Outside Huangpi City, soldiers came like ants, like a tide.
The cities of Huangpi and Hanjin had been occupied by the Jinghu Army for a long time. After the defeat of Shangrao, the She family abandoned Jiangzhou and fled north. The speed of their actions was beyond Hu Wenmu's expectation, so they abandoned the cities of Hanjin and Huangpi without having time to deal with them.
It carried out complete destruction, allowing the She family to obtain two relatively complete and solid cities.
Huangpi City is surrounded by a moat that is more than ten feet wide, and the banks are shaded by ancient willows. If the two armies were not facing each other, the autumn sun would be just right at this time, which would be a good time to talk under the willows and enjoy the moonlight scenery.
Although the wide moat provided protection for Huangpi City, it also restricted the defenders from leaving the city to counterattack.
There are stone bridges on the moat at the four gates of Huangpi City. These four moat bridges are also the only four channels in and out of Huangpi City.
When the Huaidong Army was about to approach Huangpi City, Ao Canghai immediately ordered Yu Wencheng to send forward infantry and cavalry to cover with shield chariots, sidecars and other war weapons, advance across four stone bridges, and blockade the defenders in the city.
Sun Jichang was originally the guard general of Linqing. In the ninth year of Chongguan, the Yan-Hu invaded the border area, and his troops were directed towards Linqing. Sun Jichang led his troops to surrender to the Yan-Hu without a fight. Such a general should be a complete loser, but the fact is exactly the opposite.
, after Sun Jichang surrendered to Yan, he worked extremely hard in the attack on Jinan, and even took the lead in climbing to the top of Jinan City, and was almost killed by Lu Jingyan.
No matter in the Datong battlefield later, whether he led his troops to clean up northern Shanxi, or led his troops to advance into Guanzhong with Ye Jiluo Rong, Sun Jichang worked very hard, made repeated military exploits, and won Ye Jiluo Rong's trust.
A closer look at the inside story of Sun Jichang surrendering to Yan without a fight in Linqing. It is rumored that Sun Jichang was once a general in Jinan and was awarded the title of Cavalry Commander. However, in Jinan, he had a feud with the former Lu king Yuan Jiancheng over a concubine and gave Yuan Jiancheng an opportunity to take revenge.
He was demoted to serve the people. Fortunately, he had deep connections in the army, but he was demoted to Linqing as a general. His official position was demoted six levels in a row, and he was demoted to Zhaowu Xiaowei. Sun Jichang held a grudge because of this, and only defected to Yanhu after nine years of Chongguan.
Ao Canghai had no time to investigate the truth or falsehood of these rumors, but Sun Jichang could ask Ye Jiluorong to send him to guard Huangpi and block the gap between the Huaidong Army. He was probably not an incompetent person. As one of the latest auxiliary troops to surrender to Yanhu
, Sun Jichang's troops can also be called elite soldiers with excellent armor.
Sun Jichang naturally knew that if the Sicheng Bridge was easily blocked by the Huaidong Army, the Huaidong Army's scorpion crossbows and catapult crossbows would unscrupulously force their way into the moat and crazily suppress the city head.
Sun Jichang led his troops to guard Huangpi. The first thing to solve was the problem of grain storage in the city. In such a short period of time, there was no way to transport more supplies before the Huaidong Army pressed forward. Once the Huaidong Army's stone-throwing crossbows reached the guard,
In front of Hecheng, there was no stone-throwing crossbow built in the city to fight with it.
The Huaidong Army must not be allowed to easily seal the Sicheng Bridge. On the one hand, Sun Jichang gathered the bows and crossbows in front of the city tower, piled the bricks, stones, and hammered wood, lit firewood, and boiled the oil in the large iron pot.
In order to prepare for the Huaidong Army to seize the city gate directly, he ordered the city gate to be opened, sent troops out of the city, and drove the Huaidong Army away from the Sicheng Bridge.
Sun Jichang also built some simple shield carts in the city and asked the soldiers to push them out of the city to fight. The two armies started a bloody fight on the moat bridge.
Although the defenders fighting out of the city can receive support from the crossbows on the city tower, the outer end of the moat bridge is already eighty steps away from the city tower. Although the crossbows at the top of the city can reach the Huaidong Army's positions, their strength is
Already small, the Huaidong army built a wall with shield carts and raised their shields as tops. Looking from the top of the city, they were as densely packed as fish scales.
The defenders attacked from the city-protecting bridge, fighting each other, shields against shields, and the shields were piled together so densely that their spears and spears could not find the gaps to stab, and they slashed with their knives. Soldiers from both sides continued to fall, but soon
Quickly ask the soldiers behind to fill the gap. Behind the Huaidong Army's formation, the scorpion crossbows and the tip crossbows projected with twisting force can shoot arrows as big as city walls and arrows as thick as spears.
, the stone bullets were thrown into the enemy formation, which caused more casualties to the defenders than the casualties caused on the battle line between the two armies.
The defenders retreated, and the Huaidong Army did not pursue them. The supply troops at the rear could quickly catch up and dig trenches with spades and pickaxes in front of the moat bridge to completely block the defenders inside. Sun Jichang could only keep taking turns to send troops.
The defenders went out to fight, and even suddenly sent out cavalry to attack and prevent Huangpi City from being completely blocked by the Huaidong Army.
After the She family surrendered to Yan, She Wenzhuang did not hold anything back. He analyzed the defeats in Yongjia, Kuaiji, Jin'an and Shangrao in detail to General Beiyan.
The Zuo Army had fought with and suffered defeats, but they did not have a direct and profound understanding of the Huaidong Army's large-scale use of war equipment in siege battles.
If the Huaidong Army is really capable of forcing hundreds of stone-throwing crossbows to the city in a very short period of time, then it is definitely not a good thing for the Huaidong Army to completely control the outside of the moat.
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The person directing the battle below the city was Cheng Wencheng, and Ao Canghai accompanied Lin Fu on the viewing platform of Zhaohu Mountain to watch the battle.
The Third Division of the Changshan Army was formed after the Shangrao War, based on the Eastern Jiangxi Resistance Army, and was reorganized by absorbing the Northeastern Jiangxi resistance forces, with Yu Wencheng and Pan Wendu as the chief and deputy commanders.
The source of the resistance army in eastern Jiangxi is relatively complex. There are old troops from the Ganzhou Army and old soldiers who returned from the East Fujian Army in the early years. However, they are mostly from the resisting people in eastern Jiangxi. The skeletons of the grassroots military attachés are almost all from the Huaidong War Training School and other
It was composed of Jiangxi generals drawn from the Ministry of Defense, and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy general Han Li in Qimen. However, the number of the Ganzhou Resistance Army was quite small. By the end of the Shangrao War, it was said to be six to seven thousand people, and the third town division of the Changshan Army was formed.
At that time, although a large number of grassroots military attachés were added, the number of soldiers and horses quickly expanded to 15,000 men. It can be said that the Third Town Division was still a young force that had not experienced many bloody battles.
Cheng Wencheng, Pan Wenshu and other generals fought at the foot of Huangpi City in a calm and orderly manner. Although the enemy cavalry rushed out unexpectedly, the position was a little flustered and there were some unnecessary casualties, but overall they were still able to hold their own. With the use of shield chariots,
The hook sickle kills the enemy cavalry. Due to the limited width of the moat bridge, even if the defenders rush out with armored heavy cavalry, only six or seven cavalry can be driven out at a time. As long as they can be held up with a shield cart from the front,
You can also use crossbows to block them from the flanks.
"The traditional method of building a city and then digging the city river is about to be eliminated." Lin Fu did not accidentally completely seal Huangpi City in one day. He was also satisfied with the performance of Yu Wencheng's troops. He and Ao Canghai stood on the high platform to watch the battle.
Talking about the city defense, "Digging long trenches adds a layer of defense, but it also limits the channels for counterattack and loses the possibility of active defense. This helps us to push the trebuchet directly to the city to kill the enemy; but see Sun Jichang
We will not give in easily, we must be prepared for street fighting!"
The viewing platform was built on the western slope of Mount Zhaohu, three or four miles away from the battlefield in the east city of Huangpi. From a high position, the entire battlefield could be seen from the inside.
The newly attached army surrendered to its new master and fought hard. The two sides struggled around the river moat bridge for a long time. The defenders were still taking turns to rush out and had no intention of retreating easily. Ao Canghai frowned and said: "It seems These dogs, bastards, really think they can win the battle between Jingxiang..."
This is the case with morale. Once there is the desire to win and the confidence to win, the will to fight will be firm; before Chaishan's troops come out, the Huangpi defenders' desire and confidence to win will obviously not be easily frustrated, which means that they will give The Huaidong Army's forceful attack on Huangpi has caused a lot of trouble, and may lead to brutal street fighting.
Lin Fu said: "There is no need to save heavy crossbows, fire oil cans, etc. Since the bones of Huangpi's enemies are so hard and difficult to chew, their bones must be broken to dampen their spirit!"
The kerosene tank is a purely consumable item. Although the adjuncts of smoldering coal bring sufficient raw materials to the kerosene tank, it is not an unlimited supply. The use of heavy crossbow weapons will still face serious losses during use. Part 1 Heavy trebuchet crossbows often fall apart after hitting more than a hundred stone projectiles.
Huangpi is the first battle. If all the heavy crossbows and fire oil cans are used up in Huangpi, the soldiers will have to fight with flesh and blood in the next battle - but then again, the battle at Huangpi is to weaken the enemy's spirit. Fight hard and fast. When Chaishan's Qi soldiers attack, they will hit the enemy's spine directly, causing chaos in the enemy's position. The Huaidong Army will then focus on pursuit and annihilation, and will not rely heavily on heavy crossbows.
After being reminded by Lin Fu, Ao Canghai called down the herald and ordered more heavy crossbows to be pushed onto the battlefield and handed over to Yu Wencheng for command and use.
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At this time, Gao Zongting came up to the viewing platform from behind and said: "A scout has just returned from the west bank of Han River. It seems that the guards at Jingmen may surrender the enemy..."
"Hu Wenmu is indecisive about whether to defend or abandon Jingmen. He is afraid that when Jingmen is surrounded, he will not have an accurate idea. How can we expect the Jingmen guard to have the determination to defend the city to death?" Ao Canghai turned around and was a little disdainful towards Hu Wenmu, saying , "I just hope he can guard Jingzhou for a few more days."
Lin Fu was not very familiar with the guard of Jingmen. His original intention was to directly order Hu Wenmu to abandon Jingmen. However, due to various considerations, he did not directly intervene in the defense of Jingmen - Jingmen was likely to fall soon, and Lin Fu was not surprised. If Ye Jiluorong couldn't even chew through Jingmen, so the war between Jingxiang and Jingxiang was easy.
Lin Fu said: "The enemy is in the east of Hubei and is very short of food and grass, but they also know how to go to Huangpi first to fill up the food; even on the side of Tiemen Mountain, Yanhu rushed to send thousands of cattle and horses so that the defenders could eat. For a while, the west city of Hanjin is close to the Han River. We can't besiege Hanjin. There can always be food and grass flowing into the city from the Han River. Hu Wenmu only left a month's food and grass for Jingmen. He wanted the guards at Jingmen to have enough food and grass. It is indeed difficult to persevere in the will..."
After all the lands in Henan were destroyed, it was indeed a problem for the Yanhu to raise food for the southern front. However, the Yanhu, especially the Yanxi Zhuhu, were nomadic tribes. At the same time, they moved a large number of herds southward, and the cattle and sheep they grazed in the wilds were It did solve part of the food problem for Yan Hu.
In ordinary people's concept, the Hu people herd horses, but in fact, the Hu people in Yanxi herded more cattle and sheep on the grassland.
According to the information of the spies who infiltrated into Yanxi, in the Yanxi grassland, a Hu family of five to seven people often herds more than ten horses, dozens of cattle, and two to three hundred sheep.
In some areas near the Yellow River in northern Shanxi, Yannan and Henan, due to the sharp decline in population, a large amount of cultivated land was used as pasture by the Hu people who moved in. The Hu people used Han people as slaves, and the size of the herds was as large as dozens of horses.
, two to three hundred cattle, and thousands of sheep.
However, overall, Yanhu's food and grass in Jingxiang is still in extremely short supply. It needs a steady stream of food transported south from Luoyang via Nanyang to supply it - or it can be achieved by storming Jingzhou, and Yanhu can get it from Jingzhou City.
Lots of supplies.
In the early stage, when food and grass were most scarce, Yanhu gave priority to supplying the defense line in eastern Hubei. They also considered that the cities and villages in eastern Hubei might be cut and surrounded by the Huaidong Army, so they needed to reserve sufficient food and grass. Only with food can the people not panic and the defenders be called.
The soldiers have the confidence to defend the city.
"Perhaps Ye Jiluorong's massacre order was also a factor," Gao Zongting said. "After the Nanyang Massacre, the traitor general Han Li massacred more than 2,000 women and children in Pengwanling, and Tian Chang also killed and captured more than a thousand people in Shiheyi.
Before the bloody massacre, very few cities in Jingnan counties dared to rise up to resist. Dangyang, Herong and other cities included all of them surrendered as soon as the enemy troops arrived. Zhou Fan now surrounded Jingmen,
Pu Jieshi has led 15,000 infantry and cavalry men to the southwest to attack Yiling, but Hu Wenmu does not have the courage to send troops to fight the enemy in the field in Jingzhou City!"
Lin Fu had already developed a heart of stone. The barbarians killed, burned, and plundered, so they naturally had to pay with blood. But he knew that the bloodiest and most brutal killers were those rebel generals who surrendered, which made him hate him even more.
Gritting teeth.
Lin Fu held the saber at his waist, his joints turned white, and said: "Blood debts must be paid with blood. This day is not far away, so let them continue to be rampant for a few more days!"
He would not spare any of the rebel officers and Yanhu officers who surrendered to the enemy and participated in the massacre, but those who surrendered... Lin Fu thought of Ma Yigong. The Zhen family lacked manpower to expand the offensive against the Li family in Hanyang. After the war,
Consider throwing a large number of prisoners onto the Goryeo battlefield.
Gao Zongting said: "Perhaps part of the Huaidong water camp will go upstream and land on the Jingzhou line, which can attract more Yanhu cavalry to the vicinity of Jingzhou..."
In the city of Jingzhou, only 30,000 troops and horses are enough. In order to prevent Huaidong troops from landing from Jingzhou to support Yanhu, it is inevitable for Yanhu to move more cavalry southward.
"We'll wait until Yanhu soldiers and horses encircle Jingzhou!" Lin Fu said, "For now, we'd better attack Huangpi first..."
Gao Zongting was not in a hurry to suggest that Lin Fu send troops to Jingzhou to make a feint, and asked: "How about the Changxuan Mountains?"
Ao Canghai said: "Sun Jichang did not dare to drive his troops too far out of the city. There was no obstruction at Changxuan Ridge to build fortifications..."
Changxuan Ridge is located north to west of Huangpi City, and its southern slope is fourteen to five miles away from Huangpi City. The mountain is not high, but it extends for more than thirty miles to the north. It is the southern vein of Shuangfeng Mountain in Xiaochang County. It is built on Changxuan Ridge.
Building a base means making two preparations.
First, the siege of Huangpi will not be a show-off, but will be fought with real swords and guns. If Huangpi City can be captured quickly, it will solve a lot of troubles later. The other is to consider that there may not be enough time to capture Huangpi City.
Chaishan soldiers and horses will probably have to attack the hinterland of Xiangsui in advance. Lin Fu will consider leading his elite infantry and cavalry to directly bypass Huangpi City and go deep into the hinterland of Jingxiang to fight an annihilation battle. Changxuan Ridge can become the Huaidong Army's advance into Jingxiang after Huangpi City.
A temporary supply base in the hinterland of Xiang.
In any case, the Huaidong Army built forts in Changxuan Ridge and extended its tentacles directly to the depths of the eastern Hubei defense line before Huangpi City fell. This will further push the enemy's troops in Shicheng and Suizhou to Dahongshan.
At the southern foot of the mountain, one line of attractions leads to Xiaochang Shuangfeng Mountain.
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The Third Division of the Changshan Army led by Yu Wencheng was a young and inexperienced unit in the Huaidong Army, but this did not mean that the generals did not have the spirit to fight and kill.
Sun Jichang led his troops to conquer Hu, and his soldiers and armor were extremely sophisticated.
Yan Ji collapsed, and a large number of the troops on the three sides and the Jing camp failed to flee south, and were either captured, died, or surrendered. The large number of excellent soldiers and armor of the border troops were directly owned by Yan Hu. Especially the Jing camp army was not strong in combat power.
, because it defends the capital and the imperial family, it can be said that it is equipped with the most sophisticated soldiers and armor in the world. In addition, there is a huge arsenal in Yanjing City, which stores a large number of soldiers, armor, bows and crossbows, which Yanhu must seize.
The Huaidong Army has invested a lot of manpower and material resources in building armor over the years. Although Yu Wencheng's unit has only been formally established for four months, the armor rate of its generals has reached 50%, which is higher than the Chizhou Army, Jinghu Army, and Huaixi Army.
.
However, the new auxiliary troops who surrendered to Yanhu were well-equipped town troops, frontier troops, or Beijing camp troops before they surrendered. Relying on later captures, their armor coverage rate was even as high as 70% or 80%, and the bows and crossbows they used were no better than
The Huaidong Army was half a point away.
The only difference is that the Huaidong Army has more heavy weapons.
Lin Fu asked Ao Canghai not to save the consumption of heavy crossbows in the battle at Huangpi, so Ao Canghai asked the troops to push a batch of reserve Scorpion crossbows, Shao crossbows and other heavy crossbows into the front line.
The bed crossbow and a large number of high-strength crossbows can only shoot the enemy flatly. When the two armies are fighting, the bed crossbow and the high-strength crossbow are ineffective because they cannot be placed in front of the formation; the infantry bow projectile is effective against armor and large shields.
The penetration ability of the Huaidong Army is limited, and there is no way to deploy them in large numbers in the formation. The Huaidong Army's scorpion crossbows and tip crossbows with a projectile range of three to four hundred steps can not only attack enemy fortresses, but can also be directly placed in the formation to attack enemy formations.
It will show great advantages.
Scorpion crossbows and tip crossbows are equipped with small wheels under the crossbow frame, and can be used with infantry in battle, making it easy to advance and retreat.
At the meeting point, both armies used armored soldiers, and both used shields and spears to stabilize the formation, preventing the other side from having a chance to break in. Ordinary bows and crossbows had limited damage to armored soldiers.
And when a stone bullet weighing 20 to 30 kilograms is thrown from a distance of 300 to 400 steps, even if you are wearing an iron helmet and armor, you will not escape the end of a broken head and broken bones. When a giant spear is thrown,
Penetrating iron armor is like piercing river mud - when each body is pinned to the ground by a spear and struggles and screams, the shock force is definitely not comparable to that of one or two heavy arrows inserted into the body.
After Yu Wendeng saw that the front formation was stabilized, he deployed more scorpion crossbows and tip crossbows behind the formation or on both wings, with dozens of stone bullets and several giant arrows at a time to attack the defenders who came out of the city to engage in battle.
At first glance, the Huaidong Army was not too strong to resist, but the Huaidong Army became more and more stable as they fought, especially as more and more heavy crossbows were concentrated behind the formation and on the flanks - Sun Jichang could not withstand such heavy casualties, and when he saw the Huaidong Army
The Eastern Army would not give him the temptation to approach the city easily and give him the opportunity to smash him with rolling stones and wood. In the end, he could only sit back and watch the Huaidong Army dig a long trench outside the moat bridge.
After asking the Huaidong Army to dig long trenches and completely block the passage out of the city for counterattack, Sun Jichang had the opportunity to truly experience the power of the Huaidong Army's intensive use of war weapons.
Dozens of stone-throwing crossbows were assembled across the moat, about 400 steps away from the base of the city wall.
Piles of materials were unloaded from the baggage and quickly assembled into a heavy catapult crossbow that was more than ten feet high. Under the bright moon with a corner missing, it looked like a giant beast lying there with its tail raised high;
Even closer, several nest cars stood up quickly.
The moonlight was very fast, so Sun Jitang could clearly see the size of the stones moved from the baggage at the top of the city. He thought that if such a big stone was hit directly on the top of the city, he did not believe that temporary logs were used on the top of the city.
The war tent built can block it for a while.
Sun Jichang believed that even if there were craftsmen familiar with the technology in Huangpi City, they would not be able to build one of these giant stone-throwing crossbows in three to five days. However, the Huaidong Army erected more than 20 crossbows outside the moat in one night...
…
Stone bullets weighing more than a hundred kilograms were thrown, and the watch tower in front of the city gate collapsed with one hit, and it was all in ruins with two or three hits. The chariot built close to the moat was even more dangerous for the Huaidong Army's approach to the city.
The bed crossbow for shooting, the crossbow shooting platform for kicking.
Under the fire of Huaidong Army's stone-throwing crossbows, bed crossbows, and flying crossbows, the defenders were unable to gain a foothold in the section of the city covered with stone arrows. They could only hide to both sides, or directly hide in the hiding caves under the city.
Every time the city wall was hit in the front by a stone bullet weighing more than a hundred kilograms, the ground would shake, and the walls covered with masonry would also be cracked with clear marks, making people wonder how many people were hit in the same place.
If hit a few times, this section of the wall will collapse.
The defenders dispersed and no arrows were fired. The Huaidong Army immediately sent out troops, and the civilians swarmed down and filled the moat with cloth bags filled with soil. At the same time, they filled in several entry channels directly close to the base of the city wall.
Since the Huaidong Army's advance channel was staggered from the city gate, Sun Jichang was unable to leave the city to counterattack.
Since the Huaidong Army's heavy crossbows have a strong ability to cover and strike the city wall, they can use a crossbow mounted on a chariot to fire flatly, and a scorpion crossbow thrown from the city wall to drive out the defenders of a section of the city wall. The Huaidong Army can directly use ladders to climb to the top of the city.
After establishing a foothold at the top of the city, fight with the guards coming from both sides.
Sun Jichang also saw that he could not directly prevent the Huaidong Army from ascending the city, so he considered engaging in street fighting in the city.
Since the Huaidong Army's heavy catapult crossbows can only be fired outside the city, the defenders retreated into the city and opened up depth to avoid being directly hit by the Huaidong Army's heavy catapult crossbows. After taking advantage of the city wall,
It also avoids the disadvantage of insufficient heavy crossbows. Of course, as long as the preparations are sufficient, the defenders will still have the advantage of fighting in the city.
Eastern Hubei itself is a wasteland. When Hu Wenmu abandoned Huangpi, he evacuated all his generals and civilians, and the She family did not leave their children in Hanjin. Huangpi, except for a few young craftsmen, had 30,000 defenders in Huangpi city, among whom Sun Jichang
There are 20,000 troops in our headquarters, and 10,000 miscellaneous troops from General Ma Kuide sent by Luo Xiancheng.
It has to be said that Yanhu's method of restraining the newly attached troops was very effective.
Senior generals like Sun Jichang would never consider surrendering at all, and those ordinary soldiers, not to mention the military household system of Yanhu to win over them, as long as they participated in the massacre, their hands were stained with blood.
He also blocked his escape route in his own heart and became even crazier when fighting.
Although the Huaidong Army used heavy crossbows to clear the city wall so that the infantry could use ladders to attack the city head directly, but after climbing to the city head, the heavy crossbows could not distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, so they could no longer provide effective cover, and had to guard the city head inch by inch.
They fought with the defenders. It was not until the fourth day when the troops arrived at the city that they completely occupied the East City Gate and opened the channel to directly enter Huangpi City from the East City Gate.
However, Sun Jichang dug a trench inside the east city gate, laid several barricades on the east-west long street, and launched a street battle.
Ao Canghai was not afraid of a war of attrition, so he ordered Yu Wencheng's troops to attack from the east city gate in turn and engage in street fighting, and Zhang Gou to lead his troops to attack from the north city gate - the battle of Jingxiang. The total troops mobilized by both sides were as high as 700,000 to 800,000.
How could the Eastern Army achieve final victory without the determination to save tens of thousands of lives?