A thunderous roar tore through the morning tranquility of Jinyang City. A few sparrows fluttered in panic in the air and flew away. It was a sunny day, and the sun had just risen, red as blood in the winter. The soldiers of the Northern Han army on the city wall heard the thunderous sound and didn't know what it was. They all craned their necks to watch. Behind the first earthen wall, more than 500 steps away from the city, a cloud of gunpowder rose.
That was not thunder; it was the sound of artillery fire that finally could not wait to sound after days of preparation for the siege.
This loud noise not only disturbed the sparrows and the stalemate, but also disturbed all parties, including the Northern Han Dynasty, the Northern Prefecture of Liao, and even the Southern Prefecture of Liao in Youzhou. Guo Shao had already received various signs reported by the spies, and even Youzhou might mobilize troops to rescue Jinyang.
The battle of Jinyang, which involved all parties, began at this time.
Guo Shao sat on his horse, holding his sword, and looked up at the sound. The initial velocity of the stone bullet fired by the cannon was indeed not very fast. With the naked eye, one could see the round stone moving in the air like a parabola, and it took a while for it to fall to the ground. From a distance, a bang was heard as it hit the soil outside the city.
Then it was quiet, leaving only the noise of people and horses everywhere.
The generals and officials remained silent, squinting their eyes to look at the direction where the smoke was rising in the east. Guo Shao also looked there, waiting patiently.
A general on the artillery array looked around and shouted: Raise it an inch!
A loaded short mortar nearby was immediately dug out from the pile of sacks by the soldiers, and then a sandbag was stuffed into the position of the gun ear. A young general took a measuring tape and measured it swiftly, and said: It's done.
Several soldiers hurriedly carried sandbags to stuff the gun barrel. The sturdy iron cannon seemed to be buried in the sand to fix its position.
Not long after, there was another loud bang. A large amount of gunpowder exploded, and the muzzle seemed to be spewing fire. White smoke suddenly rose. The huge cannon sound seemed to echo outside the city wall. As soon as the cannon sounded, a coughing sound was heard.
Guo Shao raised his head, looked at the flying stone bullets, and said silently: Hit the target!
Under everyone's gaze and with everyone's expectation, the stone bullet flew towards the top of the city wall about 500 steps away, and after a while, it suddenly fell on the city wall. The stone bullet weighing 100 kilograms hit the target exactly. With a bang, you can vaguely see the earth and stones splashing on the wall, and the dust flying everywhere, it looks like an explosion. Because the stone bullet is very heavy, it has great power, at least it smashed the floor tiles on the city wall and made a hole.
Seeing this, the soldiers cheered.
Soon, the artillery deployed in the front began to fire one after another, and for a moment, lightning and thunder roared in the camp outside the city. Hundreds of cannons fired at the same time, and the momentum was so loud that the earth was shaking.
Moreover, Guo Shao deployed more than one hundred cannons in the Jinyang siege camp. The Military Equipment Bureau cast a total of more than three hundred similar Dragon Roar cannons, all of which were transported to the Jinyang front line because this type of cannon was only used for sieges.
Heavy stone bombs attacked the city wall in front one after another. Earth and rocks flew from the top of the city wall, and bricks on the wall fell down. The battlefield soon became a mess, with flashes of fire and smoke everywhere.
Guo Shao watched the spectacular scene for a while and had not yet adapted to the loud noise. Even though he was far away from the artillery formation, his ears were still buzzing.
A large number of artillery bombardments, but the results of stone bullets are still uneven. The specifications of the Dragon Roar Cannon, the weighing of gunpowder, and the distance angle of the barrel are all unified, but it is still difficult to avoid errors; the method of measuring the casting technology is still relatively crude and difficult to achieve accuracy.
However, the knowledge and technology used in this era were far ahead of others. The law of parabola ballistics was not discovered until many years later. But for Guo Shao, these were just junior high school physics knowledge.
At this time, more than 300 artillery pieces outside the siege fortifications that were more than ten miles long began to roar one after another, and the battlefield became more and more lively.
Multiple guns fired at the same time, like waves of sound lifting the walls of Jinyang. Judging from the sound, it seemed that Jinyang would collapse soon. But the actual effect was still very different. The average thickness of Jinyang's walls was more than ten steps and more than ten meters. This kind of black powder artillery could not overturn them. However, it was only a matter of time before the brick cladding of the walls and the parapets on the walls and other defensive fortifications were severely damaged.
Another major function is that there are a large number of defenders on the city walls, and artillery bombardment can cause casualties and deplete their morale and fighting spirit.
So on the first day of the siege, the Zhou army did not send out a single soldier to attack the city, but kept bombarding it, consuming a large amount of gunpowder and stone bullets. It was not until the evening that it stopped.
However, the Zhou army was not afraid of consumption. All the cities of the Northern Han army in the southern region were clamped by the Zhou army. Military supplies were continuously transported from the Fenshui Qinlu Post Road. The resources of the whole country were used to bear the cost of this war.
The first row of whistling cannons were deployed 500 steps outside the city wall; the heavy weapons of the Northern Han army were nothing more than catapults and crossbows, and the range of these weapons was only 200 to 300 steps, so unless they rushed out of the city, they could not reach the Zhou army. The Northern Han army was beaten for a whole day and did not fight back once.
As the sun went down, the hustle and bustle that had been roaring all day gradually quieted down. The air was filled with smoke, and the choking smell of gunpowder lingered for a long time. Fires were lit up one after another in the city.
Several generals, whose faces were blackened and dirty by smoke, put their weapons outside the tent and walked into the central army tent. It was very lively inside. Although they were tired after a whole day, they were very excited because there were no casualties. The power of the artillery was much stronger than the catapult, and they talked a lot in the tent.
After a while, Guo Shao also came in and sat down at the top. Everyone immediately quieted down and saluted with fists.
No need to be polite, please take your seats. Guo Shao said kindly.
They all bowed and said: Thank you, Your Majesty.
The generals sat down on the left and right as they were told. The general Gao Yanchou said: "From my opinion, the Dragon Roar Cannon is much more powerful than the catapult, but it is just a bombardment and cannot capture the city. I think that in order to capture Jinyang as soon as possible, we have to attack the city."
Whenever someone made a suggestion, Guo Shao would turn to look at him, listen carefully, and nod with encouragement and appreciation, without speaking easily.
When he was a military commander, he encouraged his generals to express their opinions and then make their own judgments. As expected, Liu Renzhan also said: Can we use gunpowder to blow up Jinyang City
Guo Shao responded: "You can give it a try, but the hole attack is very time-consuming. It will take nearly a month to successfully dig a tunnel and bury the gunpowder. I think it may not be as easy to blow up the city with gunpowder this time." Zhao Kuangyin fully knew the specific tactics of bombing the city with gunpowder. He would advise the Northern Han lord to guard against this; once the other side is prepared, the chances will be much worse than before. In addition, the city of Jinyang is thick, and it is not known how effective it will be.
After he finished speaking, he was also speculating on the effect, if he succeeded in blowing down the city wall again. The gap was very small, and because the city wall was high and thick, a lot of earth and rocks might accumulate in the gap, affecting the speed of the attack. At this time, if the defenders were prepared, they would deploy troops to repair fortifications in the small gap to defend. However, due to the small contact area, it would most likely become a tactic of consumption and delay.
At this time, Wang Pu said: When the Liao army reinforcements arrive, if Li Chuyun can stop the Liao army, Jinyang will be an isolated city. An isolated city will surely be conquered, it's just a matter of time.
Guo Shao agreed and said: "What Envoy Wang said makes sense. To attack a strong city like Jinyang, we must eventually consume the defenders' strength and wear down their hopes. We must block the Liao reinforcements in advance and make the rulers and ministers of the Northern Han feel that resistance is hopeless. Only then will we have a chance to capture Jinyang."
The crowd discussed and proposed many methods, including diverting the Fen River to flood Jinyang City. However, these were all old ideas, as someone had already said that they would have to wait until the summer flood season, and the purpose was to wear down the defenders' patience.
Just then, the soldiers came into the tent with dinner. The warriors immediately turned their attention to the food, as they were hungry after running all day.
There was not much difference in the food for generals and soldiers in the army. Even Emperor Guo Shao ate the same food. The generals were too embarrassed to prepare their own meals. If they really wanted to, it would be easy for them to get some delicious food since they had thousands of subordinates under them.
What they eat now is wheat cakes, which are put in baskets and are enough to fill you up. Another kind of food is soup made from pickled meat and vegetable and tree leaves with salt, which is put in wooden barrels.
No one cared, as they were all used to eating it, so they asked their followers to bring their own large iron bowls, made soup in the iron bowls, and then divided the wheat cakes.