The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin pointed to the model and said, "Look, the moat surrounding Linhuang Mansion is not man-made, but a natural river. The river surface is more than five feet wide, and this is the first obstacle; Although the ratio of the city is a little lower, it must still be considered high compared to ordinary cities. The same question is, what do we use to attack the city? Where did the ladder come from? Where did the trebuchet come from? Could it be that we hit the wall with bare hands?"

All the generals talked about it, some said to climb into the city at night to meet outside, some said to quickly collect and cut down trees to build ladders, some said to dig tunnels to lead to the city, in short, each had their own whimsical plan.

Su Jin dismissed them one by one: "Now both sides are staring at each other's movements. There is no difference between night and day, and there is no chance to sneak into the city; it is too late to build ladders, and there are no military craftsmen in the army. Delaying for too long is the last thing we should do at present, and digging tunnels is even more impracticable. The ground is frozen as hard as iron, and there is a moat in between. This is a more time-consuming and laborious method. You said None of it will work."

Jing Tai seemed to be smiling when he saw Su Jin saying these words, and he didn't look anxious at all. He asked suspiciously: "Has the commander already figured out a solution? Just don't keep it to yourself."

Su Jin laughed and said: "General Jing's ability to observe words and expressions has grown a lot, and you can see this."

All the generals were overjoyed and asked one after another: "The commander-in-chief really has a solution? Tell me quickly and listen."

Su Jin put away her smile and said slowly: "I don't know if it will work, but it's okay to talk about it; how to get over the moat is the first problem, but I'm [-]% sure that it will work." The solution is very simple, just collect a lot of grass."

"Chaotic grass? What is the solution?" Everyone was confused.

Su Jin smiled slightly and turned to the guard, "Bring me a basin of water."

The guards rushed over to bring a basin of melted snow water. Su Jin grabbed a handful of hay that had been placed on the ground of the tent, rolled it into a ball, spread it on the water, and ordered the guards to take it out of the tent and put it in the snow; After about a quarter of an hour, the guards brought in the copper basin, but seeing that the water in the basin had frozen and all the straws were frozen together, Su Jin stepped on it and stood on the frozen ice grass in the basin. On the ground, the ice surface is not broken.

"See? A handful of dead grass can make thin ice hard. Just now we went to the south to investigate and saw that the river water had frozen an inch-thick thin ice. It should have been so thick in this weather. It can be seen that the guards in the city The homework that the army must do every day is to break the solid ice to prevent us from wading across the ice surface. But as long as we spread thick dry grass and use floating poles to prevent the dryness from drifting away, after a night, we can also ford the river on thin ice. "

There was a thunder in the tent, and the generals laughed and looked at each other. This principle is experienced in daily life, but no one can remember to apply it here. The principle is a bit like the principle of concrete. The cement is not firm enough, so it is wrapped with a few iron skeletons When solidified, it doubles in strength.

"As for the method of siege, I want to try a new method. I can't guarantee that it will work, but I want to give it a try. Burning down the city gate with fire was originally a way, but in the morning, we all saw the only one at the city gate. It is full of mudbags, reaching the top of the city tower, and it is still being reinforced, so it can be seen that the city gate is already the strongest defensive place, but it is not as easy to attack as other places."

Everyone nodded, because they also saw a dense crowd of peasants carrying mud bags and blocking the gate of the city tightly.

"I don't know if you have noticed, but the color of the city wall in the southeast corner seems to be different from that of other places. It is gray and black everywhere. There are dead vines and small trees growing in the cracks of the city wall. This shows that it is an old city wall, built with rammed earth and sticky juice. Don't look mottled and ugly, but the longer the time, the more solidified the city wall will be. The outside may peel off a lot, but the inside is absolutely invulnerable as a rock; the color of the city wall in the southeast corner is gray and white, which is newly rammed. The color of the compound clay shows that this section of the city wall has collapsed for some reason, we don’t care about the reason, we should be able to try my new method here.”

The generals stretched their necks and asked, "What way?"

Su Jin said: "Expansion with heat and contraction with cold."

Everyone's heads were full of black lines, and they didn't know what to say.

"No matter how well the old and new city walls are built, they are not as integrated as when they were built at the same time. This method may open a gap. I have to bring the [-] barrels of kerosene anyway because I am afraid it will come in handy. We Let's try again."

Su Jin scraped open the dead grass in the tent, found a fist-sized stone in the ground, and ordered someone to burn it on the fire oil basin until it turned red, and then Su Jin personally scooped up a ladle of ice water and poured it on the stone. There was a sound of white air, and then Su Jin tapped lightly with the handle of the knife, and with a click, the stone was broken into several pieces, just like an ordinary ball of mud.

The generals watched all this eagerly, but they didn't know what kind of tricks Su Jin was playing.

"Excessive heat, and then invaded by cold water, hard stones can easily fall apart. I don't know if the city wall can do this, but I want to try it. General Pan, I will immediately make dozens of water dragons for backup, and collect dead trees and roots, etc. Fire starter, and a lot of dead grass, let the river freeze tonight, and tomorrow morning we will set fire to the city wall; if successful, we may spend the night in a warm house in Seoul tomorrow night, if not, we need to hurry Run for your life, I don't want you to send your life here." Su Jin smiled.

Everyone witnessed the cracking of the stone, but they still doubted such a method, but the military order was like a mountain, and the commander-in-chief ordered it to be done vigorously. Pan Jiang immediately took people to make preparations. Being so busy, the Liao army on the top of the city laughed and fell down, and they all laughed and cursed: "Frozen to death you bastards, let's see how long you can last?"

After dark, more than a thousand soldiers of the Song Dynasty rowed dozens of simple bamboo rafts down the Huangshui River. The Liao army guarding the city heard the movement and shot arrows at the river, but the Song army did not fight back. I spread the grass curtains woven into a grid on the river, and tossed back and forth for half the night.

The Liao army on the top of the city didn't know what the Song army was doing, so they just kept shooting arrows down, killing hundreds of Song army soldiers.

In the middle of the night, hail and snowflakes fell crazily. Seeing that the Song army was silent, the defenders braved the severe cold and sent more than a dozen people to repair the city and come down to the river to check what was going on. All were shot and killed on the shore, and then no one went down to the city to check.

After dawn, Su Jin came to the river early, but saw that the river was white and snow-white, and the snow covered the river tightly. Spikes stick out of the river.

Su Jin held up the shield and went down to the river to test his strength. When one foot went up, there was a crackling sound of Kerala. Ma Han beside him hurriedly pulled Su Jin up, but Su Jin also stepped on the other foot, but saw the ice. Although there are cracks on the surface, it is not broken. The tension of the grass mat can completely bear the weight of a person. The only problem is that I am afraid that many people cannot stand on it at the same time, but this is enough.

The Song army launched an attack at Chenshi. They did not charge, but suppressed the defenders at the top of the city with bows and arrows. Using bows and arrows to fight back, comparatively speaking, the effect of condescending archery is much better. The Song people suffered more casualties than the Liao army at the top of the city, but the Song people didn't seem to care about this. all the way.

Yelu Kanrong had already come to the top of Seoul to check the situation. Regarding the stupid behavior of the Song people, he understood that the Song people's brains were flooded. Not only were the archers stupid. The act of stepping across the ice with a big wooden bucket was even more stupid. All kinds of strange behaviors left Yelu Kanrong no time to investigate why the Song people were able to cross the river on thin ice.

"Shoot, shoot hard, shoot these idiots to death." Yelu Kanrong shouted.

Bows and arrows rained like rain, and the Song army on the river also had countermeasures. They tied their shields to the top of their heads with straw ropes in groups of two, crouched down and hugged wooden barrels or firewood and ran desperately to the root of the city wall. Many people were still shot. Some people fell through the ice and fell into the icy river. After a while, they were frozen hard, but they still carried things back and forth like ants.

Su Jin's heart ached. Today, it seems that at least thousands of people will be killed or injured. If the method doesn't work, it will be a big loss.

An hour later, more than a dozen piles of firewood were piled up within 30 steps of the junction of the old and new city walls. Soldiers of the Song Army poured the light yellow liquid in the wooden barrels on the pile of firewood, and ignited the fire with a bang. After a while, the lower half of the city wall was engulfed in flames, and the beeping flames rose to a height of ten feet, so that the defenders at the top of the city could not stand, and scattered to both sides.

"Damn it, what's the trick, what brains do these Song pigs have? I've seen siegemen before, but I've never seen such an attack. Fire is like a bird." Yelu Kanrong cursed with a smile, and watched from the side with his arms folded. Lively, let's see what tricks the people of Song Dynasty are playing.