"Prepare, light, fire!" Following Zhang Huan's order, five hundred archers fired their rockets at the target area seventy steps away. In an instant, explosions occurred one after another and smoke filled the air.
Before the explosions stopped, Li Jihe, the soldier and horse supervisor of the Suppression Army, pushed away the soldiers who tried to stop him, jumped down from the general platform, and rushed into the target area with three steps in succession. His white hair was flying.
The figure looks sharper than the young man.
"Prince, be careful! There may be rockets that haven't burned out yet!"
"Prisoner, watch your step!"
"Captain, be careful of being hit by animals!"
…
A large number of commanders and princes rushed to follow, fearing that their protection would not be timely enough and their own governors would be in danger.
It's no wonder they were overly nervous. No one expected that the five hundred rockets fired in a salvo were as powerful as thunder falling to the ground.
None of the straw men erected in the target area in advance could remain intact. They had either smoked and caught fire, or been torn to pieces by invisible forces.
The animals placed in the target area in advance, whether they were war horses, yaks, mules, or camels, were all frightened to the point of madness. They were scurrying around covered in charred bodies, and the horsemen and grooms who rushed over used all their strength to control them.
Can't live.
"This is gunpowder, this is fucking gunpowder!" Zhang Jihe, the suppressor of the army, seemed to be going crazy. He grabbed a handful of blackened soil from the ground and shouted loudly at the commander who followed him.
It's like asking, but also like emphasizing, and not listening to anyone's response.
"This is gunpowder, the gunpowder used to make puppets. There are juggling stalls on the streets of Bianliang! You idiots, no one even thought of wrapping it in paper and tying it to an arrow!" He threw the scorched earth away and started again.
He grabbed a burnt arrow shaft, held it high in his hand, and continued shouting loudly. Two lines of old tears rolled down the corners of his eyes. (Note: drug-haired puppet. A puppet or bamboo tube propelled by black powder. Modern
The originator of the two-kick kick was invented in the Song Dynasty.)
"Five hundred can scare all the animals crazy. If I had three thousand archers to shoot at the battlefield, what else would I be afraid of? What kind of iron kites would I be afraid of? What kind of Liao cavalry would I be afraid of? You idiots, how could anyone
did not expect!"
"I'm stupider than you. When I was playing with pills and making puppets, you were all not even born yet!"
"This is gunpowder. I've been playing with it for decades, but I haven't used it in the right place..."
…
The commanders and princes all turned their heads, and almost everyone's face was filled with pain and guilt.
The big defeat last year was really unforgettable.
Although the Suppression Army stood out, withstood the attack of the party's Iron Kites, and successfully covered the other retreating four-way friendly troops, the scene like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood still often appears in everyone's dreams.
The five-pronged army, including combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, totaled nearly 200,000 people. When they went there, their morale soared into the sky. When they came back, there was a roar of wind, and every tree and plant was covered with soldiers!
In that battle, more than 10,000 people died directly on the battlefield. Those who were injured were three to four times as many as those who died in the battle. And there were more captured people than those who escaped injured.
Most of the casualties occurred after the rout.
Most of the casualties were due to the fact that they could not escape the pursuit of the party iron kites.
The collapse of the army originated from the failure of the vanguard to withstand the first round of frontal attack by the party's Iron Kites!
More than a year has passed since last year's defeat. So far, few soldiers of the Song Dynasty have dared to compete with Dang Xiang on the battlefield.
Unless they could also have the same number and level of trained cavalry, or equip one hundred thousand heavy armored infantry. Otherwise, confronting the Party Iron Kites head-on and defeating them would be a daydream in the eyes of many civil servants and generals in the Song Dynasty.
Both Liao and Xixia banned the sale of horses to the Song Dynasty, and the cost of large-scale heavy armored infantry was too high for the Song Dynasty to bear.
Therefore, many generals in the Suppression Army have actually accepted their fate in their hearts.
Everyone has determined that there will be no possibility of repaying blood debts from party members in this life.
Everyone is convinced that they will never see the Song Army's flag hanging on the top of Xiazhou City again in this life.
But now, the facts in front of them tell them that the method of defeating cavalry with foot has long been available, and it is very easy to implement, and the cost is lower than that of armored infantry. However, they just did not expect it.
"Uncle Shi, Uncle Shi, black powder is actually not that powerful!" Among the entire Zhenrong army, Han Qing was the only one who remained clear-headed at this moment. Realizing that Li Jihe was so excited that he might suffer from brain congestion at any time, he rushed forward.
, gently pulled the old general's arm, "The beasts were frightened just because they were not used to hearing the sound of explosions. If you do some targeted training or plug their ears, they can be deterred by gunpowder arrows."
The strength is greatly reduced.”
"I used black gunpowder to deal with the Red Lotus Sect's pursuers on the road. After they suffered their first loss, they learned to plug the ears of the war horses with silk cotton." I was afraid that the old general wouldn't listen, so he thought for a while,
He also cited examples as evidence. "If black powder could go anywhere, I wouldn't have been chased to the point of desperation before!"
"That's because you are stupid and useless!" Old General Li Jihe waved half of the blackened arrow shaft and roared loudly, "A paper bag the size of a pill can plug a horse's ears to prevent it. You make fists
Can silk cotton be used if it's big? If you make it as big as a melon, even if it can deafen the ears of the war horse, the fire and smoke will still scare the hell out of the horse. Could it be that they can also blindfold the horse's eyes?
?”
This statement was so reasonable that Han Qing could not refute it at all.
He believed that if he dared to belittle the power of black powder again, the old general would dare to buy a whole cart of black powder at all costs and directly light it and explode it for him to see.
In order to avoid being accidentally injured by the experiment without any safety measures, and to avoid the old general getting excited, Han Qing had no choice but to nod along with the other person's intention, "Yes, you are right, it was the junior who took advantage of the situation. It's just that
I thought about the limited power of black powder arrows, but forgot to increase the dose."
"You are in such a hurry on the road that you really can't get a lot of gunpowder!" Although the old general Li Jihe was so excited that his whole body was trembling, his reason was not completely lost. He glanced at him and commented in a low voice.
Immediately, he raised his hand to quickly wipe away his tears, and ordered through gritted teeth: "But when you get to me, you don't have to worry about it anymore. I have decided that the Zhenrong Army will stop here in Qingzhou, waiting for you to bring people to prepare enough."
If there is too much black powder, I will not only use it on arrow shafts, but also try the Qingzhang crossbow, Fuyuan crossbow, and Ba Niu crossbow. I don’t believe it, so I throw tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder at it and burn it.
If we don’t kill him, we’ll kill thousands of armored cavalry!”
"Okay, okay, whatever you tell me to do, I will do it. You go back to the tent to rest first. It's windy here, so be careful of catching a cold!" Han Qing only begged the old general not to fall ill due to excessive excitement, and agreed repeatedly.
Then, push the other person toward the platform.
Zhang Huan and others, who were the first to see the power of gunpowder, also came to their senses one after another. They all came to Han Qing's side to help him give advice and support Li Jihe.
The old general Li Jihe had almost vented his anger in his heart, and his mind slowly regained his composure. He waved his hands to everyone, glared and scolded, "What are you mixing with? I am not a seven-year-old or eighty-year-old man. What's more, even if it is seven or eight years old,
When I was ten years old, I still rode my horse to charge, behead the general and seize the flag."
"Yes, yes, the governor is the incorruptible man of the Song Dynasty, and he will always be strong!" Zhang Huan and others took half a step back and responded with a smile.
"Humph, at least now, I can still ride on horseback and brandish a gun, and I can't tell the difference between you and the others!" Li Jihe curled his lips, his face full of pride, "Okay, just do what you have to do, don't surround me. I'll scare you to death and
Slaughter the frightened animals and give the brothers extra food. Also make a record of the details of the straw man to see if more were shattered or burned. Also, prepare an eight-oxen crossbow next time.
and gunpowder packets the size of melons, I want to see if I can scare the horses from charging!"
"Yes!" Everyone listened to the old general's clear and logical speech, bowed and accepted the order, and then left with peace of mind.
"You stay and write a memorial for me. Write down the process of attacking Xiaoheiling and what you saw today, and rush it to the palace for 800 miles." Li Jihe grabbed him again without thinking.
Asked Zhang Huan, "Also, prepare fifty gunpowder arrows and send them to the palace together, and ask the officials to verify them in person. Tell him that this item was presented by Han Qing, the inspector of Jinniu Village, so that I, Song Erlang, can
Face any cavalry from now on!"
"Yes!" Zhang Huan did not dare to neglect and bowed again.
"Boy of the Han family, don't blame me for dedicating the gunpowder arrow to the official family for you without even asking you!" Li Jihe waved to him, and then turned his head to Han Qing, who was full of concern, "No
Before seeing this, I could only guarantee that you would not lose your life in the end. But now, with this thing, I can guarantee that the officials will definitely send people down to investigate what happened on Yongxing Military Road.
It’s all clear!”
"Junior understands, thank you so much, Uncle Shi!" After all, Han Qing was born in two generations and understood how dirty politics is. Therefore, he smiled and thanked him.
"You are a smart young man, smarter than any young man I have ever seen before." Seeing that his understanding was so high, Li Jihe nodded happily, "You have been staying in the army recently, specifically instructing the craftsmen under my command to prepare gunpowder.
If you want to seek revenge from the Red Lotus Sect, just ask Zhang Huan to take action for you."
"Yes, Uncle Shi!" Han Qing was not very interested in killing at first, so he smiled and handed over his hand again.
He originally thought that Li Jihe left him in the army because he was worried about other craftsmen's ability to prepare black gunpowder. However, he did not expect that the old general's intention was much more than that.
That very night, Gyeongju Governor Liu Dezhao, together with seven or eight local officials, found the military camp. After a brief greeting with Li Jihe, he sternly requested that the other party not retaliate excessively for trivial matters, so as not to provoke Li Jihe.
Civil uprising. Also, please Li Jihe to hand over the fugitive criminal Han Qing to the local government so that the local government can resolve several unresolved cases in the past as soon as possible.
"You ask them to change for me. My army of suppressing soldiers is waiting here. Whoever changes first, I will send troops to destroy him first and avoid future troubles forever!" After hearing this, Li Jihe slapped him without hesitation.
Desk case.
"And!" Without giving the other party a chance to settle for the next best thing, the old general raised his eyes and continued to speak loudly, "Han Jiajun is the grandson of Han Chonggui, the military supervisor in front of the palace, and is also my junior. As long as I still return
As long as he is alive, others will never think of wrongly accusing him. If you have real evidence, feel free to complain to the court and sue him and me together. If not, just touch your conscience and ask yourself whether you are an official of the Song Dynasty.
He's still an official of the Red Lotus Sect! Come and see me off!"
