Then, when a large number of Jin army siege equipment entered the attack range of the city wall, the bows and crossbows on the city wall were fired in an orderly manner towards the specific direction designated by the commander under the command of the flags on the wall... Most of the 'Zhang Yu army' carrying ladders and moving forward rapidly had only a piece of wood, and only a very few leaders had leather armor, so each of them just fired a round of intensive shots, and many ladders were thrown directly to the ground, and the strong civilians who had just formed the army quickly fled.
But seeing this situation, the personal soldiers of Zhang Yu's army who were supervising the battle and Meng'an, a direct subordinate of Wanyan Balisu's army who was in charge of the northern camp, rode forward and forced these people to move forward again with machetes and horse hooves. They also demanded that the main force of Zhang Yu's army, who were holding shields, forming battle formations, and wearing a certain amount of armor, should not hesitate any longer but follow immediately... because some of the ladders still relied on their numerical advantage to approach the moat that had become an ice trench, and were preparing to cross this ice trench.
According to the defense design of most cities, there should be a sheep-horse wall only one person high behind the trench or moat (a low wall outside the city wall and inside the moat, named after the livestock stored by residents outside the city during wartime, and a standard feature of medieval East Asian cities). As long as you climb over this low wall defense line, you can enter the last flat area in front of the city wall, which is about thirty to fifty steps wide, and try to attack the city with ladders from here.
Correspondingly, faced with the main force of the enemy army that was well-equipped, the soldiers on the city walls immediately became alert, and under the command of the generals on each city wall, the bows and crossbows on the city walls began to concentrate their fire on these better-equipped soldiers.
The Ke Di bow, Shen Bi bow, and even the small crossbow were no longer stingy with arrows, and the main force of Zhang Yu's army quickly suffered large-scale casualties.
Not only that, Wanyan Balisu's personal guard Meng'an, who was too focused on supervising the battle, rushed into the shooting range and was suddenly attacked by the Song army with a intensive burst of fire, killing dozens of people on the spot.
Seeing this, many people on the watchtower finally breathed a sigh of relief, and even Lu Yihao was somewhat disappointed. However, not far to the north of the city, Wanyan Wushu and dozens of other generals watched this scene coldly, but were indifferent.
In fact, the Jin army was still paying attention to the ladders, and how many of them could successfully reach the frozen moat, and how many could successfully climb over the Sheep-Horse Wall? Some people even began to estimate how many ladders they would need to deploy at once to ensure that the entire Sheep-Horse Wall fell, was flattened, and finally started the goose cart to drive over and hit the city gate?
And a moment later, they saw a ladder easily climbed ashore from the bottom of the moat with the help of the river bank and the sheep-horse wall, and was easily thrown over the short sheep-horse wall by Zhang Yujun's soldiers. However, no Song army showed up to fight inside the sheep-horse wall. Almost all the Jin army generals looked at the fourth prince Wanyan Wushu... There was no other reason, the distance behind the moat and the sheep-horse wall and in front of the city wall has always been the best place to defend the city because of the cross-fire support from above. Sending troops out of the city to fight is a conventional means of defending a city, and even the most effective means.
To be honest, even during the Jingkang Incident, soldiers from Tokyo City frequently launched attacks from behind the Yangma Wall, but Nanyang soldiers clearly had sufficient food and fodder, yet they did not send any troops out of the city to fight!
How can one defend a city without leaving?
The Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu was obviously stunned for a moment, and seemed to find it difficult to understand, but almost immediately, he nodded to Wanyan Balisu, who was the first on his left hand.
When Wanyan Balisu received the signal, he immediately waved his hand and ordered two Meng'an under his command who were waiting for orders to step forward and join the battle. The two Jurchen Meng'an who were lined up in front of the high platform received the military order and did not hesitate at all. They immediately abandoned their horses and launched an infantry battle towards the Nanyang city wall where there were dense bows and crossbows, preparing to join in climbing the city wall.
"There's something wrong with this Song Dynasty sheep and horse wall."
As soon as the two Meng'an troops left, they saw several more ladders being placed over the Yangma Wall, while the Song army on the city wall still maintained a certain excessive calmness and order. Wanhu Han Chang was the first to express doubts.
“It’s definitely not right.”
The older Chizhanhui also stroked his beard and made a conclusion. "It's not just the Sheep and Horse Wall... something was wrong from the beginning. The city was prepared so early, so there must be cannons, but from the first day to now, no cannonballs have been seen flying out."
"That's right." Han Chang narrowed his eyes and said, "They wanted to save on bullets, or they didn't want to reveal the position of the artillery carts too early so that they could use the cannons, but why didn't they use the artillery carts on the platform above the city? First, the artillery carts didn't move, and then they watched our army fill the river and climb over the Yangma Wall. They must have other things to rely on."
"Why can't it be that the civil servants of the Song State in the city are confused again?" Wanyan Balisu smiled. "I heard that on that day in Tokyo, someone on the city wall fired a cannon to attack the Second Prince's camp, but was beheaded in public by his own family... Is it still wrong for the Song army to be wrong?"
"That's because the previous Zhao Song emperor was as cowardly as a mouse and insisted on peace." Wanyan Wushu finally spoke, but he directly rejected Balisu's guess. "The Zhao Song emperor in Nanyang is not that kind of fool!"
Wanyan Balisu neither refuted nor agreed, but shut up immediately... He had figured it out anyway, he would not get any good results in front of the Fourth Prince, and he was the Fourth Prince and the Left Inspector of the Marshal's Office, so it would be better to cooperate with him non-violently.
Since Balisu kept silent, the others became bored and just waited quietly for the battle situation ahead to change.
However, the problem lies here. As the Jin army continued to deploy troops based on the so-called progress, the situation in the front did not change at all...
In order to survive and eat a meal tonight, the civilians continued to run forward at the risk of their lives, carrying earth baskets and corpses to fill the ditches, or carrying wooden boards to carry ladders. At most, Zhang Yu's main force and the two Meng'an Jin people took the initiative to join the battle to reduce a considerable number of casualties, but the rest remained the same;
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