Smoke and dust were billowing. In the southern part of the Jin army camp, there were a considerable number of Jin cavalry, probably at least tens of thousands, moving southward.
In the north, towards Guantao, the main force of the Jin army also regrouped;
In Yuan City, a large number of cavalrymen also began to gather around the already empty Cuiyun Tower, seemingly unsure of the direction of their attack;
Finally, there was dense smoke and dust in the northeast of the position. The noise was certainly not comparable to that of the main camp of the Jin army to the west of the position, but it was obvious at a glance that the smoke and dust caused by the marching of a large number of troops suddenly appeared.
It goes without saying that on this day, the Jin army would not only launch a general attack, but also attack from all sides in an attempt to maximize its military advantage.
"General..."
In Yuancheng, on the north gate tower, Gao Qingyi and two guards hurriedly climbed up the city wall and gave him earnest advice. "This place is dangerous. If you want to see the battle, why not go to the east wall..."
After the Yellow River froze, the eastern city wall that was initially bombarded became the safest area in Yuancheng.
"No need." Gao Jingshan, wearing full armor and leaning his hands on a crooked wooden fence, stared at the main camp of the Song army in the north of the city without turning his head. The brick and stone battlements here had long been smashed by the Song army's artillery carts. "The Song army doesn't have the energy to take care of the city today..."
"That's true." Gao Qingyi was stunned for a moment, then nodded and walked forward. However, after just one look, he couldn't help but sigh, and then became absent-minded like Gao Jingshan.
It turns out that from this point, the core part of the entire Song army camp is clearly visible:
It is not just the two obvious thick defense lines in the north and south, nor is it just the natural defense lines formed by the two east-west Yellow River channels and the levees, nor is it just the crossbow positions on the six earthen hills and the artillery positions above and behind the levees, nor is it just the docks and reservoirs built when digging the earthen hills. The most intuitive point is actually the scale of the camp and the density of the fortifications.
Dense fences, earthen ramparts that were not tall but large enough to form an obstacle, and neatly arranged trenches were everywhere. The camps and construction sites were clearly separated from each other. Because of their density, most of the roads in the Song army camps felt like corridors.
Just one look at fortifications of this level would make one envious of the troops stationed outside.
"What does Qualcomm want from me?"
After watching for a while, Gao Jingshan, with a tired face, finally came to his senses, but his brows were frowned.
"Pu Suyue has assembled all the troops. May I ask the commander-in-chief for the next instructions?" Gao Qingyi also quickly suppressed a sense of uneasiness and answered.
"Don't pay attention to him, I'll give it to you later." Gao Jingshan's expression remained unchanged, and he just pointed to the hot air balloon hanging high in the middle of the Song army camp. "Telling him now will only reveal the direction of the attack."
Gao Qingyi looked back at the two guards who followed him. One of them understood and immediately went back to tell Pu Suyue. After they left, Gao Qingyi stared at the many things in front of the city for a while, and couldn't help shaking his head:
"This battle is getting harder and harder to understand. Two armies of hundreds of thousands of people are meeting, but instead of deploying troops for a field battle, there are countless artillery carts, giant crossbows, large Kongming lanterns that can seat people, and such dense fortifications... Twenty years ago, when we were young, how could we have imagined this?"
"There are still clues." Gao Jingshan shook his head. "Except for the hot air balloon, the other things you mentioned have their roots 20 years ago..."
Gao Qingyi was at a loss for a moment.
"It's still armor." Gao Jingshan didn't mean to keep the secret, but stared at the Song army that began to deploy in an orderly manner under the city, and explained calmly. "I have had this idea for a long time... Armor, when it is thick and dense to a certain extent, makes ordinary soft bows, swords and spears ineffective... Do you remember that twenty years ago, when we were in Liaodong to guard against bandits, the most useful things were actually long spears and large shields, and the sword and shield soldiers had to prepare a small bag on their waists with seven or eight stones in it?"
"Yes, that happened." Gao Qingyi recalled the past, and it seemed like a lifetime ago. "That was a good thing for sword and shield soldiers without bows and arrows to defend against harassment from the enemy from a distance."
"That's right." Gao Jingshan stood up and pointed at the heavy armor on his body calmly. "What about now? After such thick armor came out, all the elite who can really decide the outcome of the battle will wear such armor. If you still carry those seven or eight stones against such armor, wouldn't it be a joke? Even the soft bow and broadsword are mostly things prepared by the people, not the vital parts of the army. How could the Song and Jin families pay any attention to soft bows and thin arrows?"
"Now we have powerful crossbows, heavy arrows, war hammers, thick maces, axes, spears..." Gao Qingyi nodded.
"Yes, in other words, they all became heavy troops... heavy infantry, heavy cavalry... We are the Iron Pagoda, and the other side is the infantry armor. A main soldier has to carry dozens of kilograms of equipment to fight." Gao Jingshan continued to sigh. "And to deal with these heavily armed troops, in addition to using heavy to overcome heavy, a simpler way is to rely on cities, camps, and fortifications to take advantage of their inconvenience, their inability to fight for a long time, and their poor logistics. And when the role of cities and fortifications is revealed, we have to fire cannons and lock the city. Then, in order to suppress the outer artillery vehicles, the best way in the city fortifications is to fire cannons and fight cannons with cannons... So artillery vehicles are becoming more and more common, more and more numerous, and simpler, and cities and camps are all getting thicker and denser... It has become what it is now."
Gao Qingyi thought about it for a moment, but couldn't think of any rebuttal, so he could only nod heavily.
"I'm actually worried about two things now." At this point, Gao Jingshan finally got down to business. "One is that the Fourth Prince's general attack is not going well. In order to be safe, the Song army will definitely attack the city with all their strength... And according to common sense, our city is thick and solid, but the lowest part of the city wall is three feet high, and it is difficult to defend against artillery bombardment. In addition, there is only one wall. Once any section of the wall is blasted open, the city may be directly breached."
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