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It was sunny on May 19th, the eighth year of Xiande
The midsummer morning light shone on the inside and outside of the high wall, but it did not bring any warmth to the people inside the city. The chilling momentum of the Zhou army waiting in formation outside Xiande Gate made the defenders at the top of the city feel chilled. Only the cold brilliance of the weapons in their hands can give them some support
The Zhou army, which had traveled a long distance, had only rested for more than a day, and was about to attack the city in full force.
Yelu Heli, who has been nervously managing the affairs of the city guard for the past two days, silently said in his heart that since he heard about the military situation that a large number of Zhou troops came to camp at the foot of the garrison mountain, Yelu Heli could no longer sit comfortably in the left-behind government office. The situation is very clear. Unlike the more than 10,000 Zhou troops who emerged from the mountains and forests before, the two to thirty thousand Zhou troops who came here must not be taken lightly.
It can be seen from the previous more than 10,000 Zhou troops that crossing the five to six hundred miles of mountainous and forested areas has indeed caused them considerable obstacles. Those people did not carry any heavy weapons at all, so all siege equipment must arrive at Tianfu. Temporary construction could only begin at the base of the city, and the defenders were not at a disadvantage in terms of strength, so Yelu and Li did not take each other too seriously at that time.
Although the city was also raising supplies for the city defense step by step at that time, the actions were not hasty, and no additional preparations were made. They were just prepared calmly and in accordance with the normal situation of defending the city. Even the eight city gates were not sealed with earth and stone. The only thing is that when the fighter planes arrive, troops can be sent out of the city to carry out counterattacks against the enemy.
There are only more than 10,000 enemy troops. All siege equipment needs to be temporarily built. After they are built, do you want to attack the city? It is obviously impossible to block the city gates with such a small amount of troops. Instead, they will only concentrate their troops on the east side of their camp, dispatching thousands of people to attack the city with siege equipment, leaving thousands of people to take up positions.
Naturally, a possible attack of this level would not make Yeluheli feel any pressure at all. If the Zhou army really dared to attack the city, he would not hesitate to deal a heavy blow to the enemy, and here he would be the first person to defeat the Zhou army - - A normal-strength attack on the city involving thousands of people would be enough to handle with only a small number of Bohai navy troops driving the strong men in the city. He could completely gather the Khitan elite cavalry in the city and, with the support of the Han'er army, go out of the city to flank the enemy. It is not surprising that the Zhou army, which had suffered repeated setbacks in sieges, collapsed.
But if there are another 20,000 or 30,000 enemy troops stationed at the foot of the mountain, the entire offensive and defensive situation of Liaoyang Mansion will be very different.
It is indeed impossible for nearly 40,000 Zhou troops to divide their forces to block the eight gates when facing more than 10,000 defenders in the city. However, as long as the Zhou army focuses on only one or two gates, the siege can be much more intense. , and the two wings guarding the siege troops can also be strong enough. If you want to send troops in the city to make a roundabout attack, the possibility of success is too small.
What's more, this Zhou army must have come up the Liao River by sea. There were large ships carrying heavy supplies of food and grass along the way. Only the last one hundred miles was the 6th route, and it was also a fairly spacious and easy-to-travel plain area along the river. It cannot hinder the Zhou army from transporting battle supplies.
Among these baggage, if there are only ordinary siege equipment such as trebuchets, ladders, rams, etc. that were temporarily built by the Zhou army that came earlier, then at most they will only increase the defensive load of the city, and I am afraid it will not be enough. I'm afraid they brought the legendary and terrifying cannons, as well as those weird ways to destroy the city.
If the Zhou army that comes has those things, the city will not be easy to defend.
Based on the above considerations, Yeluheli categorically ordered the city gates to be blocked. Six of the eight city gates were blocked with earth and rocks, leaving only two city gates for attack passages when necessary. Although he no longer believed that he Although he has the ability to completely defeat the enemy, he still has expectations for his side's ability to flank and harass, so he naturally refuses to block all the channels that can be used for attack. Of course, as to which two city gates are not blocked, Yeluheli is confident Zhou Jun couldn¡¯t guess it
In addition, the defensive facilities on the city must also be reinforced to deal with the legendary cannons that the Zhou army may have, which requires some unique methods.
Rammed earth walls are naturally the best. It is said that rammed earth has a better defensive effect than stones, but now it is too late to thicken the city wall. In the future, if the parapet wall is damaged, try not to use wooden parapet walls to fill it, whether it is for reinforcement. The defensive effect is to repair the wall in the future. Sufficient straw bags of earth must be prepared on the city head. Unfortunately, Liaoyang Mansion did not have time to prepare for the Zhou army's attack. These material reserves were far behind. After the Zhou army came to the city, they It was impossible to go outside the city to load the earth. Yelu and Li could only hope that the cannons brought by the Zhou army would not be many, or that the power of the cannons would not be as terrifying as the legends say.
Of course, the curtains on the city walls used to defend against arrows and stone throws were quite well prepared. After all, Tokyo Road was under the jurisdiction of the former Bohai State. It was a rare concentrated agricultural area in the Liao State. The local Bohai people and Han'er also He can raise silkworms, reel and weave cloth, and he can grow linen and weave cloth, although the cloth he weaves is far inferior to that of the Central Plains.It's exquisite and gorgeous, but it's not too difficult to get some thick curtains - if you calculate the price, it may be a loss, but winning is the first priority in a war, and reducing casualties is a much more important factor than price. Besides, when it comes to war, At this time, it does not cost money to recruit from the private sector.
Having hastily added so many defensive preparations in less than two days, Yelu Heli was desperate. Standing on the tower of Xiande Gate, he looked at the Zhou army's camp at Qishan and the preparations hundreds of steps away in front of him. Although he was still not so sure about the formation of the Zhou army that was attacking the city, he was a little sure of the fight.
It has been two nights since he had a good sleep, and the battle is about to begin. No matter how exhausted Yelu Heli is, he will not be able to sleep at this moment. Only by withstanding the Zhou army's attack during the battle will he be in a good mood. Go to town and get a good night's sleep. Of course, if you can't survive the first day, there's no need to go to bed again.
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"Well the enemy troops on the city are not sufficiently prepared. I heard that almost every city in the Liao Kingdom's Xijing Road that was attacked by the camp in the northeast of Hebei was prepared with enough bags of earth and straw, which greatly weakened the power of our army's artillery attack and reduced the Our army's firecrackers inflicted heavy damage on the defenders. Some of the fortresses were actually built with strips of stone and rammed earth. Even blasting them was very difficult. The Liao people still knew how to make amends after suffering heavy losses, like the one in front of them. The city¡¯s preparedness is far behind¡¡±
The Liaohai camp deployed Cao Bin to station his horse next to the commander's flag. Through the telescope, he carefully looked at the first majestic city on the Tokyo Road of the Liao Kingdom in front of him. Although they are not very big compared to many big cities, they are tall enough.
However the city walls are all made of rammed earth, and the solidity is not much worse than Bianliang, Luoyang, Jinyang, and Jicheng. However, the surface of the city wall is not covered with masonry, so it is not difficult to drill holes and dig soil at the foot of the city wall. It¡¯s quite big; the number of earth-filled straw bags prepared at the top of the city was probably insufficient and failed to cover most of the crenellations. Many defenders would still be exposed to the Zhou army¡¯s gunshots when defending; the most important thing is that , there is no urn in this city gate.
It seems that the Khitan people have grown up after all, and they still have not learned how to build cities in the Central Plains Although most of the cities in the Central Plains did not have urn cities in the past, since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains has been in chaos, and the slightly larger state cities and some border cities have All the important towns in the land have built urn cities, turning the fragile city gates into multiple lines of defense. They are no longer a major weakness in city defense. However, in this Liaoyang City, from the Bohai Kingdom to the Liao Kingdom, no urn cities have been built. Protect the city gate
"Yes, not to mention that the number of earth-filled straw bags to protect our army's artillery and gunfire is too small. That may be because the Liao general here did not expect that our army would attack so quickly, but this city does not even have a urn. "Build it, tsk tsk" Fubo Brigade Commander Guo Shouxin obviously thought of the same place as Cao Bin, and sighed softly, "If digging holes and blasting at the foot of the city wall is not easy, then we can just blow up the city gate. Even if we don¡¯t use the firearms that our army is good at to break the city, there is still a chance to break through this kind of city gate using the oldest methods of slamming doors and burning them?¡±
Cao Bin smiled slightly: "Don't be so anxious. The imperial court did not give the Liaohai camp a time limit to capture Liaoyang. Our army is not afraid of Liao's soldiers and horses from Tokyo Road returning from all directions, but there is no need to worry about the strength and morale of the defenders." Rushing to the city in the prime of life would cause too many casualties and is not very cost-effective. I, the Liaohai camp, are responsible for conquering the entire Liao Kingdom's Tokyo Road"
Zhai Shousu, envoy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Superintendent of the Liaohai camp, responded calmly: "The imperial court did not set a time limit for the camp. As long as the predetermined combat objectives are completed within the combat area designated by the Privy Council, the specific process will be completely controlled by the commander-in-chief on the fly. "
"Does the Marshal want to show off what His Majesty said about 'encircling a point to call for reinforcements' under Liaoyang City?"
Guo Shouxin asked tentatively
Cao Bin put away his telescope, turned to look at Guo Shouxin, and then replied calmly: "If the Liao army in Tokyo Road returns in large numbers, and if the Lord of Liao sends reinforcements from Shangjing, then our army might as well encircle the area and fight for reinforcements." Once; if there are no reinforcements coming from the enemy's periphery, our army will be surrounded for a long time and attack slowly, it doesn't matter."
"The commander-in-chief means"
"Since our army has absolute confidence to deal with possible enemy reinforcements, and since our army does not need to rush, this battle will naturally focus on minimizing our army's casualties. The Liaoyang defenders are so poorly prepared, and our army's preparations are indeed sufficient. Very, and we can continuously obtain supplies from the Liao River, so we can slowly consume them - use our military resources to compete with the enemy's military strength."
Cao Bin glanced at the city head coldly: "If we don't defeat the enemy at the city head, whether it's ants attacking the city or blasting the city walls and gates, the casualties we will have to pay will not be small. Since I The army has time, but it might as well engage in a bombardment with the enemy. Most of the enemy will have trebuchets, but our army not only has trebuchets, but also cannons. Let's see how long they can withstand it." To be finishedContinued)
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Chapter 26 of Being an Emperor in the Five Dynasties: Offensive and Defensive Preparations
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