In the early morning, the horn of attack sounded, and the siege of Hejian Mansion began.
The rebel guard of Hejian Prefecture was a rebel general named Wang Hui. This man was a subordinate of Yang Hu, and he had the opportunity to become more resourceful. Liu Qi was going to guard Xiong County, so the responsibility of guarding the city of Hejian Prefecture fell to Wang Hui.
superior.
Liu Hui attached great importance to this job. He knew that Hejian Prefecture was far away from the Xiong County area of Baoding and was the most vulnerable place to be attacked. Once attacked, the rebels in Baoding Prefecture would not be able to come to the rescue. He could only rely on himself.
Therefore, although there are only more than 12,000 soldiers and horses in hand, if you want to defend Hejian Mansion, you must find some way.
It was too late to strengthen the city wall. What Liu Hui wanted was to increase the manpower and the equipment to defend the city. So in the past period of time, Liu Hui collected stone logs from inside and outside the city as backup, and repaired the crossbow cart in the Hejian Mansion warehouse.
and bows and arrows.
At the same time, a large number of young people were recruited, and 5,000 of the 60,000 people in Hejian Prefecture were recruited into the army. These people may not be able to charge into the battle, but they can smash stones and logs.
Yes. It is possible to carry supplies and support the defense of the city.
Liu Hui also launched psychological propaganda. He told the people in the city that they must help him defend the city with all their strength. Because the imperial court had issued an imperial decree and designated all the people in Hejian and Baoding as thieves. Therefore, if the imperial officers and soldiers
If the city is captured, the people will be beheaded for rebelling.
It was under this situation that the siege of Hejian Mansion officially began.
The three guards and horses led by Jiang Bin, Xu Tai, and Wu Hao were the frontier troops of Datong and Xuanfu. The combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty frontier army was still unspeakable. With the little Tatar prince Batu Meng as an opponent who refused to give up, almost
The soldiers and horses in each border town had participated in the battle against the Tatars to varying degrees. Their combat skills and psychology were naturally different.
Compared with the soldiers and horses of the local guards in the inland state capitals, the combat effectiveness and fighting will of the frontier troops are countless times higher.
What's more, this time, in addition to the nearly 20,000 troops of the three guards, Zhang Yanling also reinforced them with 25 Zhankou general cannons, as well as heavy siege equipment such as skycars and catapults. Both in terms of military strength and
In terms of equipment, they are all sufficient. Therefore, Jiang Bin, Xu Tai, and Wu Hao think that capturing Hejian Mansion is not a big problem.
At the beginning of the battle, twenty-five general cannons lined up five hundred paces outside the north city gate and began bombarding the city head. A dozen catapults also moved in within a distance of two hundred and fifty paces.
Throwing stones to suppress. At the same time, the three guards and horses of the border army were divided into three echelons, carrying ladders and pushing roller coasters, and began to advance slowly.
Although the power and shooting range of the Zhankou General Cannon are average, its power is no less than that of other cannons. When it is fired, the sound shakes the world and smoke rises. However, the accuracy of the Zhankou General Cannon is not high and it cannot be aimed accurately. Solid
The power of the artillery shells is also insufficient.
At first, Jiang Bin ordered cannons to fire at the city wall, trying to blast open the city wall. However, the cannonballs only smashed down some plaster on the city wall, sending smoke and dust everywhere. It looked lively, but had little effect.
After wasting dozens of shells, Jiang Bin felt that it was useless, so he ordered to bombard people on the top of the city. But this obviously made the Zhankou General Cannon somewhat reluctant. This was using the Zhankou General Cannon as a large bow and arrow.
That's it. So what if we bomb the city? If we were lucky, what if we kill three or two defenders? It won't be of much help to the siege.
In comparison, the effect of more than a dozen catapults was more obvious. A large amount of earth and rocks hit the city wall, and the falling rocks were like rain, and the suppression effect was even more powerful. Unfortunately, the number was too small, not enough to cover the northern city wall, so they could only
Choose a city wall to cover and suppress, to cover the siege infantry to attack the city.
However, because the projection distance was too close, the crossbows of the rebels at the top of the city began to counterattack. Under the continuous attack of the giant crossbow arrows, the catapults were shot and destroyed one after another.
Fortunately, the opponent's defensive firepower was not fierce. Only a few hundred archers sparsely fired arrows at the attacking troops and horses below the city. Moreover, the arrows were all flint arrows. After penetrating the armor, they no longer had much power, so they were a limited threat to the attacking troops and horses.
This made Jiang Bin a little annoyed. He took these bandits too seriously. How could these people have any decent weapons and equipment? He was still too nervous. After all, the four-day deadline had passed by two days.
Half an hour into the siege, with the help of crazy artillery fire suppression and catapult suppression, finally, after paying the casualties of five catapults and hundreds of soldiers, the infantry set up several passages on the moat, and several vehicles
The roller coasters also arrived at the city one after another.
More than five thousand siege troops reached the bottom of the city wall and began to set up siege ladders to attack the city.
Jiang Bin looked at the countless ladders erected under the city, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Brother Xu, let's make a bet. I guess we can enter the city before noon." Jiang Bin said with a smile.
Xu Tai frowned and said: "Not necessarily. The other party's performance is suspicious, so let the brothers be more careful. I feel that the thieves should not be so weak, and they seem to have a backup plan. Why do they only have so few archers?"
Jiang Bin laughed and said: "What kind of bows and arrows can the thieves have? Didn't you see that the arrows just shot were all flint arrows? The thieves are terribly poor. There are no decent archers and horses at all. A ten-day banquet is not worth it.
bet?"
Xu Tai was about to speak when he heard a burst of shouting from the top of the city. The three of them hurriedly turned to look. They saw rolling logs and stones pouring down from the city wall like a violent storm. Thousands of archers appeared from nowhere and cooperated.
He used rolling logs and stones to shoot arrows down the city.
The situation suddenly became bad. A large number of siege soldiers screamed and fell to the ground. Hundreds were killed by rolling logs and rocks, and hundreds were killed by bows and arrows. In an instant, the city was littered with corpses.
"You son of a bitch, you turned out to be a deceiver. There are so many archers." Jiang Bin exclaimed in shock.
"Retreat quickly, retreat quickly! If you can't go up, you have to think long term." Xu Tai shouted loudly.
The gong rang, and the siege troops were defeated. Two Yunxiao chariots were lost and could not be pushed back. Fortunately, several were saved. The general's cannon blasted at the top of the city, regardless of whether they were hit or not.
The hit always served as a cover, allowing more than 5,000 soldiers and horses to quickly escape with their lives and stay away from the opponent's attack.
Jiang Bin was so furious that he twitched the corners of his mouth and cursed loudly. The thieves were indeed cunning and cunning, and they actually knew how to deceive. They deliberately lured their own side to attack the city, so that when the catapults and artillery could not suppress them, they suddenly attacked fiercely. This was a big blow.
Unfortunately, thousands of soldiers were killed or wounded.
Xu Tai comforted him: "Master Jiang, don't be angry, just think of it as a test. At least we know the opponent's reality. The bandit soldiers are well prepared. We have less than 20,000 people to attack the city, and the opponent has more than 10,000 people to defend it."
, this battle is already difficult to fight. Now that we know the strength of the opponent, we can make careful plans."
Jiang Bin frowned and said, "But now unless we attack by force, what else can we do?"
Wu Haodao: "Brother, we think we should focus on attacking the city gate. Why not use the Zhankou General Cannon to break down the gate? Bombard the city tower?"
Jiang Bin slapped his thigh and shouted: "Oh, I'm so stupid. I blasted the city gate tower from the top and the city gate from the bottom. The soldiers on the city gate tower couldn't stand because the tower could be blown down. This way
They can only attack us from both sides of the city walls. No matter how thick the city gate is, General Zhankou can blast it open with a unified attack."
Xu Tai nodded and said, "That's right. Let's take a short rest, readjust the deployment, and then do this. Brother Wu is still a talented person, but he didn't say anything earlier."
Jiang Bin nodded and said, "That's right, why didn't you say anything just now? As a result, we killed and injured thousands of brothers in vain."
Wu Hao was speechless and cursed in his heart: "You are stupid, but you blame me. When did you two listen to my opinion? My official position is lower than yours, and you never treat me as a human being."
After readjusting the deployment, the attack began in the afternoon. Twenty-five Zhankou general cannons were moved to the city gate. After the order was given, the roar started again.
Although the iron ball shells of the Zhankou General Cannon have little effect on the thick city walls, they are still extremely destructive to the city gate buildings. The city gate tower is originally a deconstruction of masonry and wood, the walls are not that thick, and the columns are not that thick.
It's not as solid. Most importantly, the target is big, so you don't have to worry about missing it.
A round of dozens of large iron balls the size of bowls, weighing twenty or thirty kilograms. Under the influence of gunpowder, they hit the walls, pillars, doors, windows, and crenellations of the tower with huge kinetic energy. Suddenly, there was a cloud of earth and stone.
Wood chips were flying in the air. The dense shells penetrated the long windows and hit the inside of the tower. The people inside could not stand at all.
The bluestone pillars were smashed one by one, the walls were collapsed, and the crenels were smashed. General Zhankou's cannon barrels were so hot that he fired more than ten rounds in a row, and more than 300 iron ball shells fired continuously.
The bombardment shattered the towers and buildings beyond recognition.
As an iron bullet hit a crumbling west pillar, the pillar collapsed, and half of the roof above also collapsed. The entire city gate tower had no one that could hide on it for defense.
possible.
More than 800 iron bullets, which originally filled more than 40 large boxes and required more than a dozen carts to pull over, have been consumed more than half. Only less than 300 bullets are left.
But it is still enough for bombarding the city gate.
After adjusting the target, the Zhankou General Cannon began to bombard the city gate. No matter how strong the city gate was, it was still made of wood. Iron bullets hit it one after another, and wood chips flew everywhere, hitting a dent. The inside of the back was shaken.
The lining was loose, and after dozens of iron bullets hit it, the lining fell off one after another. Without the support of the lining, the city gate soon shattered.
The plan succeeded. The city gate was broken open.
However, before everyone could be happy, they discovered that all their efforts seemed to be in vain because the city gate was filled with earth, rocks and sandbags, completely blocking the entire city gate. So what if the city gate was broken? It had no effect at all.
Jiang Bin cursed loudly again, and Xu Tai and Wu Hao also frowned. Only now did they realize that the two days to capture the city would be in vain.
Zhang Yanling said that if we can't capture it, we should raise our heads to see him. This is going to be a big trouble.