That night in the Tatar camp, the sound of making siege equipment could be heard endlessly, echoing in the empty and silent valley. The defenders at the top of the city also stared blankly, knowing clearly that they were making siege equipment, but they did not
It can't be stopped. A sneak attack is impossible. After last night's attack, the Tatars have obviously strengthened their vigilance on the outside. If they want to attack the camp again, they are afraid of falling into a trap.
However, the Tatar soldiers and horses did not launch an attack at night, which gave the defenders more time to prepare for battle and rest.
Zhang Yanling worked until midnight and then stared in confusion for a while. When the morning light showed, she got up and took Zhao Yuancheng and others to the north city wall. Zhang Yin had already been stationed on the city wall. Zhang Yanling saw that his hair was disheveled, his beard was unkempt, and his eyes were bloodshot.
I know he must have not slept much last night.
"Zhang Yin, how is the situation? Were you okay last night?" Zhang Yanling asked in a deep voice while looking down at the city.
"The Tatars did not attack, but a pack of wolves came in the middle of the night and feasted on the city. It was very noisy." Zhang Yin said with a smile.
Zhang Yanling looked at the corpses scattered around the city. He smelled the stench in his nose and frowned: "The weather is so hot. These corpses will rot soon. The smell is disgusting. We have to think of a way. Rotting corpses will make people sick."
of."
Zhang Yin said: "There is no way to deal with it now. It is impossible for our people to go out of the city to bury the corpse. Moreover, I think this is not necessarily a bad thing. If the Tatars want to attack, don't they have to endure the stench as well? We are at a high place, and they
You have to step on these corpses. They are suffering more than us."
Zhang Yanling smiled and said: "That's right."
Zhang Yanling squinted and looked at the Tatar camp in the valley from a distance. It was too far away to see clearly, but some huge objects had been erected in the open space next to the camp. The Tatars had obviously built a lot of siege equipment last night.
come out.
"Today is the second day. Let the soldiers get ready. The Tatar attack is about to begin." Zhang Yanling said.
Zhang Yin said: "Master Hou, are you sure they will attack again? Isn't it the best choice to wait for reinforcements to arrive?"
Zhang Yanling said in a deep voice: "Batu Meng definitely didn't want to wait too long, otherwise he wouldn't have to spend so much time building siege equipment. He could just wait for the soldiers and horses from the south to arrive and break through the city in one fell swoop. After yesterday's defeat,
, he must be angry. Be prepared. I will go and inspect other city walls."
Zhang Yin nodded and asked, "Where's Brother Chen? Was the bridge on the river demolished last night?"
Zhang Yanling said: "That is a stone bridge. Chen Shiyi spent a lot of effort and led his men all night to smash the piers in the middle. He was very tired. He refused to rest and led his men.
People go along the river bank to see if there is any other place where they can forcibly cross.”
Zhang Yin said: "Thank you for your hard work. But Mr. Hou, the river is actually very shallow. I guess it won't be able to stop the Tatar troops. The Tatars can swim across the water. I heard the soldiers from the border army said that the Dushi River is
The deepest river is only as deep as your chest."
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "I know, this is indeed a problem. But we will see about it when the time comes. We can only take one step at a time now."
At six o'clock, the sound of horns in the northern city resounded through the mountains and fields. The attack of Tatar soldiers and horses began.
On the hillside below the city wall, dozens of horses arrived pulling seven or eight tall siege engines.
"They are catapults, but there are only three of them. The other five are all catapults." Zhang Yin said solemnly.
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "Sure enough, it is quite good to be able to build so many gadgets in one night. The Tatars have tried their best. How can catapults be so easy to build? Three catapults can already create a great threat to us.
."
Zhang Yin nodded and looked down at the city with a frown.
The Tatar infantry lined up in formation and arrived at the top of the hillside amidst the sound of bugles. This time, the Tatars made more than thirty large wooden platoon shields, which were placed in front of the formation. The Tatar soldiers in the rear also carried dozens of long
It turned out that last night they not only built several catapults and climbing vehicles, but also made a large number of wooden rafts and ladders for climbing the city. It was indeed a siege posture.
"Damn it, it looks like their wooden rafts are made of mortise and tenon joints, and there are no ropes visible. Our crossbows can't fight them off," Zhang Yin said angrily.
Zhang Yanling also frowned because he realized that the purpose of making so many large wooden rafts was probably not just to cover the archers shooting arrows at the rear. This thing has wooden legs installed underneath and can be placed on the ground. It looks like a movable
The cabin can protect the siege soldiers at any time.
Three catapults took root two hundred steps away. As the three catapults projected dozens of rapid gravel towards the tower, the battle officially began.
The Tatars still used the old routine. The wooden platoon covered the archers and advanced to a distance of only ten steps, and then a large number of bows and arrows began to shoot towards the top of the city wall. The Tatars' attack area was wider this time. Yesterday they concentrated on attacking the city.
The gate and the city walls dozens of steps wide on both sides. But today, they expanded the entire attack area to a distance of nearly a hundred steps on both sides of the city tower. This is also the widest distance outside the north city of Monolith City that can launch an attack.
Although the city wall is two miles wide, the terrain of the northern city is steep and narrow, and the foothold outside the city is only about 300 paces wide. There are steep hillsides on both sides, making it impossible to stand. Although the Tatars have a large number of soldiers and horses, they want to fully expand
It is impossible. This is of course beneficial to the defender. But in fact, for the Tatars, it is still feasible to adopt a deep echelon attack.
Batu Monk adopted this approach in this attack. The total number of troops participating in the battle was as high as 7,000. In addition to the 2,000 archers, it was divided into three waves. The first batch of 2,000 people led the attack, and the subsequent 2,000 people
People serve as the new force of the second echelon. The last one thousand people serve as the mobile reserve force. They can be reinforced wherever the offensive force needs to be strengthened.
For the defender, it is actually advantageous for the opponent's attack surface to be wider. Yesterday, the Tatar attack surface was only a hundred paces wide, which resulted in the inability of all the city defenders to participate in the battle. More than a thousand northern city defenders were in a position less than two feet wide.
You can't turn around at all on the city wall. Moreover, the dense formation will suffer greater casualties under the indiscriminate shooting of the opponent's archers. Therefore, there are only five or six hundred people actually participating in the battle. The defenders on the walls on both sides have been reduced in number.
Supplementary.
This time it was different. The opponent's attack surface had increased. More than 1,200 defensive soldiers on the North City, including Zhang Yanling's Guards Musketeers, could all participate in the battle. It was almost an all-out offensive and defensive battle for both sides.
Arrows rained down on the city, and the defenders hid behind the battlements. This time, in order to reduce the casualties caused by random arrows, Zhang Yin had many door panels in the city removed as temporary shields. He also planted hundreds of straws.
People stood on top of the city as targets for collecting arrows.
Even so, the random arrows thrown by two thousand archers still caused casualties to the soldiers at the top of the city from time to time. However, these sporadic casualties were no longer considered casualties in this intensity of arrow rain.
The three catapults have the same goal. Their target is the city tower. Although there are only three of them, the stones thrown up together are like rain. They are all palm-sized stones, and they will break the head of a person if they hit them.
Bloody. However, the Tatars’ purpose
It seems that this is not the case. The stones were mixed with a lot of dust, and they hit the masonry of the tower and the doors and windows of the wooden corridor. The rocks flew and the dust flew up. It did not cause much damage to the tower, but it made the people inside almost
Can't see the battlefield outside.
Zhang Yanling and the musketry team hid in the city tower, coughing loudly due to the dust and unable to see. Zhang Yanling suddenly seemed to understand the Tatars' intentions. He spent a lot of effort to build these three catapults, which were actually very useful for siege.
It's not very helpful, but it can effectively kill the firecrackers in the tower. If a large area of stones falls down, on the one hand, the tower will not be able to support it and collapse, on the other hand, it will also hurt the arrows that cannot be shot.
of blind spots.
Zhang Yanling was worried that the big guns of the Bird Gun Team would be injured, so he had to order a temporary evacuation behind the stone wall inside the tower. As long as the tower did not collapse, they would not be harmed.
Under the suppression of bows and arrows, the Tatar infantry began to attack under the urging of trumpets. Under the cover of more than 30 large wooden platoons, the Tatar infantry hid under the wooden platoons and approached the city wall. The archers of the defenders at the top of the city risked their arrows.
Yu shot out two rounds of arrows, hitting the attacking Tatars. But the Tatar soldiers were like holding a turtle shell, even though the arrows were stuck in the rafts, they did no harm.
Fuzi Crossbow also started firing, but this time the wooden rafts with a tenon and tenon structure could not fall apart at all. Although Fuzi Crossbow was powerful, the arrows were not iron crossbows, and they could not hit the log rafts. Although the shot hit the top, there was a roaring sound, and bark and wood chips were flying.
, but the raft was safe and sound.
Five Yunxiao siege vehicles also slowly approached. They were extremely heavy, two feet high, and divided into two levels. In fact, they could not be regarded as real siege Yunxiao vehicles, they could only be regarded as copycat versions. The Yunxiao siege vehicles owned by the Ming Dynasty
Four to five feet high, divided into
It has two floors, inside and outside, with a spiral staircase structure in the hollow. It is extremely strong, like a giant tower. When approaching the city wall, a suspension bridge can be connected to the city wall to form a passage connecting the city head and the ground, allowing siege soldiers to directly attack the city wall.
.
The Tatar copycat version of the roller coaster is only two feet high and cannot go up to the top of the city. I don’t know what its use is. But these things rumbled in under the push of the soldiers, which still brought a sense of oppression to people.
feel.
There are various signs that the Tatars are fully prepared for this attack, which is well-organized and orderly. The defenders at the top of the city can hardly do much harm to them as they approach. It seems that they can only watch the first attack.
A wave of Tatar soldiers approached the city wall.
Although the subsequent Tatar soldiers carrying the ladders were hit and more than a hundred people were killed or injured. However, the distance of more than a hundred steps to the city was only paid at such a small price, which has to be said to be satisfactory.
What's even more disgusting is that when the Tatar soldiers arrived under the city wall, large wooden rows were erected under the city wall against the seven or eight pillars below, forming a huge corridor-like protective umbrella. On the top of the city, stones and wood were falling.
It was smashed down, and all of them hit the top of the raft. The logs of the raft were very strong, and the interior was reinforced with cross linings, so they would not fall apart easily. The Tatars hid underneath and strolled around, coming and going freely.