The moat is a kind of artificially dug trench, which is filled with water to form an artificial river as a barrier for the city wall. On the one hand, it maintains the security of the city, and on the other hand, it prevents attackers from entering. This is the ancient people's wonderful use of water in defense methods. The moat
There is a "trench wall" built along the inner edge, with a moat on the outside and a tunnel on the inside, which greatly improves the defensive capabilities of the moat.
The moat of the Xixia Royal City is more than ten feet long, which is nothing compared to several large cities in the Central Plains. Among the moats in the world, the Xiangyang moat is the widest. It is said that the average width of the Xiangyang moat exceeds 180 meters, and the widest point reaches more than 250 meters.
It can be called the largest city in the Central Plains. Although the Imperial City of Xixia is not as good as Xiangyang, the ten-foot-long moat is still causing a headache for the northwest army.
In fact, all armies in ancient times had no good way to attack a city with a moat. There were basically only two ways to go, one was to siege, and the other was to fill the river. Let’s talk about siege first. The most suitable method for siege warfare is actually to siege and cut off the city.
In terms of supplies, the enemy would naturally surrender when they ran out of ammunition and food. However, Xixia had been preparing for such a long time, and a large amount of food and grass materials must have been prepared in the city. It is probably impossible to besieged for a year and a half.
The second is to fill the river. According to the experience of the Northwest Army's major operations, the effective way to attack a city with a moat is to first suppress it with long-range firepower. After suppressing the opponent, send infantry to fill the sandbags!
In the Central Plains Dynasty, people in the barbarian land were not allowed to use corpses as siege props on regular battlefields! On the one hand, the Central Plains people valued the dead, and the most taboo was to die without intact corpses. On the other hand, because before crossing the river,
, it is impossible for you to have corpses to fill the river for you, and it is impossible for you to have soldiers, stand there and let the enemy shoot them first, and then let the people behind use them as materials to fill the river.
Therefore, using sandbags is the best tool for crossing the river when attacking a city! Some people have also tried to build ladders to cross the river during the war, but this resulted in the loss of flexibility and the concentration of people, which was the best weapon for the enemy archers.
Great target!
Moreover, there cannot be too many materials before siege. To help build tools for crossing the river, the most convenient thing that can be easily obtained no matter where the land battle is, is soil! Sandbags are not valuable, the cost is low, and it does not take time.
Everyone knows it!
After comprehensive consideration, filling the river with sandbags was the most suitable method. After Zeng Yi and others discussed it, they quickly decided to follow this method. It just so happened that the people from the Dead Word Camp could take on this task!
After confirming the battle plan, the Northwest Army began to collect sacks. Sacks were very common. All the food and grass of the army were packed in sacks. The Northwest Army did not need to mobilize them from the country. There were many in the army.
The army almost acted as a whole, and soon piles of sandbags were piled on the front line. Before the operation began, the northwest army's artillery, archers, crossbows and other long-range firepower launched a fierce attack on the Xixia Royal City. Although the Xixia people
They also launched a counterattack, but both in terms of firepower and density, they were far inferior to the Northwest Army, and the Xixia defenders were soon suppressed.
After suppressing the defenders, the sword and shield soldiers stared at the giant shield, covering the tens of thousands of people in the Death Word Camp, and rushed forward with sandbags on their shoulders. The sandbags were thrown into the water one by one, but the water in the moat was too fast.
, the sandbags were washed away just as they were thrown in!
"The water flow is too fast. If it is like this, throwing too many sandbags will not help!" Zeng Yi said with some worry.
"Yes, general, is there anything you can do?" Qinglong Shaotian Zeng Yi and others may not be considered to be top-notch masters, but when it comes to leading troops in battles, the five of them combined cannot have as much information as those experienced in the Northwest Army.
The fighting general.
The commander of the Northwest Army, who had experienced hundreds of battles, smiled and said, "Don't worry, gentlemen, this is not a big problem!" He immediately ordered the entire army to go upstream to block the river.
It is impossible for these people to completely block the flow of the Arrow River, but there is no problem in limiting the speed of the river. You don’t have to be crazy about what they did. After this unit went to the upper reaches, all the soldiers went down to the river, holding hands and blocking the rapids with their flesh and blood.
of water flow.
After the army took action, it didn't take long for the river to stop flowing so fast. The Death Word Battalion began to move again. Sandbags were thrown down one by one and were no longer scattered by the river. Soon the sandbags gathered to a certain size. At this time, the sandbags
They have gathered together, and even if the troops upstream withdraw, the river water will not be able to disperse those sandbags.
When the Xixia people saw this situation, they became anxious and faced the fierce attack from the Central Plains. They began to use their bows and arrows to attack those in the Death Character Camp.
Although the Death Word Battalion is full of prisoners who have been surrendered to death row, the Northwest Army will not let them die. After all, they will be needed to serve as death squads later. When filling the soil, they also sent some sword and shield soldiers holding giant shields to protect them.
Seeing that the bow and arrow attack was ineffective, the Xixia people became even more anxious. They knew very well that once the moat was filled, the Xixia Royal City would face the northwest army. In desperation, a group of masters from Xixia Yipintang led a group of soldiers to kill them directly.
.
The main task of the Death Character Battalion is to fill the river, and they are also afraid of the Xixia surrender army escaping on the battlefield. The Northwest Army did not equip them with weapons. The sword and shield soldiers alone cannot stop the Xixia death squad, the commander of the Northwest Army
Immediately ordered the Death Word Battalion to withdraw.
Under the cover of the long-range firepower of the Northwest Army, the Death Word Battalion quickly retreated. Throughout the day, tens of thousands of sandbags were thrown into the moat of the Xixia Royal City by the Northwest Army. In some places, the moat had been filled with sandbags.
Most of it.
The sky was getting dark. What the Northwest Army didn't expect was that the Xixia people took advantage of the darkness to secretly dredge the river. Fortunately, the Northwest Army also sent people to patrol. When they discovered this situation, they launched long-range firepower and immediately started to attack.
Those Xixia soldiers.
After forcing back those Xixia soldiers, the northwest army did not dare to be careless and sent out long-range troops to defend themselves. Once they discovered that the Xixia people were making moves, they would immediately strike hard.
After struggling all night, the Xixia people could not destroy much of the Xixia army's progress in filling the river. On the next day, the northwest army continued to cover the Dead Character Camp to fill the river.
The Xixia people thought of many ways to stop the Death Character Camp. Unfortunately, the northwest army had some experience. The Xixia people's methods could not stop the Death Character Camp at all. They could only watch helplessly as more and more sandbags gathered.
Finally, on the third day, an accumulation area of sandbags emerged from the water, and the moat of the Xixia Royal City was completely cut off for the first time. Once the moat was cut off, the rest of the matter was simple, and it only needed to continue to be reinforced.