Fenghou

Both the thousand-step gun and the fire kite were commanded by Wang Duo. Master craftsmen Xie Changzhi and Hu Zhen led dozens of craftsmen to the thousand-step gun. There was a two-foot-high and five-foot-long platform on the left of the thousand-step gun. , is actually the roof of a row of residential buildings, which is temporarily used as a launching pad for large fire kites. Their targets are also the opponent's trebuchets, which is called attacking and attacking.

'Boom!Bang!Bang! '

Jin Bing's heavy-duty trebuchet was the first to launch, and ten huge fireballs soared into the air and flew towards Ganquan Fort. Chen Qing could see clearly that the fireballs were aimed at the inside of the city, and he immediately ordered: "Order the inside of the city to prepare!"

The red flag was waving on the top of the city, Niu Gao could see clearly, and shouted: "The fire fighting team is ready!"

Four thousand soldiers formed eighty fire-fighting teams, each with five men, pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt, holding shields, shovels and iron hooks.

At this time, ten big fireballs flew over the city and shot into the city. This is the golden soldiers to deal with the [-] archers in the city.

The isolation area in the city is about [-] paces, and a high wall is built on the edge to separate the residential buildings, also to prevent the fireball from hitting the residential buildings.

The gold soldier fireball was exactly the same as the fire oil ball of the Song army. It shattered after falling, and the fire oil in the clay pot splashed out, covering the ground, and was immediately ignited by the fire, forming a sea of ​​flames.

The firefighting team rushed up and spread the soil on the kerosene, and the burning kerosene was extinguished by the soil. Usually, three or four groups were used to deal with a fireball, otherwise there would be not enough soil and no time.

Time was very tight, they had to deal with the fireballs before the second wave of oil drums came, at least to put out all the open flames, so there was still a wet quilt on each wheelbarrow, which was used in an emergency.

The soldiers were busy nervously and skillfully. They used shovels to shovel the mud mixed with kerosene into large baskets, quickly transported it to the side, and poured it into large pits.

Just after dealing with ten big fireballs, the soldiers shouted, "Here we go again!"

The soldiers looked up, and this time they were ten large black wooden barrels, which were kerosene barrels, obviously to support the combustion.

The soldiers dodged one after another, ten large wooden barrels fell to the ground and shattered, splashing black kerosene all over the ground, and eighty fire fighting teams rushed up again.

……

Chen Qing stood on the observation deck, watching the Song army's counterattack. The thousand-step artillery and fire kites were all ready, waiting for his order.

Chen Qing pondered for a long time, but unexpectedly ordered: "The counterattack is temporarily suspended!"

The messenger rushed over and waved the yellow flag. This was an order to temporarily stop. Wang Duo was stunned, but he dared not disobey the order of the governor. He shouted: "Temporarily stop lighting!"

The soldiers blew out the fire, because it was a temporary stop, not giving up, so they still had to wait for further orders.

Zheng Ping and several generals were puzzled, and Zheng Ping asked, "Why did Du Tong suspend the counterattack?"

Chen Qing pointed to the soldiers who were busy clearing the kerosene on the ground and said: "Whether we are throwing fire mud or fire kites, we have to pass through the isolation area. The ground in the isolation area is full of kerosene. I am worried that our attack will ignite the ground instead." oil on the fire."

"How could it be?" The generals were astonished.

"You didn't see it clearly, but I can see it clearly. When the opponent's fireball flew over, it dropped a lot of sporadic flames all the way down. I am worried that the fire clay and fire kites will also drop sporadic fire points, which will make the quarantine Light the kerosene you bring."

Everyone was stunned, but Dutong had considered it thoroughly. This was the first launch, and everyone had no experience. They were afraid that what Dutong was worried about would happen, and many soldiers would be burned to death.

Chen Qing immediately ordered: "The thousand-step cannon is replaced by a boulder, and the fire kite is replaced by a thunder kite!"

The Song army quickly replaced it. The fire clay was removed and replaced with a boulder, and the fire kite was also removed and replaced with a thunder kite.

At this time the red flag waved down, 'Boom!Boom! With two loud bangs, two hundred-jin boulders soared into the air, roaring and shooting at the giant trebuchet five hundred steps away, and at the same time, ten thunder kites also ejected, also flying towards the heavy trebuchet.

'Boom! 'With a loud bang, a huge boulder hit the edge of the baffle, and the boulder was bounced high and smashed towards a heavy trebuchet.

The heavy trebuchet was hit with a bang, 'Crack! 'The cross shaft broke and the throw rod fell.

Opened the record and destroyed a heavy trebuchet.

At this time, ten thunder kites also flew steadily.

The Lei Kite is actually a flying powder barrel. The belly of the kite is filled with gunpowder and poisonous nails, and a burning matchstick is dragged on the tail.

Song Jun's distance calculation is relatively accurate, which can basically guarantee that the Lei Kite will explode over the target.

'boom!boom! '

Ten thunder kites exploded one after another in the air, thick smoke filled the air, and dense poisonous nails flew in all directions. The targets of the thunder kites were not the catapults, but the soldiers operating the catapults and the bulls pulling the winches.

The soldiers were caught off guard. Many people were shot by the poisonous nails, and almost half of the cattle were also shot by the poisonous nails.

There was chaos on the catapult positions, and the heavy catapults had to temporarily stop attacking.

Wanyan Wushu could see clearly, fearing that the trebuchet would be damaged, he immediately ordered: "Return the trebuchet to the camp!"

Chapter 392

Wanyan Wushu visited the wounded soldiers in the big tent. Of course, they were not the wounded soldiers of the puppet Qi army, but the wounded soldiers operating heavy trebuchets. They were basically Jurchen soldiers. hit.

There was a stench in the big tent, and the sounds of soldiers wailing in pain could be heard everywhere. The severe pain caused by the toxic attack was unbearable for the soldiers.

At this time, Wanyan Wushu saw more than a dozen poisonous nails on the plate on the table, he reached out and picked up a poisonous nail for a closer look, it was just a small iron bump, and there were faint blue dry spots in the gap, he Throw the poison nail back on the plate.

A military doctor stepped forward to salute Wanyan Wushu, Wanyan Wushu pointed to the poisonous nails on the plate and asked, "Are these poisonous nails very poisonous?"

"Reporting to Marshal Du, this kind of poisonous nail is boiled with arsenic. It's not very strong, but it's not weak either."

"What will happen in the end?"

Wanyan Wushu glanced at the wounded soldiers in the big tent and asked, "Are they all going to die?"

"Although it is very painful now, because the amount of poison is small, as long as it is not shot at the head, heart and other vital parts, it will generally not die. I have treated the same wounded soldiers before, but they all lost their combat capabilities in the end."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that they can't even lift a weight of more than ten kilograms, and they are almost useless."

"Damn!"

Wanyan Wushu cursed in a low voice, didn't want to read any more, turned around and left the big tent.

After stepping out of the big tent, he took a deep breath of fresh air, the stench in the big tent was really unbearable for him.

Looking at Ganquan Fort in the distance, Wanyan Wushu was full of anxiety. He couldn't find a solution to the poisonous nails, firearms and kerosene of the Song army. Once the city was attacked, there would inevitably be a large number of casualties. In the end, only more than 5000 people retreated, which shows that the Song Army was fully prepared.

At this time, Han Chang stepped forward and said, "Marshal Du, I have a countermeasure to crack the enemy's firearms."

Wanyan Wushu regained his energy, and hurriedly said, "Say it!"

"Beizhi and Chen Qing have dealt with each other many times, and I found that the power of the gunpowder barrel is not great. Unless it explodes in front of you, the damage will not be great. The key is the poisonous nail..."

"I also know that poisonous nails are powerful, the key is how to defend against them?" Wanyan Wushu interrupted him.

Han Chang calmly explained: "If the firearm explodes on the ground, the person must lie down and cover his head with a shield. If the firearm explodes in the air, it is best to squat down and hold the shield above his head."

Fan Gong next to him said with a dry smile: "How do we know where it will explode? It must be after the explosion that we know whether it is on top of the head or on the ground. The question is how do we know in advance? Prepare in advance?"

Han Chang sighed: "The military adviser's doubts are right, so it's best to get down on the ground, at least one of the situations can be prevented."

Fan Gong wanted to ask again, but Wanyan Wushu waved his hand, "As long as there is a simple method, it's good to get down, and it can be promoted!"

"Thank you Marshal Du!"

Back in his big tent, Wanyan Wushu said to Fan Gong: "Whether Han Chang's method is effective or not, we have to give the soldiers an explanation and calm their nervousness, otherwise this battle will be impossible to win." gone."

Fan Gong hastily said: "I don't think well about the humble job!"

Wanyan Wushu sighed, "Now I finally understand why the [-] Xixia army can't take down Ganquan Castle. This castle gives people a sense of coercion, and they are afraid when attacking, not to mention that the defending army is still An army with rich experience in defending the city!"

Fan Gong sensed that the commander lacked confidence, so he made a plan and said: "Marshal Du doesn't have to think too highly of the other party. I feel that any castle has its weaknesses. The key is that we have to find its weaknesses, so that it will be easy to attack."

"What is Ganquan Castle's weakness?"

"The humble job is investigating, and there is no clue yet, and we will report it in time after we find out."

"You have to investigate carefully, how much manpower and material resources are needed, just mention it!"

……

In the middle camp of Ganquan Fort, there is a large table in the middle, on which there is a wooden model of Ganquan Fort, and ten small trebuchet models are placed not far from the model of Ganquan Fort. The generals are simulating an attack against a trebuchet.

Standing around the table is a circle of generals, the chief general Chen Qing, the deputy generals Zheng Ping and Yang Yuanqing, the general Hu Yantong, and Yang Zaixing, Gao Ding, Liu Cui and Niu Gao among the five tiger generals, as well as the logistics general Hu Yanyun, the firearm general Wang Duo, The scout general Zhao Xiaoyi, the counselor Zhang Xiao and the magistrate Jiang Yanxian.

Chen Qing held the wooden pole and said to the crowd: "Although we have many sharp defensive weapons, such as bed crossbows, god arm crossbows, city defense bows, fire thunders and kerosene, Wanyan Wushu will definitely not allow us to use these weapons .

I have thought about it for a long time, and the biggest possibility is to use trebuchet fire to attack the top of the city, just like in the battle of Jiandao Pass, Wanyan Wushu set the entire southern city on fire, our kerosene and fire mines could not be used, and the army The city must be evacuated.

If the enemy army takes the opportunity to attack on a large scale and wait until they reach the top of the city before stopping the fire attack, Oasis Fort is likely to fall, so we must prevent this from happening, let's all talk about it! "

Everyone was silent, Yang Zaixing asked: "How did the Jiandao Pass successfully resist the enemy's fire attack?"

Yang Yuanqing smiled wryly and said, "Jianbai Pass was set on fire by ourselves to force down the enemy army who attacked the top of the city. The enemy army did not realize this opportunity at the time, but this time it may not be so."

It was Zheng Ping who understood Chen Qing, and said with a smile: "Since the governor raised this risk, I believe there must be a countermeasure!"

Chen Qing nodded, "I have an idea, I hope everyone will raise more questions and improve it!"

Chen Qing pointed to the trebuchet and said: "This trebuchet has a weakness, which I discovered before. It is divided into three parts: the main body, the winch, and the drop box. It must be installed and debugged on site. It will take at least half an hour. I think This weakness is our opportunity!"

……

Before dawn the next day, there were rumbling war drums in the Jinbing camp, which meant that the Jinbing was about to attack the city again.

The soldiers of the Song army in the barracks rushed to the south of the city. This time, the soldiers of the Song army moved all the bed crossbows, small trebuchets, fire mines, and kerosene to the top of the city. They all understood that the enemy's attack on the city today is by no means a test up.

Chen Qing stood on the observation tower to observe the movement of the enemy camp. As the coach, Chen Qing had many generals under his command. He no longer needed to personally participate in the battle like Jiandao Pass, but he shouldered even more important responsibilities. He needed to carry out overall combat deployment. Once the deployment is wrong, the soldiers will suffer heavy losses.

At this time, Chen Qing saw a group of oxen pulling a huge catapult and came out again. Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Nanchengtou temporarily resumes the state of resisting fire attack, and the supplies and troops are withdrawn to Xichengtou and Dongchengtou!"

The other party was obviously about to launch a fire attack again. The city was filled with kerosene and gunpowder. Once it was ignited by the fire, the consequences would be disastrous. We had to move them first, but they couldn't go far, so it was most appropriate to move them to the east and west sides of the city.

Although he already had countermeasures, what if he didn't succeed?He didn't want to take this risk, so it was better to retreat first.

The order was conveyed, and the generals led teams of soldiers to quickly move supplies and retreat, and there were only [-] fire-fighting soldiers and [-] defensive soldiers left in the south of the city.

At the same time, Chen Qing ordered: "Thousand-step guns are ready to attack!"

The drums of the Jinbing camp were rumbling, and groups of Puppet Qi Army soldiers and Jurchen soldiers came out in a row. The battle flags were unfurled, spears were like forests, and the iron armor was shining coldly in the sun. The murderous aura permeated the field. Heavy trebuchets, the soldiers pushed hard, shouting low numbers from time to time.

'Woo——' The antlers sounded one after another, and a big battle finally came.

This time Wanyan Wushu dispatched [-] attacking troops, [-] Jurchen troops and [-] puppet Qi troops. The [-] troops were divided into ten square formations. Stop a mile away from the city.

Ten heavy trebuchets were already in place, but before the enemy army started debugging, the Song army took the lead in attacking.

I saw two huge fireballs flying out of the city, passing through the air, splitting at the highest point in the sky, splitting into countless small fireballs, and hitting the enemy's trebuchet head-on. The soldiers and craftsmen shouted and dodged one after another .

Two lumps of fire clay, each weighing more than [-] kilograms, split into hundreds of small pieces in the air, and smashed into the large array of Jinbing's catapults. The fire clay hit the baffle and the catapult, sticking to them and burning stand up.

Many soldiers and craftsmen were also hit by the burning clay. They shouted in shock, took off their armor and clothes and ran wildly, fleeing the position.

Immediately afterwards, ten thunder kites also flew out of the city, and flew straight towards the army one mile away. The chief general Han Chang shouted: "Aim the bow and arrow!"

Twenty thousand soldiers raised their bows and arrows at the same time, aiming at the oncoming Lei Kite. Less than a hundred steps away from them, the Jin soldiers and the puppet Qi army fired ten thousand arrows together, forming a huge arrow net, and shooting at the Lei Kite in mid-air.

This was a good idea. Ten thunder kites fell from mid-air one after another and exploded on the ground.

Although Lei Yaozi failed, he managed to divert Jin Bing's attention.

At this time, the thousand-step guns once again showed their prowess. They fired continuously and threw ten barrels of kerosene into the trebuchet camp. engulfed in flames.

But the thousand-step artillery did not stop, and continued to throw kerosene until the fire completely engulfed the trebuchet.

Chapter 393 Accident

There was cheers from the top of Ganquanbao, and the soldiers returned to the south of the city one after another, and the various equipment that had been temporarily transferred before were transported back to their place again.

Looking at the sea of ​​flames in the distance, Chen Qing nodded with satisfaction and said, "Pass on my order, and reward the craftsman camp with three thousand coins!"

The way Chen Qing thought of was to seize the opportunity and launch a fire attack while the enemy's heavy trebuchets still needed to be installed and debugged. Zheng Ping proposed to use thunder kites to divert the enemy's attention, so as not to give the Jin soldiers the opportunity to drag the trebuchet away. Then the ten trebuchets were completely burned with kerosene.

The biggest difficulty here is accuracy. How to ensure that the fire clay and fire oil hit the trebuchet just right. For the sake of precision, the craftsmen in the craftsman camp worked all night and used their experience and ingenuity to set the fire clay bag to 55 catties. , and fine-tuned the thousand-step gun, and finally ensured that the fire clay bag and the fire oil barrel were accurately hit by the trebuchet formation.

Looking at the ten catapults engulfed by the fire, Wanyan Wushu was heartbroken, but he was helpless, the arrow had already been wound, and he could no longer withdraw his troops, so he immediately ordered: "The Jurchen army covers, the Qi army attacks, give me Beat the drum!"

'Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom! '

Amidst the raging fire, a huge war drum sounded, and [-] troops began to fight. Han Chang was the commander of the Jurchens, Li became the commander of the Qi army, and Wanyan Wushu personally commanded the siege.

The Jurchen army did not use cavalry, but [-] infantry. They held large shields and spears, and had horned crossbows and arrows on their backs. Of course, these [-] Jurchen infantry were not authentic Jurchens, but Jurchens in a broad sense. Including various ethnic groups conquered by the Wanyan tribe in the early years, including Bohai people, Xi people and other Donghu people.

This is also an internal adjustment made by the Kingdom of Jin to minimize the war casualties of the Jurchens. Using other Donghu people to work hard will of course give them certain benefits. Therefore, among the 1 Jurchens sent this time, the authentic Huining Jurchens There are only [-] people, and the other [-] are Donghu people. Of course, they are also called Jurchens, and they all have the same appearance and armor. Only they can be clearly distinguished, and it is difficult for the Han people to distinguish.

These [-] Jurchen infantrymen were from Bohai. They were generally tall and good at infantry combat, including siege.

They are divided into five phalanxes, holding their shields high and marching forward. They will set up a crossbow array to attack the defenders at the top of the city and the [-] Song army archers in the city, and cover the attack of the [-] Qi army.

The team crossed the flaming trebuchet array and moved on. They would advance to the 150-foot line and then launch a crossbow battle.

The defense of Ganquan Fort has always focused on the triple strike strategy combining distance, middle and near, using bed crossbows for long distances, crossbow bolts and god arm crossbows for medium distances, and defensive bows or small trebuchets for short distances.

Chen Qing saw that the enemy had already entered the [-]-step line, so he immediately ordered: "Shoot from the bed crossbow!"

The range of the bed crossbow is one mile, why wait until [-] steps to shoot, the key is that the opponent has a shield, the distance is far, the jackdaw arrow cannot penetrate the enemy's shield.