Chapter 614: Encirclement of Jiang Ling
Chapter 614: Encirclement of Jiang Ling
Five thousand soldiers abandoned their horses and lined up behind the catapult to protect it. If the horses were too close, they would not be able to withstand the sound of the explosion and would be frightened, so the cavalry were lined up five miles away.
"shooting!"
At the captain's command, the soldiers used torches to light the iron fire mines on the catapults. The fuse burned with a hissing sound, and when it burned to the red line, the catapults suddenly fired, throwing three black iron fire mines towards the north gate.
The large catapult was not as accurate as the small and medium-sized catapults. Only one iron fire mine hit the city gate, while the other two hit the tower above.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three iron fire mines exploded in succession. The blast was deafening and filled the air with smoke. The defenders on the city walls were caught off guard. The huge explosion made many people's hearts and ears unable to bear it, and they screamed and squatted down.
The first round of attack caused serious consequences. Only a few ruins were left of the city tower. The main body was blown away, and bloody corpses were everywhere. Nearly a hundred people were killed.
Half of the city gate below was blown off, leaving only half of the door. The suspension bridge was also impacted, and the two iron chains were blown off, causing the suspension bridge to fall heavily.
Fortunately, the commander Zhang Xiu was not near the city wall. He was just frightened and deaf in one ear, and was helped down the city wall by the soldiers.
It was already possible to charge into the city, but Pei Xingyan remained silent. He did not want a street fight to break out, as that would bring devastating disaster to the people in the city.
Pei Xingyan was actually waging a psychological warfare, exerting extreme pressure to cause the enemy's morale to collapse.
Night had fallen. Pei Xingyan sent out 500 cavalrymen to rush forward and shoot 500 arrow-shaped letters into the city. These were letters of persuasion to surrender. The King of Jin was magnanimous and would forgive past mistakes as long as the voluntary surrender took place. He demanded that the surrender be made before dawn tomorrow, otherwise the army would rush into the city and kill everyone.
"emission!"
The second round of iron fire mines was fired and hit the city wall at the same time. "Boom!" With a huge explosion, the city wall collapsed and dust flew. Anlu County was not a strategic location, so brick walls were not used, but mud walls. Many small counties in the inland areas had mud walls. The mud was mixed with straw and placed in a mold to form it. Then it was dried into mud bricks and built into city walls. The cost was very low, but it was enough for normal use. Of course, it could not prevent war.
After five consecutive rounds of catapult attacks, the city wall collapsed for a distance of two miles. The Sui army also stopped the catapult attacks and waited patiently for the enemy to come out and surrender.
At the first watch, the first batch of 4,000 soldiers, led by General Chen Shuigen, went out of the city to surrender. Soon after, the second and third batches of soldiers went out of the city to surrender. It was as if the floodgates had been opened, and more and more soldiers went out of the city to surrender.
Zhang Xiu paced back and forth in the hall. When he was the governor of Changsha County, he was unwilling to surrender to the King of Jin. Now if he surrendered to the King of Jin again, there would be no good result. But what if he didn't surrender? Would he flee back to the court again? Would the court let him go?
Zhang Xiu felt that he was at his wit's end.
At this time, a soldier came running to report: "Sir, 20,000 brothers have left the city to surrender!"
Zhang Xiu was horrified and asked anxiously, "How many people are there now?"
"There are only 10,000 men left under the command of General Zhang Xing!"
Zhang Xing was Zhang Xiu's brother. The 10,000 troops he led were Zhang Xiu's original troops. They were all young men from the same county and were relatively loyal to Zhang Xiu.
Zhang Xiu hurried to the military camp and met his brother Zhang Xing. Zhang Xing said anxiously, "The morale of the army is about to collapse. Two miles of the city wall have collapsed. It is impossible to hold on. Brother, why don't we retreat from the east gate? How much can we save?"
Zhang Xiu had no choice but to nod and said, "Retreat!"
The East Gate was opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and 10,000 soldiers ran out of the East Gate and headed east into the wilderness. Pei Xingyan left the East Gate open for them to escape. When he learned that the enemy had escaped from the East Gate, he immediately ordered: "Order the troops of Dong Wanchang, Chen Shaolin, and Yao Chun to pursue the enemy. Those who surrender will be spared, and those who resist will be killed without mercy!"
"Woo-woo-woo--" the horns sounded continuously.
Three cavalry units of 5,000 men each set out from the north and south at the same time, urging their horses to gallop into the wilderness. Zhang Xiu's army was in chaos, and the 10,000 soldiers were frightened and ran away. They could not outrun the horses and were soon surrounded by the cavalry.
The Sui cavalry shouted: "Those who surrender will be spared! Those who surrender will be spared!"
The army's morale and spirit completely collapsed, and the soldiers knelt down and surrendered one after another. Zhang Xiu and Zhang Xing led hundreds of their personal soldiers to try to break out from the northeast corner, but they encountered the 5,000 cavalry of Dong Wanchang, the Eagle General.
At this time, Dong Wanchang did not give them a chance to surrender and ordered: "Kill them all, no surrender will be accepted!"
Five thousand cavalrymen fired arrows at once, and hundreds of people including Zhang Xiu's brothers were all shot to death, leaving no one alive.
Pei Xingyan faithfully implemented the instructions of Jin Wang Xiao Xia to force all the enemies to surrender. He accepted the surrender of more than 29,000 soldiers by using the tactic of forcing them to surrender, and killed less than 1,000 enemy soldiers, thus winning a great victory in the Battle of Anlu County.
At the same time, Luo Shixin's army defeated the defenders in the south of Changshou County, Jingling County. The main general Su Huer was assassinated by Luo Shixin in one move. More than 1,000 of the 5,000 defenders were annihilated and more than 3,000 surrendered.
Before this, Luo Shixin also recaptured Yiling County. Yiling County originally had 3,000 defenders, but the defending general Yang Shidao led his troops to follow Xiao Xin south. Yiling County had no soldiers stationed there and was easily captured.
At this point, the New Liang regime was left with only its old nest, Nanjun, and 40,000 troops. King Xiao Yan of Liang was determined to live and die with Jiangling City. Anyone who dared to talk about surrender would be killed without mercy!
Jiangling County is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Together with Xiangyang City, it is known as the Jingxiang Twin Cities. It was originally the capital of Western Liang. The city wall has a circumference of 40 miles. Magnificent barbicans were built at the four city gates. The city wall is three feet high and is extremely tall and solid. The moat alone is a hundred feet wide, like a jade belt surrounding the county.
There are more than 100,000 people in Jiangling City, all of whom are relatively loyal to Xiliang. When Xiliang surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, the whole city was crying. There are more than 100,000 loyal people, plus 40,000 troops, and there are still one million stones of grain in stock in the city. This is the confidence that Xiao Yan has in fighting to the death. If he holds on for a year, he believes that the world will change drastically, and the King of Jin will most likely not care about himself and withdraw his troops.
Xiao Yan, with white hair and a youthful face, was wearing armor and standing on the city wall, shouting, "Twenty-five years ago, as the uncle of the Emperor of Xiliang, the biggest mistake I made was surrendering to the Sui Dynasty. Twenty-five years later, I have the opportunity to choose again, and I will not surrender again!"
Xiao Yan was no longer the Taoist priest Xiao Jianli. He had resumed his layman status and proclaimed himself the King of Liang. He looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers on the road and shouted, "Western Liang soldiers, we would rather die than surrender!"
Tens of thousands of soldiers raised their arms and shouted, "Western Liang soldiers, we would rather die than surrender!"
The 80,000-strong Sui army in Jiangnan was stationed outside the northern city of Jiangling County. The army set up a large camp and built a fence. Hundreds of craftsmen were building a command platform that was five meters high.
Inside the central army tent, Xiao Xia stood in front of the sand table, thinking silently. The moat was a hundred feet wide and two feet deep, which was enough to accommodate large ships weighing ten thousand tons. Xiao Xia did not even consider attacking the city. He was planning a major naval and land battle.
Hundreds of warships with a capacity of 10,000 liters were dispatched to cruise in the moat and the walls of Jiangling were blasted to the ground. The only problem was the two exits from the city, which were actually two stone bridges hundreds of feet long. At the end, when approaching the city, a three-foot-long gap was left and a drawbridge was pulled up.
The first step must be to blow up the two stone bridges. Xiao Xia pondered for a long time and said to Lai Huer: "I have decided to use the navy to fight Jiangling City. The first step is to clear the two stone bridges. I will leave this task to the old general!"
Lai Huer's eyes lit up. His Royal Highness Prince Jin's idea coincided with his own. He excitedly clasped his fists and said, "I will take action tonight and will never let His Royal Highness down!"
(End of this chapter)