The next morning, Zhao Tong began to build an arrow tower across the moat in Hangzhou.
Naturally, the thieves in the city would not let him complete it smoothly, and they all shot arrows at the top of the city.
But Zhao Tong's arrow tower was set up relatively far away. A stone's throw away, the arrows from the city would be powerless when they reached the arrow tower and could hardly hurt anyone.
Both Fang Baihua and Fang Shiwu were wondering what kind of threat an arrow tower at such a distance could pose to the city of Hangzhou. After all, they were sticking to the main position and would not take the initiative to leave the city. Zhao Tao did not besiege him either, only in the north of the city. Activities here.
A total of three arrow towers were erected, all of which were relatively high. Although they did not reach the top of the city, they were not much different.
Then Zhao Tong placed the crossbows on both sides of the arrow tower.
He brought a total of ten heavy crossbows from Tokyo, as well as hundreds of other types of crossbows and crossbows.
Among the ten heavy crossbows, five are eight-oxen crossbows and five are thousand-step crossbows.
As for other medium and light crossbows, there are Dahe Chan Crossbow, Divine Arm Crossbow, etc.
At this distance from the arrow tower to the head of Hangzhou City, only the Eight Ox Crossbow and the Thousand Step Crossbow can kill effectively. Even the Zhongnu, the Dahe Chan Crossbow and the Double Bow Crossbow cannot do it.
Although this kind of heavy crossbow is a sharp weapon, it is easy to wear and tear. Otherwise, you can just use this thing to attack the city all the time, without the need for bows and arrows.
The Eight-Niu Crossbow will generally be useless after being fired thirty times, while the Thousand-step Crossbow will be useless after only about ten shots.
Later, the famous anti-gold general Wu Jie invented a five-bow bed giant crossbow, which was stronger and more powerful. Unfortunately, this kind of giant crossbow couldn't even fire ten times, and it had to be replaced after about five or seven times. Upper string handle.
The loss is too high and the mobility is too poor, but the power is really great.
During the Zhenzong Dynasty, during the Battle of Chanzhou, Zhang Gui, the leader of the mighty tiger army, shot Xiao Taolin, the commander-in-chief of the Liao army and King Shun, with an eight-oxen crossbow, which directly contributed to the signing of the Chanyuan Alliance.
Therefore, the power of this eight-oxen crossbow is not in vain.
Zhao Tong ordered his men to mount all five Eight-Niu Crossbows beside the arrow tower. He did not use the Thousand-step Crossbow. Although the Thousand-step Crossbow was further away, its destructive power was not as great as the Eight-Niu Crossbow.
He didn't want to shoot the opponent's coach or anything like that. After all, Zhang Gui had some luck back then, and the distance that time was much closer than now, so he could calibrate it carefully.
Following an order, dozens of soldiers twisted their shafts and strung a crossbow. Five eight-oxen crossbow strings clicked, and five crossbow guns roared out.
The "wooden stem iron feather" crossbow of this eight-oxen crossbow is known as "one gun, three swords and arrows" in the world. It is shaped like an iron gun, and the three iron feathers on it are like three swords.
If the Eight Oxen Crossbow encounters a short city, it can also fire "stepping arrows" and nail them to the city wall in rows, so that the siege soldiers can use them to climb up.
But this is not possible in a high city like Hangzhou. Even if you nail a row of staggered arrows and just step on these things to go up the city, you are afraid that if the enemy at the top of the city does not take any action, you will fall down and die if you slip.
Five swords with one gun and three arrows blasted directly at the city of Hangzhou. To say that it was a blast is actually not an exaggeration at all, because this kind of eight-oxen crossbow also has a fist-sized hammer-like thing behind the blade. The crossbow has inertia. As a bonus, even rocks can be broken.
There are also crossbows in the city of Hangzhou, but there are no such heavy crossbows. After waking up yesterday, Fang Gu drew a defense map of Hangzhou, which described the amount of ordnance in the city. Hangzhou originally had heavy crossbows, but before the city was broken, they were all defended. The military push fell to the bottom of the city and fell into disarray, so today Zhao Tong asked people to set up an arrow tower in a single shot, and tested it with an eight-oxen crossbow. Otherwise, if the heavy crossbows from the top of the city were shot down, it would be difficult to build the arrow tower. .
The five crossbow guns arrived in front of the city in the blink of an eye. At this time, Fang Baihua and Fang Shiwu were both there. They kept staring at the other side of the moat and could vaguely see many Song troops over there seeming to be wringing strings. Qi hid to the side, shouting to the soldiers while hiding: "Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
A loud "bang" was heard, and one of the crossbows hit the tower, immediately knocking off half of the corner of the green brick building.
There was also a crossbow that was slightly mis-aimed and hit the battlements. The battlements were immediately cracked. Bricks and stone fragments flew randomly and splashed on the soldiers. Even if they were wearing armor, they were grinning in pain.
The remaining three were all shot into the crowd. Although Fang Baihua and Fang Shiwu had warned them before, how could ordinary soldiers react quickly? The moment he was hit by the crossbow, his body was shattered to pieces. All armor was useless, and flesh, blood, and bones flew everywhere.
Even those who passed by were injured and lay on top of the city.
Fang Baihua was shocked when she saw this. Although heavy crossbows had been used to shoot at Hangzhou City before, she recalled that the power at that time was not as powerful, and the accuracy was not as good at all. Some crossbows even flew overhead. However, I don’t know where it ended up.
"Put up a shield, set up a shield!" Fang Fifteen shouted from the other side, his face serious under his thick beard. He was an iron craftsman and was familiar with bows and crossbows. The crossbow of this Eight Ox Crossbow was unique and extremely lethal. If there is no shield pile protection, it is simply invincible.
After hearing this, the soldiers immediately moved out the shield stakes from the rear. However, this thing was not their own, but originally existed in Hangzhou City. They were wooden trunks as thick as the mouth of a sea bowl tied together with beef tendons and other materials. Two shield piles could be hidden behind them. Three people can withstand attacks from catapults, ballistas and the like. They have legs underneath and can stand on the ground without anyone's support.
Rows of shield piles were erected. Although it looked safer, the view of the soldiers on the city was blocked a lot. Fang Baihua stood behind the shield piles and frowned: "Brother Fifteen, what if the Song army used this heavy crossbow to cover What should we do to attack the city?"
Fang Shiwu shook his head: "How can it be so simple? This kind of heavy crossbow is easy to wear and tear, and it will be useless if it can't shoot too many times. I don't believe that he, the King of Birds, will bring many heavy crossbows, not to mention that although this shield pile is blocked Our line of sight, isn’t it blocking each other’s visit?”
Fang Baihua was convinced when she heard this and couldn't help but nodded.
On the other side of the moat, Zhao Tong frowned as he looked at the city of Hangzhou. The distance was originally blurry, but now rows of shield stakes were erected, and no human form could be seen. It seemed as if there were wooden stakes everywhere.
He looked at the crossbowmen with confused expressions on their faces. These people's eyesight was not as good as his. As soon as the head of Hangzhou city was blocked by shield piles, they immediately lost the target to shoot at.
Zhao Tao touched his chin. It was a feint attack at the moment. The purpose was to attract most of Hangzhou City's troops to the North City. The purpose of building the arrow tower was also for this purpose, making Fang Baihua think that he was building fortifications outside the North City and planned to move this place Operate it as the focus of siege.
In fact, what he wanted to attack was the West City. He used Fang Gu to deceive the West City Gate and attack it.
Fang Gu is the deputy general who guards the West City. He can open the city, but this is not enough. There is a distance between the city and the main city. To enter the main city from the city, you must also pass through the city gate. Fang Gu has no authority over that gate. Open it completely, that's the female door.
In this case, it would be better to directly open the main city gate without the sub-city and drive straight in in one step. This is the reason why Zhao Tong asked Fang Gu to cheat the gate.
As for Zhao Tong's layout, it is actually not complicated. Up to two thousand soldiers can be hidden in Yingchun Garden, and more can be hidden in the passage, which can be calculated as three thousand soldiers.
These people can pretend to be Fang La's holy army and go with Fang Gu to defraud the city gate. Even if the deception cannot be opened, with so many people trying to open the city gate from the inside, it will be several times easier than from the outside. As soon as the city gate is opened, it will be a big deal. Certainly.
As for whether other people on the other side will see the flaw on the way there and expose their flaws, Zhao Tong is not worried about this.
As long as Fang Gu doesn't rebel and doesn't meet Fang Baihua and Fang Shishi, he will never be exposed, because Fang Gu's identity is unique.
He is Fang La's cousin, the eldest son and grandson of the Fang family. Although at this time in the Song Dynasty, the distinction between concubines and concubines was actually somewhat diluted compared to the previous dynasties. Even if a large family distributes inheritance, even if it is a concubine, it will be more or less Everyone can get a share, but the folk are even more indifferent. After all, they don’t have much to inherit.
The Fang family is not an official, and has no idea about it, but the eldest son and grandson recognize it, so Fang Gu's status in the family is acceptable. If he leads the army, no one will doubt it, even if it is a fake military order from Fang Baihua. , and there is a 70% to 80% chance of success.
Fang Baihua did not have Tiger Talisman Orders and Arrows. Fang La had not founded the army for a long time and did not have a complete military discipline system. He still followed the rules of the Ming Cult.
Although Fang Baihua was literate, it was impossible for him to write any warrant, and it was too easy to forge.
Fang Gu is the best proof. If it were anyone else, it would probably arouse suspicion, and it would be extremely difficult to deceive the city gate, but Fang Gu is very likely to succeed.
Am I against our Fang family? I am the eldest son and grandson of the Fang family! I'm Fang La's nephew!
Fang La has proclaimed himself emperor. According to the orthodox system, Fang Gu's status is that of the royal family. If Fang La conquers the country, he will at least be granted the title of a county king. Moreover, although he is Fang La's cousin, Fang La himself has no biological brothers, only Fang Baihua is a full-blooded sister, and the rest of the clan are cousins.
Then, there is even a one in 10,000 possibility that Fang Gu or his descendants will have the opportunity to touch the great treasure of the Yongle Holy Dynasty!
Therefore, can he falsely pass military orders and serve as an internal response to the Song army?
Of course it is impossible!
This is why after Zhao Tong learned about Fang Gu's identity, he couldn't wait to walk through the passage to Hangzhou City in person and saw Fang Gu making a plan.
He wanted to determine his success in one battle. If he didn't seize this opportunity, the opponent would rely on the strong city and many soldiers. It would be extremely difficult for him to capture the city of Hangzhou.
After all, what he was leading was not an elite force that had fought in hundreds of battles, but the Imperial Guards from the capital, and there was only half of the opponent's troops. He could not encircle the city, attack by force, and the opponent could not defend the city. There was nothing he could do.
And even if the opponent comes out of the city to fight head-on, Zhao Tong is not 100% sure that he will win. Taking the Western Army led by Tong Guan as an example, there are many generals, and they are all elite soldiers. Hasn't he been fighting Fang Lahu Are you there?
Therefore, when he saw Fang Gu making a plan, he then dispatched troops and horses to perform a show in front of Beicheng to make the other party misunderstand his intentions, and pulled most of the troops over, and then implemented a strategy of cooperating inside and outside.
But at this time, he felt something was wrong with the Eight Ox Crossbow. Although the Eight Ox Crossbow and Thousand Step Crossbow had a far enough range, human eyesight was not enough. When the target could not be seen, he could only hit blindly. Can he hit it? It all depends on luck.
At the moment, it's okay to say that we are either attacking or defending the city, but if we fight on the plains in the future, most of the opponent's cavalry will suffer a big loss due to their lack of vision.
Zhao Tong sighed slightly in his heart and felt that it was time to come up with something. Originally, because of the tight time, he was afraid that it would be too late to come up with something that would make money, and he was not good at doing that kind of daily invention. After all, learning is different, but now it seems that some If you don't get the items out, you will be hamstrung on the battlefield.
Not only will you be beaten if you fall behind, but you will also be beaten if you don't get ahead!
Zhao Tong sat on the horse and pondered for a while. He was indeed not good at inventions, but... he could still do it with a mirror that could see far away, right?
He doesn't know how to burn glass, let alone optical glass, but isn't there ready-made crystal? It seems that the earliest mirror that can see far was made of crystal, right?
Zhao Tong frowned and muttered a few words to himself. After leaving a team to guard the arrow tower, he directly issued an order to withdraw...
In the city of Hangzhou, in the Yingchun Garden.
Fang Gu had already loosened the rope, and Zhang Xian was teaching him how to open the city gate fraudulently. These words were told by Zhao Yu to Zhang Xian, and Zhang Xian relayed them to him again.
The 3,000-strong internal force in the city, led by Zhang Xian, began to enter the passage at the end of last night and moved slowly toward the underground of Hangzhou. Now they have all arrived and are resting quietly.
In fact, it is difficult to distinguish the armors worn by the armies of both sides from each other. After all, Fang La's side does not have armor specifically for the Holy Army. The soldiers under his command basically wear items captured from the Song Dynasty, but there are too many Holy Army soldiers. , there are many soldiers below who don’t even have cloth armor.
In order to distinguish the soldiers on both sides, Fang La, regardless of the soldiers on the Holy Army side, must tie red cloth bands on their arms when they go into battle. Otherwise, the battlefield will be blind, and the armor on both sides will be exactly the same. If you kill by mistake, you will regret it.
Time passed little by little, and in a blink of an eye it was getting late, and a quarter moon hung in the night sky.
Fang Gu has memorized those words, but he is a little depressed. Not only because of this big change, but also because he feels that the rotten bone and soul-eating worm in his stomach is moving all the time. It is inevitable that his heart will beat with fear and panic.
Zhang Xian saw that he was worried about his family and said, "Your Majesty said that if the battle goes well tonight, General Fang will be detoxified without waiting for thirty-six hours."
Fang Gu was overjoyed when he heard this: "General Zhang, is this really what the prince said?"
Zhang Xian nodded: "If we take down Hangzhou City tonight, General Fang will be the official of the Song Dynasty. How can we let the general be harassed by poisonous insects!"
Fang Gu hurriedly thanked him, and Zhang Xian said: "General Fang, there is no need to thank me. You will have to thank the prince properly then."
Fang Gu repeatedly said yes, and then the two began to rest.
As midnight was approaching, there was a quiet movement in the Yingchun Garden. Fang Gu, wearing his helmet and armor, mounted his own war horse and stood in front of the door.
Zhang Xian only dressed up as an ordinary elementary school student and held the reins of Fang Gu's horse, but he had no horse to ride.
There were no horses in the passage. The three thousand people who came over were all infantry. However, almost all the rebels in Hangzhou City were infantry. All the war horses were taken away when Fang La left. This was because Fang Baihua and Fang Shiwu clearly had more soldiers. But they are not willing to go out of the city to fight, just because they stick to it.
Under the leadership of Fang Gu, the three thousand infantrymen headed towards the West City as quietly as possible. They met several night patrol teams along the way, but those teams did not even ask, so they gave way to see what Fang Gu was leading. People pass by.
But when he was still about half a mile away from the Qiantang Gate of the West City, the city guard ran over to check. Fang Gu said calmly: "On the order of General Baihua, if you have any questions, please contact General Yao."
General Yao's name is Yao Jinzhou, and he is an old man who helped Yuan in trouble. He was named a general when Fang La became emperor, and he is currently guarding Qiantang Gate in the west city.
This Yao Jinzhou was familiar to Fang Gu. He was a straightforward person and not a suspicious person, so after careful consideration he chose to deceive this family.
The soldier hurriedly ran back to report. When Fang Gu arrived at Qiantang Gate, Yao Jinzhou also came down from the city. After the two exchanged greetings, Yao Jinzhou wondered: "It's so late, what military order does General Baihua have, and General Fang came to deliver it in person? "
He is a general, and Fang Gu is the deputy general, one level lower than him, but because Fang Gu is Fang La's nephew, he is also treated as a general. After all, the Fang family has to give face.
Fang Gu sighed and pointed behind him: "My sister-in-law asked me to take three thousand elite soldiers out of the west of the city, so I have to trouble General Yao to order the city gate to be opened."
"Open the city gate?" Yao Jinzhou was stunned when he heard this, then looked behind Fang Gu and couldn't help but take a deep breath: "Sure enough, they are all elite soldiers, and they all wear armor!"
Fang Gu nodded and said helplessly: "That's right, they are all carefully selected. Even the armors are made of the best and latest."
Yao Jinzhou hesitated slightly at this time and said: "Why did General Fang leave the city so late? After all, General Baihua didn't explain the important matter of opening the city during the day."
Hearing this, Fang Gu patted his legs and said "Alas". He was about to speak loudly in a rough voice, but suddenly he seemed to realize something and lowered his voice: "My sister-in-law asked me to lead troops to ambush on the Xicheng Mountain. She said there were The clever plan has defeated the enemy. Yu Ertu from the east city has also led his troops out. General Yao, please don’t publicize this matter. My sister-in-law must not reveal the arrangement before she announces the plan!"
Yao Jinzhou nodded hurriedly when he heard this: "I know, I know, I will open the city gate now and let General Fang out!"
He did not doubt the fraud, so he ordered the soldiers to hoist the Qianjin gate, remove the blocking stone, and then open the arm-thick iron rope on the door, and then the Qiantang Gate slowly opened.
Fang Gu hugged his fist and whispered: "General Yao, I have to see you after a great victory!"
Yao Jinzhou said: "I'll see General Fang off!"
After he said that, he mounted his horse and the two of them went out together, followed slowly by three thousand soldiers. At this time, the suspension bridge had been lowered. When they reached the moat, when Yao Jinzhou was about to turn around and go back, unexpectedly, a primary school student next to Fang Gu suddenly burst into flames. He got up, and a spear in his hand stabbed directly into Yao Jinzhou's chest like lightning, and lifted him off the horse.
Zhang Xian stabbed Yao Jinzhou to death. Without stopping for a moment, he quickly jumped on Yao Jinzhou's horse, took the torch from the soldier next to him, held it high and waved it three times in the distance. Then the soldier below did the same with the torch in his hand. this action.
Everything happened in a matter of seconds. Zhang Xian gave another order, then got back on his horse and rushed into the city, trying to seize the city gate.
At this moment, in the distance on the other side of the moat, countless sparks suddenly lit up, all of which turned out to be lit torches. Then there was the sound of horse hooves, running incessantly, all heading towards the Qiantang Gate.
Inside the Qiantang Gate city cave, the soldiers who had not yet left the city also turned around to seize control of the noose of the suspension bridge, while others ran up the city to occupy the gate tower.
It took Fang La's army guarding the city a long time to react, but they were already in chaos. They were driven back by the soldiers brought by Zhang Xian. In just a short time, dead bodies were spread all over the city.
The light of the torch in the distance had now reached the moat. The leader was Du Bo. He had a murderous look on his face. He was holding a Zhangba snake spear in his hand. Without further ado, he crossed the suspension bridge with his horse.
The army from behind followed closely, also crossed the suspension bridge, and then rushed into the city of Hangzhou...
(End of chapter)
