Chapter 1040 King Vs. King, General Vs. General
At eight o'clock in the morning, Kublai Khan arrived as scheduled.
Along with Kublai Khan came the 200,000 troops stationed in Sanhe City. Kublai Khan's golden luanjia was heavily guarded by the army, which was eye-catching and imposing.
Zhang Hongfan rode a black war horse and served beside Luanjia.
In front of the army were 100,000 people of the Han nationality who had come under coercion, with the same sallow and thin faces, dull eyes, the same rags and rags, and the same fear and anxiety.
Since the Mongols attacked the Song Dynasty, the entire land of China has been groaning under the iron heels of Mongolia. Countless Chinese sons and daughters have been ravaged and killed. The entire nation is going through a period of darkness.
In history, after the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, in order to maintain the absolute rule of the Mongolian nobles, a four-class system was implemented. The first class was Mongolian, the second class was Semu, the third class was Han, and the fourth class was Southern.
The third-class Han people do not refer to the Han nationality, but refer to the Han, Khitan, Jurchen and other ethnic groups in the former Jin Kingdom north of the Huaihe River, as well as the Sichuan and Dali people who were later conquered by Mongolia, and the Goryeo people in the northeast.
The fourth-class southerners are the people of all ethnic groups in the original Southern Song Dynasty who were finally conquered by Mongolia.
In other words, the real Han people were at the lowest level in the entire dynasty, and they suffered all kinds of unequal treatment and discrimination, no different from slaves, such as prohibiting Han people from hunting, learning boxing martial arts, holding weapons, gathering and worshiping gods, and going to the market Doing business and walking at night, etc.
The Yuan Dynasty’s control over the weapons of the Han people reached an unimaginable level. Every ten Han people could only share one kitchen knife, and they had to support a Mongolian soldier who watched them. When a girl gets married, she must give it to the Mongols on the first night. Han people can't even have a name, they can only be named after the date of birth.
The law of the Yuan Dynasty also stipulated that those who killed Mongols would pay with their lives, and those who killed Semu people would be fined forty bali in gold, and those who killed a Han person only had to pay the price of a donkey.
In the case of conquest wars, the differential treatment was even worse than usual. For example, in 1286, in order to attack Annan, horses from all over the country were requisitioned. Among the three horses of the Semu people, only two were requisitioned, while all the horses of the Han people were requisitioned no matter how many.
All the local administrators above Lord A are Mongols. When the Mongols are not enough to distribute, or the Central Asians bribe enough, they will be the Central Asians.
Most Mongolian officials are hereditary. Every Mongolian chief executive, such as the governor or county head, a state or a county under his jurisdiction is his fief, and the Han people are his serfs. They have no political responsibility for the Han people, let alone No legal responsibility.
The Mongol emperor could regard the Han people as the farmland of life at any time, and reward the Han people on the farmland like slaves to the emperor's relatives-princes, princesses or meritorious officials.
In a reward held after the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, the few rewarded dozens of households and hundreds of households, and the many rewarded 100,000 households. Each household is counted as five people, and they can get 500,000 serfs at one time.
The Mongols could even occupy farmland at will. They often drove the Han people from the fertile farmland suddenly, leaving the farmland barren and growing weeds for livestock.
Or it was such a brutal rule that the Yuan Dynasty lasted only 98 years before being replaced by the Ming Dynasty.
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At 8:15 in the morning, Kublai Khan's Luanjia was welcomed into the Peking Camp.
After meeting the guards of the Northern Camp, Kublai Khan left Luanjia and boarded the command tower of the Northern Camp. He saw the 200,000 troops of the Southern Song Dynasty gathered outside the city at a glance.
This move by the Southern Song camp was also beyond Zhang Hongfan's expectations, and he said cautiously, "Your Majesty, shall we attack the city as originally planned, or should we deal with the current enemy army first?"
"According to the original plan!" Kublai Khan was proud, "It is enough to keep 400,000 troops in the north, and deploy the remaining 300,000 to the other three sides. We must take Lin'an."
"promise!"
According to the previous information from the spies in the city, the Southern Song camp wiped out the 200,000 troops outside the city, leaving only 140,000 infantry in the city. Once the city is broken and the army enters the city, these troops are nothing to worry about.
As for the recruits just recruited in the Southern Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan didn't even notice them.
Since the invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty, the people of the Southern Song Dynasty have been synonymous with weakness in Kublai Khan's eyes.
How can these people give birth to a strong army.
Although Kublai Khan's views were biased, they also hit the point. The Southern Song Dynasty had been in a corner for a long time, and the people had long been far away from wars. It is an indisputable fact that the people's physical fitness is generally weak.
But what Kublai Khan didn't know was that people can burst out with frightening energy even in despair.
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Soon, under the deployment of Zhang Hongfan, the Mongolian army dispersed, and the 100,000 Han people who accompanied them were also divided into three groups, and rushed towards the east, west, and south walls of Lin'an.
By 9 o'clock in the morning, the Mongolian army formations on all sides were already in place one by one.
"Siege!"
With an order, the Han people were driven forward by the Mongolian cavalry like cattle and sheep. If they walked slower, they would be shot on the spot. The scene was extremely bloody.
Stimulated by this, the people rushed towards the city gate, crying and shouting.
Strange to say, the suspension bridges of the three main city gates in Lin'an, east, west and south have all been lowered for the Han people to pass through, but the gates are closed tightly, for some reason.
The Mongolian cavalry in charge of supervision saw them and were about to launch a volley to force the enemy to open the city.
At this moment, a pair of banners fell from the city tower, on which was written in big bright red characters, "Compatriots stick to the wall and enter through the north gate."
At the same time, there were soldiers at the top of the city shouting continuously, directing the people to gather at the north gate of the city.
The Mongolian cavalrymen were a little confused, so they reported it immediately, and it soon reached Zhang Hongfan's ears. For this siege, Kublai Khan did not personally command, and gave Zhang Hongfan full power.
For Zhang Hongfan, this was already a great honor.
Zhang Hongfan frowned when he got the report, he was not very surprised, he had dealt with the Alien Legion several times, and he knew that the other party was not easy, and it was impossible to give in so easily.
At critical moments, we must use some means.
"The order came down to allow the cavalry to shoot freely and force the people to charge the city gate." Zhang Hongfan ordered.
"promise!"
When the military order is issued, the people outside the city will suffer.
The Mongolian cavalry were proficient in bows and horses, and it took more than one arrow to kill unarmed civilians. In less than ten minutes, the civilians at the end of the team fell down in pieces.
The blood stimulated the people's desire to survive, and they rushed forward one by one, some kept beating on the city gate, wailing: "Let us in, let us in!"
They only wanted to avoid the threat from behind, but they had no time to think about what kind of disaster would be caused to the compatriots in the city once the city gate was opened wide and the Mongolian cavalry drove straight in.
In the face of death, people are selfish.
There was also the clever one, with the attitude of giving it a try, and ran along the base of the city wall to the north gate.
When the Mongolian cavalry saw them, of course they would not let them go, and the focus of the shooting shifted to those civilians who were trying to escape. Really let them go, how to force the Southern Song Dynasty to open the city gate.
Because the people leaned against the base of the city wall and wanted to shoot, the Mongolian cavalry had to move forward. With this leaning, he immediately entered the attacking range of the defenders.
"shooting!"
After hearing the order from the top of the city, the archers and the crossbowmen of the bed began to fight back together, and the Mongolian cavalry fled in embarrassment.
Jia Xu's plan cleverly used the structure of the city wall to artificially create a blind spot for the people outside the city, or a safe haven, allowing them to escape from the shooting of the Mongolian cavalry.
The fierce counterattack of the defenders at the top of the city made the people who were already walking at the base of the city wall see the hope of surviving, and they ran to the north gate of the city desperately without thinking about it.
Someone takes the lead and someone follows.
The situation is already obvious, the city gate will definitely not be opened, squeezed here can only wait for death, it is better to take a risk and run to the north city gate according to the instructions of the banner.
In an instant, a large number of people flocked to the north.
The Mongolian cavalry didn't know how to deal with it now, and even Zhang Hongfan was in a bit of trouble. Now he wanted to understand why the Southern Song Dynasty deployed a full 200,000 troops in the north, but they came here to escort 100,000 people.
As a result, half of Zhang Hongfan's strategy had failed. Thinking of His Majesty's gloomy eyes, Zhang Hongfan felt a shiver and felt chills all over his body.
Zhang Hongfan became ruthless and ordered the three armies to attack the city immediately.
The 100,000 people who were coerced were not useless at all, at least the suspension bridges in Lin'an City were all lowered, making the moat surrounding the city useless.
As long as you break through the city gate, you can win.
Yes, the Mongolian army is indeed dominated by cavalry, but it does not mean that there are no infantry.
In addition to horseback riding and archery, Mongolians also love wrestling and fighting, which is commonly known as "wrestling". Among the three Mongolian sports—wrestling, horse racing, and archery—wrestling ranks first.
The popularity of wok gave birth to a group of Mongolian warriors.
What Zhang Hongfan is going to sacrifice now is such a trump card, sending the most elite Mongolian warrior commando to push the city-breaking cone and directly attack the city gate.
At the same time, the Mongolian army launched a return cannon. These return cannons were brought from six bases. In addition, there were also a batch of mobile arrow towers and ladders. Although crude, they were also considered siege equipment.
Following Zhang Hongfan's order, a large-scale siege began on the east, west, and south sides.
In Zhang Hongfan's mind, the Southern Song camp had deployed 200,000 troops to garrison outside the city, so the defenders in the city must be very empty. Under the attack of 300,000 troops, they might not be able to hold on for a day.
When Lin'an City was breached, the Southern Song Dynasty's army stationed outside the city became a display.
"It's so stupid to waste 200,000 troops for nothing, just for the worthless 100,000 people. It's really pedantic." Zhang Hongfan despised the Southern Song Dynasty's approach in his heart.
For the people of Lin'an, the biggest test is coming as scheduled. They must withstand the onslaught of the Mongolian army and create a lore opportunity for the 200,000 troops outside the city.
Success or failure, in one fell swoop!