There is no doubt that the news brought back by the soldiers is exactly the same as that of the messenger just now, with just a few more details.
For example, the Ming army used "deafening" horrific firearms, and various military strongholds were attacked by horrific firearms.
Most of the soldiers in the captured military stronghold died or were captured. Only a few escaped and brought back news or they were bombarded by extremely hot iron balls.
The iron ball was so fast that it directly smashed through the gate of the military stronghold and beat the military stronghold into a mess. It was impossible for the military stronghold made of wood to withstand the bombardment of such iron bullets. They had no way to defend themselves.
After the defense of the military stronghold was destroyed, the Ming army's attack became a field battle, and it was an extremely asymmetrical field battle.
Therefore, the Song army was defeated like a mountain and was completely defeated.
In fact, it was not that they were timid or made operational mistakes, but that the Ming army used new and terrifying firearms that had never been seen before, which were different from any previous firearms.
Wang Yan calmly listened to the news brought back by his personal guards.
He would not doubt what his bodyguard said, but he could not believe the fact, so he decided to go to Fancheng to see Zhou Benyuan in person.
After arriving in Fancheng and meeting Zhou Benyuan, Zhou Benyuan told him with a sad face that everything was true. Although he couldn't believe it, it was the fact. Seven military strongholds were reduced to ashes and all were destroyed by the Ming army.
"And the Ming army may not have suffered any casualties at all. Our people were crying after they escaped, talking about magic weapons that sounded like thunder, and magic weapons that could emit fire and smoke.
They just met each other and were beaten to death without even getting close to the Ming army. Their heads were smashed directly, their hands and feet were broken, and blood spurted out. It must be the Ming army's sorcery or something..."
Zhou Benyuan had a look of horror on his face and a panicked tone.
Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, and then said angrily: "There are no magical weapons in the world! There are no magic arts! They are all deceptive tricks! They must be blind tricks! There are no such things!"
"But, seven military strongholds were really destroyed..."
Zhou Benyuan said helplessly: "More than 30% of Fancheng's defenses have been destroyed. If this continues, in three days at most, the general will have to fight the Ming army to attack and defend Fancheng.
What we expected before was that even if the Ming army moved south, it would take at least a month to make a breakthrough, and it would take at least three months to completely wipe out the peripheral defenses! Maybe it can take another half a year, but now..."
"Are you saying that the Ming army can complete three months' work in three days? Three days? They can solve such a large-scale defense in three days? Then why should we fight?"
Wang Yan couldn't sit still anymore, stood up and walked around, feeling anxious.
As far as the military intelligence about the Ming army known by the Song Army currently shows, the Ming army is indeed good at using firearms. Its typical firearms include large rockets and thunder cannons.
The big rocket uses a bed crossbow as a launching tool. A bamboo tube filled with gunpowder is tied to the crossbow arrow. The fuse is lit and then the crossbow arrow is fired, thereby achieving the effect of long-range bombing.
This kind of firearm was widely used by the Ming army during the first Ming-Song war. The reason why the Song navy was defeated like a mountain was due to the great contribution of this kind of firearm.
Another type of firearm is called the Thor Cannon, which is a spherical firearm. The Ming army often used trebuchets to launch the Thor Cannon. The Thor Cannon fell from the sky to the ground, often causing violent explosions.
Both types of firearms had corresponding versions in the Southern Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty court also tried to use them on a large scale against the Ming army, but the effect was very poor.
According to descriptions, Ming military firearms exploded louder and more powerfully than Southern Song Dynasty firearms, and exploded more powerfully. Southern Song Dynasty firearms were not as effective.
Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty also tried to improve firearms in these years, hoping to achieve the effect of the Ming army's large rockets and thunder cannons, and use this as the main direction of attack.
So far, nothing much has been achieved.
They tried their best to imitate, but they could not achieve the powerful power of the Ming army's firearms. For example, the explosion effect of the Ming army's thunder cannon was very terrifying. The scene described by the Song army that they had seen with their own eyes and the explosion effect of the firearms imitated by the gunpowder craftsmen of the Southern Song Dynasty. Differs greatly.
So they think that the Ming army has mastered black technology that they don't know about, or it's magic or the like, and it's difficult to deal with it.
Despite this, it is impossible for this type of firearms to cause any dimension-reducing blow to the Southern Song Dynasty.
Xiangyang City and Fancheng were also equipped with a large number of firearms and gunpowder. He believed that these items were enough for him to fight against the Ming army, regardless of whether the Ming army would use gunpowder weapons on a large scale.
And judging from the power of existing gunpowder weapons, it is impossible to easily break through the defense lines of military villages. Some of those military villages were built on the fly, but many of them were built by the original defenders in the Xiangfan area. Not only is the terrain difficult, It is also very strong and cannot be threatened by ordinary firearms.
Anyway, it is difficult for the Song Army's own firearms to destroy these military strongholds unless trebuchets attack on a large scale.
However, the accuracy of the trebuchet is very problematic. Throwing a hundred stones may not necessarily hit three or five. It is mainly more effective against city walls.
As for the bed crossbow, it does pose a certain threat, but the various protective facilities used to deal with the bed crossbow are relatively in place. Wang Yan personally inspected it before entering Xiangyang City.
So he couldn't believe that this situation would happen before his eyes.
Did the Ming army really use sorcery?
Wang Yan couldn't figure it out, and Zhou Benyuan was helpless. The two of them didn't sleep all night.
It's just that they won't make the decision to surrender easily, and it's far from that time yet.
At dawn the next day, the Ming army seized the time to start the next day's operation of dismantling the army stronghold.
Still, the generals and artillery opened the way, and the cavalry and generals and artillery followed closely to consolidate the results. Then the Shenji Battalion's cavalry and musketeers advanced step by step to carry out a harsh attack on the Song army in the military camp.
Wang Yan and Zhou Benyuan climbed up and looked into the distance, trying to see what kind of strange weapons the Ming army used, but the distance was too far and they couldn't see clearly. They could only vaguely see clouds of smoke coming out, and then like thunder. The sound came.
The military strongholds collapsed one after another. The Song troops in the military strongholds were continuously killed by artillery shells and muskets. Their defense lines were bulldozed bit by bit.
A military stronghold was built with great pains, in which hundreds of soldiers used crossbows, crossbows and firearms to resist. However, before they could even launch a counterattack, they were beaten to a pulp by the Ming army's cannons. .
When they finally gained a foothold and prepared to launch a counterattack, another round of artillery fire knocked down their remaining defense and fighting will.
There were almost no Song troops who could continue to fight after two rounds of shelling. The remaining few dared to fight. Some used crossbows, some used bed crossbows, and some used firearms.
There were brave soldiers of the Song Army who fired arrows when the Ming Army was advancing, but they were blocked by sword and shield men, and the number was too small to pose any threat.
Some Song soldiers roared and used bed crossbows to shoot at the Ming army formation. They did fire one or two large crossbow arrows, posing some threat to the Ming army formation, but they were quickly destroyed and could not continue firing.
As for firearms, they are better than nothing, mainly just to hear the sound.
The thunderbolts used by the Song Army were loud and could occasionally cause some fire effects, but they were too weak, and many of them were dumb cannons. Fire caltrops was somewhat effective. It contained gunpowder, which could be ignited and then exploded. .
The iron shell is not very powerful, but the porcelain shell is surprisingly lethal. A few people in the attacking phalanx Ming army were injured by the broken porcelain pieces.
As for other fireballs, rockets and other firearms, there is a dazzling array of them. In terms of quantity, there are quite a few.
Large-scale use may have some effect, but after being bombarded by artillery, there were few living people in the Song Army's military camp, and even fewer persisted in fighting. Facing the overwhelming advantage of the Ming Army's formation, they were basically beaten without using firearms for the second time. died.
During the entire battle, Xu Tong even felt that the time it took for the army to defeat the military stronghold was not even as long as the time it took for the generals and artillery to readjust and deploy.
If it weren't for waiting for the huge and cumbersome general cannon to be moved from its original position to a new firing position and then prepared for firing, perhaps there would not be such a long wait.
After suffering minor casualties, at sunset that day, He Feihu once again led his troops to defeat three Song Army strongholds.
