Although it was late at night, Zhao Ta still couldn't sleep, in a large room in the study, the floor was covered with a thick felt carpet, a brazier was lit around, a few candles with thick cups illuminated the room, and the ground was covered with maps and drawings, which were all obtained by scouts and visiting the locals these days, including not only the defense facilities of the city, but also the layout of the streets, the functions and directions of each place. He sat cross-legged, pondering, knowing full well that siege warfare was the most deadly and most difficult of all wars, and that he had to find the most suitable tactic.

Lingzhou city in the Tang Dynasty for Shuo Fang Jie Du to govern the city, at this time has been quite large-scale, after the early Song Dynasty and the Western Xia seized, it was changed to the capital, greatly expanded, built the palace, made Lingzhou City become a strong city, the terrain Liao Kuo, the wheel is wide for thousands of miles, 36 forts are surrounded by arches within a thousand miles, dotted all over the place. There are many schools and academies in the city, and there are many altars and temples in the city, and it is claimed that there are eight major landscapes: Ninghe Scenic View, Yanhu Lake Overlook, Niushou Feixia, Longquan Spraying Jade, Gaoqiao Spring Willow, Dripping Autumn Wu, Qingxia Xiaoying, Huangsha Sunset.

The whole city is slightly square, composed of the outer city, the inner city, the outer city wall is high and deep up to more than three zhang, the main body is built by rammed earth, the outer side is covered with bricks, the city tower, the urn city, the arrow tower, the corner tower, the moat are all kinds of defense measures are complete, there is the Yellow River moat in the north, the south city has become the key point of defense, there are more than ten large and small solid enemy platforms along the city wall. There are six large and small city gates, there is a city tower built on the city gate, there is an urn city outside the city gate, there is an arrow tower on the urn city, in order to strengthen the defense at the corner, there is a corner tower, and the corner tower is five zhang high. The inner city is also the palace city of the past, located in the center of the city of Lingzhou, and the structure of various facilities is similar to that of the outer city, but it is not as complete as the outer city, and the strength of the city wall is slightly lower than that of the outer city.

The fortification of the city wall does not mean that the city is impregnable, there are many ways to siege the city, such as the proximity, hook, ladder, moat, water, hole, sudden, moth, xuanche, chariot, hollow, rush and many other methods.

"The gates are a weakness!" Zhao Ta took a drawing and said to himself, on the stretching city wall, the city gate is also a weak point of the garrison, and the city gate is mostly made of thick wood. The outside is reinforced with iron sheets, which can be destroyed with rushing cars and door cones, and live ammunition can be fired with rapid-fire guns. You can also score after a few rounds.

"No!" Zhao Ta thought about it and rejected this plan, there are two urn cities at the Lingzhou City Gate, even if you brave the arrows to break through the city gate, you will pay heavy casualties, and there are two city gates inside. After entering the first gate, the Xia army would wait for the advance to enter, then re-close the city gate, and kill and wound the soldiers who entered from the city wall, the price paid was too great.

"What if you dig a tunnel?" Zhao Ta thought of this method. They are still more advanced than the current method, there is no need to set up a fire to burn the support, as long as you put some explosives to do it, but it was quickly denied, Lingzhou City was built on the ancient continent of the Yellow River, the groundwater is abundant, and the rainy season has just passed, digging tunnels is better than digging wells. It's hard to talk about the explosives.

"Only a strong attack!" Zhao Ta made up his mind. Although the siege of the city has to brave the rain of arrows and ladders to climb the city wall, but as long as the attack is under the city, the situation of the defending side will be passive, and even precarious. The limited space on the walls also limited the number of garrisons on the walls, as long as they were on the walls. Along the passages connected between the walls, you can control the entire outer city wall. Open the gate of the city and receive the army into the city.

"If you want to go up to the city wall, you have to cross the sheep and horse city and the moat..."Zhao Ta picked out one of the many drawings on the ground and looked at it carefully, "The moat is about five zhang wide and four zhang deep; The sheep and horse wall is fifty zhang long, the wall is one zhang high, three feet thick, and there are two moats in front of it, two zhang wide and one zhang five deep..."

Zhao Ta looked at the drawings while sketching on the paper, thinking about how he could use the resources he had now to solve the problem, avoid a large number of casualties, and reduce the damage to Lingzhou City. He had already thought that the main force attacking Lingzhou City had to be his own Hedong Army, and the first to bear the brunt was his loyal army. Lingzhou City also has an important position in the northwest, and in the future it will not only be an important border town, the first line of defense against the attack of Western Xia, but also an important trade route and trading center connecting the East and the West. …,

But good things can't all be accounted for by him, thinking about the possible casualties in the siege, Zhao Ta is also distressed in his heart, these people are carefully selected, strictly trained, and experienced the elite of the war, and they are also the capital of their future existence in this world, but I think that it will not take a few years, maybe I will lead this team to a broader world, follow him to attack the city and plunder the land, and conquer the world, now we must be ruthless to temper, there are taller and stronger cities than Lingzhou City in front of them on the way forward...

On the seventh day of the siege deadline issued by the Song army, the Xia army found that the camp of the Song army surrounding the southern city had moved forward, and a large number of people began to pile up mounds of earth about 300 steps away from the city, and then tamped them layer by layer, and then covered them with reeds and straw bundles and re-covered with soil and rammed them again. Due to the large number of people involved, the progress of the project was very fast, and at sunset, more than 20 earthen platforms with a height of two zhang had been built in front of the city, and it seemed that it had not yet been completed, after dinner, countless bonfires were lit outside the city, and the people began to build the fortress again.

Looking at the earth platforms with scattered rudimentary shapes, the Xia army gradually understood that this was the Song army building the earth mountain, when the height of the earth mountain reached or exceeded the height of the city wall, as long as the archers were arranged on it, they could shoot at the defenders of the city, suppress their archers, and cover the besieging troops. At the same time, it can also act as a watchtower, reconnoitering the situation on and inside the city.

Of course, the Xia army didn't want the Song army to repair the earthen platform so safely to fight themselves, but they wanted to send troops out of the city, but found that the Song army's rangers were cruising outside the city. There is only one way to shoot those people, but after shooting for a while, their bows are too small to shoot at all, even the strongest divine arm bow and bed crossbow can be shot in front of people, and they can't touch it by a dozen steps.

On the ninth day, the Song army began to encircle Lingzhou City from all sides, approaching within two miles, and the people had begun to clear the road to the city, carrying siege equipment, and the siege battle was about to break out. Outside the southern city, the Song army has moved the artillery on the earthen platform, and began to name the defense facilities on the city, the first unlucky is of course the tall and large city tower, after two rounds of test firing, more than 20 cannons fired together, the majestic city tower collapsed, and then those arrow towers, corner towers, and the war tent erected on the city wall, erected clapper.

After a few rounds of artillery fire, the Song army didn't seem to be happy, replaced those big iron balls with clay pots, crackled and smashed on the city wall, and then a few flowering bullets, the city wall instantly turned into a fire dragon, and the buildings on the city were mostly civil structures, and the arrows, rolling logs, clappers and grease that were ready to set fire to the Song army were piled up on the city wall, and even the felt carpets that had been poured on the city wall in order to prevent the Song army from setting fire were burned, and the Xia soldiers who were hidden in the city and had no time to go down to the city were all cremated on the city wall.

"Start the timer!" Zhao Ta, who was sitting on a high earthen platform, said to Zhao Xiao, the commander of the artillery.

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Zhao Xiao immediately flipped an hourglass to start the timer.

"Have you written down all the shots?" Zhao Ta looked at the city head with a telescope and asked.

"Don't worry, it's all recorded!" Zhao Xiao nodded.

"Okay, order the second artillery battalion to destroy Yangma City, to the extent that the Xia army can't repair it within two days!" Zhao Ta turned his target to the sheep and horse city outside the city gate, and while the artillery bombardment was being carried out, the people stepped forward and began to rest the backmost section of the road leading to the moat, filling in the potholes, shoveling off the high ridges, and laying wooden planks on the soft places.

"Zhao Ren, how is the pre-battle training of the siege troops?" Zhao Ta twisted his face and asked Zhao Ren.

"Lord Wang, now the whole army has completed the pre-war mobilization and basic tactical training, and everyone has mastered the elimination of firearms malfunctions, the observation of targets, and conducted live firing; The engineer battalion has mastered the essentials of firing line operations, has conducted drills to cross ditches and outer trenches, and is now proficient in the techniques of destroying obstacles, the methods of erecting trenches and bridges, and the techniques of smoke casting; The craftsman team has made enough siege equipment according to the orders of the prince, and it has now been transported to the main camp and is ready to be put into use; The Assault Team has been selected and trained in pre-cover, handling, suspension, climbing, and post-climb combat for commandos and support units, and all the necessary weapons and tools have been distributed! Zhao Ren replied.

"Zhao Ren, I am going to divide the siege force into two roads, one is to feint the city gate, the other is the main force, and the assault team is selected to ascend the city in the southeast corner. The siege troops should be prepared before the artillery fire is prepared, use the time of the artillery bombardment to complete the task of erecting trenches and bridges, and carry equipment, and when the assault team carries climbing tools to the city wall, they should make full use of the cover of terrain and features, and suppress the enemy's fire with support troops..."

"Lord Wang, the Xia army has returned to the city and started to extinguish the fire and repair the equipment defending the city!" Zhao Xiao reminded Wang Ye at this time.

"Well, it took less than a quarter of an hour, and it seems that Xia Jun has also put in a lot of effort!" Zhao Ta glanced at the hourglass, then raised his binoculars and looked at the city, "Zhao Xiao, at this time, the artillery battalion is going to start the second round of artillery surprise attacks to cover the siege troops to enter the city, pay attention to when the siege troops are ready to climb, the artillery fire begins to extend, and the flower shells are fired into the city to prevent the Xia army from going to the city and buy time for the assault team to enter the city; Zhao Ren, what the assault team has to do at this time is to quickly ascend the city, establish a solid support point, move to the sides and cover the large army to enter the city..." If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )