20demayo Page 2696
Page 2696
The chieftain of the Mianmen tribe stood on the city wall, looking at the rebel army outside the city with great anger.
Suddenly, a merchant requested an audience and was brought to the chief of the Mianmen tribe, who said, "Commander, I have some connections with the bandit chief; perhaps I can persuade him to surrender."
The chieftain of the Mianmen tribe shook his head: "He will not surrender."
The merchant laughed and said, "We can lie to him and say that there is grain in a certain place, and then the commander-in-chief will lead the army there to ambush them."
“That’s a good idea,” the chieftain of the Mianmen tribe asked. “Where are you from, merchant? Which tribe do you belong to?”
The merchant replied, "My ancestral home is in Baichi City. My family moved to Yanzhou City two generations ago and we no longer belong to any tribe."
“The Longzhou military commander sent people to transport cloth and tea to Yanzhou. I can take some Ming Dynasty goods and then transfer them to Dingzhou to make a little money.”
"We just shipped a batch of goods here this year and sold them when two groups in Dingzhou rebelled. We didn't even have time to bring the money back to Yanzhou."
The chief of the Mianyang tribe sent people to inquire, and it turned out that they were indeed engaged in long-distance trade, and had long-term rental houses to store goods and money.
After some discussion, the chieftain of the Mianmen tribe confiscated the merchant's money.
The merchant, accompanied only by a few trusted men, secretly caught up with Doe's troops, but was quickly bound as a spy.
Upon seeing Duo'e, the merchant immediately revealed his identity: "I took the Chinese name Zhu Baicheng a few years ago."
“I am of Tibetan ethnicity, but my ancestors were actually Han Chinese. The Ming emperor said that people like us should acknowledge our ancestors and return to our roots.”
“My wife, children and elderly parents are all in Lanzhou, where the Shaanxi intelligence station under the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty is located.”
"Did the chief understand what you meant?"
Duo asked suspiciously, "Are you from Liangshan?"
Zhu Baicheng said, "I only took my trusted confidants with me when I left the city. The staff and money in the city were all seized by the Dingzhou Commander."
“He set up an ambush at Camel Harbor and asked me to lead you there.”
"You should not wander off. You should bypass Camel Port and cross the desert and mountains to reach Xia Prefecture."
"Xiao Heda of Xia Prefecture has secretly pledged allegiance to the Ming Dynasty. He will welcome you to join forces with him."
Doe hesitated for a moment.
Zhu Baicheng said, "I will stay by the leader's side. If I lie or deceive, the leader can kill me with one blow."
Doe suddenly put on a smiling face and opened his arms to hug you: "How could I doubt you? I was going to join the Ming Dynasty anyway!"
The next day, Duo'e sent a cavalry force to burn, kill, and plunder in the direction of Camel Harbor, while the main force went in the opposite direction.
They only stopped to wait for the cavalry to return when they reached the edge of the desert, and then plunged into the desert.
After crossing the desert, they launched a surprise attack on the yellow sheepfold on the edge of the desert.
They robbed livestock, freed slaves, and marched ostentatiously northeastward, only to rush southwestward at night.
They then launched a surprise attack on Anqingze (Wushen Banner) and brought their spoils to Wangting Town.
"Don't burn, kill, or loot here. This is Xiao Heda's territory now!" Zhu Baicheng warned.
Outside Xiazhou City, Xiao Heda personally came out to greet him, his face beaming with smiles, saying, "Good lad, you've brought so many people all the way from the desert."
Do'e's core forces consisted of the three tribes, the slaves he rescued along the way, and some scattered herders.
Including the elderly, women, and children, there were more than 10,000 people.
Chapter 3736 Smashing the City Gate
Zhu Baicheng said, "General Xiao, the Ming Dynasty has already dispatched troops to Weifu Military Command, and there will be fighting in Hengshan in the spring."
"You only need to raise an army and hold out this winter, and in the spring you can join forces with the Ming army to attack Xiangyou Military Command."
"What are you defending? We must take the initiative to send troops and seize the iron and steel industry in Xia Prefecture!" Xiao Heda said with a ferocious expression.
He's had enough of the resentment over the years and is eager to defect.
Xiazhou Ironworks was the largest ironworks in Western Xia. It used to be under the jurisdiction of Xiao Heda, but a few years ago it was taken over by Richard's confidants.
By capturing the ironworks in Xia Prefecture, we can acquire a large number of soldiers and armor!
Richard's rescue army was still on its way to Weifu Military Command when the city walls of Tiande Military City were already riddled with cracks.
But it still didn't collapse!
The city walls here are both short and thick, which happens to be the structure most capable of withstanding solid cannonballs.
By the third day of bombardment, the Ming artillerymen had changed their strategy and concentrated their firepower on the southern city gate.
Even if the cannonball misses, it could still hit the city gate tower above, as well as the enemy watchtowers, parapets, and battlements on both sides of the tower.
Before the Ming Dynasty, city gates could be destroyed along with the walls.
It is not the brick-built arched city gate that people imagine.
Most of the city gates in the Song Dynasty still used wooden beams and pillars, which was obviously because they had never suffered from cannon fire.
Or rather, the extensive use of artillery had not yet altered the various architectural structures and materials of the city walls.
The city gate was only one of the structures; there were other auxiliary buildings as well.
For example, the battlements on the city walls were replaced with brick walls during the Ming Dynasty to protect against artillery fire, and the old-fashioned battlements were replaced with cantilever structures.
In the late Ming Dynasty, even semi-circular gun emplacements and sculpted gun ports on the parapet were designed to defend against muskets and cannons used by the attacking forces.
In addition, the enemy stations are also different.
Most of the watchtowers on the city walls of the Song Dynasty were solid, and the defenders could only transport troops via horse trails, making the siege much easier.
In the Ming Dynasty, enemy watchtowers were often converted into hollow structures, allowing the defenders to quickly deploy troops within them, which exponentially increased the difficulty of attacking the city.
On the sixth day of the artillery bombardment, the south gate wall of Tiande City collapsed, along with the city tower above it.
The reason is simple: it's a standard Tang and Song dynasty style wooden beam city gate.
The timber used for the beams and pillars was very thick, but if it were hit by cannonballs dozens of times, the city gate could be crushed by the city tower and city wall above it!
However, the actual result was difficult for both the attackers and defenders.
The city walls did collapse, but no breach was created; even the gate openings were blocked with rammed earth and timber. How could the attacking side not be frustrated?
The defenders were even more frustrated. The city towers facing the enemy had collapsed, and half of the enemy watchtowers on both sides had also collapsed, and the horse path had also been partially destroyed.
In other words, the two central ramps of this city wall were destroyed, requiring troops to be mobilized from a great distance for defense, and making it impossible to quickly deploy reserves when suppressed by the vanguard.
Yue Fei observed through his telescope: "We no longer need to wait for the city walls to collapse. We can attack the city now. We only need to use two cloud ladders and more than ten flying ladders."
Han Shizhong understood what he meant: "Directly attack the enemy's position?"
Yue Fei said, "Continue to bombard the walls on both sides of the enemy platform. First, to suppress the defenders on the city walls, and second, to destroy those parapets."
"Then have the cavalry of all ethnic groups launch volleys at the city walls, while our elite Ming troops seize the opportunity to attack the enemy's watchtowers."
Chapter 3737 Working Together from Inside and Outside
Enemy watchtowers, also known as watchtowers, can be built independently or attached to the city wall.
For example, every so often along the Great Wall, there are castle-like structures; those "castles" are actually watchtowers.
Many of the protrusions on the city wall were also watchtowers, with battle platforms (which served as arrow towers and could also be used for observation) built on top of them.
The battlements are connected to the city through watchtowers and horse trails, allowing for the rapid transport of troops. They can also house many reserve units and even hide small groups of cavalry.
Generally speaking, the attacking side will not attack the enemy's watchtowers, and even if they do climb up, they cannot hold their ground, allowing the defending troops to continuously attack.
If it were a hollow watchtower like those from the Ming Dynasty, it would be an even greater nightmare for the attacking side.
This moment was quite fitting, for the city gate tower had collapsed, and the battlements on the enemy platform had long since been bombed down.
The parapet on the enemy platform was almost completely destroyed, and the ramp connecting it to the enemy platform was also inevitably damaged.
"Boom boom boom!"
The artillery continued to bombard, but the target had changed.
Thousands of nomadic cavalry from various ethnic groups, in groups of two to three hundred, took turns hurling arrows at the city walls.
They rushed forward to fire arrows during lulls in the artillery barrage, firing two arrows before retreating.
The cannons continued to bombard the city walls, and the defenders were so suppressed that they dared not even raise their heads.
Two siege ladders and a large number of parapets slowly advanced towards both sides of the south gate.
The main force attacking the city consisted of Ming infantry that were subsequently transferred in, as well as many Ming cavalrymen who dismounted.
Once a certain distance was reached, the artillery fire stopped completely, for fear of accidentally injuring friendly forces.
Countless young men from the grasslands rode forward on horseback and continued to shoot arrows at the city wall.
This time they switched to iron arrows and forbade the use of bone and stone arrows.
The defending troops, whose parapets had been destroyed, could only lie prone on the city walls.
Someone picked up the arrow and cried out in terror, "It's an iron arrowhead! The enemy is going to attack the city!"
Of course we have to attack the city! We've already pushed the siege ladders over there!
However, these garrison soldiers dared not get up, and they still hadn't seen the location of the siege ladder.
Yeli Degui saw it, and he lay on a watchtower some distance from the city gate: "Order the chieftains of the Qigan and Guru tribes to lead their elite troops to defend the watchtower at the city gate!"
"They've come from all three sides!"
But then they saw tens of thousands of able-bodied men from the grasslands carrying incredibly simple wooden ladders, attacking the city from the southeast and west.
Most of these grassland herders don't wear armor, and their siege ladders are utterly worthless.
Moreover, after rushing close to the city wall and being shot a few times, they were so frightened that they threw away the wooden ladder and turned to run away, which was purely for the sake of creating atmosphere and increasing the sense of participation.
But the defenders had no choice but to be on guard!
Yelü Erlitu was so anxious that he sent his son to find the spy: "Go and ask that Guo guy quickly. He said that he would defect the day after the city wall collapsed and a breach appeared. Now that there is no breach, what should we do if the Ming army attacks the city?"
Guo Sichang was also very anxious. His current identity was that of a herdsman from a tribe near Baotou.
Having received the defensive assignment at this moment, it's impossible for him to wander around contacting other units.
What makes things even more difficult is that his defense zone does not face the Ming army, but only defends the grassland tribes that are dependent on the Ming army.
They had absolutely no idea about the Ming army's progress in attacking the city!
The chieftain Yelü Luma asked, "Brother Guo, what should we do?"
Guo Sichang said, "Let's act immediately. If we act, the other tribes will follow suit. Quickly raise the white flags and wave them!"
A plain white flag is a flag without any words on it. It is used as a signal to defect and is less likely to be mistaken for a real flag. It is also easier to find the fabric for it.
Chapter 3738 Taking the City
"Kill the Tanguts!"
Yelü Luma and his brothers each led half of their tribesmen and charged towards the guards on both sides.
Another person held up a plain white flag and waved it, while another person stretched the plain white flag out of the city and waved it.
At the corresponding Ming army watchtower outside the city, a lookout immediately used binoculars to assess the situation.
"Send the order immediately! There is a group of defenders defecting and fighting on the second enemy watchtower south of the east city gate."
"Send the soldiers from the nearby grasslands to attack and seize the city!"
Of course, the issuance of flag commands couldn't be so complicated.
However, they were able to pinpoint the general location and indicate that some of the garrison had defected.
"Brother, that Guo fellow has made his move!"
"We heard it, we saw it, so let's take action too."
Xiao Lufen, however, was in the city as part of the reserve force, keeping a close eye on Guo Sichang's direction.
Ahead of him were the elite Tangut troops, who were heading towards the city wall via the horse path.
To preserve his strength, Xiao Lufen dared not engage in direct combat with the elite Tangut troops.
Instead, they charged into the city with plain white flags and went to kill a group of Tangut women who were carrying supplies.