In the defense of Huining, the emperor made a lot of moves, Zong Xiong and Zong Min, the two pillars of the Dajin Kingdom, behaved so mediocre, incompetent and inadequate, in fact, the responsibility of defending the city was mainly pressed on the two people of Fushi Lie Zhining and Fusan Zhongyi, who commanded the soldiers and civilians of Huining City to repel the attacks of the Song army again and again, and showed great heroism and fearlessness, causing great trouble to the Song army.

According to Zhao Tan's arrangement, the Song army used the tactics of rapid attack and slow advance to attack the city, concentrated artillery fire in the northern city to destroy their fortresses outside the city, and then steadily approached forward, gradually clearing the strongholds on the outer defense line of the Jin army, and then re-establishing artillery positions to enter the effective range of artillery. But in the process of advancing, the closer you get to the city, the greater the resistance, and this resistance is not only the stubborn resistance of the Jin army, but also the threat of trebuchets.

When the Jin State went south to the Central Plains and attacked Bianjing, it was the most advanced offensive and defensive weapon abandoned by the Song army at that time, and it was used in actual combat in the subsequent siege and mastered the method of launching. The Jurchens are also quite good at learning and absorbing advanced technology, and naturally powerful weapons such as trebuchets have also become the object of their absorption. After returning to the north, the Jurchens began to manufacture stone-throwing machines using captured craftsmen from the Central Plains, which were gradually equipped to the troops.

The history of the catapult can be traced back to the Warring States period, it is a large-scale manpower long-range weapon that uses the principle of lever to throw stone projectiles, and is an important tool for attacking cities, and has been widely used in siege warfare in all dynasties. During the Song Dynasty, the development of catapults reached its peak, and its power began to become extremely terrifying and huge. According to the size and the amount of manpower required, trebuchets are divided into three types: light, medium, and heavy:

Light throwing car, only two people cast, stone bullets weigh half a catty, can be used to meet the enemy; Medium-sized throwing cars have single tip, double tip, whirlwind, tiger squat, etc., and need to use 40 to 100 people to pull the gun rope. It can shoot a stone weighing more than 20 catties out of 80 steps; The heavy throwing cart has five or seven cannons, and requires 150 to 250 people to pull the cannon rope, which can fire 70 to 100 pounds of stone bullets. In the state of full blood, a hundred-pound stone projectile can shoot fifty paces away, and a smaller stone projectile can be fired farther.

Compared to artillery. The trebuchet is less powerful, has a short range, and is less flexible, but it is still a useful weapon, especially in the battle to defend a city. After the Jin army was hindered in the development of artillery, it began to make a large number of trebuchets for use in warfare, and gradually explored and summed up experience in the battle with the Song army. Although there are fewer victories and more defeats in the battle against the Song army, it is much better than being beaten passively and having no power to fight back.

In the battle of the Northern Expedition of the Song army. The Jin army was defeated one after another, and Su Shi Lie Zhining, who was in charge of defending the capital, realized that he and the Song army would fight under the city. Therefore, he was also actively preparing for war, and while strengthening the city defense, he ordered craftsmen to rush to make a large number of trebuchets, with a total of more than 2,000 cranes.

Based on past experience, Zhi Ning understood that trebuchets were the key targets of the Song army's artillery, so he placed light trebuchets on top of the city, even if he condescendingly attacked the besieging Song army, it was also conducive to transfer and replenishment, of course, because of the ease of manufacturing. The largest number is also available; Medium-sized trebuchets were relatively bulky, and he arranged them on high platforms in the city, hidden behind the city walls. You can use the wall to reduce the probability of being destroyed by the Song artillery.

Heavy trebuchets were difficult to move and could only be fixed on the ground, so Zhining took advantage of its long range and placed heavy trebuchets at the corners of the city, and fired and suppressed enemy artillery from the walls, with the number of each corner reaching 100. Considering the thousands of trebuchets launched at the same time, the sky full of stones flying and falling from the sky is an extremely spectacular scene, and the damage caused is also very staggering.

However, the Jin Army's stone throwers not only fired stone bullets, they also equipped the stone throwers with multiple types of bullets. Lime packets with attractive eyes, and tribulus terrestris that can emit fire and smoke...... The most powerful thing is the thunderbolt that can explode, although this is not as powerful as the Song Army's flowering bomb. However, unlike artillery shells, which are limited by the caliber of artillery, they can be made very large to increase their power. Therefore, the casualties caused by explosions in the crowd are also horrific. No one was spared.

In order to eliminate the threat of trebuchets to the attacking troops, Zhao ordered the artillery to try to knock them out. The trebuchet on the head of the city is good to say, the range of the rapid-fire cannon is not enough, and it can be destroyed by direct fire from heavy artillery, but it is difficult to do it hidden behind the city wall, and it can only be blown up by mortar projectile, but because it is difficult to find its location and the range is limited, it cannot shoot accurately, and it can only be aimed by the calculation of the observer, which is extremely inefficient, and the heavy trebuchet at the corner of the city is more difficult to hit by the cover of the two city walls.

So Zhao ordered the trench in front of the wall to be filled in, and the remaining low wall was used as the basis to raise it so that it was basically level with the city wall, and then set up artillery positions on this platform, so that the observation and firing conditions were greatly improved. A fierce artillery battle unfolded inside and outside the city, and even the artillery placed by the Jin army on the head of the city joined the battle.

However, after a long time, the Jin army's trebuchets fired slowly, and their weaknesses of short range and low power were exposed, and the small trebuchets arranged on the head of the city were first destroyed, and then the artillery was also overturned. While destroying the trebuchets at the head of the city, the heavy mortars of the Song artillery also fired suppressively at the trebuchets hidden behind the city, and resolutely destroyed the exposed concentrated fire.

The artillery battle between the two sides continued intermittently for several days, and the performance of Lie Zhining and Tadashi Susan compared to the two incompetent commanders, their performance in this battle was very eye-catching, and it is worth mentioning that the two men have almost always been at the forefront of the war. When the fierce battle was in full swing, Fu Shi Lie Zhining personally went to the north city to brave the artillery fire of the Song army to command the battle, pacify the soldiers defending the city, and personally sent medicine and wine to the war wounded during the armistice, and rewarded the meritorious defenders. The servant who commanded the trebuchet learned from the experience of the defeat in the past, rationally allocated firepower, replenished ammunition in a timely manner, repaired the destroyed trebuchet, transferred the exposed position, and replenished Ding Zhuang to maintain combat effectiveness.

But it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. As the battle lasted for a long time, in this high-intensity battle, the Jin army's stockpiled gunpowder was basically exhausted, and the city was besieged and could not raise the sulfur, saltpeter and other raw materials needed to prepare gunpowder, the artillery became an ornament, and the powerful thunderbolts were also exhausted. But they did not stop fighting because of this, and still fired stone bullets to attack the attacking Song army, so that even stone bullets could not be supplied in the later period.

Bianjing also encountered this scene back then, but they didn't have the 'foresight' like Zhao Ji to collect strange stones and build Genyue in the city, and built an ammunition depot for the officers and soldiers guarding Bianjing, and when the stones ran out, they could tear down the mountain and turn it into bullets. He took the lead in demolishing his mansion, polishing the stones, steps, and pillars into stone bullets for war, and the wood was used to make trebuchets. With the example of the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city also collected stones and wood to send to the army, piling up hundreds of stone bullets around the city corner, and the height of the stone bullets has even exceeded the city wall, and the newly made trebuchet can make up for the loss!

Tactically, the Song army seemed to have won the battle, destroying hundreds of trebuchets of the Jin army, killing and wounding a large number of enemy troops, and opening the way for the attack. But strategically speaking, the Song army did not achieve the expected results, and instead of crushing the will of the Jin people, it stimulated their fighting spirit. So on the whole, it should be on par, the Song army had a slight upper hand and did not achieve an overwhelming victory......

The offensive and defensive battles of Huining City were in full swing, but the emperor Wan Yan Yan was not as enthusiastic as before, and after confirming Wan Yan Heng's disappearance, he completely believed that Wushu was ready to betray himself with Song Yu and make his son the emperor. This made him sleep, and he could be given to Zhao Er as a gift at any time, but there was no one in the capital who could compete with the Wushu, and the capable people had already killed the Wushu with their own help.

Between life and death, of course Wan Yan will not sit still, he thinks about going to the court and can use it for himself is only Zhang Hao, he is an old minister of the Three Dynasties, although he is reused by Wushu, but there are also several ups and downs, it is also said that he uses his talents and does not believe in others, but he is an emergency role. And he is dissatisfied with the Wushu control of the government, so Zhang Hao can become the object of his own co-optation and become a pawn against the Wushu.

After thinking about it, Yan Yan summoned Zhang Hao into the palace to discuss the matter of Kuli, and he retreated to discuss with Zhang Hao left and right, and told him that Wushu wanted to be the emperor with Song Yu and Lizi. In fact, there have been rumors about this matter in Beijing, and Zhang Hao has also heard about it, and today the emperor only knew that it was 'true', and he understood that the emperor would inevitably get involved in the royal battle when he told him about it, and there was no way out. He was a man of letters, and he was also an upright man, so he naturally despised what he did with vultures, so he decided to side with the emperor.

Zhang Hao and Wan Yan knew that the two of them alone would not be able to fight the Wushu, their strength was too weak, especially the lack of support from the army. Now the army in the city is in the hands of Wanyan Zongxiong, Wanyan Zongmin, Sushi Lie Zhining and Fusan Zhongyi, Sushi Lie Zhining is the son-in-law of Wushu is naturally the first to be expelled, Wanyan Zongmin has no experience in the army, lack of connections, then there are only Zongxiong and Fusan Zhongyi.

And these two people are actually not the best candidates, and Zongxiong's performance in the battle is really difficult to compliment; Fusan Zhongyi has followed the Wushu campaign for a long time, and the two have a close relationship, and they have been recommended by the Wushu for several promotions. So they didn't dare to put the treasure on them, and at this time, news came from outside the palace: Wanyan Kexi, who was guarding the fast and frequent roads, led the army of King Qin to break through the siege of the Song army and enter the city...... (To be continued)