Chapter 559: The Prince

Artillery volleys were fired, and rounds of shells flew like lightning towards the gates of the capital and the walls on both sides with a whistling sound of "boom, boom". Among them, the two red-coated cannons are particularly eye-catching, their sound is like thunder, and each shot will win the involuntary collective applause of the Song army officers and soldiers.

For the soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty's Middle Route Army, they were accustomed to this kind of scene, but for the other teams who saw the artillery fire for the first time, it felt as if the end of the world was coming.

Soon, the area around the south gate of the capital city was shrouded in smoke, and the Yuan army defending the city could only retreat into the bunker at the base of the city wall, and the large city defense equipment such as crossbows and stone throwers on it were also hit by artillery from time to time.

Although the whole shelling lasted only a little more than an hour, the Yuan army and the people in the city generally had a sense of panic, and in their opinion, this kind of artillery sound was like the heavens were angry.

Gongsun Xiaochen saw the commander of the artillery battalion Wan Yan Tianlei waving the flag, and immediately said to me: "Your Majesty, the artillery has reached the limit of firing. ”

I nodded and said, "Okay, pass the order, after the Royal Forest Army and the cavalry army are broken, prepare to throw grenades to avoid the Yuan army attacking, and the rest of the armies will retreat as planned." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

When the army slowly retreated, Kublai Khan, under the protection of Yin Tianya, Ah Shu and others, walked out of the bunker under the city wall, quickly climbed the city wall, and looked south.

Na Muhan, who came to his senses from the artillery fire, said: "Father, let the sons lead 10,000 elite horsemen to attack." ”

Kublai Khan shook his head: "No, Namuhan, you don't know how powerful the Southern Dynasty threw grenades, and the cavalry of our army was completely restrained by it. ”

Back in the palace, Kublai Khan left the prince Zhenjin and the general Boyan alone.

"Zhenjin, General Boyan, I have recently discussed with the Supreme Venerable Talent Engya, and I plan to let the two of you lead 10,000 of the most elite Dasu guards in the Xue army to leave Dadu the day after tomorrow and go to Shangdu (in present-day Inner Mongolia), and at the same time take away all the craftsmen in the armory prison who are related to the making of muskets and all the craftsmen above the upper division level in the court, and after arriving in Shangdu, all the garrisons and officials there will be controlled by Zhenjin, and immediately begin to develop a new generation of firearms, such as artillery and fireballs."

"Your Majesty."

"Father."

Although Kublai Khan's face was calm, both of them knew very well that most of them were afraid that they would not be able to hold it, but they had no way and no reason to persuade Kublai Khan, after all, no one had the ability to defeat the firearms of the Southern Dynasty.

Kublai Khan interrupted: "I know what you want to say, but you don't need to say anything, just do it." General Boyan, Zhenjin is young, and his experience and experience are lacking, and you need to be by his side at all times. ”

Boyan said with a solemn expression: "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

"Well, you have to remember that although we are the eagles of the desert and have the incomparable advantages of the southerners, we also need to learn from each other's strengths and make up for our weaknesses, and try our best to develop the 'science and technology' mentioned by Zhao Yu of the Southern Dynasty. Speaking of this, Kublai Khan sighed and said, "It's a pity that I understood too late, and in this regard, I am not as good as Zhao Yu." ”

In fact, Kublai Khan was able to understand the importance of technology in a short period of time, which is also commendable. It's just that Kublai Khan didn't know that science and technology were only an important factor in the rise and fall of the country, just like Guo Kan and I said, the ideology of being one step ahead was the fundamental reason for Song Shengyuan's defeat.

The next day, after the bombardment of the Song army, Kublai Khan officially announced at the court meeting that Zhenjin was the crown prince and determined the successor of the Yuan dynasty.

After receiving congratulations from the hundred officials, Kublai Khan continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, General Boyan is both civil and military, loyal and courageous, and I appointed General Boyan as the crown prince and concubine, and returned to Shangdu with the prince Zhenjin. ”

Boyan came out and said: "Yes, Weichen obeys the order." ”

According to Mongolian custom, the chosen successor of the Great Khan of Mongolia was required to return to Shangdu to pay respects to their ancestors and receive congratulations from the major tribes.

"Well, go down and prepare, for tomorrow is an auspicious day, so you will set out early tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Father."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the two of them left, Kublai Khan said: "Wuliang Hetai, have you made a plan for street battles in Dadu?" ”

"Back to the emperor, it has been formulated, and each army has been deployed in their respective areas since yesterday."

"Well, Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, I want you to be able to get in and out. The order goes down, and from this day onwards, the south gate is closed. ”

Wuliang Hetai said: "Yes, the emperor." ”

For the next month, as long as the weather is good, I will lead a large army to the capital every day and carry out artillery bombardment. On 2 November, the Powder and Powder Administration delivered the last batch of firearms before the war, including 5,000 ordinary projectiles, 1,000 enhanced projectiles, 100,000 rounds of musket ammunition, and 10 artillery pieces.

The two subordinate factories of the Lin'an Gunpowder Supervision were open day and night, and the workers were divided into three shifts and kept producing and assembling them, so that the monthly output of the projectiles could reach more than 6,000 pieces. In the past two months, for the sake of the Battle of Dadu, I asked Lu Hidefu of the Military Affairs Yuan to order that ninety percent of the projectiles be allocated to the Central Route Northern Expeditionary Army, which is also one of the reasons why the Eastern and Western Route armies have made slow progress due to the lack of firearms.

Kublai Khan did not order the repair of the broken city wall, and Kublai Khan knew very well that this could only be a futile work that cost the people and money. At the beginning of the shelling, the whole Yuan army felt that it was an ordeal, but later, this torment was slowly replaced by numbness. Many soldiers even thought to themselves, hoping that the city wall of Dadu would be destroyed by the artillery of the Song army as soon as possible, so that they could fight to the death with the Song army in the city.

On 6 November, the gates of Dadu were finally blown open by artillery, and at the same time, the walls of the city gates within 40 to 50 meters on the left and right sides of the gates had also been blown into broken rock walls, on which no one could stand.

The soldiers on both sides have understood that the decisive battle will begin tomorrow.

After several days of sunny weather, the weather suddenly became exceptionally cold. As if infected by the war, on November 4, the weather became more bleak and silent. The cold wind that blew from time to time made people feel a kind of cold that was cold to the heart, although most of the soldiers of the Song army came from the south and rarely experienced this kind of cold, but because of the heat and tension in their hearts, they did not pay attention to it.

"Winter is coming, will spring be far away?"

Before I gave the general attack, I said to myself. I said this in a loud voice, and all the generals around me heard it.

With Lu Wenhuan's order, fifty-two cannons let out a final roar towards the city wall south of the capital.

Amid the sound of artillery, the troops of the Zhongshun Army and a regiment of the Imperial Forest Army, which served as the vanguard, took the lead in rushing towards the city gate. The large weapons such as crossbows and stone throwers of the Yuan army on the city wall were basically destroyed by artillery, so that they did not encounter any obstacles when rushing to the city gate. As they approached, 600 soldiers of the Chung Shun Army abandoned their horses and walked in unison, throwing projectiles through the hole that had been blown up, and after the explosion sounded, the crowd rushed into the city without hesitation.

After entering the city, a second batch of grenades was thrown in front of the culvert at the city gate, and then it dispersed in all directions in the thick smoke, and the third round of grenades was thrown as it walked slowly. When this round of grenades exploded, the soldiers of the 1st Regiment of the Royal Forest Army, which followed closely behind, also rushed into the capital one after another.

After the more than 1,000 Song troops entered the city, they did not move forward quickly, but scattered along the city wall to the left and right in a company or a unit, and once they found that the Yuan army was infested in front, they threw out grenades. The first 1,500 Song soldiers to enter the city carried five grenades on their bodies, and when more than 6 or 7,000 grenades exploded one after another, the first line of defense built by the Yuan army near the city wall was completely destroyed.

At the same time, the artillery stopped firing, and the follow-up Song troops rushed into the city one by one, scattering forward, left, and right under the command of their respective superiors.

It was the first time that so many grenades were consumed in the early days of entering the city, because I had learned the lessons of the Battle of Zhaozhou, and secondly, I was worried that Kublai Khan would ambush a large number of archers and musketeers inside the city gate, stop our army in front of the culvert of the city gate, and then attack with a rain of arrows.

It was very time-consuming for tens of thousands of troops to enter the city through a gap, and at the same time, it was necessary to prevent the Yuan army at the front from counterattacking. It took nearly three hours for Rao to pour in at about four o'clock in the afternoon, when more than 50,000 troops poured in.

Generally speaking, in ancient siege warfare, civilians near the city walls would be moved to a safe place to avoid accidental injury from long-range weapons such as arrows and stone throwers. The same is true for most of the capitals, the people near the city wall have been removed, but unlike the city of Zhaozhou, after hard street fighting, when the forward troops of the Song army advanced about thirty meters, they found that there were still people in many houses, and the situation was not good, these houses also contained the Yuan army.

In a bunker next to the city gate, Lu Wenhuan, Yin Yinglei, and Zhao Huai, who were in command of the battle, decided to suspend the pace of the advance and sent someone to report the situation to me.

After receiving the news, I entered the capital through the rubble under the protection of thousands of personal guards. At this time, the sky gradually darkened, and the area around the south gate was filled with gunsmoke, and the visibility dropped sharply. At the same time, the sound of gunfire and shouts of killing in the city gradually became quieter, and it was impossible to see the target in front of him, and no one dared to act rashly.

Lu Wenhuan said: "Your Majesty, in the house thirty meters ahead, the soldiers of the Yuan army and the people of most of the capital are mixed together, and our army's grenades are easy to injure innocents, but it is difficult to quickly break through the defense line without using grenades, unless it is to rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy." ”