Chapter 106 Bamboo Concrete
Miao Gui planned to set up an ambush with 10,000 people from the 5th column to attack the enemy's vanguard. After victory, he and the 4th column would take turns pursuing the enemy. After defeating Kuoduan's main force, the three columns would work together to drive the enemy out of Tianshui.
The second is the concentrated use of catapults from each column.
Third, Wang Hancheng’s Seventh Column served as the general reserve force, following behind.
Zhao Yulin felt that it was almost time, so he ordered the four columns to set up an ambush and strike with thunder.
He hoped that the battle would end quickly and suggested that each column should gather together as much as possible and launch an attack as a cluster. The use of catapults, crossbows, thunder chariots, and iron barrel cannons must be coordinated.
He handed over all the military personnel in the Yangzhou tent to Miao Gui for arrangement and dispatch, and asked the provincial government to organize local workers to ensure supplies on the front line and pay them double the labor pay.
After this arrangement, everyone found their points of strength and started moving immediately.
At the Kuoduan camp, the Mongolian army surrounded Tianshui right away, but the attack had little effect. Tianshui City itself is a mountain city, and the repaired city walls made the Shenwei Army indestructible.
Zhao Yulin didn't use any special materials. He just used bamboo strips to reinforce the ribs and added earth and cement to make a bamboo concrete wall.
This is the only solution, and it is not cutting corners at all.
But the effect is far better than that of ordinary earth walls. No matter how thick the earth wall is, it is just an earth wall, but his city wall is a bamboo concrete wall.
The Mongolian army fought for three days before they opened a ten-meter-long gap in the city wall. However, almost half of the catapults brought by the expansion army were lost. Due to the limited range and the coverage of the Shenwei army's catapults, they had to retreat and leave the launching position.
In this case, the significance of his supporting the attack on the city wall was zero.
Kuoduan was furious and roared in the big tent that his subordinates were useless. He had signed a military order to his father, the emperor, to capture the Guanwai states of the Song Dynasty, but he did not expect that he could not move forward as soon as he entered Tianshui.
Moreover, the grain officer reported to him: The Song army had fortified their cities and cleared the fields all the way, and they could not collect grain and grass. People could kill horses for meat, but the horses would be in trouble without grain and grass. Not only could they not run, but they also lost weight quickly.
In addition, the old camp reported to him: Song army's spies put fried croton seeds mixed with horse manure into their horse troughs, and the horses ate with relish, snorting, and could not be driven away. I wonder what they are doing?
Several veterans said that if there was anything unexpected, our horses would definitely get plague and diarrhea and would not be able to run.
Kuoduan threw the golden cup of milk tea in his hand and cursed Zhao Qier for being hateful.
He asked: Is there any other way to break the deadlock?
Commander Tahai said that the best plan now was to charge towards Xihe Prefecture and see what happens.
Xihe is not far from Tianshui, and the enemy has gathered heavy troops here. The direction of Xihe must be where their food and grass are gathered. If we can break into Xihe and get the food and grass, we will not only eliminate our worries, but also make Tianshui an isolated city. Then we can slowly deal with them.
Kuoduan gradually calmed down and said that Jizhou should also take some action. He had given so much silver to the Tibetan tribes, so he must make some noise. Shit, let's charge at him tomorrow, and it would be great if we can get through.
This prince with a beastly heart usually looks harmless and smiling, but after a series of failures, he finally lost his composure today and his true colors were revealed.
The next day, a vanguard of 5,000 Mongolian troops explored the way and rushed to the defense line of Hao Xiaoming's Sixth Column. After a fierce battle, they destroyed the frontline positions and retreated.
Tahaiti Kuoduan analyzed: The enemy sniped desperately. Although we did not succeed, we have destroyed all the fortifications in front of their position. If we increase our attack, their defense line will surely be broken.
The Mongolian army rested for a while, took out some natural dried beef from their belts as a snack, and then dispatched a team of 10,000 people to launch a series of attacks.
Miao Gui saw it clearly through the telescope and knew that Kuo Duan had taken the bait, so he immediately ordered a retreat as planned.
The Shenwei Army immediately evacuated their positions under the cover of catapults. Yang Daquan and Liu Hu pretended to be very similar, and ran five miles away, abandoning their weapons and armor, to complete the task of luring the enemy.
The Mongol vanguard was chasing hard when suddenly there were intensive explosions in front of them. Sand and rocks flew everywhere on the beaches and roads beside the Han River, and smoke and dust covered the entire valley.
Tahai was shocked, realizing he had fallen into a trap, and immediately turned his horse around and ran away.
At this time, the preset catapult positions on both sides had already started working, throwing a large number of splitting bombs at the enemy group, and the iron barrel cannon on the mountainside even shot out huge packs of explosives.
The Mongolian army realized that they had been ambushed and fled in panic, but the range of the catapults was only five miles, and they were covered and attacked all the way. The Shenwei Army took the opportunity to launch a counterattack.
When Hao Xiaoming heard the intensive explosions in Tianshui City, he knew that his main force had launched a counterattack, and his spirits were immediately lifted. This iron-willed man had been in the city for almost ten days, and he was already a little tired after watching his brothers fall one by one.
He immediately stood at the southwest corner of the city wall to observe, and decided to organize his forces to rush out and occupy a small mound one mile outside the city, thus cutting off the Mongolian army's escape route.
The warriors in the city immediately took action.
When Kuoduan heard the intensive explosions in the south, he realized that he had been tricked and immediately sent out a team of 10,000 people to rescue. Not long after the team arrived, the catapults in the city concentrated their fire on the earthen mounds. The city gates suddenly opened, and a thousand Shenwei soldiers stepped on the explosion points of the splitting bombs and rushed to the small earthen mound in the blink of an eye. They wiped out the Mongolian troops on it, which was like sticking a fishbone in his throat.
Zhao Yulin followed Miao Gui forward, and when he saw Hao Xiaoming use this move on the top of the hill, he shouted "wonderful".
Hao Xiaoming occupied a small hilltop and blocked the retreating route of the Mongolian army, but failed to completely block it.
Everyone has the instinct to survive, and the Mongolian army is no exception, so they will inevitably be defeated faster.
The Kuoduan camp could not just stand by and watch without helping, so they would inevitably start a fight over the small hill and get involved.
Zhao Yulin was excited and reminded the artillery team to be careful not to hit their brothers, and told Miao Gui to push forward immediately.
Miao Gui immediately ordered the charge to be sounded, and the Shenwei Army, with the headquarters as the group, launched an overwhelming offensive against the Mongolian army. The artillery team in the rear kept rolling forward and specifically attacked the counterattack organized by the enemy in the front.
Seeing that both 10,000-man armies had collapsed, Tahai hurriedly fled over a small hill to report to Kuoduan: The defeat was overwhelming, and the morale was gone, so they could not fight any further, so he ordered them to leave quickly.
Kuoduan was unwilling to give up, and ordered in a sinister tone to throw the corpses of the Black Death out to him.
Tahai was stunned and said in panic, "We still have our people, let's just forget it?"
"Pao, how can a real man show such a woman's kindness?" Kuoduan stared at Tahai and roared.
Damn, he is fighting like a trapped beast, no matter what it takes.
Is this going to be a biological warfare with Zhao Yulin?
The Mongolian army's Huihui artillery fired several gunnysacks at the hill outside the city and then hastily withdrew from the position. Kuoduan led the remaining troops to retreat to Cao Cao's fort.
Zhao Yulin came to Tianshui County excitedly and gave Hao Xiaoming a big bear hug. He patted his shoulder and exclaimed, "You did a great job."
The Sixth Column suffered heavy casualties, but Hao Xiaoming did not complain. Instead, he told a strange story: At the very end, the Mongolian army threw five bodies of their own people onto the small hill. I don’t know why?
Miao Gui said, what else is there, just pretending to be a ghost to scare people.
Our Shenwei Army is not afraid of being scared.
Lu Youpeng immediately became alert. He said that at the beginning of this year, Subutai attacked Bianliang for a long time without success. When retreating, he threw a large number of dead bodies into the city with large catapults. Later, a plague broke out in Bianliang, and thousands of people died every day within three months.
Could it be that the Mongolian army is also sending plague virus to the Shenwei Army?
Zhao Yulin did not dare to be careless, and immediately told Hao Xiaoming not to move, and asked the medical officer to check carefully. The brothers who came down from the small hill also lived separately to prevent the spread of plague.
Then, he gave Miao Gui an idea and asked the craftsmen to repair two of the Mongolian catapults on the battlefield. Our catapults were also damaged. If we installed spring boosters on the Mongolian catapults, the range would definitely exceed theirs. Then we could use their own method to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Miao Gui asked what to do?
Find the sick corpse and throw it into Cao Cao's fort?
Zhao Yulin shook his head and said that we would not do such immoral and unscrupulous things as them, so we put the bodies of the Mongolian soldiers that were trampled into pulp by the horses into sacks and threw them in, and also released the surrounding water sources. So that they could not sleep well, had no food or water, and were terrified, and collapsed without fighting.
Later, the military doctor came to report: the bodies of the five Mongolian soldiers had rotted, and their facial muscles had turned black, which were suspected to be symptoms of the Black Death.
Zhao Yulin told them that the disease was called plague, and the one transmitted through breathing was also called pneumonic plague. It was highly contagious and must be taken seriously and dealt with carefully.
Wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, and resolutely implement isolation measures.
From now on, the theater will follow the first-level epidemic prevention measures, and Commander-in-Chief Miao will first seek the opinions of military medical officers for all actions. Hao Xiaoming's Sixth Column will immediately carry out theater isolation.
The brothers immediately became nervous, and then Lu Hua asked him, is it that serious?
Zhao Yulin said that this is called preparing for a rainy day. The Sixth Column suffered too much casualties and it also needs to be repaired. Let's fight a major epidemic prevention war in Tianshui first.
He asked Hao Xiaoming to take the Sixth Column down for rest and recuperation, strictly enforce epidemic prevention discipline, give priority to the supply of new military uniforms from logistics, and completely replace them from the inside out. The taken-off clothes must also be strictly disinfected.
Hao Xiaoming happily accepted the task and left.
Miao Gui believes that other troops must also not be careless, and the command post should send out a military police team composed of medical officers to conduct inspections and supervision.
Zhao Yulin raised his thumb and said that was right. He was not afraid of ten thousand things, but was afraid of one thing. He even revealed the truth in the Hanshui Morning News. Kuo Duan was really vicious and had a huge bad conscience.
When the soldiers saw the military doctor wearing a mask and using gloves to handle corpses, they immediately became alert and acted in accordance with epidemic prevention requirements.
Lu Huacai came back to report: The artisan camp repaired five large Huihui cannons.
Zhao Yulin said, "What are we waiting for? Let's get to work. While throwing corpses, they also fired thunder bombs. He told his brothers to work hard and make Cao Cao's Fort full of the smell of corpses."
He is cruel, huh, I am more cruel than him.
Immediately, the brothers of the Fifth Column operated the Huihui cannons and started working. The large Huihui cannons threw corpses in one after another, and the catapults fired thunder bombs at the same time. A human flesh rain fell in the fort, and the soldiers were in chaos watching the horrific scene.
Lu Huacai did not forget to attack Cao Cao's heart first, so he wrote a proclamation and shot it into Cao Cao's fortress.
