The reason why Yang Duanhe asked the artillerymen to rush for reinforcements was because he was not going well in Handan.
This "unsuccessful" situation did not mean that the attack did not go smoothly, but that Wang Jian also reached Handan.
It can be said that Wang Jian was able to conquer Handan because of Shen Bing.
Because when Li Mu returned to Handan, he left two generals in Jingxing and ordered them to hold on.
This was often the case in battles in ancient times.
If the warring parties are dissatisfied with each other and dare to go out of the city to fight, then they will fight to the death outside the city and the winner will be determined quickly.
But if the defenders can't hold on, even Wang Jian won't be able to capture it quickly.
Unless there is Shen Bing's improved trebuchet...
Therefore, Wang Jian's army was kept at Jingxing and did not dare to advance even after hearing the news that Yang Duanhe was besieged.
This is not because Wang Jian did not want to save him, but because he saw the danger involved.
It was not without reason that Li Mu left fifty thousand Zhao soldiers in Jingxing.
If Wang Jian bypassed Jingxing to attack Handan or rescue Yang Duanhe, Jingxing would be a nail in his back.
Zhao Jun can leave the city and attack Wang Jian's troops at any time.
Moreover, these Zhao troops were all Li Mu's northern soldiers, including 10,000 cavalry.
If Li Mu counterattacked again at this time, Wang Jian would be defeated again.
This Wang Jian could be considered calm, and even though Yang Duanhe asked for help several times, he did not send troops.
Of course, part of the reason for this is that Wang Jian was frightened by Li Mu, otherwise he would have divided his troops for rescue given his personality.
Wang Jian only thought that this battle would be as fruitless as before, and he even made plans to withdraw his troops.
But suddenly one day I heard a report from the Ministry:
"General, Li Mu is dead and the Zhao army is in chaos."
Wang Jian suddenly jumped up from the case and said:
"What? What did you say?"
"Li Mu is dead?"
"How did you die?"
The Ministry will answer:
"It is said that he was killed by Zhao General Zhao Cong."
"The King of Zhao exchanged Zhao Cong for Li Mu, but Li Mu refused, so..."
Wang Jian was confused after hearing this.
What's going on?
Why would King Zhao trade Zhao Cong for Li Mu at this time?
Could it be that my brain is broken?!
Then isn't Zhao Cong General Zhao?
How could he kill Li Mu, and at this time!
Naturally, Wang Jian would not believe such a bizarre thing, so he asked again:
"Could this be Li Mu's trick!"
"Lead us to attack Handan?"
"Encircle and annihilate them again..."
The Ministry will answer:
"My subordinates think this is not the case."
"Because General Yang led the Hanoi troops to attack Handan."
Wang Jian was shocked, and then he realized that Li Mu might really be dead.
Otherwise, if Yang Duanhe was beaten until he was half breathed, how could he reach Handan?
So Wang Jian no longer hesitated and immediately ordered: "Give me the order to march to Handan!"
Although the Zhao army's layout was the same as before and Jingxing was still not captured, the situation was no longer the same.
Once Li Mu died, Wang Jian no longer had to worry about Jingxing Zhao's army sneaking up on his rear.
What he was more worried about was that Yang Duanhe conquered Handan before him...
So Wang Jian's army marched toward Handan in a mighty manner.
When the two armies joined forces, their morale was greatly boosted and their voices were loud.
However, the first thing Wang Jian did after he reached Handan was to give Yang Duanhe an order to attack only the north gate in the name of the heavy casualties suffered by Hanoi soldiers.
Yang Duanhe couldn't help but clicked after receiving the order:
"If you take into account the heavy casualties of Hanoi soldiers, how can you hand over the most difficult North Gate to my hands?"
"This is obviously because they are afraid that I will attack the city and steal the first victory..."
However, these words could not be said casually, not even to the generals. Yang Duanhe could only hold them in his heart.
Li Yan knew what was going on and just asked:
"General, the north gate wall is more than five feet higher than the walls in other directions."
"The city has thick walls and numerous guards. This..."
One foot in the Qin Dynasty is equivalent to 23.1 centimeters in modern times, and five feet is more than one meter.
Although this height is nothing, adding more than one meter to the original height of about six meters is very impressive. (Note 1)
As the length increases, the length of the siege ladder must also increase.
And since the siege ladder is tilted on the wall to siege the city, if the city adds one meter to the siege ladder, the siege ladder must be lengthened by nearly two meters...
The production aspect is okay, it just takes some manpower and time.
What's even more troublesome is that the siege ladder is unstable as it grows, and the middle part can easily be broken by enemy logs.
As a result, the difficulty of siege increases exponentially.
Yang Duanhe thought for a while and felt that there was nothing he could do, so he ordered:
"The gunner has been building the cannon for how many days."
"Let them bring the cannon up!"
After a pause, he added: "There are also fire bombs!"
Li Yan said "promise" and immediately ordered people to prepare to rush to the Great Wall to give orders.
In ancient times, there was a saying of "eight hundred miles expedited", which means that emergency information and orders can travel eight hundred miles a day if there are stations along the way.
The Qin army always values speed in its operations, so every time it attacks forward, it will set up post stations along the way.
Post stations are usually set up every thirty miles because horses need to rest after running fast for thirty miles.
If you want to run at high speed, you must set up a post every twenty miles.
Yang Duanhe set up a post every twenty miles between Handan and the Great Wall. Each post had horses, soldiers, food and water plants for easy replacement and rest.
In this way, the eighty miles from Handan to the Great Wall only took more than an hour.
Shen Bing's artillery and Zhang Xuan's thousand-man team set off urgently.
Strictly speaking, this cannot be regarded as "Shen Bing's artillery division."
In fact, the engineer division directly commanded only "fifty people".
It's just that these engineers are divided into "left engineers" and "right engineers".
The people of Qin respected "right" and "right" was considered great. (Note: 2)
Therefore, the "right engineer" is one level higher than the "left engineer" and is almost equivalent to the modern first and second-in-command.
Therefore Xuncai commanded a hundred artillerymen.
Shen Bing was directly promoted from the position of Gongcheng, replacing Xun, to Right Gongshi, so he commanded a hundred people.
Only then did he meet the Zuo Gongshi known as Hui (kuài).
He is short, thin and dark, and at first glance he can tell that he is a man who has been working in the fields for many years due to malnutrition.
This surprised Shen Bing.
Because most craftsmen work indoors or in the shade, chopping and splitting wood.
Although there are black ones, they are rarely like Hui.
Later I learned that there are many types of craftsmen in the craftsman register.
Some are mainly engaged in various types of woodwork in the house, and some are mainly engaged in house construction...
Hui's main business is field ditch irrigation, such as using bamboo tubes to divert water.
Hui means field ditch.
The so-called "ditches and rivers are connected by hundreds of rivers" refers to this river.
This is also the reason why Heicheng is like this. Although he is a craftsman, he still works in the fields.
What impressed Shen Bing most deeply about this guy was when he took out a linen bag from his arms when he first took office.
He untied it layer by layer, layer after layer... Then he respectfully presented it in front of Shen Bing with both hands and said:
"Please accept it, Master Right Engineer!"
Shen Bing came up and took a closer look. There was a piece of dried meat the size of a small fingernail placed on the linen cloth.