Chapter 63: The Ye Family Military Conference

  At this time, Ye Xuan, who had already returned, was patrolling the city head. He asked Sun Yu, Chen Fei and Su Zhong, who came to meet him: "How is the situation with the shift change? Are the defensive equipment sufficient?"

  "Brother, you can rest assured. The morale of the soldiers is high, with the example of Left and Right Guards' brothers in front. If they were to switch places, they would be eager to fight another battle against the enemy."

  Ye Xuan Dao: "Very good, but don't be slack, beware of enemy sneak attacks"

  Everyone responded with respect. Ye Xuan looked at the castle head, and within a short period of time, under the busy work of the auxiliary soldiers in the fortress, they quickly cleaned up, and each sentry post and team's grass factory was erected again. The newly changed right sentry front sentry eight teams of soldiers were all resting inside the grass factory, laughing loudly, just discussing the battle a few days ago.

  As they saw Ye Xuan approaching, they all stood up. Ye Xuan let them rest and prepare for battle, and under the escort of the generals, he only went back and forth to inspect the city walls in two places.

  A large number of rolling logs and stones were placed on the city wall. The cleaned-up or newly-made wooden fences were arranged at various parts of the city wall, looking outwards from the city, apart from the moat outside, there were also a large number of wooden fences, iron caltrops and other objects. In front of the gate tower's parapet wall, many wooden castles were installed.

  The wooden boards of the city wall are five feet wide and five feet high, with many large wooden pegs and iron nails floating on top. It is the most ideal defense against night raids.

  Not only that, but every horizontal pole of the grass factory on the city wall was also hung with lanterns, making the city wall bright and shining. Each team was also equipped with wooden drums and gongs, which could be used to sound an alarm at any time. Every soldier in each grass factory slept fully dressed, and at night, each grass factory would send soldiers out to patrol and strike the watch.

  Under such a tight defense, the Jin army wanted to sneak into the city at night, but it was likely that they would not only fail to steal the chicken but also lose their rice.

  The sky grew darker, and outside the city, several miles of Qing army camps were dotted with lights.

  Ye Xuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "Can we send some people out of the city at night to steal their camp?"

  Sun Yu said in a low voice, "Brother, the enemy is not like those bandits. Their camp is heavily guarded and there's no chance to attack. I think we should focus on defending the city carefully."

  Everyone around nodded in agreement, and Ye Xuan also nodded. He said to everyone: "After dinner, gather all the officers above the rank of lieutenant from the vanguard regiment and meet at the city gate tower. There are many things we need to summarize from the battle a few days ago."

  At night, the south gate tower of Luoyun Fortress was lit up. All the generals above the rank of battalion commander in the four armies within the fortress had gathered here, each speaking their mind freely. They were merely discussing the gains and losses of the battle a few days ago, with Officer Xiao Su standing by to take notes.

  Ye Xuan organized many such open discussions. Each time, it gave people a fresh feeling. Here, everyone was equal and could boldly express their opinions without fear of hierarchy. So everyone rushed to express their views. In other armies, the ranks were strict, where would subordinates dare to speak freely?

  Everyone started talking about the shield carts that were used to counter the Golden Army. As for these shield carts, everyone present was gnashing their teeth in hatred, as large numbers of Golden soldiers charged straight under their cover towards the city walls. However, apart from the repeating crossbows, there seemed to be no other good way to deal with them. The repeating crossbows were also difficult to aim accurately and didn't seem to have much effect.

  A sentinel behind Su Zhong smiled and said, "General, I have an idea. We can prepare a large number of clay pots filled with oil. Use them to smash the shield carts, then throw fire torches to burn them. Those slaves will definitely be burned to a crisp."

  Everyone burst out laughing, but many people did not think so. In fact, this method had been thought of by many people long ago. At that moment, someone said: "The enemy's shield carts are all stopped twenty steps outside the city wall, thirty steps away. Such a distance, can the fire pouring hit? Moreover, there are many enemy shield carts. If we want to burn them all down, how much fire oil and fire pouring do we need? I'm afraid that even if we collect all the oil jars in our fort, we can't make many fire pourings. Furthermore, even if the fire pouring hits the enemy's shield cart, can the torches be thrown accurately from dozens of steps away?"

  The officer's face turned red with rage and he shouted: "Don't try it out! How can you be sure it won't work?"

  The crowd laughed again, and Ye Xuan also smiled and nodded, letting the commanding officer Xiao Su record this suggestion. If the effect is obvious in actual combat, this team of officers will be rewarded for it.

  Seeing Ye Xuan's encouraging expression, everyone was even more enthusiastic. Later, they also discussed the timing of the shooting of the linked crossbowmen in the Divine Machinery Battalion, and this lesson was extremely severe, resulting in a large number of casualties among the first wave of soldiers. Everyone unanimously believed that before the Jin army's shield carts were destroyed, blindly shooting outward actually had no effect.

  However, if it is during the Jin army's filling of trenches or climbing the city, shooting from various places on the city wall will have a more obvious effect. It can also greatly reduce the casualties of our own soldiers. Su Zhong suggested that although hanging a curtain at the gate can effectively block arrows, it is inconvenient to shoot outside. Perhaps some auxiliary soldiers can hold up shields at the gate, making it more convenient for the crossbowmen to shoot.

  This suggestion was also noted by Ye Xuan, who secretly sighed in his heart. In this time and space, there is no tiger squatting cannon. Although the range of the tiger squatting cannon is only 20 or 30 steps, it can definitely hit a large area when the Jin army attacks the city.

  Next, how to deal with the golden soldiers' cloud ladder. Everyone also has numerous strange methods. Someone suggested using a battering ram and a fork to push down the cloud ladder and throw the thieves on it to death. Then someone refuted that the top of the thieves' cloud ladder all have iron hooks, once they get close, they will be hooked onto the city wall, how can you push them down? The several cloud ladders during the day were just like this.

  Besides, if they were to encounter the enemy's cloud ladder vehicle equipped with a shield, pulley, hook and could move up and down, it would be even more impossible to use the battering ram. However, this possibility was immediately refuted by others. This clumsy giant cloud ladder would be hit accurately by cannons, and the enemy would certainly not use it.

  However, the battering ram and flower fork were still useful. When the cloud ladder just came over, some people on the city wall who were quick-handed and quick-eyed held the battering ram and pushed it hard. They might be able to overturn the cloud ladder and crush the enemy to death. This suggestion was also recorded.

  There was a team officer who used to be a monk, and he said with some embarrassment: "I used to make a living in the temple, every day I would strike the bell. Perhaps we can build a wooden frame on the city wall to strike the pole, just like in the temple. After the bandits set up their cloud ladder, as soon as they poked their heads out of the city gate, we would use the striking pole to knock them down from the city wall."

  Everyone burst out laughing, praising his idea as innovative. His suggestion was also taken note of, but this method is only suitable for a small number of cloud ladders climbing the city wall. If the golden army below suddenly sets up dozens of cloud ladders at once, the wooden frame may not be able to keep up with the transportation.

  However, several subsequent attacks by the Jin Kingdom were also repelled by Yue.