Liu Zhixue considered the words of the generals, and at the same time thought about how to break the city. The city of Shouzhou is slightly square, the city circumference is nearly fifteen miles, the height is two zhang eight feet, the bottom of the city is six zhang to seven zhang wide, and the top is one zhang three feet to three feet wide. The wall is built with rammed earth, and the outer side is covered with bricks, and there are city towers and urn cities. Because of the serious flooding of the Huai River, in order to prevent flooding, the west city wall was rebuilt with stone blocks from both sides of the city gate, and then reinforced with stone strips.

In addition, Shouzhou City adopts a different way of building than other cities - Tupo Battle City. The characteristic of this practice is that the inner side is not covered with bricks, and the upper city road is not built, but the slope is made of earth. In this way, soldiers can hide under the city to avoid enemy artillery stones and crossbows, reduce casualties, and can directly go up to the city from the slope after the battle begins, which can make a large number of soldiers quickly enter the battle in a short time.

Then there is the moat of Shouzhou City is deep and wide, there is the water in the south, there is the West Lake of Shouxi Lake in the west, there is the Huai River in the north, there are rivers and lakes around on three sides, the water surface is wide, it becomes a natural barrier, only the east of the city is convenient for using troops. After entering the Yuan Dynasty, from the fifth year of Emperor Lizong Shaoding to the tenth year of Emperor Duzong Xianchun, the Mongolian army attacked Shouzhou City five times, but could not break the city.

Liu Zhixue also understood that in order to conquer this fortified city in a short period of time, the traditional siege method was difficult to achieve. As a prefecture city, Shouzhou City has a large population and abundant stored materials, so it can hold on for a long time without relying on the outside world. And their own troops claim to be 30,000, but they can't do it at all, because there is a water gate in the city to connect with the outside world, and without the help of the navy, they can't control the waterway and block their exchanges.

Secondly, they were far away and lacked large siege equipment, which was difficult to overcome with simple equipment, and the artillery was equally powerless against the thick walls. By means of blasting, the foundations of the city were built with huge stone bars, which could not have been achieved with shovels and pickaxes alone. Digging tunnels, less than three feet later, there will be groundwater gushing out, which is also a wasted effort.

Forcibly attacking the city seemed to be the only option, not only to suffer heavy casualties, but also because of the terrain, they could only choose to start from the east side, unable to use the tactics of Zhengqi covering each other and fighting the enemy. However, the enemy can concentrate his forces in one place without defending on all sides, and can make up for the disadvantage in troops.

In addition, they did not fail to think of the tactics of luring the enemy out of the city to annihilate them, but the enemy learned to be obedient after the failure of the ambush, and refused to leave the city anyway. The fortified city and the success of defending the city in previous wars also made the enemy generals defending the city, and even the people in the city believe that Shouzhou City was impossible to conquer, so the method of inciting the soldiers and civilians in the city, creating chaos, and causing turmoil was also unrealizable.

"Prepare the equipment today, and forcibly attack the city tomorrow!" Liu Zhixue thought for a long time, and then glanced at the generals who were still whispering.

"Du Shuai, a forced siege will inevitably result in heavy casualties......" Yan Feng, the commander of the first division, was shocked when he heard this.

"Raising troops for a thousand days and using troops for a while, Your Majesty strictly ordered our troops to quickly break the city and annihilate the remnants of the enemy entrenched in Huainan to cover the flanks of the army, there is nothing to do!" Liu Zhixue interrupted sharply without waiting for him to finish.

"Du Shuai, we lack equipment, and forcibly attacking the city will inevitably cause heavy casualties, and it will be difficult to fight again!" Zhou Fu, the commander of the second division, seemed to have made up his mind and hurriedly persuaded him.

"At the beginning of the army, you should understand that you are always ready to sacrifice your life for the country, and on the day you entered the marshal's mansion, you would have already handed over your life to Your Majesty, and died on the battlefield for the country and the king, where he died!" Liu Zhixue looked at the generals and said.

"Du Shuai, the last general and others are not greedy for life and afraid of death, they just want to die worthwhile, not want to make useless sacrifices!" Yan Feng saw Du Shuai's eyes showing disdain, and stood up to salute and glared at him.

"Fruitless sacrifice?" Liu Zhixue snorted coldly and said, "Some of you are also from the Shuai Fu Army, when you know that Your Majesty was only six years old at that time, everyone was only afraid of urinating and mud at that age, and going up to the trees to dig birds." But what did Your Majesty do? He could have followed the Queen Mother to the side of the Queen Mother, but he resolutely gave up his comfortable life to go to the wild land of Qiongzhou, shared weal and woe with everyone, ate rice, wore cloth clothes, and personally led the army to fight, which is still the case today. ”

"Your Majesty, as the king of a country, is rich in the world, and you can sing every day, drink and delicate food, who can say anything. But His Majesty sacrificed a comfortable life, personally led the army to the Northern Expedition, climbed the ice and snow, slept in the open, and even led an army deep into the hinterland of the enemy's territory. And there are only less than a thousand guards around him, and the rest are all surrendered troops who have just been incorporated and may rebel at any time, just to attract the attention of the enemy army and win fighters and time for us to attack Huainan, doesn't he know the danger? Liu Zhixue also stood up and looked at him with both hands, and when he saw him lowering his head, he said, "Your Majesty is far-sighted and has a strange plan, but I am afraid that I understand the danger contained in it better than me." But Your Majesty is still willing to take risks for the sake of the overall situation, is your life more noble than Your Majesty? ”

"Your Majesty is the sun and moon in the sky, and the last general is just the light of fireflies, how dare you compare with Your Majesty!" Yan Feng was ashamed when he heard this, and bowed his head and said. These generals are all old men who joined the Shuaifu army in the early years, and they are naturally very clear about His Majesty's deeds.

"Du Shuai, Your Majesty also said that for the sake of the generals, you should cherish the lives of the soldiers and do not make unnecessary sacrifices. The city of Shouzhou is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it will inevitably cause heavy casualties under the strong attack, and the last general just wants to ask His Majesty for a few days of pardon, so as to be fully prepared to attack the city again! Li Ting felt the atmosphere awkward and got up to explain.

"So, you have a good plan to break the city?" Liu Zhixue turned his face to look at him and asked.

"The last general...... There will be no doom! Li Ting was stunned, and lowered his head and said softly.

"What is the iron law of our army? Answer Ben Shuai! Liu Zhixue asked loudly.

"If you attack, you will protect each other, and if you retreat, you will defend each other!" The generals replied in unison.

"Our second army originated from the front army of the Marshal's Army, there were 500 people on the day of the flag, everyone is like brothers, the commander still remembers the name of each of them, and there are still a few people who can survive to this day after a hundred battles." Liu Zhixue stretched out two fingers and said, "Less than two percent, less than 100 people survived, and among them, they faced an enemy several times their own but rushed forward without hesitation, and were cut into meat sauce by the war horse, some people in Quanzhou City lit gunpowder and died with the enemy, and some people died in the long voyage......" Liu Zhixue looked at the generals and said, but it was difficult to suppress his feelings, and he choked up and couldn't continue.

"The last general also remembers those brothers, and often dreams of those brothers buried with their own hands, if I could turn back time, I would rather die for them, and now it is really difficult to face their wives and children!" Zhou Fu also sniffled, and said sadly.

"Who of you dares to say that their death is not worth it? Ben Shuai thought that they would have died, and without their sacrifice, we would not be where we are today. Liu Zhixue glanced at everyone and said, "Because they know that their death has saved their brothers, their sacrifice can win a greater victory, they know that their wives and children will no longer be bullied by the Tartars, and the people behind them will be far away from the killing of the enemy, and they know that there is no way to retreat, so they can only fight with their bodies." And today we just have no way out, even if all the battle is killed, we must capture Shouzhou City, so that friendly troops can let go of the battle, without worrying about their belly and back being threatened, so that the people of the Great Song Dynasty can live and work in peace and contentment, and let the Great Song Empire live and work for a long time! ”

"But today, if our second army is cowardly, the battle to recover the two Huai fails, so that tens of millions of friendly brothers die on the battlefield, and tens of millions of people in the Great Song Dynasty are still living in fear every day and all the time, even if we live, what face will we have to return to Jiangdong to see our father!"

"Dutong, the last general is willing to be the vanguard to attack the city, lead the army to level the city, if not, he will die at the head of the city!" Liu Zhixue made a generous speech, which made the generals embarrassed, and made them enthusiastic, and saluted and asked for battle.

"Okay, tomorrow the first division will be the vanguard to attack the city, and it will be dead, and the second division will be on it; The second division is dead, and the third division is up; The third division is dead, and the commander is up. The whole army will not die! Liu Zhixue nodded, with a hideous expression.

"Don't die, break through Shouzhou City!" All the generals shouted in unison......

In the early morning of the next day, the whole army of the Second Army had dinner at the same time, and the troops were arrayed in the east city of Shouzhou outside the two arrows, the 30,000 troops could not see the edge in layers, the flying battle flags covered the sky and the sun, and the soldiers with the heart of death looked at the head of the city intently, and the low drum condensed into the solemn atmosphere went straight to Xiaohan. The defenders of the city also gathered on the city, and the war tents and curtains that were erected covered the city walls, and they bent their bows and arrows to look at the enemy intently, and several giant crossbows also opened their crossbow machines, and the huge arrows with thick arms raised their sharp arrows high.

"The soldiers and civilians in the city obeyed the order, and our army was ordered by the Son of Heaven of the Great Song Dynasty to crusade against the tyrannical yuan and save the people from fire and water. Open the city to welcome the surrender, you can save your life and property, if you resist the heavenly soldiers, there is no forgiveness! The Song army rushed out of the formation and rode to the city to routinely persuade him to surrender, and the answer to him was naturally a rain of arrows like locusts.

"All handsome, defend the enemy and refuse to surrender!" The envoy returned to the army and said.

"Artillery preparation!" Liu Zhixue was not surprised by this result and waved his hand.

"Du Shuai, a hundred cannons are fired, I am afraid that the city will be a sea of fire, and innocent people will also be buried under the fire!" Duyu Hou Ma Ying said. In this battle, the Second Army gathered all its artillery outside the east city, including the artillery regiment of the army, the artillery of the division and the artillery of the army, and the artillery detachment to which the battalion belonged. His Majesty has always avoided harming the people in battle, and when attacking a city, he generally advocates the careful use of artillery, so he persuaded him.

"Under the big war, how can there be innocent!" Liu Zhixue sighed and replied, he knew very well what the consequences would be if he used artillery like this, but in order to capture the city as scheduled, he could only act like this......