Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Chapter 160 The Ruthless Qian Dazhuang

The Jin cavalry, winding their way out of Puyang, captured Neihuang City without shedding a drop of blood. However, they had no idea that Li Zhen had already meticulously planned a scorched-earth policy within the city. The former prosperity of the streets and alleys vanished like smoke, leaving only a few scattered households barely surviving in the desolation. The rest of the streets were deserted, sparsely populated, like a lonely city forgotten by time.

Leading this Jin army was the renowned general Wanyan Yi. Unlike the generals of the other two routes, Wanyan Yi was a commander with extensive combat experience. Moreover, Wanyan Yi was a legitimate member of the imperial family; in fact, Wanyan Liang would have to address him as his imperial uncle.

After a brief stop in Neihuang County, Wanyan Yi had just led his 30,000 troops across the Wei River when their grain transport team was attacked by an unidentified armed force, and more than a dozen wagons loaded with grain were set on fire.

Wanyan Yi pointed to the place where black smoke was billowing and said to his deputy, "Immediately lead a cavalry unit to annihilate them; there has been no peace along the way."

When the fully armed Jin cavalry arrived, there was no one left. The small Li family army unit that had attacked the Jin army's grain transport team had already hidden themselves through the dug tunnels.

The Jin army deputy general, looking at the still-burning grain carts, asked, "Where are the officers responsible for escorting the grain?"

A Jin soldier with a face covered in soot replied in a low voice, "He was just killed by those people."

The lieutenant followed the Jin soldier to the corpse and saw that the Jin officer had a black hole in his forehead. Apart from the lieutenant, the other dead Jin soldiers were also killed by mysterious weapons.

After examining it, the lieutenant muttered to himself, "What kind of weapon is this? Why does it have such great destructive power?"

After losing some men and supplies, Wanyan Yi's army finally arrived at Tangyin County and joined up with Zhang Zhaokun's troops outside the city.

Inside the main tent, Zhang Zhaokun gave Wanyan Yi a detailed report on the events of the past few days and the situation during the attack on Tangyin City.

Wanyan Yi rode slowly, leading a group of Jin generals, once again circling the majestic city walls of Tangyin. The sound of hooves and the whisper of the wind intertwined to create a somber prelude to battle. His gaze was piercing, finally settling on the quiet city gate on the east side of Tangyin. With a slight flick of his finger, he seemed to be surveying the landscape, or perhaps sketching out a meticulously planned battle.

"Listen to my command, gentlemen," his voice was deep and powerful, piercing through the surrounding noise, "There is no need for hasty actions. Attacking the city is not the best strategy. My mind is made up. Gather the Han Chinese people we have captured outside the city, not to harm them, but to build a ladder to victory."

After speaking, he gazed into the distance, his eyes flashing with unwavering determination: "Within three days, we will use our immense human strength to build a towering earthen mound that reaches the top of the eastern city wall. At that time, we will descend like divine soldiers, and from the top of that mound, we will break into the city in one fell swoop, letting Tangyin City witness the wisdom and power of our Great Jin."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding generals were all invigorated, as if they could already foresee the magnificent sight of towering earthen mounds and high-flying battle flags. They all agreed, their hearts filled with admiration for Wanyan Yi's strategic vision and anticipation for the extraordinary siege battle that was about to unfold.

While using earthen mounds to besiege a city is slow, it is the best method when attacking a well-defended city wall. Along the way, the Jin army captured a lot of civilians, three or four thousand people of all ages. Most of these people did not want to enter the city for refuge. They believed that Anyang Prefecture was, after all, part of the Jin Kingdom, so they were also Jin citizens and did not believe that the Jin soldiers would harm them.

Their intentions were good, but even in Zhongdu, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, the Han people were the lowest of all ethnic groups. Although there were quite a few Han civil officials in the Jin court, they were still a minority.

Starting early the next morning, the Jin soldiers, forcing three or four thousand civilians, used various implements to transport the soil bit by bit to the foot of the east city wall. Looking at the Jin army and civilian procession outside the city, the Li family army soldiers on the city wall were momentarily at a loss, unsure how to proceed. After all, there were countless civilians below; they couldn't just indiscriminately kill innocent people.

Upon receiving the news, Qian Dazhuang climbed the city wall. He carefully observed the city through binoculars. After a while, he said to the officer beside him, "It seems that a master has come to the Jin army. I have long heard that the Jin army has the tactic of filling the city with earth to encircle it. So this is how they do it."

After pondering for a while, Qian Dazhuang said coldly, "Order the soldiers to open fire. Otherwise, if we wait a few more days until the Jurchens have completed the earthen mound, these people will not survive, and we and the people in the city will also lose our lives."

Officer: "But..."

Qian Dazhuang turned and descended the city wall, saying as he walked, "Never mind all that. Just follow my orders. I will explain to the chief himself later."

In less than ten minutes, the soldiers on the east city wall of Tangyin were already in full battle array.

"Fire!"

As the order was given, mortar shells and machine gun bullets opened fire on the Jin soldiers and civilians carrying earth below the city. Soon, large numbers of Jin soldiers and civilians fell in pools of blood, a scene that stunned Wanyan Yi, who was overseeing the battle from the rear.

In his mind, weren't these Han people supposed to be kind and compassionate? Why were they firing on their own people?

So the earth-filling project, which had only been underway for half a day, came to a halt. No matter how the people below the city cursed the Li family army defending the city, the enemy's firepower from above never stopped.

In fact, these soldiers of Li's army had tried their best not to harm civilians, but on the battlefield, guns and cannons have no eyes, and coupled with the chaotic scene, it still caused a lot of civilian casualties.

After realizing that this method wouldn't work, Wanyan Yi said to all his generals, "Everyone, forge siege weapons. We have two days to prepare. Then we'll launch a direct attack!"

Since it was now impossible to leave the city, Qian Dazhuang used a carrier pigeon to report the situation to Li Zhen and asked for instructions on the next task.

Li Zhen stood atop the majestic city wall, his gaze sharp and piercing through the veil of night, fixed on the dimly lit Jin army camp outside the city. For days, he had not had a moment's rest, having conspired with the scoundrels to carry out a thrilling nighttime raid.

Using the cover of night, they not only succeeded repeatedly, but also left deep wounds in the heart of the enemy's territory. The Jin army's excellent equipment was silently turned into scrap metal, and the food and fodder they relied on for survival were also reduced to ashes in the fire, greatly weakening the enemy's fighting power.

The bastard, holding the letter delivered by Qian Dazhuang, said to Li Zhen, "My lord, a letter has arrived from Tangyin. The Jin army has launched two attacks on Tangyin, both of which were repelled."

Li Zhen: "Look how brave the Jin soldiers in Tangyin are. Unlike the Jin soldiers here, they only managed to be defeated by us a few times before they retreated into their camp and refused to come out."

The scoundrel chuckled and said, "It's not that these Jin soldiers are cowardly; they just can't sleep well at night and can't even fight during the day. They're not even sure if they can get enough to eat these days."

Because Li's army set up ambushes along the Jin army's usual route for transporting supplies and used drones to scout the Jin army's movements, they effectively dealt a blow to the Jin army's arrogance.