"These dogs...traitors!"
In the telescope, looking at the Mongolian infantry formation opposite, Zhang Zhongxia cursed fiercely.
In fact, what he scolded was not accurate. Opposite the Mongolian army camp, the fortifications were dug by the Han army, the artillery and ballistae were made by Han craftsmen, but the trebuchets (return artillery) were worked out by craftsmen from the Western Regions, and the cavalry included Han, Mongolian, Khitan, and Turkic , is an international multinational force.
"Trenches, earthen walls, archery towers, fences, I think there are also caltrops and horse pits outside the camp, and there are artillery trebuchets in the camp. No wonder the Tatar generals are so confident."
Cao Erxiong observed carefully for a while and put down his telescope.
"Lao Zhang, leave the artillery, trebuchets, crossbows, etc. to me. The rest is up to you, the frontline army."
Only by knocking out the Mongolian army's long-range weapons can the former army minimize casualties and attack the Mongolian army's formation.
With trenches, fences, and parapets, the fortifications of the Mongolian army's formation can be described as complete. It was obviously not easy for the Song army to defeat the 30,000 Mongolian infantry.
In particular, the Mongolian army had a large infantry formation, mostly archers, and hundreds of artillery pieces. With the parapet fortifications, the Mongolian army could not only withstand the damage from the Song army's artillery, but also inflict massive casualties on the Song army.
Zhang Zhongxia frowned and said sternly:
"Du Er, pass the order. After the bombardment, the entire army is ready to attack the formation!"
The battle in Taiyuan City will eventually begin with a duel between infantry.
"Peng! Peng! Peng!"
The iron balls flew and collided in the air, making a tooth-wrenching collision sound. Several trebuchet crossbows were smashed and sawdust flew, and several gun carriages were overturned.
Liu Heima was frightened when he saw it in the telescope. At a distance of one and a half miles or two miles, the Song Army's artillery shells came one after another like hail. The tall trebuchets were smashed one by one, and the crossbow carts were shattered. The artillery carts, trebuchets and crossbows were The Mongolian army beside the car suffered heavy casualties, with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and broken limbs flying into the air. The screams were earth-shattering and terrifying.
If this continues, the artillery carriage, trebuchet and ballistae may all be destroyed. Thanks to the parapet fortifications, although the Mongolian army was suppressed and could not lift its head, it did not suffer too many casualties.
As long as there are small cannons, they can still resist stubbornly and prevent the Song army from easily entering the camp.
These Song dogs are so shameless and keep firing at them with artillery. If you have the guts, hurry up and attack!
"Stop! Use explosive bombs!"
Seeing that the artillery carts, trebuchets, and crossbows in the Mongolian camp were all smashed and destroyed, and there were not many left, Cao Erxiong immediately issued a military order.
Explosive bombs are a big killer. The only drawback of a good thing is that it is too expensive.
The price of the pallet, filled gunpowder, steel balls, and powder packets is dozens of times higher than that of solid iron balls.
Gun carriages were pushed out one after another and began to roll forward. The short-barreled large-caliber artillery on the vehicle is specially used to launch explosive shells. This kind of short-barreled artillery has a range of only three to four hundred steps, but it hurts people with explosions and is extremely lethal.
To deal with the Mongolian army hiding behind the parapet fortifications, they can just use explosive bombs to attack.
The Song army stopped shelling, and Liu Heima and the Mongolian generals breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the Song Army's hundreds of artillery carts moving forward and then stopping, the Song Army's gunners began to adjust the angle of the artillery and load ammunition. Liu Heima and others felt anxious again.
What tricks do these Song troops want?
"Send the order and tell the troops not to act rashly, lest they be attacked by the Song army..."
Liu Heima was giving orders when a loud thunder-like sound came. Liu Heima raised his head in surprise. Huge cannonballs filled the air. The cannonballs flew at a slow speed, making people feel as if they could reach out and catch them. The cannonballs became bigger and bigger, the goddess scattered flowers, and they fell into the Mongolian army's position one after another with strange whistling.
Liu Heima was in shock when suddenly there were violent explosions, the ground shook, and columns of smoke rose into the sky from the Mongolian army's position, which was a spectacular scene.
Liu Heima was unsteady on his feet, staggered, almost fell to the ground, and subconsciously grabbed the parapet next to him.
Another round of explosive bombs came, filling the air with gunpowder smoke, splashing earth and rocks, and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke and blood. Countless pieces of meat, broken legs and arms flew into the air, and there were bursts of cruelty where iron and blood blended together.
A blooming bomb landed behind the parapet and exploded. Iron pieces and iron pellets roared out. The explosion caused the blood and flesh of more than a dozen Mongolian soldiers in the surrounding area to fly. The iron pellets penetrated the armor and spurted out blood, weaving patches of blood mist in the position. .
Explosions continued, and the Song army's artillery fire slowly extended to the Mongolian army's rear formation without distinction. The Mongolian army suffered heavy casualties. There were corpses everywhere on the position. The injured groaned in pain, with broken legs and arms. There were many bones, some intestines were exposed, and the wounds were terrible. .
Liu Heima looked at the battlefield with wide eyes, as if he was stunned. Under the explosive bombs of the Song Army, the breastworks were useless, unless there were trenches to reduce casualties. Not to mention the artillery, the Mongolian gunners were either dead or injured. The survivors lay on the ground, holding their heads and motionless.
The problem is that the opponent's shells explode and injure people, even if they are lying on the ground, they will still be killed and injured.
Under the ferocious artillery fire of the Song army, the bodies of the Mongolian soldiers were scattered everywhere, the wounded were everywhere, and there was a mess in the pool of blood. There were scenes of blood and flesh flying everywhere. Many Mongolian soldiers were shocked by the bloody scene and lost their fighting spirit.
Thick smoke billowed from the position, and the wounded, corpses, blood, and broken limbs intermingled; bows and arrows, knives, guns, shells, broken wood, etc. were scattered everywhere. Many Mongolian soldiers lay down close to the parapet. They held their heads and covered their ears, motionless. They didn't know whether they were killed or not. Everything in the outside world had nothing to do with them.
"These dogs...Japanese Song Army!"
Liu Heima was heartbroken. So many warriors in the army were wantonly massacred by the Song army's artillery. There are also those fierce generals who have never known what fear is when they are fighting in the north and south. At this time, they are hiding with their heads in their hands, trembling all over, like frightened animals.
Most of the artillery on the position was damaged. Once the Song army attacked, it would be a brutal hand-to-hand battle.
Liu Heima was in a state of confusion, but the artillery positions of the Song army continued to move forward, and their infantry also moved forward in formation. They pushed hundreds of chariots shaped like rectangular giant shields, forming several rows about several meters long. The huge mobile "shield" city, which is 100 meters and nearly two meters high, slowly moves forward.
Behind the shield vehicles, the Song army's infantry were armed with guns and crossbows, and there were sword and shield bearers accompanying them. It was so dark that there were at least two to three thousand people.
Judging from the way they moved forward, it seemed that they were cleaning up the caltrops on the ground as they moved forward, without slowing down much.
Liu Heima was in a daze for a moment. Are these Song troops going to wait until they reach the trench of the camp before stopping and fight with the Mongolian army in a hail of arrows?
"Get up quickly! Shoot me!"
Regardless of the danger, Badar went to the position himself, punched, kicked, and scolded each of the Mongolian soldiers. The Mongolian troops reloaded their ammunition in fear. When the Song army's shield vehicles arrived in front of the formation, they lit the wires one after another.
"Puffy!"
The sound of artillery sounded from the Mongolian army's position, hitting the Song army's shield vehicle with a "ding-dang" sound. Some projectiles and gravel penetrated from the bottom of the vehicle, and the Song army behind the shield vehicle screamed and seemed to have fallen a lot.
"Okay! Come again!"
Badar's eyes lit up and he urged loudly.
The Mongolian gunners were loading ammunition, and the artillery on the Song army's shield car fired in unison, with projectiles coming like a flood.
It turned out that the Song army's shield car was equipped with small cannons, but the Mongolian army did not pay attention.
"Prince! Watch out!"
Badar was knocked down by the guards, and the projectiles shot through the air. Several Mongolian gunners were unable to dodge and were knocked to the ground, with blood holes all over their bodies.
"Niang's! Get up!"
Badar pushed away the bombed corpse of the guard, stood up, and shouted loudly:
"Quick! Open it for me..."
Before Badar finished speaking, several solid iron balls roared towards him. One iron ball hit Badar in the face, causing his brain to burst and he fell to the ground.
"Baidar!"
Liu Heima screamed in pain.
The guards dragged back Baydar's bloody body and withdrew.
"General, it's dangerous here, go back!"
The guards couldn't help but explain, and they carried Liu Heima, who was in a state of despair, and hid all the way back behind the low wall in the depths.
The Song army's artillery fire continued for three or four rounds in a row. The shield vehicles were staggered. Countless Song troops rushed forward. Planks were put up in the ditch, fences were pulled down, sword and shield hands were in front, and spearmen were behind, swarming forward.
Immediately afterwards, in the large formation of the rushing Song army, rain-like thunderbolts smoked, flew all over the sky, and smashed into the pavement.
"Shaking thunder!"
Liu Heima couldn't help but shudder when he looked at the black spots all over the sky.
This indiscriminate bombing, without even setting fire, was fast and cruel. The Mongolian army must have suffered heavy casualties and bloodshed.
He looked gloomy and shouted loudly:
"Command the three armies! Prepare for hand-to-hand combat!"
Song Jun rushed into his own position and was destined to fight his opponent to death.
Those Mongolian cavalry didn't know how to attack and reduce the pressure on the frontal position.
The Song army's artillery was fierce, and the Mongolian army's infantry formation suffered heavy casualties. As a last resort, the Mongolian army retreated step by step until it reached the vicinity of the moat. The Mongolian army on the city wall began to fire artillery, and the trebuchets began to hit the outside of the city. The Song army's infantry abandoned hundreds of corpses and retreated, but the shells continued to pour into the Mongolian army's infantry formation.
After fierce battles in the frontal position, the Mongolian cavalry on the east wing finally couldn't bear it any longer. They rushed out of the formation. This time they learned their lesson and made a larger circle, farther away from the Song infantry formation.
They also saw clearly that the Song Army was attacking from the front, with artillery concentrated in the middle. They took the opportunity to defeat the Song Army's cavalry on the right wing, so that they could break up the Song Army's central camp and change their disadvantage on the battlefield.
Nearly 30,000 Mongolian cavalry faced 30,000 Song army cavalry, and they still had this confidence.
The heavy cavalry charges and the light cavalry diffuses, which should be enough to deal with the Song Army's right cavalry.
Under the banner of the Chinese army, Yu Jie couldn't help but sneer when he saw the Mongolian cavalry formation finally dispatched.
The Song army's right-wing cavalry was only two hundred paces wide. Even small artillery could pass over the cavalry and kill the Mongolian cavalry, let alone rifled artillery.
Do they really think that the Western Route Army has only three to four hundred artillery pieces out of a hundred thousand people?
According to regulations, the Song Army's 50 infantrymen were equipped with one small cannon. The 10,000 infantrymen on the right wing alone had 200 small cannons, not to mention countless thunderbolts.
And even 200 small cannons are enough to deal with tens of thousands of Mongolian cavalry.
As for those heavy cavalry, they move slowly and are just living targets. After several rounds of shotguns and a burst of thunder, how many cavalry can be left?
On the city wall, Han Chijin, Meng Ge and other Mongolian generals looked at the endless Song cavalry in the wasteland to the south, and everyone looked solemn.
"Thirty thousand cavalry! The Song army now has strong soldiers and horses, and can already compete with our Mongolian cavalry."
Meng Ge held back his heart beating wildly.
Badar's bloody corpse was placed aside, and the power of the Song army's artillery was obvious.
"The cavalry of the Song Army looks more majestic than the heavy cavalry of our Mongolian army. This war horse is also much taller."
Han Chijin looked at the Song cavalry in the distance in amazement. The men and horses were fully armored and protected, and they were dazzled by cold light iron clothes. They were better equipped than the Mongolian heavy cavalry.
And the war horses, all of them are tall, long-legged, fat and strong. Compared with the short Mongolian horses, they look like adults and children. If they charge into the battle, they will suffer a lot.
"It looks powerful. You won't know until you fight it."
Brother Meng suppressed the throbbing in his heart and said unconvinced.
If you can't defeat it in the field, then Mongolia really has no hope.
"Prepare!"
In the Song Army's cavalry formation, Wang Shixin put down the telescope in his hand, drew his saber, and shouted loudly.
The Song Army cavalry moved forward slowly. They took off their bows and crossbows one after another. Many of them had already drawn their sharp sabers.
