manynovel Chapter 1137 Black Technology
Chapter 1137 Black Technology
Chapter 1137 Black Technology
Staying in a strong city for a long time is a taboo for military strategists.
After the Xixia generals learned that the Xihe tribe had mobilized 300,000 troops, they all advised Liang Yimei to retreat.
The Xixia generals' meetings still retained the style of tribal leaders' meetings.
Liang Yi and the other generals sat on the ground without chairs. They passed a large piece of mutton around, cutting it with a knife and sharing it. In the past, they would swear an oath of blood after eating it, and march together the next day.
However, the Dangxiang had now initially completed centralization, and military decision-making power was almost entirely in the hands of Liang Yimai alone.
So there is no need to swear blood oath.
However, the system of tribal deliberation is still retained.
In the tribal deliberative system, although the tribal leaders were intimidated by Liang Yimei's tyranny, they still retained the straightforward deliberative style of the grassland peoples and took turns advising each other to withdraw their troops.
Liang Yi glanced at the Lanzhou city outside the tent and fell into deep thought.
He wanted to replicate the victory of the Battle of Mingsha City. The victory in the war against Song Dynasty could consolidate the internal rule and suppress the domestic opposition, which would bring together the scattered Dangxiang.
If you fail, you will lose face.
The last time he was defeated by Zhang Yu at the Battle of Taoshui, he was forced to let Li Bingchang take power under domestic pressure.
Liang Yi thought about it again and again and decided to respect the military order as much as possible. He stuck the knife into the meat and promised the generals that they would use all their strength to attack the city for another three days, and if they failed, they would withdraw.
……
In Lanzhou city.
After years of fighting, Li Hao and Wang Wenyu knew that the strength of the Dangxiang should not be underestimated.
In terms of military industry, the swords, sabers and armor made by the Dangxiang were better than those of the Song Army. The Western Xia swords and horses were the best in the world. Even the Shenbi bow, which the Song Army was proud of, was learned from the Dangxiang.
The armour of the Tanguts was far superior to that of the Song army. Their wart-shaped armour was recorded in history as "all cold-forged, strong, smooth and shiny".
When Han Qi was the commander-in-chief of the army on Jingyuan Road, he took out a set of Dangxiang wart armor and ordered his men to shoot at it with strong crossbows. However, the arrows could not penetrate it from a distance of more than fifty steps (this item was made with cold forging technology, which had not yet been learned in the Song Dynasty).
This set of armor directly caused the Mo Dao and Tang Dao to withdraw from the stage of history. Only the Shenbi Bow and the heavy axe could pose a threat to the Xixia Iron Harriers and the Jurchen Iron Pagoda.
The word "Beiwei" in the Western Army's Beiwei Army is also a Dangxiang language. It was established by the Western Army learning and imitating the Dangxiang military system (most of the Four Generals of the Restoration came from the Western Army, and they also adopted the same name to establish the Beiwei).
The Dangxiang also had whirlwind cannons.
The Western Xia attached much more importance to military industry than the Song Dynasty. When the Song Dynasty envoys went to visit Li Yuanhao, they heard the sound of iron hammering coming from beside his palace.
On the contrary, the Military Equipment Bureau of the Song Dynasty is difficult to describe.
Half of the corruption cases exposed in Fuyan Road this time were related to embezzlement of military equipment.
The military equipment supervisory in the capital was reformed by Lü Huiqing, Zhang Yue and Shen Kuo successively, and the previous bad practices were improved. Before that, Zhang Yue and Lü Huiqing found a corruption case in the military equipment supervisory, where good bows were changed into cheating bows and disassembled and sold privately for money.
Although several people were punished in this case, further investigation was stopped by the government.
Li Hao and Wang Wenyu looked at the Dangxiang troops gathered outside the city with grim expressions.
"The Western thief is serious this time."
“Even the Iron Kites are moving.”
Li Hao and Wang Wenyu looked at each other.
"What is the governor thinking?"
"I want to build a house in Xingdaofang in the inner city of Bianjing."
Wang Wenyu said, "I heard that's where Grand General Zhang and Junior General Zhang live. Every inch of land is worth a ton of gold!"
Li Hao said: "Yes, if we win this battle, I will personally ask the emperor to make a petition. It doesn't matter if we lose the game! What about you?"
Wang Wenyu smiled and said, "I don't have your ambition. It would be nice to have a big house in Qinzhou City."
Li Hao and others saw that there were more than a dozen artillery positions in the west of Lanzhou City compared to yesterday, and the place where many armored soldiers gathered was where Liang Yimai and dozens of other Dangxiang generals were.
These Beiwei soldiers all carried large shields.
Wang Wenyu opened and closed his eyes and said, "Liang Yimai is going to attack the east of the city today. Let me go with him."
Li Hao said: "Go!"
Wang Wenyu led his personal troops to camp on the watchtower in the east of the city. The wooden beams, rolling stones, oil pots and three-bow crossbows were all ready.
These three crossbows are the most powerful weapons of the Song army. The first two crossbow arms are mounted upright, and the last crossbow arm is mounted reversely. The arrows are like guns. Seeing the Dangxiang soldiers attacking the city, the sound of a winch turning can be heard from the top of the city.
There are more than a dozen Song soldiers stringing the three-bow crossbow.
This was the weapon that killed the Khitan general Xiao Dalin. If this three-bow crossbow were to hit your body, it would be useless even if you were wearing three layers of wart armor.
Knowing the importance of Lanzhou, the Military Equipment Supervisor and Qinfeng Road Transport Commissioner all piled the best weapons in Lanzhou. How many resources have been accumulated in this tiny place in the past six months.
The sound of the heavy crossbow being slowly wound up was enough to make one's teeth tremble. Then the sound of rumbling drums rang out from the Dangxiang formation. The first few times the soldiers had sweat on their foreheads, but now they were just numb.
Before the siege, the Dangxiang people from Liang Yimai onwards all performed sacrifices. After the shaman burned sheep shoulder bones with mugwort, he was able to determine whether the advance would be auspicious or inauspicious.
Afterwards, several tribal leaders and generals who had failed in the siege in the past few days were tied to wooden pillars. Liang Yimai and his generals drew their arrows and shot them, turning them into hedgehogs.
On the Song army side, monks also climbed up the city wall and chanted scriptures for the soldiers.
The soldiers of the Dangxiang Army who went into battle also recited scriptures silently.
Immediately, the Dangxiang Army launched an attack on Lanzhou City under the urging of war drums. The cannonballs under the city first fired some stone bullets at the top of the city, and then the soldiers carried ladders and sandbags in a skirmish line and charged towards the city wall.
This time, Liang Yimai sent out fresh troops who had not participated in the siege a few days ago. These were Liang Yimai's trusted relatives.
It should be noted that many of those who attacked the city a few days ago were captured Song prisoners or tribesmen who had betrayed the Dangxiang. These people were captured by the capture army. They were also tribesmen who had traded with the Song people along the Lanzhou line, newly attached tribes, and surrendered Song people.
The former was tantamount to seeking death in an open and aboveboard manner, while the latter had to almost commit suicide in order to show his loyalty to Liang Yimei, otherwise he would be tied to a wooden stake and shot to death.
The Song army was also happy to report the killing of these people as casualties in exchange for military merit. This was a tacit understanding between the two families. As for the imperial court, it also turned a blind eye.
Therefore, during the first two days of the siege of Lanzhou, the Dangxiang Army seemed to have suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, but their forces remained intact.
But today, they were replaced by their trusted clansmen. After the attacking troops saw the Dangxiang general who was shot dead in front of the battle line due to unsuccessful siege, these soldiers launched an attack on the city head without fear of death.
Today, the Dangxiang army concentrated their attacks on the east city wall, which is also the place where they attacked most fiercely in recent days.
The day before yesterday, Liang Yimei replaced the capture troops to attack the city wall. These capture troops were both tribal soldiers and not tribal soldiers. These were elite troops temporarily drawn from various tribes by the Dangxiang and were directly commanded by the generals.
Before going into battle, they captured enemy prisoners and used them as laborers, and when going into battle, they were used as supervisory teams.
This was also the purpose of Liang Yi's expedition against Song.
Whenever a tribe was conquered or new surrenders were obtained, the captured soldiers would be used as the vanguard, and they would either die in battle outside the city or be defeated by the Song army.
As long as the Song army is defeated, these newly-attached tribes will become the second line, and the new conquerors will become the vanguard.
As long as they could keep winning, the Tanguts' advantage would grow like a snowball. The later rise of the Jurchens and Mongols all borrowed from this method.
When there were not enough new people, Liang Yimei had to use the capture army to directly attack the east city wall, which shook the city of Lanzhou to a certain extent.
Today this place will once again become the focus of both the attackers and the defenders.
Liang Yi first deployed the capture troops and the allied tribes, while the most elite Imperial Garden Sixth Division and the Royal Guards remained stationary. They were used to monitor and suppress the troops of the rest of the tribes.
The Dangxiang Army had very advanced military technology, and their siege methods were not backward. In addition to cannonballs and cannonballs, they also had goose carts, woven bridges, ladders, etc., as well as methods of digging through walls.
The Dangxiang cannonballs first hit the top of the city wall. Some of the cannonballs were as big as a bucket, and some were as small as a fist. In order to defend against the cannonballs, the Song army covered the top of the city wall with cloth bags filled with chaff, wet horse manure, and nets.
After a round of artillery bombardment, the goose cart was pushed out.
At the beginning of the charge, the Qinsheng Army was shot back by the Shenbi bows of the Song Army, and the Dangxiang army's artillery stones also caused certain casualties to the Song Army, especially a bed crossbow of the Song Army was directly hit by a cannon stone.
A section of the city wall was flattened, and several Song soldiers fell from the top of the city along with flying bricks.
Seeing this, the morale of the captured soldiers was greatly boosted, and arrows rained down on the city walls.
The Dangxiang bows were strong and sharp, and the towers were immediately filled with arrows. Even the bricks on the city walls were cut off by the arrows.
Under the cover of arrows, the Dangxiang soldiers on the front line once again covered themselves with raw cowhide and iron sheets and approached the city to dig the wall. The Song army on the top of the city poured hot oil and wooden beams, which knocked the Dangxiang soldiers unconscious.
Lanzhou City immediately dispatched another 100 archers to the wall. The people in Lanzhou City also knew that they would be doomed if the city was breached, so they were busy carrying soil, stones and arrows and treating the wounded.
Even Wang Wenyu's two concubines joined in, one of whom was pregnant.
Soon, three goose carts approached the city wall. Soldiers were hidden inside the goose carts. When they reached the top of the city, the goose beaks would be on the city wall. The soldiers hidden inside the goose carts shouted and rushed to the top of the city to fight with the Song army.
These goose carts were not afraid of arrows and stones, and even crossbows could not penetrate them. Whenever they reached a city wall, they caused great trouble to the Song army.
In the distance, there were more than a dozen goose carts slowly approaching. Wang Wenyu saw this and shouted, "Where's the Thunderbolt Cannon? Throw it at me!"
Several Song army soldiers under the city wall immediately pulled the cannon rope together, and the cannonball filled with gunpowder flew out instantly.
The thunder bomb exploded near the goose carts of the Dangxiang army, and the affected area spread into a sea of fire. The burning Dangxiang people thrashed and rolled in the sea of fire.
One goose cart after another was burned by the fire bombs from the thunder cannon, and the occasional ones that got close were smashed down by huge rocks thrown by the Song army.
Wooden hammers wrapped in iron nails were thrown down from the top of the city wall, and the Dangxiang soldiers who climbed up the ladders were hit hard.
Seeing the soldiers retreating in the face of the enemy, several Dangxiang generals rode forward to drive them away, drawing their swords and attacking them to prevent them from retreating.
At a distance from the Thunderbolt Cannon, more than a dozen Song soldiers dragged a huge cannonball. The cannonball flew several dozen feet in one breath and hit one of the Dangxiang generals who was shouting and drawing his sword.
The head of this general, who was wearing a red knot on his head and holding a felt helmet with a crescent-shaped shovel in his hands, was as soft as paper in front of the huge rock. The moment he was hit, dozens of people on both sides rushed forward, howling like they were crying for their fathers.
Wang Wenyu clapped his hands and laughed, "Great! We killed another Tangut general!"