Following Timur's order, tens of thousands more people walked out of the camp and lined up in neat queues, preparing to attack the city.
Jesb also used a little trick. Through relatively frequent formation changes, the defenders at the top of the city did not immediately recognize that they were sending more soldiers to attack the city. They were not discovered until they started charging.
For a time, more than twice as many ladders as before were erected at the top of the city, and all the cannons fired shells without hesitation and bombarded them violently; the soldiers using the crossbows even fired arrows crazily with the intention of having the crossbows scrapped.
.
Seeing more and more soldiers boarding the city, Timur showed a smile of victory on his face. He turned his head and talked with the civil servants who followed him this time about how to manage Hami City in the future; his generals also relaxed.
Take a breath.
"Alonso, it seems that Timur is about to capture the outer city of Hami, but I don't know if he can capture the inner city." Clavio commented.
"This is about whether the generals guarding the city are prepared for such a situation. Putting aside Fu An's bragging about the general named Song Sheng, I think he has been stationed in Jiayuguan for nearly 20 years and is also an experienced general.
, would not have ignored such an obvious problem at all." Guijano said.
"But Tamerlane has obviously been prepared for it." Claviyo glanced sideways at the cannon that made him very envious: "Through regular rotation, all cannons are now in a usable state, and more than half of them have been deployed.
When we arrived outside a city wall, the firepower was much more intense than when we attacked the city in the previous few days, and the other siege equipment was similar. Can the Ming army respond effectively under such circumstances?"
Having said this, Claviyo glanced sideways at Fu An. He originally expected Fu An to show an uneasy expression, but he didn't expect that although his face was as pale as in the morning, he was still calm and showed no uneasy expression.
"Fu An, do you think your Ming army can withstand Timur's attack and defend Hami City?" He asked directly.
"I don't know if I can defend Yiwu Outer City, but Prime Minister Song will never be unprepared." Fu An said firmly.
As soon as he finished saying this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he smiled and said, "Look, Prime Minister Song is ready."
Hearing these words, Claviyo and Quijano hurriedly turned their heads to look at the city head, and saw that the cannons that had almost stopped firing shells were roaring at this time, firing out pieces of shotguns that hit the people on the top of the city.
On the soldiers of the Timur Khanate at the top of the city. At the same time, countless arrows, whether from crossbows or bows, were all over the city in an instant.
The Timur Khanate soldiers at the top of the city were completely unprepared for this. They were suddenly hit in large numbers and fell to the top of the city screaming. A few people died the moment they were shot and fell silently.
.Many people fell to the ground and were killed even if they were not originally dead.
The soldiers guarding the city have been waiting for this moment! Since Song Sheng, Shang Bing and others discussed it that night, everything that can be moved to the inner city has been moved to the inner city. Only the soldiers guarding the city have been moved to the outer city.
As well as the necessary military doctors, everything Song Sheng had in hand was placed very close to the city head and could be sent up at any time.
Although Timur's artillery concentrated fire and violently bombarded the city wall, the city wall had not been damaged, but since Timur had ordered a fierce attack, we could no longer hide it and tuck everything in.
, massively killing the soldiers of the Timur Khanate.
The smile on Timur's face also disappeared. He turned his head and stood there without speaking for a while. Seeing that the situation was not good, Jesb ran over and shouted: "Khan, give the order to stop the attack, and we will return the favor."
Pull back the living soldiers!"
"We can't withdraw! Order another 50,000 people to attack the city!" Timur said firmly.
"Khan, this is a huge loss," Jesib said.
"If we order the troops to withdraw now, these soldiers will be lost in vain. On the contrary, we can recover the losses by continuing to attack fiercely."
Timur pointed to the city head and said: "The Ming army commander Song Sheng or Zhu Shangbing who defended the city probably guessed what I was thinking, so in the past few days, he has been slowly showing signs that the supplies for defending the city are getting less and less.
Seduced me into falling for it.”
"I was indeed fooled. But even if the city defense supplies were more than I expected, they would not be much more. The Ming army must have used a large amount of city defense supplies to frighten our army so that they could safely evacuate to the inner city.
the goal of."
"So we must not withdraw our troops at this time. The only correct approach is to continue to invest soldiers, consume all the defensive materials that the Ming army is willing to consume in the outer city, seize the city head, and prevent them from safely evacuating to the inner city."
After listening to Timur's words, Jesbu suddenly realized that what he did was right, and immediately mobilized his troops again.
The soldiers who were recruited were very reluctant. Of course they didn't know what Timur was thinking. They could only see the overwhelming arrows and shells launched by the Ming army at this time, and they were unwilling to die. Fortunately, this time it was Timur himself.
After leading the troops, they reluctantly went into battle.
Timur's reaction did not escape Song Sheng's eyes. He looked at the soldiers of the Timur Khanate who were coming to attack the city in a loose formation. He gritted his teeth and said: "Timur is crazy. Let the soldiers risk such things.
A dense rain of arrows."
"Song Sheng, what should we do now?" Wu Jie became anxious. On the way to the rescue with his troops, he had diarrhea for some reason and could not stop to rest. He almost died on the way and rested for two days in Yiwu City.
It took more than ten days to recover, and he has been presiding over the war together with Song Sheng since yesterday.
Song Sheng did not speak for a while, but just looked at the soldiers who were fighting in front. After a while, he said: "Immediately give an order to leave three thousand soldiers and horses in each city to retreat, and the remaining soldiers will withdraw to the inner city!"
"Immediately pour oil on the city, prepare hay, and light it when the soldiers of the Samarkand Kingdom enter the city!"
"But it's just past noon, so it's still early. If we ask the soldiers to persist, they may not be able to hold on until the evening. Besides, there are still some supplies that haven't been used yet." Wu Jie said. Their original plan was to postpone it until the evening and stay in Samarkand.
When the soldiers of the country are unable to retreat on a large scale, they can leave a few sentries without having to leave the rear, and secondly, cannons and other sharp weapons can be moved to the inner city. If we retreat now, not only will the soldiers who have been behind the line almost certain to die, but the cannons will also only
He could help the enemy, so he was a little hesitant.
"Now is not the time to worry about these things." Song Sheng said: "Since Timur has sent troops to attack the city again, he must have seen through my plan. Even if our army holds out until night, Timur will probably order the lighting of torches to fight at night.
It will be more difficult to retreat by then."
"And all the resources needed to defend the city cannot be wasted in the outer city. If they are all used up, what will be used to defend the inner city? The flesh and blood of the soldiers? Send me the order immediately." Song Sheng finally said. At the same time, he looked sideways at Wu Jie.
At a glance: 'Although he is the descendant of the Duke of Guizhou and has a good family background, and he also has military skills, he has never fought such a battle with a small enemy against a large number. There are too many things to take into account when fighting.'
Wu Jie actually still had objections, but Song Sheng was the commander-in-chief. He started joining the army when his father was still alive and had been in the army for more than ten years. Even if there were shortcomings in the war, he always knew that he could not go against Song Sheng's words at this time.
, and said no more words.
Song Hu, who was guarding the North City, heard the words from the soldiers, but did not immediately issue the order. Of course he knew that his father's order was right, but which team to choose at this time to cut off the rear? This was a fatal mission.
Seeing that Song Hu did not move for a moment, the person who delivered the order said anxiously: "Commander Song, Prime Minister Song is ordered to execute his order immediately after hearing his order without delay. Anyone who violates it will be punished with neglecting military aircraft."
"I know!" Song Hu agreed angrily. The man was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak anymore. Then he glanced at the wall he was defending, and after a while he said to a guard: "Go and capture Zhang Zizhong."
Call."
"You called me? What's the matter?" Zhang Zizhong came over quickly and said in an impatient tone. Song Hu was usually very easygoing to the soldiers and had no airs, so they called him casually.
"Respect yourself, please select one of your only sons, brothers, fathers and sons, and lead the rest of the soldiers to cover the retreat of the army." Song Hu said with a painful expression on his face.
Zhang Zizhong was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. He paused and said, "You want me to lead my troops to cut off the rear."
"Respect yourself, Timur continues to attack fiercely, and the materials used to defend the city are almost exhausted. The outer city cannot be defended. In order to be able to defend the inner city, most of them can only be withdrawn, leaving behind people."
"Now the other troops have suffered heavy losses and cannot bear this important task. Only your troops did not participate in the defense of the city this morning. There are still many people and the organization is still complete. Therefore, only your troops are cut off."
After hearing this, Zhang Zizhong was silent for a moment and shouted: "That's it! For the sake of my family, my fellow villagers, and the sake of the imperial court and His Highness, I am here to lead the army and cut off the queen!"
"Song Hu, let's work together. I will leave my wife, children, and children under your care."
Song Hu's eyes turned red and he nodded and said: "Don't worry, I, Song Hu, swear to God that from now on your parents will be treated as my own parents to fulfill my filial piety, your children will be raised as my own children, and my sister-in-law will be treated as my biological parents."
My sister-in-law is here to treat me, if I disobey you, I will be struck by lightning from heaven!"
He and Zhang Zizhong had a close relationship. They had been generals in the same army for more than five years. Although they came from different backgrounds, they had a deep love for each other. If there was no other army that could replace him, he would never let Zhang Zizhong cut off his position.
"Do you have any wine here?" After hearing Song Hu's words, Zhang Zizhong breathed a sigh of relief and was about to go back when he suddenly asked again.
"Yes." Song Hu wiped the corner of his eyes, asked a guard to take out a small kettle, and said with a forced smile: "I managed to avoid my father's inspection and kept it secretly. If my father knew that I had hidden it,
With such a jug of wine, I must be stripped naked and beaten."
"Haha." Zhang Zizhong laughed a few times, took the jug, and said: "You are from a good family. I usually eat and use a lot of your things, but now it's too late to pay them back. As the saying goes, if you have too many lice, you won't bite me, if you have too many debts, you won't have to worry.
, I will get you another jug of wine, and we will return it to you together in the next life!"
After saying this, Zhang Zizhong pulled out the stopper and poured half a pot into his mouth, and then walked towards his troops without even thinking about it.
Song Hu couldn't bear it anymore and cried. The tears flowed down to her chin, and then dripped to the ground, blending with the blood that had not yet dried up.
"Timur, after I defeat you, I will definitely settle all these accounts with you!" Song Hu whispered.
"Organize the rest of the soldiers to retreat! Stuff the remaining gunpowder into the muzzles of the cannons that cannot be taken away, and blow them all up."
