According to the battle plan, after Dong Hu succeeded in his night attack on Yunding City, Huang Dagen should lead his army to come for reinforcements on the second day or the next morning. The key to this plan is to successfully capture Jintang County. Jintang City is located in the upper reaches of the Tuojiang River. It is the intersection of several tributaries and is connected to the Minjiang River system. Its geographical location is very important. However, the main garrison of the Sichuan Army was in the west where it faced the Perak Army and the Jiading Army. There were not many troops stationed in Jintang and surrounding counties. According to pre-war reconnaissance, there were only 500 new auxiliary troops stationed in Jintang, and the city had been out of repair for a long time, and the city defense was not strong. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan and the staff judged that the Pili army suddenly moved down the river and could easily capture Jintang, or even allow it to surrender without a fight.
It's just that the battlefield situation is changing rapidly, and Jintang City, which seemed to be weak, has turned into hard nails. These Jintang's new auxiliary troops relied on the city's fortifications to defend desperately, and used trebuchets and ballistae to block the river leading to Yunding City. They also scuttled the only more than 20 ships to block the river. Although the teaching brigade and the special brigade led by Huang Dagen are powerful and have several times the strength of the defenders, both brigades are lightly armed troops. Without heavy artillery or siege equipment, it would be extremely difficult to break into the city in a short time. The new auxiliary troops guarding the city hid behind the city wall and used their best to use crossbows, boiling oil, stones and even boiling gold juice to repulse several attacks by the Perak Army on the city wall. This golden juice is a mixture of human feces and urine, because it contains a large amount of bacterial toxins. Once the wound is infected by it, people often die from the ensuing high fever and sepsis.
Huang Dagen has never encountered a new auxiliary army with such a stubborn will to fight. As a former official army, the quality of the equipment and personnel of the new auxiliary army is not too weak, and some can even be called elites. The reason for their low combat effectiveness is actually due to lax discipline and weak will to fight. They often collapse in a battle or are timid in fighting. Run away from the wind. Although the Pili Army destroyed many Jintang City defenders with grenades and light artillery, the remaining ones still fought to the death, which was really unusual. There are nearly three thousand elites in the teaching brigade and the special brigade, and the accompanying basic militiamen are also quite effective. If they swarm the defenders, they will not be able to withstand them for long, but they will also suffer heavy casualties. In desperation, Huang Dagen had no choice but to use light cannons to consume the enemy while ordering people to shout to persuade them to surrender.
At this moment, the vanguard of the special brigade occupying Yunding City is facing extreme pressure. Yunding City is not an isolated city. It has built a defense system with many surrounding fortresses. Although Dong Hu's night attack went smoothly, dozens of new auxiliary troops took advantage of the chaos to escape. Mongolian general Jia Gulong, who was bringing reinforcements to Chengdu, learned from these deserters that Yunding City was lost in ancient times, and immediately summoned new auxiliary troops from surrounding forts to try to recapture Yunding City. In ancient times, Jiagulong originally had 500 Mongolian and Han troops. Together with the new auxiliary troops he summoned, he assembled an army of 1,300 people and headed for Yunding City.
Yunding City has a steep terrain but a vast area. There are six main gates alone. At its peak, there were 8,000 troops stationed and a large number of civilians. This results in a long defensive front, which normally requires at least a thousand troops to defend. Due to the tight situation in Chengdu, Liu Heima transferred 500 cavalrymen. With only 500 new auxiliary troops, the defense of Yunding City was much weaker. This was also the reason why Dong Hu was able to succeed in the night attack. Now the offensive and defensive situation changes,
After being damaged in the battle, the Perak Army in Yunding City now only has 210 people. On the one hand, this small number of personnel had to be sent to guard the more than 300 newly captured soldiers. On the other hand, they also had to guard various city gates and tower sentries. They were spread evenly across the guard areas of the city wall. The personnel were really very thin.
It's just wishful thinking to take over Genting City with more than a thousand people. In ancient times, Jiagulong took advantage of the Perak Army's unstable foothold and launched more than a dozen fierce attacks throughout the day and night. Apart from the corpses left on the ground, he did not even capture a section of the outer city wall or a sentry post. This Yunding City is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Although the number of Mongolian troops far exceeds the number of defenders, they can only rely on their superior strength and the cover of night to make the Perak Army tired of defending. Attacking the city in the daytime is purely a loss of lives. Jiagulong had no choice but to order his men to build siege equipment while engaging in wheel battles, which made the soldiers of the Perak Army nervous and unable to rest for a moment. He was waiting for reinforcements from the direction of Chengdu.
After a day and night of fierce fighting with heavy casualties, Genting City finally ushered in another dawn. In this day and night of fierce fighting, the Perak Army lost more than fifty people, most of whom were lost in the night battle. Currently, there are only about 160 combat-effective personnel in Yunding City. They lost a large number of elites in the first battle, which really made Dong Hu feel heartbroken. What's even more terrible is that the grenades and small artillery ammunition brought in this infiltration operation have been almost consumed, and there are only a few mines left. It is really difficult to withstand the next wave of attacks by the Mongolian army. Even the remaining ammunition captured Not much left, which made him extremely anxious. The ammunition of the newly attached army was poor and useless. For Jiagulong in ancient times, although his army had a large number of people and could withstand the attrition, the Mongolian army lost several times as many people as the Perak army. Although this exchange ratio was affordable, it had a huge impact on the morale of the troops, causing the soldiers to cower and the war situation to reach a stalemate. The only way to break the deadlock is the addition of new forces, so both the offensive and defensive sides are looking forward to the arrival of reinforcements.
At noon on the third day, reinforcements finally appeared at the foot of Yunding City, arousing cheers. Those cheering were the Mongolian troops attacking the city, and it was the more than a thousand cavalry led by Hudu who came. The appearance of these reinforcements made Jiagu Longgu's belt overjoyed, because most of the cavalry led by Hudu were Mongolian and Han troops. A few days ago, these people were infantry who were good at attacking formations, and were good at handling equipment and close combat at night. Their arrival not only boosted the morale of the siege Mongolian army, but also gave Jiagu Long Gu the confidence to take back Yunding City in one fell swoop. Seeing that he was so confident, Sudu also handed over the command of these Mongolian and Han troops to him. Of course, Hudu knew the importance of Yunding City. Even if it suffered heavy casualties or was completely exhausted, it would still have to be recaptured, but the prerequisite was that the Mongolian cavalry could not be allowed to attack the city. Of course, those Mongolian and Han troops who had just converted to cavalry were not included in this.
The agreed time for the arrival of reinforcements has passed. It is impossible to say that it has no impact on the morale of the Thunderbolt Army in Yunding City. Dong Hu had no choice but to encourage his men one by one to persist in fighting, and at the same time sent people to sneak out of the city and go up the water to find the supporting fleet. During the two days of fighting, Dong Hu always took the lead. He often appeared in the most intense places and led the guard squad to repel the charges of the Mongolian death squads several times. At present, he has been injured in many places, but fortunately, he is not serious. The soldiers of the special brigade were all trained by him, and they usually get along like brothers. When everyone saw how brave he was in fighting, they all gave advice and suggestions. Some people suggested that all the captured new vassals should be killed to completely solve their worries, while others suggested that some of the prisoners should be selected to help defend the city. After careful consideration, Dong Hu chose the latter.
In fact, it is very risky to let prisoners assist in defending the city. On the one hand, these prisoners may turn against the enemy and deal a fatal blow to the Perak Army. On the other hand, the Perak Army has never had such a precedent. Dong Hu promised that as long as he committed crimes and made meritorious service, he would let the matter go. He could even be promoted and receive the treatment of a Perak Army citizen. This was actually beyond his authority. It's just that "when the general is out, military orders are not obeyed." Dong Hu believes that what he does is not self-interested, and he has to obey authority in critical moments. I believe Brother Xuan and all the senior leaders of the Perak Army can understand. Moreover, he believed that most of the new annexed soldiers were not willing to be lackeys of foreign races, but just wanted to survive in this world. Therefore, he personally selected fifty captives who were willing to commit crimes and have meritorious services and were loyal to each squad, and told the squad leaders to use them with caution. In this way, even if there are dissidents among these people, they will not cause much loss.
