In the cold winter, the four fields are lonely, the snow is flying, and the cold wind is biting.

On the city wall of Lingzhou, the Western Xia soldiers who defended the city had red faces, exhaled white breath in their mouths, rubbed their hands and feet, and let the snowflakes fall, quickly covering their heads and shoulders.

The blood on the city wall was melted away by the heavy snow, and after it was swept away, it was still clearly visible and shocking.

Under the city walls, thousands of corpses were lying on top of each other, covered with heavy snow, low hills, and the wilderness was silent, and the silence was terrifying.

The battle of attacking and defending Lingzhou City lasted for more than half a month, bloody and tragic, the defenders of Western Xia lost nearly 10,000 soldiers, the camp was full of wounded soldiers, and a steady stream of new soldiers made up for the head of the city to cope with the huge casualties of the defending city.

The Mongol army suffered even greater casualties, with nearly 20,000 dead and wounded, as evidenced by the hills of corpses of varying heights in the fields outside the city walls.

In the wilderness, accompanied by the sound of chanting, piles of firewood were blazing, which was the soldiers of the army burning the bodies of their fallen comrades, and the fire continued through the night, which made people upset.

Yelu Chucai stood in front of the camp, frowning and looking at the scene in front of him, secretly surprised in his heart.

The Mongolian military camp outside the city was boundless, and the Mongolian generals scolded and scolded in the camp, dispatched troops, and prepared siege equipment, and the tide of Mongolian troops began to assemble, obviously preparing for the next siege battle.

"When will such a siege without counting casualties be the end?"

I don't know when, Chahan stood behind Yelu Chucai, looking at Lingzhou City in the distance, and his brows were also tightly locked.

After attacking the city for more than half a month, Lingzhou City stood tall, Genghis Khan was furious, regardless of his body, personally supervised the battle, and was determined to take Lingzhou City.

God knows, how long will Genghis Khan's body last?

"After yesterday's battle, more than 2,000 soldiers were killed and wounded, sweating profusely, vomiting blood, and still not eating. If you don't take Lingzhou City, it will be difficult to eliminate the hatred in the heart of the Great Khan. ”

Yelu Chucai said leisurely.

Character determines destiny. Genghis Khan succeeded in his indomitable tenacity, but sometimes he was too stubborn and easy to get into the horns.

But Li Deren also knew that surrendering at this time was tantamount to a dead end. Besides, the Xia army killed the blood, so Lingzhou City will never fall. Even if the city can be broken, the army still doesn't know how many casualties it will have? ”

Chahan said, his eyes swept to the scene of the burning of corpses, and his brow tightened.

It used to be at night when corpses were burned in the army, but now there are so many casualties that it is no longer possible to take care of night and day.

"Under the wrath of the Great Khan, no one dared to persuade. I hope that before New Year's Day, the army can capture Lingzhou City. ”

Yelu Chucai sighed and suddenly asked:

"General Chahan, does Great Xia have such a powerful firearm?"

Western Xia had firearms, but they were too few and not very powerful. Why are the firearms of the defenders of Lingzhou City so fierce?

"It doesn't seem like so! I don't know, where did they get these murderous things? ”

Chahan shook his head, confused.

In fact, what he was puzzled about was that those Xia troops who used firearms were well-trained and definitely a strong army.

Since Western Xia had so many elite firearms, such ferocious firearms, why wait until this time to use them?

Both of them were full of questions, thinking, drums and horns contended, the Mongol army gathered in front of the camp, they carried the ladder, pushed the few repaired 100 stone throwers, swarmed out of the camp, all over the mountains, screaming towards Lingzhou City.

"Xia people are so bloody, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse?"

Yelu Chucai sighed with emotion, Chahan was speechless for a while, he looked at the Lingzhou city wall standing in the field, it seemed that it was still indestructible.

"Tsahan, go back. If you want to break the city, it is not a matter of one or two days. ”

Yelu Chucai left, leaving Chahan alone, his eyes stared at the crowded Lingzhou City, his eyes were complicated, and he didn't know what he was thinking?

"Prepare for battle!"

On the city wall of Lingzhou, Li Deren and Cao Youwan shouted loudly, and everyone had solemn faces.

The main force of the Mongolian army attacked the city, and no one dared to be careless.

The Xia and Song guards on the city wall were in full array, and everyone held their weapons tightly and prepared their shields.

"General Cao, do you want to water the city wall?"

Li Deren looked at Cao Youwan, who was holding a clairvoyant mirror to watch the enemy's situation.

In fact, the Mongolian army's ladder was equipped with iron hooks, and pouring ice could delay the attack, but it could not solve the fundamental problem.

"Your Highness, not for the time being. The purpose of war is to kill and injure the other side as much as possible. Since the Tatar army thought that they could capture Lingzhou City, let them rest assured that they would attack it, and take the opportunity to kill and injure the other party. ”

Cao Youwan put down the clairvoyant mirror. It seems that the offensive of the Mongol army today seems to be even more ferocious.

"But there are so many people in the Tatar army! Did Genghis Khan go crazy? ”

Li Deren looked at the endless yurt camps on the field, and his heart twitched again.

I thought that the Mongol army was only 100,000, and I lost at least 10,000 or 20,000 in fierce battles all the way. Who knows what it looks like now, it seems to be more than 100,000.

Take the dead and wounded Mongolian infantry as an example, most of them were surrendered troops and Han troops. The real Mongol cavalry did not wear much attrition.

"Your Highness, the real war has just begun. Only a heavy defeat of the Tatar army may be able to make Genghis Khan withdraw his army. ”

The emperor said that he would hold out until the end of June, and now it was the wax moon. The decisive battle is far from coming. It is impossible for the other side to retreat easily unless they suffer massive casualties.

"Your Highness, let me tell you a secret, the Tatar army has been infected with an epidemic, and at least twenty or thirty thousand people in the army cannot fight. Do you know that they want to break Lingzhou City as soon as possible and get the rhubarb and other medicinal materials in the city so that they can heal their wounded and sick! ”

Seeing that Li Deren frowned, Cao Youwan deliberately raised his voice so that the soldiers around him could hear it.

Li Deren was taken aback, and couldn't help but frown and let go.

If the Mongol army was infected with the plague, the pressure on defending the city would be much less, and the defenders would not give up easily.

If this is the case, the Mongolian army will want to conquer Lingzhou City in a short time, and Genghis Khan will take it for granted.

"General Cao, how do you know that there is a plague in the Tatar army?"

Li Deren asked suspiciously, but deliberately lowered his voice.

The soldiers around him also pricked up their ears.

"Your Highness, the secret of heaven must not be revealed. In short, you believe me is. ”

Cao Youwan didn't dare to say that this was Zhao Hong's prediction. In fact, the estimate of Genghis Khan's illness and death was unknown to him and all the Song generals in Lingzhou City. The only person who knows these predictions is Luo Shichang.

Even Yu Jue and him only knew about the plague in the Mongolian army and the earthquake in Zhongxingfu.

The emperor had no last resort, which made him admire and be frightened, but also secretly surprised.

Emperor, can't he really be sent down from heaven?

Li De was confused and nodded slightly.

There are some things that may not be asked deeply.

"General Cao, why don't you use all your artillery? Didn't you throw much of the earth-shattering thunder? ”

has been with Cao Youwan for a long time, and Li Deren does not hide it and speaks bluntly.

Not only did not many firearms be used, but even the soldiers of the Song Army who went to Shangcheng to assist in the battle were only two or three thousand people at a time, and they rotated every two days, and they didn't know what it meant.

"Your Highness, the offensive and defensive battle of Lingzhou City is a protracted battle. If you run out of firearms, you can only fight with real knives and guns. There are 200,000 people in the city, do you think you can save some money? ”

Cao Youwan's words, Li Deren smiled bitterly and shook his head helplessly.

That's right, but it's just too much for soldiers.

However, whenever the battle was unfavorable or stalemate, artillery and earth-shattering thunder could always stop the decline in time and kill the Mongol army. This also gave the defenders of the city a lot of confidence.

That's enough. After all, it is up to you to defend the city.

"Your Highness, the Tatars are powerful, and it seems that they are determined to break the city. Today I have sent five thousand brothers to the city. You can rest assured! ”

Cao Youwan laughed and waved his hand, and countless Song army helmets and armor went up to the city one after another.

With such a large-scale siege of the city, the Mongolian army was obviously in a hurry, wanting to take Lingzhou City regardless of casualties. The situation is critical, but this is not the time to hide.

"General Cao, thank you!"

After more than half a month of fighting, the Song army had more than 1,000 casualties, and even the gunners suffered many casualties. Today, more than half of the Song army went to the city, also because the number of Mongol troops besieging the city was too large. With the Song army guarding, Li Deren is much more stable.

It's a pity that many of his soldiers don't have such fine armor as the Song army, otherwise the casualties will be much smaller.

"Your Highness, the Tatar army is broken, we can only accompany us to the end!"

Cao Youwan smiled, and his fighting spirit was blazing.

The large and small artillery are used together, and today we must make the corpses of the Mongolian army all over the field and the blood flowing.

Li Deren was also excited, he looked at the Mongol army that was surging like locusts outside the city, frowned, and shouted loudly.

"Everyone, prepare to meet the enemy!"

The military order was issued, and all the soldiers defending the city either hid behind the battlement walls, or erected planks and shields.

The Mongol army attacked the city, mainly archery, the range was long, the arrow rain was intensive, wave after wave, and the defenders on the city wall had become accustomed to it after several days of bloody battles, and they had learned to deal with it.

"General, the emperor's "Tatar Policy" says that the Tatar army has any siege weapons and return artillery, why didn't they pull it out? Is it some kind of trick that the Tatars are doing? ”

It's Yang Daquan again, Cao Youwan's hair is small, and he asked quietly.

Didn't it be said in "Tatar Policy" that the Mongol army had any siege weapons and return artillery, why didn't you see it?

"I don't know, maybe they didn't bring it with me on this expedition. But even if the Tatar army brought back the return cannons, I would be able to blast them to slag. ”

Cao Youwan hid behind the battlement wall, raised his shield, and showed no weakness on his lips, secretly doubting in his heart.

Those loose and crumbling stone throwers, with a range of only two or three hundred steps, will be smashed to pieces immediately after a cannon goes down, which is worse than the bow of the divine arm, and there is a sharp weapon for siege.

Could it be that the emperor really miscalculated, or was the Mongol army hidden and not brought out?

This is one of the reasons why he has not used firearms on a large scale, just in case of emergency.