Chapter 132 Two Layers
Although the Fourth Prince Wanyan Wushu was not good at military geometry, he did not stop his subordinates from making noise. Instead, he frowned and waited for the noise to die down. Seeing that the commander-in-chief had finally been normal for a few days but had that expression again today, Wanyan Balisu and others did not act too recklessly and soon sat down again to watch the battle.
After a while, drums began to sound below the city walls and horns sounded continuously from above the city walls. As countless troops poured out from the Jin army's formation, hundreds of ladders appeared densely in the field of vision and the war broke out immediately.
It is said that, because few people have seen what a huge army is, few people can understand the momentum of tens of thousands of people charging together... In fact, ordinary people may be afraid and their legs will become weak when they see hundreds of war horses galloping together, let alone a real army of thousands of people carrying weapons and shouting to charge?
However, facing the Jin army's first large-scale formal attack on the city, the Song army soldiers on the city wall were all silent... On the one hand, many people have become accustomed to these scenes over the years. Even Emperor Zhao, who was watching the battle from afar on the watchtower of the city wall in the rear, was indifferent. On the other hand, the Minister of War Chen Gui, who was the "defending official", had a military order that on the first row of the city walls, no one except those in the organization was allowed to speak without permission!
Therefore, after the trumpets stopped sounding, there were only the sound of the Jin army's drums, and then tens of thousands of Jin soldiers, led by their respective officers, shouted and killed in the rear, and the momentum was deafening.
At the front were the laborers holding baskets. Their task was to continue carrying soil to fill the ditch... Unexpectedly, this time they rushed to the front but no crossbows were fired. This made these people overjoyed. They poured the debris and frozen soil into the dry and frozen moat and then hurriedly turned back.
Due to the line of sight, Zhao Jiu could not see the scene in front of him from the watchtower in the city which was actually quite far away. He could only lean his body to observe from the side. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Due to the clear weather, Emperor Zhao could even see the happy faces of the laborers dressed as Song people after they successfully poured the soil, and naturally he frowned.
"Officials."
At this moment, someone nearby suddenly spoke up. "There is nothing we can do about this. When I was in the Jin army camp, I was just like them, carrying soil to fill the ditch."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Yan Xiaozhong, the Shao Yin of Kaifeng Prefecture. They all sighed but had nothing to say.
However, Zhao Guanjia, who was reclining on the chair, heard this and asked another question: "Can we eat enough in the Jin camp?"
"It's hard to say whether we have enough to eat on weekdays." Not only the others, but also Yan Xiaozhong, who was short, thin and dark like a dwarf, was slightly startled, and then shook his head repeatedly. "But there is always food, and the discipline in the Jin army is quite strict, and there are very few cases of deduction... But in the current war, it is not certain that we can have food."
"What do you mean?" Zhao Jiu was puzzled. "Is it because swords, knives, bows and arrows don't have eyes?"
"No." Yan Xiaozhong answered solemnly with a straight face. "In such a situation, death is the only outcome. But even if you return to the camp alive, you will most likely starve... If I remember correctly, the Jin people must have broken sticks to get the soil. These civilians took a basket of soil and could take a finger-length stick and insert it into their hair and behind their ears. When the soil was ready, they would return and hand in the empty basket and stick. The Jin supervisors would then use daggers to cut the bark off the stick to make it a stick. Only with this stick could the civilians get a bowl of rice in the evening. Those who didn't have a stick deserved to starve."
In the sunlight, Zhao Jiu narrowed his eyes slightly: "One stick man, I thought it was the one penny man in the Northern Qi Dynasty?"
"It's not easy to kill a stick man." Yan Xiaozhong ignored the increasingly dark faces of the ministers around him and continued to explain to Emperor Zhao. "I was in the Jin army and I know clearly... Those who can eat at night are all ruffians and gangsters among the civilians. Most of their bachelors were robbed after the war. The Jin people are not fair and impartial. They only cut sticks and distribute food, not other things. So now these civilians filling the ditch, pouring a basket of soil, think they are alive, but in fact, the Jin people will drive them back after they go back. Even if they survived by chance for many days, they will be exhausted at night, and the bachelors in their hands will be taken away by those groups of bachelors. They will be hungry all night and weak the next day, and die faster."
Zhao Jiu remained silent, just leaning sideways and watching the battle with his hands clasped together. There was some discussion on the observation deck, but after this "explanation", everyone fell silent.
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'yellow' platform!" At this moment, suddenly, a loud count was heard from the quiet city wall in front, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Obviously, this is the real reason why those civilians who filled the ditches were able to survive today. Behind them are countless "strong civilians" carrying ladders... These people should be specially selected by Zhang Yu, who is in charge of commanding the Jin army's civilian camp. From the organization point of view, they are servants rather than bachelors. At least many of them have a piece of wood or something like that in their hands as a wooden shield to protect the sides; and many of them have a knife on their waist, which is unimaginable for the weak civilians who can hardly find an inch of iron.
If not, why would the Jin people use bachelors as tokens of trust?
Back in front of us, there was a loud noise from the city, followed by a continuous count like frying beans:
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'Hong' character platform!"
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the platform where the character '列' is placed!"
"The enemy's ladder is one hundred steps away from the 'Yu' character platform!"
As the commanders on these protruding platforms (protruding platforms on the city walls) reported their numbers, the archers on the corresponding sections of the city walls behind them almost immediately drew their bows and prepared for battle.
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