Chapter Seventy-Three: The Siege of Suzhou (6)

After defeating Wang Liangcai that day, Yang Wu took the opportunity to capture Changshu, and after a day of rest in Changshu, he left all the wounded soldiers behind, and left 500 soldiers to defend Changshu, and led the remaining 6,000 people to attack Kunshan. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because they occupied Changshu too quickly, they didn't have time to transfer money and grain to Suzhou when they got to Kunshan. However, Kunshan was not the first line against Huainan, and the defenders were relatively small, only 1,500 people. When they heard that Yang Wu had led the army to arrive, they quickly closed the city gates, avoided fighting without fighting, and defended the city wholeheartedly.

"Although the defenders of Kunshan are only 1,500 people, the city walls are high and the defense is tight, and it is only difficult for our army to capture Kunshan!" Qin Pei sighed.

He insisted on resisting Gu Quanwu here back then, knowing that this city was not easy to attack, and even planned to besiege it for a long time.

"Yes, it's difficult!" Looking at the dense towers on the city wall in the distance, Yang Wu couldn't help but feel a little numb in his scalp. It is obviously impossible to defeat the enemy army in the field like Changshu, and I don't know how much time it will take to attack the city and how many soldiers will be lost.

"Is it time to use the killer weapon?" Yang Wu lowered his head and pondered.

In fact, Yang Wu was not without the means to attack the city, such as using black powder to blow up the city gates.

After Yang Wu provided him with an experimental site and pointed out the direction of formula improvement, Ning Zhong's experiment quickly succeeded and created a more powerful black powder.

However, this weapon is Yang Wu's top secret, and it is obviously not worth using it to attack such a small place as Kunshan.

In addition to black powder, there is also a gravity stone throwing machine, which is the "Huihui Cannon" used by the Mongols to attack Xiangyang in later generations, also known as the "Xiangyang Cannon".

At present, the stone generators used by all forces need to be towed and launched by dozens or even hundreds of people, and the weight and range of the stone bullets fired are insufficient; The Xiangyang cannon uses a counterweight to fire stone projectiles, which requires a lot less manpower, but the stone projectiles fired are much heavier, and the range and accuracy are far beyond the current stone machine.

If the return cannon is used to attack Kunshan City, Yang Wu believes that he will be able to capture it. However, the return cannon is complex to manufacture, requires a large number of craftsmen, and consumes a lot of time, so it is suitable for long-term sieges; And Yang Wu didn't want to delay too much time in Kunshan, he still wanted to quickly occupy the counties around Suzhou, and then join forces with Zhou Ben to attack Suzhou, and then sacrifice the big killer weapon of the return cannon when he attacked Suzhou.

The two of them circled around Kunshan City, and sure enough, as Qin Pei said, they couldn't find the slightest loophole. In desperation, I decided to try to attack the city first.

On the same day, the Huainan army began to dig ditches and build fortifications, make siege equipment, and built a camp in the dangerous place outside the city, with timber inside and rammed earth outside, which was very strong, and dug a trench four feet deep outside, and inserted bamboo sticks at the bottom of the ditch, which were necessary precautions to prevent the defenders from suddenly attacking out of the city.

After doing this, Yang Wu sent people to shoot persuasion documents into the city, and then launched a tentative siege of the city. He ordered Zhu Siqing to lead a capital to attack the West City Gate, and he and Qin Pei led the rest of the army to respond.

With the sound of war drums, Zhu Siqing began to lead his troops to move forward slowly.

On the city wall, the guard Zhang Dazheng was full of sadness. Kunshan is located in the east of Suzhou, the position is dangerous, but the defenders have only three battalions. At the beginning, he once proposed to Sun Yan to increase the number of troops here, but Sun Yan thought that Kunshan was not the first line of defense against Huainan, and if Huainan attacked on a small scale, then Changshu and Suzhou would be able to block it; If Huainan is attacking on a large scale, then the surrounding counties should be abandoned as much as possible, and the troops and money and food of each county should be concentrated to defend Suzhou for rescue.

Therefore, Sun Yan only has so many troops in Kunshan, and as for Huating, Jiaxing and other counties in the rear, the number of troops is even smaller. This is also something that can't be helped, Qian Biao started late, and his troops are far inferior to Huainan, so he can only take the method of focusing on defense.

At this time, in the face of the attack of the Huainan army outside the city, Zhang Da was running back and forth on the city wall to boost morale, while secretly thinking about how to retreat from the enemy.

If there is no good way to continue to defend like this, I am afraid that the city will inevitably fall in the end. He heard that Suzhou had been besieged, and there was a rebellion in Hangzhou, and now he did not know whether he would win or lose. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible to relieve the siege.

"If you surrender?"

The thought was extinguished by him as soon as it arose. This is not to say how loyal he was to Qian Biao, but his family was in Suzhou, and he did not dare to surrender before Suzhou was occupied by the Huainan army.

Thinking about things in my heart, but I didn't stop at all in my hands.

Seeing that the Huainan army had already rushed to the city with a cloud ladder, Zhang Da shouted loudly, "Prepare, shoot!" ”

Immediately, the soldiers opened their bows and shot away, and the rain of arrows covered the sky, but only a dozen of the Huainan army under the city fell from the arrows.

"Shoot again!"

It was another round of arrow rain, this time the enemy army was closer, and there were more falls, but the Huainan army still did not retreat, and they set up the ladder on the city wall one after another, preparing to ascend the city.

"Prepare to roll the log!"

……

Half an hour later, with the sound of gold, the Huainan army besieging the city began to retreat slowly. The soldiers of the defenders cheered, and their faces were filled with joy, "Victory!" ”

However, unlike the cheers of the soldiers, Zhang Da looked at the other party's orderly retreat, but his face was gloomy, "Alas, the future will not be easy!" ”。

He knew that if the enemy attacked like crazy, it would be a good thing, the so-called "rigid cannot be long, soft cannot be defended", the enemy blindly attacked, it will definitely not last long; But now the enemy is attacking the city in such an orderly manner, which means that the enemy generals are cool-headed, and today is just a test, and the next siege will become more and more fierce, and their own side will continue to be bled until they are exhausted, which is when the city falls.

In the next few days, the Huainan army really attacked the city in a hurry, and bled the defenders in the city little by little, and in just ten days, the defenders suffered more than 200 casualties.

On this day, after just repelling the attack of the Huainan army, Zhang Dahastily explained a few words to the battalion commander defending the city, and then returned to his mansion with a sad face.

"General, Cui Xianling came to ask for a meeting, and he is waiting in the living room." At this time, the next person suddenly came to report.

"Cui Su? What is he here for? Zhang Da was a little puzzled, his relationship with the county commander Cui Su was not very good, but he had only gotten along a little bit because of the recent defense of the city.

Hurried to the living room, and after some politeness, Cui Su asked solemnly, "Dare to ask General Zhang, how is the battle situation now?" ”

Although he is a county magistrate, he does not have much power in Kunshan, not to mention military power, that is, Zhang Da has the final say in the government affairs of Kunshan in peacetime, so the relationship between him and Zhang Da can only be said to be average.

Although Zhang Da was worried in his heart, he also knew that he had to give these people the confidence to defend the city, so he said with a smile, "Lord Cui, rest assured, the enemy attack on the city today has been easily repelled by the general, killing hundreds of them while our army's casualties are very small." So don't worry, the enemy won't be able to attack! ”

Cui Su shook his head, sighed and said, "Why should the general hide it from me? Although this officer does not understand military affairs, he also knows that the soldiers have suffered heavy casualties in the past ten days, and if there is no other way to change the situation, I am afraid that the general will not be able to hold on for long. ”

The reason why Qin Pei was able to hold on at the beginning was because he had 3,000 troops at the beginning, and at that time they could still count on Huainan to send reinforcements to relieve the siege; But the current Kunshan obviously does not have these conditions.

"Huh?" Zhang Da frowned, looked at Cui Su with a solemn look in his eyes, and said coldly: "What, is Lord Song trying to persuade the general to surrender?"

Cui Su smiled and shook his head, "No, this official is just introducing a person for the general." This man has a strategy to help the general break the enemy. ”

……

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