On a high slope outside the north city, Wan Yan Xian also looked at Taiyuan City three miles away from a distance surrounded by a group of generals, he had read countless battle reports about Taiyuan City, and he already knew this city well, but when he arrived at the scene, he was still shocked by this crystal-like city.

The battlefield was littered with the remains of various siege weapons, and the pits were covered with bloodstains, and although the bodies of the dead had been cleaned up, the shocking sights still showed how tragic the great battle had broken out here.

"How many Song soldiers are there in the city?"

Wan Yan Xian also turned around and asked the generals, "Who can tell me a clear number?" ”

Everyone lowered their heads one after another, no one had a definite number, Wan Yan slanted dissatisfiedly, and finally his eyes fell on Wan Yan Chang, "Tart lazy, you have the longest siege time, you can talk about it!" ”

Wan Yanchang had no choice but to stubbornly come out and say: "Qiyu is handsome, and the lowly position is estimated to be between five and sixty thousand, but Li Yanqing himself does not have many troops, at most about 20,000 people, and later recruited a group of new soldiers, there may be 30,000 people, so the lowly position is estimated to be about fifty or sixty thousand." ”

"Your estimate is not outrageous, so can you judge how many earth-shattering thunders the Song army still has defending the city?"

This question suddenly made Wan Yanchang stammer, how could he know how many earth-shattering thunders the Song army still had, at this time, Wan Yanchang's general, the commander of ten thousand horses, Yelu Ma, bowed down and said: "Qi Yu is handsome, and he may be able to speculate a thing or two." ”

"Oh? Tell me your reasoning. Wan Yan Xian also asked with interest.

"In the last battle, the Song army in the city threw a very powerful earth-shaking thunder, according to the lowly observation, it should be a sky-shaking thunder used to blow up the city, not a conventional throwing earth-shaking thunder, so the lowly judge that the earth-shaking thunder in the city should not be much stocked."

Yelu Mawu's answer was barely acceptable to Wan Yan Xian, and he continued to ask Wan Yan Changdao: "How much gunpowder stock did we have in our original warehouse?" ”

Yan Chang knew this very well, and he immediately replied: "We didn't have a single gunpowder in the Taiyuan warehouse in the past, and all the gunpowder was transported to Yanshan Mansion. ”

"Then has the Song army in the city been replenished during this time?"

This question was very sharp, which made the faces of all the generals present show a look of shame, and Wan Yan Xian also seemed to understand something, and immediately said angrily: "Could it be that Song Jun has been replenished under your noses?" ”

Wan Yan Xian also looked at Wan Yan Chang in particular, Wan Yan Zongbi was not there, Wan Yan Chang was the highest general, and also the highest responsibility, Taiyuan City's current state of Jin soldiers was extremely poor, morale was low, and the army's morale was sluggish, which made Wan Yan Xian also very dissatisfied.

Wan Yanchang hurriedly bowed on the horse and said: "Please Du Shuai to calm his anger, although there was an accident, but it may not be something that Du Shuai is worried about, at that time it was a team of Song troops who hijacked a team to escort forage, pretending to be the Han army and mixed many patrol posts, but in the end it was discovered by one of our patrol teams, only the Song army went out of the city to rescue, so that the interception failed, but according to the report of the soldiers who fled back, there were only two hundred carts of forage, and no other goods were found, so it was judged that this should be an army escorting the imperial envoy to Taiyuan City, Maybe the Song court wanted to reward Li Yanqing or something. ”

Wan Yan Chang explained very clearly, so that Wan Yan Xian also remembered the information of Lin'an, the Song Dynasty Emperor renamed Li Yanqing as the envoy of Sichuan and Shaanxi Jinglu and the envoy of Hedong Road, is it just to give Li Yanqing this will to be promoted?

Wan Yan Xian also thought it was unlikely, but Wan Yan Chang's words made him unable to find a loophole for a while, so he had to snort and turn around and go back to the camp.

For the old opponent Li Yanqing, Wan Yan Xian also knows a lot, several fiascos of the Jin soldiers were folded in the hands of Li Yanqing, especially the last time, there was a serious plague in the army, and finally tens of thousands of people died before it ended.

Wan Yan Xian was also psychologically afraid of Li Yanqing, so his army arrived in Taiyuan City, and he did not launch a siege war for a long time, just to understand as much as possible about the situation in the city and find the flaws of the Song army, but until now, he still couldn't find a loophole to attack, Li Yanqing made Taiyuan City like an iron bucket, making him invulnerable, and Wan Yan Xian was really depressed.

As soon as they returned to the camp, a patrol soldier immediately came to report that the Song army had withdrawn from Yanmen Pass and Loufu Pass, and the army was heading west, nowhere to be found.

"I see!"

Wan Yan Xian also waved his hand, he was not interested in this situation, the Song army withdrew from Loufu Pass and Yanmen Pass, which could only show that Li Yanqing was ready, and he was waiting for himself to attack the city.

Wan Yan Xian also stood in front of the wood carved map with his hands in his hands, and for a long time, he let out a long sigh, there is always no way to escape, and the battle that should be fought must be fought.

........

At noon, the drums in the Jin Bing camp were loud, the four camp gates were wide open, and 40,000 troops marched out of the camp in a square formation, marching towards the north city.

This time the Jin soldiers dispatched 20,000 Jurchen troops, 10,000 Khitan troops and 10,000 Xi people, every time they encountered major casualties, the Jin soldiers pushed other tribes to the front, which has caused strong dissatisfaction among the tribes, in order to appease other tribes, Wanyan Xian also sent 20,000 Jurchen elites this time, this Jurchen army is wearing iron armor made by the Khitans, wearing round helmets, holding large shields and one-handed short spears, and is very well-equipped.

They will be responsible for the main attack on the city, and the other 10,000 Khitan troops will be responsible for bow and arrow cover, while the Xi people are the siege vanguard, in fact, they are the cannon fodder in the war, they will withstand the sharpest opening counterattack of the Song army, and only when the Xi people attack under the city wall, the 20,000 Jurchens behind will launch a formal attack.

An army of 40,000 lined up two miles away, spears like a forest, swords flashing, and 40,000 troops were murderous, waiting for the horn of attack.

Before the Jin soldiers officially attacked, they launched eighty giant trebuchets, which were siege weapons made by the Jin soldiers in the Daimyo's mansion, which were originally used to attack Bianliang in Tokyo, but they did not expect the Jin soldiers to easily capture Bianliang, so that these giant trebuchets lost their use in the Central Plains and were moved to Taiyuan by the Jin soldiers.

"Du Shuai, why don't we attack Dongcheng at the same time?" Wan Yanchang asked with some puzzlement.

"There's no need for that for now!"

Wan Yan Xian also said coldly: "Multi-point attack is only used when the opponent's forces are insufficient, and now the Song army has sufficient troops, no matter which side of the attack will encounter the strongest counterattack, and we don't have enough trebuchets to concentrate our forces to attack the northern city, and the attack on the upper city will be won." ”

Huge trebuchets rumbled through the wilderness, each pulled by twenty healthy oxen in front and pushed by hundreds of soldiers behind them, with huge wooden wheels rolling slowly.

Eighty giant trebuchets were fixed at the 300-step line, and some soldiers installed huge wooden baffles in front, which was to prevent the Song army's bed crossbow attacks, which were still learned from the Song army, this kind of wooden baffle was nailed with logs, up to half a foot thick, and no matter how powerful the bed crossbow was, it could not shoot through, so that the giant trebuchet only exposed half of its body, which greatly weakened the blow of the bed crossbow.

The Golden Soldier's giant trebuchet did not use the Heaven-Shaking Thunder, before that, they had already spent 800 pieces to attack the city with the Heaven-Shaking Thunder, but the effect was very bad, and Wan Yan Xian didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Moreover, there are not many earth-shaking thunders in the hands of the Jin soldiers, there are less than five hundred left, although the Jin soldiers have captured thousands of sky-shaking thunders when they captured Bianjing, but unfortunately they were all consumed when dealing with Yue Fei's army attacking the city, but this sharpest weapon Jin Guo could not make it, and Wan Yan Xian also collected the sky-shaking thunder in his hand as a treasure.

The giant trebuchet uses boulders, and Wan Yan Xianye's goal is to destroy the trebuchet at the head of the city and reduce the casualties of the Jin soldiers when they attack.

At the head of the city, 20,000 Song troops have been deployed in place, and the crossbowmen with divine arms, archers defending the city, thunder throwers, thunder watchers, spearmen, instrument operators and other troops have their own responsibilities, Li Yanqing stared solemnly at the giant trebuchet slowly approaching in the distance, and turned around and shouted: "Send the earth-shaking thunder to the west and east cities!" ”

The earth-shaking thunders at the head of the city are all placed in a large wooden box, a large box is put nine throwing earth-shaking thunderbolts or four city-shattering thunderstorms, the wooden box has a lid, each large wooden box is placed on a wooden trailer, can be pulled away at any time, Li Yanqing gave an order, and the soldiers immediately sent away 1,500 earth-shaking thunders and 3,000 barrels of fire oil.

At this time, Wang Gui stepped forward and said in a low voice: "I estimate that it is unlikely that the other party will use boulders, fire oil and earth-shaking thunder." ”

"Why?" Li Yanqing asked expressionlessly.

"Wan Yan Xian has also dealt with us countless times, he attacked with fire oil in Bianliang, Tokyo, but failed, and the earth-shaking thunder is even more useless, besides, they can't build it, and this kind of giant trebuchet must be at least three hundred steps away, and it is unlikely that it will be thrown into the middle of the city, I think Wan Yan Xian's goal should be to hit our trebuchet, the purpose of which is to prepare for the attack of the 40,000 army behind him."

Li Yanqing glanced back at the one hundred and twenty trebuchets on the head of the city, he also felt that Wang Gui's analysis was more correct, after so many dealings and countless failures, Jin Bing should also understand that that kind of flashy things may not be useful, and using boulders is a simple and effective and reliable siege weapon.

At this time, eighty giant trebuchets had been placed, and a commander rode to Wanyan Xianye on horseback and shouted loudly: "Qi Yu is handsome, the trebuchet is ready!" ”

Wan Yan also nodded, and ordered: "Start projecting!" ”