The beacon fire was burning, the war drums were roaring, and the explosions were like thunder, shaking the city. In Tianchang County, north of Yangzhou, with the flying arrows, countless stone bullets were being thrown towards the city in the distance with little bits of fire.
The towers on the city wall had collapsed in the explosion, the female wall collapsed and the flags fell. In front of them was the vanguard of the Jurchen attack. More than 50,000 troops gathered under the city, and hundreds of slingshots were about to be stuffed with gunpowder. Hollow stone bullets were thrown towards the city wall like raindrops.
Among Tianchang County, there is a 30,000-strong army led by Han Shizhong's subordinate general Jieyuan. Tianchang County is located on the front line north of Yangzhou. It is located at the first position where the Jurchens are on their way south. Although the city is small, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. 30,000 troops are stationed there. Supplemented by more than two hundred iron cannons, it was already a quite adequate defensive formation. However, with the arrival of the Jurchen forwards led by Wanyan Zongbi, the first round of the attack was also a fierce attack that far exceeded everyone's imagination.
More than ten years have passed since Ning Yi implemented the method of studying things and made the artillery shine during the Jurchens' first march south. During these more than ten years, the Chinese Army was the originator of the method of studying things. Under Ning Yi's With advancement, the technology accumulation was the largest. The Wu Dynasty had Junwu, and the Jurchens had the Great Construction Institute chaired by Wanyan Xiyin. Both sides conducted research and manufacturing in parallel. However, in terms of overall scale, the Jurchen side had the largest technical strength.
In ten years, the Jurchens invaded the south three times and kidnapped millions of Han people in the Central Plains. Among them, the Jurchens regarded ordinary Han people as slaves and women as livestock. The most important thing was actually all kinds of craftsmen among the Han people. During the two dynasties of Wu Dynasty, After hundreds of years of accumulation, the Central Plains was originally the most prosperous and developed. These craftsmen were taken to the North and divided among various forces. Even though they lost their creative vitality, they could still do ordinary handicrafts.
Looking back at the Wu Dynasty, although the power of the Way of Investigating Things has been partially proven, in the face of Ning Yi's regicide, various scholars and Confucian scholars still avoided it and only said that it was a small way that worked temporarily. For Junwu's Push forward hard, but at best turn a blind eye, and there is no support from public opinion. Public opinion does not encourage it, and Junwu cannot forcefully recruit craftsmen from all over the world to prepare for war. Although the research vitality is higher than that of the Jin Dynasty , but in terms of scale, the wealth that Jun Wu accumulated in Jiangning could not compare to the Jurchen's national power.
The crude hollow-point blasting technology was already available to the Chinese Army a few years ago and is naturally for sale. It is used in artillery. However, Wanyan Xiyin is more radical. In the past few years, he has taught craftsmen to accurately control the burning of fuses. Speed, hollow stone bullets are equipped with fixed fuses, and every ten rounds are made into a bundle. They are thrown with a catapult with a longer range. The distance and steps of the launch are strictly calculated and controlled. They are ignited before launching and strive to explode after landing. This type of siege Stone bullets are known as "the goddess scattering flowers".
The first time he arrived at Tianchang, Zong Bi used the artillery shells on the battlefield.
After the first three rounds of test firings for calculations were completed, half of the hundreds of catapults began to hit the "Tiannu Scattering Flowers". Thousands of stone projectiles flew down at the same time. Because the method of controlling the lead was still too primitive, half of the They either flamed out or exploded in the air. Only one-seventh of the ones that landed on the top of the city and exploded. The power of the small stone bullets was not too great, but it still caused many soldiers who defended the city to panic immediately. Injured and fell to the ground.
The stumps and broken legs were scattered in all directions, and the smell of blood and gunpowder smoke filled the air instantly. Zong Bi stood in the battle formation, looking at the explosion at the top of the city in front of him, which was like a flower blooming, and the smoke and wailing enveloped the entire city wall.
The corners of his fierce eyes also widened slightly.
Among the sons of Aguda, the fourth Wanyan Zongbi, also known as Wushu, was the most brave and radical. He was younger. When he first went into battle, the Jurchens had almost destroyed the entire Liao Kingdom. Wushu was more than brave but insufficient in strategy.
, in the eyes of some veterans who have spent their entire military lives in the world, he is just an ordinary prince.
Wu Shu was unwilling to be an ordinary prince. After his second brother Zongwang came to see him, his third brother Zongfu was too steady and gentle to maintain the dignity of the Aguda clan. He could not compete with Zong Han and Xi Yin who controlled the "Western Court".
Wu Shu, who had always regarded Zong Wang as a role model, stepped forward without hesitation.
The Jurchens have been fighting martial arts for more than ten years, and Wu is the most passionate about it. He inherited the bravery of the Wanyan clan and took the lead in every battle. By the time he went south for the third time, he had become the leading person in the royal family. Throughout the search for mountains and seas, Wu
Wu Shu was fighting all over the south of the Yangtze River, and there were few generals who could unite him. However, Zhou Yong hid at sea and did not dare to return. At that time, the Jurchens could not attack the land to the south, so Wu Shu had to withdraw his troops and return north. This time
, I suffered some setbacks in Huangtiandang and was trapped for more than forty days before I managed to escape.
Who can lead an army and win every battle? The Jurchens have been in battle for a long time. Even if Aguda, Wu Qimai, Zonghan Zongwang and others had small setbacks occasionally, no one took Huang Tiandang seriously. He was just a member of the Wu Dynasty.
People were very excited about this. For several years, they always claimed that Huang Tiandang was a great victory and that the Jurchens were not invincible. This situation had been going on for a long time and spread to the north. People who knew the inside story were dumbfounded. For Zong Bi,
, which makes me a little depressed.
A great victory over your mother, a great victory! After being surrounded for more than forty days and not many people were killed, he finally used fire attacks to fight back and chased Han Shizhong for more than seventy miles. The southerners were so shameless that they dared to claim a great victory!
Zong Bi thought so in his heart, but he couldn't stop the Wu Dynasty people from bragging. So on this fourth trip south, he was holding back a fire in his heart, and the battle of Tianchang finally broke out. Just because this Jie Yuan was also Han Shizhong
The vanguard generals under his command, with the arrival of the Jurchen army, were still desperately promoting the so-called "record" of Huang Tiandang's defeat of his side. Wu Shu's anger could no longer be suppressed at that time.
In his mind, both Jieyuan and Han Shizhong on the opposite side are nothing more than local chickens and dogs. This time when going south, it is necessary to defeat this group of people as quickly as possible to deter the nearly one million Wu Dynasty troops in the Jiangnan area.
, the final chance of victory.
The artillery shells hit the city wall for three rounds. More than 4,000 stone shells have been consumed in the attack on the small city. Coupled with the bombardment of half of the solid boulders, it seemed that the entire city and the earth were shaking. Zong Bi on the war horse wielded
The flag was hoisted and the order to attack was announced.
In the thick smoke, the Jurchens' banners began to roll towards the city wall.
The Jurchens' fourth military expedition was a war that determined the fate of the Jin Kingdom. The trendsetters who emerged in this era rushed to the land of the Wu Dynasty with their bravery that was still at its peak. A moment later, artillery shelling rang out from the top of the city.
After hearing the sound, Jie Yuan led his troops to rush to the top of the city and began to fight back.
On the second day after the Battle of Tianchang began, under an unusually strong Jurchen offensive, Jie Yuan led his army to abandon the city and retreat south. Wu Shu ordered the cavalry to pursue it. Han Shizhong led his army to fight out of Yangzhou to assist Jie Yuan as he entered the city. On the way, an explosion broke out
A brutal fight. On June 27, Sun Peizhi, the former puppet Qi general, led 100,000 people and began to besiege Gaoyou. North of the Yangtze River, fierce fighting spread across the vast land.
On June 27, the same day that Sun Peizhi besieged Gaoyou, an attack of more than 100,000 troops also began at Liangshanshuibo, more than a thousand miles north of here. This marked the beginning of the long and difficult Liangshan defense battle.
More than 1,300 miles west of Yangzhou, the Jurchen general Ali Guo who originally guarded Bianliang led 20,000 elite troops to Nanyang, preparing to cooperate with the more than 100,000 Han troops originally from Nanyang, Dengzhou, and Xinye to advance towards Xiangyang. This was reported by Wanyan Xi
Yin issued an order to cooperate with the attack of the East Route Army, and the main force of the West Route Army led by Zong Han had also crossed the Yellow River and approached Bianliang. The 60,000 forwards led by Xi Yin were not far from Nanyang.
.
On the day Ali Fu's army arrived in Nanyang, Yue Fei led his Wei army to march out of Xiangyang and stormed Dengzhou. That night, the Dengzhou defender sent an emergency message to the north, and Ali Fu led his army to Dengzhou to relieve the siege. On June 29,
Twenty thousand Jurchen elites, including nine thousand heavy cavalry, came into contact with the Beiwei army under Yue Fei, who was in full formation and waiting for reinforcements, twenty miles north of Dengzhou.
The chilling autumn is coming, and the flames of war are raging across thousands of miles of undulating land in the south of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains.
At the same time, things were not peaceful in the Northland either.
Yunzhong Mansion, the seat of the Western Imperial Court of the Kingdom of Jin, is at the turn of summer and autumn, and the hottest weather is coming to an end.
A tragedy that not many people are aware of is brewing secretly.
At Gaoyue Teahouse, Zou Wenhu, a Han Chinese from Liaodong, dressed in fine clothes, walked up the stairs and met his date in the private room at the end of the second floor.
The person he met with was a woman who was dressed simply but had an unruly gaze. There was a tear-like scar on the left corner of her eye. The woman's surname was Xiao, the "Queen Mother Xiao" of the Liao Dynasty. Xiao Shuqing, the "Red Lady", was a famous person in the clouds.
One of the tough bandits.
After the fall of the Liao Kingdom, the Jin State suppressed and enslaved the Khitan people for a period of time, and carried out several massacres. However, the Khitan people were brave and brave, and it was impossible for the Jin people to govern such a large area by massacre. Soon after, they
They began to use gentle methods. After all, the Jin people had more suitable targets for slavery at this time. More than ten years after the fall of the Liao Kingdom, some Khitan people had entered the upper echelons of the Jin Dynasty, and the Khitan people at the bottom had also accepted the fact that they were ruled by the Jurchens.
But even if this is the overwhelming majority, after the disaster of national subjugation, there will always be a small number of Khitan members who still stand in a position of resistance, either not intending to escape, or unable to escape.
Xiao Shuqing is a descendant of the original Queen Mother Xiao clan of the Liao Kingdom. When she was young, her husband was killed by the Jin people. Later, she was humiliated and enslaved. Later, she was rescued by the remaining resistance forces of the Khitan and became a bandit. She gradually gained a reputation. Compared to
It is inconvenient for the Han people to move in the north. Even if the Liao Kingdom is dead, there are always many survivors who miss the benefits of that time. Therefore, Xiao Shuqing and others were active near Yunzhong and were not wiped out for a long time. There are also some
It is suspected that they were still being protected by some Khitan officials who were in high positions at this time.
Seeing Zou Wenhu coming over, this female gangster who has always been ruthless looked cold and said: "How is it? Your young master, has he thought about it?"
"My master, I'm a little moved." Zou Wenhu moved a chair and sat down, "But it's too involved at this time. Have you thought about the consequences? Have you ever thought about the possibility that the entire court above will be shaken?"
A look of disdain flashed in Xiao Shuqing's eyes: "Hmph, you are a coward. Your young master is a coward, and so are you."
"Hey, Concubine Xiao, don't say that. It's not fair to ruin someone's reputation. Over the years, no one has ever said that Zou is timid, but don't provoke me like this. I'm not a fool.
"The Xiao family used to be the mother of the world. After Xiao Shuqing became famous, she was gradually called Concubine Xiao. Faced with the other party's disdain, Zou Wenhu licked his nose and didn't care.
"I know you are not timid, but you are poor."
"Look at what you said, Concubine Xiao." Zou Wenhu looked at the other party, after a moment, he smiled and said, "...it's really on point."
"Don't be such a mouthful." Xiao Shuqing glared at him, "I've told you this before. The Qi family went to the Jurchens' place and made such a big splash. What kind of scholarly family is this century old? Who among those Jurchens has any face? Follow me.
It doesn't matter if he is just playing around. It's not a big deal if he is unlucky. What's more, the Qi family has accumulated hundreds of years of savings in the Wu Dynasty. Who wouldn't be jealous when the whole family goes north this time? Your young master, after all, is the Duke of the country. It's a pity, the Duke of the country.
I didn’t leave anything behind, and he couldn’t fight the war. This time, the brave people went to the south. In the future, they will be rewarded based on their merits, and another group of people will be recruited. Your young master, and you, Zou Wenhu, will step aside from now on...
"
As she spoke, she twiddled her fingers: "What happened this time is good for everyone. And to be honest, it would be very dangerous for those of my men who are risking their lives to attack the whole family. Don't talk about us because of your master's brand.
I'm pointing at you to ship goods, and I will definitely not let anything happen to you. Even if something happens, can't you handle it? There will be no more wars after the battle in the south! Your son, and you, there are a lot of children at home, look at their future lives
Are you going to be disgraced?"
Listening to her words, Zou Wenhu had a smile on his face, but gradually became fierce. Xiao Shuqing licked her tongue: "Okay, I won't talk nonsense. This matter is big, and the Qi family is also big. I
I can't eat it, and we can't eat it together. There are a lot of nods. You know the rules. If you can nod on behalf of your master, I will tell you what I can tell you, to ensure your peace of mind. What I can't tell, that's
To protect you. Of course, if you shake your head, that's the end of the matter... don't tell anyone."
When she said the last sentence, a real fierce light flashed in Xiao Shuqing's eyes. Zou Wenhu tilted his head and looked at his fingers, thinking for a moment: "This is such a big thing, are you sure everyone involved is clean?"
"Clean? It depends on what you say." Xiao Shuqing smiled, "Anyway, if you nod, I will give you a few names, and I guarantee that they will all be respectable. In addition, I also said that if something happens to the Qi family, everyone will only be happy to see it happen.
Cheng, as for what happens after the incident, even if it happens, will your young master not be able to handle it? By then the Qi family will have arrived, and a group of hungry wolves in Yunzhong Mansion will just pounce on us. The only ones who want to be caught, killed, and confessed are our gang.
Desperate...Zou Wenhu, people say that the older you get, the less courageous you become. With you acting like this, I really regret inviting you over."
The person on the other side was quiet for a moment, and then laughed: "Okay, okay... Actually, Concubine Xiao, you can guess that since I can come to see you today, before I came out, my young master already nodded, I will take care of it..." He spread his hands,
"I can't be careful. You are right. Even if things happen, what do my young masters have to fear? But can my young master still protect me?"
"Okay, the little girl understands Mr. Zou's difficulties." At this moment, Xiao Shuqing finally laughed, "You and I are both desperadoes. Please take care of me in the future. Mr. Zou knows his business and has connections everywhere in Yunzhong Mansion.
In fact, there are many things in between that I have to ask Mr. Zou for detailed information."
Zou Wenhu also laughed.
"I tried my best... I blame the Qi family for being so showy. They offended a bunch of rich young men, poor people like me, rebels like Concubine Xiao, and even those who don't want to live."
Black flag bandit, who will die if he doesn't die? Anyway, if he dies, the property must belong to others. Now it belongs to you and me, which can be considered a good deed, hahahaha..."
In the room, both of them laughed, and after a while, another sentence came out.
"By the way, as for the person who did it, it was the life-threatening black flag, right? The emperor in the south dared to kill him, so I helped him take the blame. I think he wouldn't mind," Concubine Xiao said, right? Haha