Chapter 413: The Artillery Attacks

Weicheng.

While the soldiers were setting up camp, Zhao Xu rode his horse in a circle around the entire city to observe the strength of the Xiliang forces on the city walls.

Just like the last battle at Jinzhou, the Xiliang soldiers seemed to have no changes.

The only difference was that all four sides of the city walls were packed with dense crowds of soldiers.

This time, they were clearly very well prepared.

"It is said that the grain and fodder inside Weicheng are enough to last for half a year; Xiliang intends to wear us down." Ma Han accompanied Zhao Xu; this was the intelligence he had obtained.

Zhao Xu nodded. Facing the Northern Expedition army of Da Song alone, Xiliang's military strength was undoubtedly stretched thin.

Adopting defensive measures of deep trenches and high ramparts was not wrong.

At the same time, while consuming the Da Song army in this way, this could also provide the Northern Di with sufficient time for preparation and planning.

Just then, Chang Wei rode over and said, "Your Highness, the last general has already buried thirty thousand ambush troops to the east of the city; we only wait for the camp to be set up to begin the siege."

"Very good, tell the generals that we attack the city tomorrow." Zhao Xu issued an order to Chang Wei.

Chang Wei knew the terrain of Weicheng like the back of his hand.

On the four sides of Weicheng, there was a forest to the east of the city suitable for an ambush.

This time, while attacking Weicheng, they had already decided on the strategy on the road.

It was still to surround three sides and leave one open; his goal was very clear, which was to take Weicheng as quickly as possible and make this a forward outpost for the war, so as to avoid being caught in a pincer attack if the Northern Di army arrived suddenly.

If the grain supply route were cut off by Northern Di cavalry at that time, it would be even more troublesome.

Therefore, for this first battle, he only sought speed, not how many enemies could be killed.

In warfare, one must consider the overall strategy, rather than the fighting at small nodes.

Ma Han had no objections to Zhao Xu's order, and the Ma Family generals had no objections either.

They had fought battles with Chang Wei before, and at that time, the Prince's Personal Army had crushed Ma Jin's soldiers like dry wood.

In their view, if one wanted to survive this war, listening to Yan Wang was definitely the right thing to do.

At this moment.

On the walls of Weicheng, a Xiliang general frowned as he looked at the soldiers outside the city.

Seeing the great banner of Yan Wang erected in the camp again, he clenched his fists.

"The Emperor entrusted me with the strongest one hundred thousand troops of the Xiliang army to resist Yan Wang; I must not let the Emperor down." Thinking of this, the leader Anxi gritted his teeth.

After losing one hundred and fifty thousand elites in Jinzhou, there were still three hundred thousand troops left in Xiliang.

For this war, another one hundred thousand soldiers were temporarily recruited and trained.

After the Northern Expedition army of Da Song moved north, Xiliang naturally mobilized.

The one hundred thousand elite imperial guards garrisoning Wuwei could not be moved, as they needed to defend Wuwei.

Xiliang sent two hundred thousand veteran soldiers and newly recruited soldiers to Qinzhou.

Among them, one hundred thousand veterans were led by Gule to garrison Xian City with the Ma Family elites.

One hundred thousand new recruits were commanded by the leader Wuyan to garrison Weng City.

Only he was given the elites among the one hundred thousand veterans to station in Weicheng; these one hundred thousand troops were all Xiliang people, with no miscellaneous soldiers like the conscripted laborers.

Before departing,

His Majesty the Emperor ordered him to defend Weicheng at all costs and drag out the Yan Wang's troops as much as possible.

If Yan Wang bypassed Weicheng, he was permitted to take the initiative to attack, cut off the opponent's grain route, and force Yan Wang to stay and fight.

"Everyone, keep your spirits up! The Supervision Team is right behind you; whoever dares to flee without fighting, they will cut off your heads," Anxi threatened.

Having crawled through the battlefield, he knew very well that once soldiers suffered a heavy blow on the battlefield, the rout would be very rapid; only by using the Supervision Team could they be supervised.

Sure enough, when the soldiers heard this, their backs straightened up much more.

Then, he walked down the city wall and came to the city gate.

The gate tunnel here had been completely walled up with stones.

The Jinzhuzhizhan proved that sandbags were still easily moved away by enemy soldiers.

Except for this city gate, the other three city gates were the same.

He was determined to defend to the death!

The next day.

In the morning light, white cooking smoke rose from the camp.

The Wangfu Army and the Ma Family soldiers finished their meal and came to the front of the camp under the orders of the generals.

The artillerymen pulled the artillery out of the camp and aimed them at Weicheng.

Zhao Xu stood in front of the western camp gate at this time, holding a telescope to observe.

Chang Wei had patrolled Weicheng once and returned, saying, "Your Highness, the soldiers are all ready."

Zhao Xu nodded, "Attack the city!"

As his order was given, the sound of artillery fire immediately erupted from three sides of the city walls.

This time, the Prince's Personal Army carried three hundred and twelve field artillery pieces of various calibers, from twenty-four pounds to six pounds.

The Ma Family left some artillery to guard Qin Pass and also brought seventy-two artillery pieces.

The Eastern Route Army effectively had nearly three hundred artillery pieces; if the central route were added, this Northern Expedition had mobilized nearly seven hundred artillery pieces.

In the contemporary year of 1597, when Japan invaded Chaoxian and the Ming Dynasty sent troops to support, one thousand two hundred artillery pieces were used at that time.

And the naval duels of modern sailing warships involved thousands of artillery pieces bombarding each other.

Therefore, this number could not be considered very large in a large-scale ancient war.

After all, the power of smoothbore cannons could not be compared with contemporary artillery.

One could only kill the enemy on a large scale by quantity.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The Artillery outside the three sides of the city wall opened fire almost simultaneously.

This first wave of bombardment was aimed at the city gate.

After continuous shelling, the wooden city gate was quickly riddled with holes like a hornet's nest and collapsed with a "creak."

At this moment, Zhao Xu saw what was inside the city gate.

"The Xiliang people have actually bricked up the city gate; they are prepared to fight to the death!" Chang Wei shouted.

Zhao Xu and Ma Han saw it too, and both of them frowned at the same time.

"Order the Artillerymen to find a point on each of the three sides of the city wall to bombard," Zhao Xu said.

There was no longer any need to continue shelling the city gate; it would only be a waste of time, so it was better to simply find weak points in the city wall and blast them down.

Then he continued to give orders, "Have the soldiers fill Sandbags and create a path across the moat."

The moat in front of Weicheng had clearly been widened.

The soil by the riverbank was even still fresh.

In order to resist this Northern Expedition, Xiliang had truly put in a lot of effort.

However, as the saying goes, when soldiers come, block them; when water comes, earth covers it.

For this siege, they could only counter move for move.

Since Xiliang blocked the city gate, he would blast down the city wall.

Since they widened the river channel, he would fill the river channel up.

"Commander, Qin Shan, you each dispatch two thousand soldiers to fill Sandbags and fill the river," Chang Wei ordered.

Acknowledging the order, Commander and Qin Shan left.

Seeing that the moat was within the range of the Xiliang Archers, filling the river would certainly invite attacks.

He therefore had Chang Wei order the Artillerymen to roll out all one hundred and twenty Mortars, with forty assigned to each side of the city wall.

They would cover the soldiers as they threw the Sandbags into the moat while filling it.

Before the expedition, both Chang Wei and Commander had naturally considered the moat, so the Baggage Train contained sacks and shovels.

Before long, the Ma Family soldiers appeared in front of the camp carrying bags filled with mud and sand.

Zhao Xu gave Chang Wei a look, and Chang Wei immediately ordered the Artillerymen to use the Mortars to attack the Xiliang soldiers on the city wall.

"Shrapnel Shells!"

A Lime Bomb is a hollow Cannonball filled with Lime, while a Shrapnel Shell is a hollow Cannonball filled with steel balls, iron nails, and the like.

These two types of Cannonballs were put into use on the battlefield in the eighteenth century.

Artillerymen of the Napoleonic era often used these two types of Cannonballs to kill and injure the enemy.

And the best effect for both of these Cannonballs is to explode in the air, rather than exploding upon hitting the ground.

Upon receiving the order, the Artillerymen estimated the distance to the city wall, rotated the Wooden Fuse, and inserted it into the Mortar.

"Thump, thump, thump..." The Mortars spat out Flame, sending the Shrapnel Shells high into the air, and after reaching a maximum height, the Shrapnel Shells fell.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

More than ten Shrapnel Shells fell inside the city wall and exploded, and another seven or eight exploded in front of the city wall.

In the end, more than twenty Cannonballs exploded in mid-air within the designated area.

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