Chapter 492: Fight Fancheng again

After the Yuan army captured the outer city of Fancheng, Ah Shu timely filled the vacancy in Ali's Hague headquarters, and with the addition of 5,000 new reinforcements, the number of Yuan soldiers besieging Fancheng reached 35,000, which was double that of the defenders of Fancheng.

Under the cover of more than 2,000 Mongol archers, about 6,500 Yuan soldiers launched a fierce attack on the north gate of Fancheng under the command of Kong Yuan, the commander of the southern capital. Although the archers of the Song army defending the city fought back, they were slightly inferior to the enemy archers in terms of speed and accuracy, and they were suppressed by the opponent's rain of arrows after a short time.

When the vanguard of the Yuan army attacked the city, the stone thrower stopped firing and retreated more than a hundred steps back. The accuracy of the trebuchet is very low, and it is difficult to guarantee that it will not shoot stones into its own military formation, but it is within the range of the opponent's artillery, so it can only retreat.

At the same time, the archers of the Yuan army also slowed down the speed of firing arrows, except for about 500 archers who continued to shoot, most of the archers stopped shooting, their skills were not enough, it was easy to accidentally injure their own soldiers, even the marksmen, they also became cautious, after all, the former soldiers were already close to the city wall, and if they didn't handle it well, they were very likely to shoot at their companions.

Fan Tianshun, the commander of the nineteenth chamber who was hiding in the bunker, shook the dust off his body and ordered: "All soldiers, prepare for battle." ”

In the face of the siege ladder of the Yuan army, the defenders also used feather arrows, rolling logs, gravel and boiling water. The Yuan soldiers who climbed the ladder rushed up to the edge of the city wall with a shield in one hand and a flying hook or war knife in the other. The Flying Hook is a siege weapon that is used to tie an iron hook to a rope and is almost as old as a siege weapon.

The tenacious Yuan sergeant persevered, fell a batch, and rushed another batch.

Kong Yuan, who supervised the battle, calmly ordered: "Five hundred marksmen listen to the order, move forward thirty steps, and continue to shoot; Archers from one to four teams of archers ascended the siege tower, while the rest remained in place, rotating in batches every passing moment. ”

Siege towers and ladders are both siege aids, and their height is close to the height of a normal city wall, allowing long-range shooters to stand on them and shoot. Like the tall Xiangyang city wall, the siege tower is useless, but for the relatively low Fancheng city wall, it is a great achievement.

Nearly 300 archers climbed more than a dozen simple siege towers and shot at the north wall of Fancheng, and the feather arrows fired by these flat arrows and the feather arrows thrown by the marksmen matched with each other, and a rain of arrows fell accurately on the wall of the north gate. Many of the soldiers defending the city on the edge of the city fell to the ground, and the rest of the soldiers had to keep waving their weapons and firing feather arrows, so that the speed of the Yuan army's climbing was greatly accelerated.

Finally, a centurion attacked the city wall, although this person is not tall, but extremely strong, his figure and Fancheng garrison Niu Fu is comparable to that, this centurion waved a special flying hook in his hand, swept away the Song army in front of him, and took this opportunity, and climbed up the good name Yuan army behind him.

It was the 228th Battalion of the 46th Army that guarded this section of the city wall, and the newly appointed battalion commander made Wei Guohu's younger brother Wei Guozhong hurriedly organize a counterattack. I saw Wei Guozhong take a war knife from a soldier beside him, and then suddenly fell to the ground and rolled towards the centurion of the Yuan army. The centurion's flying hook waved, no one could approach within three meters, but he couldn't protect the next three roads, and was rushed by Wei Guozhong like this, and suddenly he was in a hurry, and the surrounding Song troops hurriedly approached and fought with him in close combat.

Wei Guozhong did not entangle, rolled directly to the city wall, rose bravely, and regardless of the enemy behind him, he slashed forward several times one after another, slashing the Yuan army that was climbing the city, and then pushed the ladder outward.

The archers on the siege tower, who had already stopped shooting here, were helpless, and regardless of whether they would shoot at their companions, they only aimed their arrows in the direction where Wei Guozhong was. Wei Guozhong pushed the ladder away with both arms, but he couldn't dodge the feather arrows of the Yuan army, and he was hit by five or six arrows in a row, and fell on the edge of the city.

A squad of the Black Carbon Regiment, which was patrolling around, saw the danger here, and hurriedly rushed up, and together with the soldiers of the 228th Battalion who were fighting fiercely with the Yuan army, they killed the Mongolian centurion and more than a dozen Yuan soldiers who climbed up.

The soldiers of the Black Charcoal Regiment helped Wei Guozhong up, withdrew to a bunker behind the city wall, and withdrew the armor on his body, and the health officer of the 228th Battalion quickly looked at Wei Guozhong's wound, because the entrance of one of the arrows was too deep, and it was near the heart, so he did not dare to pull out this feather arrow. The hygienist took out cotton balls and medical alcohol, disinfected and stopped the bleeding, wrapped it in medical gauze, and instructed the regimental defense members on the side to quickly send Wei Guozhong to the field hospital in the city.

Kong Yuan, who was standing on a siege tower, saw that the Song army on the city wall was completely suppressed by his own archers, and said to the herald on the side: "Pass the order, the second team will go up, and replace the first team." ”

At this time, Lu Wende, the commander of the military region, personally led the 1st Brigade of the Independent Division to cross the pontoon bridge connecting Xiangfan and enter Fancheng.

Niu Fu, who was guarding Fancheng in the city, hurriedly greeted him: "I've seen the big handsome." ”

"Well, General Niu, how is the war?"

"Back to the marshal, early this morning, the Mongols launched an attack from the north gate and the west gate at the same time, the battle at the north gate is the most intense, the troops of the four armies of our army in the nineteenth compartment have all gone to the city to defend, and the last general is preparing to send the troops of the last army to the north gate."

"No, you don't." Lu Wende pointed to a young general beside him and said, "General Niu, this is General Li Long, the head of the Musket Commander of the Imperial Forest Army and the commander of the Independent Division, who was ordered by His Majesty to assist in the defense of the two cities of Xiangfan. ”

Niu Fu was overjoyed, clasped his hands into fists, and said busily: "I've seen General Li." ”

Li Long also saluted: "I've seen General Niu." ”

"Without further ado, General Niu, go directly to the North Gate."

"Yes, Marshal." Half of the soldiers of the second team of the Yuan army were Semu soldiers from the Western Regions, and their combat effectiveness was stronger than that of the first team mixed with Han and Jin. The Yuan army's attack in this round was even more violent, nearly 10,000 people from the four armies of the Nineteen Chambers had all gone to the city to defend, and even Fan Tianshun and the main generals of the Nineteen Chambers were all put into the forefront of the battle, and the four hundred soldiers of the Black Tan Regiment at the north gate were divided into ten teams, patrolling each section of the city wall, where there was danger, it appeared there.

Under the command of Fan Tianshun, the Song army defending the city stubbornly withstood the attack of the Yuan army. After repulsing two rounds of attacks by the Yuan army in succession, the casualty rate of the defenders of Fancheng began to skyrocket. Fan Tianshun made a rough estimate and said to Fan Yong, the captain of the personal guard: "Quickly report to General Niu and ask him to transfer the 51st Army as a reserve." ”

"Yes, General."

As soon as Fan Yong ran down the city wall, he saw Niu Fu and a large number of soldiers in different military uniforms walking quickly.

"See General Niu."

Niu Fu recognized that the dusty soldier in front of him was Fan Tianshun's personal guard: "Fan Yong, what's the hurry?" ”

"General Niu, the little one went to find you on the orders of General Fan......"

Niu Fu interrupted: "It's a reinforcement, right?" ”

"Exactly."

"No need to go, the reinforcements have arrived, you go up and tell General Fan that the marshal has arrived."

In the Xiangyang Army, the only person who can be called a marshal is Lu Wende, the envoy of the Xiangyang Military Region.

After a while, Fan Tianshun came to the city wall, hugged his fists and said, "The last general has seen the handsome." ”

"General Fan, there is no need to be polite in wartime." Lu Wende pointed to Li Long beside him, "This is Li Long, the commander of the Independent Division of the Imperial Forest Army, and the team behind is the soldiers of the First Brigade under General Li. ”

"General Lee."

Li Long nodded at Fan Tianshun and said, "General Fan, the war is important, let's go up and discuss it again." ”

"Okay, General Niu, you accompany the marshal to rest here, and General Li and I will go up to the city wall first."

1,500 soldiers of the 1st Brigade followed Fan Tianshun and Li Long up to the city wall. Li Long glanced around, saw that the city wall was full of rubble, and immediately ordered: "Soldiers, immediately look for a good shooting point and pay attention to the enemy's bows and arrows." ”

Fan Tianshun looked at the situation outside the city and said to Li Long: "General Li, this should be the third round of attack launched by the Mongols. It's just that the Yuan army must not have imagined that I also have musketeers in Fancheng, so you should teach Ali Hague a good lesson this time. ”

"General Fan rest assured." Li Long nodded, and said to Wu Xin, the commander of the First Brigade, "Pass the order, the sword and shield hands will cover to prevent the enemy's bows and arrows, and the musketeers will prepare to ignite and fire according to the three-stage shooting method." Also, tell the sniper, the target, the enemy archer on the siege tower directly ahead. ”

"Yes, Commander."

With Li Long's order, more than a thousand musketeers took turns pulling the trigger, and in an instant, deafening gunshots rang out on the city wall, and the smoke of gunpowder dispersed. Hearing the sound of the muskets, Ali Hague suddenly felt his heart sink and a sudden sense of fear arose. Kong Yuan, who was removed from the siege tower one step earlier, also scolded secretly at the same time: "His grandmother's, there are musketeers in Fancheng? ”

Although the officers and men of the Independent Division were not as skilled in marksmanship as the soldiers of the Royal Guards, they also had a high accuracy rate when shooting at close range.

Li Long had two soldiers around him to light the fire rope for him, almost without a pause, every time he pulled the trigger, he saw that one of the Yuan troops on the opposite siege tower would fall, as the number one shooter among the musketeers, it is not an exaggeration to describe Li Long's marksmanship with no bullets.

After a few rounds, the Yuan archers on the siege tower were wiped out. "Snipers, targets, Yuan archers in the distance." Li Long ordered again. The sharpshooter in the distance, although he hid behind the dilapidated house in time, could only dodge and could not continue shooting.

As for the soldiers of the Yuan army besieging the city, they did not have the heavy shields of the divine army, and it was the first time they faced the muskets, and for a while, they were at a loss and fell to the ground one after another.