Why was it so difficult for the Mongols to attack Xiangyang?
Xiangyang’s terrifying moat is one of the reasons.
The management of Xiangyang in the Southern Song Dynasty made the moat more than 180 meters at its narrowest point.
With such a wide moat, the Mongols had almost no weapons and were able to jump across the moat and attack the Xiangyang city wall.
The Mongols were able to capture Xiangyang, but they still made artillery that could bombard the city wall.
Now Zhao Tai has artillery that can hit the city wall, but it is still very difficult to cross the moat and attack the city.
Although Zhao Tai decided to fill in the river, the project was too big.
Moreover, in the process of filling the river, the Qi army and civilians will suffer huge casualties.
Now, Zhao Tai only had Fancheng in front of him, and Xiangyang on the opposite side was even more difficult to attack, which made Zhao Tai frown.
If Zhao Tai is delayed in Xiangfan for too long, it will not only consume a lot of money, but also eliminate the Song army's fear of the Qi army, making them think that they can fight.
At the beginning of the war, the Song army would be panicked and officials from various places would be panic-stricken, but as time passed, they would gradually regain their composure.
In addition, the civil strife in Mongolia was an opportunity for Zhao Tai to attack the Song Dynasty.
In turn, Zhao Tai's attack on Song Dynasty was also an opportunity for Meng Ge to unify Mongolia.
The Mongolian grassland is flat and there is no need to attack the city. The speed of a war between the two sides will definitely be faster than that of the Qi-Song war.
So Zhao Tai looked at the sand table and felt a little anxious.
"We can't be delayed for too long. We need to find a way to capture Xiangyang and Fancheng as soon as possible." Zhao Tai murmured to himself.
The Qi army's execution ability was very high. After Zhao Tai gave the order, the artillery team built an artillery array under the city overnight.
At the same time, civilians also took advantage of the darkness to push wheelbarrows and dump soil into the moat.
At night, soldiers patrolled the Qi army camp and Fancheng.
Song general Liu Ling led a group of subordinates to patrol the city to prevent the Qi army from stealing the city.
Although the moat was wide and there were soldiers on duty at the top of the city, Liu Zheng was still very wary of the Qi army outside the city.
At the top of the city, groups of soldiers patrolled back and forth with torches, not giving the Qi army a chance to make a sneak attack.
Liu Zheng stood by the city wall, scanning the outside of the city shrouded in night vigilantly, but unfortunately he could not clearly see what was happening below the city.
"With such a wide moat, how could the Qi army make a sneak attack?" Liu Zheng said to himself, feeling that he was too careful.
At this time, he was about to turn around and go down to the city, back to his mansion to sleep, when a sentinel boat suddenly rowed to the bottom of the city.
"Urgent military information, report to the commander as soon as possible!" Sergeant Song on the sentinel ship stood on the bow and shouted to the city.
In order to prevent the Qi army from sneak attacks, Liu Zheng not only arranged for soldiers to patrol the city, but also sent a number of sentry boats to guard the moat.
The Qi army dug soil and filled the river overnight to let the Song soldiers on the sentinel boat hear the movement.
The sentinel boat approached the shore and saw countless figures in the darkness, carrying bags and carts of soil, dumping them into the moat.
The Song Jun sentry boat was shocked when they saw this and hurriedly rowed back to report.
Liu Zheng just turned around, heard the call and walked back to the city wall, leaned out and asked, "I am Liu Zheng, do you have any military information?"
"Reporting to the officials in charge, the bandits are taking advantage of the cover of night to fill in the river!"
Liu Zheng was shocked, but he had no means to stop the Qi army from filling the river.
The moat was so wide that the Qi army's weapons could not reach the city wall, and the Song army's bows and arrows could not reach the other side.
The artillery of the Song Army was able to attack the troops filling the river, but unfortunately gunpowder was expensive. Even if he was as wealthy as the Southern Song Dynasty, he could not easily consume gunpowder.
The next day, fish white appeared in the east, and the view of the Song army at the top of the city gradually became clearer.
Liu Zheng stood up, leaned on the wall stacks and looked around. He saw the Qi army on the other side of the moat, using sandbags to build multiple artillery arrays, and the dark muzzles were aimed at the city head.
Between the artillery arrays built with sandbags, countless civilians pushed carts, carried earthbags, and poured earth into the moat.
During this night, the land had extended about three feet into the moat.
Liu Zheng had a dark face and stared into his eyes. At this rate, the Qi army would be able to fill up a section of the moat within a month.
"Go! The reporting system is in place, sir!" Liu Zheng snorted coldly and casually ordered one of his subordinates.
"Boom!" As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden blast from the artillery array outside the city, and a cloud of white smoke rose up.
Liu Zheng shrank his neck and saw a cannonball roaring out of the muzzle and flying towards Fancheng at a speed that was difficult to catch with the naked eye.
However, the cannonball missed the city wall and landed in the moat, causing a water column several feet high.
In the Qi army's artillery array, when the gunner saw that one shot missed, the officer immediately ordered the angle to be adjusted.
Not long after, the Qi army's artillery array fired again, and as a shell hit the city wall, the artillery lined up in the artillery array suddenly opened fire.
"Boom, boom, boom" thunderous cannon sounds rang out, and the rising smoke formed a wall of white smoke. Nearly a hundred artillery pieces smashed against the city wall. The scene was extremely shocking.
If this was the first time the Qi army used the city wall, the Song army might have been frightened and surrendered directly.
For a moment, Fancheng was shaken by the smashing, and bricks fell from the city wall.
Seeing this, Liu Zheng immediately waved his hand, "Fire back with artillery!"
The artillerymen of the Song Army at the head of the city immediately lit the fuse and started an artillery battle with the Qi Army's artillery team.
In the Qi army camp, Zhao Tai put away his telescope and looked a little solemn.
"Although the walls of Fancheng are strong, they were not built with the intention of preventing artillery attacks. Now that the king has ordered the artillery to bombard them, I think the walls will not last long. Why are the kings worried?" Wang Bin asked doubtfully.
Zhao Tai raised his finger and pointed at the city wall and moat, "The river filling project is too big. With the current manpower, we can barely fill in a two-mile-long moat in the front. This means that my army of more than 100,000 can only fill in the moat from the front." The army cannot attack here at all, and even if this section of the city wall collapses, it will be difficult to rush in."
Wang Bin thought for a while and couldn't help but nodded.
To attack other cities, the Qi army can attack from multiple sides, while the defenders need to divide their troops for defense.
When attacking Fancheng, because the moat was too wide, the Qi army could only attack from the filled-in river section.
In this way, the Song army only needs to defend this section of the city wall.
Zhao Tai continued: "This is only Fancheng, and Xiangyang on the other side is even more difficult to attack. I am worried that I will be dragged here by the Mongolian Communist Party!"
Wang Bin shook his feather fan and said, "Your Majesty wants to make a quick decision, but given the current situation, it is unlikely that he will make a quick decision, unless~"
Zhao Tai looked at him, "Unless what?"
Wang Bin said: "Unless the defenders collapse internally and surrender voluntarily, or find a way to get them out of the city for a decisive battle, there will be no chance of quickly seizing the city."
Zhao Tai thought deeply and wanted to copy the Battle of Changping, but Zhao Tai thought about it, but there was no way to achieve it.
He had considered a divorce plan, but the Southern Song Dynasty probably wouldn't fall for it.
After all, Zhao Yun must have trusted the Mongolian Communist Party when he appointed the Mongolian Communist Party as the envoy of Jinghu System and responsible for the defense of Jingxiang.
Moreover, in the current situation, Zhao Yun had a hole in his head, so he would replace the Meng Cong.
