"This is the ...... Ezhou City" After finishing his return, he looked up at the Ezhou city wall not far away, and sighed with emotion. Zhao Taiwei became famous in Ezhou, and after returning to the battalion commander, he also hoped to prove his ability with the heads of the Inner Mongolians in Ezhou City.

Putting away his leisure, the battalion commander ordered: "Prepare to attack the city!" ”

At this time, the little colonel had already rushed into the Shuai's mansion, and hurriedly reported to Gorten Wanhu, "Wanhu! The Song army had already arrived at the foot of Xicheng. ”

Manhe's slender eyes widened in the shape of triangular eyes. Early in the morning, the Song army came to challenge. Wanhu finally forced the naval army that was damaged a lot yesterday to fight, but he didn't expect that the Great Song Bu Army had already arrived in the city.

"How did they get here?" Gorten Wanhu said angrily.

"They came with cavalry." The Colonel replied. The Mongol cavalry marched through the lake-dense western edge of Ezhou to harass the Song army, but were beaten by the Song army's muskets and fled back to Ezhou. The Song army chased the Mongol army and came over.

Let the proud Mongolian cavalry become the culprit of luring the wolf into the house, and Gorten's face is green. However, Wan Hu only scolded angrily, and did not punish the cavalry, and at this time his attention was focused on the battle of the naval army. There's really no way to take care of the battle on land.

Looking down from the top of the city, you can see the warships of the Song army and the Mongol army coming and going on the river, and the muzzles of the guns on the bow of the ships are spewing smoke. The hull of a warship with a medium gun will shake drastically, and if the position of the medium gun is bad, the hull will quickly tilt and sink. Compared with the Song army, the number of Mongols shaking or sinking greatly exceeded. This terrible performance made Gorten Wanhu hate to vent with his fist slamming the battlements of the city.

Originally, Wan Hu felt that everyone was human, and the difference between him and Boyan Dashuai would not be so big that it would be difficult to make up for it. Now he found out that Marshal Boyan took the initiative to withdraw from Jiangnan before the Song army cut off the Yangtze River, and this decision was indeed much stronger than him.

"Aim and hit again!"

"What are those trolls fighting?"

"It's not good! It's really not good! ”

The Mongol generals who watched the battle together choked their wrists at the head of the city and cursed one after another. Gorten Wanhu left the city with his own soldiers and no longer watched the water battle. When the battle between the Song army and the Mongol army for control of the Yangtze River unfolded before the eyes, most of the people with some insight could see where the crisis was. However, at this point, there is no point in saying anything more. The Song army is not a fool, they dare to have fewer enemies and more enemies, so they naturally have something to rely on.

Just when Gorten Wanhu returned to the marshal's mansion in Ezhou City, on the riverside in the east of Ezhou City, where Kublai Khan had originally marched into Ezhou during his southern expedition, Division Commander Li Yun jumped off the springboard and stepped on the riverbank. It's not that he deliberately wanted to learn from Kublai Khan, but that this place was suitable for infantry to go ashore. Looking at Ezhou City in the distance, Master Li Yun held the hilt of his sword and shouted, "Landing at full speed." We're going to wrap Mongolian dumplings in Ezhou! ”

When Gorten Wanhu got the news, the Song army not only appeared in the east of Ezhou, but also had an army to the south of Ezhou. In the twilight, I saw that the Southern Song army in the city was full of shadows, and I couldn't tell how many people there were.

That night, Gorten Wanhu discussed with his subordinates whether to send people out to attack the Song army camp at night. The faces of his subordinates were solemn, and night attacks were very dangerous operations. Once you're out of the city, it's hard to tell who's in the light and who's in the dark. With the swift action of the Song army, the Mongol army felt that the night attack was too disadvantageous.

"Ten thousand households, even Jia Yidao can stay in Ezhou for a few months. We should defend the city without incident. "Someone made their own point of view.

Gorten said impatiently: "Don't talk nonsense! The Song army was not firmly established, and we were familiar with the terrain. Send troops now. ”

An hour later, fierce gunfire erupted in the south of Ezhou. Gorten Wanhu watched from the top of the city, and saw the Song army throwing more than a dozen huge fire cages in front of the position. I don't know how this group of Song soldiers set up so many things in such a short period of time, and each fire cage is blazing, illuminating the neighborhood. The figure of the Mongol army was illuminated by the fire cage, and the Song army opened heavy fire on the Mongol army with muskets.

Seeing that the night attack had failed, and that Gorten was tired and hungry, he said indignantly: "This is the end of tonight. ”

Back in Shuaifu, Wan Hu ate something casually, lay down and fell asleep. I slept until dawn, and by the time he got up and settled, it was already noon. At this time, another colonel came to report, "Ten thousand households, the Song army and horses blocked the east gate. ”

This time, the Song army came with a total of three divisions and four battalions. Each army hoped that it would be able to solve the enemy in Ezhou, so they divided the war zone, and each army agreed that the Mongol army would never be allowed to escape from its own war zone, but whoever attacked the city wall first would have their own ability.

Li Yun's troops used to block the east and south gates alone. At this time, a follow-up army came, and he mobilized all the troops to the south gate. Most of the movements of the Song army discovered by the Mongolian army came from Li Yun's side. That night, Li Yun gave three straw bags to each commander and fighter except the artillerymen, and asked each of them to carry three bags of soil.

Early the next morning, eight battalions of troops lined up. Following the order of Division Commander Li Yun, the troops rushed forward and piled up the loaded earthen bags. The Mongol garrison in charge of guarding the south of the city found that at the speed that he could see with the naked eye, eight huge earthen platforms were rising from the ground at an astonishing speed.

Not only in the south of the city, but also the besieging troops invariably adopted the means of conquering Anqing. Earthen platforms were also rapidly erected in the east and west of the city. When Gorten Wanhu arrived at the head of the city, he saw that the earthen platform of the Song army had reached the same height as the city wall of Ezhou.

"Fire! Fire! "Ten thousand households are angry and ruined.

The artillery at the head of the city of the Mongolian Bureau opened fire in the direction of the Song army's Tutai. However, as soon as the Mongol army opened fire on its side, the Song artillery under the city immediately returned fire. Gorten Wanhu was horrified to find that the Song artillery was out of range of the Mongol artillery. Even if the Mongol army had a condescending advantage, it still could not reach the artillery positions of the Song army. On the contrary, it was on the side of the Mongol army, and the shells of the Song army kept flying.

Wan Hu was about to curse, but was dragged to the side by his own soldiers. After that, there was a muffled sound, and the soldiers screamed again and again from the position where Wan Hu was standing. Gorten Wanhu, who woke up from this sudden change, watched intently, and it turned out that it was the Song Army's cannonball flying, and the one who was hit by the cannon was killed immediately, and the bones and tendons of the affected soldiers were broken.

"Wanhu, let's go down to the city." The pro-soldiers who had just saved Gorten Wanhu saw that the situation was not right, and hurriedly shouted loudly.

Gorten Wanhu also knew that he had escaped death, and the whole person was stunned. As a Mongol, Gorten Wanhu has long been familiar with the kind of knife-to-knife and gun-to-gun fighting, and if a few Song troops rush up from the opposite side, Wanhu probably won't even blink an eye. Even the bow and arrows that are raining all over the sky will not make Wanhu panic in the slightest. However, the battlefield is completely different now, whether you are a commander or a minion, there will be no safety when you step into the battlefield. Even if it is a rain of arrows, his subordinates can resist it with a cowhide shield. But there is no way to resist this kind of shell.

The pro-soldiers were still the protectors, and they set up the stunned Wanhu to go down to the dangerous place at the head of the city, and the Mongolian one-pound cannon that was returned fire by the Song army's five-catty cannon also stopped. The Mongol gunners temporarily hid behind the city walls, at least the Song army's shells could not destroy the city walls of Ezhou.

Seeing that the Mongolian artillery was suppressed, the Song army accelerated and continued to build the earthen platform. After another half an hour, the eight earthen platforms in the south of the city were finally higher than the Ezhou city wall. There is only one platoon of troops that can be accommodated on each earthen platform. The musket unit sent eight platoons to the platform at once. The soldiers continued to fire at the Mongol troops at the head of the city, while other units prepared siege equipment to cross the moat.

Gorten Wanhu, who got the news, was full of remorse. He was already strategically wrong, and when he learned that the Song army had conquered Anqing, he should have decisively abandoned Ezhou and retreated to Hanyang like Marshal Boyan. Now even tactically wrong. When the Song army broke through Huangzhou, if he could decisively withdraw across the Yangtze River with his belongings and arrive at Hanyang. At least you won't be trapped in the city.

Feeling that something was wrong, Wan Hu immediately summoned the generals to the Shuai Mansion, and in the face of those terrified subordinates, Wan Hu said decisively: "If I don't retreat tonight, I'm afraid it will be more difficult to withdraw tomorrow." ”

"Wanhu, how do we evacuate?" Immediately a timid asked.

"Take the waterway. Now we still have quite a few ships. Gorten Wanhu replied.

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes fell on the thousands of sailors. Qianhu is a northern Han man, and when he saw everyone's eyes, he had to bite the bullet and say, "There aren't so many ships ...... now."

Gorten Wanhu said angrily: "When Marshal Boyan came from Jiangnan, he brought so many ships, how could he not even have a ship to transport 20,000 people. When going down to the south of the Yangtze River, don't more than 100,000 people also go down the river by boat! ”

Seeing that thousands of households were angry, the navy quickly explained: "Although there are enough ships, there are not enough sailors. ”

This conflict between professional explanations and the expectation of escape made Wan Hu's heart even more uncomfortable, and he shouted: "Isn't it just rowing, where is it so difficult!" ”

Saijun Qianhu couldn't help but hold his position in his own domain, he thought for a moment, and tried his best to explain: "Wanhu, when I first saw someone else riding a horse, I thought it was just getting on a horse and sitting. But after I really got on the horse, I realized that there were many doorways inside! This is still true on flat land, let alone running horses on mountain roads. ”

This analogy is very good, so that Gerten Wanhu fully understands where the problem is, so it makes Wanhu fully feel hopeless. Thinking of the failure of the water war in the past two days, Wanhu said angrily: "It's not good to fight, it's good to answer." Come on, drag him out and whip him twenty lashes! ”

Those who can get mixed with the generals are not fools, not only Gorten Wanhu understood the analogy, but the other generals also understood the point. However, seeing that Wanhu was angry, everyone knew that this punishment was inappropriate, but no one dared to stop it.

Waiting for the soldiers to drag away the thousands of sailors, Gorten Wanhu said hatefully: "These days, we will strictly defend, and at the same time collect boats in the city." You also have to pick out those in the army who know how to row, and once we have gathered the sailors, we will withdraw to Hanyang! ”