I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 364 Zhao Yu's Son-in-Law

...

Before the Jin dynasty conquered Gaegyeong (Goryeo's capital) and captured King Yejong of Goryeo, the Song dynasty and Goryeo maintained frequent maritime trade. The Song dynasty's Northeast Asian maritime trade routes primarily involved trading with Goryeo and Japan.

This was not a maritime trade route developed by Zhao Yu, but rather a maritime trade route that China had existed since ancient times. The Song Dynasty had a long-standing tradition of conducting maritime trade with Goryeo and Japan.

If we were to investigate this matter seriously, we could even trace it back to the time when King Wu of Zhou overthrew King Zhou of Shang and enfeoffed Ji Zi to the peninsula. At that time, people from the Central Plains set off from the Bohai Bay ports of the Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula to teach the people of the peninsula how to farm, sericulture, and weave.

—This is how China's sericulture, silk reeling, and silk weaving techniques were first introduced to the peninsula region.

Therefore, the Koreans knew about China's strength a long time ago.

This is precisely why the Goryeo commoners and slaves wholeheartedly believed the descriptions of the prosperity, strength, and advancement of the Song Dynasty by the Goryeo soldiers, much like how Chinese people in the 1980s and 90s thought that America was paradise on earth.

Seeing the glory of commoners and slaves like Jeong Chung-song, they were inspired by these examples.

And political education with Korean military supervisors.

The commoners and slaves from Yeseong Port couldn't help but feel a surge of pride and ambition, thinking, "Are kings and nobles born with a special destiny?"

Enough with the small talk.

After a rapid march, the vanguard of the Song army led by Liu Qi quickly arrived at the city of Licheng.

Although the Song army marched very quickly, by the time they arrived at Licheng City, the Goryeo garrison there had already closed the city gates and was preparing to hold out for reinforcements.

Yeseongseong was a typical small Goryeo city, small in scale yet ingeniously designed for defense, with all its facilities designed to withstand cavalry raids and prolonged sieges. The city was an irregular rectangle, approximately 450 paces long from east to west and 380 paces wide from north to south, with a perimeter of less than two kilometers. Built on a gentle sloping terrace, the northern wall was constructed along the slope, nearly two meters higher than the southern wall, creating a natural elevation difference for defense.

Its foundation was built with bluestone slabs, up to five meters thick; the wall was constructed using the "rammed earth" technique, with a layer of broken pottery shards sandwiched in the middle for reinforcement, and the top was three and a half meters wide, allowing four soldiers to walk side by side; the city wall had an average height of six meters, and the southern city wall was raised to seven meters due to its lower terrain, and a 1.2-meter-high parapet was built on the outer side of the top of the wall, with an arrow window every 1.5 meters on the parapet, which was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, making it easy for the defenders to shoot from below.

A moat surrounded the city, eight meters wide and three meters deep, fed by nearby mountain springs, its waters clear year-round yet bottomless. A one-meter-high wall of sheep and horses, topped with spikes, was built along the inner bank of the moat to prevent enemy troops from approaching. Directly opposite the north and south gates of the city, each was spanned by a wooden drawbridge, nine meters long and two and a half meters wide, with thick wooden planks paving the surface. The bridge decks were connected by iron chains to winches on the gate towers, allowing for rapid closure in times of war.

The city had only two gates, north and south, both with a double-gate design. The inner gate was a rammed earth barbican, forming a 15-meter-long and 8-meter-wide barbican between the two gates. If the enemy breached the outer gate and entered the barbican, the defenders on the city wall could fire arrows and logs from the arrow slits and crenellations around the perimeter, creating a pincer attack. The city gate towers also had firing ports for throwing stones or pouring hot oil.

Seeing how well-prepared and sturdy the defenses of Licheng were, the nineteen-year-old Liu Qi displayed the composure of a great general. Although he longed for military merit, he did not rashly attack the city. Instead, he prudently ordered the entire army to set up camp in an open area three miles south of the city, dividing the camp area according to the organizational structure, setting up tents, and digging drainage ditches. At the same time, he sent out scout teams to deploy along the perimeter of the camp to guard against possible surprise attacks by the defenders of Licheng.

The Song soldiers took turns resting, either wiping their weapons and armor, or drinking hot soup, eating steamed buns and canned food to restore their strength. The camp was orderly, and their fatigue gradually dissipated during the well-organized rest.

At the same time, Liu Qi sent soldiers of Goryeo origin to nearby villages to capture Goryeo people to serve as laborers, and to work with military craftsmen to use locally sourced materials to build engineering equipment.

Liu Qi also immediately ordered someone to write a military intelligence report, detailing the scale of the defense of Licheng City, the deployment of the defending troops, the current progress of the troops' rest and recuperation, and the status of the preparation of siege equipment. He also made a clear request to the rear to send Li Lin cannons and large siege equipment to support the city as soon as possible.

Two hours later, Yang Yizhong led reinforcements to arrive.

Yang Yizhong was somewhat disappointed to see that Liu Qi had not captured Licheng City in one fell swoop.

But given the swift response of the defenders in Licheng, he would have made the same choice in his place.

Yang Yizhong immediately set up camp, ordered his troops to rest, and sent his military craftsmen to work with Liu Qi's military craftsmen to make siege weapons.

The following afternoon, Yue Fei led 3,000 men, escorting over 10,000 Koreans, ten Li Lin cannons, and a host of engineering equipment to the walls of Licheng.

Because they were carrying heavy Li Lin cannons and siege equipment, it took Yue Fei and his men a whole day and night to travel this short distance.

With the siege equipment brought by Yue Fei, the Song army's siege equipment was almost complete.

After discussing the matter, Liu Qi, Yang Yizhong, and Yue Fei decided to attack the city the next day.

Just after Chenshi (7-9 AM), the bugle calls of the Song army pierced the sky, and the siege officially began. Liu Qi was stationed at the south city, Yang Yizhong led troops at the east city, and Yue Fei guarded the west city. Only the north city was left unattended, implementing the strategy of "surrounding three sides and leaving one side undefended".

The siege has begun.

At Liu Qi's command, hundreds of catapults on all three sides of the battle line were activated simultaneously.

Song soldiers and laborers worked together to push the catapults to suitable siege positions, the creaking of taut ropes mingling with the lingering sound of horns. At the end of the long arm of each catapult was a bundle of explosives wrapped in coarse cloth and filled with gunpowder, the fuses already lit, sparks slowly spreading along the cloth ropes.

"put!"

As the commanders of each formation gave their hand signals, the catapults' long arms snapped back, sending explosive charges hurtling into the air. They arced through the air and crashed directly into the east, south, and west walls and ramparts of Licheng City.

Some of the explosive charges hit the parapet on the city wall, causing it to collapse several meters. Many Goryeo soldiers, along with their equipment, were thrown into the air and landed lifeless. There were no visible wounds on their bodies, only blood gushing from their mouths and noses, staining the rammed earth red.

Some of the explosive charges struck the sheep and horse wall at the base of the city wall—the sheep and horse wall was only one meter high to begin with. When the explosive charges hit the ground, the shockwave shattered the low wall into pieces, sending spikes and stones flying everywhere. The Goryeo soldiers who were hiding behind the sheep and horse wall, preparing to throw rolling logs, were pushed by the shockwave into the city wall, their chests caved in, and they died bleeding from all seven orifices.

Another explosive charge landed near a lookout hole on the city wall. The explosion instantly blasted the lookout hole into a large hole. The defenders inside were squeezed by the shockwave and their bodies slid softly out of the hole. They were already dead when they landed.

Within the short time it takes to burn half an incense stick, the Song army's explosive charges exploded one after another, leaving the three walls and ramparts of Licheng City in ruins: most of the parapet collapsed, the sheep and horse ramparts turned into rubble, and the barbican gate was blown to smithereens. The defenders on the ramparts suffered heavy casualties, and the survivors huddled in the dead corners of the city walls, watching the Song army's catapults continuously loading explosive charges in front of them, their eyes filled with despair.

The bodies of the defenders who had been killed by the blast lay scattered on and below the city walls, their bodies unmarked except for congealed blood, a testament to the terrifying power of the shockwave from the explosive charges. Meanwhile, Korean laborers, forced by their Korean soldiers, pushed earthen sacks towards the moat to fill the river.

Despite being dazed and coughing from the thick smoke of gunpowder, the Goryeo defenders on the city wall still struggled to throw rolling logs and stones down, smashing several mounds of earth and sending laborers screaming as they fell into the river.

Upon seeing this, Liu Qi ordered the Song army's archers and musketeers, under the protection of shield bearers, to rush to the moat and fire at the city walls.

Arrows rained down on the city walls, forcing the Goryeo defenders to keep their heads down.

Taking this opportunity, the Korean laborers continued to fill the moat.

In just over two hours, Goryeo laborers filled in more than a dozen earthen paths across the moat, allowing Song soldiers to cross.

Instead of using the ten Li Lin cannons separately, Liu Qi gathered them together and aimed the muzzles at the south city wall.

This was the breakthrough point chosen by Liu Qi. Although the wall had been reinforced with rammed earth, it was far from being able to withstand heavy artillery bombardment.

The advantages of the Li Lin gun lie in its high chamber pressure, long range, and heavy projectiles. Its solid projectiles rely on enormous kinetic energy to cause significant damage to traditional rammed earth and brick walls.

Faced with fortresses like the Goryeo Yeseongseong, which are mainly made of rammed earth and have relatively thin stone foundations, the Li Lin cannon, especially the medium-sized or even heavy Li Lin cannons used on large ships, could continuously bombard the same location within an effective range of 200 to 300 paces, gradually collapsing the rammed earth, widening the gap, and ultimately creating a breakthrough point for soldiers to charge.

Of course, when facing heavily fortified cities with brick and stone walls and deep foundations in the late Ming and Qing dynasties (such as the Beijing city wall, which has an 18-meter-thick foundation, brick walls on the outside and rammed earth on the inside), a single bombardment by Li Lin's cannon could only damage the surface bricks and stones. It would take a long time to concentrate fire on the same target point to break through the city wall, rather than shattering it with a single hit.

In short, Li Lin's cannon has a clear ability to blast through the rammed earth and thin brick walls of small and medium-sized traditional cities; but against the thick walls of large, heavily fortified cities, its role is more to blast open breaches rather than to destroy them entirely.

The Song Dynasty gunners skillfully loaded gunpowder and pushed in solid cannonballs as thick as bowls. The moment the fuse was lit, sparks spread rapidly along the ignition point.

The next moment, deafening cannon fire swept across the land. Ten shells, trailing smoke and whistling, simultaneously slammed into the city wall. The rammed earth wall was struck as if by a giant hammer, with surface soil and stones flying everywhere, and ten large craters, each half a meter deep, were directly dented into the wall.

The second round of shelling followed immediately, with the shells hitting the same spot precisely. Cracks spread like a spider web along the dents, and the Goryeo defenders on the city wall were shaken so badly that they lost their footing and fell from their hands as logs and stones were thrown to the ground.
When the third round of artillery fire landed, a deafening explosion rang out. A section of the southern city wall, about ten meters long, collapsed completely. Earth and rubble poured down like a tidal wave, and dust billowed into the sky. Even the Song army camps several miles away could feel the ground tremble. The Goryeo soldiers on the wall didn't have time to cry out before they plummeted into the open ground outside the city with the collapsing wall. The surviving soldiers stared at the billowing dust from the breach, their faces filled with terror.

Before the dust from the collapsed city wall had even settled, the bugle call to charge rang out from the Song army ranks.

The Song army under Zheng Zhongsong, which had been preparing for a long time, led by Zheng Zhongsong, rushed across the moat and charged towards the breach, stepping on the gravel, completely ignoring the arrows that were being shot sporadically from the city walls.

Even when someone was hit by an arrow, they gritted their teeth and continued forward; someone tripped over a rock, got up, and staggered to catch up with the group.

In this era, it was extremely difficult for the poor to rise above their circumstances; it was almost impossible without a desperate struggle. For the Goryeo slaves, the difficulty was even greater.

People like Zheng Zhongsong, who had been human, especially as slaves of high-ranking people in Goryeo, cherished this rare opportunity to change their fate even more.

Moreover, they not only hoped to change their own fate, but also that of their descendants and the Goryeo slaves who had suffered as much as they had.

Therefore, after arriving in Goryeo, the morale of the Goryeo soldiers of the Song army was extremely high. They volunteered for the front line and always charged forward bravely and fearlessly.

Although the Goryeo defenders on the city wall wanted to throw logs, they were fiercely suppressed by the Song soldiers behind them with their crossbows and Li Lin guns. The logs and stones fell to the ground as soon as they protruded from the crenellations, and shooting was even more impossible.

After the Goryeo soldiers of the Song army stormed into Yecheng City, the next to rush towards it were not other Song soldiers, but Goryeo civilians and slaves who had just surrendered to the Song Dynasty. Encouraged by their supervisors, they often charged into Yecheng City with long spears or even sticks.

After all the Goryeo civilians and Goryeo soldiers rushed into Yeseong City, the other Song soldiers, some carrying divine crossbows and others carrying Li Lin guns, then charged into the city.

The Goryeo army defending Yeseongseong was quite good; even after the city fell, they still wanted to fight in the streets.

Unfortunately, the Goryeo soldiers of the Song army fought too hard.

Although Zheng Zhongsong was already a prince consort, he still took the lead and rushed into the breach by stepping on the rubble of the collapsed city wall. His boots were covered with the blood and rammed earth of the Goryeo garrison. He held a horse-slaying sword and slashed and killed anyone he saw. Before long, his cotton armor was covered with blood and flesh, making him look like a war god who had been killed in hell.

The Korean soldiers of the Song army behind him also bravely stepped forward.

A Korean soldier, with a spear piercing his chest, still held down an enemy soldier, roaring for his comrades behind him to charge forward, until he collapsed in a pool of blood, exhausted.

The resistance at the breach was quickly crushed.

The Song army surged into Licheng like a tidal wave.

In less than an hour, the entire city of Licheng was breached. The Goryeo flags on the city walls were thrown down and replaced by the flags of the Song Dynasty.

The person who did this was none other than Jeong Chung-song, the son-in-law of Zhao Yu, who was credited with the greatest contribution in this battle.

He used his real military achievements to tell everyone that everything he has today is not a matter of luck.

He was also telling all the common people and slaves of Goryeo: as long as you are like me and dare to fight for the Song Dynasty, you too can change your destiny...

……

(End of this chapter)