This time, the newly attached soldiers did not stop far behind like last time. Instead, they followed the civilians and marched to 200 meters before they stopped and formed a shield formation. The peasants were filling the trenches in front, while they huddled behind the giant shield formation to supervise the battle. In order to prevent being hit by artillery, they all wore armor this time. Different from the uniform leather armor of the Mongolian cavalry shooters, these armors were pieced together by the newly attached soldiers in the entire battalion. There were both iron armor and leather armor, and the most were Paper armor equipped by the Song Army. Seeing that the civilian husbands were constantly coming to fill the trenches, Cao Ergou ordered the soldiers of the Perak Army to shout and persuade, trying to get the civilian husbands to flee to the mountain pass. Only this time, no matter how they shouted from the wall, the villagers refused to run away again. Although their faces turned pale with fear, they no longer cowered and started filling the trench with all their strength. What the soldiers of the Perak Army didn't know was that the reason why the civilians filling the trenches didn't escape was not because they didn't want to but because they didn't dare. In order to prevent escape, the civilian husbands brought by the newly attached army this time were carefully selected. One of them was selected from the father, son or brother in the camp, and the other stayed in the rear camp to work. If one escaped, the other would be killed on the spot. The selected civilian husbands not only did not dare to escape, but also worked extremely hard because the Mongols promised that as long as the trenches were filled up, they could work in a safe rear with their relatives.
Cao Ergou saw that shouting was useless, and saw the newly attached soldiers hiding behind the giant shield and shouting to supervise the battle. In anger, he ordered the cannonballs to be replaced by solid bullets and fired at the giant shield array. After the newly attached army was bombarded last time, it was found that the unarmored ones were much more seriously injured than the armored ones. They even found a lot of shotshells the size of beans and wheat stuck in the armor and shields without damaging the body, so they started to think carefully. . The armor on the body and the tall and thick shield gave the newly attached soldiers a high sense of security. But with the sound of cannons on the city, their sense of security turned into an illusion. Fiery solid bullets flew in one after another, easily smashing the giant shield and body blocking the way, and rolled forward with the burnt smell lingering.
When the civilian husbands saw that the newly annexed soldiers who were supervising the battle in the rear were shattered on the ground, they also fled back to the camp. However, they were driven back not long after they fled back. The new auxiliary troops supervising the battle this time still stopped 200 meters away, but they did not carry giant shields, but human shields - a large number of civilians stood beside them. After two rounds, these two devils understood the truth, that is, the Pili Army regarded civilian husbands as human beings and would not harm them easily.
The newly attached army drove some civilians to fill the trenches, while some of the civilians dug trenches on the spot at the supervising site. After the ditch was dug, a large number of logs were brought from the rear to build a fence. After the fence was erected, digging began. Cao Ergou looked at the increasingly shallow trench but was helpless. He really couldn't give the order to fire cannons and bombs on the civilians. In desperation, he sent someone back to Wanjiaping to ask Ouyang Xuan for instructions. Before the Mongols invaded, Ouyang Xuan entrusted the task of defending Hengyuan Fort to Cao Ergou, while he stayed in Wanjiaping. On the one hand, this is because Cao Ergou is much higher level than him from a tactical perspective, and staying in Wanjiapu will interfere with the command. On the other hand, the scientific researchers of the institute are still waiting for his guidance. They are currently trial-producing glass. production method. In response to Cao Ergou's request for instructions, Ouyang Xuan only replied with four words: "Acting on expediency."
After receiving the reply, Cao Ergou discussed with his company commanders for a long time and decided that they could no longer let civilians fill the trenches. Since the civilians did not listen to the slogans, the Perak Army did not need to be polite. However, Cao Ergou did not kill him, but ordered him to be hit with small stones. Although these civilians were beaten with bruises and swollen faces, they still did not stop. They did not dare to stop, because the Mongols had already said that if they failed to complete the task, all their relatives detained in the camp would die.
Cao Ergou thought to himself that if the supervising team was not dealt with, the civilians would not dare to retreat. At this time, 200 meters away, a row of long log fences had formed where the new auxiliary troops were hiding, and people could vaguely be seen moving around behind. When the civilian husband was erecting the fence, Cao Ergou did not order the bombardment. Due to technical constraints, it was pretty good if the Pili Army's artillery could hit the target at this time. It was impossible to accurately hit the new auxiliary troops supervising the battle without hurting innocent civilians. Although the logs of the fence are as thick as the mouth of a large bowl and cannot be destroyed without large siege weapons, they are not really strong against solid cannonballs. It's just a dilemma to ensure the safety of Yokoyuan Fort but not to accidentally injure civilians. If civilians are allowed to work on the soil here, Hengyuan Fort will be in danger, and if Hengyuan Fort is lost, tens of thousands of people in the mountains will be in danger. At this moment, artillery bombardment had to be launched. Didn't Brother Xuan once say, "You must have both thunderous means and a bodhisattva heart"? Although Buddhism says that all living beings are equal, the Mongolian soldiers are demons, and the soldiers of the newly affiliated army are extremely vicious accomplices. Although these civilians were coerced, they also posed a threat to the Perak Army. They almost filled up the trenches. The wooden fence was also built as long as the south side of Yokohara Castle. For the safety of the Perak Army soldiers and the mountain people, I really can't care too much. Cao Ergou sighed heavily and gave the order: "Blow down the wooden fence."
A row of solid bullets came over, the wooden fence was blown to pieces, fragments flew everywhere, and wailing sounds were heard everywhere. The civilians who were filling in the trench also turned around and ran away. But after the smoke passed, Cao Ergou discovered that although the wooden fence had been blown down, a thick earthen wall was exposed. It turned out that the new annexed army drove a large number of civilians to join them, not just to use them as human shields, but to dig and build earthen walls. The wooden fence was not used to defend against artillery fire, but to block sight so that they could secretly build earthen walls. . Although these earthen walls were built in a hurry, and some parts were not yet completed, their defensive effect against artillery was better than walls made of stone. Because the soil on which the walls were built was thick and moist, many shells were simply embedded in them, and only solid shells from heavy artillery could penetrate them. Not many of the shivering new annex troops hiding behind the wall were hit by artillery shells, but most of the casualties were caused by fragments of the fence flying around.
Seeing that the earthen walls could deal with the Perak Army's artillery, the new annexed army no longer drove the civilians to fill in the trenches - which was almost done, but drove the civilians to build and strengthen the earthen walls. The Mongols definitely didn't do this for no reason, and there was probably a big move coming next. Thinking of this, Cao Ergou panicked a little, and ordered the bombardment of the earthen wall. It is said that although this earthen wall is thick, it will definitely not be able to withstand concentrated fire and artillery fire. It only takes a few hits to collapse to the ground. But it didn't take long for the newly attached troops to drive the civilians back to the base again. Several rounds of artillery fire did not kill many new annexed troops, but hit many civilians, but it did not affect the construction of the wall. Obviously, the Mongols would not take the casualties of civilian husbands seriously. "Once the cannon fires, there are ten thousand taels of gold." It is said that although the Perak Army can produce it by itself, artillery is really a gold-eating beast, and ammunition is also a huge expense. Especially now that the production capacity has been unable to increase due to key reasons such as nitrate, Ouyang Xuan has repeatedly emphasized the need to pay attention to economy and use good steel on the blade. Cao Ergou thought in his mind that shelling the earth wall was really not a good deal, so he ordered the shelling to stop. On the one hand, he wanted to see what the Mongols would do next, and on the other hand, he also sent someone to submit Ouyang Xuan's suggestions.
