In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 353 The Fierce Siege

I saw the Tibetan soldier carefully stacking arrows among the three archers at the intersection of the crenel and the arrow shed.

Then he squatted behind the three archers.

They take turns shooting, with the three in front shooting and the three in the back passing the arrows. Each person shoots a dozen arrows and then takes turns. Sometimes there will be people in the back doing other things, but one person will definitely be left to pass the arrows.

The left hand of the Tibetan soldier is wrapped in layers of gauze to prevent it from being burned when pulling the arrow.

There was also a pile of red charcoal at his feet, dug out from under the large iron pot.

At this time, the Tibetan soldier picked up an arrow, placed it on the charcoal, and blew it gently a few times. Phew, the kerosene soaked in the arrowhead was immediately burned.

He held the flaming arrow and looked in front of him.

The Song army in front was carefully observing the Mongolian army under the city. After a moment, he turned around and squatted down to take the arrow he handed over, but did not shoot again immediately.

Song Jun's left hand was also wrapped in thick cloth. The cloth had been soaked in water and was all wet. He glanced at the burning arrow on his right hand, took two deep breaths, and then carefully looked at the city. Looking for the target, he quickly raised his body, loaded the arrow and drew the bow, took a slight aim, passed through the crenel, and whoosh, shot an arrow toward the city. After shooting the arrow, he didn't even check whether it hit the target. He quickly shrank his head and squatted down. At this moment, there were some sparks on the fabric on his left hand. He patted it lightly a few times and wiped it out immediately.

"Pu Chi" The Mongolian army under the city was hit by an arrow on the right arm.

"Ah" the Mongolian army suddenly let out a scream of ghosts and wolves.

Song Jun soaked the arrow in kerosene to heat it, and then lit it again.

The hot arrows shot into the flesh can literally char the skin and make the flesh cooked.

The key is that there is still fire on the arrow.

The Mongolian soldier screamed strangely while putting out the fire. After a few attempts to put it out, he simply gritted his teeth and pulled hard.

Chi la, a large piece of black and burnt flesh was pulled out.

"Ah" Meng Jun almost fainted from the pain, and the wound felt like being cut by a knife.

In ancient times, many military generals were able to fight again after being hit by more than a dozen arrows. As long as the arrows were not seriously injured and did not damage vital parts, most armored soldiers would not lose their combat effectiveness in a short period of time after being hit by a few arrows, and they could still fight again. History There are some fierce generals who can fight again even if one of their eyes is shot out.

But here in the Song Army, there are basically no such fierce generals now.

As long as you are shot, you will almost lose your fighting power. The burn is a bone-cutting pain, which is really unbearable for ordinary people.

"I'm hit, I'm hit." On the top of the city, the Tibetan soldier passing the arrow shouted happily.

Song Jun, who was shooting arrows, smiled at him: "How many arrows are there?"

"Thirteen arrows, shoot two more and it's my turn." The Tibetan soldier said quickly.

The Tubo soldier said as he picked up another arrow. These arrows were still hot when they were taken out of the oil pan and would cool down over time, so they had to be shot as soon as possible.

He quickly put it on the red charcoal, and wow, the arrow was lit again.

"Here" he handed the arrow up again.

Song Jun just took the arrow and subconsciously said: "You hold the shield--"

"It's okay, I'm squatting--" the Tubo man said.

The voice did not fall.

Suddenly, from outside the crenellations of the city wall, three arrows flew in along the lower edge of the archery shed.

Two of the arrows hit the archery shed pillars and sandbags directly, while the other arrow sank slightly, flapping, and hit the Tibetan soldier's neck.

The Tubo man groaned and fell heavily to the ground.

He stared at Song Jun, his body twitched slightly, and after a few breaths, he stopped moving.

Song Jun watched him fall blankly, sighed secretly, turned around and looked for the next target on the wall.

He actually missed the arrow just now. He originally wanted to hit the face of a Mongolian soldier, but unexpectedly it hit the hand of another Mongolian soldier next to the Mongolian soldier.

The error was a bit big. In addition to his slight nervousness, the Mongolian army below was also very defensive, because the Mongolian army also imitated them and took many measures to prevent arrows.

This time he must hit the target. Song Jun silently looked for the next target.

"Yeah." At this time, Azanbi was cursing not far away, and there was one less person.

Of the eleven Tubo people in their team, seven have now been replaced by Song troops.

Now another one has died, leaving only three Tubo people.

Azanbi bent down and raised a shield, carefully reached this side, dragged the corpse of the tribesman out.

It was better for him in the archery shed. As soon as he came out of the archery shed, he pounced and was hit by two arrows on his shield. The arrows of the Mongolian army under the city were also shot upward as if they were free.

If it weren't for the arrow shed, their casualties would have been even greater. No one could hold a shield at the top of the city all the time, and even holding a shield couldn't protect their whole body.

When he returned to Dazazan, Dazazan said solemnly: "Even if you are in an arrow-proof shed, you have to hold up your shield at all times. There are still gaps where shots can come in."

"I know." Azanbi nodded heavily.

Dazazan felt quite heavy. Out of eleven tribesmen, he, Azanbi, and another Ajile were the only ones left in three days.

Although some people were injured and went to the city, it was not certain whether they would survive after the war.

It is difficult to get the pay, silver and grain fields of the Song army.

But Dazazan had no regrets.

They would also have to go to the battlefield with the Tubo nobles, and it would be safer to follow the Song army.

There is no benefit to fighting for the nobles, but fighting for the Song Army will give you a chance to get everything you want.

"Kill Meng Tatar." Dazazan suddenly shouted loudly, turned his head and shot another arrow downwards.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of archery, he secretly looked at the city with his peripheral vision.

There were Mongolian troops everywhere under the city, and there were shouts of killing, screams, and cries nearby.

Arrows were fired from both sides, and people fell from the ladders from time to time. The scene was like hell.

Throughout history, ant sieges have been the most brutal and bloody.

The Mongolian army was brave, but the Song army was vicious.

Both armies were the strongest soldiers in the world, which made the scene even more tragic.

There were fires burning everywhere outside the city, and there was still a disgusting smell of burning in the air.

The Song army was accustomed to using rockets in broad daylight. The arrows dipped in kerosene were ignited and then shot at the Mongolian army.

Once fatal damage is caused to the Mongolian army, the flames will soon burn bigger and bigger, and then the entire Mongolian army will be burned.

This caused fire balls everywhere under the city.

The Mongolian army had no time to put out the fire.

Some Mongolian soldiers tried to pick up the Song army's arrows and shoot them back.

But the Song Army's arrows were only dipped in kerosene and not wrapped in gauze. Usually, the arrows would go out after the kerosene on the arrows were burned off.

Usually it takes more than ten seconds or even less for the fire to burn out.

Therefore, it was useless for the Mongolian army to shoot back the Song army's arrows.

The city gate area of ​​Dazazan was the place where the Mongolian army attacked the most fiercely.

Under the corner of the city, many bodies of Mongolian soldiers were piled up in piles.

This is also why Dazazan can smell a disgusting smell.

At this time, a Mongolian army was carrying a newly built ladder under the city.

The Mongolian army and the Song army fought for three days and found that the Song army had long gunmen on the left and right sides of each ladder.

After they climbed up, Song troops came at them from left and right, making them unable to guard against them.

Moreover, the Song army was extremely vicious, their spears were burning red and hot, and they could not block or grasp them with their hands.

Nowadays, many Mongolian soldiers tear open their clothes and wrap their hands in layers of cloth to protect themselves from the Song army's spears.

But even if you can prevent being burned, it is difficult to prevent being stabbed from both sides at the same time.

The Mongolian army thought of a way at this time and erected a second ladder. The two ladders were placed side by side.

In this way, people who come up on the left and right can each resist one.

"Quick, quick." A centurion from the Mongolian army signaled from below to set up the ladder.

"Move a few people over."

Because there were corpses under the corner of the city, which hindered them somewhat, the Mongolian army dragged some corpses to the side.

A dark group of Mongolian soldiers gathered under the ladder, numbering 30 to [-] people.

At present, the corner of the city is the safest. No matter how far you are, you will be shot by the Song army's arrows.

All the Mongolian troops tried to hide under the corner of the city.

But there were too many corpses at the corner of the city, which also affected their foothold.

"Up, up, up." When the Mongolian army saw that the ladders were set up, they immediately ordered two ladders to ascend people at the same time.

Others pointed arrows at the top and began to throw them to cover the people climbing the ladder.

Of course the Song army at the top of the city discovered that they had built two ladders.

"Dazhazan, Meng Tatar has two ladders." Some Song soldiers screamed.

"Roger that, Azanbi, Ajele."

The two tribesmen stood up one after another, each holding a shield, bent down and carefully ran to the iron pot.

Next to the iron pot are two Song Army helmets.

The two of them each took one and filled a pot of boiling oil from the pot.

Quickly run to the ladder.

"crash"

The kerosene poured directly into the two helmets.

Almost at the same time, several Song Army archers and Dazazan's rockets shot down one after another.

Phew, the Mongolian army below was first doused with two pots of fire oil, and then, voila, the scene was filled with flames, and the fire grew bigger and bigger.

"Ah" the Mongolian army dispersed in all directions, howling like ghosts and wolves.

One of the Mongolian soldiers had kerosene poured on his head and then set on fire. His whole head was burning.

He cried and ran for a few steps on the spot, and soon fell to the ground. Then the flames burned from his head to his chest, and then his whole body. The Mongolian troops around him saw that everything changed color.

Dazazan hid behind the city wall and said to Azanbi: "Rockets, rockets, light a few, light a few."

Azanbi grabbed a handful of arrows, lit them, handed one to Dazazan, and then raised his shield with his other hand to block the crenel.

Dazazan stood up and exposed half of his body, but hid behind his shield. He looked inside and started shooting at the corpses under the corner of the city. He shot several corpses in succession. The corpses were quickly ignited, and the fire slowly grew bigger and bigger.

As soon as Dazazan stood up, the Mongolian troops under the city seemed to have been given blood. Arrows were shooting at Dazazan from all directions.

Azanbi was sitting under the crenel, holding a card in one hand and a rocket in the other. He only felt the thump, thump, thump, and arrows nailed to it one after another on the shield.

Dazazan fired five rockets, setting fire to all the five corpses surrounding the ladder below.

In addition, they had used rockets and kerosene to burn a lot of fire near the ladder at the corner of the city.

The fire at the scene grew bigger and bigger, and soon the flames reached the sky.

The corpses were burned, and the ladders were also burned. The Mongolian army avoided them one after another. This wave of attacks was blocked by the Song army.

"Grass." Azanbi cursed loudly, put down his shield and Dazazan and sat on the ground.

Dazazan gasped for air. It was safe in a short time. The Mongolian army could not attack now. The place below was full of fire, and the ladder was also lit. The defenders got a temporary rest.

After a moment, he seemed to think of something and suddenly bumped Azanbi with his shoulder.

Azanbi understood this and quickly raised his shield horizontally to block the two people's heads.

He had just finished doing this.

Whoosh, an arrow was thrown up from the sky above his head, and then fell vertically.

Suddenly, it landed in the open space between Azanbi's legs. "Hiss" Azanbi shrank his legs in fear.

Dazazan turned his head in horror and looked at Azanbi.

"Hahaha." The next moment they laughed.

After laughing for a moment, Dazazan looked around and saw that almost everyone in the Song Army in the adjacent defense area had entered the rest stage.

The main reason is that the Song army's rockets have not stopped during this period. There are fires everywhere below, and many ladders are also on fire. The Mongolian army's offensive momentum has been blocked. The Mongolian army under the city is also avoiding the fire and extinguishing the fire, and the siege momentum has been greatly weakened.

At this moment, a group of Song troops came from not far away.

This team of Song soldiers were all covered in armor. Each man held a shield in his right hand, diagonally holding it between his right shoulder and head.

Their armor is quite heavy, and they walk like tanks. At first glance, they look like they are covered in iron armor, and their defense is extremely tight.

"Add oil to the iron pot and add firewood below."

"How many more of you are there? Do you want support?"

"Carry this body down."

"Use rockets first and try to burn the whole city down."

"In places where the corpses of the Mongolian soldiers are concentrated, you can shoot the piles of corpses first and burn the corpses of the Mongolian soldiers. Otherwise, the weather is hot and they will rot in a few days, making it easy to get sick."

They walked and talked.

Soon we arrived at Dazazan's team.

"How many more are there in your team?"

"ten people."

"Do you want someone?"

"Yes." Daza nodded.

Song Jun left one person behind and continued to move forward.

Dazazan was overjoyed when he saw it, leaving this man looking like an armored soldier with an iron mask on his face.

Moreover, there is a lot of iron armor on the upper body, which makes a clanging sound when it moves.

The Song army first put his shield behind the crenellated wall, then picked up his bow, walked directly to the city wall, turned sideways with the left side of his face facing the outside of the city, exposing his shoulders and his entire head, and then shot arrows directly at the city wall.

This is the armored army specially placed by the Song army on the city wall to shoot at the Mongolian army.

The upper body is completely covered with heavy armor. The shoulder armor is one centimeter thick, and the helmet is also close to one centimeter thick. It is extremely heavy, but it is padded with several layers of soft cloth inside.

When the Mongolian army saw a Song army showing its head and body, they immediately swarmed with arrows from all directions and shot at the Song army.

Dangdangdang, Dazazan and Azanbi were dumbfounded. The arrows shot by the Mongolian army were bounced away one after another.

This Song Army's head and shoulders were invulnerable, and even his arms had thick iron plates.

After Song Jun shot seven or eight arrows at the city, he turned around and sat down, then raised his helmet with both hands, but did not dare to leave his head and gasped for air.

Dazazan saw that Song Jun was relatively young, in his early twenties at most, and his face was red and covered with sweat under his helmet.

"Is this helmet quite heavy?" Dazazan asked subconsciously.

Song Jun chuckled: "It's not heavy, only fifteen or six pounds."

"..." Daza praised.

"How much does your shoulder weigh with your chest?" Azanbi pointed at Song Jun's shoulder.

The armor on his shoulders was obviously higher, and it looked like thick iron armor at first glance.

"The shoulders and neck protector add 22 pounds, and the chest and back add [-] pounds."

Dazazan and Azanbi looked at each other.

To calculate the weight, you have to add your fingers and toes together.

Song Jun's head, shoulders, chest, back, and upper body weighed 56 kilograms together.

The key point is that the Song army also had an iron piece on his left arm to prevent him from being shot when holding a bow in his left hand.

Dazazan wanted to say something else, but Song Jun put his helmet back on at this time.

"Change rockets." Song Jun said loudly.

Azanbi quickly ran out, ready to get the rocket.

The armored Song army fired a few more arrows, and suddenly a golden sound came from the Mongolian army, and then the Mongolian army began to retreat like a tide.

"Quick, quick -" Song Jun quickly took off his heavy helmet.

Several Song troops rushed up from all around to help him disarm.

Dang, Dang, every piece of armor on his body was thrown to the ground with a heavy sound.

After removing his upper body armor, he was sweating all over.

"Go down and replenish water. Go down and replenish water." Song Jun patted him.

Even if there is no foot combat, just walking around the city for a while and shooting more than a dozen arrows while standing, it is not easy wearing such heavy armor.

Dazazan saw Song Jun shaking his shoulders and twisting his neck as he walked. He must have been feeling uncomfortable just now.

When is it?Azanbi asked quietly.

Song Jun responded that it was time to have lunch.

The Mongolian army had breakfast and came to attack around eight o'clock. The attack lasted until almost eleven o'clock, lasting three hours.

Today is the earliest day to retreat, because there are fires everywhere under the city, and the Mongolian army really cannot stay.

At this time, the Song army passed by, signaling everyone to get up, quickly replenish their armor and equipment, and wait for the next wave of Mongolian troops to attack, and set fire to as many corpses as possible below.

The Mongolian army fought for three days. There were countless corpses lying under the city. The Mongolian army did not collect the corpses. The Song army did not burn them in the past two days. Today they started to shoot the corpses with rockets. After burning the city, the Mongolian army would not be able to stand. Feet, the offensive was slightly hindered today.

Burning corpses not only prevents decay and plague, but also creates trouble for the Mongolian army. Of course the Song army likes to do this.

Dazazan said that it had been burning for a long time, and he could smell the rotten smell this morning.

But today they have a favorable wind, and the Mongolian army should be even more uncomfortable.

The people at the top of the city quickly became busy. Dazazan, Azanbi, and Ajile went down to the top of the city to carry arrows and wood for firewood.

It turned out that there were a lot of arrows coming from below.

Dazazan was in charge of transporting arrows when he entered Xixia, and this time he found that the arrows they managed seemed to be used.

They operated millions of arrows that day, and it seems they will be used now.

The Song army was very powerful with arrows, and half of their defenses used arrows.

After half a day of shooting today, a quarter of the people in the city were using arrows. Each person shot [-] arrows, which meant that he had to use [-] to [-] arrows.

Dazazan himself shot nearly a hundred arrows in the morning, which was considered a relatively large number.

One of his bows fell apart. This time he went down and replaced it with a Song Army bow.

After transporting the supplies, they found that there was not enough kerosene, and everyone felt a little panicked.

Fortunately, the Song Army had extra armor at this time, allowing the three of them to change to one each, which greatly enhanced their defense.

The Song army was on the wall preparing the next wave of attack by the Mongolian army.

Guards Zhang Neng and Zheng Bin also patrolled the city.

The city has enough bows and arrows, enough armor, and enough food, but there is not much kerosene.

Of course, the Song army did not bring kerosene with them when they entered Xixia. The kerosene they used was Shazhou City's own.

Because Shazhou is close to Xiliao, most of the kerosene comes from Chagatai territory.

But the lack of kerosene does not mean that the city cannot be defended.

At that time, Xixia stayed on guard for more than a month, but there was no fire oil.

It's just that there are more Xixia defenders than the Song army. Without kerosene, the defenders will have a harder time and will be consumed faster.

"After burning the outside of the city in the morning, try to use as few rockets as possible in the afternoon and save some kerosene." Zhang Neng said at this time: "Meng Tongzhi asked us to guard for at least ten days. The people of Xixia can guard for more than a month. We cannot even guard Xixia." No one is as good as that.”

"The Mongolian army doesn't want their lives. They are not afraid of death." Zheng Bin cursed.

In the past three days, the Mongolian army came one after another, losing at least 6000 people, and the Song army had [-] or [-] casualties.

The battle loss ratio between the two sides was about ten to one.

This is under the premise that the Song Army's defensive fortifications are relatively good.

The Mongolian army suffered the heaviest losses on the first day, being shot many times by the Song army's arrows.

The next day, the Mongolian army changed its tactics. All the archers were protected by shields, almost like the Song army. They began to protect their own archers so that they could shoot against the Song army.

Because the Song army often shot first at the Mongolian archers.

On the third day today, the Mongolian army made progress again. They cut down many small trees and tied them in a row to serve as large door panels. After they were erected on the ground, they hid behind and fired at the Song army.

Of course, the Song Army used rockets everywhere, but the Mongolian Army had not yet thought of soaking the shield in water and putting it on like the Song Army, so a lot of it was consumed by the Song Army's rockets.

The Mongolian army and the Song army fought for three days. The more they fought, the smarter they became and the losses became smaller and smaller, so Zhang Neng was still a little stressed.

In turn, the Song Army suffered the heaviest losses on the first day.

The first batch of Song troops to defend the city included a large number of Tibetan servants, and there were still people who had not participated in the defense.

Some people stood casually and fired at the Mongolian troops, taking advantage of the archery shelter above their heads.

And when he gets up to stab someone, he doesn't pay attention.

So the losses were relatively large on the first day.

After two days of fighting, everyone gained experience. Even in an arrow-proof shed, it does not mean it is safe. Arrows will get in at any time.

If you can hold up a shield, you must hold up a shield.

When you get up and stab someone, you have to be quick, and immediately pull back after stabbing someone.

Don't be impatient. The closer the Mongolian army gets to the crenel, the better it will be.

This kind of ladder has a spearman on each side, stabbing it at the same time, which is very unsolvable.

The Mongolian army that climbed up could only defend the left side, but could not defend the right side. There was really no way around it. They had to rely on the archers below the city to shoot down the spearmen.

"Fortunately, the Mongolian army does not have trebuchets, otherwise it would be troublesome." Zhang Neng said again at this time.

The Mongolian army came from the territory of Xiliao. Because they required speed, the entire army traveled thousands of miles on horseback, so they did not bring trebuchets at all.

Now Chagatai must regret not bringing a trebuchet. The Song Army's archery shelter makes him very disgusted. Every day, he has to pay several times the casualties in exchange for the Song Army's casualties.

Just as Zhang Neng expected, Chagatai at this time really regretted not bringing the trebuchet.

Five miles west of Shazhou City, Chagatai's camp was overcrowded, and many Mongolian nobles were in Chagatai's tent.

Everyone's face was gloomy and very ugly, because no one expected that the small Shazhou City would be more difficult to attack than before.

The Mongolian army captured Shazhou City once, but this time it seemed more difficult than last time. Their daily battle losses were more than last time. At the same time, the Song army's losses were less than those of the Xixia army.

From such a comparison, we know that to conquer Shazhou now, we have to pay more losses than before.

The Song army built an arrow-proof shed at the top of the city, and the Mongolian army also learned from it, and built arrow-proof door panels under the city.

Both sides were able to defend against arrows, but the Song army still had an overall advantage because it was in a condescending position.

Because the Mongolian army occupies a relatively large area, the door panels are not enough, and it is easy to be burned by the opponent's rockets. Generally speaking, the Mongolian army is still quite passive.

After fighting for a long time this morning, the Mongolian army suffered heavy losses. The Song army also set fire to many places, leaving the Mongolian army with no place to stand.

The Song army was even more cruel and inhumane. They actually set fire to all the corpses left by the Mongolian army. Chagatai was very angry, but he had no choice.

So he directly ordered the withdrawal of troops, and then discussed ways to reverse the situation.

We can no longer fight the Song Army like this, we must have innovative siege tactics.

(End of this chapter)