Volume 2 Chapter 46 Two Layers
Although the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu was not good at military geometry, he did not stop his subordinates from making noise. Instead, he frowned and waited for the noise to die down. Seeing that the commander-in-chief had finally been normal for a few days but had that expression again today, Wanyan Balisu and others did not act too recklessly and soon sat down again to watch the battle.
After a while, drums began to sound below the city walls and horns sounded continuously from above the city walls. As countless troops poured out from the Jin army's formation, hundreds of ladders appeared densely in the field of vision and the war broke out immediately.
It is said that, because few people have seen what a huge army is, few people can understand the momentum of tens of thousands of people charging together... In fact, ordinary people may be afraid and their legs will become weak when they see hundreds of war horses galloping together, let alone a real army of thousands of people carrying weapons and shouting to charge?
However, facing the Jin army's first large-scale formal attack on the city, the Song army soldiers on the city wall were all silent... On the one hand, many people have become accustomed to these scenes over the years. Even Emperor Zhao, who was watching the battle from afar on the watchtower of the city wall in the rear, was indifferent. On the other hand, the Minister of War Chen Gui, who was the "defending official", had a military order that on the first row of the city walls, no one except those in the organization was allowed to speak without permission!
Therefore, after the trumpets stopped sounding, there were only the sound of the Jin army's drums, and then tens of thousands of Jin soldiers, led by their respective officers, shouted and killed in the rear, and the momentum was deafening.
At the front were the laborers holding baskets. Their task was to continue carrying soil to fill the ditch... Unexpectedly, this time they rushed to the front but no crossbows were fired. This made these people overjoyed. They poured the debris and frozen soil into the dry and frozen moat and then hurriedly turned back .
Due to the line of sight, Zhao Jiu could not see the scene in front of him from the watchtower in the city which was actually quite far away. He could only lean his body to observe from the side. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Due to the clear weather, Emperor Zhao could even see the happy faces of the laborers dressed as Song people after they successfully poured the soil, and naturally he frowned.
"Officials."
At this moment, someone nearby suddenly spoke up. "There is nothing we can do about this. When I was in the Jin army camp, I was just like them, carrying soil to fill the ditch."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Yan Xiaozhong, the Shao Yin of Kaifeng Prefecture. They all sighed but had nothing to say.
However, Zhao Guanjia, who was reclining on the chair, heard this and asked another question: "Can we eat enough in the Jin camp?"
"It's hard to say whether we have enough to eat on weekdays." Not only the others, but also Yan Xiaozhong, who was short, thin and dark like a dwarf, was slightly startled, and then shook his head repeatedly. "But there is always food, and the discipline in the Jin army is quite strict, and there are very few cases of deduction... But in the current war, it is not certain that we can have food."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu was puzzled. "Is it because swords, knives, bows and arrows have no eyes?"
"No." Yan Xiaozhong answered solemnly with a straight face. "In such a situation, death is the only outcome. But even if you return to the camp alive, you will most likely starve... If I remember correctly, the Jin people must have broken sticks to get the soil. These civilians took a basket of soil and could take a finger-length stick and insert it into their hair and behind their ears. When the soil was ready, they would return and hand in the empty basket and stick. The Jin supervisors would then use daggers to cut the bark off the stick to make it a stick. Only with this stick could the civilians get a bowl of rice in the evening. Those who didn't have a stick deserved to starve."
In the sunlight, Zhao Jiu narrowed his eyes slightly: "One stick man, I thought it was the one penny man in the Northern Qi Dynasty?"
"It's not easy to kill a stick man." Yan Xiaozhong ignored the increasingly dark faces of the ministers around him and continued to explain to Emperor Zhao. "I was in the Jin army and I know clearly... Those who can eat at night are all ruffians and gangsters among the civilians. Most of their bachelors were robbed after the war. The Jin people are not fair and impartial. They only cut sticks and distribute food, not other things. So now these civilians filling the ditch, pouring a basket of soil, think they are alive, but in fact, the Jin people will drive them back after they go back. Even if they survived by chance for many days, they will be exhausted at night, and the bachelors in their hands will be taken away by those groups of bachelors. They will be hungry all night and weak the next day, and die faster."
Zhao Jiu remained silent, just leaning sideways and watching the battle with his hands clasped together. There was some discussion on the observation deck, but after this "explanation", everyone fell silent.
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'yellow' platform!" At this moment, suddenly, a loud count was heard from the quiet city wall in front, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Obviously, this is the real reason why those civilians who filled the ditches were able to survive today. Behind them are countless "strong civilians" carrying ladders... These people should be specially selected by Zhang Yu, who is in charge of commanding the Jin army's civilian camp. From the organization point of view, they are servants rather than bachelors. At least many of them have a piece of wood or something like that in their hands as a wooden shield to protect the sides; and many of them have a knife on their waist, which is unimaginable for the weak civilians who can hardly find an inch of iron.
If not, why would the Jin people use bachelors as tokens of trust?
Back in front of us, there was a loud noise from the city, followed by a continuous count like frying beans:
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'Hong' character platform!"
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the platform where the character '列' is placed!"
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'Yu' character platform!"
As the commanders on these protruding platforms (protruding platforms on the city walls) reported their numbers, the archers on the corresponding sections of the city walls behind them almost immediately drew their bows and prepared for battle.
Then, when a large number of Jin army siege equipment entered the attack range of the city wall, the bows and crossbows on the city wall were fired in an orderly manner towards the specific direction designated by the commander under the command of the flags on the wall... Most of the 'Zhang Yu army' carrying ladders and moving forward rapidly had only a piece of wood, and only a very few leaders had leather armor, so each of them just fired a round of intensive shots, and many ladders were thrown directly to the ground, and the strong civilians who had just formed the army quickly fled.
But seeing this situation, the personal soldiers of Zhang Yu's army who were supervising the battle and Meng'an, a direct subordinate of Wanyan Balisu's army who was in charge of the northern camp, rode forward and forced these people to move forward again with machetes and horse hooves. They also demanded that the main force of Zhang Yu's army, who were holding shields, forming battle formations, and wearing a certain amount of armor, should not hesitate any longer but follow immediately... because some of the ladders still relied on their numerical advantage to approach the moat that had become an ice trench, and were preparing to cross this ice trench.
According to the defense design of most cities, there should be a sheep-horse wall only one person high behind the trench or moat (a low wall outside the city wall and inside the moat, named after the livestock stored by residents outside the city during wartime, and a standard feature of medieval East Asian cities). As long as you climb over this low wall defense line, you can enter the last flat area in front of the city wall, which is about thirty to fifty steps wide, and try to attack the city with ladders from here.
Correspondingly, faced with the main force of the enemy army that was well-equipped, the soldiers on the city walls immediately became alert, and under the command of the generals on each city wall, the bows and crossbows on the city walls began to concentrate their fire on these better-equipped soldiers.
The Ke Di bow, Shen Bi bow, and even the small crossbow were no longer stingy with arrows, and the main force of Zhang Yu's army quickly suffered large-scale casualties.
Not only that, Wanyan Balisu's personal guard Meng'an, who was too focused on supervising the battle, rushed into the shooting range and was suddenly attacked by the Song army with a intensive burst of fire, killing dozens of people on the spot.
Seeing this, many people on the watchtower finally breathed a sigh of relief, and even Lu Yihao was somewhat disappointed. However, not far to the north of the city, Wanyan Wushu and dozens of other generals watched this scene coldly, but were indifferent.
In fact, the Jin army was still paying attention to the ladders, and how many of them could successfully reach the frozen moat, and how many could successfully climb over the Sheep-Horse Wall? Some people even began to estimate how many ladders they would need to deploy at once to ensure that the entire Sheep-Horse Wall fell, was flattened, and finally started the goose cart to drive over and hit the city gate?
And a moment later, they saw a ladder easily climbed ashore from the bottom of the moat with the help of the river bank and the sheep-horse wall, and was easily thrown over the short sheep-horse wall by Zhang Yujun's soldiers. However, no Song army showed up to fight inside the sheep-horse wall. Almost all the Jin army generals looked at the fourth prince Wanyan Wushu... There was no other reason, the distance behind the moat and the sheep-horse wall and in front of the city wall has always been the best place to defend the city because of the cross-fire support from above. Sending troops out of the city to fight is a conventional means of defending a city, and even the most effective means.
To be honest, even during the Jingkang Incident, soldiers from Tokyo City frequently launched attacks from behind the Yangma Wall, but Nanyang soldiers clearly had sufficient food and fodder, yet they did not send any troops out of the city to fight!
How can one defend a city without leaving?
The Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu was obviously stunned for a moment, and seemed to find it difficult to understand, but almost immediately, he nodded to Wanyan Balisu, who was the first on his left hand.
When Wanyan Balisu received the signal, he immediately waved his hand and ordered two Meng'an under his command who were waiting for orders to step forward and join the battle. The two Jurchen Meng'an who were lined up in front of the high platform received the military order and did not hesitate at all. They immediately abandoned their horses and launched an infantry battle towards the Nanyang city wall where there were dense bows and crossbows, preparing to join in climbing the city wall.
"There's something wrong with this Song Dynasty sheep and horse wall."
As soon as the two Meng'an troops left, they saw several more ladders being placed over the Yangma Wall, while the Song army on the city wall still maintained a certain excessive calmness and order. Wanhu Han Chang was the first to express doubts.
“It’s definitely not right.”
The older Chizhanhui also stroked his beard and made a conclusion. "It's not just the Sheep and Horse Wall... something was wrong from the beginning. The city was prepared so early, there must be cannons, but from the first day to now, no cannonballs have been seen flying out."
"That's right." Han Chang narrowed his eyes and said, "They wanted to save on stone bullets, or they didn't want to reveal the position of the artillery too early so that they could counter artillery with artillery, but why didn't they use the artillery on the platform on the city? First, the artillery didn't move, and then they watched our army fill the river and climb over the Yangma Wall. They must have other things to rely on."
"Why can't it be that the civil servants of the Song State in the city are confused again?" Wanyan Balisu smiled. "I heard that on that day in Tokyo, someone fired a cannon on the city wall to attack the Second Prince's camp, but was beheaded in public by his own family... Is it still wrong for the Song army to be wrong?"
"That's because the previous Zhao Song emperor was as cowardly as a mouse and insisted on peace." Wanyan Wushu finally spoke, but he directly rejected Balisu's guess. "The Zhao Song emperor in Nanyang is not that kind of fool!"
Wanyan Balisu neither refuted nor agreed, but shut up immediately... He had figured it out anyway, he would not get any good results in front of the Fourth Prince, and he was the Fourth Prince and the Left Inspector of the Marshal's Office, so it would be better to cooperate with him non-violently.
Since Balisu kept silent, the others became bored and just waited quietly for the battle situation ahead to change.
However, the problem lies here. As the Jin army continued to deploy troops based on the so-called progress, the situation in the front did not change at all...
In order to survive and eat a meal tonight, the civilians continued to run forward at the risk of their lives, carrying earth baskets and corpses to fill the ditches, or carrying wooden boards to carry ladders. At most, Zhang Yu's main force and the two Meng'an Jin people took the initiative to join the battle to reduce a considerable number of casualties, but the rest remained the same;
In order to get rewards and avoid the supervision team, the soldiers of Zhang Yu's army mustered up their courage and rushed to the moat. They rushed up along the direction where the civilians successfully set up the ladders. They often fell to pieces when they reached the sheep and horse wall, with countless casualties.
The two Meng'an of the Jin army were both wearing iron armor and were extremely brave and fearless. When they reached the frozen moat, they even took the initiative to shoot at the top of the city wall and asked the Han army under their Meng'an to form a formation under the city and shoot back. Therefore, although they suffered casualties due to the constant arrows shooting from overhead, it did not stop them from climbing over the dry and frozen moat and over the short sheep and horse wall .
However, no matter the difference in combat power or battlefield status, there was only one result, that is, after someone managed to climb over the narrow sheep-horse wall, they disappeared without a trace...
The Jin army generals did not pay much attention to this phenomenon at first, because even if the Song army did not have the courage to send troops to fight behind the city, they would definitely take advantage of the platforms and city walls to launch close-range bow and arrow attacks on the sheep and horse wall. Under the crossfire and the bows and crossbows that the Song people were most proud of, this area was the area with the greatest casualties, and it was a life-and-death situation.
But over time, it became a bit ridiculous that not a single ladder was successfully set up on the city wall after crossing the Yangma Wall.
"Deer hut or trap?" Wanyan Balisu thought. "It can't be like the Liao people scattered caltrops all over the Yuguan (Shanhai Pass) in the past, right?"
"The caltrops scattered all over the place did not prevent us from taking Yuguan on the 15th." The old general Chizhanhui became more and more frustrated, but he actually stood up. "The reason why Yuguan was taken so quickly that day was that Emperor Taizu braved the arrows and stones and took the initiative to find out the details of the Liao people, which enabled us to succeed in one battle... I'm going to see what tricks the Song people have!"
"Sit down, old general."
Wanyan Wushu spoke immediately, but then looked at Wanyan Balisu again.
And Balisu did not dare to delay. He quickly stood up and stopped Chizhanhui with his own hands... What a joke, the Jurchen generals have always insisted on bravely fighting the arrows and stones, but he is the commander of the northern camp, and today's battle is his job. How can he let others do it?
If I really let Chizhanhui go, I would be afraid that I would be laughed at by the people in Yanjing when I return to the army in the future.
Therefore, as soon as he stopped Chizhanhui, Wanyan Balisu shouted a name on the stage: "Where is Gu Ying?!"
A Meng'an, who was only in his twenties, stepped forward quickly and bowed his head. His age was in sharp contrast to the other generals around him, and he instantly attracted everyone's attention.
"Take your knights behind the Sheep and Horse Wall and find out what's going on, otherwise don't come back!" Balisu gave a stern order and drew his sword and threw it in front of the man.
Upon hearing this, the general simply kowtowed to the ground, picked up the knife, and turned away quickly.
Seeing this young general leading the others to dismount and set off, Han Chang became thoughtful and asked Balisu, "Is this the nephew of the commander-in-chief? His nickname is Talan, the one with the same name as the deputy marshal?"
"Yes." Bali quickly sat down again, but he did not delay his answer. "It is my nephew!"
"I remember your brother gave him weapons and armor when we attacked Liao. At that time, we laughed at the deputy marshal, saying that he was a big and small Tala. I don't think he will remember it clearly in the future." Chizhanhui, who sat down again, smiled. "Sure enough, he has become Meng'an in the blink of an eye...but the deputy marshal has also become the deputy marshal."
"The name is meaningless, let's see what he is capable of." Balisu continued to speak proudly, and even Wanyan Wushu nodded slightly.
By the way, Balisu's nephew was naturally Wanyan Yinshuke's son who stayed behind in Taiyuan. Such a nobleman actually led hundreds of cavalrymen to dismount and go to the most dangerous area under the enemy's city to investigate the military situation. It was simply unimaginable for the Song Dynasty, but for the Jin people, it was a matter of course.
All we can say is that this is the Jurchen people.
Regardless of whether they have begun to degenerate or to what extent they have degenerated, at this moment, they are still the most powerful cold weapon army in East Asia, and even in the world.
This is not an exaggeration, it is the truth.
In the early twelfth century AD, the Holy Roman Empire was in name only, Byzantium was in decline, West Asia and North Africa were in disarray, the Crusades were in full swing, the Ghaznavid Dynasty in Central Asia and India was falling apart, and Saladin, who later achieved some success, had not yet been born. At this moment, the civilization of East Asia was still leading the way... Well, with the demise of the Liao Dynasty and Yelu Dashi's departure to the west, it was natural that the Song Dynasty dominated everything in the world politically, culturally, and economically, and the Jin Dynasty, in fact the military overlord of East Asia, was truly invincible.
In fact, the Jin Dynasty, which absorbed a lot of advanced cultural knowledge from the Liao and Song dynasties and acquired the wealthy lands of Hebei, Youyan and Liaodong, was probably still the world's second largest cultural and economic power at this time. The Song Dynasty, which almost died more than a year ago, was still the world's second largest military power... undoubtedly.
What else?
At this moment, on this planet, no one could mock the Jurchens' economic and cultural backwardness, except the Song people. No one could mock the Song people's military incompetence, except the Jurchens.
Yelu Dashi?
Was it the Liao Dynasty that fell or the Song Dynasty that fell?
By the way, Wanyan Guoying's participation in the war immediately attracted the attention of the Song army on the top of Nanyang City, because this force was obviously temporarily transferred, and the cavalry came directly, which was completely different from the two Meng'an who were placed in front of the enemy general's command desk, equipped with short weapons, shields and sufficient bows and arrows.
Soon, the intention of this army was discovered. They rushed into the shooting range of the Song army in the form of scattered soldiers, but dismounted in front of the moat that had been mostly filled. Then they dispersed across the moat and climbed the Sheep Horse Wall... Obviously, they wanted to understand the story behind the Sheep Horse Wall.
Of course, there is no story, just a simple trench! There is a trench inside and outside the sheep and horse wall of Nanyang City! Double-layered, this is the core idea of Chen Gui's city defense construction. If there is one more layer, there will be no less, and he didn't expect it to be a secret weapon.
In fact, the inner moat behind the Sheep and Horse Wall was obviously dug temporarily. It was not as deep or wide as the outside one, and the ice at the bottom of the moat was not as spectacular as outside. It was just enough to cause great trouble to the Jin people who were attacking the city!
The outer trench is a genuine moat.
As for the moat, they just filled it up. Tens of thousands of people spent three or four days filling it up. With the thick ice finally forming today, the Jin army finally turned over, but they fell into another trench covered with ice ridges!
What to do then?
In fact, as soon as Wanyan Guoying turned over and slid to the bottom of the ditch, he was thinking about this simple question, and he quickly came up with the most direct answer - crawl back.
He just needs to climb back over the thick sheep-horse wall. Anyway, as long as there are no dozen enemy-killing bows or divine arm bows aimed at him, the double layer of iron armor on his body is enough to deal with it.
However, after finally climbing up the inner trench, which was already littered with corpses, under a hail of arrows, and reaching the narrow bottom of the wall, Wanyan Guoying was shocked to find that the wall had actually grown taller?!
This sheep-horse wall that he could easily jump over from the outside, with several corpses stepped on from the inside, was so far away that he could not even reach the place where he could exert force?
Is it haunted?
“It actually has such a miraculous effect!”
Unlike the angry and annoyed look in the morning, seeing hundreds of elite Jin soldiers fall into this trap, although he didn't know there was a big fish in it, Lu Yihao, who had been holding back for the whole morning, was in a rare good mood. Even the posture of standing up and stroking his beard while leaning forward to look around was much smoother. "Is this method of low inside and high outside also what Minister Chen thought of?"
"No." Yan Xiaozhong blurted out while standing on his tiptoes on a chair. "The inner moat is something that Minister Chen has always liked, but the different heights of the inner and outer walls of the sheep and horse wall are something he could not have imagined."
"Whoever it is, he deserves a reward!" Lu Shuxiang waved his hand generously. "Although it is a trivial skill, not worth mentioning, it also shows a bit of cunning. As this is the first victory in the battle, it deserves a big reward."
The dark and thin Yan Xiaozhong looked at Lu Yihao who stood up from his chair, then looked at the person beside him, but simply saluted on the chair and said bluntly: "Let Mr. Lu know that I participated in the repair of the city defense and know a lot about it. It was the person beside you who got this bit of cunning."
Everyone looked at each other in astonishment, and instinctively looked at Lu Yihao. Even Lu Yihao instinctively looked at the person beside him. However, when everyone looked together, they found that to the left of Lu Yihao was another Prime Minister Lu who was peeking around and had not spoken a word in recent days. They shook their heads and looked to the right of Prime Minister Lu Shu... and over there was Emperor Zhao who was still keeping silent and turning a deaf ear to the matter.
