By the afternoon, Liang Jun had pushed more than 20 trebuchets behind the low wall of a simple trench outside the east city to form a trebuchet position that stretched for 300 steps, and gradually transported the collected stones up.
Although the defenders could still attack from the other three city gates, Liang Jun arranged for elite infantry to form formations on both wings of the trebuchet position. There was also a large group of elite cavalry at the rear who had assembled and were waiting for the defenders to leave the city. They could just outflank them.
come over.
If the defenders were to fight their way out of the city at this time, apart from increasing consumption, they would really have no chance of winning.
In Liang Jun's trebuchet position, more than 2,000 civilians were divided into more than 20 groups, with almost every 100 people operating a trebuchet, and soon began to attack Xichuan City.
This group of civilians recruited auxiliary soldiers from the hinterland of the Liang Kingdom to operate the trebuchets more accurately than expected. About every four or five stone bullets thrown, one would hit the city wall.
The stone bullets either whizzed by overhead or hit the shallow ditch in front of the city wall, but every time they hit the city wall from the front, Han Qian could feel the city wall under his feet while standing under two rows of wooden barracks.
It started to shake, making people worry that the city wall might collapse at any time.
And once it was hit at the top of the wall, the thin wall collapsed immediately, and the bricks and stones flew everywhere, hitting the low fence in front of the barracks with a "bang, bang, bang, bang" sound, which made people tremble.
Occasionally, stone bullets would hit the barracks at the top of the city.
Although Han Qian had built these barracks as solidly as possible, a whole stone bullet weighing two to three hundred kilograms was thrown from a distance of four hundred paces with a terrifying momentum.
When the barracks were hit, you could hear the sound of the wooden fence wall breaking above your head, and then most of them would collapse. The only good thing was that the impact of the stone bullet was removed by the relatively strong wooden fence roof, and the wooden fence roof was still strong.
Even if the barracks built mainly with wooden fences collapse, no one will be hurt.
They hid in the barracks for a long time in fear. When dusk was approaching, Liang Jun stopped the offensive for the day.
Han Qian took the telescope and looked outside the city, while Liang Jun began to replace the tip of the trebuchet.
Although it was not dark yet at such a close distance, and others could even vaguely see the faces of Liang Jun generals four hundred steps away, Han Qian paid more attention to the fact that these catapults continued to fire fifty or sixty times.
The degree of cracking of the tip stem.
Hundreds of people suddenly pulled one end, and then threw the stone bullets tied to the longer end of the pole through the action of the force arm; in this process, the tip pole must bear a huge impact force.
The tip pole is mainly made of solid wood. Although the tip pole is made thicker to withstand greater impact force, the tip pole is thick and bulky. In addition to having poor elasticity, it is not good for accumulating force, which will limit the range, and also requires more manpower.
These are taboos when performing operations.
The structure of the trebuchet is not complicated, but making the tip rod lighter, stronger, and more elastic is the key technology.
It is obvious that Liang Jun's manufacturing technology of stone crossbows was stronger than that of Chu army during the years of military campaigns in the north and south.
Han Qian looked out from the broken wall again and saw that the front of the city wall had been smashed into shallow pits and shocking cracks. Large pieces of rammed earth were peeled off and piled up at the base of the city wall; and when he walked down,
The city wall, after the city wall withstood the bombardment for half a day on the front, spider web-like cracks also appeared on the back...
At this time, Yang En also came with more than a hundred craftsmen and civilian workers, carrying hundreds of long wooden stakes more than two feet high.
There were no detection instruments in the world, and only after the city wall was attacked would the vulnerable parts be clearly exposed.
Yang En commanded the craftsmen and civilians to drive rows of long wooden stakes into the ground against the fragile and easily collapsed city wall, braving the occasional stone bullets that crossed the city wall to form a fence. A certain amount of support can delay the collapse of the wall. On the one hand, after the wall collapses, there is also a barrier wall to prevent Liang Jun from rushing in through the gap immediately.
Seeing Han Qian also patrolling under the city, Yang En walked over and said, "The city wall on the east side is quite thick. From the looks of it, it may not be able to withstand more than ten days."
"We have done everything we can and should do. Now we can see how fast the Jinling reinforcements are advancing." Han Qian cupped his hands towards Yang Engong and said.
Before Shen He and Yang En entered the city, Han Qian assisted Shen Yang in charge of the Xichuan city fortifications.
Although manpower is sometimes poor, Han Qian does not have enough time, and he does not have much manpower, money and food in his hands. He can knock down all the walls of Xichuan City with a circumference of about six or seven miles and rebuild them, but borrowing some may not be possible in Yang En's opinion. Do a better job and strengthen the city wall.
For example, at the junction of the old and new city walls, as much glutinous rice, lime mortar, grass and other materials were inserted as possible to enhance the structural strength.
For example, large areas of barracks were built on the four walls of the city. The tops of the barracks were covered with two layers of solid wooden palisade walls. This was mainly to prevent the defenders at the top of the city from hiding in the barracks when the enemy threw stones. .
Even though this afternoon, many barracks on the east city wall were directly destroyed by stone bullets, the barracks withstood the first wave of impact of the stone bullets, and the subsequent collapse did not cause much harm to the generals hiding in the barracks.
More importantly, the barracks effectively reduced the number of injuries suffered by the city defenders from scattered stone bullets.
Before Xichuan City was completely surrounded, Han Qian also collected a large amount of wood from outside the city and stored it.
When defending the city, whether it is building palisade walls to block gaps in the city wall, building barracks, etc., or using them for rolling or pounding wood, the consumption of wood is extremely large.
Before Yang En came over, Han Qian also built more than ten tractor-type trebuchets using local materials.
Of course, in Yang En's opinion, the trebuchet built by Han Qian was more cumbersome due to the substandard materials for making the tip pole, and the auxiliary soldiers were not well trained, making it difficult to pull at the same time, and the range was only The three-hundred-step development was a full hundred steps shorter than Liang Jun's, and there was no way to directly attack him.
Although Yang En knew more about the selection of materials and processing methods for tip poles, the conditions in Xichuan City were too restrictive, and it was difficult for him to transform the existing trebuchets. Seeing that Han Qian did not use these craftsmen to The heavy trebuchets directly controlled by the battalion were placed directly behind the east city wall, but more than two hundred steps away from the city wall. They must have known that they could not compete with Liang Jun's trebuchets at the range, so they simply placed them further away. , as long as the stone bullets can fall in front of the city wall, they will be able to exert some suppression effect when Liang Jun attacks the city.
However, Liang Jun had an absolute advantage in strength and obviously would not attack Xichuan City only from the east.
After the trebuchet position outside the east city was stabilized, Liang Jun divided into two groups of troops the next day and forced into the Xichuan City from the north and south wings. They also used cave houses and sidecars to block the fronts of the north and south city gates and dig. The trenches were built, low walls were built, and thousands of infantry were used to support dozens of trebuchets each to bombard the walls on both sides of the city gate.
The siege of Xichuan, which was perhaps destined to be tragic, started from three sides at the same time.
Although Liang Jun's water camp has controlled the Xichuan River in the west, due to the limited depth from Xicheng to the river bank, it is not conducive for Liang Jun to gain a foothold on the bank. Currently, Xicheng has not been directly attacked by Liang Jun...
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In early March, Liang Jun officially launched a strong attack on Xichuan City. At this time, Jinling had just passed through the Grain Rain season, and the greenery on both sides of the Qiupu River was already blooming.
Emperor Tianyou's personal expedition would have to be postponed for two days before it officially set off from the Shenghua Gate in Dongcheng.
Although many generals and officials in the imperial court were frightened, for ordinary people in Jinling who were far away from the battlefield, it seemed quite lively. Thousands of people walked out of their homes and crowded on both sides of the Qiupu River to watch the guards and the forbidden camp troops going out.
lively.
Many people even put on new clothes and regarded today as an important festival.
Although Jinling knew for sure Liang Jun's strategic intentions towards the Jingxiang area in late January, Jinling ostensibly had the twelve guards of the South Yamen and the six armies of the Beiya, totaling more than 240,000 standing elites. Apart from the guards of the Beiya, the army
Usually not stationed outside Jinling City, half of the elite Nanya Forbidden Army are stationed outside all year round.
For example, the Zuowu Guards were stationed in Xiangzhou and were controlled by Du Chongtao, the Youwu Guards were stationed in Jingzhou and were controlled by Zhang Pei, the Left and Right Weiwei were stationed in Shouzhou and were controlled by Xu Mingzhen, and the Left and Right Xiaowei were stationed in Chuzhou and were controlled by Wang Yang Yuanyan.
etc.
This time the northern front was tight, and Jinling further deployed troops and horses to Xiangcheng, Shouzhou, and Chuzhou to strengthen defense.
In fact, by the beginning of the year, there were less than 100,000 standing troops near Jinling City.
Emperor Tianyou personally led the expedition and left Prince Yang Yuanwo in Jinling to supervise the country. He had to take care of the direction of Shouzhou and Chuzhou, as well as Fujian and Yue, and whether there were any changes in the Southern Han Dynasty. The garrison in Jinling City could not be less than 100,000, so it was necessary to send troops from all over the country.
It is not a simple matter for the Guards Army to recruit 100,000 to 150,000 elite generals and arm them before marching westward.
Being able to recruit the first batch of 80,000 reinforcements and 300 thousand-stone sailing ships in early March, and marching westward directly under the command of Emperor Tianyou, can already be said to be a manifestation of the empire's strength.
Feng Yi and Kong Xirong both put on armor, and with them in Jinling City were nearly two thousand officials and officials. They were recruited and served as bodyguards and soldiers, and accompanied the emperor to fight in Jingxiang.
Although these officials' sons mainly serve as guards around Emperor Tianyou, and to a certain extent, they can even be said to be hostages to restrain the left-behind officials. In addition to all the other soldiers and horses, it will be their turn to go into battle, but Feng Yi and Kong Xirong boarded the
Warship, I still feel a panic and tragic feeling in my heart.
Many people do not think that the third prince can defend Xichuan City, nor do they think that Du Chongtao can defend Xiangzhou. So when the hundreds of thousands of troops marching west this time enter Jingxiang, they are likely to usher in the main force of the Liang Army who just won a great victory.
A head-on blow.
What's more, even at the level of Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, they all know that the DPRK and China have deep concerns about Tanzhou, and they don't think that Your Majesty urgently gave Tanzhou Jiedushi Ma Yin the title of Minister of War and urgently sent reinforcements to Ezhou.
Ten thousand troops and horses can really secure Tanzhou.
This Western Expedition can really be said to have an uncertain future.
Seeing Xinchang Hou Li Pu, one of the deputy generals of the recruiting army, boarding their warship, Feng Yi pulled Kong Xirong closer and asked in a low voice: "Master Li Hou, has there been any news about the third prince and the others recently? Is there any news about Xichuan City?"
Is it in our hands?"
"Why aren't you here? What are you asking?" Li Pu glared at Feng Yi angrily and ordered them to stand back in the queue.
The main force of the Dragon Bird Army followed the third prince Yang Yuanpu into Jingxiang. Originally, only one elite was left in Jinling, but this time more than 3,000 trained men were recruited, and the number of soldiers and horses in the capital was increased to more than 5,000. This time the Western Expedition.
Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, had not been able to directly command the Dragon Bird Army before, but this time he had the power. As one of the lieutenants personally appointed by Emperor Tianyou, he was mainly responsible for the command of this part of the Dragon Bird Army. Zhou Yuan, Zhang Qian and others also accompanied the expedition.
Although the Marquis of Xinchang, Li Pu, saw the messenger sent back from Xichuan in the palace yesterday - Xiangzhou City was completely besieged by the main force of the Liang Army led by Zhu Yu, and Du Chongtao was unable to send anyone to break out to deliver the message - but the messenger came from Xichuan City The departure was more than ten days ago, on the night after Shen He, the young eunuch of the Interior Ministry, and Yang En, the right school department officer, arrived at Xichuan City.
At that time, Xichuan City was still under the control of the Dragon Bird Army. The memorials written by Shen He and Yang En each had a rather optimistic assessment of the situation in Xichuan City. However, the Jingxiang battlefield was changing rapidly. Eleven or twelve days have passed, who knows if Xichuan City is still in the hands of the Longque Army?
Judging from the memorials Niu Gengru and Zhao Mingting returned from Jingzhou, after the main force of the Liang Army captured Fancheng and opened a north-south pincer attack on Xiangzhou City, they surrounded Xiangzhou City but did not attack it. On the one hand, they strengthened the defense of Yingzhou. , apparently preparing to organize troops and horses in Yingzhou to resist Jinling reinforcements from advancing north along the east bank of the Han River. On the other hand, they sent reinforcements from the west wing, obviously to give priority to maintaining the opening of the Danjiang channel.
Liang Jun's focus of operations at this stage has shifted to the west, and he should launch a strong attack on Xichuan City in the next two days. It will take a month at the fastest for reinforcements to arrive, and Xichuan still has some certainty. Keep?
The nearly twenty years of management of Wanhong Mansion and Xinchang Hou Mansion, including the hundreds of elite disciples secretly cultivated, are among the main force of the Dragon Bird Army that followed the third prince into Xiangzhou. Once Xichuan City is breached, most of the hard work will be turned into nothing. Wuyi, how can Li Pu not feel irritable?