Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 224: Breaking the City
Echeng, geographically the "Wuchang" of later generations, still used its original name at that time, just like Xiakou, which was the "Hankou" of later generations.
The city wall of Echeng was far inferior to that of later generations, and Xiakou was still just a small port. The three towns of Wuhan became the important place after a series of reinforcements, including the establishment of the capital by Eastern Wu, the migration of people from Runan by Eastern Jin, the construction of Xiakou by Southern Song, the establishment of Jiedushi in the middle of Tang Dynasty, and the garrison by Yue Fei of Southern Song Dynasty.
At present, Echeng has not even completed the wave of reinforcement for the capital of Eastern Wu. Although it is the seat of Jiangxia, it is only stronger than an ordinary county town. But among the provincial capitals... it is below average.
Jiangxia's most important barrier to the east is still the former Miankou...
Once Miankou is lost, Echeng will have no defenses. Except for the city tower, the city wall is only five or six steps wide. Moreover, the weapons of Gongkou City can be transported directly to Miankou by water, and can reach the base of the Echeng wall within ten miles by land!
"Dad! How can I go back to Nanjun at this time? I..." Huang She retorted excitedly after hearing Huang Zu's arrangement.
"Shut up! You regret letting Ni Heng go. Look at you now... you have even learned to talk back?" Huang Zu said angrily.
"Come here, take away his military token! Escort him to Xiling!" Huang Zu gave the order directly.
Not even a day after Huang Zu forcibly sent Huang She away, he received news that Sun Ce was leading his army to attack.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu did not plan to go through the city gate, and directly transported sixty Baigong cannons to the southwest of Echeng.
Echeng has an excellent geographical location, with the Yangtze River and the Mian River on its borders, and backed by lakes and mountains. It controls Lufei River on the left and is connected to Fan River and Han River on the right. Not only does it face the remnants of Mufu Mountain to the east, but it is also close to the Mian River... which is the lower reaches of the Han River, making it easy to dig a moat.
However, the current Echeng is not yet the "Jiangdong garrison", so it is easy to bypass the mountain roads and the intermittent semi-natural moat and arrive at the city...
Faced with a city wall that was only five meters high and five or six steps wide, Zhou Yu chose a direction and did not go through the city gate. He chose a location that was easy to mine stones for bullets and avoided the city tower. He set up camp directly and deployed the Baigong cannon in front of the camp, as if he was going to break through the wall and attack.
Huang Zu did not expect that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu did not even want to go through the city gate. Above the city gate was a tower, and the city wall near the tower could be wider and easier to defend.
However, when attacking a city, the focus is usually on "climbing the wall" and "breaking the door", usually a two-pronged approach. If one side succeeds, the attacking side will see hope.
Especially the "breaking the door". After all, even if you succeed in climbing the wall, it will only make the casualties ratio between the attacker and the defender closer. Even if you succeed in climbing the wall ten times, you may not be able to stand firm once.
If the door is broken, as long as it is not blocked in time, it will be a long-term passage!
But when Sun Ce and Zhou Yu arrived, they didn't even look at the city gates, nor did they intend to build wells and ladders on the spot. Instead, they opened the mountains to get stones...
This is also the siege method advocated by Bai Tu - avoid climbing up the tower so as not to cause too much damage to the enemy and ourselves, we must directly tear down the wall!
The Baigong Cannon, as a cold weapon counterweight catapult, is much more powerful than the primary artillery used in the historical wars between the Song and Yuan dynasties. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, both sides also put artillery into use, but the effect was not good. In the end, it was the "Huihui Cannon", a cold weapon, that played the final role.
However, it is obviously not wise to ignore the development of firearms because of this. The "future" has proved that although the Huihui Cannon is superior to the primitive artillery in all aspects, the Huihui Cannon is basically the limit of the cold weapon catapult, and the development of artillery has just begun.
Since France tested artillery on itself during the Anglo-French War, artillery has been developing rapidly under the impetus of industrial civilization.
In the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, artillery was always present in large-scale battles. Whether it was the "imported" Portuguese cannon or the self-produced mighty general cannon, it was never absent in the later period of the Ming-Jin war. The Later Jin Dynasty reversed its decline after it captured a group of craftsmen such as Liu Han, supported the casting of artillery, and after Kong Youde surrendered, the number of artillery it owned gradually surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty...
Unfortunately, after the peace was restored, the Qing Dynasty, although it also relied on red cannons to quell rebellions and fight against Tsarist Russia, but... compared with the West, it gradually adapted to the "weak chickens pecking at each other" in terms of firearms, became slack in development, and even actively suppressed, ultimately starting the modern history of the Chinese nation in a humiliating way.
And now, because Bai Tu strongly advocates the "breaking the wall" siege mode, both the generals leading the troops in tactics and Gongkoucheng in technology are trying their best to develop in the direction advocated by Bai Tu...
Blast furnace iron smelting is already well established, reverberatory furnace copper smelting is still under testing, and the pouring steel method was applied on a small scale last month!
Although reflected in the application in war, there is still a need for accumulation, and the initial artillery is not as good as the Huihui artillery. With the existing "Baigong Cannon", it will take a longer time for the artillery to have practical significance, but... Bai Tu can already look forward to the emergence of the Mercy Wall-breaking Cannon.
As for Echeng right now...
Even though the city walls of Chengji's world are taller and stronger because of the existence of armor, and have the added bonus of public defense, for a city the size of Echeng today, the Baigong Cannon can be used to slowly "knock it open"!
In the evening of the day when the camp was set up, Sun Ce, who had collected enough stone bullets , first concentrated his fire at the city wall in front of him.
Huge stone bombs hit the city wall. Although the light golden barrier of people's hearts reduced a lot of the force, the defenders on it still felt a slight "vibration" under their feet.
And I don’t know if it’s an illusion, it was only the first round, which lasted for a quarter of an hour, and it seemed... at the end, the shaking of the city wall was more obvious than at the beginning!
Sun Ce had no intention of attacking. After smashing the cannon, he pushed the Baigong Cannon back, arranged for a night watch, and the whole army rested...
The next morning, they continued to collect stones - this was also the weakness of the catapult compared to artillery. Stone bullets needed weight to be powerful, and transportation was extremely inconvenient, so they relied heavily on collecting stone bullet materials on the spot.
In comparison, the original solid bullets and shotgun shells of artillery, although more expensive, but... at least it is much easier to transport solid iron bullets the size of a fist than to transport stone bullets.
After being bombarded at noon and in the evening, Huang Zu finally could not bear it any longer. At midnight, he sent troops to attack from the south gate and the west gate at the same time, intending to launch a night raid on Sun Ce's army stationed in the southwest!
However, Zhou Yu had expected that under such circumstances, the defender of Echeng would definitely seek to attack at night to repel the enemy, and given Huang Zu's temperament, he would not be able to endure for a few days, so he had already arranged a group of scouts...
Seeing that the sneak attack turned into an open battle, Huang Zu still wanted to rely on the physical advantage of his soldiers to force an attack - he also knew in his heart that tonight was the last chance, and Sun Ce would not let down his guard after that!
At least now, the defenders of Echeng had rested during the day, while most of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's troops had just had their rest interrupted and were rushed into a state of combat.
And... at least if it's a night attack, it will be mainly a frontal charge. It's impossible for both sides to deploy their troops in the dark. Even if they prepare in advance, they won't be able to notify the entire army, which makes it easier for the camp to be blown up.
However, Huang Zu obviously underestimated the huge gap between the two sides, from generals to soldiers. It was also a night battle and they also could not get real-time command. The grassroots officers below the rank of Du Bo could only fight on their own. Moreover, the other side obviously did not get enough rest... but Sun Ce's army still won a great victory!
Huang Zu's sneak attack was not enough to blow up Sun Ce's army, especially some soldiers who were influenced by "heroic spirit" and turned the defense of the night attack into a charge into battle.
Huang Zu's vanguards Chen Jiu and Deng Long were both killed by , and then they chased Huang Zu all the way back to the west gate of Echeng, only to be forced back by the defenders on the city wall with bows and arrows!
Although Huang Zu saved his life, Echeng not only suffered heavy casualties, but also suffered a further decline in morale...
Since the two major defeats at Mianyangkou, the morale of the Jiangxia soldiers has been at a low point. "Fortunately" Huang Zu has always had experience in dealing with military defeats, so he was able to appease them reluctantly.
However, after this night attack, Huang Zu was no longer able to organize another attack - the overall morale had already determined that the defenders of Echeng would probably collapse if they left the city.
It seems that all they can do is be lazy every day, and shoot some weak and disorderly arrows when Sun Ce pushes the Baigong cannon into the range. However... out of the sixty Baigong cannons, there are still fifty-one left after four days!
Most of them were due to their own problems... After being used too much, some small parts were damaged. Although they could still be used after being disassembled and put together, three aircraft were still lost - the arm shaft was too easy to be damaged, so some extra spares should be brought in the future... Zhou Yu made a note of it.
If we can't rush to the front of the formation, we won't be able to effectively destroy these big guys with arrows alone.
Although Huang Yueying did not appear again, she sent the design of a city defense catapult to Huang Zu through the Huang family's retainers.
But... given the current situation in Echeng, it is too late to build, and it is difficult to go out of the city to obtain materials.
Perhaps it was precisely because she knew that she could no longer stop her uncle's defeat that Huang Yueying did not want to see her uncle...
As Huang Chengyan said, since Huang Zu has chosen his own path, he must pay for it himself!
On the fourth day, a corner of the Echeng city wall collapsed...
Sun Ce led the way and rushed forward in his Yingzi.
Although the space at the bottom was only wide enough for three people, it was too late for people in the city to block the gaps in the collapsed city wall. In fact... because the morale of the defenders on the city wall was almost collapsed after the wall collapsed, the arrows they shot seemed a little sparse.
On the contrary, on Sun Ce's side, many of his generals, especially those leading the charge now, were mostly soldiers from Wujun, and many of them had served under Sun Jian.
On the one hand, he was avenging his former master, and on the other hand, he was inspired by Sun Ce's "heroic spirit", which made him even more motivated!
Sun Ce led his horse (A) and charged towards the gap. Although some defenders overflowed the defense, they were no match for Sun Ce. Within five steps, no one of the defenders could get close to him, and the battle line was pushed back to the gap in the city wall.
A young general in green armor behind him also perked up his spirits. While Sun Ce was almost suppressing the defenders in the gap by himself, he jumped and drilled into the city first!
It can be seen that this young general has very young facial features, a bit more immature than Ding Feng when he first went to the battlefield in Qu'a, but he is already wearing gilded armor.
Seeing someone charging in, the defenders in the city who had gathered at the gap suddenly became chaotic, and no one cared about the heavy objects they were pushing in to block the gap.
"Hahaha, Gongji, well done!" Sun Ce laughed and praised the young general. At the same time, his fighting spirit surged. Twenty-eight riders rushed out from the surroundings and completely broke through the defense at the gap in the city wall.
More and more Jiangdong troops were pouring into the city. After seeing this, Huang Zu ignored the advice of his deputy general and turned back to his residence...
