The soldiers from the Beijing camp lined up below the city were all stunned.
It was just two rounds of shelling. Then all the crenellations on the south city wall were knocked down. The city wall was completely exposed to the firepower of the Beijing camp. Moreover, in many places, the city bricks built on the outside have collapsed, exposing the rammed earth.
It was also the first time they realized that heavy artillery was so powerful.
However, Yang Fan knew that heavy artillery was very useful in breaking and cracking hard city bricks. But the effect is not good when dealing with rammed earth. Because rammed earth is elastic.
This is where China differs from European city walls. European city walls are two-layer stone walls with a wall thickness of fifty to one hundred centimeters. The middle is as hollow as a house. Just like the city wall in the game Age of Empires.
However, the city walls in China are all made of rammed earth and bricks. Heavy artillery shells would get stuck in the rammed earth. Rammed earth, on the other hand, absorbs kinetic energy and disperses it. Therefore, China has never developed European-style heavy siege guns. Because of the maritime ban, it has not invented the European coastal defense guns of the same era that can move hundreds of pounds.
Bombarding rammed earth with artillery consumes too much gunpowder. Not worth it.
Yang Fan decided to let the trebuchet do the job instead. After all, stone bullets are very cheap. To power the trebuchet, only two shire horses were needed. Only a certain amount of horse feed is consumed in a day.
After the artillery went silent. The Mongolian soldiers on the city wall immediately took action. A lot of wood was carried up from the city and quickly nailed together with large iron nails. Used to repair gaps. Prevent the subsequent flood of attacks on the city.
However, they soon discovered. The Ming army seemed to have no intention of stopping them. You can tinker with it as you wish. The Ming army did not shoot arrows or fire cannons on their archery towers. The heavy artillery under the city also stopped firing.
This left them a little confused.
Soon, they found out. Their tinkering was entirely in vain.
The trebuchet was quickly powered up and started to fire.
Heavy stone balls weighing 150 kilograms each flew towards the city wall. The only difference from last night is that I didn’t hold the straw bag and light it on fire.
Ogier was seriously injured and had to be carried off. At this time Aoden was in charge of command. Saw the trebuchets begin to fire. He quickly shouted: "Get back, get back."
At this time, he already understood that there was no point in using wood to repair the stone bullets last night. A stone bullet fell and hit the ground ten feet inside the city.
Wherever those stone bullets passed, ricochet formed. Then the houses collapsed all the way. People and animals were ground into a pulp.
The Mongols swarmed back and fired back. Before they could even run down the city wall, stone bullets were already whizzing towards them.
The accuracy of the trebuchet is simply incomparable to that of the artillery. Artillery is very accurate within three hundred meters. But the trebuchet has poor accuracy.
In this round, three of the thirteen stone bullets hit the city wall. Five rounds fell into the city. The rest fell outside the city.
At this time, the Mongolian soldiers in the city and on the city walls felt frightened. I don't know where these big rocks will fall. Everyone depends on destiny. Since last night, a large number of stone bullets have fallen into the city. Many houses were burned and destroyed.
More than a dozen people were setting up a large pot in the open space behind the city to boil golden juice. They were preparing to use buckets to lift it to the city wall and dump it when the Ming army began to climb the city. Now there is no room for anyone to stand on the city wall.
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At this time, a stone bullet flew over, grazing the cauldron and falling to the ground. Then it jumped up and flew into a group of houses.
The cauldron flew up, and a large cauldron of boiling golden juice was thrown all over the sky. It fell on the surrounding Mongolian soldiers.
ah!
There was a scream. The temperature of this golden juice is very high, and it can severely burn Mongolians in an instant.
This kind of thing is very scary. It is mixed with suet in order to increase the temperature. It falls on the skin and directly burns the skin until it peels off. These things can quickly cause skin ulcers and inflammation. This era is basically unsolvable. Because the burn area is too large, it cannot be cured.
People in the city were running around dodging stone bullets falling from the sky. A small town with a length and width of only three hundred meters. There aren't many places to hide.
As long as Yang Fan is willing, he can use a trebuchet to raze the entire city to the ground.
"Let the trebuchets hit until dark, and then withdraw the troops. It is estimated that after practicing this afternoon, the level will be greatly improved." Yang Fan said.
The trebuchet fires one round every ten minutes in a leisurely manner. Keep fighting until dark. Hundreds of stone bullets were fired. More than fifty of them hit the city wall.
When the troops were withdrawn at night, the southern city wall had collapsed in large areas. The collapsed walls formed slopes. Infantry and even cavalry could charge up the ramparts.
The southern city wall was severely damaged. There are slopes formed both inside and outside, about a dozen places. At this time, both the Mongols and the Ming army understood. This small town can no longer be defended.
The next day, early in the morning. The army came out of camp again.
Yesterday, I watched a day of bombardment and trebuchet attacks. Today it is the turn of these infantrymen. Today's project is important. That's street fighting.
"Give the order, and the arrow towers will suppress the city wall. As soon as there is a gathering of enemy troops, open fire and use steel crossbows and small cannons to clear them. Twenty infantry regiments will attack in turn." Yang Fan issued this order.
Last night, the Mongols also gave up on repairing the gap. They also understood. These Ming troops are just playing with mice. Obviously there is a chance to board the city after every bombardment, but the Ming army's infantry stood under the city and watched for a whole day.
They figured it out by now. The Ming army is using them for training. This is a drill for attacking the strong city of Guihua City.
Aoden and Bridge sat in embarrassment in the Tibetan Soldier Cave, with firewood burning in the middle fire pit and leaning against a lamb. Ao Dong lost an ear. Bridge's head is as swollen as Minaoyin's.
"Do you want to continue the fight? It has only been one day and one night, and half of the three thousand people have been killed or injured. The Ming army is using us to train their troops." Ao Deng took a sip of strong wine and said.
Bridge said in despair: "I didn't want to fight for a long time. Half of my thousand-man team died in one day."
Aoden said: "Sir Yin Liqi will definitely not surrender. Why don't we send someone to contact the Ming army. We are willing to surrender."
Bridge sighed and said: "If we fight another day tomorrow, we will be completely finished. I also agree to contact you."
The 80,000-strong operation will rush in from the south city wall tomorrow morning. This small town was immediately flooded.
Yang Fan and Zhang Shize looked at the Mongolian envoy kneeling on the ground. Somewhat speechless.
"What do you think? Do you agree or not?" Yang Fan turned to Zhang Shize and asked.
Zhang Shize said depressedly: "Today we only practiced artillery and trebuchets. We haven't practiced street fighting with the infantry yet. If we accept their surrender, how can we go anywhere to train our troops?"
When the Mongolian envoy kneeling on the ground heard this, ten thousand grass and mud horses galloped past him. Your uncle's. Feelings are what we practice. We can't even surrender.
