The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The fire burned for half an hour. With the help of kerosene, the temperature of the flame was so high that people could not stand within thirty or forty steps of the fire, let alone the Liao army on the top of the city.

Under the scorching of the flames, the upper part of the city wall was smoked into pitch black, and the lower part was burnt to ochre, as if even the rammed earth was about to melt.

Someone said something behind Su Jin, which shocked Su Jin into a cold sweat. It was a veteran of the personal guards. .”

If the Waterfall Khan on Su Jin's head didn't burn down the city wall, but made it stronger, it would be the biggest joke of this era, and it would probably go down in history as the world's number one idiot.

After the flames were extinguished, Su Jin immediately ordered someone to take water from a water dragon and spray it on the city wall. The burning red city wall was hit by the ice water, and white steam rose up immediately, like thousands of poisonous tongues spitting out letters. There was a sound, and the water vapor covered a large area. The Liao army on the top of the city watched all this dumbfounded, and really didn't understand what tricks the Song army was playing. Sometimes it would heat the city wall, and sometimes it would quench the city wall. [

The steam gradually dissipated, and the city wall had completely cooled down. Everyone was staring at the city wall. The Liao army wanted to know what kind of tricks the Song army was playing. The Song army also wanted to know if Marshal Su had been busy for a long time. effective.

Everyone focused on the small part of the messy lower part of the city wall, blinking their eyes for fear of missing something, but nothing happened there, the city wall was still the same city wall, motionless, and there was no cracking situation that Su Jin said at all.

The Liao army at the top of the city laughed loudly, and Yelu Kanrong laughed the loudest. He laughed wildly at the top of the city, pointed at the Song army at the bottom of the city and shouted: "I am afraid that you Song pigs are the most stupid in the world. , Risking your life to burn the kang for the old people, right? Hahaha."

The soldiers of the Liao army laughed wildly one by one, and all kinds of ridicule and sarcasm were denser than the arrows they shot, flying over their heads and faces.

The generals and soldiers of the Song Army on the opposite side of the moat said dumbly that the soldiers risked their lives to carry firewood and kerosene. They thought it would have a miraculous effect, but unexpectedly it was just a joke. Marshal Su is really whimsical, and it is impossible to think about it. The Muslim Liao people laughed out loud.

Su Jin's face was gloomy. He didn't know why this happened. According to the principle, there should be nothing wrong. The city wall of Seoul is not so strong. Even if it can't burn down the entire city wall, at least one layer can fall off. How could it be? nothing happened.

"Marshal... Let's think of another way, there will inevitably be mistakes, people are not sages." Jingtai comforted him.

"Ma Han, bring your bow and arrow." Su Jin said coldly.

Ma Han hurriedly took off the bow and arrow on his back and handed it to Su Jin. Su Jin slowly took an iron-headed arrow, put it on the bowstring, and pulled the iron bow halfway with all his strength. The meteor chased the moon and went straight to the city wall.

Everyone thought: "The handsome man is confused, the city wall will not collapse, the handsome man has a childish temper, he insists on shooting an arrow at the city wall to relieve his anger..."

I saw the arrow hit the city wall with a whoosh, and the nail was shaken continuously when it was nailed to the city wall. Then there was a creaking sound at the place where the city wall passed the fire. Although the sound was not loud, it was clearly audible; , a crack visible to the naked eye slowly spread out at the place where the arrow hit, and gradually spread into many branches like a spider web. The lower part of the inner city wall collapsed like a landslide, stirring up dust all over the sky.

"This..." Yelu Kanrong was stunned.

"Oh!" Song soldiers cheered thunderously.

The dust settled, the smoke dissipated, and the city wall did not collapse, but the lower part of the city wall had sunk in, forming a huge cave four or five feet deep. Fortunately, the city wall was as thick as Zhang Xu, otherwise it would have collapsed directly to form a doorway; At the junction of the city wall, a huge crack is extremely exaggerated, extending up to the top of the city wall. Although it is not broken, it also looks crumbling.

Su Jin put down his bow and arrow and let out a long breath. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He waved his hand and said, "Continue to burn the fire for the second time. This time, pile the firewood in the depression and ignite it. Like what the Liao dog said, we gave him the kang." Add another fire."

The soldiers of the Song army promised loudly that once they saw how effective this method was, the soldiers immediately became full of energy. They put up their shields and helmets, carried firewood and rolled fire oil drums and rushed to the other side of the river; Yelu Kanrong recovered and shouted: "Don't fucking shoot arrows, stop the Song people from burning the city walls."

The soldiers of the Liao army reacted and immediately started intensive shooting. Yelu Kanrong hurried down to the imperial city to report the news. The Song army's method of burning the city was effective. It only took two more rounds of burning, and the city wall would be penetrated. At that time, the city of Seoul would be destroyed. It looks like this, the bow and arrow method prevents the Song Army from moving kerosene and firewood crazily, he needs to transfer the ballista to smash the ice road on the river, so as to stop the Song Army's attempt.

The Liao people's defense focused on the imperial city. Bed crossbows and other large defensive equipment were deployed on the walls of the imperial city. For Seoul, where Han people lived, not to mention bed crossbows, even battle towers were not allowed to be built. At this moment, they finally tasted the bitter fruit. When Yelu Kanrong rushed to the southeast of Seoul with five thousand reinforcements and more than a dozen crossbows, the city wall had been burnt down again, and this time more fell off. The huge potholes, the cracks on the wall are densely packed, and they are about to collapse.

Just as everyone was carrying the bed crossbow to the top of the city, the top of the city exploded, and the soldiers scattered into a mess at the top of the city and rushed towards the walls on both sides. A deputy ran down the city with sweat on his face. , and shouted loudly: "Master Deputy Privy Councilor, retreat quickly." [

Yelu Kanrong slapped his head and cursed: "The city wall is not broken, if you don't defend the city for me, if you dare to run away, I will kill you."

The deputy general said with a mournful face: "My lord, I can't hold it any longer. Look at the base of the city wall and listen."

Yelu Kanrong turned his head to look, but saw the rumbling sound of the inner city wall corresponding to the burning place. Yelu Kanrong understood that the Song people did not burn the city wall for the third time, but lifted the logs and hit the last thin wall. Needless to say, the last two or three feet could not withstand the bombardment of logs at all, and the city wall really couldn't hold it.

More than 500 Song soldiers carried more than 30 logs across the river. The rain of arrows on the top of the city took the lives of more than 200 people, and the remaining 200 people successfully got into the collapsed tunnel. The Liao army could only look at it and sigh , when the hungry man met the hungry widow, the frequency and intensity of the impact was indescribable. The loud rumbling sound terrified the Liao army standing on the city wall. They found that the cracks in the old and new walls had spread to the top of the city wall When it happened, he immediately chose to flee in all directions.

Their choice was wise. At the moment when more than a dozen depressions at the bottom were penetrated, the heavy top crushed the weak lower part, and the entire city wall fell slowly like an iceberg collapsing like a sea. More than 200 Song troops were too late. Fleeing, all were crushed under the rubble.

The wall of the northern city finally collapsed, and a gap of twenty feet wide appeared in front of Song Jun.

Su Jin pulled out his waist knife and shouted loudly: "Attack!"

The Song army who had already lined up and prepared rushed towards the gap like a tide. After thousands of people rushed into the gap, the ice bridge was finally overwhelmed and broke, but this was not enough to affect the entire battle situation. The defenders in Seoul had all withdrawn to the imperial city. , There was no decent resistance in the city at all, and the Song army was able to calmly build a simple pontoon bridge to allow follow-up troops to enter Seoul.

Half a day, only half a day's work, at the cost of 3000 lives and [-] barrels of kerosene, Seoul fell into Su Jin's hands.

Su Jin immediately ordered the gap to be blocked, thousands of bags of mud blocked the gap again, because Yelu Chongyuan's army would appear outside the city at some point, and Su Jin didn't want him to be able to attack at no cost In the city, although Seoul is not a strong barrier, it is many times better than fighting with soldiers.

Officials and wealthy households in Seoul have already fled into the imperial city, and the rest are more than 20 ordinary people. They are all Han Chinese, and their status is also the lowest. Most of them are oppressed by the Khitan people on weekdays, but they are all native Liao people. , did not have much favor for the Song Dynasty. After Su Jin's army captured the city, these Han people were very nervous, and every family stayed behind closed doors.

Su Jin strictly ordered not to kill people indiscriminately, but he would never be so stupid as to commit crimes. In the afternoon of that day, the Song army forcibly collected tens of thousands of winter clothes, and at the same time forcibly collected food, fodder, firewood and other military supplies. More than 8 people died in the cold. After trekking for more than 20 days and camping in the ice and snow for several days, I finally had the first real chance to rest.