Influenced by film and television dramas, modern people think that in the ancient siege combat mode, when the enemy arrives, the defense immediately closes the city gate, then shoots arrows, throws stones or pours hot oil; while the siege takes a ladder and gets some trenchers. In fact, although these scenes are indispensable forms in ancient urban offensive and defensive battles, the real battle is much more complicated.

First of all, the offensive and defensive battles are not as hasty as in the TV series, but have strict deployment. The defenders must reconnaissance the enemy situation, check reserves, prepare and manufacture various defense tools, and send messengers to contact surrounding reinforcements. The defense weapons are not just three-piece sets of bows and arrows, stones and hot oil. In the battle of the Central Plains and Central Asia, the Mongolian Yuan not only learned to use siege equipment, but also learned to use siege equipment. Especially after the Mongolian Yuan captured Jiangnan, he accepted the surrendered army of the Song Dynasty and inherited the various remaining weapons and equipment.

The city is a political and economic center that resists the surrounding area, and is also a military fortress. In general cities, arsenals will be set up to reserve a large amount of weapons to prepare for war. This is even more so. The Song Dynasty arsenals not only commonly used weapons such as swords, guns, bows and arrows, armor, etc., as well as long-range heavy weapons such as crossbows, stone throwers, five-pin cannons, and seven-pin cannons. In addition, various firearms such as gunpowder, cerbula cannons, and leather cannons will be stored in large quantities. In addition, fire-fighting equipment such as water tanks, buckets, pumps, and slags will be arranged to prevent fire attacks.

In short, a city's arsenal is like a grocery store. Everything that can be used for war is from the most bulky stone throwing machine to the leather rope, and there will be a large number, especially in a military center where military strategists must fight. It is said that when the Ming army captured Xi'an in the late Yuan Dynasty, more than a hundred crossbows made in the Song Dynasty more than a hundred times ago were placed on the city, which shows the abundant military preparations.

Shouzhou has been a military center for military strategists for thousands of years. On this land, there have been many shocking battles of "the setting sun shines on the big flag, the horse roars and the flutes and flutes"; there are countless loud names here that succeed and defeat the king. The famous "Fengshui Battle" that defeated the most by the Feishui River during the Eastern Jin Dynasty was recorded in the foot of Bagong Mountain outside Shouzhou City.

When Qin destroyed Chu, the two armies fought here. King Ying Zheng of Qin finally broke the capital of Chu, Shouchun, and completed the great cause of destroying the six kingdoms and unifying the world. When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were fighting against Chu, King Liu Bang of Han, cut off the retreat of King Xiang Yu of Chu based on Bagong Mountain, forcing him to defeat and go to Wujiang, and committed suicide to thank the elders of Jiangdong, and eventually became a great cause of the Han Dynasty. The story of "Zhao Kuangyin trapped the Southern Tang Dynasty" is still circulating in the streets and alleys of Shouzhou.

As a city that has been repeatedly destroyed and built, it has been repaired throughout the years. Shouzhou has also formed a royal city based on the Chu King City, with three city defenses, including the inner city and the outer city. Therefore, when the surrounding key points are lost, this city is the last line of defense. Siege is not as simple as in film and television dramas. First, you have to clear the surrounding strongholds before you can reach the bottom of the city wall, and you don’t just set up a ladder and set up a catapult underneath. Both sides will also have fierce catapult battles and earthworks. The real siege battle is much more complicated and tragic than in film and television dramas.

After the Song army crossed the river and made a northern expedition, the main force was drawn, and the two Huaihe Rivers were naturally unable to resist. Therefore, the Second Army went north smoothly until it advanced to Shouzhou. The Yuan army, who received the news, had already made arrangements. After the two sides carried out an ambush and counter-ambush battle outside the city, due to the huge difference in military strength and combat effectiveness, the failed Yuan army gave up the battle on the periphery and instead relied on the city to stand firm and waited for the situation to change.

Liu Zhixue swept the villages and towns around the city and cleared up small groups of resistance forces while conducting reconnaissance. The information obtained showed that after the Yuan army retreated to the city, they immediately recruited Ding Zhuang and distributed weapons to prepare for war. They distributed 7,000 crossbow gunpowder arrows, 10,000 bow gunpowder arrows, 3,000 trunches, and 20,000 leather cannons, and 53 battle towers were built, preparing for unexpected accidents. They also gave 1,000 wooden iron guns and 3,000 pairs of armor to the guards of the upper city. Thirty baskets of trunches were also sent. Five hundred and one hundred bamboo drums were built, and five hundred water tanks were placed on the city to store water to prevent accidents.

Before entering the General's Mansion, Liu Zhixue was just a low-level officer. He participated in the offensive and defensive battle with the Mongol Yuan, so he was naturally aware of the cruelty. So after he found out that the enemy troops in Shouzhou had been ready for perfection, he hesitated and planned to use a long-term siege or launch an attack after making equipment to reduce his casualties.

However, a sage edict from the young emperor forced Liu Zhixue to reconsider his combat plan. The generals also opposed the hasty siege of the city and suggested that they report the truth to His Majesty and request a postponement of the siege. However, Liu Zhixue was not the little officer of the year, but a senior general who stood alone. He could no longer only consider the interests of his own small group, but he had to take into account the overall situation, so he resolutely persuaded the generals to implement His Majesty's orders.

It was said that it was hasty, but in fact, Liu Zhixue tried his best to make up for the shortage of equipment, and planned to use firearms to make up for the shortcomings when there were insufficient equipment, and then launch a siege to reduce casualties of soldiers. They concentrated all the large and small artillery in the army, and based on the early reconnaissance situation, demarcated their respective firing areas and targets, and arranged positions according to the range and performance of the artillery.

After the failure to persuade the surrender, the central army raised a watchtower several feet high, and watched the situation in the city from a high point. He kept informing the arrangement of the enemy to the central army's army. After they calculated the artillery shooting, they then informed the various artillery groups, calibrated the shooting targets, selected the appropriate type of bullets, and calculated the fuze delay time.

"Fire!" After receiving the rewards of the preparations of each department, Liu Zhixue personally issued an order.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The first thing to fire was the Weiyuan artillery. As a medium-sized artillery, this type of artillery is strong and easy to carry, fast arrangement, long range, and high power. It can fire shotguns and live ammunition, and has become the main artillery type of Song army equipment. The army, division and regiment are all equipped, and a military strategy is as many as 100.

The slightly dull roar of the shells flying indicates that the solid bombs fired are torn apart the curtains hanging on the city walls, destroying the dense war sheds and towers on the city walls, and exposing all the city defense facilities. After a round of test firing, the sound of cannons was also concentrated. The curtains used to block cannons and arrows, as powerful tools to "use softness to overcome hardness", may also have a role to deal with stone throwers and crossbows, but in front of the solid shells with faster flight speed and greater impact, it seems like they are just paper-paste walls, easily torn apart, and the belts fly, losing their function.

After the curtains that block the sight were destroyed, the battle sheds on the city wall were exposed. The battlements built with bricks and stones would shatter under the impact of shells. Those huts built with wooden boards for hiding soldiers and storing city defense equipment could not stop the impact of lead bullets. Once hit, they would be crushed to pieces and turn into wooden chips flying all over the sky. The soldiers guarding the city, who had lost their cover, ran around to find new covers, and pressed tightly behind the wall to avoid being hit. Some unlucky people were hit and turned into bloody piles of meat. Even if they were wiped, they would be disabled.

The city tower is a symbol of the "city", showing the majesty and majesty of the city, and also has a military role. The city walls between the city towers are connected to form a solid barrier. The city tower with brick and wood structure is the lookout base, and the command center of the generals guarding the city, and an extremely important shooting base. However, in front of the powerful artillery, its function is not enough. The brick wall behind the ruler was pierced, and the thick pillar was broken. The tall city tower collapsed like a building block after several rounds of concentrated shooting of the artillery.

The crossbows and stone throwers equipped on the city are a huge threat to the siege, and they are naturally also the key targets of artillery. Once exposed, they will attract several artillery care, and they will never give up until they are destroyed. The stone throwers hidden behind the city walls are not safe. Once discovered by the artillery observation post, they will be informed of the artillery in front. They will change into flowering bullets, install delayed fuses, and shoot in the form of shooting. The targets treated with special treatment will not only be destroyed, but also the surrounding soldiers will also be killed by flying shrapnel.

After the exposed city defense facilities were destroyed, the mortars arranged on the front edge began to fire. As the infantry front-line support artillery, they were light in weight and fast in firing, which was easy to transfer and accompany the infantry attack and could kill hidden targets. They were generally equipped to battalions and gangs, and there were more numerous. The flowering bullets they shot exploded on the city and under the city, and those enemy soldiers who avoided the shooting of the Weiyuan artillery were not so lucky this time.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, firearms had begun to be widely used in wars, but they still remained in the original stage, and the launch method was mainly based on human power. Fire caltrops were the original version of grenades, while leather cannons were explosive packs of gunpowder wrapped in animal skins, and could only fight by throwing. The only long-range firearm is the so-called "rocket", which is actually an added medicine pack to surveillance to increase the range, but also because it is difficult to ensure the hit rate and the lethality is not large, it is mainly used for setting fires.

The flowering shells fired by the mortars exploded on the city, which not only caused serious damage to the hiding enemy soldiers, but also ignited the "firearms" stored on the city walls. For a moment, it was like a firecracker stall that was lit, causing a larger explosion. The enemy soldiers under the Song army's artillery did not hurt them, but were injured by their own firearms. The most tragic thing was that there was turbulent oil next to them, and once the thing was stained, it was basically scrapped. Since Shouzhou City was built using the earth slope method, it could transport troops quickly, but because it was a slope, the enemy soldiers hiding under the city had nowhere to hide. Exposed to the bombardment of the mortars, there was a constant cry of screams on the city, with flesh and blood flying everywhere, and the remaining limbs everywhere...

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Chapter completed!