She Feixiong, Deng Yu, and Wang Hui climbed to the top of the city, only to see thousands of Huaidong soldiers coming out of the camp behind the trench.
On the previously empty long trench, the Huaidong Army also used trench bridge trucks to temporarily build more than ten trench bridges, each more than three feet wide, as passages for troop dispatches.
She Feixiong built a river defense fort without digging an outer trench. Once an outer trench was dug, the protection of the fort was actually very limited, and the defenders had no other way to counterattack except through the city gate, which was actually more beneficial.
The Huaidong Army advanced directly to the city.
The Jiahe Defense Fortress did not have an outer trench. As the Huaidong Army approached the city, they had to build a moat to surround the Jiahe Defense Fortress inside to restrict the defenders from leaving the fort for counterattacks.
Since the current heavy-duty catapult crossbows had a range of 400 steps or more, the Huaidong Army could only build trenches 400 steps away to advance against the river defenses.
Several strong villages were built behind the trenches, and a small number of elite soldiers were stationed in them to prevent the defenders crossing the river from crossing the trenches at night for sneak attacks, or to drive the people to fill in the trenches.
The main force of the Huaidong Army entering the front line was mainly stationed in the front base camp more than a thousand steps away from the trench.
The Huaidong Army wanted to attack the Jiahe defense fort, and its troops and horses had to be mobilized from the barracks in front of them, and they should advance to the trenches and line up in formation to make final preparations before the attack.
They were only about 400 steps apart from each other, and She Feixiong could clearly see what was happening behind the trench.
When they arrived at the head of the south city, thousands of soldiers and horses from Huaidong had already left the camp and lined up behind the trenches. The shield chariots were in front to cover the arrow stones and cover the front wing of the infantry formation.
Spearmen and crossbowmen formed a formation behind the trench.
Different from the traditional formation method, Huaidong's generals gathered in a combat unit of 60 soldiers from the first capital team, so it can be quickly calculated that the number of soldiers used by Huaidong in this attack on the city was about 3,000, which was Huaidong's army.
The organization of the armored soldiers of the East 1st Brigade - at this time they mainly protected the trench bridge used to send troops to advance to the city.
Behind the formation, there were nearly two thousand soldiers pushing more than a hundred small vehicles with small wheels on bases. They pulled out the waterproof varnish, revealing arrow troughs or strings, and war weapons such as bed crossbows and scorpion crossbows coming from the cannon tips. These war weapons
The soldiers were still pushing forward, and the heavy ammunition carriers loaded with stone bullets and crossbows were dragged by oxen and horses, leaving deep ruts in the rain-soaked mud.
The Huaidong Army had about twenty heavy catapults set up in a strong village behind the trench the day before yesterday. When it rained, they were covered with waterproof tarpaulins. At this time, the rain stopped and the wind stopped, and the waterproof tarpaulins were removed.
The five- to six-foot tall pole points directly to the sky, like the treetops of a distant forest.
Only generals who have seen the power of Huaidong's heavy catapult crossbows know how ferocious the erect pole is.
The Huaidong Army had hundreds of armored cavalry on both wings, and the sound of their horses neighing was carried by the wind. The Huaidong Army's cavalry came out to form an array, mainly to prevent them from sending troops out to fight back.
The Huaidong Army, which was arrayed behind the trenches, did not carry ladders, city climbing vehicles, nest vehicles and other annexed war equipment out of the camp for the time being. She Feixiong knew that Huaidong was using the advantage of war equipment to destroy many of their defenses at the top of the city.
Before the establishment of the facility, for the time being, we would not directly push it to the base of the city and carry out bloody siege by ant attack!
But She Feixiong was not at ease.
War weapons all have a service life. For example, those catapult crossbows that are used to throw stone bullets weighing forty or fifty kilograms to a distance of four or five hundred paces are extremely worn during operation. No one wants to do anything except calibrating the firing range.
He would be so extravagant that he would fire two stone bullets for fun.
She Feixiong knows how big the gap between the two sides is in terms of weapons.
The Huaidong Army's large war weapons above the bed crossbow have an effective range of up to 300 steps. The large scorpion crossbow and tip crossbow can directly attack the city head here from behind the trench.
Huaidong's heavy-duty stone-throwing crossbow, which only requires a dozen people to operate, can throw stone projectiles weighing forty or fifty kilograms as far as five hundred steps away. It is the biggest threat to the Jiahe defense blockade.
If the Zhejiang and Fujian armies wanted to throw such heavy stone bombs 500 steps away, the catapult crossbow they built was much larger than imagined, and even required two to three hundred people to operate it at the same time. In order to place such a catapult crossbow,
To kill the enemy, you still need a space of two hundred steps deep.
Even if such a catapult crossbow could be made, there would not be room for it on the city wall, and not many could be placed behind the fortified city wall. However, there were actually twenty heavy catapult crossbow poles exposed in several small camps behind the trenches in Huaidong.
So many.
The Huaidong soldiers who went out to fight lined up behind the trenches. There were sections of fences erected behind the trenches themselves, which provided the most basic protection in advance for the Huaidong Army formations arrayed behind the trenches.
At such a long distance, the only things that could be attacked by the defense side were the four large catapult crossbows behind the city wall, and the only three-bow crossbows placed under the war tent at the top of the city.
No matter what, it's not time to show weakness yet.
She Feixiong waved his hand and ordered the garrison at the top of the city to temporarily hide under the war tent to avoid the stone bullets and giant arrows that were about to be thrown by Huaidong, which were as dense as a swarm of locusts.
After pushing the weapon to the crenel, he ordered the catapults behind the city wall to remove the waterproof tarpaulin and prepare to counterattack.
At this time, the sun was slightly tilted, and a rainbow appeared in the sky after the rain. From behind the trench, stone bullets were like an imminent rain. They were first thrown at the Jiahe River defense blockade in bits and pieces, and then gradually became denser.
The accuracy of the sling crossbow was limited at first. Only a few stone bullets landed on the city head, and more landed inside or outside the city head or directly hit the city wall.
Falling in front of the city wall, mud and water splashed.
It hit the front of the city wall. Standing under the war tent, She Feixiong and others could feel the city wall trembling under their feet and howling in pain. It made people wonder if Huaidong's stone-throwing crossbow had hit multiple times at the same impact point.
After a few times, the city wall will completely crack.
The stone bullets weighing more than dozens of kilograms hit the city head and the war tent. The war tent made of rows of logs could only support one or two hits before falling apart.
A stone bullet that falls behind the city wall can cause a large area of the houses in the fortress to collapse in one go; if a person is unlucky, a stone bullet can directly smash him into a pulp.
Only two rounds of stone bullets passed by, and a catapult placed behind the city wall was completely smashed to pieces!
"It's dangerous at the top of the city. The young marshal should go to the watchtower behind to hope for a fight!" He saw that a war shed on the left was collapsed by stone bullets. Dozens of guards were killed and injured instantly, making Deng Yu feel that it was made of rows of logs.
War tents are also very unsafe.
The Huaidong stone-throwing crossbow has a heavy object at the end of the tip, which acts as the force of the tip. The weight is constant, so it can be calibrated and adjusted when it is fired - there will be more and more dense stone bullets next.
, will hit directly on the city head.
Deng Yu was not a person who was greedy for life and afraid of death, but a gentleman would not stand under a dangerous wall. There was no need for him and She Feixiong to stand on the city wall and bet that the stone bullets fired from Huaidong would not fall on their heads.
superior.
Among the stone bullets, there were also clay pots thrown in, and one of them landed on the war shed above She Fei Xiong's head.
The can of broken water leaked out, and a few drops fell on Wang Hui's helmet. Wang Hui stretched out his hand to touch his nose and smelled it, and said in surprise: "Is it water?"
"No, the Huaidong Army is calibrating with water cans. Then they will inevitably throw kerosene cans over. Marshal, you can't stay here any longer!" Deng Yu wanted to signal the guards to drag She Fei Xiong off the city wall.
go.
Although some wet blankets and piles of river sand were prepared at the top of the city to deal with Huaidong's fire oil tank tactics, the protection was still insufficient.
They could see that Huaidong soldiers and horses fired clay pots for scorpion crossbows - Huaidong scorpion crossbows were more accurate than their heavy sling crossbows. As long as the shooting range was calibrated, if they looked for She Fei Xiong to supervise the battle here, then they would
There will be a dense amount of fire oil cans thrown at you when you come down.
Surrounded by the guards, She Fei Xiong had no choice but to retreat to the top of the city. As soon as She Fei Xiong reached the bottom of the city and before he could climb up the watchtower behind the city wall, seventy or eighty fire oil cans were thrown at the top of the city where he had just stood.
, broke into pieces one after another; many fire oil cans also crossed the city wall and hit both sides of Neihao.
Looking at the black viscous oil flowing out of the can, She Feixiong frowned slightly - it took them a long time to figure out what this oil was.
The Huaidong Army dug kilns to smolder charcoal. In addition to smoldering coal, they also produced black viscous oil. The Huaidong army called it coal paste. Not only was it difficult to extinguish the fire, but the smoke was also toxic.
Irritation to eyes and throat.
Huaidong uses a large amount of smoldering coal, so the output of coal paste is also very large, which makes Huaidong's unrestrained use of fire oil tanks and becomes the biggest headache for the Zhejiang and Fujian troops. When She Feixiong and others went up to the watchtower,
Under the cover of sword and shield soldiers, a dozen Huaidong archers came to the foot of the city, fired rockets, ignited the ointment on the city head, and burned the city head, which was more than ten feet wide, into a sea of flames.
The guards at the top of the city took sand to extinguish the fire, but the Huaidong Army continued to throw kerosene from behind the ditch to set the fire. Unfortunately, dozens of soldiers were still stained by kerosene, burned and left wailing.
The billowing black smoke from the fire shrouded the entire city, irritating the soldiers to tears and coughing, and blocking their vision. It was even more difficult to avoid the stone bullets and mud pellets thrown in the air, causing casualties.
The more it is, the harder it is to control.
She Feixiong was weeping blood in his heart, so he could only ask more soldiers to withdraw from the city for the time being, and then go up to the city to resist when Huaidong's soldiers and horses pressed down on the city.
*************
Ao Canghai stood on the specially-made high cart and had an unobstructed view of his own formation and the garrison at the top of the city.
The upstream dam mouth is closed today. After the river is cut off, the water level will drop. It is undoubtedly wishful thinking to think that the guards in the river defenses will not notice it.
Shefei Xiong is within the Jiahe Defense Blockade and has three choices.
The first is to launch a defensive counterattack and destroy the Huaidong Army's front trench defense line. The Jiahe River Dam in the upper reaches of Shanxi will naturally be exposed to the attack range of the Zhejiang and Fujian Army. If the dam is destroyed in advance, the Jiahe River Defense Blockage will naturally be eliminated.
Then they were threatened by the Hanging Lake upstream. However, the Huaidong Army had 30,000 elite soldiers behind the trenches of the front line. The Zhejiang and Fujian Army had only 20,000 troops in the Jiahe Defense Fortress. They wanted to go out and fight back, and they succeeded.
East wishes.
The second is to strictly defend and defend, betting that the hanging lake created by the Huaidong dam will not have much impact on the Jiahe defense blockade. The Zhejiang and Fujian Army's Jiahe River defense blockage in the south of Hengshan was hastily built. Although it was reinforced later, it
The main purpose was to strengthen the southern city and its two wings, which were vulnerable to direct land attack by the Huaidong Army. The wall near the river was in a blind spot that the Huaidong Army could not attack directly. The inner side had always been a blind spot for the Zhejiang and Fujian Army to strengthen city defense, but it was exactly the front that was exposed to water.
Even if the Jiahe defense fortification was built to be impregnable and able to withstand water attacks, the Shanxi River would dry up and the riverbed would bottom out. The ordinary soldiers in the fortification would know that Huaidong had built a dam and a suspended lake upstream to flush the city with water.
How can we defend the defense with peace of mind when we are worried?
The third option available to Shefei Xiong is to take advantage of the time when Huaidong is building a dam to store water, decisively abandon the Jiahe defense blockade and retreat to Hengshan and Shangrao. Although this move will also severely damage the morale of the Zhejiang and Fujian troops, it can at least preserve their strength.
, using Shangrao, and even the long internal line from Shangrao to the Ganjiang River, to entangle and delay with Huaidong, waiting for the situation on the northern line to change.
The people in Huaidong are not afraid that She Feixiong will lead his troops out of the defense fort to launch a counterattack or defend the Jiahe defense fort. They are afraid that She Feixiong will seize the opportunity and abandon the Hengshan defense line. There must be an offensive to stick the defenders in the Jiahe defense fort, or at least cut them off.
Only by lowering one of She Fei Xiong's arms can the pressure be reduced for the battle ahead.