Outside the South City, there was a thick cloud of smoke and the sound of cannons roared like a thunderstorm. The attackers had already retreated to the first line of defense, watching the mess of bricks, lime and soil flying all over the city wall.
The bombardment stopped after a while. There was a brief silence outside the city wall, but inside the city wall was noisy, with the shouts of generals holding their weapons and lining up, and the sound of gongs and drums. A large number of Northern Han troops were waiting at the entrance of the upper city, and many city defense equipment were also rushed to the top of the city.
However, at this time, the Zhou army did not rush to attack the city according to the original tactics.
In the Zhou army camp, Guo Shao rode to the front and shouted: "Pass the order, stop the siege on all fronts!"
Gao Yanchou stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying: Your Majesty, the Jiannan Army is determined to sacrifice their lives for the country, and their morale has not been shaken by this.
Guo Shao said solemnly: The less the soldiers fear death, the more I fear their death.
Soon, a few scattered cavalrymen rushed towards the city wall, galloping on the messy battlefield. The Northern Han army soldiers didn't know what the Zhou cavalrymen were doing. There were so few cavalrymen attacking the city.
The Northern Han defenders on the city first fired crossbows, which had a range of more than 200 steps but were heavy and few in number, and the sparse arrows had no effect on the high-speed cavalry. The catapults in the city also fired, but still had no effect on the scattered cavalry. The stones fell into the mud one after another, not even hitting a single person.
The cavalrymen came closer and farther away, approaching the city wall within a few dozen steps, and shot arrows at them. The arrows hit the armor of the Zhou cavalry, making a clanging sound. Suddenly, there was a neighing sound, and a Zhou cavalryman's horse was shot and injured. The rider fell off, rolling in the dust.
But soon, the cavalry withdrew.
A general ran to the central flag of the Jiannan Army, dismounted, knelt on one knee, and said, "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to investigate and found that there are 18 artillery pits around 50 steps, six within 100 steps, and two outside 100 steps."
Good. Guo Shao waved his hand.
At this time, forty or fifty generals rode their horses from all directions and saluted the emperor on his tall black horse. Guo Shao nodded and said: In more than a day in Nancheng, we fired more than 1,500 cannons, but only more than 20 of them were misfired within 50 steps. It would take about 75 cannons to misfire more than 50 steps away. Even if they were misfired, they would not necessarily damage our own weapons and horses.
Guo Shao's tone was not strong, but he was calm, his words were clear and his eyes were bright. At such an important time, he usually kept a clear mind and state, and his emotions were calm but sharp.
The generals listened with eyes wide open. Because Guo Shao spoke rather quickly, not everyone might understand what he meant at once. But Guo Shao just wanted them to understand that he was not giving blind orders, and as long as they believed him, that would be enough.
He continued: "So I decided to stop the ant-like siege method. This method causes too much loss and cannot effectively consume the enemy. Change the attack tactics. Don't expect to rush to the top of the city in one fell swoop. Just make the Northern Han army feel threatened and continue to deploy troops to defend and consume. Next, let General Gao assign specific command responsibilities.
By the afternoon, the Zhou army had concentrated more than 200 artillery pieces outside a section of the city wall two or three hundred steps wide near the inner city wall in the south; the siege fortifications elsewhere remained, but the artillery and military supplies were used for the key attack areas.
A large number of soldiers pushing wheelbarrows rushed towards the city wall in a sparse formation. The carts were filled with earth and the people pushing the carts were soldiers, not civilians, because the soldiers had armor to defend against bows and arrows. There were also many archers, swordsmen and shieldmen with large weapons between the wheelbarrows. A large group of people slowly spread towards the city wall like a tide.
The Northern Han generals observed the situation and built a wall of earth to attack the city.
Flags were waving on the top of the city walls, and queues of Northern Han soldiers rushed up the city walls, carrying crossbows, cauldrons, and oil drums. Some able-bodied men came up carrying stones and logs. There were many more people on the city walls than before, a huge crowd.
Unexpectedly, the Zhou army soldiers who were pushing the carts stopped after about a hundred steps. Then they heard the sound of drums in the open field outside the city, and after a while, the sound of cannons rang out, and rows of white smoke emerged from the cannon salvos.
The general on duty in the Northern Han army shouted in a deep voice: "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap!"
The Zhou army's artillery was probably quite accurate, and they would adjust the angle when they missed. Heavy rolling stones whistled in from the sky.
The Zhou army's catapults, which were within 200 steps of the city, also launched their weapons. Some gunpowder bags tied with stones to increase their weight flew toward the top of the city wall. One bag of gunpowder suddenly caught fire in midair, and exploded with a bang. The flashing fire was more dazzling than fireworks. Moreover, the rolling stones were still flying with the burning gunpowder, and a line of fire and thick smoke was drawn in the air, as bright as a rainbow. The defending soldiers looked up at the sky in amazement, but when they fell on the city wall, only a stone was left, and it was done with a loud bang.
Another medicine bag fell on the city wall. The fuse in the bamboo tube was still burning. Everyone was horrified and dodged away. After a moment, it exploded with a bang, as if a ball of fire was suddenly set on the wall. There was a lot of smoke.
When another medicine bag fell up, a soldier picked up a ladle and scooped up some golden juice and poured it on the medicine bag, and then there was no movement.
However, the 100-jin rolling stones came roaring and smashed into the brick floor of the parapet, causing the earth and stones to fly everywhere. The power was so great that the dense crowd caused a catastrophic end, and screams were heard everywhere. Suddenly, a rolling stone violently knocked over the iron pot, and even the stove and firewood underneath flew up, and the golden juice in the iron pot splashed. The soldiers around covered their faces and screamed, and a foul smell spread.
The rolling stones fired by the artillery were very heavy, flying down from midair, as if they were indestructible. With a bang, the floor tiles on the city wall were directly shattered, and stones and soil flew like arrows. If the people were too dense, there would be several people injured by the broken stones alone. Even the hard soil below would be broken into a big pit. The Northern Han army soldiers were most afraid of this thing, and the scene alone was very scary.
Boom boom boom! The flames and white smoke flashed in rows in the wilderness. After each round of volleys, terrifying stones would whiz down from great heights. Something weighing hundreds of pounds fell from mid-air with great force. If it happened to hit the parapet, that section of the parapet would burst and collapse directly.
There were ghostly cries and wolves howling on the city walls. Many people retreated down the ramp leading to the upper city, and countless weapons were destroyed.
Amid the sound of cannon fire, the Zhou army continued to advance. Several huge cloud chariots were slowly being pushed closer, and one of them was already within a hundred steps of the city wall. It was a large chariot that was four feet tall.
The huge cloud car is like a tower, with many thick wooden wheels installed below, and oil dripping on the wooden axles. It needs dozens of people to push it, and it moves very slowly, with almost no maneuverability, and it is easy to become a big target and be damaged; it is also difficult to build and consumes a lot of manpower. However, it is still a relatively strong weapon for siege. The three-story arrow tower on it is higher than the city wall. If you get close to it, you can attack the city wall in reverse and you can clearly observe the defense status of the city wall from above.
Three rows of bows and arrows were stretched out of their slits, whizzing arrows at the city wall. Smoke filled the air above the city wall, and the smoke was like a light cloud, with black dots of arrows flying in the cloud. A huge shout penetrated the smoke and seemed to rush into the sky.
The rockets were pouring down from the city walls, crackling and nailing into the thick wooden boards above the clouds, and the oilcloth on the arrowheads was still on fire. But the wooden boards in front of the cloud car were covered with a thick layer of mud, so the rockets had no effect on them. The city walls were also in chaos, and there was no attack.
After a long time, a group of burning fireballs flew out of the city, leaving black smoke in the air. The burning objects thrown by the catapults. Most of them fell to the ground, but they were all near the cloud car, obviously aimed at this thing. The second time, many fireballs flew out, and a fireball wrapped in oilcloth hit the top of the cloud car, and it immediately broke with a clang, and the black oil spread and the fire became more intense. Not long after, another fireball hit the cloud car.
A soldier ran out of the arrow tower carrying a bucket of water, stood outside, scooped water and poured it on the arrow tower. Unexpectedly, there was a loud bang, and fire and boiling oil splashed. The soldier immediately dropped what he was holding, holding his head and screaming heartbreakingly.
The archers on the arrow tower hurried down the stairs, and everyone was shouting. The cloud chariot was pushed backwards by the people below, and flames and black smoke spread above. It was a huge scene.
However, most of the Northern Han soldiers on the city wall withdrew and hid, but the catapults inside the city wall were still throwing stones out of the city.
A large group of Zhou soldiers came to the city wall about fifty steps away, and they all put up flagpoles along a line, as if to mark the approximate distance. At this time, a blue flag swayed violently from side to side, and the sound of artillery in the rear soon died down.
Groups of soldiers pushed the soil to the corner of the wall. There was not much soil in a cart, but the Zhou army's soil-carrying carts were endless, digging pits a hundred steps away to get soil. Some even carried wooden pestles to tamp the soil under the corner of the wall.
From time to time, stones from catapults hit people, but compared with the endless stream of people, the casualties were very small and failed to stop the Zhou army from working under the city.
Finally, there was a commotion on the city wall. More soldiers of the Northern Han army were driven back to the city, and new equipment was also carried up the city. The movement was observed by the cloud car with more than 200 steps. The rear sounded the gongs in unison, and the generals on horseback shouted among the people to hurry up and retreat, and to fire the cannon. The people under the city wall dropped their wheelbarrows and various things and turned around to run.
As soon as the crowd retreated past the flag-raising area fifty steps away, a tall red flag began to wave. The prepared artillery array immediately roared, and the mighty bombardment resounded through the world again. Although the killing power was still limited, it was enough to inflict another round of losses on the Northern Han army who had gone up to the city.