Introduction: Mencius said in the first place that "the heavens are not as good as the place, and the location is not as good as the people", which is more or less the case in ancient wars. Compared with today's wars, which rely more on technology, ancient wars are almost simply manpower superposition. Of course, the casualties caused by such a war are also very terrible. For example, the Battle of Changping, which we are familiar with, killed 400,000 Zhao Guo soldiers in a white pit. And in such a short-term battle, sometimes the wisdom will even be at the end, purely to see who has higher kung fu or better luck.
Today we are going to talk about a very cruel form of war, which was also one of the most difficult in ancient times. This form is siege warfare. Of course, the so-called cruelty is only directed at the attacking side. The Art of War Cloud: "If you attack it by multiples, you will encircle it with ten."
Although numerous, the army could not be fully deployed due to the city walls. If the attacking side wants to win this kind of war, it can only charge the city wall again and again. Although the back attack is of course relatively weak, it is the only way. Therefore, the losses suffered by the attacking side are often very serious.
Then, some people may ask: Since it takes so much manpower and material resources to conquer a city, why not bypass the city. The answer is obvious. In ancient times, the location of a fortress was often a very important strategic location.
This determines that these places are generally the only way to pass on the march. Moreover, a city will also have strategic materials for the enemy. Moreover, the capture of a fortress city is equivalent to extending the sphere of influence to this area. The attacking side will continue to rely on this fortress to continue to penetrate, so siege warfare is an indispensable part of some major battles.
So why is siege warfare so difficult for the attacking side? Although the attacking party has the initiative on the battlefield, a city is absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the face of extremely high walls, the attackers had no more than two means. The first is to knock the city gate open, and the second is to find a breakthrough from the city wall. Next, I will divide into these two points to talk about in detail.
First of all, the way of hitting the city gate, the siege vehicle this siege machine has a very long history. Generally speaking, it is wrapped in iron on a wooden head, under the wheel, and pushed by soldiers to hit the city gate. This method seems simple and easy, but in practice it is difficult to operate, and the first thing to consider is the rain of arrows and stones at the head of the city. These things will not only kill soldiers, but also destroy siege vehicles.
For example, when Hou Jing attacked Jiankang City, a large number of rushing vehicles he made were burned by rockets at the head of the city. Moreover, some Western countries would burn a special kind of hot oil on the city head in the Middle Ages. It would then fall down when the siege vehicle hit the door, killing and injuring the soldiers.
Speaking of the offensive method with the city wall as the breakthrough point, the most common thing that everyone thinks of when it comes to this point may be the cloud ladder. This method has a longer history and is also the most common way in film and television dramas. But in reality, the use of ladders is more cruel than in film and television. The soldiers on the ladder had little defense during the climb, so they had no resistance to the arrows and stones at the head of the city.
Friendly troops under the city could only shoot arrows to cover them, and their means were very limited. So why didn't the defenders just push the ladder down? Because the ladder is very heavy when it is full of soldiers, sometimes several people can't push it. Moreover, in the process of retreat, it is easy to become a target for archers under the city, and the gains are not worth the losses.
Second, there is the siege tower. This all-wood tower-like vehicle, almost as high as the city walls, defended against all arrows and brought soldiers safely to the head of the city. But in addition to being afraid of fire, it also has a fatal drawback, that is, it lacks generality, that is, it is very limited.
The example of Hou Jing's attack on Jiankang City is still cited, he once had people build a very high siege tower, and the defenders were very afraid, but the main general Yang Kan did not think so. He believed that the soil under the head of the city was loose and could not withstand the weight of the siege tower. And the siege tower is too high, the center of gravity is unstable, and it will definitely fall on its own. Sure enough, the siege tower was pushed under the city and immediately fell.
Summary: With the development of the times, hot weapons gradually began to appear. China has had records of gunpowder since the Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty is the peak of China's firearms use, which is widely used in siege and defensive warfare. More famous ones, such as Yuan Chonghuan, guarded the city of Ningyuan, and the red-clad cannons at the head of the city wounded Nurhaci and forced him to withdraw. In addition, the tactic of directly blowing down the city wall by digging tunnels and laying mines is also very good.
In fact, this tactic of digging down the city walls has existed since ancient times, but the advent of gunpowder has carried it forward. For example, in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Xiao Chaogui used this strategy when attacking Changsha. He sent an "earthen camp" to the city to lay mines, and ordered the soldiers under the city to shoot arrows and shoot for cover. In the end, he successfully blew open an opening in the city wall of Changsha and thus captured Changsha.