10th day of the Battle Map, the siege finally began.
Under the rushing of the Mongol army, the 600 stone castles that were taller than the city walls were built. The war prisoners that were already starved till their skins had wrapped around their bones were finally released.
Whether they could live or not would depend on themselves.
They tried to open up the Lin'an city gates but were rejected. That was because the Mongol archers had already entered the castles and thousands of Xiangyang cannons were pushed to the frontlines.
If they opened up the city gates now, it would be like inviting a wolf into the house.
These civilians could leave the battlefield and return to their houses, but they did not need to move into Lin'an city. Lin'an city had a lack of grain, so letting them in would not be a good thing.
At 9 AM, the flames of war were ignited.
Although the pots were destroyed, the Mongols siege tactics remained unchanged. The archers on the castles were in charge of restricting the long range attacks on the city wall. They would use the Xiangyang cannons to destroy the city wall.
The defending troops returned fire.
Archers, trebuchets, and three bow arcuballistas were pushed to the front and engaged the enemy.
The first day of fighting was just between ranged units.
The tactics were really savage, and the battlefield was really cruel. The archers of both sides shot out their arrows, forming an intersecting arrow net, killing hundreds and thousands at every moment.
The rumbling of the trebuchets started since the start of the war and did not stop.
Be it the Mongol tents outside the city or on the city wall, and even the area near the city walls, dust and smoke rose up and fire burned. Although the Xiangyang cannons were trebuchets, they could fire rocks that burned in oil.
When one cannon fired, smoke bellowed.
The defending guards were murdered in the arrow rain, so those laborers working beneath the city walls did not have a good time either. Every moment, injured people were carried down the city wall and sent to the infirmary.
All the doctors within Lin'an city, no matter what they specialized in, were moved into an infirmary to treat the wounded.
Each person saved would be an extra amount of fighting power.
Apart from that, the military workshops within the city worked day and night to produce arrow after arrow. A siege battle like this used up huge amounts of arrows.
The entire city was united as one.
On the first day, the Mongol army returned fruitless. Not only did ten thousand die, but 59 castles were destroyed and turned into ruins.
Ten thousand defending troops died too.
Such a casualty ratio was due to the castles. With the castles, the Mongol archers were not at a disadvantage. Along with their skilled archers, they naturally fought on the same level.
On the contrary, the player forces had very few pure archers. Half were cavalry turned archers, so obviously they were not the opponents of the Mongol archers.
This battle was an evenly matched one too.
In the next two days, not much changed about the battle. The Mongol army that was a million strong was like a machine, recharging fresh blood and launching attack after attack.
During this time, the Mongols used another dark tactic.
They threw all the corpses, be it enemies or their own, into the city protection river. All of a sudden, the river was filled with bodies, making one feel a shiver run down their spine.
What was worse was that the water canals within the city were connected to the city protection river. The corpses decomposed in the water, contaminating the water source and the water canals within the city.
The water source of the civilians within the city became a problem.
The only available water source now was underground water. Lu Xiufu had no choice but to form emergency units to dig up wells in the city to ensure a sufficient supply of water.
Luckily, the siege would only last for a month. If it were months or years, even the underground water would be contaminated.
This tactic was really vicious.
After three successive days of Mongol attacks, apart from the north city wall, the other three sides were facing varying degrees of problems. Especially the South Song Guards on the south, their innate fear of the Mongols was awakened. If this carried on, before the Xiangyang cannons were able to destroy the city walls, they would panic themselves.
Along with the fact that the player troops were defending and not attacking, with the work of the Mongol spies, the legend of the soldiers from heaven started to collapse.
All of this was proceeding toward a situation that was catastrophic for the South Song camp.
The Mongol general Bayan was really pleased with this. He smiled as he said to Zhang Hongfan, "The players look good but are useless, they are totally not our opponents."
Speaking of Bayan, he was also not a simple person.
Bayan was born in Ilkhanate and was brought into the dynasty during the first year of yuan by Hulagu Khan. Kublai Khan admired his ability and appointed him as the Zhongshu minister and eventually promoted him to Privy Court minister.
In the 11th year of yuan, he led troops to conquer South Song.
In the conflicts about the succession of Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür after 1332, Bayan broke with El Temür and supported Toghon Temür, who ascended the throne in 1333. He was appointed commander of kheshig, composed of Mongols, Kypchaks, Russians, and Asud in 1334.
Bayan began concentrating official positions in his person that had not been so concentrated before. In 1339, he became the grand chancellor. At that time, he had probably gone too far. In any case, he was toppled in 1340 by his nephew Toqto'a. Shortly after that, his purges were called off, and his policies were reversed.
Bayan was good at poems and was a famous politician and military expert in the Yuan Dynasty, commanding 200 thousand troops to conquer Song.
This person was really intelligent and understood the big picture. He was great at using troops and coming up with strategies. In all aspects, he had something that the military school of thought could learn from.
Logically speaking, such a general should not be overconfident. It was because the player forces were performing so badly that it surprised Bayan, causing him to make such a misjudgment.
"Spread my orders. Starting from tomorrow, increase the intensity. Take down Lin'an city within three days."
Since he had understood the bottom line of the enemy, Bayan saw no reason to waste time and was ready to swiftly take down the enemy with their strongest assist.
After the archers, Bayan was ready to throw in the infantry to siege.
Although the Mongol army mainly consisted of cavalry, during their conquering of South Song, they obtained a lot of Chinese troops, and these people made up most of the infantry.
"It's time for them to show their worth."
In Bayan's eyes, they were cannon fodder, and their deaths would make no difference to the outcome. Their only use would be to enter the battlefield at the right time to have some small effect.
"Yes, my general!"
Zhang Hongfan went to do his job dutifully after getting the order.
Looking at his back view, Bayan's eyes shook before becoming calm once more. Speaking of which, as the vanguard general of the South Song attack, half of the surrender troops were reunited by Zhang Hongfan.
No matter why Zhang Hongfan recruited the Song army, Bayan would not allow this hidden cancer to remain and wanted to wipe them out.
Zhang Hongfan not reacting made Bayan all the more impressed.
"He truly is a remarkable person. No wonder his majesty regards him so highly." Bayan smiled, losing the thought of removing him.
The reason was simple.
No matter how much the emperor trusted a Chinese person like Zhang Hongfan, the trust level could not exceed that of Mongol generals like Bayan.
"Anyone not from my race is suspicious."
Although the emperor was magnanimous and accepted large amounts of Han officials and also promoted Confucianism teachings, in the end, those were the actions of the emperor.
The true pillar of the dynasty was still the Mongols.
As a result, Bayan had never seen Zhang Hongfan as a threat.
In history, Zhang Rou, Zhang Hongfan, and Zhang Gui, the grandfather, father, and son, all became generals in the Yuan Dynasty and all had great achievements. However, their tragic endings proved Bayan right.
After Qinding emperor fell, the brothers Yuan Mingzong and Yuan Wenzong fought for the throne, and their supporters fought against one another as well. The Shangdu prince supporters defeated those of the Dadu prince.
While the Dadu prince army was retreating, they pillaged and raped. Zhang Gui's son Zhang Jingwu was one of the few local hegemons that led local men to kill hundreds of Dadu soldiers to protect their home.
In the end, the Dadu king won, and the prince led his army to pass Baoqing and enter the Zhang house, capturing the five grandsons of Zhang Hongfan and executing them.
Then they killed all the women in the family, leaving only one person alive. The prince thought she was beautiful. After raping her, he took her as his concubine.
The Zhang family worked for the Mongols, but in the end, they had such a tragic ending.
The actions of the prince to kill and rape the Zhang family female members was not new. In the Yuan Dynasty and even during the Mongol Empire, such events happened. Sometimes, the people raped were Mongols too.
The most famous one happened during Ogedei Khan's time.
1237 AD, the Woyici tribe had heard rumors of a decree to give up their women. People started marrying off their daughters to people in the tribe, some directly sending them off to men.
When Ogedei Khan heard that, he was furious and ordered all seven year old and above girls to be gathered, even those who were married off. He gathered all four thousand of them together and ordered soldiers to rape them.
Amongst which, two died on the spot. The remaining were either send to the back palace, sent to prostitution places, or embassies to entertain guests. Some were taken by people as presents.
Moreover, their brothers and fathers had to watch on from the side. They could not complain, and they could not cry.
Different from nomadic tribes who killed for fun, the farming people in the Song Dynasty had rarely seen blood, and they were far away from the battlefields.
As a result, the psychological battle of the Mongols burning corpses for oil and throwing corpses into the river could easily make the South Song troops feel fearful, making many people surrender before the Mongol army had even arrived.
Lin'an, Grand Council.
"We cannot go on like this. We have to make a change!"
Ouyang Shuo realized that they were slowly falling into the tempo of the Mongol army.