As Qiao Lao Er said, the collapsed city wall filled the moat, forming a gentle slope. Taking advantage of the smoke and dust, the 1st Brigade of the Infantry Army, which had been on standby for a long time, quickly broke through the gap, but the imaginary fierce battle did not take place, and after some searching, only a group of obviously frightened, disgraced, and rudimentary weapons were found. And those 'Ghulam' fled into the main building of the castle before the city was broken, leaving only their cannon fodder.

The small space in the city was not conducive to cavalry combat, and it did not encounter fierce resistance, and the large group of men and horses was easily attacked by the enemy. So Ma Wei ordered the large army to stop entering the city, and only one infantry brigade entered the city to control the commanding heights and clear the remnants of the enemy. The dragoons extended the search area to prevent the enemy from reinforcing and escaping, while the hussars continued to rest, and the 2nd Infantry Brigade contracted the encirclement and served as a reserve for the general attack.

Ma Wei, who had entered the city with the second wave of troops, climbed the city walls, and the clearing of the ground from the rubble became a temporary command post. The smoke and dust gradually dissipated, and the scene in the city gradually revealed in front of him, he couldn't help frowning, the defense facilities in the city were not only one main building as expected, but there was a cave, and it was not easy to easily occupy the entire castle, especially the thick and tall main building standing in the center of the city.

The situation inside the fortress is like the inner city in the large city of the Central Plains, which is an independent and complete defense system composed of the main building and the surrounding ancillary facilities, and its tightness is simply a small fortress of the composite type. There is every indication that the castle was not built all at once, and that the castle was originally only the main building, and now it seems to be only a part of the garden, but the low wall with green vines is supposed to be part of the fortifications of the old site. The stream that flows around the main building was formerly the moat of the main building.

The castle increased with the time of its existence, and the wealth of the owner increased. The main building was then gradually expanded to include the outer walls and arrow towers. It slowly evolved into a large composite castle with city walls, internal fortresses, and additional arrow towers. In this way, even if the outer city is attacked by foreign enemies. Defenders can also spread their way into the main building for a final defense, delaying the fall.

The basic point of castle defense is to put the besiegers in the highest danger possible and expose as many enemies as possible; The other thing is to minimize the risk to the defender. Under normal circumstances, a well-fortified castle would be safe with a small force to defend it, but the besiegers would need to use a much larger army than the defenders to capture it.

For the latter requires a sufficient army to control the countryside around the castle, to repel the troops who have broken the siege, to attack the stronghold directly or to besiege it, which are extremely labor-draining operations. This is also the reason why Grand Duke Fechia dared to challenge his Song army more than ten times his own with his meager armed force, but he did not expect that the Song army would adopt this kind of fighting method without the slightest technical content, and forcibly destroy the city walls and arrow towers and other defensive measures with brute force, otherwise even if he lost the battle, it would be impossible for the Song army to break through the periphery in a short time.

And even if the Song army breaks through the perimeter now, it does not mark the fall of the entire city. The main building could still be the last stronghold of the Grand Duke of Fezia, and its heavy outer walls were even more solid than the city walls, the height and smoothness of the outer walls made it difficult for attackers to climb, and minimizing the gate to and from the main building would prevent attackers from relying on their numerical superiority to break through easily. However, the defenders in the building have the advantage of strong protection and downward shooting, giving the enemy powerful damage, and sufficient supplies and huge water storage tanks can also allow them to hold out until the enemy army is exhausted and has no choice but to retreat.

At this time, it was already evening, and the heavy artillery had not yet arrived, considering that it would be more difficult to enter the main building after dark, Hu Lie, the commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade, wanted to use machine guns and rapid-fire guns as cover. Plugging the arrow holes and platforms upstairs, he led his troops to charge once, trying to end the battle before it was too dark. But his proposal was flatly rejected by Ma Wei, who did not want to have a large casualty at this time.

"Adjutant Marshal. Why don't you let Hu Lie try it? They've traveled tens of thousands of miles by boat, and they haven't really fought a battle yet! Li Quan leaned over and said, obviously after Hu Lie was rejected. He was interceding.

"It is precisely because the brothers have followed us thousands of miles away from the country that it is not easy to get here alive. We can't afford to let them die in this little city at the end of the day. Ma Wei said in a deep voice.

"Deputy Marshal, I've heard that the bullshit Grand Duke has hidden all his family's savings for several lifetimes in this big tube. If the cannon hits, it's all to pieces! Li Quan said with some reluctance.

"Yes, if we are busy for a few days, if we only pick up a bunch of rags and go back, is it too ugly on our faces!" Wang Gang also joked.

"Is your face that valuable? In exchange for the lives of the sergeants! Ma Wei looked at the two and teased.

"This ...... Lieutenant Marshal, we didn't mean that! Wang Gang blushed and said curtly.

"Have you all forgotten the Emperor's teachings?" Ma Wei actually understood the thoughts of the two, these days they have been fighting in the navy as a vanguard, and they have captured a large amount of booty in Ji Shiguo and Bosalo, while the infantry cavalry is only acting as porters, and there is no result. Today, I want to take the castle completely, get some loot, and make the face of the army look better.

"You don't need a gun to solve what you can solve with a gun, you don't need a knife to solve what you can solve with a gun, and you don't need a fist to solve something that can be solved with a knife!" Li Quan muttered.

"It's okay, I remember, but why does the emperor ask us generals to do this, don't you understand?" Ma Wei asked sharply again.

"The emperor's intention is to destroy the enemy with absolute firepower superiority and reduce his own casualties!" Wang Gang muttered.

"It's good to know, otherwise the emperor spent countless money to equip you with such excellent weapons and build a giant battleship, just to put it there to save face? If the soldiers are killed and wounded, you can get the entire castle back to the Emperor, and he will kill you too! Ma Wei pointed at the two of them, and his fingers were about to poke into their heads.

"The emperor probably won't kill us, he must have cut off our heads with a way, how expensive are the bullets!" Li Quan muttered softly.

"You?!" Ma Wei sighed and said, "The emperor launched this expedition this time to open up the trade routes of the Western Regions, and at that time, the merchant ships of our Great Song Dynasty will be able to travel unhindered in the Seljuk Empire, and the money earned will not be comparable to the little things in such a castle, just wait for the ship to be shipped back!" ”

"Hehe, it's our short-sightedness!" Li Quan smiled and said, "Deputy Marshal, but that Baghdad is said to be comparable to the Bianjing City of our Great Song Dynasty, we have to transfer some good things to the emperor when we get there, otherwise where will we have the face to meet the boss!" ”

"Hmph, you better save your life, I guess the emperor is happier to see you go back alive than anything he sees!" Ma Wei sneered.

"Alas, I miss the emperor a little, since we arrived in the southeast, I haven't seen him for seven or eight years......" Li Quan said with a gloomy expression when he heard this......

It was not until the moon, when the soldiers besieging the castle had eaten dinner, that the four heavy guns arrived at the battlefield under the escort of a commanded marine. Qiao Laoer, who had been waiting impatiently, immediately took over with all the accompanying naval gunners, and commanded everyone to push the heavy artillery up the city wall along the improvised road that had been repaired, and arranged it to the selected gun position, fixing, charging, loading, aiming, and everything was deployed in an orderly manner.

The four guns of "boom, ......boom" began to fire test-firing, the light of the gunpowder burning in the darkness appeared unusually bright, and the huge sound of the cannon came far away in the silent night, and the power was not comparable to those light artillery, a shell hit the platform of the main building, destroyed it instantly, and fell down into a pile of fragments.

After the test firing was completed, the heavy artillery fired another salvo after readjustment. Qiao Lao Er did not inherit his father's talent for business, but he took all the advantages of his careful calculation, he changed the way of shooting to destroy the arrow tower, and should start shooting from the top of the main building, layer by floor, and strive to land on a point for each cannon. Of course, this requirement is a bit high, and it is all blind to concentrate one point with artillery, but it is not difficult to spread the impact point in a small area.

After two rounds of salvo fire, the outer layer of the main building wrapped in the stone became loose, cracked, and fell off under the action of the huge impact, and after the third round of salvo, a huge hole was opened in the main fort, and then replaced with a flowering bullet projected along the hole, after a few explosions, it is estimated that there are no living creatures on this floor, even if they are not killed, they are also shocked to death. Next, repeat the same trick, open holes, drop bombs, and then move on to the next layer.

Qiao Laoer's move was very damaging, he knew that if he wanted to destroy such a tall main building with artillery, even with heavy artillery, it would be very difficult, and he changed this way to drive down the enemies hiding in the building layer by layer from top to bottom, and all of them were gathered together. What's more, it can save a lot of property in the fort, and it can also fulfill the wishes of the two commanders, which is really a lot of money!

After an hour of shelling, the majestic main building had become full of holes and crumbling, and only then did Qiao Lao Er concentrate his fire on the gate, turning the gate that used to accommodate only three people in parallel into a city gate hole that could accommodate two carriages in parallel. The infantry then rushed into the building to clear the remnants of the enemy, and to their disappointment, they ended the battle without encountering any decent resistance, and took out a group of glazed-eyed captives.

While cleaning the battlefield, the bodies of the Grand Duke and his wife were found, and they were killed by falling stones before they could escape through the secret passages. The Chiton Knight was smashed in the head by a cannonball, and it was exciting to see that most of the contents of the building had been preserved intact, but no one knew exactly how much it was worth, except that the goods transported from the castle filled a transport...... (To be continued......)