On the sixth day of November, the cold wind howled along both sides of the Datong River. The northwest wind blew from dusk the day before until noon, and finally stopped. The sky above Pyongyang in the middle of winter was as clear as water. The dark clouds and haze, like the unhappiness in Emperor Wu Ding's heart, were blown away by the strong wind, and the warm sunshine shone on the Qi army camp, making people feel relaxed and happy.
It's a good time to fight.
At three quarters of noon, after eating three legs of lamb, two roasted whole geese, a pot of old wine, and several bowls of rice, Emperor Wu Ding put on his special armor and carried the fifty kilogram Liquan With the sharp gun on his shoulder, surrounded by Pei Dahu and others, he left the Chinese army tent and walked straight towards the Seven Star Gate three miles away in the south.
The north bank of the Datong River was occupied by the Qi army yesterday. The fortresses and trenches built by the Korean soldiers in the wilderness outside the city are now in ruins. The arrow towers and carriages abandoned by the Korean army are emitting wisps of blue smoke. The first regiment's The auxiliary soldiers waved branches and sticks to extinguish the fire like moths.
"Your Majesty, their people resisted tenaciously and hid in the archery tower of the bunker to attack us. They were all burned by the flying crows of the artillery camp."
The battalion officer Qiu Guokun followed behind, panting and explaining to the Supreme Emperor that he was only wearing a layer of cotton armor and did not carry a weapon in his hand. Even so, he had to trot all the way to keep up with the Supreme Emperor who was holding a spear and a long card.
As Liu Zhaosun walked, he looked sideways at the gunners who were installing rocket supports on the east bank of the river, and frowned slightly:
"Tell Wang Congzhi and the others to stop firing rockets. Daqi is here to regain the lost territory. Burning like this will completely burn Pyongyang. What use do I have for this city?"
"If the attacking troops suffer heavy casualties, find some surrendered Korean troops to jump into the trenches. These barbarians fear power rather than virtue. If you kill more, you will know the etiquette of our heavenly dynasty."
After Emperor Wu Ding finished speaking, the dark group of followers around him did not express any objection to the prisoner filling the trench, not because they did not dare to disobey the Supreme Emperor's order, but because the Supreme Emperor walked too fast, and these people could no longer keep up.
Pei Dahu quickly sent messengers to the artillery camp to convey Emperor Wuding's edict.
"How many people were killed or injured in your camp yesterday?"
Liu Zhaosun nodded to Qiu Guokun. As the sharp knife of the First Corps, the First Battalion is the first battle in every battle.
"Returning to Your Majesty, we killed more than 570 enemies. Eighteen of the first battalion were killed and forty-two were wounded."
Qiu Guokun gasped for air and answered the questions raised by the Supreme Emperor as quietly as possible. The full strength of the First Battalion of the First Corps was 1,200 men. Such slight casualties could be said to be a brilliant victory for any army. However, for the First Corps, it was already considered a heavy casualty.
Sure enough, Liu Zhaosun frowned even more tightly and said nothing, but the Liquan Divine Spear in his hand made a clanging sound.
Pei Dahu thought that the Supreme Emperor was going to be angry, so he quickly stepped forward to plead with Qiu Guokun.
"Your Majesty, I don't know that the Korean soldiers are not what they used to be. Their guns are sharper and they also have some small cannons. The fortress is quite solid. Its structure and firepower equipment are the same as those we encountered when we fought against Japan. Japanese pirates are exactly the same.”
Emperor Wuding was silent for a moment and said meaningfully:
"It seems that Li Jian has not wasted these few years. He hooked up with Tokugawa Hidetada."
What made Liu Zhaosun angry and puzzled was that these two sworn enemies in the past were now united to deal with Qi.
Wei Zhao added his sword at the side and said: "Your Majesty, Liu Xingzuo sent a report back to Tang today saying that the Coiled Guards' detailed operations on Tsushima Island witnessed a large group of Japanese pirates crossing the Tsushima Strait by boat and landing in southern Korea, numbering more than a thousand people. "
There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
When Emperor Wu Ding heard the words Tokugawa Hidetada, his expression clearly changed. Everyone thought that the Emperor would be furious after hearing that the Japanese had intervened in the Korean War. Unexpectedly, Liu Zhaosun behaved unusually calmly. He suddenly stopped and looked at The great scholar Hou was left far behind (Qian Qianyi was too tired to walk because he was too weak) and the high priest.
"How many years has it been since the Treaty of Niuguan was implemented?"
Because the distance was too far, Hou Xun could not hear clearly what the Supreme Emperor was saying, so Liu Zhaosun had to shout loudly:
"Let me ask you, how much money has the Shogun owed me over the years?"
The high priest heard clearly, and this mathematical genius with a strong memory of knowledge and knowledge counted with his fingers and immediately replied:
"Respecting His Majesty the Supreme Emperor, if I am not mistaken, since the Shaanxi bandits attacked Beijing, the shogunate has stopped paying compensation to Daqi. Not only that, the compensation for copper materials, cloth, and seafood has also stopped. They It also destroyed the gold and silver mines developed by Mr. Yuan (Yuan Chonghuan) in Kyushu... According to the "Niuguan Treaty", the annual amount of five million taels of silver, plus the current interest of the Daqi Chamber of Commerce, plus Japan's betrayal of Daqi In the past five years, the Tokugawa shogunate has owed His Majesty the Emperor a total of 450 million taels of silver for the principal and interest due to the various losses caused by Qi..."
Liu Zhaosun opened his mouth wide after hearing this. Xie Yang, who had just caught up, put the wig back on after it had escaped and agreed that the high priest's calculation was absolutely correct.
"So much? Is our interest rate so high? Am I like a loan shark emperor?"
Xie Yang nodded first, and then immediately shook his head vigorously.
Liu Zhaosun laughed and took off the cloth sheath on the head of the Liquan Divine Spear. The sharp blade shone coldly under the sunlight. He pointed the fifty-kilogram spear at an angle at the Seven Star Gate of Pyongyang City and said to himself Said to himself:
"The shogunate will definitely not be able to pay back this much debt. Tokugawa Hidetada, this time, I have no choice but to sell you to Pyongyang to work as a male prostitute."
All the confidants noticed the serious expression on Emperor Wu Ding's words when he spoke, and no one would take the Emperor's words as a joke.
The artillery battalion's half-hour-long shelling finally ended. The sound of artillery fire from the top of Pyongyang City continued. Although it could not reach the Qi army, the enthusiasm for counterattack was very high. It seemed that across the Datong River and Mudan Peak, artillery fire suppression alone was not enough. Completely destroy the will of the defenders.
"Bring me the map!"
Pei Dahu took a map of the situation around Pyongyang Prefecture. The length and width of the map were marked.
Pyongyang has a circumference of about 16 kilometers and a total length of about 23 kilometers, which is almost twice the size of Xiangyang City.
"When attacking from the north, there are Mudan Peak and Wanshoutai high hills as natural barriers, and the Datong River and Fongfang River are to the east, west and south."
After Emperor Wu Ding finished speaking, he concluded to everyone:
"Looking from the south, it looks like a flat city; looking from the northwest, it looks like a mountain city. The artillery camp fired from the north, and the cannons hit the mountains! It's useless!"
"I saw the urn city and the battlements over there, as well as the horse face, the general platform and the water gate."
Being on the scene, Liu Zhaosun realized that Pyongyang is a veritable fortified city, no less inferior to Xiangyang.
The attack on Xiangyang lasted for half a year the year before last, and the attack on Pyongyang this time, I don’t know how long it will take.
"Let the artillery battalion move to the south gate and get close to the artillery fire. Only in this way can we take advantage of the speed of the field artillery."
Qiu Guokun hesitated and said: "Your Majesty..."
"What's the matter?"
"The south is still in the hands of the Koreans. The artillery camp can't get through. There are more than 20,000 of us and we can't surround it..."
Liu Zhaosun shook his head and said, "Okay, let them all stop."
After the commander of each battalion gave an order, the gunners stopped firing and began to clean the barrels.
Auxiliary soldiers came from all directions, piled up the harvested wood, and began to build siege equipment such as siege vehicles, ladder trucks, and ramming cones in front of Pyongyang City, preparing to cover the crossing of the river.
"Let the soldiers come directly. I will rush over first to give them a surprise and boost the morale of the whole army!"
Pei Dahu and others wanted to dissuade him, but the Supreme Emperor had already dragged his 50-pound Liquan Divine Spear and carried a large shield onto the pontoon filled with arrow feathers.
Before they could enter the shooting range of the defenders, a shower of arrows fell, and the raindrops landed on the other end of the pontoon, dozens of steps away from the target.
"North Korea is good at shooting." Liu Zhaosun sighed with emotion, and the second wave of arrows poured down towards the Datong River, getting closer to him.
"His Majesty······"
In desperation, Pei Dahu had no choice but to follow behind.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were distributed in a fan shape on the north bank of the Datong River and formed a battle formation. The battalion officers and generals blew bamboo whistles, and the Korean prisoners in the front row were driven forward to prepare for the charge.
The instructor, Senti, picked up the wooden trumpet and wanted to liven up the atmosphere. At this time, a sky-wide cheer sounded from behind the formation.
The Supreme Emperor stopped and looked behind him along with Pei Dahu.
Less than half a mile behind the artillery position, in an open wasteland, a huge reddish-brown object slowly rose. The outside of the balloon shimmered like a moon wheel in the sky, with a black dot hanging from the bottom.
Like a bird, rising into the sky, moving and stopping freely.
"I almost forgot about my new weapon."
~~~~~
"The high officials of the State of Qi are here, fill up the jackdaw arrows!"
At the top of the Seven Star Gate, the crossbowman fixed the big arrow as thick as a spear in the arrow trough, and Jin Shougang, the Marquis of Longgang on Ping'an Road, shouted orders.
One hundred soldiers stepped forward together, carrying fiber ropes on their backs and pulling hard. The huge hinge of the three-bow bed crossbow slowly rotated. The tendon ropes and pine wood were intertwined, making an unsettling friction sound. Under the pull of the traction rope, The front bow, main bow, and back bow gradually bend into a full moon, and the pulley connecting the main bow and the back bow jumps gently. Finally, all the power is gathered in the arrow groove between the trigger and the nock.
This three-bow bed crossbow was originally an antique from the late Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang came to Liaodong and the Mongolian forces fled North Korea, all kinds of strange weapons were left in Pyongyang's arsenal, including the three-bow bed crossbow.
The three-bow bed crossbow, also known as the eight-oxen crossbow, requires hundreds of people to twist the shaft and stretch the string, and uses a hammer to fire it.
The range of the eight bed crossbows recorded in the Military Classics is between 140 and 300 steps.
Song Shili said that the range of the bed crossbow in the Song Dynasty was initially 700 steps. The range of the bed crossbow improved by Wei Pi could reach 1,000 steps. The reason for this difference may be due to the difference in measurement units (large or small steps). step) caused.
In line with the principle of making the best use of everything, Park Obong ordered the crossbows to be taken out from the arsenal, and ordered the craftsmen to copy several of them and place them at the top of the Seven Star Gate city, and use them together with artillery.
Use artillery during the day and bed crossbows at night, white plus black, the effect will naturally be better.
"Collide!"
A sturdy sword and shield soldier swung a hammer and slammed into the bed crossbow trigger.
The two big arrows that had already been aimed at the target, one after the other, hit the ostentatious target on the pontoon five hundred steps away like spears.
This kind of bed crossbow arrow can be driven directly into the city wall. If it is hit by it, you will not be able to survive.
The Korean soldiers at the top of the city showed their goat hats and looked excitedly towards the floating bridge.
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