After Yingzhou entered March, the rain was particularly dense, like smoke and fog, just like being in a swampy land in the south of the Yangtze River, and the land in Yingzhou became muddy.
According to common sense, such a climate is extremely unfavorable for attacking a city.
The continuous rainy weather not only made it difficult for men and horses to advance and retreat on the battlefield, but also made the transportation and storage of materials more difficult.
In addition to crossbows, sling crossbows and other war weapons are also less powerful than before due to moisture.
The Jiaopi defenders were secretly happy and looking forward to it. They hoped that there would be more rain this spring, and it would be best to continue with the rainy season in early summer. In this way, they would be more confident to defend until the autumn and until the ice blocked Yingshui again.
Season, guard until the moment when the red cavalry sweeps across the Hehuai Plain and is invincible.
However, the Jiaopi defenders seriously underestimated the determination of the Dai Viet generals to attack the city and the Sikong Mansion's ability to deal with rainy weather and muddy terrain.
The current world's means of coping with rainy weather and muddy terrain are relatively limited.
When building post roads and sites, clay, lime, river sand and other materials are mainly used to fully mix, then the roadbed is raised and tamped layer by layer, supplemented by corresponding drainage measures. Usually three?????????????
??It can be soaked without fear of rain for five years; more advanced is to boil and stir the juice of Millet Spatholobus or glutinous rice into it, and the rammed soil layer can even last for hundreds of years without collapsing.
Of course, Sikongfu uses sleepers and rails to lay plank roads, which is superior to traditional post roads.
Even before March, Sikong Mansion had laid a number of double-track plank roads combined with river terminals between Jiaopi and Huaichuan. Together with special heavy-duty carriages, it ensured that the scale of material transportation to the front line could be guaranteed in rainy days.
More than 100,000 stone.
Of course, the construction of rear transportation channels between the former army camp and the Huaichuan and Yongjin rivers is relatively easy to overcome.
After all, the strength of the soldiers and horses invested by the Sikong Mansion outside Jiaopi is far superior to that of the defenders. In addition to laying rail planks and repairing the original post roads, there is no need to worry about being harassed by the enemy; they can even organize manpower to quickly dredge some shallow areas.
Even if the narrow river can only pass small boats with awnings, it can greatly improve the transportation capacity between the front army camp and the rear.
However, on the battlefield between the former army camp and the enemy camp, how to overcome rainy weather and muddy terrain obstacles is a problem that the siege army must rack their brains to overcome.
The rail plank road, which requires the cooperation of special heavy-duty carriages to maximize its effectiveness, is definitely not suitable for opening up passages for troops on a battlefield that is under the threat of enemy counterattacks and war equipment; against the threat of enemy war equipment, bows and crossbows,
It is obviously unrealistic to pour a truckload of Sanhe soil onto the battlefield and compact it layer by layer - the area where the two sides engage is too open.
In addition to green bricks, gravel and wood, the residue left by coal combustion is a superior and much cheaper bedding material.
In addition to large-scale mining of charcoal, iron-making, and porcelain burning in recent years, Beijing and Xiang have also promoted coal to replace traditional firewood for daily cooking and heating among the people in the walled cities. I don’t know how much coal residue has accumulated over the years. The Construction Department has also been
Try to recycle waste and use coal residue to pave roads.
In late November last year, the Sikong Mansion was not satisfied with just annihilating the enemies of Huaichuan. It decided to carry out larger-scale and more thorough military mobilization. It decided to launch a comprehensive battle of Yingzhou and organized manpower to move tens of thousands of ships of cinders from Huaiyuan in advance.
Xinyang, Biyang, Yunyang and other places were first transported to the banks of the Yongjin River and accumulated there.
After launching a raid on Ruyin City two years ago, the Sikong Mansion was in constant trouble.
Continuously organized vehicles and ships to transport the cinders to the Jiaopi front line, dumped them on the battlefield, and paved hundreds of troop dispatch channels to attack the enemy base.
From Jiaopi to Quanhe, the frontal width of the defender's camp was more than thirty miles.
In addition to the two main cities of Jiaopi and Quanhe, the defenders built twelve strong fortresses as the first level of defense between the two cities.
If we want to forcibly remove these fortresses that are connected to each other and serve as horns, how can we reduce the number of channels for sending troops to engage in battle?
Without it, there would be no way to take advantage of Sikong Mansion's military advantage of doubling the enemy's strength.
Even though the defenders had already dug trenches outside each camp as a barrier, in order to ensure that rainwater could be drained out in time in rainy weather, the former army did not simply fill up the trenches, but used hundreds of specially-made trench bridge frames.
The passage to march.
The trench bridge vehicle is also known as the trench bridge, "flying bridge", and "flying river". During the Warring States Period, it was commonly used to attack cities and fortifications to cross obstacles such as trenches and moats outside the walls. They were used by siege armies.
Motorized bridge.
It's just that the trench bridge cars used by Sikong Mansion for the former army not only have fine iron frames, but also the pallets on the bridge deck are riveted with thin iron plates.
Although the body is much heavier than the traditional wooden bridge car, this is also done intentionally. In order to be able to be put into the trench, it will not be afraid of small groups of enemy troops coming out of the city and capable of destroying or moving it away. It can be used repeatedly, which is quite important.
A semi-fixed bridge was built in front of the enemy's walled city to advance towards the city.
At present, other war weapons provided by Sikong Mansion to the front line are made of iron as much as possible. After thin iron plates can be rolled on a large scale, the problem of portability of iron war weapons has been fundamentally solved.
In addition to having sufficient structural strength and being resistant to ordinary arrow fire and stone bombardment, iron war weapons have become more effective than traditional wooden war weapons after both the enemy and ourselves have become accustomed to throwing pyrotechnics cans on a large scale on the battlefield.
Ripe cowhide is fireproof, which is really superior.
Currently, the cave-house chariots used by Sikong Prefecture on the battlefield are solid at the top and empty at the bottom. Soldiers can hide in them and follow the chariot to the enemy's walls. Basically, they can avoid attacks from crossbows, trebuchets, and fire oil tanks.
Before the generals advance into the enemy's city with the help of war machines such as catapults and carts, small and medium-sized war machines such as catapults and tower carts can move to a closer distance. They can attack the enemy troops on the top of the city from a high position or nearby, and the enemy troops can be deployed on the inside of the city wall.
The slinging equipment can be used to completely blockade a certain section of the enemy city, so that the troops can complete the battle on the city with smaller casualties.
Although Yuehai Tower has invested a lot of resources in the past year or so to fortify more than 40 camps between Jiaopi and Quanhe, it has also tried its best to strengthen the connection with each other through trenches and protective walls.
communication, mutual reinforcement, and integration, but after all, it is not an eternal city that is thirty miles deep and can mobilize and coordinate internally without obstacles; after all, the resources that the General Administration of the Military and Horse Capital in the West of Beijing can mobilize have long been unable to
It’s on par with Jingxiang.
With the cooperation of a large number of siege equipment, Chen Zixiao took advantage of his military strength to launch a strong attack on the twelve camps on the first level between Jiaopi and Quanhe. At least these twelve camps were in separate formations.
Moreover, the garrisons in these twelve camps are limited, and they are unable to launch an independent counterattack.
If Yue Hailou wanted to move his troops between camps and concentrate his elite troops in a certain camp to prepare for a counterattack, his movements would be slow and there would be no concealment at all.
However, the depth of a single-seat camp is too small and cannot be deployed.
When a large number of heavy trebuchets confront the siege army, they are easily covered by the siege army's light and heavy siege equipment; even if heavy equipment is deployed, it is often destroyed immediately.
In particular, the siege troops threw fire oil cans regardless of the cost, and the fence walls were not afraid of fire after being covered with earth and tamped down. However, the barracks and other buildings in the camp were mostly made of flammable materials such as wood, which would burn to pieces after catching fire.
The more critical point is that although the Han army in the west of Beijing has hoarded a large amount of grain and combat materials in Jiaopi, it is still limited. Together with the Sikong Mansion, they organized a total of more than 400,000 young men in the rear, used tens of thousands of vehicles and ships, and requisitioned dozens of troops.
Compared with the thousands of packhorses or other beasts of burden that continuously transported grain and various combat supplies to the armies, what did the Han army in the west of Beijing hoard in Jiaopi count?
The Han army in the west of Beijing, especially the direct generals brought by Yue Hailou from the Western Army, had betrayed Dayue since they made an alliance with Chi Hu to conquer Yan, and secretly worked for Chi Hu. They were one of the culprits of the disastrous failure of the second northern expedition to Yan.
1. After the Red Husbands officially moved south, they acted as tigers' accomplices and were willing to be the vanguard, burning, killing, and plundering.
They knew that they would never end well if they fell into the hands of Dai Viet. The surrender letter submitted by Sikong Mansion also made it clear that below Yuehai Tower, the commander of Jingxi Battalion and
All generals above centurion must kill war criminals, and only the lowest-ranking military officials and soldiers are allowed to surrender.
As for the lowest level military officials and soldiers, they had been burning, killing, and looting in recent years, and they had no thoughts about Dai Viet. What’s more, many of the old soldiers were Han people from Yunshuo, and they had nothing to do with Dai Viet.
In addition, all the families and children were in Chen, Xu and other places, and they had real interests such as land and expulsion that they were reluctant to give up. Therefore, the Han army in the west of Beijing had a much stronger will to resist than the German army led by Sun Yanzhou and Hu Dangzhou.
On the first day, two camps fell, and three thousand men and horses were killed. Only the last third of the remaining soldiers were captured. The will of the defenders would not be shaken. After all, the casualties of the siege army were not light.
On the second and third days, two more camps fell and were plunged into a sea of fire. Two thousand men and horses were left dead, and almost no one escaped. The defenders felt that this was a small disaster.
On the third, fourth, and fifth days, all the camps were barely defended, but the eight camps on the first floor were all damaged. Yue Hailou mobilized his troops several times to try to counterattack, but they were all met with tenacious snipers. Every day, casualties increased.
All have more than a thousand people.
Although no camp fell in the next few days, the defenders and even the ordinary military officers realized that it was not because the siege army was incompetent, but also because the siege army's attack was not sharp enough.
In fact, the siege army relied on the four camps that they had forcibly captured in the first two days to embed their troops deeply into the depth of the Jiaopi-Quanhe camp. Occupying these four camps facilitated the cross-deployment of more heavy equipment and carried out attacks on the approaching remaining camps.
Attack, in order to achieve the purpose of more effectively consuming the defenders.
At this point, how can the defenders remain unwavering?
Defeats, escapes or surrenders became more and more frequent. In early April, except for Jiaopi and Quanhe, where Yue Hailou and Jingxi General Meng Jie personally led their troops to garrison the two cities, and the cities were not captured, all the other camps were captured and garrisoned there.
Fifty thousand soldiers and horses were surrendered, captured, killed, or fled in a hurry to Jiaopi and Quanhe cities. In total, more than 40,000 people were annihilated.
By early April, Yue Hailou and Meng Jie had only led less than 20,000 remnant troops to occupy Jiaopi, and Quanhe was still resisting.
As the fortresses were captured one after another, Chen Zixiao also adjusted the company blockades in Jiaopi and Quanhe cities at any time. On the day after the outer enemy camps were completely eradicated, he simultaneously launched a strong attack on two fortified cities about a thousand steps square.
