Although Ouyang Xuan knew that Pan Luohuan's virtue of retribution would inevitably cause trouble in the joint attack on Chongqing Mansion City, he did not expect that Pan Luohuan would dare to treat the important affairs of the general state as child's play. It is a miracle that the Southern Song Dynasty court, which relied on these dandies from aristocratic families as the foundation of its rule, could sustain itself until now. It didn't matter that these decadent classes destroyed themselves, but a large number of ordinary people were buried with them. He suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered Cao Ergou to attack the city as soon as the fog cleared tomorrow morning.
In the middle of the night, Ouyang Xuan was woken up from his deep sleep. He walked out of the tent with sleepy eyes and found Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu waiting outside the tent. The two men reported that dozens of people from the city's defenders had come to surrender. Since they did not dare to make a decision without permission, they asked them to wait outside the camp gate. Ouyang Xuan knew that this was the effect of Tang Xiangwei and others' shouting before dinner, so he asked people to collect the weapons of the new auxiliary troops that would descend, and then bring them into the camp to warm themselves over the fire and eat. Most of these surrenders were old friends and subordinates of Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu, and some of them were also familiar with Cao Ergou and Huang Dagen. They ate around the fire while telling the details of the situation in the city.
The situation in the city is similar to that under the control of the Perak Army. After the Mongolian cavalry hundred troops withdrew to Chengdu, there are now less than 600 soldiers, including 50 personal soldiers of the Semu general who guards the city. There were originally more than 600 soldiers in the New Affiliated Army, but since the beginning of winter many people have died of illness due to hunger and cold. In addition, people continue to flee, and now there are less than 500 soldiers. The Mongols drove the men and women who could pick up sticks to the city wall to help defend the city. Now the city's defense personnel could barely reach a thousand people. It's just that Chongqing City is a large city with a radius of nearly several miles. With this, people can only focus on guarding the four city gates and the north gate where the Perak Army camped. Defense in other directions is like a leaky sieve, so these surrenders found places where there is no one. Sneak down to the city. These surrenders also told Ouyang Xuan that there was a food shortage in the city. Except for the Semu generals and their soldiers, the newly attached troops could only eat half full. As for the common people, they are even more lacking in food. Nearly half of the more than 500 households in the city died from hunger and disease. There are only more than 1,000 people left, and most of the survivors are sallow and thin.
Ouyang Xuan also learned that in addition to the low morale of the newly attached troops due to hunger and cold, what was more important was the oppression of the soldiers by the Semu generals. The generals and soldiers of the Semu people are all foreigners from the Western Regions. They are well-equipped and powerful, but their greed and cruelty are even worse than those of the officials of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Semu people not only raped and squeezed the common people, but also killed people to establish their authority. They also treated Han soldiers as slaves and beat and scolded them at every turn. As for the withholding of food and wages, it was commonplace. The Han soldiers in the city did not dare to be angry with the Semu people, let alone speak out. However, if the war went unfavorably and the city was captured, the new vassal troops would never fight to the end, and might even fight back.
After hearing this, Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu looked at each other and proposed to Ouyang Xuan that they would sneak into the city at night to instigate the new auxiliary soldiers, and open the east city gate to cooperate inside and outside. Among the four gates of Chongqing City, the north gate has the largest defense force because it is facing the Perak Army, and most of the Semu soldiers are stationed here, followed by the west gate, and the south gate and east gate have the weakest troops. Ouyang Xuan immediately agreed that the two of them should sneak into the city and decided to follow the plan after dawn. In fact, although the Perak Army only has four companies, it is not difficult to capture the big city guarded by thousands of people. In addition to the lack of food and low morale in the city, it is also because of the crushing advantage of gunpowder weapons over cold weapons. Ouyang Xuan agreed to Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu's risk of entering the city. In addition to minimizing accidental injuries to the people in the city, he also wanted to reduce ammunition consumption. After all, "the sound of a cannon is worth ten thousand taels of gold." War means burning money. Although Cao Ergou commanded a complete victory in the battle of Yongkang City, he basically used up all the ammunition he carried, and was severely criticized by Ouyang Xuan. Due to the constraints of gunpowder production capacity, the output of Pili military gunpowder has always been in short supply. Because in addition to military products requiring gunpowder, mining, road construction, etc. also require a large amount of gunpowder.
The next morning it was still foggy. Incited by Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu who had sneaked into the city, more than a hundred new auxiliary troops and Minzhuang took advantage of the heavy fog to sneak down from the city to surrender to the Perak Army. Under the cover of heavy fog, Ouyang Xuan sent Huang Dagen and his teaching company to ambush in the grass half a mile outside the east gate, preparing to rush in after Tang Xiangwei and Liao Niluo opened the city gate. When the thick fog finally dissipated at noon, the Perak Army launched an artillery bombardment. Cao Ergou, who was criticized for wasting ammunition, learned his lesson and no longer carried out attacks on all sides. Instead, he concentrated his fire on the city gate tower of the north gate. Because according to the intelligence of the surrendering soldiers, the Semu generals and most of the soldiers were hiding inside, warming themselves over a fire and drinking wine while monitoring the new annexed troops in the city.
After several rounds of shelling, a plume of thick smoke rose from the city, and the east city gate slowly opened. Huang Dagen, who was lying in the grass with numb hands and feet, was overjoyed when the city gate opened. He thought it was Tang Xiangwei and Liao Nilu who opened the city gate, and immediately ordered the teaching company to get up and rush to the city to meet up with the inner team. Unexpectedly, just as the instructor rushed out of the grass, he heard the sound of rapid horse hooves from the direction of the city, and then dozens of horsemen rushed out from the city gate. This sudden change made Huang Dagen break into a cold sweat. He immediately ordered the soldiers to stop and prepare for battle. Neither the Perak Army nor the Han soldiers in the New Affiliated Army had horses, and there were very few soldiers who could ride horses. These cavalrymen who rushed out were undoubtedly Mongols.
Huang Dagen's judgment was correct. These cavalry were the Semu generals and their troops. The Pili Army's bombardment caused chaos at the North Gate. The newly attached troops and the Minzhuang temporarily captured to defend the city fled in all directions, unable to suppress them at all. General Semu saw that cannonballs continued to fall on the city gate tower, and one shell hit the city gate tower, killing and injuring several of his own soldiers. He knew that the city could not be defended, so he simply " Thirty-six Stratagems are the best strategy," and he ran away with his soldiers. Among the four gates of Chongzhou Prefecture, the west gate leads to Qiongzhou, the south gate leads to Xinjin and Jiangyuan County, the north gate leads to Yongkang and Hengyuan, and the east gate leads to Chengdu. The Semu people fled from the east gate and naturally fled to Chengdu.
The cavalry came very fast and rushed to a stone's throw away from the teaching company in an instant. Huang Dagen even saw the yellow hair of the Semu cavalry rushing at the front, and he was so anxious that he repeatedly ordered to shoot and throw grenades. He knew that the unformed infantry could not withstand the impact of the cavalry. Ouyang Xuan also repeatedly told the top brass of the Perak Army that without obstacles, even muskets and grenades on the plains could not withstand the impact of the cavalry. The only way to stop the cavalry attack was artillery and machine guns. It is simply impossible to produce machine guns under current technical conditions, and the teaching company did not carry bulky artillery in this ambush, only newly developed muskets. Fortunately, the hastily thrown grenades and unaimed muskets from the Perak Army were not very accurate, but the explosion was quite powerful, causing the horses to neigh in fright. The Semu people were eager to escape and had no intention of fighting. When they saw someone blocking the way ahead, they quickly turned their horses' heads and bypassed the hastily formed formation of the teaching company, neighing all the way to the east.
