Although the Mongolian commander of the outer fort didn't know how many people came from the Perak Army, he could only keep a few dozen people to contain the inner fort, while the rest of the troops were thrown on the city wall to deal with the reinforcements. The inner fortress is about to be taken, and I really don't want to let it go now. There were originally 500 Mongolian troops in the outer fort. They lost dozens of people when they raided the outer fort, and dozens more were killed and wounded when they attacked the inner fort. There are still about 400 people there. Sandushui Fortress is not big. According to the Mongolian commander, it is not difficult to hold it as long as the opponent does not have artillery. In fact, his judgment was not wrong. If the second battalion attacked by force, it would be impossible to capture the outer fort.
Time is not on the Perak Army's side. As long as the Mongolian army persists until reinforcements arrive, the thousand men led by Ouyang Xuan, without artillery or naval support, will certainly not be able to withstand the impact of the Mongolian cavalry. At that moment, Ouyang Xuan asked Bang Xian to lead four hundred soldiers to strengthen the offensive at the gate to attract the firepower of the Mongolian army, while he led a hundred people to go around the side of the fortress to attack. This strategy worked as expected. Yang Bangxian asked the shield-bearing soldiers to line up in a fish-scale formation and slowly advance forward. The soldiers behind them shouted and shouted in unison, attracting most of the defenders to the city gate. Amidst the noise, Ouyang Xuan commanded the soldiers to suddenly emerge from the thick fog and attack the side wall.
After a round of grenades, the Mongolian soldiers on the side wall became sparser. Whether they are Miao or Yi soldiers, they have lived in steep mountainous areas since childhood, and climbing walls is a matter of course. At that moment, they threw out the ropes with hooks and climbed up the five to six meter high city wall as easily as apes. The Mongolian troops on the side wall were stunned by the sudden grenade blast and suppressed by short crossbows. They were unable to organize effective resistance at all. As more and more Perak soldiers climbed up the city wall, grenade explosions became more and more intensive, and soon the Mongolian troops on the side walls were cleared away.
Seeing that Ouyang Xuan succeeded, Yang Bangxian left one company to continue blocking the city gate, while he led three companies to the side wall. Seeing that the side wall was lost, the Mongolian commander organized a counterattack. However, the width of the city wall is only a few meters, and a grenade can block the attack channel, not to mention that the Mongolian army will face a dozen or more grenades in a single charge. Ouyang Xuan ordered not to save grenades. The 100 men he led still had more than 300 grenades. The three companies led by Yang Bangxian had more than 1,000 grenades. Not far behind the Perak Army blocking the city gate, there were dozens of mules. The horses carried more grenades. This time Ouyang Xuan brought all the grenades stocked by the Pili Army Headquarters and Chongqing Mansion.
Before all the people led by Yang Bangxian climbed up the wall of the outer fort, the Mongolian troops inside the fort panicked. Previously they were afraid that the Perak Army would rush into the fort, but now they were eager to rush out. It's just that grenades and short crossbows are really powerful weapons in close combat, turning the city gate into a death trap. After several rounds of charges, the bodies of the dead Mongolian soldiers even formed a low wall in front of the city gate. Faced with grenades and crossbow arrows falling continuously from the top of the city wall, these Mongolian and Han troops had no way to hide between the inner and outer forts, which were not wide. They could not rush out, so they simply dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground to surrender.
Sandu Water Fortress is only about 200 meters away from the bank of Jinma River. While Ouyang Xuan and Yang Bangxian were attacking the fortress, Huang Dagen also led his troops to launch a sneak attack on the Mongolian army by the Jinma River. At this time, the Jinma River was like a pot of boiling water. There were loud reprimands from Mongolian army officers, the sound of shouts for moving heavy objects, and the pitiful cries of civilians. The faint sound of war horses could be heard from the other side of the river. Amidst the noisy noise of people shouting and horses neighing, the Perak Army used grenades to open the way. With lightning speed, they caught the Mongolian army on guard on the west bank of the river by surprise and drove them to the beach of the river like sheep.
The dense fog was a double-edged sword, which not only allowed the Mongolian army to successfully attack the fortress, but also allowed the Perak army to sneak attack the Mongolian army. It is said that in order to prepare for the reinforcements of the Perak Army, the Mongolian army had early warning posts around the Sandu Water Fortress, but these people were all killed by the leading soldiers of the Second Battalion. The Yifan soldiers who serve as the vanguard are all the best among the best, and are extremely good at hunting and individual combat. Of course, this was also because the Mongolian army did not expect that the Perak Army would react so quickly. The Mongolian commander believed that it would take at least one day for infantry to come from Chongqing Fucheng, Jiangyuan County and other places in this foggy weather. Of course, the cavalry is faster, but the sound of horse hooves can be heard from a distance, so there will naturally be sufficient warning time.
In addition to the 500 Mongolian troops who occupied the Sandu Water Fortress, there were 200 Mongolian troops guarding the west bank of the Jinma River. There were 500 Mongolian soldiers and civilians digging soil and building pontoons in the river beach, and 500 Mongolian soldiers and civilians on the east bank of the river. There were also 500 Mongolian and Han troops, 1,000 civilians transporting supplies, and 200 cavalry. Although the Mongolian army was caught off guard, they quickly organized a counterattack. The pontoon bridge was about to be erected, and a large number of Mongolian troops gathered in Wenjiang City were arriving. Although the vision was blurred due to fog, the Mongolian army also judged from the shouts of killing that the number of Perak troops was not large. In the view of the Mongolian commander, the advantage lies with me. As long as I swarm them, even if there are heavy casualties, I can win by relying on numerical superiority.
But at this time, Huang Dagen had led his troops to firmly occupy the river embankment. In this dry season, although most of the Jinma River in the Sandu River has dried up, forming a vast river beach one mile long and hundreds of meters wide, which can accommodate thousands of Mongolian soldiers, there are only a few places where they can go ashore. There were only a few places, but the rest were either steep, unclimbable river banks or knee-deep swamps. The Perak Army firmly controlled the river embankments where they could go ashore, threw grenades from a high position, and even planted mines in the river during the intervals between the Mongolian army's attacks.
The Mongolian army attacked several times, but found that they could not reach the river bank at all. The pebbles on the river beach were also stained with blood due to the heavy casualties and became very slippery, making subsequent attacks more difficult. However, the Mongolian generals still refused to give up, because the fog had gradually dissipated and the field of vision became wider, so the pace of reinforcements would inevitably speed up. When the reinforcements from Wenjiang City arrive, they will definitely be able to defeat the Perak Army after joining forces. Three thousand elite cavalry from Chengdu and Pengzhou are also on their way and will arrive soon. As long as these three thousand cavalry cross the river, the Perak Army will be unable to resist in a field battle.
It’s just that “the ideal is very plump, but the reality is very skinny.” Just as the Mongolian army was preparing to attack again with high morale, a series of huge cannon sounds came from the direction of the fortress. After recapturing the Sandu Water Fortress, Ouyang Xuan ordered Yang Bangxian to go to the river embankment for reinforcements, and also ordered the cannons in the general's arsenal to be pushed to the emplacement to prepare for firing. However, most of the fort's guard company was killed in the battle, and most of the gunners were also injured. The soldiers of the second battalion had not yet learned artillery fire, and no one knew how to operate those artillery pieces. He had to send people to the river embankment again and ordered Huang Dagen to send the gunners back to the fortress. Fortunately, there were many gunners in the Chongqing Prefecture garrison and the company directly under the General Staff. In addition, the shooting of the Sandushui Fortress artillery had already been set, so it could be fired directly.
Twelve heavy artillery pieces opened fire one after another. Some of the shells fell on the Mongolian troops gathered on the east bank of the river, and some of the shells fell on the pontoon bridge. After several rounds of shelling, the river bank was covered with corpses, the newly erected pontoon bridge was destroyed, and a large number of soldiers and civilians were running around on the river beach. Mi Zhehuo, who had just arrived from Wenjiang City, saw all this and couldn't help but think of the scene of the Battle of Hengyuan Castle. A gust of cold wind blew, making him shiver even though he was wearing a leather robe. He immediately turned his horse's head and left. Seeing this, the rest of the Mongolian army followed him in despair.
