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

Chapter 354 All the Song Army’s tricks were learned by the Mongolian Army

The Mongolian army, if not counting the Han army, is actually not good at attacking cities.

At that time, the Mongolian army fought against Yulong Chijie in Khwarezm for nearly half a year. After entering the city, they fought in the streets for another seven days before forcing the opponent to surrender.

Not to mention the Jin and Song Dynasties, many cities could not be captured, and some of them fought for more than a year when they attacked Xixia.

But one advantage of the Mongolian army is that they are very patient. As long as they are willing, they can fight you for years or even decades.

For example, the Battle of Xiangyang in history, or the defensive battle of Lingxiao City that is not popular and may not be known to many people.

Lingxiao City and Diaoyu City were both mountain cities that Yu Jie focused on operating in Sichuan. After the Battle of Yashan in 1279, the Song Dynasty fell. Wang Li, the defender of Diaoyu City, surrendered the city after the Yuan army promised not to kill anyone, and then took the city with him. More than 30 Song generals committed suicide and died for their country. Diaoyu City, which had held on for more than 30 years, finally fell.

Lingxiao City, not far from Diaoyu City, was the last isolated city in the Song Dynasty at that time. The guard Huang Lingshen would rather die than surrender.

The Yuan army besieged Lingxiao City for nine more years, until 1288. It was almost 20 years since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Yuan army failed to surrender for the last time, it concentrated more than 30 troops and attacked in turns, carrying out a war of attrition. , the Song army's defenders were alone and were defeated only after all of them were killed.

Therefore, Chagatai hopes that the generals will come up with some innovative siege tactics, and they cannot continue to waste time with the Song army, because the Mongolian army does not have many troops.

"The wolves on the grassland are very patient when hunting prey." Chagatai began to persuade his subordinates not to worry: "Although the Song Army is extremely defensive, it has a small number of troops. As long as we have enough troops and horses, and slowly consume them, we will eventually be able to defeat them." One day we will conquer it.”

"At that time, Atachidu fought for more than a month before breaking through Shazhou."

"But now, we don't have enough troops, so we have to think of other ways to consume the Song army as soon as possible."

After Chagatai finished speaking, he looked around. The camp was quiet, and everyone had a look of dissatisfaction on their faces. It was obvious that most people were unwilling to continue fighting.

The Mongolian army was not good at attacking fortified cities, and the Song army's defense was so strong. Everyone would rather fight the Song army under Suzhou City, or return to Alimari.

At this time, there were already many voices of dissatisfaction in the camp. Many nobles did not want to attack Shazhou City again. In addition to heavy casualties, the news that the Song army had entered the Chataihe territory had arrived here two days ago. Everyone was anxious to go back and eliminate Song. military.

Chagatai was unmoved and decided to destroy the wave in front of him first.

Looking at the silent nobles, Chagatai's grandson Haraxuleh knew that this was a silent protest.

Everyone did not dare to oppose Chagatai and could only express their dissatisfaction with silence.

Hara Xulie stood up quickly and said in a good voice: "Now that we have done it, we must do one thing to the end. If we go back after fighting halfway, what if the Song army has fled our territory, will we lose everything?"

Chagatai nodded secretly. This grandson was more reliable than his son, and he even wanted to pass the throne to his grandson.

Of course, he had no intention of taking over the throne at this time. He just wanted to pass the territory to his grandson.

"That is, we cannot let the Song army lead the way. We Mongols must take the initiative when fighting." Chagatai continued.

There was a slight movement in the crowd, and after a while, a thousand households murmured in a low voice: "Our herdsmen in Yuli City are about to be killed by the Song Army."

Yuli City, the first city Li Pingxia attacked, turned out to be the fiefdom of these thousands of households. The news had spread back and they suffered heavy losses. Countless cattle, sheep and horses were killed, and the hearts of the thousands of households were bleeding.

"If we conquer Shazhou, we will leave no chickens or dogs behind." Chagatai said solemnly: "We use the blood of Song people to honor our herdsmen."

Seeing that Chagatai insisted on attacking, someone finally said: "We have to use cannons (the Mongolian army means their trebuchets)."

"The Song Army has an archery shed at the top of the city. It's useless to shoot rockets at them. We can only use cannons, otherwise our bows and arrows are basically useless."

The Mongolian army has been shooting at the Song army outside the city every day for the past three days, causing heavy casualties.

But if you don't shoot, the opponent's archers will stand up and shoot at the ants and climbers unscrupulously. If you want to shoot with them, the archers will suffer heavy casualties.

"We are working hard to build shields." Haraxulie hurriedly added: "If the Song army can build sheds, we can build shields."

"The Song army keeps attacking with fire. It's full of rockets in broad daylight."

"The arrow was still burning hot, and he was severely injured when it hit him."

"The people of Song Dynasty are vicious and their spears are all red."

Suddenly there was a sound of cursing all around, and they began to curse Song Jun's various despicable methods.

Haraxulie added: "The Song army has come thousands of miles away, and it is impossible to bring kerosene with them. The kerosene in Shazhou City will soon be used up."

There was a lot of kerosene in Shazhou City, but the Song army also used a lot of it. During the daytime attack, they kept burning. When there were more Mongolian troops under the city, they would fall from the top of the city. He gritted his teeth in a military spirit.

"Can we dig another hole?" At this time, someone suggested that we should continue digging tunnels.

Back then, Yingdachi was the city of Shazhou that was broken by digging tunnels after more than a month of forcible attack without results.

Someone else murmured: "We have used it before, will the people of Song Dynasty not be careful?"

"You used to eat, but now you don't?" the other party said sarcastically.

Hiss, someone almost started a quarrel at the scene.

Chagatai also had a headache when he saw this. There was certainly a reason why he returned to the army in the middle of today's battle.

"Stop arguing and listen to Haraxulie." He motioned to his grandson to explain the following tactics.

The Mongolian army was very good at learning. On the second day, they learned from the Song army to make wooden boards and simple shields to protect against arrows.

"We have a truce for one day and prepare rockets. The day after tomorrow, we will use all rockets. First, shoot at the pillars of the Song Army's archery shed." Haraxulie saw the shortcomings of the Song Army.

"I have observed the Song Army's archery shed. It should be covered with sand and gravel, so it is useless to shoot rockets at it, but this shed must have four pillars."

"Two of them are behind the city wall, slightly exposed, and the other two are definitely behind the same location."

"Let's shoot rockets at the pillars. The Song Army will definitely come out to put out the fire."

"At that time, you can shoot at the pillars and the Song army at the same time."

"As long as the pillars are burned, even if a section is burned, the archery shed will be broken."

"These things made by the Song Army were made from wood collected outside the city after they conquered Shazhou City. Now that they have arrived in the city, they won't have much wood."

"Let's just waste them like this."

After saying that, Hara Xulie looked back at his grandfather Chagatai: "Maybe it will be useful if we let people dig passages from each side."

If Hara Huleh can become a great Khan in the future, he is still quite capable.

He planned to shoot the Song Army's pillars with rockets first, ignite the pillars, and destroy the Song Army's archery sheds.

The Song army did not have an arrow shed, so the people at the top of the city were in more danger, and it was impossible to hold up their shields all the time.

"It seems that the pillars of the Song Army have been treated. I have fired rockets and they are not easy to burn. Sometimes the Song Army does not come to extinguish them, but they will be extinguished after a while."

The Mongolian army didn't bring much kerosene when they came, so the Mongolian army's rockets had arrowheads wrapped with cloth, and were often made from the clothes of Mongolian soldiers who were killed or injured in battle.

Some of their rockets also hit the pillars, but they seemed not to be easily burned, because if the cloth burned out, there would be no fire.

"This pillar is obviously just built not long ago, what can be done about it?"

"Has it been soaked in water?"

"Hey." Haraxulie's eyes lit up, he clapped his legs and laughed: "Our arrow-proof board can be soaked in water."

The Song Army's last trick was finally learned by the Mongolian Army.

Previously, they built a lot of wide door panels and used them as cover to shoot at the Song Army, but they were easily ignited by the Song Army's rockets, especially the hemp ropes tied on them. Rope, Song Jun's hemp rope was not easily burned, it must have been soaked in water.

At that time, the Mongolian army decided to rest for two days and rebuild a batch of siege ladders and anti-arrow door panels. Even the ladders had to be immersed in water. Chagatai required that the ladders be built first, then soaked in water for a day, and then taken out for use. See Song How can the army be burned?

Then someone suggested that the entire army go down to the river before attacking the city and soak their clothes to increase their protection. Chagatai agreed.

Soaked clothes are also better at protecting against arrows, and are less likely to be set alight when hit by rockets.

The Song army often used rockets to burn the Mongolian army. The Mongolian army hated it and was very scared. Now they finally found a way.

In just a few days, the Mongolian army learned all the tricks of the Song army.
-
In Suzhou City, which is about [-] miles away from Shazhou, guard Bahe is standing at the top of the city looking strangely at the Song Army camp in the distance.

The Song army arrived at Suzhou City more than half a month ago, and then surrounded Suzhou. They camped for dozens of miles. Just looking at the camp, Bahe felt that the Song army must have at least 8 people.

Bahe is a tiger general of the thunder type. In the original history, he was famous in a battle at Sanfeng Mountain. He was later promoted to ten thousand households and was granted the title of Marquis of Nanjun.

Now that Zhao and Rui Yi are interfering, there is no battle in Sanfeng Mountain, and there are still thousands of households in Bahe.

After Tuo Lei's death, Wokuotai assigned him to his son Kuo Duan. Kuo Duan's subordinates had no use and they knew Tuo Lei was brave, so he stationed him in Suzhou.

Suzhou is an important horse-producing and grazing land in Xixia. There are many troops stationed there and the population is large. Therefore, there are now 1 troops and more than [-] herdsmen in Bahe City.

When the Song army broke through Guazhou, Bahe had already moved a large number of cattle, horses and sheep to Xiliang Prefecture, but most of the herdsmen were still stationed within a few hundred miles of Suzhou. Many of the herdsmen who were far away could not make it. Many were arrested by the Song Army.

Bahe is a fierce fighter. According to his fighting style, he is generally unwilling to defend the city and rushes out to fight the Song army.

But he participated in the Battle of Fangcheng Mountain with Tuo Lei. In the Battle of Fangcheng Mountain, the Mongolian army fought the Jin soldiers head-on, and then was attacked by the Song army. Bahe knew that the Song army was more insidious and had artillery. Now he doesn't know what's going on outside. The Song army did not bring cannons and how many troops they had, so they did not dare to leave the city easily.

After Kuo Duan learned that Shazhou was lost, he also received orders to let the cities defend themselves and not go to war. Bahe could only endure it for the time being.

But Bahe's thoughts of revenge for Fang Chengshan's defeat became more and more powerful.

Bahe secretly assessed that the Song army should have thousands of herdsmen, at least tens of thousands of cattle and horses, and perhaps tens of thousands or even 10,000+ sheep.

With these resources, the Song army could easily surround Suzhou for three or four months.

The food resources in your city can be maintained for a year.

Now it depends on whose reinforcements arrive first.

Xiliang Mansion is closer to here than Shazhou, but the Mongolian reinforcements never came.

Garrisoned in Xiliang was Daierbatu, the general who was also towing mines. The four generals who were towing mines were assigned to Kuoduan and were all reused.The reason why Dai Erbatu didn't come was because he didn't have many soldiers and horses at hand, only 8000. Kuoduan wanted to concentrate his troops and horses to fight the Song army, so he transferred most of Dai Erbatu's troops and horses, and Dai Erbatu took them with him. 6000 men and horses gathered with Kuoduan. Of course, Xiliang Mansion had no soldiers and horses to come to support.

But Kuo Duan gathered his troops and horses in early April, and by mid-April he had gathered nearly 7 troops and was preparing to go to Suzhou. However, not far from Zhongxing Prefecture, he heard the Song army Meng Gong was invading from Fengxiang and Daxing in the direction of Sichuan.

After consideration, Kuo Duan decided to return to the army immediately and attack Meng Gong's Sichuan army first.

The last time Bahe received news from Kuoduan was in early May. At that time, Kuoduan's messenger came to report that there were [-] Mongolian troops and nearly [-] Song troops. ), encountered outside Xiazhou City, and were preparing to fight.

At that time, Bahe was quite shocked and asked the messenger why Song Jun went to Xiazhou?

Xiazhou is east of Zhongxing Prefecture, hundreds of miles away from Zhongxing Prefecture.

The messenger said that the Song army knew that Kuoduan wanted to fight them, and deliberately went directly to Xiazhou without going to Zhongxing Mansion. The Song army took trebuchets and artillery and defeated Xiazhou in half a day. Then the Song army did not defend the city, but With their backs to the west wall of Xiazhou City, they established camp and waited for the Mongolian army.

Bahe knew immediately that the Song army deliberately lured Duankuo eastward.

The Mongolian army has always been famous for its initiative and maneuverability. Duankuo had never led more than [-] troops alone before Ogedai took office. Now he led an army of [-] to fight the Song army for the first time, and he was completely led by Meng Gong. Walk.

After that, Bahe never heard from Duankuo again.

It is now late May, and nearly ten days have passed.

Zhongxing Mansion is nearly two thousand miles away from Suzhou. Even if the sentry cavalry is not fast, it can reach it in ten days by running two hundred miles a day.

There has been no news for more than ten days now, so there are only four possibilities.

First, the military situation was not urgent. Kuoduan was still fighting the Song army and had no intention of sending the news back. There was no winner or loser. Frequently sending messages was a waste of sentries and horses.

The second is that Kuo Duan doesn't care much about disseminating timely information. Maybe he doesn't think it's very important, or he doesn't trust Bahe and the others very much. Reusing Bahe and the others is just superficial.

Third, Kuo Duan believed that the Song army was vulnerable and would definitely be able to defeat it, so there was no need to deliver timely news.

Fourthly, the Kuoduan sentry cavalry could not enter because they were surrounded by the Song army's camp outside, and they ordered the civilians to build wall ditches.

But in the early stage, when the Song Army first arrived, there was still room to move outside. The Song Army was stationed in the camp and it took almost ten days to build the wall and ditch. However, during this period, no Kuoduan messenger came, so Bahe believed that the Kuoduan messenger did not come, but it was just Because of the first three possibilities.

If this matter were to be done in front of the tow mine, he could send different sentries out in turn every day to spread the news to the rear.

Kuo Duan had never led an army alone before Wo Kuotai came to power. Many nobles may not obey him. In addition, there are many soldiers and horses of the mine dragging system under his subordinates. He is inexperienced and has no ability to drag mines. Now he can't even No news came back, and Yahe was quite annoyed and anxious.

No matter whether you win or lose at the front, or if you are in a stalemate, you must communicate with the back in a timely manner.

This way I can decide what to do based on this situation.

Now the information ahead is unclear, and the outcome of Kuoduan and the Song army is unknown. Bahe feels as uncomfortable as a blind man.

Thinking of this, Bahe walked around the city a little irritably.

It will be June soon, and it is getting hotter and hotter here in Suzhou, and the rainy season will also decrease. It is true that Suzhou City has enough food, but there is another disadvantage, that is, the water source in the city is connected to the outside of the city. The Song Army may not have discovered it now. Or they did not take action, and they did not know the situation in Suzhou City. Once the Song Army knew this shortcoming and cut off the water source from the outside, as long as it did not rain for three months, Suzhou City would be short of water.

Seeing that Bahe was getting irritated, a tall young man behind him stepped forward and said: "Qianhu's face, we can't let Song Jun keep digging like this."

Yahe turned to look at this person.

This is Ao Tunzhen, the eldest son of Ao Tun Shiying.

Aotun Shiying and his younger brother were stationed in Heishui City. One of his two sons, Aotunzhen, followed Bahe in Suzhou and the other followed Kuo Duan in Zhongxing Mansion.

Aotunzhen is as brave as his father and is also good at planning. He is considered outstanding among the younger generation of the Mongolian army.

However, the Aotun family must be Jurchens and Bahe is a Mongolian. Although both parties were once direct descendants of Tuo Lei, after Tuo Lei died and rowed to Kuo Duan's side, Ba He was the first to support Kuo Duan. Duan has a completely different attitude from Aotun Shiying.

What Aotun Shiying values ​​​​is his former master, the fourth prince Tuo Lei.

What Bahe values ​​​​is the interests of the Great Mongol Empire.

"What do you think?" Bahe was feeling upset at the moment. Seeing Otunzhen speak, he asked him what he thought.

"The general has been watching for several days--"

What Ao Tunzhen means is that he has been observing at the top of the city for several days. There are not many civilians in the hands of the Song army. They are all captured Mongolian herdsmen, about less than 1 people.

In the first few days, the Song Army also participated in digging ditches and building walls, but since the day before yesterday, the Song Army was no longer visible, only civilians working on all sides.

Driven by a small number of Song troops, the Mongolian herdsmen dug a ditch along Suzhou and used the soil in the ditch to build a wall in front of the ditch.

The length of Suzhou City's current length was just over eight miles, and it only reached twelve miles during the two expansions of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

Three hundred steps away from the city, thousands of herdsmen were digging along the surrounding area every day. In less than half a month, a rectangular shape had been dug through.

Because Suzhou City is a rectangular city wall that is slightly longer from east to west and slightly shorter from north to south.

Above the long ditch, the herdsmen also built a low wall, which was filled with excavated soil.

At the top of Aotunzhen Station, you could still see the herders on the opposite side at first, but then you couldn't see them anymore. The ditch was probably at least one meter deep.

Then these days, he observed that the walls above the ditches were getting taller and wider, so the herdsmen either dug the ditches deeper or wider, otherwise there would not be so much soil to fill them.

Because the Song Army was also digging at the beginning, but now that the Song Army is gone, only a small number of Song Army are supervising the work?
Ao Tunzhen asked: "Is the main force of the Song army no longer outside the city?"

"..." Yahe's eyes suddenly widened.

They were trapped in the city and had no intention of going out to fight the Song army in the field, so they didn't know how many Song soldiers there were outside.

But in these two days, no large groups of Song troops could be seen, only herdsmen digging ditches every day.

Otunzada's question was very shocking, and Yahe couldn't help but raise his head and look into the distance.

The land in the distance is extremely quiet, and even the herdsmen are rarely seen, because the herdsmen may be working in the ditch, and there are also a small number of Song troops, about three or four Song troops every hundred steps or so, riding on horses. Driving slowly left and right, the herdsmen were overseeing the work of digging ditches.

Judging from the current situation, no more than 500 Song troops can be seen around Suzhou City.

The Song Army's camp was several miles away, and one could see neat camps surrounding Suzhou. However, because the distance was too far, it was impossible to see whether or how many people were in the camp.

"Damn it." Bahe couldn't help but slapped his forehead: "Where will Song Jun go?"

He had always thought that the Song army was digging trenches in preparation for a long-term siege. Now that he was reminded by Otunzhen, he thought of a possibility. What if the Song army's siege was fake and the main force retreated?

Bahe is a fierce general and is very capable in charging into battle, but in terms of resourcefulness, he is far inferior to Otun Shiying.

After being reminded by Otunzhen at this time, he finally came back to his senses.

Why did the Song Army's tens of thousands of troops attack Suzhou?

At this time, tens of thousands of Chagatai are attacking Shazhou, and Kuoduan's [-] are fighting a decisive battle with Meng Gong. If Bahe leads tens of thousands of Song troops, all of them have horses and are super mobile, how can they attack Suzhou?

Either go to Chagatai or go to Kuoduan.

"Sure, I've been fooled." The more Bahe thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he immediately said: "Otunzhen, take 1000 people out and rush down to have a look."

Ao Tunzhen immediately took the order, ordered a thousand fine cavalry, and rushed out of the west city gate.

Bahe stood at the top of the city and watched. After Otunzhen's soldiers and horses went out, the Song army not far away immediately dispersed and turned around on horseback and ran wildly.

After a while, hundreds of Song troops outside Suzhou City all disappeared.

And they didn't run to the camp, they all ran to the west.

Ao Tunzhen's soldiers and horses carefully crossed the ditch, and then rushed directly to the Song army camp. Less than half an hour later, Bahe saw Ao Tunzhen rushing back with a small group of cavalry, and he knew that something was wrong.

There were only a few hundred people in the Song army's camp. When Ao Tunzhen's soldiers and horses left, these Song soldiers also fled westward.

The Song army used an empty camp strategy, leaving only a thousand people in the army to guard the herdsmen digging ditches.

Ao Tunzhen believed that the Song army went west to attack Chagatai and relieve the siege of Shazhou.

Bahe's face turned red when he heard this, and he became angry with embarrassment.

He was once one of the top ten powerful generals of the towing thunder system, but he was actually played by the people of Song Dynasty.

But the Song Army must have planned to besiege Suzhou at first. The Song Army also participated in digging ditches in the past few days.

Later, when they heard the news that Chagatai was besieging Shazhou, the Song army quietly withdrew, leaving only about 1000 people to continue to supervise the herdsmen digging ditches.

The question now is, where did the main force of the Song Army withdraw?
"Why not play broadside?" someone asked.

Ao Tunzhen said that the Song army went west, and some people suspected that the Song army would go east.

Ao Tunzhen said angrily: "Shazhou is only seven or eight hundred miles away from us, and Xiazhou is more than 2000 miles away from us. Are you a Song Army, will you go west or east?"

The person on the other side was stunned when asked.

Ao Tunzhen said again: "The Song army came from the west. There are sentries and cavalry in the west. We also know that Chagatai has gone to attack Shazhou."

"Meng Gong has no sentries to the east, and it is impossible for this Song army to send sentries to find Meng Gong more than 2000 miles away. How could they know that Kuo Duan is in the east and help Meng Gong fight Kuo Duan?"

Thinking about it this way, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Bahe was furious and immediately ordered all his troops and horses to rush out of the city to chase the Song army.

　The battle of Lingxiao City is relatively unpopular, but it is definitely the last dignity of the Song Dynasty.

　　Changning's army of more than 800 people held on for nine more years after the fall of the country in Yashan and the neighboring Diaoyu City surrendered. With more than 800 people, they resisted more than 30 Yuan troops, and the entire army was killed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)