Chapter 439 Chin sent an envoy

Early in the morning, when the people in Xiangyang City were still asleep, 5,000 Mongolian cavalry archers wearing heavy armor were already within 100 meters of Xiangyang City, covering the countless throwing carts that followed closely, as long as the defenders on Xiangyang City shot downward, the cavalry archers would concentrate their forces and shoot at them, with superb marksmanship, they would soon be able to restrain the archers of the Xiangyang Army until the catapults reached the intended destination.

Holding a spear, Ah Tinghan stood at the forefront of the team, saw the throwing cart in place, waved his left hand, and ordered: "Beat the drum and sing the gold, the stone thrower, put it!" ”

Suddenly, the drums in the Mongolian army rumbled, the horns were raised, the cavalry army in front gave up its position, and hundreds of stone throwers roared in unison with the order, and the stones flew to the head of Xiangyang City, which was sometimes mixed with large stones of about 100 catties.

The stones thrown by the Mongolian stone thrower came and went, many stones fell on the city wall, smashed out a lot of holes, and even some small stones fell in the houses near the city wall, but fortunately, all the people nearby have been evacuated, but there are no casualties.

At the beginning, the stone throwers and crossbows on Xiangyang City could still shoot back, but it didn't take long for the Xiangyang army's stone throwers to be suppressed by the stones emitted by a large number of Mongolian stone throwers.

"Damn, why did the Mongolian army have so many more stone throwers at once, and they also used large stone throwers, and Ashu's main attack was placed at the east gate?" Lu Shikui on the city wall scolded loudly, scolding and scolding, but Lu Shikui was not confused, and let Ergou lead a group of heralds to convey his orders.

As soon as the sixteenth general guarding the east gate received Lu Shikui's order, he immediately ordered his subordinates: "All hidden, pay attention to avoid the stones of the stone throwing machine, and protect yourself." ”

Even the soldiers next to the stone throwing machine all hid in bunkers, and several stone throwing machines on the city wall were hit by the stones emitted by the Mongolian army's stone throwing machines, and they immediately fell apart and became a pile of waste. The general in charge of commanding the stone thrower could only be in a hurry, except for scolding loudly, he was helpless, and watched the stone thrower being destroyed by the other party.

The Mongol artillery bombardment lasted for more than two quarters of an hour before the Mongol blasters stopped firing.

Lu Shikui shook the dust off his body, his spirit was shocked, and he said loudly: "All the soldiers listen to the order and prepare to fight." ”

After waiting for a while, Lu Shikui, who was engrossed in staring at the outside of the city, did not see any signs of attack by the Mongolian army outside the city. On the contrary, under the protection of the cavalry, the catapult gradually retreated into the distance, and then the cavalry led by Azihan slowly departed.

"Withdrawn? General Lu, what's going on? Zhao Wan, the commander of the 96th Army who was close to Lu Shikui, asked.

"I don't know." Lu Shikui looked out of the city, was stunned for a moment, and then ordered, "General Zhao, send people to clean up the battlefield, treat the wounded, and repair the bunkers." ”

Zhao Wandao, who was covered in dust: "Yes, general." ”

Hundreds of regimental defense members in the bunkers under the city wall hurriedly cooperated with the hygienists of each battalion and each capital in the army (the Song army was a hundred people, each had two squads, a total of 100 people, equivalent to the company of later generations, and the five capitals were battalions), first transferred the casualties to the 16th box field hospital behind, and then began to repair the fortified bunker damaged by the Mongolian trebuch.

Lu Shikui stood on the city wall, looked around, and walked towards the marshal's mansion in the city surrounded by the guards.

Lu Wenhuan in the marshal's mansion sat in the lobby, and after listening carefully to Lu Shikui's report, he said: "The north gate and the west gate of Xiangyang City were attacked by the Mongolian army at the same time this morning, and the duration was not long, and the situation was completely different from the east gate. ”

"The terrain outside the east gate is open, even if you put two or three hundred more stone throwers, it will not be a problem." Lu Shikui said.

Lu Wende, the commander of Xiangyang, who came later, said: "Shikui, what are the losses of our army?" ”

"Back to the commander, the last general was in the process of counting when he came, but according to the last general's visual inspection, although there were many wounded, the number of dead was very small, and the biggest loss was the city wall of Xiangyang City, and many fortifications needed to be repaired or rebuilt."

"Well, Master, you go down and rest first."

"Yes, Marshal."

"What is the purpose of Ashu?"

Lu Wenhuan thought for a while and said: "Big brother, I think the purpose of Ashu's tactics is nothing more than two, one is to preserve its power, and it is unwilling to let the Mongolian soldiers be easily injured during the siege, and second, to try to open a gap in the east of my Xiangyang City through the long-range attack of the stone thrower. ”

Lu Wende nodded and said, "In the next few days, if the Mongolian army adopts the same method, then it can prove your speculation." ”

"Well, tomorrow, if the Mongolian army uses a stone thrower to carry out a long-range attack again, I will go to the east of the city to see for myself."

"Okay, let Lao San Wenxin accompany you then."

It was similar to Lu Wenhuan's estimate, and the next day, Ah Tinghan led the army to bombard Xiangyang again, this time for a longer time, reaching as much as half an hour. The position that had just been repaired yesterday was damaged by a stone thrower, and even the arrow tower was hit by a stone thrower by the Mongols. Fortunately, the defenders of the city took refuge in time, and not many people were killed, but the number of wounded began to increase.

Back at the Shuaifu, Lu Wenhuan said to Lu Wende: "Our army's stone thrower does not seem to be as good as the Mongolian stone thrower, whether it is the distance or the weight of the stone throwing, it is not as good as the other party, in the past few years, it seems that the Mongolian stone thrower for the siege has also made a lot of improvements." ”

"Kublai Khan since the retreat eight years ago, has always wanted to go south to our dynasty, and the only advantage of our dynasty is in the strength of the city and the strength of the water division, Kublai Khan wants to easily break through the city of our dynasty, you need to rely on long-range attack weapons, and the stone thrower is its first choice, this is actually consistent with Your Majesty's thoughts, but Your Majesty thought of replacing cold weapons with firearms, Kublai Khan is only on the original basis to make improvements, which has been pulled down by Your Majesty."

Lu Wenhuan said: "Yes, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have thought that firearms would be so powerful." Alas, I really want to see the artifacts of my dynasty sound in unison, that kind of scene must be very spectacular. ”

In the days that followed, the Mongols would bombard the east gate almost every day, each time at different times, with long and short periods.

The newly repaired castle towers are often damaged the next day, and during this time, the busiest people are not the 16th Wing soldiers guarding the east gate, but the group of regimental defense members who are responsible for assisting in the defense of the east gate, and basically have to work overtime to catch up with the progress of the repair.

By the seventeenth day, the progress of repairing the fortifications in the eastern part of the city began to be unable to keep up with the speed of the Mongol army's attack. The stone of the Mongolian stone throwing machine is endless, sometimes it will even bombard the city tower twice in one day, although it is still far from breaking through the east gate, but it makes many soldiers and people have a trace of worry in their hearts, a trace of panic, if the Mongolian army bombards like this every day, it accumulates a lot, then this Xiangyang city will be smashed out of a big gap by the stone throwing machine sooner or later.

Lu Wende in the marshal's mansion walked around the lobby, and said at the same time: "Alas, this is the drawback brought by the field, if there is no field, the Mongols will not be able to gain a firm foothold, and our army can counterattack, passive, passive." ”

Lu Wenhuan comforted: "Big brother, since Your Majesty has also approved this matter, it will definitely turn a bad thing into a good thing." ”

"Well, what should we do now?"

"Big brother, the twenty artifacts in the early stage have been placed, and ten have been placed in the wall in the east of the city, why don't you play Your Majesty, please allow our army to use the artifact."

Lu Wende said: "Yes, this method is very good, I will immediately play Your Majesty and ask for instructions on this matter." Second brother, before His Majesty's order is issued, a part of the regimental defense from other defense lines will be dispatched to support the east gate, and the fortified bunkers must be repaired before the next round of artillery attacks by the Mongols. At the same time, do a good job of pacifying the people in the city and enhance the confidence of the soldiers, so that they can say that the Mongols did not dare to attack the city, but only carried out artillery attacks from a distance, which seemed dangerous, but in fact did not damage our Xiangyang City at all. ”

"Understood."

Wen Tianxiang, Li Beiyang and Shi Yanzhi, under the protection of a hundred imperial guards, first came to Yingzhou, south of Xiangyang City. After holding talks with Chen Yi, the general of the naval division stationed in Yingzhou, and Zhang Shunluo, the commander of the army's first wing, he boarded the warship of the fleet along the river and was personally escorted by Chen Yi to Xiangyang.

Late at night on October 4, Wen Tianxiang and his entourage arrived at Xiangyang City and entered the city through the south gate.

Tang Yongjian, the commander of the seventeenth chamber stationed at the south gate, hurriedly sent everyone to the Xiangyang Marshal's Mansion. When Lu Wende, who had fallen asleep, was woken up by the guards in a hazy haze, he was still wondering if there was something wrong with his hearing: "What? Chincha-sama has arrived? ”

Lu Wende hurriedly put on his clothes and came to the hall of the Shuaifu, only to see Wen Tianxiang, president of the Government Council, Shi Yanzhi, president of Lin'an Military University, and Li Beiyang, the envoy of the naval division, already sitting in the hall, and Lu Wenhuan and Lu Wenxin, who arrived one step ahead of schedule, were drinking tea with the three adults.

When Xiangyang City was besieged, the imperial court sent three envoys, and they were extremely influential ministers in the court, which more or less made Lu Wende feel very warm and comfortable. Li Beiyang is the boss of the sailors, with 100,000 sailors in his hands, in terms of the number of troops under his command alone, Li Beiyang is the most of the Great Song Dynasty, Shi Yanzhi is the president of the Military University, and an academician of the Military Affairs Academy, although he is not directly in charge of the military, but he is the supreme rank in the army, and there are not many apprentices and grandchildren who serve in the army, even if there are many protégés in the Xiangyang army, as for Wen Tianxiang, it is recognized as the future prime minister.

With such a lineup, I can't help but say that it's strong.

After a little greeting, Wen Tianxiang took the holy decree from Yun Zhongfei, the commander of the guards, and said to Lu Wende and Lu Wenhuan brothers: "Ladies and gentlemen, take the holy decree." ”

"Yes, Lord Wen."

Lu Wende and the others set up the incense case and knelt on the ground.