The city of Yangzhou has been captured by the Song army, but the city of Changshu is still in fierce fighting. Basa waved his troops to attack for several days, and it can be said that he tried his best, but he still did not make an inch. Instead, the Song army learned from the experience of the first day's battle and rebuilt a defensive line outside the western city wall. Based on the firing range of the artillery in the city, they took advantage of the echelon arrangement of the mountain, occupied the commanding heights with small troops, and built trenches and fortifications around the mountain. With the support of the long-range artillery of the forts above the city and the mortar positions outside the city, the access up the hill was blocked, the valley was controlled, and the forest path was closed with mines.

As a result, Basa's plan to use Yushan as a springboard to attack the city was shattered, and the siege troops sent were often bombarded by artillery on the high ground as soon as they reached the mountain, and the Song army was killed by crossfire during the fortifications. They also tried to use the cover of the ditch and the woods to hide forward, but they stepped on the mines buried there, exposing the target.

After successive failures in attacking the mountain, Basa could only turn to attack the West Gate again. But at this time, the Song army had already established a forward position, not only was killed and wounded by the Song army on the city, but also the flank was flanked by the Song army on the Yushan position, the siege was blocked again and again, and the casualties rose in a straight line, and now the thick corpses were piled up under the city, and the soldiers besieging the city could not fall to death even if they were pushed down from the ladder, and they could run and jump when they turned over.

Three days later, of course, Basa failed to capture Changshu as ordered, and the army had already arrived. Yuxi Timur was furious when he saw this, and along the way he had found that the Song Dynasty had implemented a strong wall and cleared the wilderness, and the villages and towns along the way were empty, there was nowhere to collect grain, and the wells were also filled. Not only did people have nothing to eat, but the straw that could be fed to horses and the grass and trees in the wilderness were also burned, and it was difficult to find a place for horses to graze.

There was nowhere to replenish supplies along the way, and the Yuan army in the south could only be maintained by the baggage they carried, and Yuxi Timur could only pin his hopes on Basa, who was ordered to capture Changshu, as long as he could capture this city that stored a large number of gentlemen of the Song army, then the immediate difficulties would not only be solved, but also provide the army with the needs to continue to move south.

But people are not as good as heaven, and Basa not only failed to capture the city, but lost his troops and lost his generals. Yuxi Timur was angry and wanted to behead him to be punished by military justice, and only after the intercession of the generals did he be exempted from the death penalty, and he was given 30 lashes to make meritorious service for the crime. But he knew that anger could not change the current situation of food shortage, and the top priority was to take the city as soon as possible. And he also understood that he could not count on Basa, who had lost all morale, so he ordered the siege of the city, rushed to build siege equipment overnight, and attacked the city the next day.

The next day, Basa led his men and horses to join the siege army. After listening to the report last night, Yuxi Timur thought that Xicheng had established its complete defense system, and that the mountain barrier was not conducive to the deployment of the army, so he chose the target of the siege in the direction of the relatively wide east city and the north city. Led by the Mongolian army capital Wanhu Saisana in Shandong Hebei and Wanhu Hatusun in Huaibei, Henan, respectively, Yuxi Timur led the Chinese army to respond, and Basa naturally returned to the headquarters.

"See Du Shuai!" Basa took a few of his relatives to the headquarters of the Chinese army to wait, and saluted Hatusun. And looking forward, there are really many people and great strength, and the army of 100,000 is cutting down trees and demolishing houses and collecting supplies. The craftsmen who accompanied the army also did not care about resting, and made siege equipment, and built hundreds of stone throwers, dozens of siege vehicles, and tall arrow towers overnight. He was sad when he saw it, if he had already had these guys, why would it be like this.

They came on light horsemen, with no extra supplies other than weapons and supplies with them, and only a few craftsmen accompanied them, who were simply unable to make these large siege machines. During the first two days of the siege, Basa was able to get the craftsmen to have simple equipment such as ladders and poles earlier, but later they could not supply them, so they had to use iron plowshares collected from the homes of the inhabitants to tie them to long poles, and push these long poles with Lele carts to the city walls, and while hiding under the carts to avoid bullets and all kinds of incendiary objects, they stretched out the long poles with the plows, and when the plough hung up the battlements, they climbed up the poles.

Of course, it is not only the siege equipment that is lacking, but also the wear and tear of weapons, especially the most effective arrows. Due to the fierce fighting, the spare arrows were almost exhausted on the first day, and the next two days could only be used to suppress the enemy defenders when they reached the city wall, and the preparation time was greatly shortened, so that there would not be any arrows available at the most critical time, and even then there would be very little left in the end, and there would be no more ability to attack.

"Yasa has worked hard, is the whip wound on his body better?" Ha Tusun waved his horsewhip to excuse him, and pointed to his side to let him come to his side, seeing that he was in a state of weakness, he comforted him.

"A few small injuries don't get in the way, and I want to thank Du Shuai for saving his life, all of them are incompetent subordinates, which makes Du Shuai tired!" Yesterday, the generals pleaded for mercy, and Basa was exempted from the death penalty, and Ha Tusun, as his direct superior, naturally tried his best to excuse him, and he still thanked him with gratitude.

"It's not clear that our brothers said these things, but I don't understand why my brothers were blocked under this small small city, and lost a lot of soldiers and horses." The parents of Ha Tusun and others were all directly under the Qianhu when Kublai Khan was first crowned king and was in charge of the Han land, and they naturally joined the cowardly Xue army as protons. It was because they had known each other for a long time, followed Kublai Khan to fight in the south and the north, and later succeeded his father to participate in many battles to destroy the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Ha Tusun knew that Basa was by no means incompetent, so he asked puzzledly.

"Alas!" Hearing his question, Ba Sa Wei sighed first, frowned and said, "Changshu City has been rebuilt, the city is strong, and there are heavy troops. After two days of fighting, I learned that the Southern Dynasty Imperial Protector was stationed here, which was not only well-equipped, but also well-trained and tenacious, which was by no means comparable to the previous Southern Army. In addition, their firearms are sharp, especially the artillery is numerous, and the power is very great, and they can open mountains and cracks as far as Lixu, which is simply unavoidable, and all of them die. However, our army came from afar, lacked siege equipment, consumed a lot of arrows, and lacked food and grass, all of which were difficult to replenish. Despite the constant attacks despite casualties, they were unable to shake the city. Du Shuai should still be cautious and use troops carefully! ”

"Oh, far away!" Ha Tusun nodded after hearing this and said, "The Imperial Protector is the direct pro-army of the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and it should follow him, so it's a bit strange to appear here." Maybe it was to escort the grain and grass here, but you just met it, if you really lost at their hands, but there is no shame! ”

Hatusun comforted Basa in his mouth, but there was also a trace of doubt in his heart. As a high-ranking military officer, he participated in the formulation of the southern invasion plan, and the defense of Changshu City, which was an important node of the campaign, was naturally the focus of reconnaissance, and he knew the deployment of troops here. Previously, there was only a low-combat baggage regiment stationed here, which was responsible for transporting supplies for passing troops.

Therefore, with a strong combat force of 10,000 people to capture this city, everyone thought it was a knife to kill chickens at first, and the cardinal commander was too cautious. But in fact, this is indeed a brigade of the Imperial Protector Army of the Southern Dynasty, which is not inferior to its own 10,000 troops in terms of strength alone. And those who have fought with the Song army know that the imperial guards under the direct management of the little emperor are all elites selected from the whole army, and the weapon configuration is also the best.

Judging from the experience of previous encounters, there has never been a defeat, although everyone disdains it, but there is a consensus in their hearts: in the field, in the case of one-on-one, the enemy's front protector can completely defeat their own side; In a one-on-two situation, the two sides may be able to fight on an equal footing; Even if it is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troops, it can form a formation to protect itself and wait for reinforcements; If you defend the city or are in danger, it will be difficult to break through in a short period of time even if you have three times the strength of your own side. Thinking that the battle of Huling is still fresh in everyone's memory, our own Hangzhou Duwanhu Mansion attacked the valley guarded by a royal guard brigade of the Song army with 40,000 troops, which not only defended, but also launched a counterattack in a timely manner, and disabled their own 40,000 people.

As for the water war, everyone hehe. When the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty was still nesting in the small land of Qiongzhou, and his own naval army was the strongest, the two sides fought repeatedly, and they did not have the slightest advantage, but lost their troops. In the subsequent battle to seize Jiangnan, the main force of his own naval army was basically annihilated by it. Not to mention the fight now, I saw it from a distance and fled, and I didn't dare to look at it at all.

"Basa, don't be discouraged! Now that our army has gathered the strength of the two Duwanhu Mansions, even if the horses can flatten this small city, wait to see how we capture the city and avenge the revenge of the city! At this time, the monk Wanhu Mansion Master Wanfu said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll see everyone set foot on this city and grab the first merit of Nandu!" Yasa smiled at his arched hand. But in addition to disdain, there is also a faint meaning of watching jokes, after all, he has lost such a big face, and of course he hopes that they will make a fool of themselves.

"Basa, your troops have been attacking the city for days, and you are already sleepy and tired, and you are injured, so you don't have to participate in the siege anymore, you should guard the camp for the rear army and collect artillery!" Ha Tusun knew that the troops of the Basa Institute were not only tired, but also that the repeated defeats had also demoralized them, and it was no longer suitable to participate in the siege, and it would damage the morale of other troops, so he gave him the task of staying behind.

"Yes, Du Shuai, the last general will take the order!" Basa naturally knew his thoughts, this was a task for himself to make soy sauce, and the shadows of the surrounding Song troops were nowhere to be seen, so there was no need to defend against enemy attacks. Collecting artillery stones and providing ammunition for the catapults may be their main task, so they did not refuse Hatusun's kindness, Shi Li said.

Basa had just left the Chinese army, when the horn suddenly sounded, the war drums shook the sky, the heralds planted yellow flags on their backs, and the horses marched through the queue, shouting to pass the general's orders, and the siege battle kicked off again......

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