This battle between the two armies of Song and Liao had completely deviated from the plans and wishes of their respective commanders.
What started as a sneak attack and ambush turned into a battle between bows, crossbows, and arrows, and now it has become a head-on offensive and defensive duel, with the intensity rising rapidly and in full swing.
After all, the Liao people were different from the nomadic enemies in the north that the Central Plains dynasty faced in the past. They had already established a political state. The state of Zuo was even decades longer than that of the Song Dynasty, and in the process of its development, it continued to Absorbing the culture of the Central Plains for their own use is not only reflected in the political system and other cultural aspects, but also in their use of troops and wars.
They were no longer like the nomadic tribes in the past who only knew how to invade and attack, but they were unfamiliar with siege warfare. Today's Liao people are extremely familiar with attacking and destroying cities, and they can also build a variety of siege equipment spread throughout the Central Plains, which of course includes the simplest catapult.
When he saw the Liao people starting to build catapults in front of the mountain, Sun Tu's heart sank quickly. This was completely beyond his expectation. He really didn't expect that such a Liao Army light cavalry would actually have someone who could manufacture such equipment, and also have such thoughts, daring to have enough time to build a defense line against him when the Song Army's reinforcements would arrive soon.
But the Song army on the mountain had no means of defense. The mountain was not high, and it was easy to enter the range of the catapult. However, their crossbows were obviously unable to pose a threat to the catapults that were about 500 paces away. Moreover, there are no walls like a city to provide cover on the mountain, which exposes thousands of people on the mountain to the enemy's projection range.
The only thing that can be done is to quickly build a simple earth and stone wall on the mountain while the enemy is busy building a catapult, but it is hard to say how many bombardments this thing can block. If it were in the extremely cold winter season and there was enough water, Sun Tu could use the effect of water to condense ice to make the wall stronger, but now, this is just a fantasy. .
So now it seems that there is only one option left, which is to take the initiative to go down the mountain and destroy the enemy's catapult. But this is not very successful, because the Liao people have already made arrangements, and the cavalry has already gathered three hundred steps down the mountain. Once the Song army dares to go down the mountain to attack, they will immediately fall into their siege...
"General, what should we do? Why don't we let the generals rush in and see if it works!" Cao Yan asked for orders eagerly, and Pan Song, Weicheng and other generals on the side were also exposed. With similar eyes, they also felt the threat approaching and wanted to fight.
But Sun Tu immediately stopped their adventurous idea: "It's not yet time to risk your life, but don't forget what our real purpose is here. Are we here to annihilate this elite Liao army with our own hands?" No, we are here to lure them out, and then wait for the arrival of the Yanmen Pass army to wipe them out with absolute force! So what we have to do now is to drag them out, rather than fight them to the death.
"Now that we are on the mountain, we still have a good location. The damage done by this simple catapult is limited. As long as we hold on, we have a chance of victory!"
After listening to Sun Tu's words, these generals finally calmed down and stopped clamoring to risk going down the mountain. At the same time, with the order, they
Not too many shields were quickly mobilized and planted in front of everyone. At the same time, the wooden carts originally used to hide their identities were all dismantled into wooden boards and used as substitutes for shields. Anyway, the Song Army on the mountain planned to hold on to the end.
The actions of Song Jun above naturally fell into Xiao Yanping's eyes, which made a trace of disappointment flash in his eyes. He was really thinking about forcing the Song army down the mountain, so that his cavalry could easily and completely annihilate them. But now, we can only rely on the power of the catapult to determine victory or defeat.
After half a day and a night of hard work, at dawn on the third day, more than ten catapults were ready. In fact, this cannot be called a trebuchet, but a trebuchet. It has no wheels or other objects that can move forward and backward freely. It is just a machine fixed in place, and its structure is much simpler than the common siege equipment in the Song army. But this was enough to cause a powerful deterrent and blow to the Song army on the mountain. Especially under Xiao Yanping's order, as the front end of the lever suddenly dropped, the rear net bag was thrown up high, and then a piece of stuff contained in it was thrown up. When a stone flew towards the hill, the Liao army at the foot of the mountain cheered for a while.
At this time, all the Song Army on the mountain could do was hide behind the bunker and pray for God's blessing. This time, God was still on the side of the Song Army. When these seemingly astonishing stones came to the front of the mountain, most of them fell early due to lack of strength, and only a few small stones hit them. On the mountain, it was blocked by the Song army's shields and earthen walls, causing only minimal damage.
Although the trebuchet is simple, it cannot be completely manufactured in a hurry. This batch of Liao army is obviously not strong enough. This greatly inspired the Song army, and the laughter continued to spread down the mountain, which also discouraged the Liao army.
But soon, Song Jun stopped laughing. Xiao Yanping ordered again to move the catapult fifty steps forward and then load it with fewer stones. As the net bag bounced up again, hundreds of stones suddenly rained down the mountain. Even though many Song soldiers were carrying shields and wooden blocks, they still complained endlessly and suffered heavy casualties.
What was even worse was the earth wall at the front. With only two rounds of missiles, the wall was already crumbling and was about to collapse. This frightened the Song army into retreating in order to reduce casualties. But in front of the catapult that had moved fifty steps forward, this distance was of no use at all. In half a day, more than five hundred Song troops were wounded and killed.
This was a huge blow to the Song Army. You must know that these were casualties without any damage to the enemy, and they had no chance to counterattack, so they were just passively beaten. If this happened for another day or two, it would be possible for five thousand people to be wiped out.
It wasn't until the sunset that the Liao army finally stopped temporarily. Then Xiao Yanping sent another cavalry force to suddenly attack the front of the hill. He actually planned to take advantage of the low morale of the Song army and the lack of troops to deploy in front to rush up the mountain.
Fortunately, Sun Tu's reaction was quick enough, and he immediately led his men to resist. After a while of fighting, he was able to repel the enemy, but he also paid a heavy price, and another three hundred soldiers were killed or injured.
It can be said that in just one day, the casualties of the Song Army have reached a terrifying number of thousands, and most of the injured are unable to fight anymore. Those who can still fight now,
It was actually less than four thousand.
When night fell and the fighting paused, the hills were shrouded in gloomy mist. Although the soldiers didn't say much, they looked at Sun Tu with a bit of despair and helplessness. Some people were whispering: "Where are the reinforcements? Why haven't they arrived yet? It stands to reason that there will be soldiers and horses at Yanmen Pass before dark today." It’s time to arrive, why have they not been seen until now?”
This is exactly where Sun Tu's doubts lie. He had dared to prevent his subordinates from taking risks and defending the hills because he believed that reinforcements would arrive before tonight. But now, looking south from a distance, there is not even the slightest sign of reinforcements. What went wrong in the middle
Xiao Yanping was also confused about this. He had already seen the intentions of the Song Army, so he dared to do this, just because he had sent spies dozens of miles south to keep an eye on it. As long as the reinforcements of the Song Army appeared, He will withdraw his troops as soon as possible. But judging from the current situation, the Song army may not arrive tomorrow, and at that time, his troops will be enough to level the small hill in front of him.
Although it seems that the Song Army only lost half of its troops, the loss of strength on the battlefield is not a simple calculation. Once the number of casualties exceeds a certain line, even the most elite army will collapse instantly. As far as Xiao Yanping knew about the Song army, 40% of the casualties were enough to make the Song army on the mountain lose the courage to continue. By then, as long as he led his army to charge again, the battle would be over.
Almost at the same time, the generals on both sides of the mountain subconsciously turned their attention to the direction of Yanmen Pass, guessing when the soldiers and horses there would arrive...
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In Yanmen Pass, until this moment, not a single soldier had been mobilized! The reinforcements Sun Tu was expecting had not set off from the beginning. Even at this time, they could still clearly see the billowing smoke rising into the sky dozens of miles away!
In fact, just two days ago, when he saw the smoke rising, Tian Boyuan had already ordered his troops to leave the border and go north for rescue. However, at this moment, one person stopped his order - Supervisor Du Changguo.
"Du Jianjun, why are you blocking my rescue?" Tian Boyuan shouted anxiously.
"General Tian, I would like to ask you, what is your current position?" Du Changguo seemed quite calm and even asked with a smile.
"Yanmen Pass guard, what happened?"
"That's it. Your duty is only to guard the pass. As for the war outside the pass, you are not the one who can make the decision. You have no right to lead troops to take risks and fight against the Liao army that may not exist."
"But isn't this what we made an appointment with General Sun early in the morning?"
"I don't care about this." Looking at the other party's anxious look, Du Changguo smiled even more: "I, as the supervisor, have the authority to control you. If you dare to act recklessly and cause the Yanmen Pass defenders to be empty, I will The official shall exercise his power to veto everything! So just leave me here and stay here. As for everything outside the customs, I won't worry about it."
"But..." Tian Boyuan was still waiting to say anything, but soon he understood. This was done intentionally by Du Changguo, just to take revenge on Sun Tu for suppressing him to the point of submission. This man was so narrow-minded and vengeful that he even wanted to kill Sun Tu at the cost of the lives of thousands of soldiers from the north...