Fortresses were invented in Europe in the late Middle Ages, and walls were often built in the shape of five-pointed stars, allowing arrows to be shot from one wall to the other.

For existing castles and fortresses that are inconvenient to build into a prismatic shape, a triangular protrusion protrudes from the original city wall, and you can shoot arrows at the corner of the wall on the other side of the abrupt platform. Moreover, the triangular protrusion has no frontal position, so there is no side-shot dead angle.

This type of castle was created by Marshal Vauban, a famous French* military engineer in the early modern era. The characteristic feature is that the "fortress" in the shape of sharp corners can reduce the dead spots of the surrounding defenses, prevent artillery fire from the enemy from the left and right, and use the half-moon-shaped fortress to cover the gate and the role of the moat.

The advent of artillery. Once made medieval castle tactics a thing of the past. But the advent of the multi-faceted fortress, and the addition of artillery, will make the siege a desperate task.

As a result, long-term siege once again became the mainstream means of siege. It wasn't until the more brutal twenty-pounder cannon appeared that siege tactics changed.

Historically, the Chinese people have also suffered a big loss from the fortress, Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, needless to say, Nebuchu's tens of thousands of Qing troops could only use hunger and disease to disintegrate the Russian army, you must know that the defenders of Nebuchu at that time were just a few hundred and a half soldiers and half businessmen.

The city defense transformation in Zizhou and the base area is gradually being carried out after Meng Jiucheng drew the drawings, and then according to local conditions, the use of civil engineering to build and ram, so that the city wall has countless zigzag protrusions.

Meng Jiucheng explained to Peng Yibin while standing on top of the zigzag protrusion being built, and walked around the battlement.

He held out his thumb and measured the distance from the protrusion. Well, about a hundred meters, within the range of crossbow arrows.

Due to the tight time, the zigzag protrusion of the Zizhou city defense was still not large enough and not long enough. In other words, there won't be too many defensive forces on top, and the firepower from the side won't be fierce enough.

But this is already the best effort, Meng Jiucheng naturally can't be harsh, and even whether he can complete such a large amount of work in a short period of time, he is not very sure.

Peng Yibin understood Meng Jiucheng's narration and admired this whimsical idea, "Meng Shuai also wants to promote this method of building and fortifying cities in the prefectures and counties he occupies, which shows Meng Shuai's love for the people and compassion for the people." At the sound of an order, the respondents gathered, which made me admire. ”

"Brother Peng praised it." Meng Jiucheng was happy in his heart, and felt that the money and energy were worth it, but his face was still pretending to be reserved, and he bowed down to thank him.

Peng Yibin smiled slightly, walked back to the city wall, pointed to the city gate and said, "It's well repaired there, although it is simple but practical." ”

An area of masonry and wood was enclosed inside the city gate, which played a role similar to that of an urn city. After luring the enemy into the city, fire a salvo in all directions to annihilate the enemy.

The city of Zizhou, on the other hand, was built more solidly, made of adobe and masonry. Behind the wall there is a wooden frame, laid with planks, and there are shooting holes in the wall, which can form fire that crosses up and down.

In ancient sieges, although the city walls could be climbed and attacked, most of the focus was still placed at the city gate. This has to do with the technical conditions of ancient times, even if the city gate is a heavily guarded place.

Although China has mastered the use of lever catapults as early as the Spring and Autumn period, it is still very difficult to use catapults to directly destroy the city walls. Unless the walls are soaked by rain or river water for a long time, it will not be easy to collapse the walls in a short period of time, even with rudimentary artillery.

It is much easier to break a city gate than to destroy a city wall. The material of the gate may be wood or metal. However, in order to facilitate the entry and exit of the residents of the city, its weight and strength are much lower than that of the city wall. If the besieger's appearance is sudden enough, it may even be possible to capture the gate in the first attack.

In addition, behind the city gate is often connected to the city's spacious main road, which is also more conducive to the attacking side to exert its forces. Therefore, concentrating forces to attack the city gates in order to achieve a quick victory has always been the best strategy in siege warfare.

Of course, if the defender's defense of the city gate is leaky, then the attacker will also have to change the direction of the main attack.

Before the invention of heavy artillery, although it was extremely difficult to destroy the city walls, there were still some "stupid methods" to choose from. For example, digging the foundation of the city wall is also the best choice for destroying the wall.

Meng Jiucheng stretched out his hand to pat the city wall and said, "I am also going to cover the city wall with straw bags, watering can prevent fire attacks, and can also buffer the stones thrown by the trebuchet to reduce the damage to the city wall." ”

"After I go back, I will do the same arrangement in Yizhou City." Peng Yibin nodded and said, "If you are so leaky, unless there is a traitor, this city is difficult to break." ”

Meng Jiucheng nodded and said, "For the Jin army, the siege of the city is probably their nightmare. There were not many troops in the first place, and it was unlikely that such a drain would be carried out. ”

It's too early to say it. We all know that the Mongolian army is invincible in cavalry, but their siege is also very sharp.

Of course, the great improvement in the ability of the Mongolian army to attack fortifications was after Genghis Khan's western expedition. A large number of craftsmen from the Western Regions were captured, and the Huihui cannon was brought back to the Central Plains.

and Peng Yibin talked about it in the city for a long time, and Meng Jiucheng also promised to send the drawings of the city repair, and the two went down to the city and left separately.

Peng Yibin will lead his army back to Yizhou tomorrow to defend and defend his base camp. In addition to sharing a lot of seizures, Meng Jiucheng will also provide support for weapons and ammunition in the future.

Meng Jiucheng returned to the government and convened a meeting of the generals. He will also return to his base area soon, which will be the focus of the defense, and the troops must be increased and must be properly arranged.

There was not much time, and Wang Min, Yan Tong, Wang Xian and others all came to the conference hall and began to discuss the military situation.

Judging from the current situation, there is Li Quan in the north and Huo Yi in the south, and only the west should focus on defense. Zhangqiu, on the west side, has been captured and can be used as an outpost.

"Hao Ding will not be the opponent of the Jin Army, and defeat may be between the months and months." Meng Jiucheng pointed to the map and said: "After defeating Hao Ding, the greatest possibility for the Jin army is to take advantage of the situation to go north and attack Huo Yi. ”

After a pause, Meng Jiucheng pursed the corners of his mouth, shook his head and said, "Huo Yi's subordinates are estimated to be unable to resist, and there is a great possibility of being defeated by the Jin army." Therefore, our army should be arranged in Laiwu to beware of the Jin army. ”

Preparing for a rainy day is always an advantage for traversers. According to the trend of history, Meng Jiucheng is worried about Laiwu, but he is bigger than Zhangqiu.

"Liu Yingying led the troops to Huo Yi, which is also reasonable, after all, they are all in the same vein as the Tai'an Red Jacket Army." Meng Jiucheng continued: "Don't break off your correspondence with her, or with Li Siwen, it's best to remind them that once the army is defeated, you can move closer to Laiwu, and we will help." In this case, I think it is possible to choose a dangerous place between Laiwu and Tai'an, deploy in advance, and set up an ambush position. ”

Wang Min saw Meng Jiucheng cast his eyes over and motioned for him to speak, so he said in a deep voice: "Meng Shuai's thinking can be described as clever. If Liu Yingying's department can act according to our reminders, it will play a role in luring the enemy. If there are pursuers, if we win the ambush, we can also prevent the Jin army from driving in. ”