Chapter 314: Two Cities Conquered in Two Days
Cheng Yu led 15,000 soldiers and horses to attack Mozhou and Yingzhou with 300 divine arm bows and 30 small thunder bombs allocated by His Royal Highness the Regent.
Mozhou City is not big, and the garrison only has more than 3,000 soldiers. When they knew that Zhuozhou City was captured by the Song army and the retreat of Mozhou and Yingzhou was cut off, the people were already panicked and the army was in chaos.
At this moment, 15,000 Song soldiers were approaching the city, and the garrison on the city wall had no determination to defend the city to the death. Especially the half of the Han army, they were secretly thinking about how to save their lives and surrender.
Cheng Yu ordered the divine arm bows to go forward and cover with arrows and firepower. Several small thunder bombs were thrown onto the city wall by catapults, and after a violent explosion. There was a commotion on the city wall.
These small thunder bombs had little killing power, but they were extremely intimidating. The Liao army garrison commander desperately shouted that the command was ineffective. The Liao army Khitan soldiers were so scared that they screamed and ran for their lives. The Han army, under the command of several generals, turned against the Khitan soldiers and killed them.
Cheng Yu slapped his thigh with joy!
"Damn it! The enemy has rebelled from the inside. Hurry up and get the siege ladders up and speed up the siege."
In less than an hour, Mozhou City was captured, the garrison commander was shot to death, and the Khitan soldiers were killed by the Han soldiers and the Song army that climbed up the city wall.
Cheng Yu and several lieutenants rode into Mozhou City on war horses, smiling from ear to ear. This battle was so easy and enjoyable!
No effort, no casualties, no need to rest, let's attack Yingzhou City tomorrow!
Yingzhou City has 12,000 defenders, 6,000 Khitan soldiers and 6,000 Han soldiers.
After Cheng Yu led the army to the city, he did not rush to attack the city, but sent out 1,000 Han heroes who had fought back in Mozhou to start a round of psychological warfare under the city wall.
Those Han soldiers held trumpets made of thin iron sheets and shouted at the Han soldiers on the city wall to surrender.
"Brothers of the Han army on the city wall!... His Highness, the God of War of the Song Dynasty, Prince Regent, has led his army to capture Zhuozhou City!... We are the Han army of Mozhou City. We turned the tables and surrendered, and we got the first merit of breaking the city! Not only will you survive, but you will also be rewarded with 10 taels of silver!... Brothers! Hurry up and take up your weapons and turn the tables, kill the Khitans, and make merit by surrendering the city!..."
The defenders on the city wall were in commotion, and the Han soldiers had another kind of eager thoughts in their panic.
The defending general Satu was so angry that his head was smoking. This Song army commander who was attacking the city was too wicked. He didn't attack the city, but first confused my army's morale and wanted to make a rebellion in my nest. It was really insidious.
He drew out his sword and raised it high, frowning and shouting in shock: "Who dares to have a different mind? Kill him!"
The agitated Han army was shocked, but once the thought came to their mind, their fighting power was greatly reduced. How could an army with nearly half of its soldiers thinking about escaping and surrendering have the morale to defend the city to the death?
After the Song army had a rest for a while, they started another round of psychological warfare to confuse the enemy's military spirit, and then the high-spirited Song army soldiers began the siege.
The three trebuchet teams transferred by Regent Zhao Defang hid in the Song army's trebuchet position. The captain adjusted the target parameters with a ruler and waved the small flag!
The eighteen thunder bombs in the three catapults, mixed with the millstone-sized stones fired by other catapults, flew towards the Liao army on the city wall.
Most of the soldiers operating the catapults on the city wall were smart Han soldiers. After the commander Satu gave the order to fire, they had some second thoughts and hesitated in preparing to fire the catapults, thus losing the first round of attack.
The millstone-sized stone hit the wall accurately, and then there were thunder bombs mixed in, and explosions one after another, "Boom!... Boom!... Boom!..."
The flames and smoke were everywhere, and the Liao army's limbs flew everywhere, blood and flesh were blurred, and there were cries of souls...
Some of the frightened Han soldiers came to their senses, looked at each other with their brothers, suddenly picked up their weapons, and turned around to kill the Khitan soldiers.
The siege troops prepared under the wall immediately took action quickly, the archers of the magic arm archers ran forward and raised their heads to shoot upward to provide fire cover, and three thousand soldiers carrying siege ladders ran towards the wall.
"Hold on!... Kill these rebels, hold on to the enemy's siege!..." The commander, Satu, swung his sword at the rebellious Han soldiers one by one, desperately shouting at his men to hold on!
Satu's decisive killing of the rebels with his personal soldiers did not shock the Han soldiers, but instead aroused more Han soldiers' rebellion.
More and more Han soldiers, who were usually inferior to others and bullied by Khitan soldiers, and whose families were enslaved by Khitan nobles, took up their weapons and killed the Khitan soldiers.
Satu urgently mobilized the reserve troops under the city wall to go up to the city. The Khitan soldiers not only had to deal with the Song army attacking the city, but also had to deal with the increasing number of rebellious Han soldiers on the city wall. It was really miserable and extremely dangerous
. The first wave of Song soldiers who jumped onto the city wall from the siege ladder immediately started a melee with the Liao army. As more and more Song soldiers climbed up the city wall along the siege ladder, the victory and defeat were already one-sided.
Satu roared in anger, holding the knife in both hands and leaping up with all his strength, splitting a Song general in half with one force, and his blood and intestines stained the ground red.
Satu's scarlet eyes were burning with anger. He rushed towards the Song army that was climbing up the city wall on a siege ladder, waving his steel knife like a madman, and killed several enemies.
A short arrow hit his face, and a young Song general holding a Zhuge crossbow laughed wildly, "The Liao army commander was shot dead by someone, why don't you surrender quickly!"
Satu's personal soldiers rushed over like crazy, but were shot to the ground by a volley of arrows. As the city gate was opened from the inside, the Song army's light armored cavalry rushed into the city, and Yingzhou City was breached.
The Song army and the surrendered Han army in the city were chasing the fleeing Khitan soldiers. The Liao army soldiers who fled into the homes of the people were surrounded and killed by the Han people who hated them with sticks and kitchen knives.
After capturing two cities in two days, Cheng Yu rode on a tall horse with high spirits. I, Cheng Yu, can create such a brilliant record in my life. It is really a proud and highlight moment in my life!
Such a brilliant record is all thanks to the magic bow and crossbow and thunder assigned by His Royal Highness the Prince of Regent, which frightened the enemy. If you want to make achievements, be honored, and leave your name in history, choosing to follow the right person is the most important thing.
Cheng Yuzhi entered the government office of Yingzhou City with great pride and ordered the treasury and granary to be sealed, the property of the Khitan nobles to be confiscated, and the registration to wait for the arrival of the civil servants to take over.
According to the instructions of His Royal Highness the Regent, Cheng Yu ordered someone to send a letter to Yue Zhuangcheng, the governor of Cangzhou Prefecture, to transfer him to Yingzhou City to preside over government affairs.
Yue Zhuangcheng learned that His Royal Highness the Regent had transferred him to Yingzhou City to serve as the governor, and immediately told the Tongpan to temporarily take charge of the government affairs of Cangzhou Prefecture. He packed his luggage and rushed to the newly recovered Yingzhou City to take office with excitement.