Chapter 1032 Cruel Siege Battle

On the tenth day of the campaign, the siege battle finally started.

Under the supervision of the Mongolian army, all 600 earthen fortresses higher than the city wall were built. The hungry and skinny prisoners of the hundred wars suffered a lot and were released on the spot by the Mongolian army.

Whether they can survive depends on their good fortune.

Some people tried to knock on the gate of Lin'an city, but they were rejected after all, because Mongolian archers had already moved into the earth fortress, and thousands of return artillery had also been pushed to the front line.

Opening the city gate at this time is tantamount to leading wolves into the house.

These people can leave the battlefield directly and go back to their homes without entering Lin'an City. Lin'an's food reserves are already stretched, so it may not be a good thing for these prisoners of war to enter the city.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the flames of war ignited.

Although the boiler was destroyed, Mongolia's siege tactics were still the same as before. The earth castle archers were responsible for suppressing the long-range attack force at the top of the city, and the return artillery bombarded the city wall wildly.

The defenders followed suit.

Archers, trebuchets and bed crossbows go into battle together to fight the enemy.

Battles on the first day were limited to ranged units.

The tactics are tough, but the battlefield is brutal. The arrows shot by the archers on both sides weaved a crossed arrow net, taking hundreds of thousands of lives every moment.

The roar of the trebuchet has not stopped since the beginning of the war.

No matter in the camp of the Mongolian army outside the city, at the head of the city, or even near the city wall, there was billowing dust and smoke and flames everywhere. Although the return cannon is a trebuchet, it can also shoot gravel poured with corpse oil.

Under one shot, the flames of war rose everywhere.

The defenders at the top of the city were fighting in the rain of arrows, and the temporary labor under the city was not easy. At every moment, the wounded were carried down from the city and sent to the nearest medical station.

All the doctors in Lin'an City, no matter which department they treat, were recruited by the imperial court and stationed in each medical station to treat the wounded.

Every time someone is saved, one point of combat power will be added.

In addition, the military workshops in the city are also working day and night, producing bundles of arrows. Such a siege battle consumes an astonishing amount of arrows.

The whole city is united.

On the first day of the battle, the Mongolian army returned without success. Not only were more than 10,000 people killed and injured, but more than 50 earth fortresses were destroyed by catapults and turned into ruins.

Tens of thousands of troops were also killed in battle.

With such a casualty ratio, the root cause is still in taking down the earth fortress. With the earthen castle as a cover, the Mongolian archers are not at a disadvantage. In addition, they are generally skilled in archery, so they are naturally not at a disadvantage.

On the contrary, there were very few pure archers in the Alien Legion, and most of them were cavalry who went into battle temporarily. They were obviously not the opponents of the Mongolian archers and were severely suppressed by the enemy.

In this battle, the two sides are evenly matched.

For the next two days, there was no change in the war situation. The Mongolian army with an army of one million was like a perpetual motion machine, continuously replenishing fresh blood and launching uninterrupted attacks on Lin'an City.

During the period, the Mongols made another trick.

They threw the corpses of soldiers, whether of the enemy or their own, into the moat. For a while, the river surface was densely covered with corpses, which made people feel creepy.

To make matters worse, the canals in Lin'an City were connected to the moat, and the corpses were soaked in the river water to rot and stink, polluting the water source, and then polluting the canals in the city.

It becomes difficult for the common people to use water at once.

The only source of water was groundwater, so Lu Xiufu had to urgently organize officials from the Ministry of Industry to dig wells in the city to keep the water supply for the people.

Fortunately, the siege period is only one month. If it is the kind of war that lasts for many years, even the groundwater will be polluted, completely cutting off the water source in the city.

This plan is really vicious.

The continuous bombing by the Mongolian army for three consecutive days, except for the north city wall, shook the other three sides to varying degrees. Especially the Great Song Imperial Army in the south, their fear of the Mongolian iron cavalry seemed to be awakened again, and the dangers continued. If this continues, the defenders will be thrown into chaos before the return artillery smashes the city wall.

In addition, the Alien Legion only defends but does not attack. With the help of Mongolian spies in the city, the theory of "Heavenly Soldiers and Generals" is gradually collapsing, and people's hearts are floating.

Everything is developing in a direction that is unfavorable to the Southern Song Dynasty camp.

Boyan, the general of the Mongolian army, was very satisfied with this, and said to Zhang Hongfan with a smile: "This alien army is not useful at all, it is not our opponent at all."

Speaking of Boyan, he is also not an easy character.

Boyan Shao grew up in the Ilkhanate. In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, he was ordered by the Ilkhan Xu Liewu to enter the court. He was appreciated by Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, and worshiped the Prime Minister Zuo of Zhongshu. Later, he was promoted to the Privy Council of Tongzhi.

In the eleventh year of the Yuan Dynasty, he commanded troops to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.

After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zeng went out of the town and forest, and counted the rebellion of the kings. After Kublai Khan's death, he was ordered by Gu to support Yuan Chengzong Tie Mu'er to ascend the throne, add Taifu, and record important military and state affairs.

Died of illness in December of the 31st year of the Yuan Dynasty, at the age of fifty-nine.

Boyan was good at writing poems and proses. He was a famous statesman and military strategist in the Yuan Dynasty. Returning to success, without saying a word of merit, with only clothes and quilts in the luggage.

This man has a little bit of wisdom, a deep understanding of righteousness, planning and planning with troops, and is superb. He is worthy of praise from military strategists in terms of leading troops, employing troops, and governing the army.

It stands to reason that such a famous general should not underestimate the enemy. It is really the gap between the aliens before and after that surprised Boyan so much that he made a misjudgment.

"Decree, starting tomorrow, step up the onslaught, and strive to blast Lin'an City within three days."

Now that he has figured out the details of the enemy army, Boyan is not going to dawdle any longer, and is going to launch the strongest attack on Lin'an with a thunderous force.

After the archers, Boyan is ready to send infantry to attack the city wall.

Although the Mongolian army was dominated by cavalry, during the invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty, they continued to capture the Han army, which was collectively called the puppet army by the Mongols. This group of puppet troops is mainly infantry.

"It's time for them to play their value."

In Boyan's eyes, the puppet army is a group of cannon fodder, and whether they die or not die has nothing to do with the overall situation. The only role of the puppet army is to be thrown into the battlefield at the right time by him, to shine and heat.

"promise!"

Zhang Hongfan got the order and went down to arrange it very competently.

Looking at Zhang Hongfan's back, Boyan's eyes fluctuated for a moment, and then turned calm. Speaking of it, as the vanguard officials who conquered the Southern Song Dynasty, more than half of this group of puppet troops were recruited by Zhang Hongfan.

Regardless of Zhang Hongfan's purpose in recruiting the Song army, Boyan would not allow this hidden danger to remain in the army, and just took this opportunity to smooth it out.

Boyan paid more attention to Zhang Hongfan's calmness.

"He is indeed a remarkable person, no wonder His Majesty values ​​him so much." Boyan narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not get rid of Zhang Hongfan's thoughts.

The reason is very simple.

No matter how much His Majesty the Emperor trusted Zhang Hongfan, a Han man, he could not trust him more than Boyan, a Mongolian general who had served the Genghis Khan family for generations.

"Non-my family, its heart must be different!"

Although His Majesty the Emperor has a broad mind and accepted a large number of Han officials, he even admired Confucianism and wanted to rule the world with Confucianism. But in the final analysis, this is all the means of the emperor.

The real pillar of the empire is still the Mongols.

Even if Han Chen is highly valued by His Majesty the Emperor, he will still be inferior after all. Regardless of Zhang Hongfan's illustrious military exploits, when he returned to Yanjing, any Mongolian noble could trample Zhang Hongfan under his feet.

This is why Boyan never regarded Zhang Hongfan as a threat.

In history, Zhang Rou, Zhang Hongfan and Zhang Gui, grandfather, father, and grandson were all generals in the Yuan Dynasty, and all made great military exploits, but the fate of their descendants was very miserable, which seemed to confirm Boyan's judgment.

After the death of Emperor Taiding, the brothers Yuanmingzong and Yuanwenzong competed with Emperor Tianshun, and the supporters of the two factions fought. The kings of Shangdu defeated the army of the kings of Dadu at Zijing Pass.

When the armies of the kings of Dadu were retreating, they plundered wantonly. Zhang Gui’s son Zhang Jingwu was a Wuchang Wanhu on Baoding Road. Most of the Yuan soldiers who robbed and plundered when the hundred retreated, protected their homes.

As a result, the Kings faction of Dadu finally won. Prince Ersente led an army passing through Baoding, rushed into the Zhang family compound, captured all five grandsons of Zhang Hongfan including Zhang Jingwu, executed them by torture, and robbed all the family property.

Then all the female family members of the Zhang family were handed over to the Yuan army for rape and killed. The only survivor of the Zhang family was a granddaughter of Zhang Hongfan.

The Zhang family worked as traitors to the Mongols for several generations, and in exchange for this end, it is sad and lamentable!

It is not new for Er Sente to order troops to rape and kill Zhang's female family members. It happened from time to time in the Yuan Dynasty and even in the Mongolian Kingdom before that. Sometimes the targets of rape and murder were even Mongolians.

The most famous one is a tragedy during the Wokuotai period.

In June of 1237 A.D., there was a rumor in the Wuyici tribe that there was an edict to match the girls of the tribe. People rushed to marry their daughters within the tribe, and some of them were sent directly to the man's family.

Wo Kuotai was furious after hearing the news, and issued an edict to gather all the girls over seven years old, and those who were married were recovered from their husband's house, and then four thousand girls were gathered in one place, and the soldiers were ordered to trample them in public.

Among them, two girls were killed on the spot, and the rest were made to line up, some were sent to the harem, some were rewarded to servants, some were sent to brothels and embassy houses to serve tourists, and some were led by the people present. go.

Their fathers, brothers and relatives must stand by and watch, without complaining or crying.

Unlike the nomads who slaughtered cattle and sheep for fun, farming people rarely saw blood and Buddhism was also prevalent in the Song Dynasty. The civilization of the Southern Song Dynasty made the Han people stay away from killing.

Just like this, the Mongolian army's psychological warfare such as slaughtering cities, refining corpse oil, and throwing corpses in rivers easily caused the people of the Southern Song Dynasty to fall into extreme fear. Many people set themselves on fire before the Mongolian army arrived.

…………

Lin'an, Military Aircraft Department.

"This is not going to work, we have to make changes!"

Ouyang Shuo realized that they were falling into the battle rhythm of the Mongolian army.