The power of artillery is really unimaginable for a city that has never experienced it before.
Although there were only twenty artillery pieces, the low walls of the Japanese city were difficult to defend, and they were quickly beaten to pieces.
Before the war officially started, the Japanese generals of Bunzen Kingdom were already completely frightened.
He had no choice but to start calling his soldiers and start a defense.
The scattered gravel would prevent the Ming army's cavalry from attacking, and the Japanese side had naturally made up their minds and would never engage in a plain battle with the Ming army.
It was at this time that these Japanese warriors, who had not yet dealt with the Ming army, understood why the city of Kyushu Island was so vulnerable to the Ming army.
Previously, the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was determined not to confront the Ming army head-on. Instead, after the Ming army landed on the island, he constantly urged the guardian daimyo in various places to withdraw their troops.
This incident also caused dissatisfaction among many daimyo. Many people felt that the general was afraid of the Ming army.
Only now did everyone understand how terrifying the Ming army was.
"Sword and Shield Hands, line up, advance!"
As the military order was conveyed, rows of large shields were erected, and they slowly began to approach the Japanese city. The Japanese soldiers on the city wall, seeing that the Ming army had reached the range of the bow and arrow, immediately began to bend their bows and set arrows.
At present, the level of bows and arrows in the Japanese country is still good, and to a certain extent, it is very close to the Ming army.
This is because of the legacy left behind when the Mongolian and Yuan armies conquered the Japanese country a hundred years ago.
Ever since the Mongolian Yuan army was defeated by a hurricane, the people on the Japanese side liked to do most is salvage the Mongolian Yuan equipment.
Bows and arrows and Jiawei are the pinnacle of the development of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. Many Japanese warriors now have traces of the Mongol Yuan Jiawei.
However, the Jiawei Japanese from the Meng Yuan Dynasty cannot be worn directly, and they need to be modified in all aspects.
The reason is very simple, that is the problem of height.
Mongolians have always been tall and round in shape, with an average height of 1.75 meters. This is because the environment in which Mongolians live has resulted in their stature.
And what about the Japanese?
With the name "Japanese", it is natural that he is short in stature.
Since the spread of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese state has believed in Buddhism from top to bottom.
Originally, Buddhism actually forbids eating meat and fish.
Since Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, he did not eat meat.
This article also spread to the Japanese country.
In the year when Wu Zetian began to be regent, Emperor Tenmu of Japan issued a ban on killing animals: "You must not eat the meat of cattle, horses, dogs, shafts, and chickens. There are no other prohibitions. Anyone who violates this will be punished."
Under this ban, cattle, horses, dogs, apes, and chicken are not allowed to be eaten.
If you are vegetarian and do not eat meat, you will naturally not grow taller.
Therefore, the Japanese people's already short stature became even shorter.
At present, the average height of Japanese people is about 1.4 meters.
It is hard to imagine how many 1.4 meter Japanese warriors it would take to defeat a Mongolian man who is 1.75 meters tall, has huge arms and a round waist, and is wearing armor.
It's no wonder that Kublai Khan wanted to attack the Japanese twice. If it weren't for the impact of the hurricane, the Japanese would have no power to fight back.
Even now, the height of the Ming army is generally close to 1.7 meters, which means that it is on average one head taller than the Japanese. Coupled with the powerful military equipment, in a frontal confrontation, the Japanese are almost defeated at the first touch.
Bows and arrows caused some casualties to the Ming army, but the proportion was very small, and they quickly reached the city gate.
The Japanese on the city wall threw stones that had been prepared long ago, causing many casualties to the Ming army.
In the attack and defense of the city wall, the defenders naturally had the advantage. Even if the city gate was broken, the Japanese still left a lot of obstructions, such as large rocks, carriages, etc., to prevent the Ming army from advancing.
"It's quite clever."
Seeing this, Zhu Di said coldly, and immediately ordered the soldiers to return.
In this case, a large number of casualties would be required to seize the city gate. Obviously, the Ming army did not want to bear this loss.
The city gates of the Japanese Kingdom were not as spacious as the Ming Dynasty city. There were more than ten carriages and rocks blocking the gates. Behind them were the Japanese archers and axemen who had been prepared. The Ming army that forced its way through was naturally unable to perform and was attacked.
kill.
It seems very unnecessary to use human lives to fill it.
Therefore, after the army retreated, the auxiliary troops pushed the artillery forward, and the sword and shield men protected the artillery crew.
For the Ming army, artillery clearing the way was a combat method they were already familiar with.
More than a dozen artillery pieces were aimed in the direction of the city gate.
Boom boom boom boom!
With just one salvo, the city gate was blown to pieces.
"Continue, don't stop, these Japanese, I want to see how much stuff they can put away."
Seeing this, King Zhu Fan of Jin roared and issued military orders.
After receiving the order, the artilleryman quickly loaded the artillery shells and began the second round of salvo fire.
The Japanese soldiers on the city wall could only watch helplessly as the Ming army bombarded the city gate.
And at this time, the Japanese had to retreat from the city gate to prevent being killed by cannonballs.
When the second round of artillery was fired, the obstacles under the Bunzen Castle gate were completely shattered, and the powerful force directly lifted everything away.
"Cavalry, charge!
!”
With a loud shout and flags waving, three thousand cavalrymen under Zhu Di rushed directly behind the city gate.
Of course, they did not want to rush into the city directly, but to reach the city gate as quickly as possible and then fight for the city gate.
Seeing this, King Zhu Fan of Jin naturally refused to lag behind. He waved his hand to his adjutants and immediately arranged for his three thousand cavalry to charge all the way.
How powerful are the six thousand feudal prince's personal cavalry?
As the legitimate sons of Zhu Yuanzhang, their personal guards were the best among the elites of the entire Ming Dynasty, and each one of them was a master who could bend a bow and shoot an arrow immediately.
In ancient times, the status of archers in the regular army was very high and they were high-level arms. They could not be used just by picking up a bow.
In the conventional impression, it seems that archers hide behind sword and shield men and shoot arrows to deal long-range damage, and their physical fitness is even much weaker than that of the warriors in the front.
This is an illusion and a typical stereotype.
In ancient times, the only people who could use bows and arrows, besides ordinary hunters, were archers on the battlefield.
Compared to hunters’ homemade bows and arrows, all archers on the battlefield use hard bows.
Although firearms have been popularized in the Ming army, bows and arrows are still important equipment in the army. The status of archers is much nobler than that of fire commanders, including military pay. Archers are also much higher.
Archers who can pull a hard bow are at least physically strong, and their waist strength and arm strength are far superior to ordinary soldiers.
At present, the bows of the Ming Dynasty are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower.
The bow weight of a high-grade bow is one hundred and twenty kilograms, that of a medium bow is eighty to ninety kilograms, and that of a low-grade bow is about sixty kilograms.
The six thousand elite cavalrymen of the Ming Army who are currently charging are all equipped with high-quality bows.
According to elite standards, the average height of these cavalrymen was about 1.78 meters, and they rode tall horses. In the eyes of the Japanese, they were giant-like beings. The intimidating force of the charge alone was enough to scare the Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese generals naturally knew the importance of the city gate. If the city gate was captured, the soldiers in the city would be unable to resist the Ming army, and Bunzen Castle would be completely defeated.
At present, a large number of Japanese troops are swarming at the city gate, trying to resist the Ming army's attack with their flesh and blood.
Fortunately, the city gate was only two feet wide. If there was a direct confrontation, at most four or five cavalry could charge in unison. The Japanese army added wooden shields to prevent the Ming army from charging.
The drum beat of the Ming army suddenly changed from loud and close to dense drum beat.
In this kind of charge, it is impossible for the cavalry to look back at the flag, and shouting is useless. What controls the cavalry formation is naturally the sound of drums.
As the intensive drumbeats sounded, all the Ming army cavalry began to bend their bows and set arrows. A wave of cavalry rushed to the city gate, shot one round and then separated left and right.
Then came the second wave and the third wave.
Dense arrows continued to pour into the city gate like raindrops. Even if the Japanese soldiers had wooden shields to resist, many Japanese soldiers would always be shot and fall to the ground.
About half an hour later, thousands of soldiers were shot to death at the gate of Bunzen Castle.
However, the cavalry side was also exhausted, and the Japanese soldiers on the city wall were also shooting arrows constantly. Although they could not cause any casualties to the elite armored Ming troops, they still had a great impact.
When the cavalry began to withdraw, there was a new round of artillery pressure.
Avoid the Japanese soldiers at the city gate.
Immediately afterwards, the sword and shield men advanced forward, and the soldiers in the back row were lined with spears, following behind.
War in the Cold Weapon Age, if it was not a plain war, especially a siege war, would be dominated by a stalemate.
Forcible siege of a city is generally rare for regular armies, which means a large number of casualties are required.
Because of the restrictions of the city gate, no matter how many armies there are, the only one that can really attack is the wave in front of the city gate.
When fighting in front of the city gate, the arrows fired by the defensive soldiers on the city wall will cause huge casualties.
This is why Zhu Di and Zhu Fan constantly used the tactics of taking turns to gain the opportunity to seize the city gate with minimal casualties.
Cannons cannot be used continuously. After each shelling, a cooling and cleaning process must be carried out.
Otherwise, continuous use will not only reduce the number of times the artillery can be used, but also risk the chamber exploding.
"It should be almost done."
Zhu Fan, who was riding a horse, looked at the exhausted soldiers in front of him after four or five rounds of attacks, and then he spoke.
More than two hours have passed since the siege of the city, and the meals for the auxiliary troops behind are almost ready.
It's already time to eat.
With the sound of drums and the withdrawal of troops, a large number of soldiers disappeared like a tide and began to rest five miles outside Fengshou City.
When the soldiers attacked the city, the auxiliary soldiers would camp in the rear and prepare food.
After such a high-intensity battle, the soldiers were extremely exhausted. Soldiers who had not participated in the battle were on duty to conserve their physical strength, while the remaining soldiers rested.
After all, in terms of numbers, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in Harvest City, so it is obviously unrealistic to attack them all at once.
After eating, rest for half an hour, and then launch the second round of siege in the afternoon.
During this rest period, the wounded soldiers of the Ming Army began to be treated.
According to the latest army ratio, every hundred households must have three military officers under their command.
These doctors have rich experience in trauma and can quickly help soldiers treat wounds and increase their chances of survival.
During the morning's siege, the Ming army's wounded soldiers probably numbered more than a thousand, and the number of dead was less than a hundred.
As for the Japanese soldiers, the casualties were at least 2,000.
For the Ming army, this was a great morale boost.
It doesn't sound like it's like being overthrown directly. In fact, this is already very rare in many cases of siege.
This is a result that can only occur under the pressure of artillery.
Sieges in the cold weapon era were completely different from those in later generations. The difficulty of sieges increased exponentially.
For example, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Wenzheng defended Hongdu with 20,000 soldiers, and Chen Youliang claimed that 600,000 troops besieged Hongdu. Even for 85 days, they were unable to put Hongdu under siege.
Beat them all down.
You must know that Chen Youliang has no shortage of firearms in his hands.
In terms of armaments, Chen Youliang was much richer than Zhu Yuanzhang, and a large number of artillery bombardments were constantly bombarded. Compared with the artillery used to attack Japanese cities now, it was completely different, and they continued to bombard for half an hour without taking a break.
But even so, Hongdu could not be conquered.
But it’s not that Zhu Wenzheng is too strong.
The Mongolian army was powerful enough, what was it like in the Southern Song Dynasty, but to attack Xiangyang City, it took six years to besiege the city.
Before and after Diaoyu City, a tug of war raged for thirty-six years.
It can be said that they beat the babies who were just born in the city until they were middle-aged who had experienced half a lifetime of war.
Even if Zhu Yuanzhang, with Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, and a super luxurious lineup including a large number of early Ming generals, went to besiege Zhang Shicheng's home base of Suzhou, which was at the end of the road, it took ten months of full-scale fighting before winning.
Therefore, historically, if Li Jinglong had not opened the city gate for Zhu Di, and Nanjing City was the capital, Zhu Di would not have been able to break into the city for three to five years, let alone a year and a half.
The siege of the Central Plains Dynasty could not be completed in just a few dozen days or a month or two.
When it comes to preparation, it starts in three months.
However, the situation here in Japan is different.
Zhu Di and Zhu Fan also decided to attack the city after careful planning.
The first is the issue of morale.
Because the current Japanese emperor has surrendered, in the eyes of the Japanese soldiers, since they have surrendered anyway, the morale of the defenders will naturally not be very high.
Secondly, the city walls of Japan were not as high and strong as those in the Central Plains, and were relatively low.
Furthermore, with the assistance of artillery, it is possible to defeat the Japanese soldiers, which is a dimensionality reduction strike.
This is where the confidence of Zhu Di and Zhu Fan lies.
If there were no artillery, there would be no need to consider siege at all.
The siege fortifications alone would delay the arrival of the imperial edict from the capital.
According to the current time, there is not much time left for Zhu Di and Zhu Fan. If Fengqian Castle cannot be captured within fifteen days, they will have no choice but to give up.
In the next ten days or so, they continued to attack in this way, constantly wearing down the Japanese city gates and killing Japanese soldiers.
It wasn't until the twelfth day that the situation changed.