then attacked with a hail of arrows.
It was very time-consuming for tens of thousands of troops to enter the city through a gap. At the same time, they also had to prevent the Yuan army at the front from counterattacking. Therefore, after entering the city, the soldiers of the Song army almost continuously threw bombs one after another, and they were able to gradually attack the city.
Even so, it took nearly three hours to advance. It was not until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon that more than 50,000 troops gradually poured in.
Generally speaking, in ancient siege battles, the people close to the city wall would be moved to a safe place to avoid being accidentally injured by arrows, trebuchets and other long-range weapons. This is also the case in most cases. The people close to the city wall have been moved away.
But unlike Mingzhou City, after hard street fighting, when the frontline troops of the Song Army advanced about thirty meters, they discovered that there were still people in many houses. What was not good was that these houses
There are also Yuan troops hidden inside.
In a bunker next to the city gate, Lu Wenhuan, Yi Yinglei and Zhao Huai, who were directing the battle, made a summary decision and decided to slow down the advance and sent someone to report the situation to me.
After getting the news, I entered the capital city through the rubble under the protection of thousands of personal guards. At this time, the sky gradually turned dark, the south gate area was filled with smoke, and the visibility dropped sharply. At the same time, the guns in the city
The sounds of killing and the shouts of killing gradually became sparse, and the target ahead could not be clearly seen, so no one dared to act rashly.
Lu Wenhuan said: "Your Majesty, in the house thirty meters in front, Yuan army soldiers and most of the people are mixed together. Our army's throwing bombs can easily hurt innocent people, but without using throwing bombs, it is difficult to quickly break through the defense line, unless it is
Rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy."