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The Jurchen siege seemed to be very organized, and six hundred catapults began to bombard the city head, but it was not a random and chaotic attack. The target of its bombing was very clear, and the land within 500 paces on the east and west sides of Fengqiu Gate was the concentrated bombing area of 600 catapults. This is a very clever way to do it.

With the number of 600 Jurchen catapults, it is unrealistic to carry out a comprehensive bombardment and destruction of the ten-mile-long wall of the northern wall of Bianliang, so it is the strategy of the Jurchens to attack the city by concentrating on breaking through. This can not only concentrate the limited firepower of catapults to effectively suppress the distance between the east and west sides of the city tower, cause effective damage to the defense system of the city wall, but also allow the large number of defensive equipment and soldiers and horses of the Great Zhou Forbidden Army to evade.

Bianliang is the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, where all the best military resources are concentrated. The Great Zhou Forbidden Army had the most and best defensive weapons. This includes nearly 700 bed crossbows and more than 180 three-bow bed crossbows. These are the nightmares of the siegers.

All of these bed crossbows were installed on the walls of the northern city, and the four gates were densely packed to the left, and there were bed crossbows every twenty or thirty steps on the city walls as a weapon of defense to destroy important targets. In this case, the Jurchens' practice of only attacking Fengqiumen was to make most of the bed crossbows and three-bow bed crossbows unable to function, and only the defense system on both sides of the Fengqiumen tower could play a role.

In terms of manpower, although the Great Zhou Forbidden Army had a large number of soldiers and horses and young and strong people who were willing to defend the city, no matter how large the number was, it could not give full play to its advantages in a small area. The two sides of the tower can be defended by less than 15,000 men at the same time. It was already a very dense formation. However, if enough space is given to the Great Zhou defenders, the entire northern city wall can definitely accommodate 1340,000 people. Because the width above the walls of Bianliang City is several times wider than that of ordinary cities. The general width of the ordinary city wall is more than 20 steps, which is already a very majestic city wall, and the width of individual cities is 30 steps is already the limit, but the width of the city wall of Bianliang City has reached a staggering 70 steps. At the top of the entire city wall is a huge square, which can accommodate as many people as you can imagine.

The Jurchens used this concentrated attack method to make use of their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and to make up for the lack of their comprehensive siege equipment by breaking through one point, and also to avoid suffering huge casualties in the siege.

Six hundred catapults frantically smashed stones and frozen mud into the city. It was like a torrential rain of mud and earth in the whole city. The arrow towers on the head of the city, the makeshift fortifications, the battlements and the bed crossbows on the city walls were all destroyed in this frenzied bombardment. More than 10,000 defenders within the range trembled and hid behind the battlements, and on the side of the tower, countless people were killed and injured.

However, the catapults were also met with a strong counterattack from the castle towers and the three-bowed bed crossbows erected on the walls. Some bed crossbows that are out of range can also be used to counterattack within attack range.

The catapult's projection distance is not too far. The catapults of the Great Zhou are only 300 paces long, not to mention that most of them are catapults built by the Jurchens according to the map. Even if efforts were made to restore it and craftsmen were hired to supervise the construction, the resulting range was still only 280 steps. Therefore, in order to achieve the best bombing effect, all the Jurchen catapults had to drive within 300 steps to attack the city, in order to be able to throw stones and frozen soil onto the city wall, in order to achieve the height requirements, it was necessary to sacrifice the distance of the attack, so in fact, the 600 Jurchen catapults were within a distance of about 250 steps. At this distance, the defender's bed crossbow will naturally give them a strong counterattack.

Hundreds of catapults under the city were quickly destroyed, and that was the result of the crossbow at the head of the city. The bed crossbows mobilized from both sides also shoot fiercely at the catapults within range, and the thick crossbows can be concentrated in the key positions of the catapults, which can destroy the catapults into piles of rotten wood.

But after all, the number of catapults has the upper hand, and the dense rain of mud and stone at the head of the city is not only extremely lethal, but also creates a large amount of choking smoke and dust, and the attacked city head is wrapped in gray-yellow smoke and dust, and people cannot breathe invisible objects in the smoke and dust. In such a situation, it is not easy to save your life, let alone fight back. Under the military order that they were not allowed to leave the city, a large number of defenders at the head of the city were killed and injured by falling rocks because they could not avoid the blows of the stone rain. The only thing all the defenders could do in the end was to huddle in the corners beneath the towers and battlements, their arms in their arms and their heads trembling like frightened beasts. After all, there were only a limited number of places to hide, and a large number of soldiers had no place to hide, so they could only stay away from the north side of the city wall and concentrate on the south side of the city wall. Because of the breadth of the city walls, the distance of seventy paces could make the projection distance of the Jurchen catapults temporarily unattainable. But in this way, the monitoring and counterattack on the north side of the city wall were basically abandoned, making the Jurchen catapult attack even more unscrupulous.

The bombardment of catapults was endless, and the Jurchens were well prepared in advance, and they prepared a large number of catapults with stone shells and frozen clods, the number of which seemed to be enough even for a day and a night. However, catapults have a limited lifespan, and under this high-intensity projection, dozens of catapults have disintegrated on their own without any attack.

Although such a bombardment is frightening, it is actually for the defense of the city

Fang, although it seems to be passive, and the casualties are also heavy, there is no danger of breaking the city. What the defending soldiers and horses paid close attention to was actually the movement of the soldiers and horses of the Jurchen army. If you want to take the city, you can't rely on the bombardment of catapults. The walls of Bianliang City are not papier-mâché. Catapults may destroy some of the facilities, but they can't destroy the main body of the wall, which is three feet high and more than seventy paces wide, like a hill in front of them. With the sturdiness of the walls of Bianliang City, even if these catapults bombarded for a month, there would be no problem. The use of catapults to suppress the soldiers and horses at the head of the city, and then launch a charge siege operation is the known goal. In fact, this is what the Great Zhou soldiers and horses are most worried about.

However, the Jurchens did not know what to think, and it seemed that they did not send troops and horses to attack the city under the cover of catapults. All the soldiers and horses were ready to attack, but they did not move. The catapults also threw stones at the head of the city endlessly, and there was a great posture that the city wall would not stop collapsing.

Two hours later, the catapult bombardment finally ended. The defenders of the Great Zhou stood up from the countless stones and dust, one by one, like ghosts out of the grave, covered with gray and black dust. Except for a belly full of plaster, they were unharmed. The generals roared hoarsely, preparing the defenders for an attack. The soldiers and horses supporting the city walls on both sides also stepped on the rocks and dirt lumps all over the ground and ran towards the position of this city wall. Everyone understood that the real siege of the opposing army was about to begin.

However, the Jurchen soldiers and horses did not go as they expected, and the catapults began to withdraw, and after the high-intensity projection, the catapults were shaky and in need of repair and reinforcement. The soldiers and horses defending the city are wondering to themselves, could it be that the other party is so interested that it has ended here? Could this be the way the Jurchens siege the city? Think you can breach a city with a catapult? That's funny, isn't it?

Just when the defenders at the head of the city were confused, another fifty or sixty catapults slowly drove out of the Jurchen array. It is said that it is a catapult, because the shape and structure are very similar to the catapult, but the catapult in front of you is twice as tall and wide as the ordinary catapult. The two main masts of an ordinary catapult are about one zhang high, and the length of the throwing arm is only two zhang. But the height of the catapult in front of him reached more than two zhang, and the length of the throwing arm was close to more than four zhang. With the exception of the chassis, the main mast and throwing arm are all black and shiny, and are definitely not made of logs. There are many factors that affect the range and strength of the catapult, but the most important thing is the choice and length of the throwing arm and the tall mast. It is impossible to connect the mortise and tenon joints in these extremely violent parts, and it is necessary to use the log with the appropriate length, hardness and toughness to act as the main component. Often the damage of the catapult is due to the wear of the axle, the fracture of the throwing arm or the fracture of the fixed mast on both sides, because these are the three most critical stress parts of the catapult. The choice of materials for logs is difficult.

The length and hardness of logs are extremely demanding, so finding the right material is not easy. Often only one or two of them can be met, but the perfect suitable is the one in ten thousand log materials. This is also the limitation of the siege equipment such as catapults, which can only be used improvisedly in many cases, not to mention the high damage rate, and the power and range are actually very average.

However, it is really incredible that these dozens of catapults in front of them have such a high height and such a long throwing arm. The thickness of the throwing arm is only the thickness of the bowl mouth, but it can be as long as four feet, and it can never be a wooden throwing arm. A catapult requires more than a dozen horses to pull forward, which is by no means the weight of an ordinary catapult. When the experienced Great Zhou generals at the head of the city saw these giant catapults appearing under the city, their hearts were full of doubts. They all agreed that this thing was not as simple as an ordinary catapult enlarged.

They were not mistaken, and although this thing was an enlarged version of a normal catapult, it was by no means as simple as an ordinary catapult. This is a kind of siege equipment that took nearly a month to arrive at the front line from Zhongjing Road with more than 300 carts only three days ago, and was named 'Tianlei' by Wanyan Agu Da himself. This is also the second weapon that the military advisor Li Guoqiu dedicated to Wanyan Agu Da in addition to the Iron Floating Massacre, which was used to attack the city and pull out the village.

The Li family, a descendant of the Southern Tang Dynasty, has been hiding in the mountains and wilderness for several generations, never forgetting to avenge the family and the country, and cherish the idea of recovering the country. In addition to studying and practicing martial arts, the children of the Li family also studied various tactics, battle formation strategies, and siege equipment and methods. Li Guoqiu is the best among them, and before defecting to Wanyan Aguda, Li Guoqiu made careful preparations and research. Many of the results of research can only be implemented under certain conditions, and Wanyan Aguda's large-scale mining of iron ore in Liaodong gave Li Guoqiu the most important conditions for realizing these ideas. In addition to the corresponding armor design, the most important thing for the Iron Floating Heavy Cavalry is who can have so much fine iron to create such a class. Wanyan Agu Da had such basic conditions, and Tiefutu was finally successful.

In the manufacture of siege equipment, Li has studied various offensive and defensive equipment in Da Zhou, and naturally has some experience. For example, in terms of siege methods, catapults are actually of limited use, and they are actually a kind of auxiliary siege equipment. It costs far more money to build a catapult than it can do. That is to say, the catapult is a very cost-effective siege equipment, often because the range is too short and the opponent is countered, the loss is huge, but in the siege means, the catapult is indeed suppressing the opponent's

Counterattacks and destruction of the defenses on the city walls play a great role, but they seem to be indispensable in storming the city.

In view of this contradiction and contrast, increasing the power and range of the catapult is a direction that must be considered. Li Guoqiu's method was to replace the main components with fine iron castings, increase their size, and turn the catapults into sturdy giant iron towers that projected heavy objects. The iron ore in the hands of Wanyan Aguda made this vision a reality. In fact, the first projection towers were built before the troops were launched. Although the result after the test launch did not completely satisfy Li Guoqiu, it was enough to make Wanyan Agu and others stunned. This kind of giant catapult can project a weight of up to 200 catties to a distance of 800 paces, which can completely achieve the purpose of striking the enemy at a distance that the opponent cannot reach at all. The weight of the thrown heavy object is as high as 200 catties, and its power is also staggering. Before, the catapult could only throw dozens of catties of stones, and falling on the head of the city also caused casualties and damage to some of the fragile defense systems, and such a giant catapult projected two hundred catties of heavy objects from the sky, to put it mildly, people, even the strong city wall battlements, and the strong fortifications and shelters will also be destroyed by it. If it hits a person, it will be a lump of flesh, and if it hits a house, it will penetrate the wall and enter the house, and even if it hits the ground, it will make a big hole. This is the real siege weapon.

Wanyan Aguda was pleasantly surprised after witnessing the two hundred pounds of bluestone smashed on the ground in the target area, the ground smashed out a pit the size of a zhang, and the broken bluestone splashed within a radius of seven or eight zhang, and the grass and trees near the left were smashed after the branches and leaves fell, thinking that it was like a thunderbolt from the sky, so it was named 'Tianlei Che'. Although the cost of manufacturing was extremely high and the difficulty of manufacturing was also extremely great, Wanyan Aguda immediately began to manufacture this kind of heavy siege equipment. For this reason, there are thousands of exhausted miners in the caves of the Liaoyang mine, and there are also many more exhausted souls in the smelter on the outskirts of Liaoyang. But none of this is anything to Wanyan Aguda. Human life is the least valuable thing, and it is definitely worth it to exchange human life for such a powerful siege weapon.

Li Guoqiu made further improvements, the biggest improvement was in the throwing objects. Throwing a few hundred pounds of weight sounds simple, but it's not really practical. Where to mine these boulders and transport them with the army? So the throwable is actually extremely important. However, Li Guoqiu quickly found a suitable projectile, and he prepared two kinds of ammunition for the Tianlei car. The first is the slag left over from the smelter's ironmaking. Because of the low level of ironmaking, there is still a large amount of iron slag in it after the slag is condensed, and it only needs to be melted back into the furnace to cast the slag into a scrap iron slag ball, which is not large in size, but the weight can reach the standard of about 200 catties. This thing is actually something like a large iron ball when it cools down, but it will also shatter and splash after a heavy hit, which is very effective.

The second type of cannonball was actually inspired by Li Guoqiu's learning of the details of the great battle between the Jurchen army and the Liao people in Liaoyang Mansion. After personally testing the black oil that came out of the ground had the property of burning violently, Li Guoqiu had a bold idea. He ordered someone to fire a large spherical pottery with a diameter of about two feet, poured black oil into it and sealed it, and weighed it at about 180 catties, which was just enough to meet the conditions of the projection of the Tianlei car. In the process of projection, the thick pottery did not break, but only shattered after it hit the ground, and black oil flowed all over the ground. The black oil burned for a long time before it was extinguished. The area where the black oil flowed burned in a mess. Li Guoqiu was almost crazy with excitement, this was the most ideal result in his mind, this was the ammunition that could cooperate with the Tianlei car to cause great deterrence and damage to the enemy during the siege of the city.

Both types of ammunition were used, and a lot of them were brought in with the arrival of the Sky Thunder wagon.

The Tianlei car was quite expensive to manufacture, which once affected the expansion of the Iron Floating Massacre. But in the end, Wanyan Aguda would rather postpone the renewal of the blades and armor of the Jurchen cavalry, and was willing to prioritize the use of resources in the construction of this Iron Floating Slaughter and the manufacture of the Heavenly Thunder Vehicle. Because Wanyan Agu knows that these are the killer features that will affect the situation of the war.

The bombardment of the six hundred catapults for the first two hours was just an appetizer, and the real show began after the thunder carts slowly entered the battlefield. There were only sixty thunder chariots, but when they were lined up at a distance of thirty paces and took root three hundred paces below the city, the huge spoon-shaped basket on the raised throwing arm was as terrifying as the head of a poisonous snake. In fact, the soldiers and horses on both sides of the city and the city have not seen the power of this heavy catapult. The Jurchen soldiers and horses under the city were full of expectations, but the Great Zhou soldiers and horses at the head of the city couldn't help but be full of panic.

"Ready!" Let the flag be raised high.

Dozens of operators rotated the axle and the thick rope tightened, pulling the top of the raised throwing arm down. On the other side, the counterweight iron box of thousands of catties was hoisted high, and the two ends of the entire throwing arm were stressed and bent into a bow that shot towards the sky. When one end of the basket falls to the ground, the huge traction force makes the axle creak, and the whole structure emits the sound of Kaben Kaben after being stressed, making people feel that the whole structure will collapse at any time.

Eight strong men worked together to lift a black ball-like object, slowly put it into the basket, and then erected the fence around the basket and quickly retreated.

"Cast!"

The command flag fell heavily in a hoarse and sharp command.