Chapter 350: Bombardment of Zhuozhou

From the time Li Mingyi led his army to force the crossing of the Nanjuma River, Hali Chiduo's 80,000 defenders in Zhuozhou were constantly waiting for an opportunity to attack the camp of the Song army, hoping to further expand the advantage of the Mongol cavalry in the field, but they were all suppressed by the flexible and high fire of the sub-mother artillery.

After the Song army crossed the river and suppressed the position, and a large number of Song cavalry began to mount their horses to meet the enemy, the Mongolian cavalry, which had been maintaining flexible and mobile combat, suddenly felt as if the sky had changed, and the battle on the horse was unexpectedly no match for the Song army.

After the 3,000 elite cavalry brigade sent by Harry Chiduo was surrounded by the Song army, not a single horse escaped, and under the gaze of many Yuan soldiers and generals on the city wall of Zhuozhou, none of them were killed.

Harry Chiduo gritted his teeth and rattled, and he had the intention to personally lead his men and horses out of the city to fight the Song army, but he was desperately stopped by his generals, and began to gather his troops back to the city, and closed the four gates and insisted on not going out of the city to harass the Song army.

If you don't come out, will it be over? Why did I come here with so many large teams, no matter how many soldiers were stationed in Zhuozhou City, it would be difficult to withstand my artillery attack. Li Mingyi made a military order before leaving, and Zhuozhou City only had three days on the timetable of his action plan, and he was eager to take out more time from these three days to evenly attack the more difficult Daxing Mansion.

On the evening of the day of crossing the river, the Song army only used six shells, and the south gate of Zhuozhou was smashed by bombardment, and the Yuan army threw countless stones and bricks at the head of the city, completely sealing the passage of the south city gate, so that the Song army did not rush directly to the city for the time being.

Harry Chiduo didn't come to settle down to catch his breath, the Song army began a series of attacks overnight, there were no soldiers to climb the city wall with ladders, all the artillery fire concentrated on the city, first blew the city tower in the south into a bald head, and then a city wall of dozens of zhang collapsed.

Frightened, Harry sent a large number of soldiers to block the collapsed walls, and a large number of forced laborers went to build an earth siege to repair the collapsed walls. But isn't this a pipe dream, such a large section of the city wall, even if thousands of people go up to work at the same time, it will take three to five days to complete, and it will be without being harassed.

The Song army did not take advantage of the night to attack from the gap, but directly bombed the Yuan soldiers who attacked and blocked, and the battle damage was very serious under the dense artillery fire. Just when the southern city was a pot of porridge, the artillery of the Song army had been erected outside the west city, and the same first blew up the gate and destroyed the city tower in the night, and then blew up a section of the city wall, attracting a large number of Yuan soldiers to come over to defend, taking the opportunity to use artillery bombardment to destroy as many living forces as possible.

In fact, there are also thousands of Song cavalry, which has been dispersed outside the city of Zhuozhou, and all possible positions for people to pass through are garrisoned by the cavalry of the Song army, which is a death order given by Li Yiming, never let a soldier in Zhuozhou escape to the capital of Yuan.

Before the war in the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, all the siege tactics of the Song army could not be leaked, although it was only a few simple steps, and there were also great skills in using the enemy's psychological effect, which could not be repeated in the same place.

If Kublai Khan knew the details in advance, he would naturally analyze the tactical purpose of the Song army, and when it was time to attack the capital of Yuan, wouldn't it be more troublesome, so Li Yiming strictly guarded and didn't want to miss a fleeing Yuan soldier.

After a sleepless battle, the Yuan army in Zhuozhou City suffered very heavy battle losses, especially near the collapsed city wall, which was always bombarded by Song artillery shells, and the corpses were strewn everywhere with heavy casualties. However, in Harry Chiduo's opinion, the night's effort was very worthwhile, no matter how many soldiers were killed or wounded, at least the passage of the Song army was sealed, and no one let them attack the city of Zhuozhou.

Where would he understand that in the Song army's attack last night, the infantry responsible for the siege was simply a disguise, a bait to attract the Yuan army to come out to defend, and they would not blindly attack the city until they fully controlled the situation.

The sound of the explosion continued until it was dark, because at this time, the Song army's pretense could no longer hide people's eyes, and the Yuan army would clearly see the intention, so before the daylight, the infantry soldiers who had been running back and forth all night went directly back to their barracks to sleep.

Li Yiming was very satisfied with the results of this night, and Harry Chiduo was also very satisfied when he saw that his men were desperately defending and suffering so much damage overnight that they could block the powerful offensive of the Song army, and praised several generals on the position, and gave different rewards to all the soldiers who participated in the battle.

The hard laborers in Zhuozhou City braved the shrapnel of artillery fire last night, desperately repairing the collapsed city wall, and finally waited until the dawn of the day, but the Song army did not fire artillery or send troops to attack, just watched them work from a distance.

Thousands of people were working on the ground that had collapsed in two places, and the soldiers on both sides were watching, the Song army was silent so that the Yuan army could not understand, and the Yuan army was doubly nervous, when the city wall was built, it was a good opportunity to break the city, and they had been on guard against the attack of the Song army.

Who knew that the whole morning had passed, and the Song army did not have another shot, the smoke in the barracks rose, and the aroma of the cauldron and meat wafted to Zhuozhou City, which was also too arrogant. Now is the time when the two countries are fighting and besieging the city, no matter how many troops in the city are or how small they are, whether the combat effectiveness is strong or weak, you must always pay some attention to it.

Just camp a mile outside the city, you can see the steaming cauldron of the Song army at a glance, they all go around to eat and drink, and there are very few soldiers defending on the periphery, are they seducing us out of the city to attack the camp?

This thought flashed through Harry Chiduo's mind, and after a little thought, he began to scold the Song army for being extremely cunning, and even set up such a plan to calculate me, as long as our soldiers leave the city, there will definitely be an ambush Song army to counterattack and sneak attack, how can I be fooled by this.

Harry Chiduo ordered the defense to be strengthened, mobilized all the hard laborers, and hurried to repair the bombed city walls, and even some Yuan soldiers put down their swords and joined the army of brick and brick walls.

The rumbling of artillery outside Zhuozhou City, not only Kublai Khan of Yuan Dadu was worried, but also the defenders of Daxingfu, who were dozens of miles away, were also watching the movement here, and at the same time sent countless cavalry scouts, from multiple directions and angles, wanting to get close to the Zhuozhou battlefield to understand the battle situation.

There are also fast horse scouts from the direction of Yuan Dadu, like a group of self-surrendering birds, constantly captured by the Song army deployed in advance, that is, they have legs and feet that run fast, and can get rid of the pursuit, but they also have no ability to rush forward and take a look close to Zhuozhou.

The Song army outside the city was really relaxed and resting, Li Mingyi stewed braised pork for the soldiers who fought all night, and went to sleep boldly after eating and drinking. After a day's rest, groups of Song soldiers with glowing eyes came out of the barracks, each looking for their own positions, so that Hari Chiduo, who had not closed his eyes for a day and a night, straightened his teeth.