Escorting Zan Wanshou back to Jiading was a reinforced special company led by Yu San. In addition to the normal organization and equipment, this company was strengthened with two light artillery squads. Together with the remaining soldiers of Zan Wanshou's guard, there were a total of 150 people. This convoy only carried food and water for five days in order to carry as much ammunition as possible, which also meant that it had to rush back to Jiading within five days. Due to the detour, the distance of this route is about 200 miles. It is really a challenge to carry a heavy load and march dozens of miles a day on a mountain road. Fortunately, the Pili Army's special forces have extremely intense training on weekdays, and even though it is difficult, they can barely achieve it.
Although Zan Wanshou was a scholar, he had practiced martial arts since he was a child and was young, so he could barely keep up on foot with bare hands. On the other hand, although Zan Wanshou's guards carried less weight than the soldiers of the Perak Army, they moved slower. When Yu San saw this, he asked Zan Wanshou for instructions. He led the eighty strongest men to escort Zan Wanshou first, while Hou Xing and Company Commander Ding took the two artillery squads and the rest of the personnel to move slowly. Zan Wanshou naturally had no objection to this arrangement. Just when Ouyang Xuan was sending them off, the staff headquarters had sent information that the leading troops of the Meizhou army had marched towards Jiading by land and water. Although the news from Longzhou New Linbu and Yazhou has not yet been sent back, it is estimated that these two groups are already on their way to Jiading. At this critical moment, Zan Wanshou can stabilize the situation by returning to Jiading City. Being one point ahead of time means a better chance of winning.
Three days later, Zan Wanshou returned to Jiading City at dusk under the escort of Yu San. After the news that he was attacked in Meizhou Liu Dal'er and fled to Pengshan reached Jiading, people in the city were panicked. Many wealthy families have begun to prepare boats to flee downstream to Chongqing, Luzhou and other places if something happens. Many ordinary people are also preparing luggage and preparing to flee to the wilderness and mountainous areas for refuge. Some generals in the city were secretly communicating with the Meizhou Army in order to defect to the new master in time. And more soldiers and civilians are preparing to hold on to the city, determined to resist the Mongols to the last man. When Zan Wanshou appeared in front of the Jiading city gate, there was a roar of cheers and thunder on the city wall, which meant that Jiading's defense war had a backbone. Prior to this, Meizhou's navy had approached the Jiading waters, and Mongolian cavalry frequently appeared in front of the city.
Zan Wanshou's first order when he returned to Jiading City was to arrest the lieutenant general who secretly communicated with Liu Da'er. Before leaving, Huang Dagen handed him a list. The people on the list were all the people who had secretly communicated with the Mongolian army detected by the Perak Army intelligence agency. Among these people who secretly communicated with the Mongolian army were the generals who defended the city, navy personnel, and even scribes and staff in the government offices. They had already made an agreement with Liu Daer. If Jiading City refused to surrender when the three armies were encircled, they would cooperate inside and outside to open the city gate and lead the Mongolian army into the city.
At this moment, Jiading City has 2,000 defenders and a population of tens of thousands, and tens of thousands of people can be mobilized to help defend the city. The two nearby mountain cities of Sangui and Jiuding guarding Jiading have extremely steep terrain, and each has a garrison of 500 people. It was mid-May and the summer grain had just been harvested, so there would be no shortage of grain before the autumn harvest. After taking stock, Zan Wanshou concluded that it was not a big problem to hold on until reinforcements from the Perak Army arrived. The concern is that the navy and the Meizhou navy are of equal strength. If the Mongolian army uses crossbows and arrows to help on the shore, the Jiading navy will be able to defend but not attack enough. They can only deal with the enemy as much as possible under the cover of the city's firepower. After losing the advantage of the navy, Zan Wanshou could not use boats to support the counties under Jiading, but could only rely on his city to hold on. It's just that these counties have few soldiers and few generals, and it is really difficult to resist the Mongolian attack.
The counties to which Jiading belongs are all on the west bank of the Minjiang River. Except for Longyou County, where the government is located, the situation in the other four counties is different. At present, Cao Zhizhou leads the Yazhou army to attack Jiading along both land and water routes. They will pass through Hongya County and Jiajiang County along the way, and these two counties will definitely fall into his hands. Liu Dal'er attacked Jiading by land and water, but did not send troops to go around the city to seize Emei and Qianwei counties. Jingyan County in Longzhou is currently managed by Jiading. It is located on the east bank of the Minjiang River and is under the military front of the Niulin tribe. Fortunately, although the Mongolian cavalry arrived quickly, they had nothing to do with the city, so they had to wait patiently for the new annexed troops to attack the city. Seeing the strength of the Mongolian army, the generals who defended the city took advantage of this gap to transport all the money and food of the city's population to Jiading City. It is said that Jingyan County suffered from a long-term tug-of-war between the Song and Mongolian armies. The population in the city was only a few hundred, and there was not much food and money.
Two days later, Liu Daer led the main force of the Meizhou Army to Jiading City, accompanied by thousands of people recruited from various counties. As soon as the camp was set up, these strong men were driven to cut down trees to build siege engines. Zan Wanshou once tried to order the defenders to leave the city and attack the logging camp, but was stopped by Yu San. Sure enough, the intelligence brought back by the accompanying special company scouts showed that hundreds of Mongolian cavalry were hiding in the ravine behind the logging camp. Perhaps the logging camp outside the city was a bait set by the Mongolian army. They launched a surprise attack while the Jiading army was leaving the city, and then followed the defeated troops into the city.
In fact, Liu Daer had already built many trebuchets, ballistas and other siege equipment, and this time he had navy ships transport them over. After these siege equipment are assembled, they will be matched with a small number of imitation artillery. Some of them will be used to siege the city, and the other part will be erected on both sides of the river to assist the Meizhou Navy in combat. At this time, most of the Mongolian cavalry and the new auxiliary troops of the Niulin tribe were still on the east bank of the Minjiang River, and only a part of them took a boat to Jiading City on the west bank. The cavalry ambushing behind the logging camp were the first Niulin subordinates to come over. There were about 500 men and 1,000 horses. They hid in the ravine not only to raid the Jiading army, but also to avoid the scorching sun in May.
Although Niulin set up a camp under Jiading City, he was not in a hurry to attack the city, and did not even launch a trial-controlled attack. In addition to the reason that the siege equipment was being assembled, it was also because Cao Zhizhou still had not arrived, and there were still 5,000 new auxiliary troops on the east bank of the river waiting to cross the river. The main force of the Meizhou navy wanted to confront the Jiading navy, so only a small number of boats could be used to cross the river. Therefore, although transportation was carried out day and night, the progress was not satisfactory because not only soldiers but also a large amount of logistical supplies had to be transported. Niulin once ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge, but was told that it was too difficult to build a bridge during the rainy season when the river was wide and the water was fast, and the pontoon bridge that was built with great effort could easily be destroyed by flash floods.
In the past few days, the Jiading navy saw that the Mongolian ships frequently transported supplies to both sides of the Minjiang River, so they continued to send ships to attack. Zan Wanshou's idea was that even if the Mongolian army's water channel could not be destroyed, their transportation progress would be delayed. However, because the Meizhou Navy occupied the upper reaches, and there were Mongolian trebuchets, ballistas, artillery and other siege weapons on both sides of the strait, the attack was not only ineffective but also damaged many soldiers and ships, and was even destroyed by the Meizhou Navy. Suppressed under the city.
The battle on the water returned to balance with the arrival of two small-scale firearms units from the Perak Army. The first one was the three armed merchant ships that saved Zan Wanshou on his way to take office. After sending Zan Wanshou back to Jiading, due to the unstable situation in Jiading and especially the fear that someone in the navy would secretly communicate with Mongolia, Yu San let the three ships remain hidden in the reeds. After Yu San returned to Jiading with Zan Wanshou, he immediately sent people to recall the three armed merchant ships. The second one is the two light artillery squads led by Captains Hou Xing and Ding. As the Mongolian cavalry moved more frequently as they got closer to Jiading, they had to stay in hiding during the day and night, and it took them two more days to arrive safely.
