At 8am, Khubilai arrived as scheduled.
Along with Khubilai was the 200,000 strong army stationed at Sanhe City. Khubilai's golden carriage was heavily guarded by the army, it was eye-catching and majestic.
Zhang Hongfan rode on a black warhorse and stood beside the carriage.
In front of the army were 100,000 Han citizens. They were all skinny and their eyes were lifeless. Their clothes were tattered and they were as thin as sticks, and they were all terrified.
Ever since the Mongols invaded the Song Dynasty, the entire land of China was under the Mongols' iron hooves. Countless Chinese were trampled and killed, and the entire nation was going through a dark period.
In history, after the Yuan Dynasty conquered the Song Dynasty, in order to protect the Mongol nobles, they implemented a four-class system. The first class were Mongols, the second class were Semu, the third class were Han, and the fourth class were Southerners.
The third class did not refer to the Han people, but the Han, Khitans, Jurchens who lived north of the Huai River in the Jin Dynasty, as well as the people from Sichuan and Dali who were conquered later by the Mongols.
The fourth class were the people of the Southern Song Dynasty who were conquered by the Mongols.
In other words, the real Han people were the lowest class in the whole dynasty. They had to endure all kinds of unequal treatment and discrimination. They were no different from slaves. For example, Han people were prohibited from hunting, learning boxing and martial arts, holding weapons, holding gatherings to worship the gods, going to markets to do business, and walking at night.
The Yuan Dynasty controlled the weapons of the Han people to an unimaginable degree. Every ten households of Han people could only use one kitchen knife, and they also had to pay a Mongol soldier to monitor them. When a girl got married, she had to give her first night to a Mongol. The Han people could not even have a name, they could only be named after their date of birth.
The laws of the Yuan Dynasty also stated that those who killed a Mongol had to pay with their life, those who killed a Semu would be fined 40 li of gold, and those who killed a Han only had to pay the price of a donkey.
During wars, the difference in treatment was even greater. For example, in 1286, in order to attack Annam, the Semu only took two out of three horses, while all the horses of the Han people were taken, no matter how many there were.
Above the first class, the officials were all Mongols. When there were not enough Mongols, or when the Central Asians had enough bribes, the Central Asians would take the position.
Most of the Mongolian officials are hereditary, every Mongolian administrator, such as a governor or a county head, the prefecture or county under his jurisdiction is his fief, and the Han people are his serfs. They have no political responsibility towards the Han people, much less legal responsibility.
The Mongol Emperor can treat the Han people as his own farmland, along with the Han people living on the farmland, like slaves, to be bestowed to the Emperor's relatives, princes, princesses or meritorious officials.
After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, during the bestowal ceremony, a few tens or hundreds of families were rewarded, while a few hundred families were rewarded. With five people in each household, he could get five hundred thousand serfs at a time.
The Mongols could even invade and occupy the farmlands at will. Often, they would suddenly drive the Han people away from the fertile farmlands, leaving the farmlands barren and overgrown with weeds for livestock.
Perhaps it was because of such brutal rule that the Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty after 98 years.
…
At 8: 15 in the morning, Khubilai's carriage was welcomed into the Northern Camp.
After greeting the commander of the Northern Camp, Khubilai left the carriage and went up to the command tower of the Northern Camp. He immediately saw the Southern Song army of 200,000 soldiers outside the city. His eyes narrowed and he said, "Not bad!"
The Southern Song army's actions were also out of Zhang Hongfan's expectations. He carefully said, "Your Majesty, should we follow the original plan to attack the city or finish off the enemy first?"
"Follow the original plan!" Khubilai was very heroic, "Leave 400,000 soldiers in the north, the remaining 300,000 will be sent to the other three sides. We must take down Lin 'an."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
According to the intelligence from the spies in the city, other than the 200,000 soldiers outside the city, the Southern Song army only had 140,000 soldiers inside the city. Once the city was breached, the army would enter the city and these soldiers would not be a problem.
As for the new soldiers that the Southern Song recruited, Khubilai did not care about them at all.
Ever since they attacked the Southern Song, the Southern Song people were synonymous with weakness in Khubilai's eyes. They were obedient and had no guts. No matter how the Mongols ordered them around, they did not dare to resist.
How could these weak people produce a strong army?
Although Khubilai's view was a bit biased, it was also very accurate. The Southern Song Dynasty had been peaceful for a long time and the people had stayed away from war. It was an undeniable fact that the people of the Southern Song Dynasty were physically weak.
What Khubilai did not know was that when people were in despair, they could also explode with terrifying energy.
… …
Very quickly, the Mongolian army spread out under Zhang Hongfan's command. The 100,000 Han people were also split into three groups and rushed towards the east, west, and west walls of Lin 'an.
By nine in the morning, the Mongolian army on all four sides was in position.
"Attack the city!"
Following the order, the Han people were herded forward like cattle. If they were too slow, they would be killed on the spot. The scene was extremely bloody.
Agitated by this, the common people cried and screamed as they pushed and shoved toward the city gate.
Strangely, the drawbridges of the three main gates of Lin 'an had been lowered for the Han people to pass through. However, the gates were still tightly shut. No one knew why.
When the Mongolian soldiers saw this, they prepared to fire a volley of arrows to force the enemy to open the gates.
At that moment, a banner fell from the top of the city gate. On it was written in red, "Comrades, stick close to the wall and enter through the north gate."
At the same time, the soldiers on the city walls shouted to guide the people to gather at the north gate.
This confused the Mongolian soldiers and they immediately reported it to Zhang Hongfan. Very soon, the news reached Zhang Hongfan's ears. Khubilai did not personally command this attack and gave it to Zhang Hongfan.
To Zhang Hongfan, this was already a great honor.
When Zhang Hongfan received the report, he frowned, but he was not too surprised. He had fought with the Inhuman Army a few times and knew that they were not easy to deal with. They would not give in so easily.
At such a crucial moment, he had to do something.
"Send down my order. Allow the cavalry to fire freely and force the people to charge at the city gates," Zhang Hongfan ordered.
"Yes, Sir!"
With the order, the people outside the city were in trouble.
The Mongolian soldiers were skilled with bows and horses, and they killed defenseless people with just one arrow. In less than 10 minutes, the people at the back of the army all fell.
The blood stimulated the people's desire to live, and they all charged forward without any regard for their lives. Some of them slammed on the city gates and screamed, "Let us in, let us in!"
They only wanted to avoid the threat behind them, but they did not have the time to think about what kind of disaster they would bring to the people inside once the city gates were opened and the Mongolian soldiers charged in.
In front of death, everyone was selfish.
There were also those who were quick-witted and ran along the base of the city wall towards the north gate with the attitude of giving it a try.
When the Mongolian soldiers saw this, they obviously would not let them go. They immediately turned their attention to the people who tried to escape. If they really let them go, how were they going to force the Southern Song Dynasty to open the city gates?
Because the people were stuck to the city walls, if the Mongolian soldiers wanted to kill them, they had to move forward. Once they moved forward, they would immediately enter the defending army's attack range.
"Fire!"
When they heard the order from the top of the city walls, the archers and crossbowmen began counterattacking together, causing the Mongolian soldiers to flee in a pathetic manner. They were forced to retreat and stay an arrow's throw away from the top of the city walls.
Jia Xu's plan was ingeniously using the structure of the city walls to create a blind spot for the people outside the city, or rather, it was a safe haven for them to escape from the Mongolian soldiers' attacks.
The fierce counterattack from the defending army at the top of the city walls allowed the people who were already at the foot of the city walls to see hope for survival. All of them no longer had the time to think and just ran desperately to the north gate.
When someone took the lead, there were others who followed.
The situation was already very clear. The city gates would definitely not be opened, and if they stayed there, they could only wait for death. It was better for them to take a risk and run to the north gate based on the directions on the banners.
In an instant, a large number of people surged to the north.
The Mongolian soldiers did not know what to do, and even Zhang Hongfan found himself in a rather difficult situation. It was only then that he understood why the Southern Song Dynasty had sent an army of two hundred thousand people to the north, and they were there to protect the one hundred thousand people.
Because of it, half of Zhang Hongfan's plan had already failed. When he thought of the emperor's dark gaze, Zhang Hongfan could not help but shudder, and chills ran down his spine.
Zhang Hongfan made up his mind and ordered the armies on the three sides to immediately attack the city.
The one hundred thousand people he brought with him were not completely useless. At the very least, all the drawbridges in Linan City had been lowered, and the moat surrounding the city was useless.
As long as they could break the city gates, they would still be able to win.
While the Mongolian army was indeed mainly composed of cavalry, it did not mean that they did not have infantry.
Aside from archery on horseback, the Mongolians also loved wrestling, which was commonly known as wrestling. Wrestling, horse racing, and archery were the three great Mongolian sports, and wrestling was ranked at the top.
The popularity of wrestling gave birth to a group of Mongolian warriors.
Right now, Zhang Hongfan wanted to bring out this trump card. He wanted to send out the most elite Mongolian warrior assault team to push the City Breaking Spikes and attack the city gates.
At the same time, the Mongolian army pushed out return cannons. These return cannons were brought over from the six bases. There was also a batch of mobile arrow towers and scaling ladders. Even though they were simple and crude, they could still be considered as siege weapons.
Following Zhang Hongfan's order, the east, south, and west sides began to attack the city on a large scale.
In Zhang Hongfan's opinion, the Southern Song Dynasty's camp stationed two hundred thousand soldiers outside the city, and the city's defense must be very weak. Under the attack of three hundred thousand soldiers, the city would not be able to last a day.
When the city of Linan was breached, the Southern Song army stationed outside the city would become a decoration.
"How stupid. For the sake of one hundred thousand worthless people, they actually wasted the combat power of two hundred thousand soldiers. How pedantic." Zhang Hongfan despised the Southern Song Dynasty's method.
For the people of Linan, the biggest test had arrived. They had to withstand the fierce attack of the Mongolian army and create an opportunity for the two hundred thousand soldiers outside the city to kill them.
Success or failure depended on this one move!
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