Chapter 273: The General Protects the Fortified City with Fire

After Luo Anqiong left, Qin Dashi was still not at ease when he thought about it, he saw that the Jin people were still just lining up in formation, so he went down to the watchtower and personally rushed to the fort on the high ground in the city.

The medics were running around in a hurry, and when Qin Dashi climbed to the top of the fort, he saw the medics carrying away more than a dozen people on stretchers. Most of them were only injured, but there were also three corpses, which made Qin Dashi very annoyed in his heart.

"How's it going?" When he arrived at the place where he had to explode, seeing Luo Anqiong sending away an artilleryman, Qin Dashi asked.

Luo Anqiong's face was not very good-looking, and he was far less proud of the beginning of the watchtower: "Leader, after fighting for a long time, the artillery and artillery are a little unbearable, and now the artillery on the city head and the fort can continue to use only half of them, and at most they can only send a few more shells." ”

When he came over just now, Qin Dashi had already taken this into account, so there was no look of surprise on his face. Artillery is both technical and physical soldiers, and the work of carrying artillery shells is not easy to do. After fighting all night, I am afraid that the busiest thing is not the defenders at the head of the city, but these artillerymen.

Regardless of the casualties and sea tactics, the Jin people achieved at least one goal and successfully weakened the artillery in Qinglong Fort. Qin Dashi didn't quite understand now what method Jin Jiang relied on to make these people, who were clearly just ordinary people, not collapse in such serious casualties, and even when they knew that they were sent to death, they still attacked Qinglong Fort again and again.

"Artillery is no longer used when it is not necessary, and we rely too much on artillery, as if we would not be able to fight without artillery." Qin Dashi pursed his lips, the expression on his face was originally Gujing Wubo, this pouting expression is rare, Luo Anqiong nodded: "Since this is the case, let the golden people come to the city!" ”

At this moment, the whistle on the watchtower sounded, and the golden man began a new round of attacks.

Ilahab kept an eye on his men, who were already within range of the artillery, and this time none of the Song guns sounded. Ilahab's eyes became more and more keen, and it seemed that it was not him who had not rested for a day and night, and he almost held his breath as his men rushed forward, and the distance from the Blue Dragon Fort went from three hundred paces to two hundred paces to a hundred.

Only five cannon sounds sounded sporadically in Qinglong Fort, blasting in the place where the crowd was concentrated, setting off dozens of bodies, most of the Jin people rushed to the bottom of the city, the ladder was quickly erected on the head of the city, and the regular army mixed in began to suppress the Song army that was hiding in the battlements and pushing the ladder with bows and arrows.

"Good!" Ilahab slammed his fists and high-fived, and his onslaught, regardless of casualties, finally saw the effect, and he turned around: "The Song people don't have many shells available, and the generals listen to the order!" ”

For the Song army, the Jin people are most afraid of cannons, followed by the water army, now less than 10,000 Song troops are trapped in the small city, the cannonballs are close to running out, and the Jin country has more than 100,000 troops, the fear of those Jin generals is gone, all of them are elated, and they are waiting for the Ilahab generals.

"The victory or defeat is in one move, everyone, attack the city from the west, south and north, don't care about the east gate, let them escape, just break the city, it will be your great achievement!"

The Jin generals responded in unison, and Ilahab turned to the newly arrived Mengyuan envoy: "Your envoy returns to the lord of the Taishi country, and he will say that the city is about to be broken, and whether he can completely annihilate the Song people in the city depends on the elite cavalry of your country." ”

The Menghu envoy was not as arrogant as the previous one, but nodded coldly, and then returned to his horse and left.

On the Qinglong Fort, the defenders and the Jin people are fighting fiercely, but the guards are the most elite regular army in this era, and they occupy the advantage of the city, and at this time, the Jin people under the city are just coerced people, and they are much more skilled in holding hoes than knives and guns. Therefore, even without the benefit of artillery, the Jin could not pose much of a threat to the Guards, on the contrary, the Guards only relied on their bows and crossbows to create a blood canal under the city walls. Those golden soldiers who mingled among the people, although they were good at archery, but after all, the number was small, and they often shot only one arrow, and they were pierced by five or six arrows and crossbows.

Qin Dashi found this on the watchtower, and secretly annoyed in his heart, he was in order, but he still lacked experience in commanding large battles, so he made such a mistake, and was actually consumed by these peasants, who had almost no combat effectiveness at all, to consume their most powerful weapons and artillery. He cast his eyes from the city to the enemy formation in the distance, if he was the main general of the enemy army, he should have noticed the embarrassment of the Song army at this time, and he would take the opportunity to attack in a big way.

Sure enough, the Jin talents under the city were able to collapse in Kankan, and the horns sounded in the Jin military camp over there, and one team after another of the Jin soldiers came out of the camp, and Qin Dashi estimated that there were at least forty or fifty thousand people. From the clairvoyant mirror, these golden soldiers have complete armor and weapons, and even have siege equipment such as stone carts and rushing cars, crashing cars, and goose carts, rather than simple ladders.

"I will lead an army out, break into the enemy's ranks, and burn their equipment." Luo Anqiong was also aware of the threat of these siege weapons to Qinglong Castle, and suggested to Qin Dashi.

"That's to send death, aren't the Jin people unprepared, besides, there are enemies on three sides, after opening the city gate, the Jin people under the city take the opportunity to cover in, isn't this city guarded in vain?"

Qin Dashi's demeanor was calm, and he slowly refuted Luo Anqiong's suggestion. He originally wanted to defend this Qinglong Fort for five days to gain enough time for the transfer of the people and money in the rear, but now it seems that it is only the next day, and Qinglong Fort has reached a very dangerous moment.

"What then?" Luo Anqiong asked.

"The Guards are not afraid of close combat, although we have lost half of our artillery, it is not yet the time when the mountains and rivers are exhausted." Qin Dashi picked up a red one from the Lingqi: "There are still strange soldiers yet, why be afraid?" ”

Ilahab squinted his eyes and looked at the Qinglong Castle, the battle at the head of the city was about to end, and the golden people who barely climbed to the top of the city were driven down, and only four of the more than ten ladders remained. He inhaled hard, the smell of blood in the air, but luckily it was winter, and there was no stench of decomposing corpses. He pulled out the sword at his waist and pointed at Qinglong Castle: "Kill!" ”

"Kill!"

The Jin army roared in response, and then they drove out in groups, widening the distance, and rushed towards the Blue Dragon Fort. Faced with this situation, Qin Dashi could no longer cherish the artillery, so he had to order to fire. This time, the artillery priority targets were the huge siege engines, and as soon as they came within range of the artillery, they would inevitably attract a ball of fire.

The people of the Jin Kingdom under the city collapsed again, Duan Qu followed behind Du Zun, and now their small group has nearly a hundred people, and they followed Du Zun when they fled, intending to avoid the siege equipment of the Jin army, but they did not suffer any losses.

It was easy to retreat into his own formation, Duan Qu gasped, feeling that his hands and feet were weak, if there was another time, he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to escape back. When he looked at Du Zun again, Du Zun was also tired, but his eyes were shining.

"Go and tell everyone, our chance has come!" Du Zun said in a low voice.

"What?"

"Our chance to get out." Du Zundao: "Now that most of the elite of the Jin army are out, the vigilance against us is not strict, let's sneak into the camp and put a fire, the Jin people will be in chaos, and the Song people will fight back with all their strength when they see this situation, then we will take advantage of the chaos to escape, look for an opportunity to catch one or two golden generals, find out the news of the family, and rescue them!" ”

Hearing his bold suggestion, Duan Qu felt unimaginable: "How can I infiltrate the camp?" How do you get out of it if you set it on fire? ”

"I'll do this matter, you just need to spread the news to our people, and when the chaos starts, immediately call for everyone to flee with you, the more people the better, remember!"

Du Zun sat down as he spoke, they were not trained soldiers, it was normal to sit on the ground when they were tired, and the little colonel in charge of supervising them in the Jin army did not care, and his attention was also focused on the fierce battle under the city.

At this time, the Jin army's vanguard had successfully passed through the artillery fire area, and most of the siege equipment behind it was safe, although the artillery on the Song army was still in power, but because of the quantity, it could not form a dense attack, and the accuracy was naturally much worse. The morale of the Jin army rose higher and higher, and the shouts broke through the sky, almost drowning out the sound of artillery.

Ilahab let out a long sigh of relief, although the battle situation was not yet clear, but at least one thing, he could engage the Song people with real swords, without worrying about being crushed by the opponent's artillery bombardment before he could get close to the Song people. He was convinced that with the combat effectiveness of the Jin soldiers, the Song people, who had lost their artillery superiority, would inevitably be defeated.

What's more, he has several times the advantage in terms of troops, and the Jin soldiers he sent now have been recuperating for a long time, while the Song people have been nervous for a day and a night, and they are tired of attacking with ease, how can it be unreasonable!

Sure enough, before the siege equipment arrived, he saw several abandoned ladders being planted again, and strings of golden soldiers braved arrows and stones, desperately climbing up the city. The Song people should use rolling wood, stones, and boiling oil to knock down these ladders again, but there were many Jin soldiers, and one fell, and immediately two more trees were raised, so that the Song people in the city were exhausted.

As more and more ladders were taken up, finally a member of the golden general took the lead in the city, this person is very brave, and powerful, wearing heavy armor, still able to walk like flying, climbing the ladder like walking on the ground. He held a shield in one hand and a short axe in the other, blocked the left and right attacks, and after rushing to the head of the city, he actually lifted a guard alive, and even split down the city with a shield. The three nearby guards stabbed him with long knives and spears, and he shrunk his bones, covered his body with a shield, and shouted: "Feng Yuanlang of Caizhou has landed in the city!" ”

The posture of the guards holding long knives and spears was handed down by Yang Miaozhen, and unlike ordinary knives and guns, they always held the handle of their weapons as much as possible, so as to give full play to the advantage of their longer weapons. The person who called himself Feng Yuenlong came to the city and shouted, and the Jin soldiers were all in their blood, shouting his name in unison. Although Feng Yuanlang is a strong martial artist, but the axe length is limited, for a while, the guards could not drive him off the city, and he could not take a step forward. Behind him a golden soldier climbed up, and although he was not as brave as him, he took advantage of his cover, wielded his sword and forced back a guard, and took another position.

Seeing this, Ilahab was overjoyed and asked, "Who was the first to ascend the city?" ”

"Feng Yuanlang, who was originally a strong general of the Flower Hat Army, has always been famous in the army." Some staff members recognized Feng Yuenlong.

Ilahab drove his horse forward, wanting to take a closer look at the man who had first ascended the city, and his guards took the reins of his horse and admonished: "Marshal, this place is very close to the city, and if you get any closer, the cannons of the Song people will be able to hit it!" ”

Ilahab was displeased when he heard this: "The soldiers in front of him disregard life and death, how can this commander be behind?" If he is afraid of death, what battle will Ben Shuai lead his troops to fight? ”

When he had finished speaking, he whipped the guard's hand with a horsewhip, but the guard could not let go, and the staff next to him also came to persuade him, and Irahab did it in a foolish manner. When he looked up at that section of the city wall again, he found that with Feng Yuanlang as the center, on his left and right, the golden soldiers had already occupied about ten steps of the city wall, five or six ladders had been erected, and countless golden soldiers rushed towards the city with shouts.

"The Song people are far braver than they were at the beginning, but they are slightly inferior to my Dajin." A staff member.

Ilahab nodded, for he was on a higher ground, though not above the walls, so he could see farther. I saw that although Feng Yuanlang repeatedly forced back and slashed the Song army, the Song army team was skillful in combat and coordinated, and could always force Feng Yuanlang to give up the pursuit and rescue the injured Song army at the last moment. Moreover, the Song army gathered more and more here, and although the number of Jin soldiers in Shangcheng also increased rapidly, it was difficult to advance an inch.

Ila Habu only felt that his heart hung again, and Feng Yuanlang seemed to be able to crush the Song army in the city with just one effort, but the Song army also seemed to be able to drive Feng Yuanlang and the others down with just one effort. That section of the city wall seemed to be deadlocked, but Ilahab knew that the situation was unfavorable to the Jin soldiers, and the Song people were often injured and rescued by their companions, and the Song people often gave up the opportunity to attack the enemy in order to rescue their companions, and if the Jin soldiers were injured, they would definitely die.

In just a few minutes, dozens of corpses of golden soldiers were piled up on the city wall.

Feng Yuanlang only said that he was successful when he landed in the city, but he did not expect that the situation was gradually unfavorable, although he was brave and powerful, but his strength was limited after all, if he continued to stalemate like this, when he was exhausted, he would be killed. He knew in his heart that he must break through the Song army as soon as possible and accept his own people on the wall, only in this way can he get a chance to rest and breathe.

Qin Dashi was also watching the situation of this section of the city wall, he had already sent two teams of reinforcements one after another, but because the wall was narrow, he could not give full play to the advantages of manpower. Just as he was waiting to make another decision, he suddenly felt a sense of alarm in his heart, and when he looked sideways, he saw that there was a thud from the city wall, and it was actually a goose cart on a city wall only a few dozen paces away from him.

The goose cart was a siege weapon, and with the cover of the goose-like instrument with wooden wheels under its feet, the soldiers hidden in the belly of the chariot could quickly climb the city wall, because the center of gravity of the chariot was very stable, and it would not be easily overturned like a ladder. After the goose cart landed on the city wall, the top hanging plate was opened, and the soldiers rushed out, and there was immediately chaos on the city wall where it was approaching.

"Oil, ignition!" Qin Dashi shouted and waved his flag, located in the small ditch reserved under the city wall, and immediately flowed out countless tar springs, quickly gathered in the ditch under the city, and with dozens of torches dropped, under the city of Qinglong Fort, a wall of fire surrounding the whole city was instantly erected. The wooden siege equipment was placed on top of the trench, and when ignited by the fire, it quickly disintegrated into balls of fire.

The goose cart was no exception, and the Jin army, who had followed the goose cart to the city, found that the equipment they relied on to climb had turned into a flaming coffin, and it was ignited by the majestic flames. They screamed and banged on the wall of the goose cart, pushing their companions in front of and behind them, trying to escape, but no one could leave.

Ilahab's eyebrows were tightly locked, this was something he expected, but Song Jiang was so able to endure it, and he was still surprised that he would not light the fire until his siege equipment was close to the city: if it wasn't for Song Jiang's courage and risk-taking, it was that he was extremely confident in the Song army's defense of the city, thinking that even if some of the Jin army climbed the city wall, it would be impossible to shake his own defense line.

The tar contained a lot of poisonous smoke, so Ilahab's vision was blocked by this smoke, and he looked towards Feng Yuenlong, but he could no longer see Feng Yuenlong. He secretly regretted in his heart, and issued another order in his mouth, and the earth-shattering war drums sounded again, and before the last wave of Jin troops retreated, the second round of attacks began again.

After this period of fierce fighting, Ilahab judged that the artillery of the Song people was basically consumed, that is, there were still a few that could be used, and they could not pose a threat to the large and small stone-throwing vehicles of the Jin Kingdom. But at this time, a figure who was originally sitting on the ground quietly began to crawl on the ground inch by inch, and no one except Duan You noticed this.

Note 1: In the Yang family's marksmanship, hold the handle of the gun as much as possible, which can be seen in Qi Jiguang's "Record of Military Training"