The trebuchets and siege engines were completely destroyed in an instant, and Timur was so angry that he was shaking on his horse. Roaring loudly, waving the whip, and giving the order to attack!
Without the trebuchets and siege engines, Timur's army was at an absolute disadvantage facing the Ming army standing on the high city wall. If the Timurids wanted to attack the Ming army, they could only rely on bows and arrows.
When it comes to attacking and defending cities, Ming Dynasty dares to claim second place, while no one in the world dares to claim first place. After all, there have been thousands of years of fighting on the land of the Ming Dynasty, and most of the battles were city defense and siege.
Faced with the single offensive method of the Timurids, the Ming Dynasty was in full bloom. Bows and arrows, thunderbolts, kerosene, slings, etc. all went into battle.
The Timurids, who didn't even have a ladder, didn't even touch the edge of the city wall, so they suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and finally had to retreat temporarily.
When the sun rose the next day, Timur's army set out again and began a new day's attack. However, due to the lack of siege equipment and the fierce firepower of the Ming army, Timur's attack only resulted in increased casualties.
As a last resort, Timur had to order a suspension of the attack. Immediately send people to build siege equipment, and prepare to wait until the new siege equipment is built, and then take Jiayuguan in one go.
Lan Yu also took this opportunity to adjust the Ming army's rest and reorganization in order to maintain its combat effectiveness; at the same time, he immediately wrote a report of the victory in the first battle and rushed it to the capital for 800 miles.
...
Beijing.
Zhu Biao summoned Han Du to Qianqing Palace.
"Lanyu fought well and won the first battle."
Han Du nodded in agreement. Being able to win the first battle was a good start no matter how you looked at it.
But when Handu saw that Timur had recruited millions of people to farm in the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and brought countless cattle, sheep, horses and camels. He couldn't help but worry a little: "The troops are strong and the cattle, sheep and food are well prepared... It seems that Timur is ready for a continuous war."
Zhu Biao nodded with deep feeling and sighed: "Yes, this battle for Lan Yu will not be easy."
Not only will it not be easy, even whether you can hold on is a question. Timur claims to have an army of one million. If he is determined to attack Jiayuguan without fear of casualties, Lan Yu may not be able to hold it.
Han Du pondered for a while and said: "The most powerful weapon for defending the city is cannon. I think we should send another batch of cannon to Lan Yu."
Zhu Biao thought for a long time and said: "It is not easy to transport the cannon from the capital to Jiayuguan, thousands of miles away, and the number cannot be too large."
Han Du nodded in agreement.
Cannons and divine thunder guns are now the artifacts of the Ming Dynasty. Except for the Capital Ordnance Bureau, anyone else who dares to secretly manufacture them will be a major crime that will destroy the nine tribes.
No matter how critical Jiayuguan was, Handu would not agree to move the cannon casting to Jiayuguan, and could only transport it there after it was built in the capital.
Compared with the loss of Jiayuguan, Handu was more worried about the abduction of the craftsmen who were deeply skilled in cannon casting.
"There must be at least two hundred cannons. Too few are meaningless, and more gunpowder must be transported." Han Du suggested.
"Okay." Zhu Biao agreed without thinking.
...
Tamerlane's camp.
Since Timur failed in the first battle to attack the city, he has been in a bad mood these days. If the waiter around him made a slight mistake, he would be executed without hesitation.
In these days, Timur has executed three waiters one after another, making everyone around him feel in danger and terrified.
After the new siege engines and trebuchets were built, Tamerlane felt a little better and stopped killing the attendants around him at will.
Lan Yu saw Timur's trebuchets and siege engines dispatched again, and smiled slightly: "Last time, I wanted to see what Timur's means, so I gave them a chance to get closer. Now, I I want these rags from Tamerlane to not even get close. Someone come!"
"The last general is here." A general immediately clasped his fists and bowed.
Lan Yu put down the telescope and said with a calm look, "Send the order and tell the artillerymen to destroy these wood residues for me."
. If these things are eliminated on their way forward, all artillerymen will be rewarded with treasure coins. If they are allowed to approach, all the artillerymen will each receive ten army sticks. "
"Follow the order." The general stood up with a smile, "Young master, just watch. I will make sure that no broken thing will come near, so as not to disturb your eyes."
"It's useless to talk nice. If you have the ability, let me see it." Lan Yu waved her hand towards the general.
The general's expression became serious, "Then please take a look at it."
After saying that, the general went down to deliver the order.
Boom~Boom~Boom~
After a burst of artillery fire, Timur watched helplessly as the siege vehicles and trebuchets he had placed high hopes on were destroyed by the Ming army's artillery from a distance before they could reach their designated positions.
"This is impossible! How can their cannons shoot so far and so accurately?" Timur couldn't believe his eyes. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he probably wouldn't have believed there was such a cannon.
It's not like Timur has never seen cannons. Although cannons are powerful, their range is actually very limited. And there is no accuracy at all, you can only kill the enemy based on luck.
But the Ming army's cannons were completely different. Not only were they far more powerful, their accuracy was also extraordinary.
You must know that although the trebuchet and siege vehicle are very big, more than three feet high, but from a distance of a mile, this thing seems to be no bigger than a thumb. It was impossible to hit it in Timur's opinion.
The newly built siege engines and trebuchets could not even reach their designated positions and were destroyed by the Ming army. Tamerlane knew that he could not rely on these two weapons in this battle to attack the city.
They simply stopped making new ones and directly ordered to storm Jiayuguan.
Faced with the dense rush of Timurids, Lan Yu let the cannon fire for a while and then ordered to stop firing. Because Lan Yu discovered that when the cannon was in a condescending position, its lethality to the Timurid people below was really limited. Iron balls fell from the sky, and many of them smashed directly into the sand and gravel. They could not hurt a few people, and were completely incomparable with the good effects of attacking siege engines and trebuchets.
Rather than wasting precious artillery shells on the Timurids, why not keep them first? What if the Timurids see that they have no cannons and come up with siege engines and trebuchets?
It has to be said that these two siege weapons are very powerful. If Lan Yu didn't have a cannon, he would be a little scared to face these two things.
The two sides soon entered into a battle to attack and defend the city, but without the help of siege engines and trebuchets, the Timurids lacked means of siege. The lethality of bows and arrows against the Ming army, which was protected by battlements and wooden baffles, was extremely limited and would not have much effect at all.
Therefore, Timur saw countless arrows hitting the city wall, but he did not see the intensity of the Ming army's counterattack diminish. Even areas that had just been covered by arrows could be fired back one after another in the next moment. This puzzled Timur. He didn't understand how Mingren did this. Could it be that the arrows couldn't hurt them at all?
Throughout the day, the Timurid people were in a passive position of being beaten. After leaving thousands more men behind, Timur had to order a retreat.
After more than ten days of continuous siege, and after paying the price of tens of thousands of casualties, Timur finally figured out that the Ming army had something to resist the arrows falling from the sky. Moreover, finally a smart Timurid suggested using ladders to attack the city.
So Timur immediately ordered craftsmen to make ladders.
When the next time they attacked the city, Lan Yu saw the Timurid people coming to attack the city like centipedes carrying hundreds of wooden ladders. A ladder is different from a siege vehicle. Although it is not as powerful as a siege vehicle, it is also very small. A dozen people can carry it around with one hand. Cannons have no way to use such a ladder.
However, the Ming army had seen too many such siege methods, and without the general's orders, a ladder was put up on the city wall, and soldiers immediately pushed the ladder down with a horizontal bar. Even if the Timurid people below were holding on tightly to prevent the Ming army from pushing them, the Ming army would directly throw a big stone down the ladder and hit the Timurid people below until they cried. Mother, dead and wounded.
After a day of fierce fighting, the Timurids finally touched the battlements, but there was nothing
No matter how the bird used it, it was easily repelled again.
That night, Lan Yu summoned all the generals to the commander's tent.
He glanced at the generals and said solemnly: "You have also seen what happened today. Although the Timurid people were not allowed to rush to the city wall, they were allowed to touch the edge of the city wall. If the Timurid people use more weapons next time Ladder ants attack the city, and sooner or later they will attack the city wall."
"Fight them if you dare!" A general immediately clenched his fists and shouted loudly.
"That's right, kill one to earn enough money, kill two to earn one, you're so scared..."
"My lord, didn't the emperor just send cannon and gunpowder? When these things arrive, let's kill those bearded ghosts!"
Seeing the high morale of his generals, Lan Yu nodded with great satisfaction. He raised his hand to suppress it and said: "I know that you are all brave and good at fighting, and you have put your life and death aside for a long time. But what I want to say is that what we want is to defend Jiayuguan, and there is no need to fight head-on with the Timurid people."
"What's your clever plan, sir?" a general next to him asked quickly.
Lan Yu waved and summoned the generals to him, pointed to the map on the table, looked at everyone with a smile and said: "The Marquis has observed carefully in the past few days, and the Timurid camp has hardly moved at all. Traces. In other words, they never thought that anyone would attack the camp."
The army is stationed outside, and in order to avoid being found out by the enemy, the camps must be changed every day. Even the coach's camp cannot be in a fixed location. Otherwise, what if someone finds out and is directly touched and beheaded?
The Timur people's camp has not been changed for so many days. It is possible that Timur never thought that the Ming army would dare to go out of the city to fight with him. Thinking about it, he has 550,000 troops, so he has the confidence to fear anything.
