Volume 2 Chapter 51 Paradox
Years later, when Wanyan Wushu looked up at the sky by the Yellow River, he could not help but think of that sunny winter morning.
It is said that in this world, the significance of some things will often not be revealed until the dust settles, or even many years after the dust has settled; and for some meaningful things, how meaningful they are may be destined to remain unknown until the end of time.
However, back to that day, under the warm winter sun, when dozens of mud balls the size of human heads hit the general platform of the Jin army camp, the direct consequences were definitely measurable.
The bullet whizzed towards him, and Wanyan Wushu, who was standing at the front, turned around along the trajectory with a confused and curious look, and then his face was covered with blood - a bullet flew over his head and hit Wanhu Chizhanhui's chest directly behind him, hammering the latter to the ground so hard that blood gushed out of all his seven orifices!
It's really blood-spurting!
Living in troubled times and being experienced professional soldiers, the people on the podium often see tragic scenes of armored warriors being hammered to death on the battlefield... The armor may look neat and the body may be stable from the outside, but when the mask is removed, it will be discovered that this person has already bled from all seven orifices, and if the chest or back is injured, it is very likely that his internal organs have been shattered into a mess.
Compared with the fist-sized hammer, how powerful would this mud ball the size of a human head flying from hundreds of steps away be?
In fact, in the sight of Wanyan Wushu, whose face was covered in blood, the Niwan, which was destined to be recorded in history, smashed the veteran Jin army general and Wanhu Chizhanhui heavily to the rammed earth ground of the general's platform, then rolled over the opponent's face, bounced off the helmet, and then hit a Meng'an behind Chizhanhui for the second time with red blood stains, and even bounced twice and fell to the ground for the third time before it shattered, but it obviously splashed on the leg of another Meng'an, causing the latter to fall to the ground with a wail.
These things happened and ended in an instant. Of the people still alive on the stage, only a few could come to their senses at this time. Most people were like Wanyan Wushu. Although they witnessed this sudden change at the closest distance, they still looked confused... They really didn't know how it became like this? It was fine just now!
Fortunately, however, bystanders can see clearly. Hundreds of Jurchen armored warriors who had awakened from the situation rushed up to the rammed earth platform like crazy and dragged down the senior military officials who were either panic-stricken or confused.
This action seemed worthy of praise at the time, but, in hindsight, it was more harmful than helpful - because the casualties had already been caused by this round of volleys, and the Song army could not launch a second round of attacks in a short time. Instead, countless wounded died on the spot due to being trampled and dragged, or their minor injuries turned into serious ones.
You have to know that among these wounded, except for a very small number of guards, most of them must be at least at the level of Mouke, and most of them are even at the level of Meng'an... Puliyan is not qualified to go up.
Of course, hindsight is hindsight after all. After dozens of mud balls were thrown, the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu and others, who were standing with their backs to the general platform and surrounded by the royal guards for protection, were still in a trance... He was no longer confused, but he could not believe his eyes, because there were more than twenty corpses in front of him, all of them were acquaintances.
However, relatively speaking, Emperor Zhao on the city wall was not so immersed in it. He was just excited for a moment at the moment of shooting, but after the mud ball fell to the ground, he immediately became bored.
After all, at such a distance, he could only see that the crowd over there suffered some injuries and then a panic, but he could not see the specific results of the battle at all. The ordinary mud bullets did not have any special visual effects and seemed to lack lethality.
That's right, apart from adding a capstan to the catapult and using the principle of leverage to come up with a counterweight design, the incompetent engineering students did not have any technological achievements that were ahead of their time... They couldn't even stuff gunpowder into the mud ball, because they didn't know how to add a twist to ensure the stability of the explosion, and they couldn't make the gunpowder seal well... It's not that they didn't try, but they failed every time they tried.
Therefore, gunpowder is still used as an accelerant in the hands of the incompetent Emperor Zhao until now. It can only be said that it burns more violently than the gunpowder of the Jin army on the opposite side. Perhaps it can have some miraculous effects in specific situations. The so-called "flowering bomb" is just a figment of your imagination. At present, the mud pill is still used to play this "flowering" role.
Of course, having come to this point, Emperor Zhao did not think too much about it, because in his opinion, no matter what, things like artillery carts were enough to change the city defense warfare model in this era of cold weapons, and since his side had grasped the advantage of artillery warfare, it was enough for them to take this gamble in Nanyang.
In fact, the reason why Minister Chen Gui was particularly trusted by Emperor Zhao when he came to power that day, and even entrusted his life and property to this person, was because before he met the emperor, when he was still the pacification envoy, he had submitted a long memorial to Emperor Zhao.
In that clearly structured outline of defending the city of several thousand words, one can clearly see this man’s military thinking… One is flexible defense in depth, the so-called having one more layer instead of one less, being flexible instead of rigid; the other is that the design of city defense should prioritize defense against artillery, and the means of counterattack should mainly be artillery warfare.
If you look into it carefully, you will find that even the in-depth flexible defense itself is actually based on the new military phenomenon of large-scale application of artillery vehicles, and it is a targeted reform of the old method of defending the city.
This military thought of "artillery battle is king" is undoubtedly an absolute political correctness for a time traveler.
Hence, there was half a month of forbearance and today's furious shooting.
On the city wall, everyone was excited, but Emperor Zhao, who was used to watching war blockbusters, forced the civil and military officials accompanying him to slowly walk down the city wall, and then stand with his back to the city wall and his hands behind his back, like elementary school students standing in the corner as punishment... But this was the best way to avoid the artillery bullets outside the city.
For the next morning and afternoon, bullets whizzed incessantly and flew back and forth from the top of Nanyang City, causing countless civil and military officials to look up like elementary school students and exclaim in surprise from time to time.
But it is obvious that the artillery of the Jin army, which was not actually at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, had a firing efficiency far lower than that of the artillery of the Song army in the city. Most of the projectiles flew from inside the city to outside the city... This is of course. The emergence of the counterweight catapult seems to have only saved manpower, but in fact it has brought about all-round evolution.
For example, since there are fewer people dragging in front, it is possible to save space and build a triangular defensive fortification in front of the artillery vehicle;
For another example, the rated mass of the counterweight effectively ensured the stability of the force, making the firing of the artillery carriage more accurate. The civilians only needed to add a specific amount of counterweight according to the officers' instructions and adjust the angle in advance... The angle and counterweight were the results of large-scale experiments before the arrival of the Jin army. Many experienced civilians might not understand the principle, but they had a good idea of it.
For example, the counterweighted capstan makes the gun carriage fire faster and easier to form a salvo...
Not to mention that the Song army demonstrated that simple technology at the very beginning, that is, the different types of projectiles - stone projectiles that destroy the opponent's artillery vehicles and clay projectiles with a longer range, a "blooming" effect, and specifically for hitting people. The combination of the two is by no means as simple as one plus one.
Faster, stronger, with better defense, farther, more accurate, all together they amount to all-round suppression.
Therefore, after the first round of volleys attacked the Jin army's general platform, the Song army's artillery fired continuously throughout the morning, completely crushing the Jin army's artillery positions that had just been established.
Relatively speaking, on the city of Nanyang, unnecessary high buildings and watchtowers had already been removed in accordance with the requirements of the old rules, and the top of the city wall was also slightly narrow, but the parapet was specially thickened so that the soldiers on the city could lean against it to avoid projectiles and continue to observe the enemy's artillery positions... Until the Jin army's artillery positions completely collapsed and lost their attack capability, the losses on the city were negligible.
By the afternoon, after confirming that the Jin army's artillery positions were useless, Emperor Zhao went back to the city wall, but it became boring again because for the first time since the siege of Nanyang began, the Jin army camp outside the city fell into complete silence.
There was no provocation, no galloping cavalry coming and going to block the way, no harsh rebukes to the civilians and the Han army's supervising soldiers, no busy construction work, not even wailing and shouting. There was no one on the artillery position that was previously full of people, only a pile of rotten wood. As for the general's platform in front, it was completely empty, and even the flags had been pulled down!
But how can we say it? There is no doubt that this was a great victory for the Song army!
So after Emperor Zhao was eliminated, the city of Nanyang was still full of cheers, while the Jin camp was still silent.
Let’s not talk about how boring Emperor Zhao was, but Wanyan Wushu… I must emphasize here that, speaking from conscience, this battle today is not Wanyan Wushu’s fault. The commander of the Jin army did not make any mistakes! The Fourth Prince thought about the artillery problem. He knew that sieges depended on artillery battles, and after he suffered a loss of luck in Xiacai City, he was mentally prepared for a continuous artillery battle this time. He also prepared so many artillery carts? ! If you replace someone else, it is impossible to do better, because if anyone comes, I am afraid that they will not understand why the Song army’s artillery carts are so accurate, so fast, and so far.
Moreover, he had no time to think about the problem of the artillery carriage because a huge problem was before him.
"How many?"
In the central army tent in the north, far away from the front line, Wanyan Wushu looked up blankly.
"In addition to General Chizhanhui, seven meng'an and four moukes died on the spot." A Han soldier said cautiously. "In addition, six meng'an and two moukes were seriously injured and unable to fight..."
This is the effect of those dozens of mud balls. Emperor Zhao endured for half a month just for this one shot.
"Since Taizu started the rebellion, I have never heard of such a tragic thing." After a long time, Wanyan Balisu, whose arm was splashed by mud balls, held his arm and spoke angrily, but he didn't know who he was angry at.
"Now is not the time to think about this!" Another commander, Han Chang, suddenly retorted. "What we should think about now is whether we should execute seven or eight more Meng'an and dozens of Mouke according to military law?!"
Balisu looked up in astonishment, and then he realized why the whole tent was silent, but he felt that it was ridiculous... If he really beheaded him, wouldn't half of the high-ranking officers of the entire army be gone for nothing? There would be no need to fight this war, right?
A few dozen mud balls from Nanyang City defeated the 40,000 main forces of the Jin army?
But the Jurchen military law has been there like an iron rule since the beginning? ! Didn’t Chizhanhui and the seven Meng’an die in battle? ! If the commander dies in battle, his direct subordinates should be beheaded, right?
Everyone in the tent looked at the bloodstained Fourth Prince, half in fear and half in anticipation. Balisu, like Han Chang, also looked nervously at his own commander.
"I...I..." Wanyan Wushu finally spoke, but he gritted his teeth as everyone in the tent watched. "It doesn't count as a death in battle! It absolutely doesn't count! I will take all the consequences myself! I will pardon you!"
Including Balisu and Han Chang, everyone else was relieved, but for some reason, the two leading ones, the two Wanhu who had just found it ridiculous, looked at each other and seemed to be lost.
Because no matter how reasonable it is, no matter how many reasons there are, no matter how many procedures are supplemented, it cannot cover up that this is the first time that the Jin army has systematically evaded military law on a large scale... Once this precedent is set, what will happen in the future? Moreover, even if this level is passed, what about the Nanyang City in front of them? Can they still fight?
