After the Song army crossed the Huaihe River, the 300,000-strong army marched northward, and the vanguard soon reached Pizhou and Haizhou.
Wang Wentong learned the news in Jinan and immediately sent a messenger to report to Zhao Tai. At this time, under Zhending City, the Qi army's artillery group was bombarding the city wall.
Hundreds of artillery carts kept swinging their throwing arms, throwing stone bullets weighing dozens of kilograms and smashing them against the city wall. The wall was immediately filled with dust.
At this time, Zhao Tai stood in the camp, watching the stone bullets peeling off the wall bricks, and the splashed gravel falling on the moat, causing a white splash, and he felt a little shocked in his heart.
The power of this Pizhou cannon is probably not much worse than that of artillery. No wonder a fortified city like Xiangyang cannot withstand its bombardment.
At this time, Zhao Tai was looking at the top of the city. Wang Bin suddenly came to him and handed Zhao Tai a military report.
"Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from Jinan. The Song Army has crossed the river!" Zhao Tai took the military report, took a quick look at it, and then put away the general report. There was no abnormality on his face. He just whispered: "I know, the news is temporary. The whole army is keeping it secret!" Wang Bin nodded, and then he and Zhao Tai stared at the head of Zhending City.
At this time, after many days of bombardment, the Zhending city wall was already overwhelmed. From time to time, screams and exclamations of soldiers could be heard from the top of the city, as well as the sound of masonry collapsing.
Through the smoke and dust, Wang Bin saw that the city wall was riddled with holes. The bricks peeled off in many places, exposing the soil inside. He couldn't help but smile and said: "With this sharp weapon, your Majesty, there is probably no strong city in the world that cannot be taken down." Zhao Tai He said in a deep voice: "This city wall has been bombarded for many days and is already in dilapidated condition. If it collapses today, I will definitely force Wokuotai out of his true samadhi!" At this time, within the bombarded city wall, nearly ten thousand Mongolian troops were on the back of the wall. Assembling not far away, the Mongolian soldiers held shields and scimitars, staring at the city wall, feeling the vibration of the city wall. Every stone bullet hitting the city wall was like hitting their hearts.
In front of the city wall, nearly ten thousand Qi troops also formed a dense formation, also staring closely at the city wall. Both soldiers had a premonition that the city wall would not last long.
At this time, every stone bullet that hit the city wall seemed to hit the hearts of both armies. The Mongolian army was so hit that it made their hearts tremble, but the Qi army was like a drum beating, and their blood boiled every time.
"Boom!" Suddenly the city wall was hit by a group of artillery, and there was a loud noise. A section of the city wall suddenly fell down, and smoke and dust billowed up.
"Collapsed! The city wall collapsed!" The city wall collapsed, and thick smoke and dust rose into the sky, completely submerging the entire city wall. When the two soldiers saw this, they exclaimed almost at the same time.
The Mongolian army was frightened, while the Qi army was excited. The collapse was a signal. In the Qi army formation outside the city, which had been arrayed for a long time, drums were beating loudly. The nearly 10,000 Qi army infantry carried the city ladder and pushed the shield cart to advance towards the collapse place.
Among the Mongolian troops in the city, Subotai drew his scimitar and pointed forward.
"Warriors, block the gap for me!" Nearly ten thousand Qi troops advanced. When the infantry arrived at the moat, sporadic arrows were shot from the top of the city. Qi soldiers held up their shields and shot flying bridges over the river, and then Stepping on the flying bridge, I ran into the diffuse smoke and dust.
At this time, when the vanguard rushed straight into the gap in the city wall, the Qi army's shield chariot arrived at the bottom of the city. A large number of archers immediately hid behind the shield chariot and fired arrows at the city to suppress the Mongolian troops on the walls on both sides of the gap.
The Qi army's shield car was a vehicle used to transport grain and grass, with a wooden board taller than a person. The archers hid behind it and threw arrows towards the top of the city, so that they would not be exposed to the Mongolian army's bows and arrows.
This time, taking advantage of the suppression of the Mongolian army at the top of the city, they rushed towards the Qi army at the collapsed site and climbed up along the collapsed slope.
Behind the collapse, densely packed Mongolian troops rushed upward like ants. The two sides seemed to be competing to see who could climb to the top first.
The Mongolian army was close to the collapse. They took the first step to occupy the high point of the slope, but before they could form their formation, the Qi army's forwards had already touched down.
The Mongolian soldiers hurriedly stabbed with their spears. The Qi soldiers in front were stabbed and were unable to stand steadily and fell down. However, the soldiers behind immediately rushed up with their shields. The Mongolian scimitar slashed, but it had no effect, and was instead struck by the shield. The spear thrust out from behind hit him, and he screamed and rolled down.
The soldiers of Qimeng and Meng's armies fell in front and filled in behind. The two sides fought fiercely at the collapse. Soldiers continued to die, and their bodies rolled down the slope.
The Mongolian army occupied a favorable location and blocked the Qi army in the gap. The soldiers on both sides fell into a fierce fight. At this time, the artillery group in the Qi army camp was replaced with thunderbolts that were lighter than stone bullets.
When the Qi army used artillery carts, they had a clear understanding of the range of the artillery carts. How far multiple artillery stones could be fired was recorded in the operation manual, and the artillery stones were also divided according to different weights.
Now the Qi army and the Mongolian army were strangled together under the city. The artillery group could not continue to bombard the city wall, so they replaced it with thunderbolts that could be thrown farther.
"Fifteen kilograms of sky-shaking thunder! Thirty steps behind the gap, fire!" The officer ordered the flag to be waved down, and the artillery group's arms swung in unison.
Thunderbolts soared into the sky, roared over the city, and landed behind the city wall. Immediately behind the city, white light burst out, black smoke billowed, and there was an explosion.
"rumble". The Mongolian soldiers on the back of the gap suffered a devastating blow in an instant, and the dense Mongolian army was overturned in pieces.
The bombardment of the Qi army's artillery group isolated the Mongolian army's reinforcements for the gap in the city. As soon as the Qi army's soldiers exerted their strength, they saw the Mongolian army occupying the high ground driven down.
Seeing that the Qi army was about to break through the gap, Subotai immediately roared,
"Come on, hold on!" The Mongolian soldiers could only take the risk and rush through the artillery strike area to reinforce the gap. For a time, the Mongolian army suffered heavy casualties.
The battle lasted from day to night, with the Qi army retreating in a hurry, and the Mongolian army hurriedly cleaning up the corpses and repairing the gaps.
At this time, in Zhendingzhou Yamen, Wo Kuotai listened to Subotai's report with a dark face.
"Great Khan, in order to hold the gap today, we killed nearly a thousand warriors and more than two thousand Han troops!" Subotai looked heavy.
Wokuotai asked with a black face,
"Where are the casualties of Qi's army?" Subotai said, "There should be less than a thousand!"
"How come there are so few?" Wo Kuotai found it unreasonable. The Qi army was clearly on the offensive side, so how come the losses were lower than those of the Mongolian army.
Subotai said: "Great Khan, after the Qi army occupied the gap, it was us who attacked. Most of our casualties were killed by the thunderbolts thrown into the city by the Qi army!" Wo Kuotai stood up. , pacing back and forth in the big tent, asking in a deep voice for a long time,
"If the Qi army attacks again tomorrow, can you defend it?" Subotai said: "We have 80,000 people. It is not easy for the Qi army to attack. We are just defending like this. It is a short attack and a long attack. Our casualties are too many." Big. Now that our Mongolian cavalry army has become infantry and was consumed by the Qi army, I think it is better to go out of the city and fight with Zhao Tai in the field." Wo Kuotai was silent for a while before he made up his mind and gritted his teeth and said: "The attack of the Southern Song Dynasty As soon as it starts, I will let Zhao Tai be rampant for a while longer. Pass on this Khan's military order, the infantry will retreat first, the cavalry will be broken up, and then continue to retreat north!"
