The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 478 Siege of Hami City

At the same time that Luo Yong led the army to attack Heifengchuan at night, Han Li, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Town, led an army of nearly 2 people to Hami.

Only 2000 people were left to garrison the two states of Sha and Gua. This time he was going to die.

Unlike the Turpan people, the Ming army had a complete set of siege equipment.

Car crashes, ladders and even car crashes
The Turpan people were able to break through the city of Hami with their crude siege equipment.Han Li felt that there was no reason why the Ming army could not take Hami City.

Since it was a frontal attack on the city, Han Li's strategy was to disperse his troops to find loopholes.

The number of defenders is only 5000, and it is absolutely overwhelming to garrison each city gate.

The Ming army has 2 people, so it can take advantage of this arrangement.

When the Turpan general Gan Bolu found out that the Ming army Haohao Tangtang had come from the south, he was stunned.

Before Gan Porlu could react, the Ming army surrounded Hami City.

All four city gates were sealed, and now even if the Turpan people wanted to send cavalry out of the city, it was impossible.

Unlike the cities in the Central Plains that often have moats and trenches, the cities in the Western Regions do not have these defensive measures. In addition, the city walls are extremely low and made of rammed earth, making it extremely difficult to defend the city.

Instead of filling rivers with sandbags and building bridges, siege soldiers can quickly move under the city walls, use crash vehicles to smash open the city gates, or climb to the top of the city through ladders and ladders.

Han Li thought so.

Although the frontal attack will cause more damage, there will be no accidents.

In the face of absolute strength, it is only a matter of time before the city of Hami is broken.

Right now, His Majesty has issued a strict order to Governor Yang that Hami City must be captured within three months, so even if it is filled by human life, he must fill in Hami City.

"General, look over there!"

A sentry pointed to the huge ballista behind the crenellation of the southern city wall and exclaimed.

Han Li followed the sentinel's expectations, his face was pale.

Three-bow bed crossbow, isn't this Song Dynasty ballista lost?

Han Li came from a family of generals, and he has researched all kinds of ballistas and battle formations.

At a glance, he saw that the ballista at the top of the city seemed very similar to the lost three-bow bed crossbow.

However, it is said that ballistas began in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and declined by the Ming Dynasty.

The most important reason is the change of combat thinking.

From the original siege to controlling supplies and cutting off food sources.

But from another perspective, this is tantamount to losing an effective means of combat.

Let’s just say that the three-bow bed crossbow of the Song Dynasty was so powerful that it required nearly a hundred people to twist the shafts to stretch the strings.

The giant crossbow shot by the three-bow bed crossbow is nearly two meters long, made of wood, with three iron arrowheads inserted in the head, and its lethality is astonishing.

Its shooting range is 1.5 steps, and the Song Dynasty has a full step of 500 meters, which means that the shooting range of the three-bow crossbow is [-] meters.

The bed crossbow can not only attack the city but also defend the city. The Song army once fired a bed crossbow at the head of the city in the famous Battle of Chanyuan, and shot to death the leader of the Liao army Xiao Talin.

Pressing these and not mentioning it, it is said that Han Li took a deep breath and told the soldiers to stop attacking the city.

The war drum was already beating, but it stopped following Han Zongbing's order.

This is actually a very demoralizing thing.

But Han Li had to do so.

If the bed crossbow at the head of Hami City is really a three-bow crossbow, its power cannot be underestimated.

If he attacked the city rashly like this, he would probably be thrown into chaos by this giant killer.

"General!"

Han Li shook his head and said, "Did you see the bed crossbow at the top of the city? It's the lost three-bow crossbow from the Song Dynasty."

The soldiers looked at Han Li blankly, obviously not understanding what Han Li was talking about.

Han Li had no choice but to smile bitterly.

That's right, how could these big soldiers know what was recorded in "Wu Jing Zong Yao".

Throughout the dynasties, generals and soldiers are completely different.

Generals are the soul of an army, and they are all familiar with the art of war, brave and good at fighting.

In comparison, the quality of ordinary soldiers is much worse.

That's why there are situations where 10,000+ troops lose to tens of thousands. This is because of the gap in the commanders.

The importance of generals on the battlefield is far greater than that of soldiers, because they not only have to give orders, but also make judgments at any time according to the battlefield situation.

Whether to continue the attack or withdraw the troops at Mingjin requires a quick decision.

Right now, Han Li is facing such a problem.

"Bed crossbow, is this thing very powerful?"

The soldier was puzzled.

Bed crossbows were rarely used in the Ming Dynasty, and the soldiers in Gansu Town had never seen them. Even Han Li had only read relevant records in "Wu Jing Zong Yao".

"Well, this crossbow is not only capable of attacking cities, but also defending cities very well."

After a short pause, Han Li sighed, "It's just that the three-bow bed crossbow has been lost in the Central Plains, but unexpectedly, it was found again in the hands of the Turpan people."

The Mongolian Yuan Dynasty destroyed Confucian culture, and along with it destroyed many Han Chinese combat equipment, among which there were three bows and bed crossbows.

The bed crossbow, an invention of the Han people, unexpectedly had to be maintained by a group of barbarians in the end. It is really ironic, and it makes people sigh.

"If it's really so powerful, how can we attack Hami City?"

There was a look of panic in the eyes of the soldiers, which made Han Li very worried.

It seems that the Turpan people relied on this crossbow to break through the city of Hami.Although their other siege equipment is very rough, as long as they have these three bows and crossbows, they can take down the strong city like a rotten one.

"Although the bed crossbow is powerful, it requires nearly a hundred people to twist the strings together, so the troops will be dispersed. The Turpan garrison is insufficient. If we divide some people to pull the bed crossbow, the frontal force will be even thinner. We can completely divide our troops."

This is somewhat self-consoling.

Although the Turpan people may not be able to compete with the Ming army head-on, they can completely suppress the firepower with the presence of three bows and crossbows.

In other words, whoever has a big killer is going to play hand-to-hand combat with you.

But now that the arrow is on the string and has to be launched, it is impossible to order the army to retreat.

What Han Li can do is to reduce the casualties of the Ming army as much as possible.

The city must be attacked.

"Send some cavalry around the city to see how many crossbows there are."

The first thing Han Li had to figure out was the number of bed crossbows.

Only when this is clarified can he carry out the distribution of troops.

"Subordinates obey!"

The soldiers clasped their fists and took orders to leave.

After about a stick of incense, Tan Ma reported back one after another, saying that a total of six bed crossbows were found at the top of the city.

Two of them are in the south city, and two are in the east city.The west city and the north city each have one.

Han Li was lost in thought.He felt that this was basically the number of Turpan people's bed crossbows.

Because the bed crossbow is very huge, it is extremely laborious to move it to the top of the city.

It is impossible for the Turpan people to secretly hide the bed crossbow in order to hide their strength and act suspiciously.

In this way, once there is a battle, it is impossible for them to have the energy to move the hidden bed crossbow to the top of the city to fight.

That being the case, the west city and the north city seem to be breakthroughs.
Han Li pursed his lips slightly, and finally let out a long breath.

"Give me an order to attack the south and east gates feignedly, and actually attack the west and north gates. When besieging the city, be sure to avoid the arrows shot by the bed crossbow!"

After all, I still have to say this sentence.

As the commander of the army, Han Li had no choice.

"Order!"

The soldier replied heartily.

Han Li's brows became tighter and tighter, this battle must not be lost.

On the other side, the Turpan people are also very nervous.

Watching the flood of Daming troops, the guard Gan Xunlu nearly passed out.

Just as Han Li guessed, Gan Poru did not have enough troops to allocate to the bed crossbow.

It takes 600 manpower to wind the spool alone, and this does not include the protectors set up to protect the bed crossbow.

After all, the ballista is too big and heavy, and the target is very obvious.If someone without protection uses bow and arrow firepower to suppress it, it is just a target for the Ming army to focus its fire on.

God knows if such a delicate object has been washed away by a rain of arrows will affect its use.

This is the trump card in the hands of Gan Yulu, and he must not make a mistake.

The most terrible thing is that it takes too long for the bed crossbow to change the arrowheads. This intermittent Ming army can have enough time to launch an offensive.

This is why the bed crossbow is better when attacking the city than when defending the city, and it is better when there are many people than when there are few people.

But as long as there are these six bed crossbows, it will be a great deterrent to the Ming army, preventing them from attacking the city wholeheartedly.Therefore, Gan Poru had to pretend to be confident no matter what.

Judging by the posture of the Ming army, this is planning to divide the troops to attack the city.

This is what Gan Poru is most worried about.

Gan Porupo stared at the Ming army attacking from outside the southern city, with doubts in his eyes.

Why are there so few soldiers coming to Nancheng, could it be...
These bloody foxes!
They must have seen the number of crossbows at the top of the four walls, so they avoided the south city and east city with the strongest defense forces, and started from the west city and north city.

It has to be said that Gan Pulu is far inferior to Han Li in terms of psychological games.

"Pass my order, mobilize 500 people each to reinforce the west city and the north city, hurry up!"

Gan Bolu was almost roaring.

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, and then they started to run wildly on the top of the city.

Fortunately, the city of Hami is not big, otherwise, running from the south wall to the north wall, after such a half-circle, I would be exhausted and out of breath.

Since he was sure that the Ming army would storm the west and north cities, Ganporu mobilized some troops to reinforce them.

As a result, the strength of the South City and the East City has been greatly reduced.

When the crashing cars of the Ming army rushed towards the south gate with all their strength, Gan Bolu's face turned green.

"Why is there such a monster! Quickly twist the bed crossbow!"

Hami's city gate can't withstand this monster's tossing. It doesn't take much, just three or five times this city gate will break a big hole!

Gan Poru originally didn't plan to use the three-bow bed crossbow so early, but now he can't.It must be destroyed before the Ming army crashes under the city wall!
Right now, the only thing that can destroy this monster is the three-bow bed crossbow.

A hundred Turpan soldiers struggled to wind the shaft. They chanted chant while pulling hard, and they finally pulled the full string until everyone's faces turned livid.

"Damn Ming army, shoot them!"

Accompanied by Gan Bolu's vicious curses, huge crossbow arrows shot down from the top of the city and headed straight for the crashing car.

"Turn around!"

The lieutenant general who commanded the crash turned pale with fright, and quickly ordered.

The soldiers inside the crashed car immediately slammed the crashed car to the right with all their strength.

It was this small shift that saved them.

The huge crossbow bolts that came flying passed by the collision car and smashed into the mud.

"hiss!"

The commanding lieutenant took a deep breath, his eyes full of fear.

"Keep going!"

He almost yelled out through gritted teeth.

If they were shot by the ballista, all of them would have to be shot to death.Only by getting as close to the city wall as possible can the danger be reduced.

At this moment, another bed crossbow at the head of Nancheng was also wound by the shaft.

Gan Porphyr's heart was filled with anxiety.

According to this speed, if the crash car cannot be destroyed within two to three crossbow arrows, this monster will ravage Hami's city gate.

"Shoot!"

The huge crossbow shot down from the top of the city again, but this time the Ming army didn't have such good luck. The crossbow shot into the collision car from the oblique side and passed through from the other side.

Many soldiers of the Ming army were pierced through their bodies, and their death conditions were extremely miserable.Even the lieutenant who directed the crash was not spared.

On the top of the city, Gan Bolu was dancing with excitement.

"Haha, hahaha!"

He spat out a mouthful of phlegm viciously, and cursed: "These gangsters will show you the power of the ballista!"

The crash was destroyed, but the rest of the soldiers did not stop.

They avoided the rain of arrows from the top of the city as much as possible, moved with difficulty, and finally came to the bottom of the city wall.

Although there were only simple ladders, they had no choice but to climb to the top of the city without hesitation.

The luck of the Ming army who attacked the city in the west city was obviously much better. Although their crash carts were also destroyed, the soldiers pushed the ladder carts under the north city wall, and used the hook attached to the auxiliary ladder to hook the crenel on the top of the wall. Climb from the main ladder of the cloud ladder to the auxiliary ladder, and then climb to the top of the city from the auxiliary ladder.

Because the ladder of the aerial ladder is relatively fixed, it is much easier for soldiers to climb the aerial ladder than to climb the row of ladders.

The people of Turpan were obviously helpless with the ladder.

This kind of siege ladder has a solid base, and when climbing the city wall, the main ladder, the auxiliary ladder and the city wall form a triangle, which is extremely stable.

In addition, there are guard plates around the auxiliary ladder, which can minimize casualties of soldiers.

In contrast, the Turpan people had to use rolling stones to slow down the speed of the Ming army climbing the city wall.

But this can only be delayed for a while, and soon Ming soldiers climbed to the top of the city.

Turpan soldiers had to draw out their long knives and fight the Ming army hand to hand.

But they are not well-trained opponents of the Ming army.

As the number of Ming troops climbing to the top of the city increased, the Turpan soldiers gradually became exhausted.

The reinforcements from other places did not change the general situation, and in the end the West City was the first to be broken.

Facts have proved that a small city wall like Hami is really not attractive in front of the well-equipped Ming army.Even if the Turpan people had a big weapon like the three-bow bed crossbow, they could only struggle a bit.

The first city of Xicheng was controlled by the Ming army, and the remaining three city heads also tended to be defeated.

Gan Poru's face was serious, and he decided to abandon the city and flee after thinking for a long time.At this moment, the other three city gates were still under his control. If they dragged on, they might all be captured by the Ming army.

Of course, such things as abandoning the city and fleeing cannot be made public.Gan Poru ordered only [-] soldiers, and went down from the horse path to the top of the city, and went to the east gate of the city.

(End of this chapter)