Several years later, when Wanyan Wushu looked up at the sky on the banks of the Yellow River, he couldn't help but recall that bright, sunny winter morning.

The thing is, in this world, the significance of some events often only becomes apparent after the dust settles, or even many years after the dust settles; and the true extent of the significance of some meaningful events may never be definitively known, even until the end of time.

But, back to that day, in the warm winter sunshine, when head-sized, dozens of mud balls slammed into the Golden Army's command platform, the direct results were definitely measurable.

The projectiles came whistling in, and Wanyan Wushu himself, standing at the front, turned around with a bewildered and curious expression, following the trajectory of the projectiles, only to have his face covered in blood - a projectile flew over his head and directly hit the chest of Chief Commander Chizhan Hui, who was standing behind him to the side, hammering him heavily to the ground, causing him to bleed from all seven orifices!

Really bleeding!

In a chaotic world, and as seasoned professional soldiers, the people on this command platform often saw the tragic sight of armored warriors being hammered to death on the battlefield... The armor may look intact and the corpse stable from the outside, but lifting the mask would reveal that the person was already bleeding from all seven orifices, and if the chest or back was injured, the internal organs were likely shattered into a complete mess.

Compared to an iron hammer the size of a fist, what kind of power did these head-sized mud balls, flying from hundreds of paces away, possess?

In fact, in Wanyan Wushu's blood-covered vision, the mud ball, destined to be recorded in history, slammed the veteran Golden Army general, Chief Commander Chizhan Hui, heavily onto the compacted earth of the command platform, then rolled across his face, bounced off his helmet, and then, with red bloodstains, hit another Meng'an behind Chizhan Hui for the second time. It even bounced up a second time and landed a third time before shattering, but it clearly splattered onto the leg of another Meng'an, causing him to cry out and fall to the ground immediately.

These things happened and ended in an instant, and of the people still alive on the command platform, only a few could come to their senses at this time. Most of them, like Wanyan Wushu, although witnessing this sudden change at close range, were still somewhat bewildered and puzzled... They really didn't know how things had turned out this way? Everything had been fine just a moment ago!

Fortunately, outsiders see clearly. Hundreds of Jurchen armored warriors, who had come to their senses below the platform, rushed up the rammed earth platform like madmen, desperately dragging down the military leaders on the platform, who were either panicked and stunned or bewildered and puzzled.

This action seemed commendable at the time, but in hindsight, it was more harmful than beneficial - because the damage had already been done by this round of volley, and the Song army could not launch a second strike in a short time. Instead, countless wounded were trampled and dragged to death on the spot, or turned minor injuries into serious ones.

It must be known that, among these wounded, apart from a very few guards, at the very least they were all Moukes and above, and most of them were even Meng'an level... Pu Liyan didn't even qualify to go up there.

Of course, hindsight is hindsight. After dozens of mud balls landed, Wanyan Wushu and others, who were surrounded and protected behind the command platform by their personal guards, still appeared somewhat dazed... He was no longer confused, but he couldn't believe his eyes, because there were as many as twenty or so corpses in front of him, all of whom he knew well.

However, relatively speaking, the Zhao Emperor on the city wall was not so immersed in it. He was only excited for a moment when he launched the attack, and after the mud balls landed, he immediately felt bored.

After all, he was so far away that he could only see that the crowd there had suffered some damage and then panicked. He couldn't see the specific results at all, and the ordinary mud projectiles had no special visual effects, and seemed to lack lethality.

That's right, incompetent engineering dogs, in addition to adding a winch to the trebuchet and using the principle of leverage to create a counterweight design, did not have any technological achievements beyond the times... They couldn't even put gunpowder in the mud balls, because they didn't know how to twist the fuse to ensure the stability of the deflagration, nor could they play with the airtightness of the gunpowder... It's not that they hadn't tried, but they had failed every time.

Therefore, in the hands of the incompetent Zhao Emperor, gunpowder was still being used as a combustion aid, only it burned more fiercely than the gunpowder of the opposing Golden Army, and perhaps it could have some miraculous effects in certain situations. The so-called 'explosive shell' that he envisioned was just wishful thinking, and the mud balls were currently acting as this 'explosive' effect.

Of course, now that things had reached this point, the Zhao Emperor didn't think too much, because in his opinion, in any case, catapults were enough to change the city defense warfare model of this cold weapon era, and since his side had grasped the advantage of catapult warfare, it was enough to gamble on this in Nanyang.

In fact, the reason why Minister Chen Gui received special trust from the Zhao Emperor as soon as he arrived that day, and even entrusted his life to him, was because before he met the Emperor, when he was still serving as the pacification commissioner, he had submitted a long memorial to the Zhao Emperor.

In that thousands-of-word but clearly structured outline of city defense, one could clearly see his military thinking... One was a deep and elastic defense, the so-called "better to have one more layer than one less layer, better to be flexible than rigid"; the other was that the city defense design should prioritize defense against catapults, and the counterattack methods should also be mainly catapult warfare.

And if one were to investigate carefully, one would find that even the deep and elastic defense itself was actually based on the large-scale application of catapults, a new military phenomenon, and a targeted reform of the old-fashioned methods of city defense.

This 'catapult warfare is king' military thinking was undoubtedly an absolute political correctness for a time-traveler.

Therefore, there was half a month of forbearance, and today's furious shooting.

On the city wall, the crowd was excited, but the Zhao Emperor, who was used to seeing war blockbusters, forcibly asked the accompanying civil and military officials to walk down the city wall with him, and then stand with their hands tied behind their backs against the city wall, like schoolchildren being punished... But this was the best way to avoid the catapult projectiles from outside the city.

For the next morning and afternoon, the projectiles whistled non-stop, flying back and forth from the Nanyang city wall, attracting countless civil and military officials to look up like schoolchildren, occasionally exclaiming a word or two.

But it was clear that the Golden Army's catapults, which were not actually at a disadvantage in number, had a much lower firing efficiency than the Song Army's catapults inside the city... This was of course the case. The appearance of counterweight trebuchets seemed to only save manpower, but in fact it brought about an all-round evolution.

For example, because there were dozens fewer people pulling in the front, it was possible to save space and build a triangular defensive fortification in front of the catapult;

For example, the rated mass of the counterweight effectively ensured the stability of the force, making the catapult's launch more accurate. The civilians only needed to add a specific amount of counterweight according to the instructions of the officers and adjust the angle in advance... And the angle and counterweight were based on the results of large-scale experiments conducted before the Golden Army arrived. Many experienced civilians may not understand the principle, but they have a clear idea in their minds;

For example, the winch of the counterweight made the catapult launch faster, making it easier to form a volley...

Not to mention that the Song Army initially demonstrated that simple technology, that is, the types of projectiles were different - stone projectiles for destroying the opponent's catapults and mud projectiles with a longer range and 'explosive' effect, specifically for hitting people. The combination of the two was not as simple as one plus one.

Faster, stronger, better defense, farther, more accurate, added together, it was an all-round suppression.

Therefore, after the first round of volley ambushed the Golden Army's command platform, the Song Army's catapults continued to fire throughout the morning, completely collapsing the newly established Golden Army catapult position in a crushing manner.

Relatively speaking, on the Nanyang city wall, the superfluous high-rise buildings and watchtowers had already been removed according to Chen Gui's requirements, and the top surface of the city wall was slightly narrow, but the crenellations were specially thickened to allow the soldiers on the city wall to lean against the crenellations to avoid projectiles and continue to observe the enemy's catapult positions... Until the Golden Army's catapult position completely collapsed and lost its offensive capability, the losses on the city wall could be described as minimal.

And in the afternoon, after confirming that the Golden Army's catapult position was useless, the Zhao Emperor re-ascended the city, but it became boring again, because since the beginning of the Nanyang siege, the Golden Army camp outside the city had fallen into a complete silence for the first time.

There was no provocation, no fast-moving cavalry to and fro to block the way, no stern reprimands from the supervising armored soldiers to the civilians and Han Chinese soldiers, no hot and lively engineering, not even wails and shouts. There was no one on the previously crowded catapult position, only a pile of rotten wood. As for the command platform directly in front, it was even more empty, and even the flags had been pulled down!

But how should I put it? Without a doubt, this was a great victory for the Song Army!

So, apart from the Zhao Emperor, the entire city of Nanyang was still cheering, while the Golden Army camp was still silent.

Leaving aside how bored the Zhao Emperor was, Wanyan Wushu... Here, it must be emphasized that, honestly speaking, this battle today was not Wanyan Wushu's fault. This Golden Army commander did not make any mistakes! The Fourth Prince had thought about the catapult issue. He knew that siege warfare depended on catapult warfare, and after suffering from a fluke mentality in the siege of Xiacai, he had prepared himself early for sustained catapult warfare this time, and had even prepared so many catapults?! If you replaced him with someone else, it would be impossible to do better, because if you replaced him with anyone else, you probably wouldn't be able to understand why the Song Army's catapults were so accurate, so fast, and so far this time.

Moreover, he didn't have time to consider the catapult issue now, because a huge problem was in front of him.

"How many?"

In the northern central army tent, which was far from the front line, Wanyan Wushu looked up blankly.

"In addition to General Chizhan Hui, there were seven Meng'an and four Mouke killed in action." A Han Chinese military advisor said cautiously. "In addition, there are six Meng'an and two Mouke seriously injured and unable to fight..."

This was the effect of those dozens of mud balls. The Zhao Emperor had endured for half a month, just for this one shot.

"Since Emperor Taizu raised his army, such a tragic event has never been heard of." After a long time, Wanyan Bali Speed, whose arm had been splashed by mud balls, supported his arm and spoke out in indignation, but he didn't know who he was angry at.

"Now is not the time to think about this!" Another Chief Commander Han Chang suddenly spoke out in retort. "What we need to think about now is, according to military law, should we behead another seven or eight Meng'an and dozens of Mouke?!"

Bali Speed looked up in astonishment, and then realized why the tent was silent, but he also felt that something was absurd... If they were really beheaded, wouldn't half of the army's high-ranking officers be gone for nothing? This battle wouldn't have to be fought, right?

Did dozens of mud balls from Nanyang City defeat the Golden Army's 40,000 main force?

But the Jurchen military law had been there like an iron law from the beginning?! Weren't Chizhan Hui and those seven Meng'an properly killed in action?! When the main general is killed in action, the direct subordinates should be beheaded, right?

Everyone in the tent looked at the Fourth Prince, whose face was covered in blood, half in fear and half in anticipation. Bali Speed, like Han Chang, looked nervously at his own commander.

"I... I..." Wanyan Wushu finally spoke, but he gritted his teeth and decided amidst the attention of the entire tent. "Not considered killed in action! Absolutely not! I will take full responsibility! I will pardon you!"

Everyone below Bali Speed and Han Chang felt relieved, but for some reason, the two leaders, the two Chief Commanders who had just felt it was absurd, looked at each other with a sense of loss.

Because no matter how reasonable it was, no matter how many reasons there were, no matter how many procedures were added, it could not conceal the fact that this was the first large-scale systematic evasion of military law by the Golden Army... Once this precedent was set, what would happen in the future? Moreover, even if this hurdle was overcome, what about the Nanyang city in front of them? Could they still fight?