Thousands of Xingyang troops surrendered, and thousands of prisoners were driven overnight to collect soil to fill the city. The next day, a simple earth ramp was paved in front of the east wall of the North City.
The earth ramp was not compacted, and the earth and rocks on both sides would peel off and slide from time to time. The space in the middle for soldiers to climb the city was only three to four feet wide, and the slope was very steep.
However, compared with simple ladders, hooks and other equipment, a ramp can not only arrange more at the same time, but also more smoothly drive the soldiers to attack the city. The soldiers can walk with heavy shields and can also withstand the impact of the city wall rolling down.
Hammering wood, rolling stone.
When climbing the ladder, even if the generals could barely carry a heavy shield, they would not be able to withstand the hammering logs weighing dozens or even hundreds of kilograms, and the rolling stones would hit them directly from the top of the city.
After Si Shi, in addition to continuing to drive prisoners and civilians to transport soil to the city and widen the ramp, Cao Shili also formally transferred the Lanzhou Han army, which had rested for a day, to the front line, and took turns with the Xingyang surrender army to attack the city through the ramp.
On the Gong County defenders' side, in addition to rushing to build a climbing road inside the city wall, they also built four arrow towers with beams on the inside of the city wall overnight, and used wooden planks to lay a narrow plank road between the arrow towers and the city wall for the soldiers to advance and retreat.
The city wall is very narrow, and the city road between the inner walls is only one foot and five feet wide.
Once the enemy is asked to storm the city wall, the defenders suppress the enemy from both sides of the wall, and rush to build a narrow climbing road from the inside of the city wall to reinforce the city. The intensity of the troop investment is quite limited, and it is easy to be suppressed by the enemy.
The arrow towers and the city walls are connected with beams and wooden planks. Even if four or five more armored soldiers are placed in each arrow tower, a small group of elite soldiers can be dropped directly onto the city wall as quickly as possible at critical moments to defeat the enemy.
Suppress it.
From now on, the two sides did not have many tricks to use. They just started fighting again and again around the ramp that was only three to four feet wide and the city wall connected to the ramp.
Outside the city, in addition to Cao Shili driving the Han army in Lanzhou and surrendering in Xingyang, Mo Lihu also organized groups of more elite red cavalry to dismount and wear armor to fight to strengthen the intensity of the attack on the city wall.
Inside the city, on the city wall, the soldiers guarding the mausoleum are mainly used in rotation, but in addition to the Tongbai Mountain soldiers holding crossbows on the archery tower to assist in the battle, when the enemy forces climb the city wall, or the soldiers guarding the mausoleum are beaten, they retreat.
, unable to resist, the Tongbai Mountain soldiers climbed to the city from the arrow tower plank road and the city climbing road to fight.
The development of the battle was just as Xu Huai expected. The soldiers only had time to build a ramp to attack the city. Even if they continued to fill in the soil and widen the area, the offensive area was extremely narrow. There were no other siege weapons to assist them. Even if they briefly captured the city wall again and again,
, Xu Huai, Wang Ju, Guo Junpan and others led the elite soldiers and drove them down the city without mercy.
The soldiers guarding the mausoleum on the long wall of the north city were trembling with fear when they faced the bloody battle for the first time.
Faced with the strong attack by the soldiers regardless of casualties, the formation of the soldiers guarding the mausoleum on the city wall was not tight enough and the position was not stable enough. The grassroots soldiers lacked brave soldiers with the courage to risk their lives and extraordinary strength to block the enemy's attack. Naturally,
There is no way to completely suppress the soldiers outside the city wall.
Once the soldiers were asked to climb the city wall, the position of the tomb-defending army would be squeezed to pieces in the narrow space.
Seeing the paoze around them being chopped down and stabbed to death one by one, and not knowing when the cold arrows would be shot accurately and hard from the crenels, stepping on the sticky and slippery ground soaked in blood, the soldiers guarding the mausoleum were a little more motivated.
If it is not strong, it will be like
The captive soldiers who came in the fierce waves penetrated and defeated them.
However, the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain were always a rock that the soldiers could not break. When they saw that the soldiers guarding the mausoleum could not hold up, they would rush to the top in time.
While the Tongbai Mountain soldiers were guarding the city wall, Yu Ling, Zhou Shu, Chen Jin and other generals seized the time to reorganize the positions of the generals guarding the mausoleum, or to replace new troops with new troops and mount the city from both sides to fight alternately.
The soldiers guarding the mausoleum had a chance to breathe and were supported by rock-solid friendly forces. Even if they suffered heavy casualties, they could barely hold on and disintegrate the Japanese offensives one after another.
In troubled times, human life is as worthless as grass, and the same is true in wartime.
Under the close surveillance of the red cavalry and Cao Shili's brutal drive, there was only one siege channel, and tens of thousands of horses took turns attacking the city day and night, unaware of the passage of time.
The corpses of those killed in battle, regardless of friend or foe, as well as those who were seriously injured and could not be saved, were thrown directly to the city. They were buried under the soil that was constantly being transported to the city and became part of the ramp. The retreating soldiers were broken up and reorganized.
Ordinary soldiers and even lower-level military officials have no idea how many casualties have accumulated. They just know that the familiar people around them are constantly decreasing and disappearing, and finally it is their turn.
The fierce battle lasted until noon on the 13th before stopping for a while. Cao Shili stared at the rock-solid Gongxian city wall with blood-red eyes, his disheveled beard and hair exposed from the iron helmet, and his thin face looked indescribably haggard.
Before he led his troops to attack the city of Gong County, he had made psychological preparations regardless of casualties, but he did not expect that Gong County would be so difficult to conquer. He could not conquer it regardless of casualties.
At this time, the craftsmen of the camp built the first trebuchet. The defenders had already set up two trebuchets before noon, and threw the round stone bullets weighing hundreds of kilograms on the slope or left and right.
, making it difficult to continue the siege.
In addition to Mo Lihu, the Eastern Route Army's general in charge of the flank battlefield, Bor Chijin, also came to Gong County in person before noon. After seeing the brutality of the siege, he recognized that it was impossible to capture Gong County with a sudden force attack, and finally agreed with Cao Shili
Retreat and rest.
Cao Shili knew more clearly that there was no way to continue the fight. Both Borchijin and Molihu agreed to withdraw their troops and rest, and even submitted a report to the commander stating whether he had merit or demerit, but he could not reconcile himself to it no matter what.
Counting from the time they arrived at the city, it does not include the prisoners captured from the surrounding villages and driven to the city to transport soil, the Xingyang surrender army, whose human life was completely ignored by him, and the Han Dynasty in Lanzhou that Cao relied on to gain a foothold.
The army dropped more than 1,400 corpses in front of Gong County in six days.
The number of injured people exceeds this number, and a large number of injured people are destined to be unable to be rescued.
Cao Shili estimated that the final loss of the Lanzhou Han army in front of Gong County may exceed 2,400 to 500 people. In addition to the losses suffered in the storming of Zhengzhou and the previous southward attack on the city and fortresses, the 8,000 Lanzhou Han army he led southward
The immediate reduction in staff would be more than half, so how could he be willing to do so?
However, what can he do if he is unwilling?
At this time, Gong County was not a city that could be conquered by force in three to five days.
And even though Bo Chijin and Mo Lihu both said that he had merit and no fault, Cao Shili also knew very well that the commander would reward them for their hard work at most.
Hulao Pass, where Yue Hailou led his troops, was responsible for the attack. As a military town, there was a general (xiang) stationed in the Imperial Guard and more than 2,000 soldiers. The defenders were no less than those in Gong County. However, in the end, Yue Hailou spent five
Captured in one day.
Not many people in the East Route Army Command knew Xu Huai's name, so no one would think that Gongxian County was much more difficult to defeat than Hulao Pass. They might even think that Hulao Pass had a better reputation and was easier to defend due to its terrain.
attack.
The current situation is that it is more important for Yue Hailou and his troops to establish a strategic position in time. Hulao Pass seems to be easier to defend and harder to attack. However, they spent more time and paid more than double the casualties but failed to capture Gong County in the end.
, who has merit and demerit, is there any room for him to argue?
…………
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The Red Guards cavalry formed a tight formation. Seeing the siege infantry slowly withdrawing to the camp in the distance, everyone on the tower finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, the severe situation does not allow them to truly relax.
Defending the city is of course much easier than attacking it; the defensive surface is relatively narrow, which makes it easier for the defenders to rotate the defense more fully. However, nearly 500 people of the defending army were killed in this battle, and with the injuries and disabilities, the number of troops was reduced to more than 1,000.
people.
The mausoleum guarding army, plus the county sword archers and rural soldiers recruited from surrounding villages, only had a total of 3,000 troops during the war. With such a high attrition rate, how much combat power was left to squeeze, Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong, etc.
People's hearts are really beating like a drum.
More importantly, not only did Yanshi in the southwest fall, Hulao Pass also fell yesterday.
It’s less than forty miles from Hulao Pass to the foot of Gongxian City.
At this time, Cao Shili withdrew his troops from Gong County City and retreated to the camp outside. At this moment, a new large group of troops slowly came from the direction of Hulao Pass. Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong and others did not know the cruel attack.
How long will the war in the city continue?
However, the minds of Zhang Xin, Qian Shangduan and others have stabilized. Ling Jian, Yu Gong, Yu Zheng, Han Wende, Zhou Shu, Chen Jin and others took turns to go to the front line to supervise the battle as defenders, sometimes even
They led their personal guards to attack, but after experiencing this battle, their feelings were even more profound.
Although the mausoleum guarding army suffered heavy casualties, at every critical moment, Tongbai Mountain soldiers stepped forward in time, and the mausoleum guarding army generals did not collapse.
After experiencing the initial panic and panic, the grassroots officers and soldiers of the mausoleum guarding army were not frightened by the casualties, or maybe they were driven against the city wall again and again, and became insensitive, and the formation naturally became stable.
Get up and advance and retreat in a more orderly manner.
Among the two or three thousand soldiers, even if most of them are weak and follow the crowd, there is definitely no shortage of brave and bloody people.
The cruel and bloody war is the most effective selection. These people stand out. Even if they are selected to serve only as the most basic military officials for the time being, they are more popular and supported by the soldiers at the bottom. After experiencing such tragic casualties, the backbone of the tomb guarding army will
The backbone actually becomes stronger and stronger.
The more we fought, the more organized we became, and the casualties became more controllable. Even from yesterday to today, we have repelled several strong attacks by the Japanese soldiers, and there were no casualties among the defenders.
Ling Jian, Yu Gong, Yu Zheng, Han Wende and other generals also believed at this time that as long as the city was not besieged or besieged for a long time, as long as there was sufficient food in the city, and as long as strong men could be continuously selected from the city residents to supplement the shortage of troops, the opponent's soldiers could be defeated.
If they had one or two more horses and if they besieged the city and built a few more climbing roads, they would still be able to defend Gong County.
