MTL - Poor Family-Chapter 898 Resurgence of War (Part 1)
Chapter 898 The Flames of War Resurrection (Part 1)
Early in the morning, when the first ray of sunlight shines on the city wall, the new year is coming. Today is the new year’s day and the second year of Jianyan. Early in the morning, firecrackers sounded in the city, and every family began to worship their ancestors.
The Jin soldiers were stationed ten miles away from the southern city, and they did not attack the city for twenty days.
Although the twenty days was a rare time of peace for the people of Taiyuan, it was a rare training opportunity for the Song army defending the city.
50,000 new recruits are training day and night in the barracks. Their training is soaked in hard work and sweat, which makes them reborn day by day and gradually become stronger.
In 20 days, the fortifications of the Song army were also perfected. The most obvious thing was that the wooden frame behind the city wall was removed. This was a wooden platform built to install the trebuchet. The craftsmen continued to improve the trebuchet. , Changed the trebuchet from the rear-mounted type to the side-mounted type, so that the throwing rod can be moved, and the throwing rod can be turned at an angle of 90 degrees. The soldiers directly put the Zhentianlei into the throwing pocket on the top of the city.
At dawn, Li Yanqing led his soldiers to patrol the city. He came to the north city wall. The leader of the north city was Wang Gui, and his deputy generals were his old partners Cao Meng and Niu Gao. The big camp was rebuilt, which means that the Jin soldiers will attack the North City and the East City.
Li Yanqing also made corresponding adjustments. Wang Gui will be the lord of the north city, leading 20,000 troops to garrison, while the lord of the east city will be Liu Kai, who will also garrison 20,000 troops.
Wang Gui saw Li Yanqing going to the city, so he greeted Li Yanqing and asked with a smile, "Won't Yanqing worship the ancestors in the big tent today?"
"I have already put incense on my mother's spiritual throne in Yinshi, and the lady in Jingzhao City will also go to the temple to offer incense. As for offering sacrifices to ancestors, let father do the work!"
"I am the same. I burnt incense for my mother, and my ancestors and grandfathers sacrificed in Jiangxia, so I don't care."
Wang Gui's mother also died of illness shortly after arriving in Jiangxia, and he and Li Yanqing would sacrifice to their respective mothers every year during the New Year. Li Yanqing patted Wang Gui's shoulder and said with a smile: "Today is the New Year, let's take a day off!"
Wang Gui shook his head, "Last night, Jin Bing's trebuchet was out of the camp to test the road. I guess it's either today or tomorrow. A new round of Jin Bing's offensive is about to start. There is really no way to rest."
Just as he was talking, a soldier quickly pulled Li Yanqing back, "Everyone, watch out for your steps!"
Li Yanqing realized that he was standing on the edge of the city, which was very dangerous. He quickly walked a few steps inside.
Generally, the city wall facing the inner city is called the female wall, and the battlements are relatively short. In order to cope with the catapults of the Jin soldiers, the Song army specially remodeled the female wall on the north city and the east city, mainly by using a hammer to knock down the battlements of the female wall. , so that the inner side of the city head is not protected by a low wall. The benefits of this are obvious. Whether it is a stone or a thunderbolt, if it hits the city head, it will slide directly into the city with the help of inertia, and will not stay on the city head.
Of course, there are also disadvantages. The main reason is that soldiers will slip and fall into the city if they are not careful. It is up to the soldiers to be careful.
"It seems that the reinforcements from the Jin soldiers are coming in menacingly. What model are their catapults? Can you see it?"
"Visual inspection is also a heavy-duty trebuchet, which seems to be a little taller than ours."
Li Yanqing smiled wryly and said: "This must be the trebuchet in stock in Zhending Mansion. When I came to Zhending Mansion to inspect the inventory, I found that their trebuchets were well maintained. I also specially commended the officials in charge of the warehouse. It's a bit ironic to think that the Jinren will be cheaper in the end!"
"You don't have to be depressed, so what if Jin Bing has trebuchets, we have seen a lot, and we are not afraid of them at all."
At this moment, a group of female guards walked up to them. They were extraordinarily heroic. The soldiers who were busy on the top of the city panicked and cast vigilant eyes on the female soldiers.
The female soldiers stepped forward to salute Li Yanqing. They had two responsibilities, one was to check the combat readiness before the battle, and the other was to rescue the wounded soldiers during the war.
Recruiting female soldiers into the army, although the controversy caused by the court has not yet subsided, all soldiers wholeheartedly support this decision. The timely rescue of female guards has greatly reduced the death rate of wounded soldiers. This has been verified through countless battles fact.
Actually, not many soldiers were directly killed in the era of cold weapons. Most of the soldiers died of injuries.
But after the female guards appeared, they would promptly sterilize the soldiers' wounds with salt water, and at the same time apply hemostatic ointment and quickly bandage them. This made the two major killers of wounded soldiers no longer as rampant as before, and the death rate of wounded soldiers plummeted Eighty percent.
One thousand female soldiers of the Jingzhao Army rescued a large number of wounded soldiers on the battlefield, and won the respect of the Jingzhao Army with their practical actions.
At present, only Li Yanqing's Jingzhao Army and Han Shizhong's Huainan Army recruited female soldiers in the Song Army, led by female generals Hu Qing'er and Liang Hongyu respectively.
The leader of the female soldiers approaching is called Wang Qiong. She is a general and a native of Jingzhao Prefecture. Today, she leads 50 female soldiers to check the preparations for the battle at the top of the city and correct any hidden dangers on the spot.
She bowed to Li Yanqing and said: "I would like to report to Dutong, so far, I have found eight hidden dangers and corrected them one by one. The most serious hidden danger is that the thunderbolt was not boxed, and the twelve thunderbolts Put it directly on the ground, and there will be oil spills on the ground, as long as there is a little fire, the consequences will be disastrous, I have reported this to Vice President Liu and demanded that those responsible be punished."
Li Yanqing nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you, General Wang!"
Wang Qiong saluted again, and led the female soldiers to continue to inspect and inspect. After walking a dozen steps, they found that there was no craftsman's inspection stamp on a catapult, and they immediately asked the soldiers to confirm again whether the catapult had been inspected or not. ?
Wang Gui looked at their backs and said with a smile: "Why would Du Tong think of letting female soldiers come to inspect the combat readiness?"
Li Yanqing said lightly: "Women are more careful and not favoritism, and it is embarrassing to be found out by women. I believe that all soldiers dare not be careless. In my opinion, they are very qualified!"
As soon as Li Yanqing finished speaking, there was a thunderous sound of war drums in the distance, 'Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ’ The sound of war drums was low and dense.
Li Yanqing's complexion changed, and he shouted: "Sound the alarm!"
'when! when! when…'
The alarm bell on the top of the city also rang fiercely.
Teams of soldiers rushed to the top of the city quickly, and the soldiers operating the trebuchets were also quickly in place. In addition to the north city and the east city, the west city and the south city, which were unlikely to be attacked by the enemy, were also guarded by 5,000 soldiers each.
At present, there are 75,000 troops in Taiyuan City. Except for 25,000 troops as a backup support army, the remaining 50,000 troops have all gone to the city, their swords and guns have been unsheathed, their crossbows have been stringed, and the thunderbolts have been put into the catapults. Inside the iron pocket, there are spears like a forest above the city head, full of murderous aura.
Just as the Song Army judged, Jin Bing's goal was indeed Taiyuan's North City and East City. The Jin Bing's North Barracks and East Barracks sounded the drums of war almost at the same time, and the two armies began to gather in the distance. Faintly visible in the distance.
This time the Jin Bing transported a total of 300 catapults, 80 nest carts, 260 artillery pieces, battering rams and trench vehicles from Zhending Mansion. , The cart carried the wooden rafts that had been made in advance, and could quickly build a wooden bridge over the trench. In fact, it was as fast as carrying it on the shoulders and hands, but it was more flexible. This kind of trench-laying cart was of little practical significance.
The biggest threat to the Song army was the trebuchet. Wan Yanchang rode on a horse and looked at the east wall in the distance with a smirk. Behind him were a hundred heavy trebuchets. They were all parts when they were shipped. The craftsmen in the Jinying camp It took three days to assemble.
The chassis of the trebuchet is very large, surrounded by large wooden wheels, which can be pushed slowly on flat ground. Throw a huge boulder weighing fifty or sixty catties two hundred and fifty steps away.
The trebuchet on the top of the city was limited by the environment, and the throwing distance was only two hundred steps, which gave the Jinbing's trebuchet a slight advantage.
However, the Song Army did not have no way to deal with Jin Bing's trebuchet. One was to make a super giant trebuchet and throw it in the city. Currently there are only three, and at most three super trebuchets can only be made.
The second way is to use the bed crossbow. The bed crossbow also has a range of 500 steps and has a strong penetrating power. On the crossbow, when it hits the opponent's trebuchet, it will explode quickly. Although the explosion is not powerful, it will have a great impact on some key parts of the trebuchet.
However, the most effective is passive defense. For example, the Song army knocked down the battlements facing the inner side of the city. Unless the golden soldiers' thunder exploded when it hit the ground, they would rush directly to the city, and dug a deep hole under the city. Deep pits, both fireballs and thunderbolts will fall into the pits.
The other is the city wall. Fortunately, it is still severe winter. Song Jun continued to thicken the ice layer on the city wall, so that the ice layer on the front of the city wall was one foot thick. When you hit it hard with a hammer, there was a white seal, which was frozen solid. , Exploding continuously with a hundred thunderbolts can't shatter the ice shell, let alone the huge stone wall inside.
Jin Bing's trebuchet moved forward rumblingly, and stopped in front of the lime line of 250 steps. The goal of Jin Bing was the Song Army on the top of the city. They had no interest in the city wall and the city.
At this time, Li Yanqing issued an evacuation order, and the soldiers on the north and east sides of the city were evacuated to the west and south. Only 5,000 soldiers were left on the two main battle cities. The artillery was also quickly withdrawn, and Zhentianlei and kerosene could not stay at the top of the city.
Just after the evacuation of the Song army, Jin Bing's trebuchets were launched suddenly. A hundred trebuchets outside the east city were launched first, and a hundred thunderstorms shot into the sky and shot at the head of the east city of Taiyuan. The soldiers of the Song army shouted , They all lay down under the battlements, covering their heads and other vital parts of their bodies with shields.
(end of this chapter)
