Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

Chapter 237 Bombardment of Tongguan

Wokuotai left himself an army of 50,000 people, and the original garrison of Lintao Mansion was 10,000 people. If he transferred 10,000 herdsmen cavalry from the Qinghai grasslands, there would be a full force of 70,000 people.

To be honest, with 70,000 troops facing an army of 150,000, the number of enemies is twice that of our own. But Zhang Yong felt that there was no problem in defending the city.

There are also more than 40,000 defense troops in other areas. If the troops are not enough, they will be able to support them when the time comes.

"Father-in-law! If you give me 50,000 troops, plus my own 20,000 troops, there will be no problem in gathering 70,000 troops to defend this place." Zhang Yong nodded.

"Just defending is not enough. If you only have 7 or troops, then just defend. But what about the troops? Of course, we must annihilate all the hundreds of thousands of Southern Song troops.

Can't you do it? Don’t forget, back then the two of us only led 20,000 people, and 20,000 people defeated Song’s 50,000-strong army. Now there are 70,000 people. Do we need to be afraid of them?

Moreover, most of them are cavalry, and only your 10,000 defenders are infantry. Instead of hiding in the city, it is better to go out and give them a showdown, and annihilate all these Southern Song armies here. "Wokuotai said.

Are you kidding me? He left 50,000 troops here for this guy Zhang Yong. He didn't just want this guy to fight defensively. The mission of this guy is to kill me.

After hearing what Wo Kuotai said, Zhang Yong also fell into thinking. He said that there was an army of 150,000, but the actual number of troops that could fight was only 100,000.

The remaining 50,000 people, to put it bluntly, are just the field troops and even civilians used to make up the number of people.

If we can really annihilate all these 150,000 troops, that would be great. This is also a good time for us to take over the land of Sichuan and Shu.

By then, the defensive power of Sichuan and Shu will definitely be unprecedentedly weak. The original plan to send troops to seize Sichuan and Shu after the fall of the Jin Kingdom can be brought forward.

But if this is the case, he must stay here to command the army. He cannot go with Wokuotai to besiege Tongguan. If he does not go to besiege Tongguan, can they win?

"Father-in-law, do you want me to stay here and command the army? And you are going to take the remaining 200,000 troops to besiege Tongguan, right?" Zhang Yong asked.

"No! If you want to go to Tongguan with me, just leave it to other generals." Wo Kuotai said.

Wo Kuotai knew very well about Zhang Yong's military ability. He was very strong, so taking him to Tongguan was the top priority.

So Wokuotai thought carefully and planned to send a Mongolian general with high moral standing and excellent commanding ability to lead an army of 70,000 here to resist the Southern Song Dynasty army.

And let Zhang Yong follow him to Tongguan.

"Father-in-law! In fact, to attack Tongguan, I only need to tell you the method, and you can defeat it yourself. All you need to do is set up all the thunder tubes, and cooperate with the trebuchets to bomb Tongguan day and night. No. It’s too difficult.” Zhang Yong said.

Going to Tongguan by yourself can indeed ensure victory, but your own rear is also very important. If the Mongolian generals sent by Wokuotai are unreliable, wouldn't it be nonsense?

If the Mongolian army's retreat was really cut off by the Southern Song Dynasty, things would be very bad.

"I know what you kid is thinking? Don't worry, just help me command the attack on Tongguan. Once Tongguan is conquered, it doesn't matter if you don't come to participate in the rest of the war to destroy gold.

The shorter you have to help me break through Tongguan, the sooner you can come back and command the battlefield here. I will leave Subotai here to help you guard Lintao Mansion. When you break through Tongguan, I will come back and take over the command. how do you feel? "Wo Kuotai asked.

Zhang Yong thought for a moment and nodded.

"Father-in-law, just do as you say! You will leave General Subotai here to defend, and I will follow you to Tongguan. After conquering Tongguan, I will return to command the battle here." Zhang Yong said.

If the Southern Song Dynasty wanted to successfully implement the strategy, they would definitely have to wait for the Mongolian army to arrive at Tongguan and start fighting before entering the Guanzhong area to attack Lintao Mansion, and they would only need to defeat Tongguan in a short time.

Then you can immediately turn the dock back to resist the Southern Song army, and then you can withdraw your 10,000 people.

The biggest guard of honor in the Southern Song Dynasty was that the Mongolian army was held back by Tongguan. It would take several months or even half a year, but they would never have imagined that Tongguan would be breached by them within a short period of time.

At the same time that Wokuotai's army attacked the Kingdom of Jin, he could also lead the 70,000 to 80,000 troops into the land of Sichuan and Shu.

The most important thing is that Subotai is indeed a famous general, so that he and Ogedai can rest assured here.

"Well! Soldiers are valuable and quick. Without further delay, I will inform Subutai to lead an army of 50,000 to cooperate with your army to station here. Then we will set off immediately and rush to Tongguan." Wo Kuotai said.

In fact, if it weren't for the bad relationship between Tuo Lei, Zhang Yong and himself, leaving Tuo Lei here would be the best choice. Although Tuo Lei doesn't deal with him, his military ability is undoubted.

If Tuo Lei stays here, with these 70,000 people, there will be no problem in annihilating all the hundreds of thousands of Song troops.

such a pity! After all, he had just ascended to the position of Great Khan of Mongolia, so he must keep Tuo Lei by his side, watch him all the time, and never let him take charge of the army alone.

Next, Zhang Yong also issued a personnel mobilization order to gather all the herdsmen in Qinghai and send 10,000 rangers to join Subotai.

Naturally, Subutai had no objection to the order of the new Mongol Khan. He immediately patted his chest and promised Ogedai with his own life that he would definitely guard the retreat of the Mongolian army.

They even used all their strength to annihilate these Southern Song armies.

Ten days later, Wokuotai and Zhang Yong finally arrived at Tongguan City with their army. Zhang Yong had already built a large Mongolian military camp not far from Tongguan City.

And all the grain is stored in Jingzhao Mansion, and it only takes two days to transport it.

"This is the city, Zhang Yong, think about it! When we first arrived here two years ago, we could only sigh in despair, but now we have to knock it down." Wo Kuotai looked at the towering city wall in front of him. , said.

Who would have thought that two years ago you could only look at the towering Tongguan City Wall and sigh, but now you are commanding more than 200,000 grassland troops to besiege this place.

"Father-in-law, let's take a rest here tonight, and tomorrow we will launch a general attack." Zhang Yong said.

"Yes! The whole army is ordered to set up camp. After breakfast tomorrow, the whole army will attack Tongguan immediately." Wo Kuotai said.

Under Wokuotai's order, the Mongolian army began to camp outside Tongguan City.

That night, Zhang Yong's drone took off and observed Tongguan's city defense from a high altitude.

After figuring out some of the troop deployment of the Jin army, the most important thing is to find some locations where kerosene is burned. These will be the key targets for subsequent attacks.

At the same time, after learning that the Mongolian army had arrived at Tongguan, the Southern Song Dynasty army immediately rushed out of Sichuan and Sichuan and rushed towards Lintao Mansion.

Subotai, who was responsible for the defense, led an army of 70,000 to station here to face the Southern Song army.

Early the next morning, around the fifth watch, the Mongolian army began to cook. After eating, it was already dawn.

The unscrupulous cannons donated by Zhang Yong, as well as the unscrupulous iron barrels that the Mongolian army had imitated before, were all pulled out, and a total of more than 70 cannons were placed in front of Tongguan City.

At the same time, a large number of explosive charges and trebuchets also began to be erected.

This time, the Mongolian army did not send envoys into the city to persuade them to surrender, because according to Zhang Yong, they would conduct a round of bombing first and wait until the bombing was completed.

"It is worthy of being known as the most majestic pass in the world. It's not that shocking from a distance, but up close, the city wall is really high!" Wo Kuotai looked at the Tongguan City Wall that was more than ten meters high and said with admiration. said.

Zhang Yong was also interested in seeing the Tongguan city wall when he was traveling in Shaanxi before traveling through it.

But at that time, the Tongguan City Wall had undergone some modern construction, and its height had reached 12 meters. According to some ancient books, the height of the Tongguan City Wall was about 13 to meters.

The thickness is about seven to eight meters, which is indeed a gap that is difficult to cross for the ancient nomads.

Unlike those earthen city walls in the West, the city walls in the Central Plains region are truly copper walls and iron walls. The lethality of trebuchets against such city walls can be said to be extremely small.

But now that there are explosive packets, the situation is completely different. The explosive packets fired by unscrupulous cannons and trebuchets can hit the city towers and cross the towering city walls to attack the defenders in the city.

It is simply unrealistic with current technology to build a cannon that can attack and blast this city wall head-on.

But there is no need to blow up the city wall, destroying your military morale is the most important thing. Within a moment, all the heartless cannons and nearly a hundred catapults had been set up.

The Mongol army was under the city, shouting like a tsunami of mountain alliances.

"General, it seems that the Mongols want to directly attack Tongguan, which is simply wishful thinking," the Jin State deputy general in charge of defending the city said.

"Don't be careless. It is said that the Mongols have a new weapon. The catapults no longer fire burning boulders, but another thing that can explode.

In addition, there are a large number of fires from the sky. The fires from the sky cannot be extinguished unless they are extinguished with sand and soil. They can only wait for it to extinguish naturally, which is very difficult to deal with. Remember to tell the soldiers guarding the city never to use water if they are on fire. "Wanyan Chenglin said.

If the Mongolian army had sent more than 200,000 or even twice as many troops to besiege Tongguan before, he would not be worried.

The city wall of Tongguan is very high, and there are no common people living in the city. It is completely a military fortress. There is a large amount of war materials stored here, as well as sufficient food and grass, enough for them to use for more than a year.

But now with the inextinguishable flame and the small baggage that can explode, the combat effectiveness of the Mongolian army has doubled.

"General, we really have no good way to deal with this kind of thing like theirs. After all, the flames that cannot be extinguished by water are too unbelievable." The deputy general next to him also sighed and said helplessly.

"Great Khan! All the thunder cannons, cannons, and catapults have been set up. We are just waiting for your order and we will begin to attack." A Mongolian messenger came to Wo Kuotai and said.

Wo Kuotai nodded, looked at Zhang Yong beside him, and asked. :

"Zhang Yong! Should we still fight like we did in Lintao Mansion last time? Do we need to send people to attack the city after the bombing is over?"

"Well! Father-in-law! In the first three days, we are not going to send soldiers to attack. Instead, we will carry out fire coverage and suppression strikes. In the first round, I will use my heartless cannon, in the second round, I will use the trebuchet to launch explosive packets, and in the third round, They used a trebuchet to launch gasoline bottles," Zhang Yong said.

Although the city walls of Tongguan are larger and taller, the psychological quality of the soldiers on the city tower is not much better than that of the soldiers in Lintao Prefecture.

A large number of mid-level and high-level officers, and even some low-level commanders, know that gasoline fires cannot be extinguished with water, but ordinary soldiers do not know that once they are on fire, they will definitely be extinguished with water.

There were no gasoline fires in the first two rounds, but the flames produced by ordinary explosions would indeed be extinguished by water, which would create a psychological illusion for the defenders on the tower.

This is a very good strategic method, and it is basically undefendable in this era, because you have no way to defend it.

"How about your flying artifact rises to the sky and directs the cannons to their fuel tanks. Then we will focus on attacking them there." Wo Kuotai said.

"Great Khan, Tongguan and Lintao Prefecture are different. Lintao Prefecture's city wall is not as wide or high as Tongguan Prefecture.

Moreover, there are some giant crossbows equipped on the city wall. If my flying artifact flies over, it will be easily shot down by them. "Zhang Yong shook his head and said.

When we sent out a drone for reconnaissance last night, we almost suffered a big loss.

Regarding Zhang Yong's drone, Jin Guoren suffered several hidden losses, and must have thought of some ways to deal with it.

The best way to deal with it is to put a dozen giant crossbows, the kind that can shoot hundreds of meters away.

It is indeed possible to avoid it when it rises to an altitude of four to five hundred meters, but some situations on the ground cannot be seen very clearly, so the drone flying up now is just a target, and it will definitely be used as a target for the Jin people.

"Well! Anyway, I ordered to use the thunderbolt cannon to bomb the city wall for twelve rounds. Each cannon only fires twelve rounds. It will cool down immediately after that, and then switch to the trebuchet and load the explosive bags for bombing.

We will use gasoline cans later. Today we will not send troops to attack the city, but will use these three weapons to carry out bombardments in turns. "Wokuotai said.

As Wokuotai's war order was issued, seventy flying thunder cannons roared together.

Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!

After a series of violent noises, a large amount of white smoke came out of the Mongolian camp. This is the phenomenon that occurs after black powder is burned. There was a violent explosion on the city wall of Tongguan in the Jin Kingdom.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The first round of salvos caused the Jin people's city walls to burst into flames. The newly improved heartless cannons had a range of about 220 meters.

The explosive packages launched are all standard ten kilograms and round millstone shape.

The projection height has also reached a terrifying thirty meters. In this era, basically no city wall can escape.

The salvo of seventy cannons caused the Tongguan city wall to burst into flames, and countless Jin soldiers were even blown away.

Although the high-ranking officers of the Jin Kingdom tried their best to comfort some of the lower-level soldiers, such shocking movements still frightened them.

There is no way, the violent explosion sound is too powerful for human beings. Even modern people will have great fear when encountering explosions.

The power of a salvo of seventy thunderbolt cannons is no joke. It is a super dimensionality-reducing strike like a divine power descending from the sky.

Moreover, it is still continuous, and every few minutes, a new round of shelling will occur.

More than an hour later, fire and white smoke were everywhere on the city wall of Tongguan.

The soldiers of the Kingdom of Jin were holding buckets and fighting fires everywhere.

After all, it was not a gasoline fire. After discovering that water could extinguish the fire, a large number of lower-level officers, and even some middle- and high-level officers, began to acquiesce to the soldiers' actions.

The barrel of the thunder cannon was already burning red.

If it were fired again, there would be a risk of the barrel exploding. Zhang Yong and Wo Kuotai nodded and withdrew the seventy thunder cannons.

"Start bombing with trebuchets and never stop," Ogedai said.

"It's Khan!"

After the thunder cannons were removed, they were immediately replaced with trebuchets, which fired explosive packets at the city wall of Tongguan from a closer distance for a new round of bombing.

Although trebuchets are not as powerful as thunderbolts and cannons, they are better at launching attacks continuously.

The flames that had just been extinguished began to burn violently again, and a large number of soldiers and some defensive equipment were blown to pieces.

The Jin Kingdom guards quickly ordered the soldiers to move some burning oil, gold juice, rolling logs and fallen rocks down to the city.

Because if we don't retreat, we will be bombed.

The Mongolian strategy completely disrupted the common sense of the Jin people, and the attack on the first day turned out to be just bombing.

No soldiers were sent for frontal siege warfare at all.

They prepared a large amount of falling rocks, fuel, and rolling logs, but they were completely useless. Even some of the arrows placed on the city wall were blown up by the Mongolian explosives.

A brand new way of fighting is often unfavorable in the early stages.

After a round of catapult strikes, the Mongolian soldiers put on gasoline cans and fired at some burning areas.

The flames caused by gasoline this time were the same as in Lintao Mansion before. Many officers wanted to prevent the lower-level soldiers from pouring water on them.

But everyone wanted to survive, and the previous flames were indeed extinguished with water. With a sense of luck, buckets of water were poured on the burning flames of gasoline.

The tragedy began.

(End of this chapter)