The loud sound accompanied by the heavy impact shocked Cao Ergou, who was feasting on his meal, and almost dropped the half-eaten piece of fatty bacon in his hand.
He followed the sound and saw that a big hole had been smashed into the roof of the city wall more than ten meters away on the right, and the barrel of a light artillery had been smashed and deformed. Several soldiers who were eating next to him were so frightened that their whole bodies The top and bottom were also covered with falling cement dust.
Just when everyone was shocked, there were several loud noises and heavy blows. The heavy blows that followed made the thick fortress walls shake slightly.
Cao Ergou stuck his head out of the parapet and looked in the direction of the Mongolian army. He saw more stones the size of human heads flying towards the city wall from behind the earthen wall.
"Everyone hides, and the tiger crouching cannon opens fire." Cao Ergou issued two emergency orders while hiding. The Tiger Crouching Cannon placed on the top of the inner fort has already been set up for firing. All it takes is to load the ammunition and fire it.
The Mongolian army's trebuchets could only hit the outer fortress, so the squatting gunners appeared to be calm and attacked the trebuchets behind the earthen wall one by one.
"Roll Roll". Due to the evil intentions of Ouyang Xuan and Cao Ergou, Jiagulong always believed that earthen walls could block artillery attacks in ancient times, so he only prepared for the Pili Army's surprise attack out of the city, and did not do any protection for the trebuchets - of course even if he did It will be in vain.
The target of the attack ordered by Cao Ergou was not the trebuchet but the craftsman who operated it. The heavy-duty Tiger Crouching Cannon has a large charge, and the soybean-sized shotguns it fires are extremely lethal to people within thirty meters.
After several rounds of shelling, the Mongolian army's trebuchets all misfired. In fact, very few trebuchets were destroyed. The reason why they misfired was that the craftsmen who operated them suffered heavy casualties.
Since the Tiger Crouching Cannon was aimed at the trebuchet, the casualties among the newly attached soldiers responsible for guarding were not many in comparison.
As soon as the cannon fired, they all jumped into the traffic ditch to escape, and the remaining craftsmen also ran back after seeing this.
Although the Mongolian army's trebuchet launch time was very short, it caused considerable losses to Hengyuan Fort. When a stone the size of a human head is thrown and accelerated, it becomes extremely powerful.
The wall was only slightly dented, but the south gate of Hengyuan Fort was deformed, and more than ten large holes were made in the top of the city wall. In addition to the loss of one artillery piece, there were also more than a dozen people who could not escape. The soldiers were injured by rubble, three of them seriously.
In fact, this result is considered excellent. You must know that trebuchets were a deadly weapon in the cold weapon era. There was no city wall in any state or county in western Sichuan that could withstand the bombardment of dozens of trebuchets.
The top of the wall of Yokohara Castle was built only to protect against arrows and rain, but obviously it could not protect against stones the size of a human head.
However, although this top cover is not very defensive, it is very effective. It was a hot summer at this time, and the roof blocked the harsh sunlight, which was highly praised by the soldiers guarding the fort.
On the other hand, the Mongolian army, except for the cavalry who could hide in the shady woods, the newly attached troops and civilians were either in short and narrow tents or in trenches under the earth walls, suffering terribly from the scorching heat. .
After Jiagu Longgu took the whip from the secreter's fire, he organized people to go to the earth wall to reassemble the trebuchet.
Due to overloaded launches, some of the previous trebuchets had their mechanical structures damaged, others had cracks, and could not be used a few times.
It was just that the craftsmen had just climbed to the ground from the traffic trench and were shelled before they started work. The Perak Army set up an observation post on the top floor of the inner fort, keeping an eye on every move behind the earthen wall.
Jiagulong was unwilling to give in in ancient times and ordered craftsmen to assemble trebuchets, but they were bombarded without exception. After doing this several times, he had no choice but to give up in frustration. After all, the craftsman was almost dead.
Secret Master Huoli is extremely angry now. This time he led troops to attack the Perak Army and originally thought it was a matter of success.
According to the intelligence, the Pili Army only has more than a thousand soldiers, and the Minzhuang only has four to five thousand soldiers. This combat strength is not worth mentioning in the eyes of the secret fire.
In fact, the intelligence of the Mongolian army is still very accurate. In this era, the ratio of soldiers to civilians is generally between 1:10 and 15. If you raise too many soldiers, the economy will often be dragged down.
Although there are tens of thousands of people under the rule of the Perak Army now, most of these people are refugees and cannot be considered an effective population yet.
Even though industry, mining, commerce and trade were developed, a large amount of profits were obtained, and there was a large amount of free labor in the labor camps, the Pili Army's finances were still stretched thin.
The secreter's self-confidence is not wrong. In terms of combat effectiveness, the combat effectiveness of cavalry with the same equipment is more than five times that of infantry, and can even reach ten times.
If there is something wrong with Secret Man Huo Li, it is because he, like most people, belongs to the Cold Weapon Age mentality.
In fact, Mi Zhehuoli can be regarded as an excellent general in the Mongolian army, otherwise he would not have been given the responsibility of stationing in western Sichuan by Mongolian Khan.
He had also heard about the failure of Yelu Maizhu's attack on Wanjiapu, but he believed that it was due to the new annexed armies in Dayi, Yongkang and Qingcheng acting on their own, Zhao Shicai's rashness and the inconvenience of carrying siege weapons in the rugged and narrow mountainous areas.
He had also heard that artillery was powerful, but he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, losers always brag about the enemy's power to avoid appearing too incompetent.
Of course, out of caution, he still followed Liu Heima's advice this time and mobilized all the combatable troops in western Sichuan to prepare to wipe out the Perak Army in one fell swoop.
However, the progress of the war was far beyond his expectation. After more than ten days of fierce fighting, not only was there no progress, but more than 2,000 people were lost.
Although only a dozen or so Mongolian cavalrymen were lost, and the rest were casualties and newly fledged vassal soldiers and civilians, it was still an unbearable defeat.
When Jiagu Longgu muttered the words about digging a tunnel, he was, as expected, whipped by the secret master again.
Everyone knows that it will take at least two to three months to dig tunnels and attack a city. Although the Mongolian army could dig through the communication trench from the earth wall, the trench in front of Hengyuan Fort was wide and deep. Although more than half of it had been filled, it still needed to be passed under it. The amount of work was only a tunnel. Just extremely huge.
Obviously, there cannot be only one siege tunnel, because the defenders will definitely have countermeasures to destroy the tunnel.
Jiagu Longgu Dai was obviously aggrieved after being beaten. Although this Yokoyuan Fort is located on flat ground, it is more difficult to deal with than those in steep areas.
To deal with strong cities and forts, the Mongols often encircled them instead of attacking them, trapping and exhausting the defenders to death. But to the west of Yokoyuan Castle is the Wenjing River, which seems to be a river barrier, but it is also a natural passage.
As for the northern part of the fortress, which is only a few dozen meters away from the mountain pass, the passage into the mountain is completely within the fire coverage of the wall, making it impossible to use encirclement tactics.
Hundreds of new soldiers who attacked the city followed the fleeing civilians into the mountain pass in a panic. They tried to turn back, but were beaten back by a burst of artillery fire.
It is said that these deserters from the newly attached army were stuck on the mountain road between Hengyuan Fort and Wanjiabao, unable to advance or retreat, and they were suffering from summer heat and thirst.
The dozens of die-hards who were unwilling to surrender tried to instigate an attack on Wanjiabao. Not only did they receive no response, they were beaten with bruises and swollen faces. They were kidnapped by others and taken to Wanjiabao with a surrender certificate.
Jiagu Longgu also ordered people to climb to the top of the mountain north of Hengyuan Castle to check the situation, but the reported situation was discouraging.
Although the mountain is not high, it is extremely steep, and it is extremely dangerous for a strong person to climb up. What's even worse is that it is difficult for people to stand on the top of the mountain, and it is impossible to place siege equipment.
The secret person Huo Li naturally knew about these situations, and he was so angry that he could do nothing about it. He just suffered the pain of those close to him and acted as a punching bag for no reason.
