Although the process of upgrading Changqiu Village to Changqiu Fort was full of twists and turns, it was also smooth. During the initial period of the reinforcement project, as the special battalions strengthened their vigilance around the area, small groups of Mongolian army rangers were either driven away or hunted. It was the scouts of the newly affiliated army who discovered that Changqiu Village was under construction. They passed through the Perak Army's cordon through remote paths. Changqiuzhai is located at the intersection of Pengshan, Danling and Pujiang. Although the roads are not easy to walk due to the hilly terrain, there are trails extending in all directions. It is too difficult to monitor all these trails.
If Changqiu Fort is built, the Pili Army can attack Pengshan and Meizhou City by land and water. Naturally, the Mongolian army would not sit back and watch the Pili army build a fort, so they left the troops in Meizhou City to defend Yu Xing, and then used all the troops in Pengshan City. In this attack on Changqiu Village, the Mongolian army dispatched 400 cavalry and 1,000 new auxiliary troops, as well as 800 civilians transporting baggage. Led by the Mongol general Kudu, they prepared to destroy the fortress before it was completed.
The Mongolian army's troops could not see the end of the winding mountain road at a glance, and they were quite powerful. It's just that this long snake formation makes the special battalion's harassment tactics more useful. Tactics such as laying landmines, using cold guns, and throwing grenades from overhead made the Mongolian army terrified all the way. Even when camping at night, they were often awakened by the sound of explosions. Both officers and soldiers of the Mongolian army were tortured by this kind of guerrilla warfare, but there was nothing they could do. In the eyes of the Mongolian army, these Perak Army soldiers were like dragons that could only be seen vaguely walking through the forest on the ridge and mountainside. Every time I rushed to their hiding place out of breath, I couldn't see a single person at all.
When the Mongolian army arrived at Changqiu Village in panic, they were already low in morale and exhausted. Some of its cavalry were on guard and some were resting nearby, while the newly attached troops and civilians began to build forts under the whips of Kudu's soldiers. The Mongolian army had suffered enough from artillery, and naturally they also learned some ways to deal with it. In addition to earthen walls and digging trenches, staying as far away as possible is another option. It's just that there isn't much flat land under Changqiu Village, and it's only more than a mile to the hillside opposite the village gate. Hudu obviously knew that this distance was within the range of artillery, but due to terrain restrictions, he could only camp here. This was why he ordered the construction of a fort immediately despite the exhaustion of his men.
Kudu firmly believes that whips can improve efficiency. No, it only took half a day for the Mongolian army to set up camp and start setting up siege weapons. There are two types of siege weapons used by the Mongolian army this time, one is the bed crossbow and the trebuchet, each of which has dozens of them. Since Pengshan City is dozens of miles away from Changqiu Village, the Mongolian army built the parts of these two siege equipment in advance and brought them to Changqiu Village by mules and horses. They only needed to be reassembled in the camp. The other type is iron artillery. This time he brought twenty-one artillery pieces weighing 400 kilograms, which was half of the number of artillery pieces that Liu Heima copied after the Battle of Hengyuan Fort.
The heavy crossbows in the Mongolian camp can barely reach Changqiu Village, but the iron artillery needs to be advanced to one mile, and the trebuchet has a shorter range, only half a mile. Hudu's idea was to first use heavy crossbows to suppress the firepower in the village, then dig trenches and advance to a mile to set up artillery, and then use artillery to destroy the wall and gate of the village. As for the trebuchet, it makes up for the weakness of direct firepower of crossbows and artillery. It throws thunderbolts into the stronghold to provide indirect fire support for the charging new auxiliary troops. The role of the four hundred Mongolian cavalry was, on the one hand, to supervise the battle, and on the other hand, to pursue those who fled after the stronghold was broken.
Despite rushing to meet the construction deadline, only a quarter of the Changqiuzhai upgrade project was completed at this time. The original wall of the earthen village was thin and short, and could only barely block the crossbow fire. It could not block the stone bullets thrown by the trebuchet, and it was impossible to block the artillery bombardment. Before the Perak Army stationed, the people of Changqiu Village were able to block the Mongolian attack. On the one hand, the number of the attacking Mongolian troops was not large, either a ten-man cavalry team or an fifty-man infantry team. These Mongolian troops mainly focused on plundering and did not aim at attacking fortresses. Naturally, they had no siege weapons.
The person responsible for the defense of Changqiu Village is Zeng Yong, the deputy brigade commander of the Perak Army garrison and the commander of the teaching battalion. His main force is three companies of non-commissioned officers, with another 100 militiamen as logistical support. There are four non-commissioned officer companies and one officer company in the training camp. This time Zeng Yong only brought three non-commissioned officer companies and left two companies in Hengyuan Fort. On the one hand, the two companies had other tasks, and on the other hand, he had enough confidence in his subordinates. It is said that the soldiers in the training camp are all the best selected from the Perak Army. They are trained as combat backbones and reserve officers. They are extremely strong in terms of political literacy, fighting will and military skills. However, the equipment of the garrison brigade, including the teaching battalion, is poor, and its comprehensive combat capability is not as good as that of the field brigade, nor can it compare with the special battalion and reconnaissance battalion of the internal security brigade.
As soon as Hudu led his army out of Pengshan City, the Perak Army detected it. Before they reached half the distance, the Perak Army urgently transferred four fortress guns and six heavy squatting tiger cannons from Pujiang City. The arrival of these cannons gave Zeng Yong great confidence. In order to flex his muscles without being tied down, he moved hundreds of migrant workers and villagers who built Changqiu Fort to a safe place. He even rejected Yu San's suggestion to transfer all the special battalions to Changqiu Village to assist in the defense. Instead, he suggested that Yu San's special forces prepare more ropes in case there were too many captives and not enough ropes. Regarding Zeng Yong's pride, Yu San did not think it was arrogant, but took it for granted. After saying this, the two of them looked at each other and laughed.
It’s just that the ideal is very plump and the reality is very skinny. Well, the person who took the seat was actually not Zeng Yong, but Hu Du. Hudu's echelon fire advance tactics seem to be impeccable, but there is a premise, that is, the artillery of the Perak Army cannot hit the bed crossbows in the camp, nor can it hit the artillery behind the Mongolian army's fortifications. Of course, if there are no artillery in Changqiu Village It's even more perfect.
It can be said that Zeng Yong was also shady. He deliberately did not fire the artillery when the Mongolian army was setting up camp, or even when the Mongolian army was digging trenches to place the artillery. Instead, he ordered the artillery fire only when the Mongolian army was preparing to test the artillery. His goal was not only to destroy the artillery, but also to kill and injure the Mongolian gunners as much as possible. This was also the principle that Xuan Geer said was to prioritize killing high-value targets. When the Pili Army opened fire, the Mongolian army's bed crossbows had fired many rounds, and the earthen walls of Changqiu Village were covered with bed crossbow arrows. However, these arrows did not hurt anyone, and the people in the village had already hid.
Zeng Yong ordered all artillery to be fired at the Mongolian army's artillery positions. The fortress artillery fired from a high position, greatly increasing the power of the solid artillery shells, directly blowing away the fortifications in front of the Mongolian artillery, and one even fell into the ammunition, causing a strong explosion. Although the fortress cannon is powerful, its lethality is not as good as the six squatting tiger cannons. Due to the terrain, the Mongolian army's artillery position was just within the firing range of these heavy squatting tiger cannons, and the hot shotshells could cover the Mongolian army's gunners. This Tiger Crouching Cannon is also called Baizi Cannon, which means it has many projectiles and a large killing range.
After several rounds of shelling, all the Mongolian artillery was silenced. Due to the low hit rate and the protection of the earth wall, the 21 artillery pieces of the Mongolian army were not damaged much, but the gunners were already dead. Zeng Yong also ordered the fortress cannon to be loaded with shotgun shells, and specifically bombarded the Mongolian army's attack equipment and densely populated areas, until the barrels turned red before stopping. At this time, all the siege equipment of the Mongolian army misfired, the newly attached troops and civilians fled like rabbits, and even the cavalry began to flee back. Seeing this situation suddenly, all had no choice but to sigh and lead their soldiers to retreat towards Pengshan City.
