Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Brother Richard's rescue army is still on its way to Weifu Military Division, and there are numerous cracks in the walls of Tiande Military City.

But it still didn’t collapse!

The city wall here is short and thick, which happens to be the best structure to carry solid cannonballs.

On the third day of bombardment, the Ming gunners had already changed their minds and concentrated their firepower on the southern city gate.

Even if the cannonball hits crookedly, it may hit the tower above, as well as the enemy parapets and war sheds on both sides of the tower.

Before the Ming Dynasty, there was a chance that city gates and walls would collapse together.

It is not an arched city gate made of bricks as people think. Most of the city gates in the Song Dynasty still used wooden beams and wooden columns. This was of course because they had not suffered the losses of artillery.

In other words, the various building structures and materials of the city wall have not been changed due to the widespread use of artillery.

The city gate is only one of them, and there are other ancillary buildings.

For example, in the war sheds on the city wall, in the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect against artillery, the thin rammed earth parapets were replaced with brick walls, and the old war sheds were replaced with cantilevered structures. In the late Ming Dynasty, semicircular forts in the attached city and eight-shaped gun holes in the female wall were even designed to prevent muskets and artillery from attacking the city.

In addition, the enemy towers are also different.

Most of the enemy towers on the city walls in the Song Dynasty were solid, and the defenders could only transport troops through horse roads. The difficulty of siege was actually much lower. In the Ming Dynasty, most of the enemy platforms were hollow, so the defenders could quickly deploy troops within the enemy platforms, and the difficulty of siege increased exponentially.

On the sixth day of artillery bombardment, the south gate wall of Tiande Army City collapsed, along with the tower above.

The reason is simple: the standard Tang and Song Dynasty wooden beam city gates.

The wood used for the wooden beams and wooden pillars is very thick, but as long as it is hit by cannonballs dozens more times, the city gate may be directly crushed by the towers and walls above!

But the specific results were very uncomfortable for both the offensive and defensive sides.

It collapsed, but no gap was left. Even the city gate was blocked by rammed earth and wood. Is it possible to not be depressed when attacking a city?

The city defenders were even more depressed. The towers that defended the enemy from the front all collapsed, and less than half of the enemy towers on both sides also collapsed. The horse path was also stretched across that position. In other words, the two central horse paths of this city wall are useless. When defending, troops need to be mobilized from all over the place. When they are suppressed by the first attack, they cannot quickly deploy the reserve team.

Yue Fei observed with a telescope: "We no longer need to wait for the city wall to collapse. We can already attack the city. We only need to use two cloud ladders and more than ten flying ladders."

Han Shizhong understood what it meant: "Directly attack the enemy's platform?"

Yue Fei said: "Continue to bombard the city walls on both sides of the enemy platform. One is to suppress the defenders on the city, and the other is to blow away the female walls. Then let the cavalry of all races shoot towards the city, and my Ming elite will take the opportunity to attack the enemy platform."

Enemy towers, also called piers, can be built independently or relied on city walls.

For example, every once in a while on the Great Wall, there will be castle-like buildings. Those "castles" are actually enemy towers.

There are many protrusions on the city wall, which are also enemy towers, and there are war sheds built above them (which function as arrow towers and can also be used for lookouts). The war shed is connected to the city through enemy towers and horse paths. Troops can be quickly transported here, many reserves can be placed, and even small groups of cavalry can be hidden inside.

Generally speaking, the siege team will not attack the enemy tower, and it is impossible to stand up if they climb up. The defenders can continue to kill them. If it were a hollow enemy tower like the Ming Dynasty, it would be even more of a nightmare for the siege team.

This moment is very suitable. The city gate building has collapsed, the war shed on the enemy platform has long been blown down, there is nothing left on the parapet on the enemy platform, and the horse path connecting the enemy platform must also be damaged.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery bombardment continued, but the target changed.

Thousands of cavalrymen from herdsmen of all ethnic groups, in teams of two to three hundred people, took turns firing at various city walls. They rushed to shoot arrows during the interval of artillery bombardment. After shooting two arrows, they withdrew, allowing the artillery to continue bombarding the city wall. The defenders were suppressed to the point where they did not dare to raise their heads.

Two siege ladders and a large number of parapets slowly advanced towards both sides of the south city gate.

The main siege force was the Ming Dynasty infantry transferred later, as well as many Ming Dynasty dismounted cavalry.

At a certain distance, the artillery stopped completely for fear of accidentally injuring friendly forces.

Countless young men from the grassland rode forward and continued to shoot arrows at the city wall. They switched to iron arrows this time and were not allowed to use bone or stone arrows.

The defenders, who had even the female wall blown away, could only lie down on the city wall.

Someone picked up the arrow and shouted in horror: "It's an iron arrow, the enemy is about to attack the city!"

Of course they are going to attack the city, and the ladders have been pushed over, but the defenders dare not get up, and they haven't seen the position of the ladders yet.

But Ye Li Degui saw it. He was lying on an enemy platform far away from the city gate: "Instruct Qigan and Gulu chiefs to lead their elites to defend the enemy platform at the city gate!"

"All three sides are here!"

But I saw tens of thousands of green and strong grasslands, carrying extremely simple wooden ladders, cooperating to attack the city from the southeast and west.

Most of these grassland herdsmen were not wearing armor, and their siege ladders were rubbish. Moreover, when I rushed to the city wall and was shot with a few arrows, I was so frightened that I threw down the wooden ladder and turned around to run away. This is purely an atmosphere group to increase the sense of participation.

But the city defenders have to defend!

Yelu Eritu was so anxious that he sent his son to find Xizuo: "Go and ask that man surnamed Guo. We agreed to defect the next day when the city wall collapsed and there was a gap. What should we do if the Ming army attacks the city before there is a gap?"

Guo Sichang is also very anxious. His current identity is a herdsman from a tribe near Baotou. He has received a defense mission at this moment, and it is impossible for him to wander around and contact various ministries.

What makes it even more difficult is that the defense zone he is in does not face the Ming army, but only defends the grassland tribes that rely on the Ming army.

We have no idea of ​​the progress of the Ming army's siege!

The chieftain Yelu Luma asked, "Brother Guo, what should we do?"

Guo Sichang said, "Take action immediately. As long as we take action, the rest of the tribe will also take action. Raise the white flag and wave it quickly!"

The white flag is a white flag without words. It is used as a signal of defection without fear of being mistaken, and it is easier to find cloth materials.

"Kill the Dangxiang!"

Yelu Luma and his brothers, each with half of the tribe, killed the defenders on both sides.

Another person waved the white flag, and another stretched the white flag outside the city and waved it.

The corresponding Ming army lookout outside the city immediately had a lookout through a telescope to see the situation clearly: "Send the flag order quickly. On the side of the second enemy tower south of the east gate, a group of defenders defected and are fighting. Let the nearby grassland soldiers kill over to seize the city!"

Of course, the flag order could not be so complicated, but it could point out the general direction and indicate that there were defenders defecting there.

"Brother, the Guo guy has taken action!"

"We heard it, we saw it, let's take action too."

Xiao Lufen was in the city as a reserve, and he kept staring at the direction of Guo Sichang.

In front of him were the elite Tanguts, who were heading to the city wall through the horse path. In order to preserve his strength, Xiao Lufen did not dare to fight with the Tanguts, but rushed into the city with a white flag to kill a group of Tangut women who were carrying supplies.

And he killed the group of women and fled, fearing that the Tanguts would chase him.

Then he rushed into the streets and shouted loudly: "The Ming army has entered the city! The Ming army has entered the city!"

While shouting, he did not forget to set fire to the house.

Yelü Elitu was on another wall. He did not see Guo Sichang's signal, but saw Xiao Lufen making trouble in the city. He immediately called his two sons and several brothers: "Hurry up and take action. There will be a great reward for meritorious service. When the whole army is in chaos, we will rush straight to Yeli Degui!"

At the same time, the other two small tribes also raised white flags and defected.

Inside and on the walls, the Xixia defenders were in a mess, and they couldn't figure out who the enemy was.

The elite of the Ming Dynasty continued to push the ladders and the wall, and the various tribes of the grassland had already set up ladders at the place where the defenders defected.

The ladders were heavy and had to be pushed forward slowly.

The siege ladders of those grassland warriors were light and simple, and they just carried them and ran. Under normal circumstances, using such siege ladders would mean going to death, but the defenders of the wall were fighting each other and couldn't care about the enemies rushing over.

Ye Li Degui saw that the situation was not good, so he called his son and said, "Run away quickly, save your life!"

Ye Li Degui's personal soldiers blew the horn, and the elite Xixia soldiers who were sent to defend the city left the wall to look for their war horses. They were fully equipped with weapons and armor, and the warriors of various ethnic groups who defected did not dare to face them, and they were scared to give up the passage after a few hits.

The chief of the Qigan group rode up to Yeli Degui and said, "If we run away now, what will happen to our people?"

Yeli Degui said, "How can we defend the city like this? If we lose a woman, we can marry her. If we lose a son, we can give birth to another one. When the imperial court's reinforcements arrive, we can fight back together and find our family! Do you still want to stay? Didn't you hear the people of all tribes shouting to kill the Dangxiang people?"

The chief of the Qigan group gritted his teeth and could only abandon the old, weak, women and children, livestock and food, and led the young and strong people of the tribe to break out of the siege to the west.

For iron pots, tea, salt, silk and brocade, Yelu Erlitu wanted to kill Yeli Degui and led his people to rush towards the elite of Xixia.

The idea was very good, but they were quickly defeated in the fight.

Yeli Degui led more than 4,000 cavalrymen and rushed out from the west gate and the north gate. The rest were all blocked in the city and could not get out. Among those who successfully left the city, more than 1,000 were fully equipped with armor, and the rest were young and strong people without armor from various Dangxiang tribes.

"You go to chase the fleeing enemy, and I will enter the city to control it." Yue Fei said.

Han Shizhong smiled and nodded: "Okay. Wait until I come back for a drink!"

Han Shizhong led the cavalry as a reserve to chase after the fleeing Ye Li Degui. The ladders had been pushed to the bottom of the city, and the dismounted cavalry were all recalled, leaving only the infantry to continue the siege.

Ye Li Degui shouted: "Send orders to all units to stop the pursuers!"

The military order was quickly passed, but no one was willing to obey. The Tangut chieftains fled on horseback with their people.

Moreover, because they were not wearing armor, they were much lighter and fled faster than Ye Li Degui's elite!

Han Shizhong led his army to run for more than ten miles and finally caught up with the tail of the Xixia elite.

He divided two teams to eliminate the enemy, and led his troops to bypass and continue the pursuit.

After escaping for more than 40 miles, both sides were exhausted, and a large number of cavalry fell behind.

The mount under Han Shizhong's crotch was a good horse given by Zhu Mingqin when he was conferred the title. All the recipients of the title had one, and the good horses were different according to the rank of the title.

At the end of the chase, Han Shizhong left his soldiers far behind, and only a few riders were left around Ye Li Degui.

Ye Li Degui was already scared out of his wits. When he heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him weaken, he looked back and was overjoyed. He slowed down his horse and said, "There is only one enemy general chasing us. Follow me to kill him!"

This guy brought his son and several personal soldiers, slowed down and stopped, and prepared to fight.

Han Shizhong had already rushed to the front, knocked down a personal soldier with a spear, and continued to rush towards Ye Li Degui.

Several personal soldiers of Ye Li Degui did not gather together when they fled, and they were hundreds of meters away from each other.

Han Shizhong knocked down two in a row, and the third one was so scared that he rode away and fled, and then shot arrows after pulling away.

Ye Li Degui was already counterattacking, but after seeing that two personal soldiers were killed, his son was also knocked off his horse. He was so scared that he dared not fight anymore, and turned his horse around to continue to flee.

What the hell.

Han Shizhong was dressed like a brave cavalry general of the Ming Dynasty. Not only did he wear a reinforced medium-sized armor, but even his horse was covered in a leather and cotton mixture armor.

If it weren't for his divine mount and such a heavy load, it would be impossible for him to chase the enemy at a high speed for dozens of miles, and he was getting closer and closer to the enemy.

When Han Shizhong chased him more than ten meters away, Ye Li Degui slowed down and shouted in Chinese: "I am willing to surrender, I am willing to surrender!"

Han Shizhong accelerated his horse, reached out his hand, directly pulled Ye Li Degui up, and then threw him to the ground fiercely.

Han Shizhong spitted and cursed: "You didn't surrender earlier, so your grandfather chased you for dozens of miles. If you break my divine horse, you will die!"

Let's talk about Yue Fei.

Yue Fei rushed into the city with his cavalry, shouting along the way: "No killing of prisoners, no looting, hurry up to put out the fire!"

This city was the residence of the Protectorate selected by Emperor Zhu, so the population could not be killed too little, and the facilities in the city could not be destroyed.

"Killing and robbing before doesn't count. From now on, if you dare to disobey the order, you will be killed without mercy!"

Yue Fei led his army to suppress the riots in the city, and called the chiefs of various tribes to give lectures, but he still couldn't suppress the rioters in the city.

The sources of the rioters were varied. Some followed the Ming army to attack the city, and some defected in the city. They robbed women and property when they saw them, and some deliberately killed prisoners to vent their anger. Some even fought because of robbing things.

Yue Fei called several generals and said: "You lead your troops to suppress the riots. Those who disobey orders will be killed immediately, even if they are tribal chiefs!"

The Ming cavalry received the suppression order and began to rampage in the city. They killed those who were still making trouble and even killed two chiefs on the spot.

Gradually, the riots in Tiande Military City subsided, and even the spreading fire stopped.

Yue Fei climbed to the top of the city and looked at the vast grassland and the rolling Yellow River.

In recent years, he has been reading history books, and also reading the materials compiled by the Ministry of War and the Hanlin Academy. At this moment, he thinks a lot more than ordinary military generals.

The three cities in Hexi that he had captured before were part of Xihe County in the Han Dynasty.

The city he captured at this time belonged to Wuyuan County in the Han Dynasty.

The station of the Western Xia Wei Fu Army was Shuofang County in the Han Dynasty.

Yue Fei turned and looked at the distant mountains in the north, his expression relaxed and he smiled: "Don't let the Hu horse cross the Yinshan Mountains, don't let the Hu horse cross the Yinshan Mountains. The sons of the Han family have finally come back with armor and sharp weapons!"

The setting sun fell, there was no sunset, only the Yellow River was flowing, as if silently telling those border stories.