Chapter 291 The Song Army’s surprise attack and victory made the Xixia Emperor furious
Fei Tingyuan Shang, the commander of Pule City in Western Xia, sent away the cavalry messengers of his trusted disciples during the day, and then personally inspected the city defense. He also asked his subordinates to compile several rescue letters to inform several Xixia armies closer to this place.
Asking for help...
However, a whole day passed and Fei Tingyuan Shang did not see the Song army coming to attack Pule City. He secretly prayed in his heart that the army would not attack Pule City where he was stationed.
During the day, several groups of scouting horses reported that no Song troops were found within a fifty-mile radius of Pule City.
Night falls and the sky becomes gloomy.
Tonight, Pule City was not as unprepared as in the past. After the commanding officer Fei Tingyuan Shang issued the military preparation order, all the gates in Pule City were closed tightly, and the suspension bridge outside the city had already been pulled up.
In the city, Fei Tingyuan Shang was in charge of four thousand elite cavalry as a reserve force.
There are more than 6,000 guards on Pu Le City, ten times more than usual. On the wide and thick city wall, there are stone chambers built at regular intervals for the guards to rest.
Now, there is no one in the stone chamber. Six thousand generals are guarding the crenellations of the city wall. Officers above the primary school level, protected by guards holding torches, are pacing back and forth on the city tower, inspecting the city wall they are responsible for guarding.
Whether the soldiers in the division obeyed Yuan Shang's military orders and strictly guarded Pule City according to the commander's command.
In addition, in Pule City, there are dozens of scouts responsible for lookout, standing on high lookout towers, taking turns to go far outside the city in order to detect the enemy's situation earlier...
At this time, the mountain forest outside the city was shrouded in darkness, and no firelight could be seen. Only the occasional thin green fluorescence could be seen floating in the forest. That was fireflies looking for their mates...
The Xixia soldiers on the city could occasionally hear the chirping of night birds in the forest outside the city, making the entire mountain forest look mysterious and full of danger.
"Report!" During the day, another group of scouts sent by Fei Tingyuan Shang reported back:
"We went out of the city during the day and rode horses to explore the enemy's situation further around Mengjing.
We discovered that tens of thousands of Song troops had left Mengjing City in the near future..."
"The Song Army has only 4,000 cavalrymen and nearly 40,000 infantrymen. They left the city in two large groups..."
"The Song army marched all the way to the west, and after marching no more than thirty miles, the victorious infantry marched slowly, probably due to the hot weather, so they set up camp in the wilderness a hundred miles away from our city of Pule..."
Fei Tingyuan Shang, the commander-in-chief of Pule City, was slightly relieved when he heard the returns from these scouting horses.
He judged that based on previous battle experience between Song and Xia, the Song Army had always fought with infantry. In the Song Army's past large-scale expeditions to Xia, due to the large number of infantry, the Song Army's marching speed had always been very fast.
Slowly. In order to maintain the physical strength of a large number of infantry, the Song army could not walk fifty or sixty miles a day.
After Fei Tingyuan Shang listened to the report of the expedition, his serious and nervous expression relaxed slightly.
He ordered: "Explore again."
"Follow orders."
…
Fei Tingyuan's heart had been raised in his throat throughout the day. At this moment, after hearing the rewards of these scouts, he felt slightly relieved.
He inspected the defense of Pule City at night and found that the soldiers and generals of the Fei Ting tribe under his command were also very nervous because there had been no major wars in the three years since the Song-Xia peace negotiation.
Fei Tingyuan Shang conveyed military orders in Dangxiang language:
"The soldiers on the city will allocate one-third to defend the city. The other two-thirds of the soldiers will return to the stone room to rest. They will take turns to guard the city every three hours."
…
Now the garrison soldiers and generals in Pule City have followed the military orders of the commander Fei Tingyuan Shang. They have also learned the military information reported by the detectives. The Song Army is still a hundred miles away from here. With the help of the Song Army
It is simply a joke for an army dominated by infantry to march hundreds of miles at night.
Therefore, all the Xixia troops in the city also relaxed their vigilance.
Even the more than two thousand defenders who were left on the city shouted in Dangxiang dialect when they looked at the backs of the robes who had been rotated down to rest first:
"Don't oversleep. Come earlier so we can sleep in the stone room!"
"You are so lucky to go to bed first......"
Those Xixia soldiers who went down to rest first cursed in Dangxiang dialect:
"Mom, it may not be a good thing if we go to bed first! The Song army will definitely not be able to reach us tonight. When it is time for us to defend the city, the enemy army may attack!"
"That's right……"
The soldiers who were assigned to defend the city grinned wickedly. They felt the same way.
Now the more than 2,000 Xixia soldiers and generals in the city were not as nervous as they were during the day, and they all shouldered the bows they had held tightly in their hands during the day.
They should also stop nervously lying on the crenellations of the city wall and looking into the distance like they did before.
Some of them sat cross-legged on the passage of the city wall under the crenellations, and some sat on the "parapet" behind the city wall. They chatted in groups of three and two in party dialect:
"Brother, have you heard? Our commander, General Fei Ting, sent his son, brother, and nephew to Pule City during the day today by sending military intelligence and war reports to our Emperor of Great Xia.
"
"Not only did I hear about it, I also saw it with my own eyes!"
"Damn it, if you leave us here to defend the city, won't we be dying in vain?"
"Then you still dare to disobey military orders?"
"I don't dare. But if the Song army does come to attack the city, we have to be careful. If we can defeat it, we will fight. If we can't defeat it, then run away!"
"It's okay for me to watch. Didn't you see? In the evening this evening, our commander-in-chief ordered all the herdsmen in our tribe to drive more than 100,000 cattle and sheep out of the city."
"I saw it too."
"I see how our current General Fei Tingyuan Shang is not as bold and heroic as he was during the war between Xia and Song Dynasty three or four years ago?"
"What do you know? I heard what the soldiers who escaped from Mengjing City said that the Song Army has a new weapon that can attract thunder. A "sky thunder" can instantly blow up the city gate no matter how thick it is.
Broken!"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Is this true? Who did you listen to?"
"It's true. Those Xixia soldiers who were released by the Song army from Zhejianghui, as well as the defeated generals who fled from Mengjinjingcheng to Jialai, passed by me before they were questioned by our commander, General Fei Ting.
The one who was on duty today entered Pule City!
We soldiers naturally asked them why they were in such a mess? They also truthfully told us how powerful the Song army was..."
"No wonder our General Fei Ting sent his son, brother and nephew back to Beijing during the day to deliver military intelligence reports!"
"Isn't it? We see that General Fei Ting has made a double plan. If he can defend Pule City, he will defend it. If he cannot defend it, his close relatives have already left the city, and he has personally led four thousand trusted cavalry.
, even after the Song army broke through the city, they ran faster than us!"
"Don't they regard us as scapegoats inside and outside?"
"………………"
This well-founded rumor about the Xixia soldiers in Pule City spread from one to ten, then to one hundred, and then to one thousand, spreading faster than the virus.
This kind of rumor is even more harmful than the virus. It makes the entire city defense soldiers and primary schools panic. They are also angry at their coach for treating them as cannon fodder. They are envious of those who can be arranged to leave the city for safety during the day.
I also envy the four thousand men who were selected by General Fei Tingyuan Shang to serve as the cavalry reserve.
Suddenly, while the guards on Pule City and the soldiers who entered the stone chamber to take turns to rest were chatting, there were many complaints. The morale of the soldiers was unstable and their morale was low...
However, although these generals who were ordered by Fei Ting Yuan Shang to defend the city already knew that General Fei Ting might use them as cannon fodder, they did not dare to abandon the city and flee now, let alone mutiny.
After all, Fei Tingyuan still had four thousand trusted elite cavalry in the city. On the one hand, they served as a reserve team for the battle. On the other hand, they could also serve as a supervisory team to kill the deserters on his side.
There are a total of more than 6,000 soldiers in Pu Le City, and most of them are praying that the Song Army will bypass Pu Le City and attack other places.
"But don't blow it up on your head.
‘God, please leave me a life, so that when the Song army breaks through the city gate, I can successfully escape with the crowd. When the time comes, I will kill the sheep and prepare wine.’
More soldiers and generals in Pule City silently prayed to Buddha in their hearts:
"Buddha has protected me from this battle. As long as I can survive, I will burn incense and worship Buddha every day..."
The Dangxiang people initially believed in heaven, ghosts, gods, and advocated witchcraft. After moving to Hexi, they began to accept Buddhism. From then on, Buddhism flourished in Xixia and was highly respected by the royal family.
The Xixia court also established a special religious management agency with complete religious laws. The earliest imperial master title in Chinese history appeared in Xixia. As early as the period of Li Yuanhao, the first emperor of Xixia, he sent envoys to Mount Wutai to worship Buddha. Li Yuanhao himself
He is also familiar with Buddhism, and he promotes Buddhism, asking for Buddhist scriptures from the Song Dynasty, building Buddhist temples and pagodas, and promoting Buddhist services. Therefore, until now, the vast majority of Xixia Dangxiang people, whether they are royal family or civilians, believe in Buddhism...
Now, the Xixia generals in Pule City, feeling that a disaster is approaching, began to worship Buddha in order to avoid disaster and seek spiritual support - Buddha's blessing...
The only thing they were lucky about was that according to the report from the scouts, the Song army was camped in the wilderness about a hundred miles away from Pule City. With the marching speed of the many infantry of the Song army, they would not be able to reach Pule City tomorrow. They should be able to sleep peacefully tonight
Sleeping.
…
As the night progresses, the words become less and less frequent, and the snoring becomes more intense...
Even the Xixia soldiers responsible for guarding the city at the battlements or the soldiers standing on the high watchtowers of Pule City were yawning all the time...
At midnight, Fei Tingyuan Shang, the coach of Pule City, led the new guard cavalry and inspected various city defenses in Pule City, but he did not receive any more reports of horse exploration.
He concluded that, as previously reported by the scouts, the Song army was camped in the wilderness a hundred miles away from Pule City. Therefore, the Song army would not be able to attack Pule City tonight.
Of course, Fei Tingyuan Shang did not have the idea of leading his cavalry in a long-distance night raid to rob the Song army's camp. However, when he recalled the military intelligence report he heard "Xifeng Manniu of the Concubine Society led his army out of the city to attack the Song army,
After being severely injured by the Song Army's powerful weapon that could 'draw thunder from the sky'," he completely gave up the idea.
Fei Tingyuan Shang saw that it was late at night and concluded that the Song army could not attack the city tonight, so he went back to his house. He did not call the beautiful concubine to wait for him to sleep as before. He did not dare to take off his armor and shirt, and
Sleeping in clothes...
…
At the fourth watch, most of the Xixia soldiers in Pule City have fallen asleep. Even the four watchmen on the high watchtower in the city yawned and closed their eyes from time to time.
, dozed off...
…
At this time, a group of 3,000 Song Dynasty cavalry troops took advantage of the darkness and appeared two miles away from Pule City.
On the way, they also encountered a small number of Xixia scouting horses. They all shot and killed the enemy, leaving no one behind, and eradicated the enemy. Therefore, they marched here in a hurry without being discovered by the defenders of Pule City.
For these three thousand cavalry, Wu Jie, the new general among the Wu Jinshi selected by Zhao Guanjia, served as the vanguard officer, and Wu Lin and Yang Zaixing served as the deputy vanguard officers.
These three thousand people received military orders from the veteran general Guo Cheng: The soldiers in Pule City thought that it was impossible for our army to march to the city tonight, so they unexpectedly attacked Pule City...
Of course, even during the day, after Guo Cheng led his troops out of Mengjing City, the Song Army's scouting horses came to report and found that there were a small number of cavalry from the party in the distance. They should have come to spy on our army's movements...
At that time, the veteran general Guo Cheng thought of a plan to hide the enemy from the enemy. He ordered that the cavalry of the Xixia party should not be shot for the time being, and they were allowed to report the Song army's movements and confuse the enemy commander.
Not long after Guo Cheng led tens of thousands of troops to march, he set up camp in the wilderness a hundred miles away from Pule City. This was also to confuse the Xixia explorers and let them report wrong military information...
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After Guo Cheng's troops set up camp, the Song Army's scouts came to report that they were the Xixia scout cavalry. After watching for a while on the hillside in the distance,
, so they all rode away and ran away.
At this time, Guo Cheng called Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing, who were deeply trusted by the Zhao family, to discuss matters in the Chinese army's tent.
Of course, in the process of Guo Cheng's contact with these martial arts scholars selected by the Zhao Guan family through martial arts examinations, he found that the Zhao Guan family was very good at selecting military talents, whether they were Yue Fei, Wang Gui, Zhang Xian, and Niu Gao who were sent to Han Shizhong's headquarters.
, Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing, who are still staying in their own units, are all outstanding military talents. If they go through many more battles, within a few years, their military merits and achievements will definitely be higher than that of Guo Cheng.
Guo Cheng entrusted Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing with important responsibilities, not only because of the kindness of Zhao Guan's family, but also because he discovered that in the previous battles of Zhejianghui and Mengjing, these Wu Jinshi came from biased backgrounds.
Generals are really useful. Send them to lead troops into battle, and use them with the personal gunpowder weapon developed by Zhao Guan's family. Every battle will be won.
In the Chinese army's tent, Guo Cheng expressed his thoughts. He wanted Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing to lead three thousand elite cavalry from the Song army to attack Pule City at night, taking the enemy by surprise and catching them off guard.
…
The three of them happily accepted the order...
Guo Cheng also distributed six of the ten artillery pieces and most of the artillery shells to the 3,000 cavalry vanguard army led by Wu Jie and three others, leaving only four artillery pieces in his own army.
Although the artillery is a bit bulky, Zhao Ji also thought of this at the beginning of the design. Each artillery piece is like many artillery pieces during the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. Each artillery piece is equipped with two cast iron gun wheels.
Each gun wheel weighs 30 kilograms, has a diameter of 0.7 meters, and has 16 spokes inside, which not only reduces the weight of the gun wheel, but also prevents the wheel from deforming easily.
Therefore, Wu Jie's cavalry vanguard army used four horses to pull one artillery cart, and 20 horses pulled six artillery carts respectively. The six carts loaded dozens of boxes of artillery shells, and their marching speed was not slow.
Where to.
When Wu Jie's three thousand cavalry arrived one mile outside the east gate of Pule City, they immediately set up their artillery. Dozens of artillerymen who accompanied the army on the expedition adjusted the firing angle of the artillery. Four of the artillery were aimed at the thick ground.
At the East City Gate, the other two cannons were aimed at the tall watchtower on the East City.
At the same time, the four lookout soldiers on the lookout tower in Pule City also noticed a large number of cavalry appearing a mile away through the faint moonlight, but they stopped where they were, as if they were in a fight.
With an unknown weapon like a big iron barrel...
The lookout soldiers in Pule City immediately became nervous and banged the gongs in their hands...
"Dang Dang Dang..."
"Dang Dang Dang..."
"Enemy troops found..."
"Song Jun is here..."
"Don't sleep..."
"Get up soon..."
"Ready to fight……"
Thousands of Xixia soldiers in the east city of Pu Le immediately panicked. Many people heard the sound of gongs and woke up from their sleep...
Before many Xixia soldiers and generals on Pu Le's east city could realize what was going on, they heard the deafening sound of cannons...
"boom!"
"boom……"
"boom……"
The first round of artillery bombardment by the Song Army used solid bullets. The east gate of Pule City in Xixia was blown to pieces, and the four lookout soldiers on the watchtower on the city were bombarded to death...
The Song Army's second and third rounds of bombardment used explosive shells. This was designed by the time traveler Zhao Ji based on the historical explosive shells he knew, and was submitted to a firearms manufacturer for development and mass production.
Explosive bombs are gunpowder and other materials hidden in the shell. There is no proximity or delayed fuse. They are ignited with matchlock powder. After being fired, they can explode and injure people with shrapnel.
Zhao Ji, the time traveler, developed the flowering cannonball based on the records in the "Minghuidian" he had read.
"Ming Huidian" records: the poisonous fire flying cannon is "made of wrought iron, like a general in the mouth of a cup. It contains more than ten taels of gunpowder. In the mouth of the cup, there is a pig iron flying cannon barrel, with five taels of sulfur poison inside, and the medicine line is always tied in one place.
.Ignite the fire, the cannon fires first, and the flying cannon will be hit 200 steps away, shattering and injuring people."
"boom!"
"boom……"
"boom……"
The Song Army's second and third rounds of bombardment used explosive bombs, and the target of the bombing was the Xixia generals hiding behind the battlements on the east wall of Pu Le...
On the city wall, in order to prevent the Song army from crossing the moat and attacking the city and climbing the city wall before the war, the Xixia army prepared a large number of rolling wood and thunder stones, and even set up dozens of oil cauldrons next to the stove.
A large amount of materials and grass were prepared to prevent the Song army from setting up ladders to forcefully climb the city wall during a long siege. The Xixia soldiers would use hot oil to pour hot oil on the Song army who climbed the city...
However, the current Song army no longer has to engage in traditional siege warfare because of the new cannons invented by the Zhao Guan family.
Twelve explosive shells from the Song Army hit the east wall. The explosion of the explosive shells, shrapnel and sparks flying around, not only caused serious damage to many Xixia soldiers around the impact point of the shells, but also the flames emitted by the explosive shells.
The flying sparks also ignited the wood and grass on the city, the oil in the large iron pot, and the rolling logs and other flammable objects nearby...
Fire borrows the power of wind, and wind aids the power of fire...
Two rounds of explosive shells from the Song Army bombarded Pu Ledong City, igniting a large amount of combustible materials on the city wall.
In the blink of an eye, the east city of Pu Le burst into flames...
The clothes that Xixia soldiers wore upwards were made of sheepskin, which was also the most flammable material.
The human body itself is also flammable...
"ah!"
"ah!"
"ah……"
Many Xixia soldiers and even primary school soldiers in Pule City were on fire. They were rolling all over the ground in pain...
What made the Xixia soldiers guarding the city even more angry and helpless was that the Song army was four to five hundred steps away from the east city. Their bows and arrows could not shoot there, and even the trebuchets on the city could not hit that far.
They can only be beaten passively...
After a while, many places in the east city of Pu Le were filled with flames, and the screams of hundreds of Xixia soldiers who were on fire were heartbreaking...
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Many people in the city were lucky enough not to be killed or injured by the shells, nor were they burned by the fire. Seeing the tragic situation in Paoze, their military morale was shaken.
"Damn it, why did Fei Tingyuan Shang send all his relatives out of Pule City early and escape this disaster, but let us die in vain by holding on to this city?"
“It’s okay if we don’t defend this city!”
"Run?!"
"run!"
"Run quickly..."
The army was defeated like a mountain. Many Xixia soldiers and generals on the east city of Pu Le rushed down to the city, abandoned the east city and fled...
At this time, Fei Tingyuan Shang, who was in the commander's residence in Pule City, was also awakened by the sound of several cannons just now!
"It seems that the remnants of the defeated generals who escaped from Zhejianghui and Mengxian City are completely false! The Song Army indeed has a new killing weapon that can 'draw thunder from the sky'!"
Although Fei Tingyuan Shang was horrified, as the commander-in-chief of a city, he felt that if he fled without a fight, the Western Xia Emperor Li Qianshun would definitely kill him.
"Come here, prepare your horses and go to battle!"
…
Fei Tingyuan Shang led 4,000 elite cavalrymen who were close friends and galloped on the stone road in the city, rushing toward the east city.
On the way, Fei Tingyuan Shang saw several groups of Xixia soldiers who had fled from the East City. He shouted and ordered them to go back and defend the city. However, at this time, his military orders had no effect at all.
Those defeated generals who had deserted the army ran away when they saw Fei Tingyuan Shang coming with his troops and horses.
After Fei Tingyuan Shang personally bent his bow and arrows and shot several deserters, he encountered more and more defeated deserters from Dongcheng, and he no longer had the intention to shoot deserters.
He shouted: "Although the east city was destroyed by the Song army, the Song army was fighting in front of the formation. How could it be the opponent of our cavalry? You followed the general and rushed into the city. The Song army was heavily rewarded for your meritorious service. Right in front of you."
.”
"Kill!"
When Fei Tingyuan Shang led his elite cavalry to a street not far from the east city, they saw fires on the east city wall. More than a hundred wounded Xixia soldiers on the wall had lost the ability to move. They were either lying down.
Some were lying on the city wall, some were leaning against the base of the wall, and they were screaming and wailing...
"Ouch, it hurts!"
"Oh, help me..."
"Save me, don't abandon me, carry me down to the city!"
There was no one to take care of the wounded Xixia soldiers in the city, and all the soldiers who could escape had already abandoned the city and fled.
At this time, the East City Gate had been blown to pieces by artillery, and the Song Army's cavalry had already built a pontoon bridge and rushed across the moat. The Song Army's cavalry rushed over in a steady stream.
Fei Tingyuan Shang's eyes lit up. He used party language to boost morale and said:
"We, the Xiang tribe's son Liang, have lived on horseback since childhood, so how can we be afraid of the Song army's cavalry! All officers and men, follow my general on horseback and drive forward to kill the enemy army!"
"Come on!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Under the command of Fei Tingyuan Shang, about 200 of his 4,000 cavalry in the front group leaped on their horses and brandished their swords, killing the enemy's leading Song army that had just entered the city.
The vanguard of the Song Army entering the city was led by Deputy Pioneer Officer Yang Zaixing. When he saw a large group of party cavalry coming into the city, he immediately shouted:
"Let these Xixia cavalry have a taste of the power of the muskets and grenades developed by our emperor Zhao Guanjia."
"As you command!"
"As ordered..."
The more than 20 cavalrymen at the head of the Song Army's cavalry who entered the city were armed with muskets. They aimed at the Xixia soldiers who were twenty or thirty steps away from them and pulled the trigger.
"Bang bang bang..."
"Bang bang bang..."
"ah?!"
"ah?!"
"ah……"
Dozens of Xixia soldiers who had just been inspired to attack the Song army were knocked down one after another by ammunition fired from muskets...
What frightened the Xixia soldiers in the rear group even more was that the Song cavalry did not rush forward to engage them directly, sword to sword and gun to gun.
After the leading troops of the Song Army's cavalry fired a wave of shots, each of them took out a small iron club as long as a palm, and they pulled down the safety ring of the grenade, and the smoking grenades were thrown at them one after another.
Among the formations behind the Xixia cavalry.
"boom……"
"boom……"
A wave of grenade explosions, with flames rising into the sky, smoke filling the air, shrapnel flying randomly, and a wide range of damage, caused many Xixia cavalrymen to flip over...
"ah?!"
"ah?!"
"ah……"
The screams, painful wails of the Xixia soldiers, and the frightened roars and neighs of the war horses merged into one.
Even Fei Tingyuan Shang, the commander of Pule City who was in the center of the Xixia cavalry, felt the shock wave of the grenade explosion and saw the huge destructive power of the fire and shrapnel flying after the grenade exploded...
He also smelled the acrid smell of gunpowder smoke after the explosion of the small smoking iron mallets, and the smell of burnt men and horses after the Xixia cavalry was bombed...
At this time, facing the huge lethality brought about by the Song army's use of this new gunpowder weapon that the Xixia soldiers did not know why, the Xixia soldiers and generals' psychology had collapsed, and the horses they were riding were also frightened.
Many Xixia cavalry horses did not listen to the orders of their owners at all. They heard the explosion, saw the sky-high flames and the powerful lethality when the grenade exploded, and their own animal instinct to escape and save their lives prompted them to howl and neigh.
Then, he raised his horse's hooves, jumped up with his front hooves, threw the owner off the horse, and ran away alone...
Even though many Xixia war horses did not get rid of their owners, as war horses in the cold weapon era, they had never seen the horrific scenes of hot weapon grenade explosions and musket shooting. They naturally thought of escaping, so,
Many Xixia war horses are running around carrying their owners...
The commander of Pule City, Fei Tingyuan Shang, quickly reined in his horse. With his superb riding skills, he was able to slightly stabilize the black-fat war horse under his crotch.
He looked at the many cavalrymen around him. They had been thrown off their horses by the frightened horses. There were also many cavalrymen who were led away by the frightened horses and ran away from the battlefield. They had long since fled the battlefield...
What frightened Fei Tingyuan Shang even more was that the leading troops of the Song Army entering the city started another round of musket shooting and grenade throwing...
"Bang, bang, bang..."
"Boom, boom, boom..."
The sound of gunfire and the explosion of grenades were intertwined with the wails of injured Xixia cavalry and the neighing of frightened horses...
Fei Tingyuan Shang heard these harsh sounds and felt that his heart was broken into pieces...
In the blink of an eye, many cavalrymen were killed and wounded by the Song army entering the city. Those were young warriors from the Feiting clan!
These warriors failed to leap in front of the Song army with swords and fight with the Song army's cavalry, so they lost their lives or were seriously injured, which made him heartbroken...
Fei Ting Yuan Shang had tears in his eyes and his silver teeth clenched. In order to take into account the overall situation and retain more warriors from the Fei Ting clan, he reluctantly shouted:
"The Song army used 'magic' to attract thunder from the sky. Our army is invincible and will die in vain if we can't fight. Send me an order to retreat the entire army out of the city!"
"Follow the order!"
"Follow orders..."
These elite cavalrymen under Fei Tingyuan Shang saw the Song army's witchcraft that could "draw thunder from the sky", so they naturally retreated to save their lives. After receiving the military order from their commander Fei Tingyuan Shang, they immediately turned their horses around and whipped their horses with all their strength.
, eagerly looking forward to withdrawing from the deadly battlefield as soon as possible...
Fei Ting Yuan Shang's thousands of cavalry retreated in such a chaotic and disorderly manner, trampling on each other in a small area...
However, Fei Tingyuan Shang's retreat order was timely, and many Xixia cavalry still escaped by stepping on the corpses of their own troops...
In fact, if Fei Tingyuan Shang and his troops had persisted, Yang Zaixing's cavalry vanguard did not carry too much grenades and musket ammunition. If the two sides were to come into contact, the overall close combat effectiveness of the Xixia cavalry would still be slightly higher.
Stronger than the Song Army's cavalry.
However, the reason why Yang Zaixing ordered his cavalry to shoot first and throw out several waves of grenades was to use this new type of highly lethal gunpowder weapon developed by Zhao Guan's family to gain the upper hand and catch the enemy by surprise, so that the enemy would be frightened and would not dare to attack.
The purpose of fighting vigorously and defeating the enemy's entire army with one blow...
The Song army's goal was indeed achieved, and Fei Tingyuan Shang led his troops to flee back to the city...
Yang Zaixing took the lead and led his troops in hot pursuit...
Wu Jie and Wu Lin led the vanguard follow-up troops of the Song Army and also entered the city, annihilating the remaining enemy forces in Pule City separately...
An hour later, the entire Pule City was occupied by the Song Army's vanguard.
Regarding Fei Ting Yuan Shang's troops who had abandoned the city and fled, Yang Zaixing followed the orders of veteran general Guo Cheng and pursued them only two miles out of the city. He then shot and beheaded about 300 Xixia soldiers who fell behind.
Ordered to give up the pursuit and withdraw the troops back to the city.
Yang Zaixing also knew Guo Cheng's intention, which was to stop chasing the poor enemy.
The three thousand elite Song Army cavalry led by Wu Jie, Wu Lin, and Yang Zaixing first used the artillery developed by the Zhao Guan family to smash the city gates, and unexpectedly entered Pule City, facing Fei Ting Yuan Shang's cavalry.
When they rushed to the court to fight in the streets, they took out the muskets given to them by Zhao Guan's family and threw grenades. In the first moment, they caught the enemy by surprise, causing the Xixia army to misjudge the Song army's gunpowder.
The weapons would never be exhausted, so the entire Xixia army hurriedly withdrew from Pule City, allowing the Song Army's vanguard to easily occupy Pule City.
In this battle, the vanguard of the Song Army killed more than 60 people, wounded more than 100 people, killed more than 2,000 enemies, and captured thousands of weapons...
Early the next morning, veteran general Guo Cheng led tens of thousands of Song troops, mainly infantry, to station in Pule City.
Guo Cheng said happily to Wu Jie, Wu Lin and Yang Zaixing:
"Three generals made a surprise attack on Pule City and achieved great results. I will write a personal report and ask Zhao Guan's family to claim the reward for you three..."
Wu Jie and the other three people also clasped their fists happily and said one after another:
"Thank you, General Guo..."
"This battle can be unexpected, all thanks to General Guo's clever calculations..."
"Hahaha..." veteran Guo Cheng stroked his gray beard and said with a smile:
"No, no!"
"You don't know, but I used this trick of 'hiding the truth from the sky' after reading the ingenious plan given to me by Zhao Guan's family. First, I deceived the Xixia cavalry sent by Pule City, and pretended that our Song army was far away from Pule City.
Give his commander intelligence about the fake army camped hundreds of miles away."
"Then, I sent you and others to lead a rapid march of three thousand elite cavalry. I immediately followed you with my own troops after you sent out the troops.
"You can lead the cavalry to march quickly, take advantage of the darkness, take advantage of surprise, and use the artillery given to us by Zhao Guan's family to attack Pule City. Only in this way can we achieve today's great victory!"
After Guo Cheng told the truth, Wu Jie, Wu Lin and Yang Zaixing suddenly realized that they naturally knew that when Zhao Guan's family arranged the battle against Xia in the capital, they gave the veteran Guo Cheng several tips, which turned out to contain
What a great idea!
"The Zhao Guan family is so heroic and wise!" Wu Jie said sincerely.
"Zhao Guan's family is strategizing and winning thousands of miles away!" Wu Lin praised.
"The Zhao Guan family's military strategy is at its peak, beyond our reach!" Yang Zaixing sighed with admiration.
Their admiration and admiration for the Zhao Guan family, who had been a boon to them, became deeper and stronger.
The veteran Guo Cheng looked at the three beloved generals sent by Zhao Guan's family to train under his command. He cherished them extremely, but he also knew that the outstanding few among Enke's Wu Jinshi this time were all golden scales.
Golden scales are by no means a thing in a pond. They turn into dragons when encountering storms!
Guo Cheng said with a smile:
"Although this battle mainly relied on the weapons and firearms invented by the Zhao Guan family, it was possible to break the city so easily and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, making the enemy afraid and unable to hold on to Pule City, causing the enemy to be defeated quickly;
However, during the actual military operations, we still have to rely on you to charge forward and the soldiers of the three armies to sacrifice their lives and not be afraid of death to achieve such a great victory!"
"Therefore, the three of you serve as the chief and deputy vanguard officers and lead the cavalry vanguard to attack the city. I still want to report it to Zhao Guanjia! The artillery and cavalry in my unit who have made meritorious deeds will also be written in the memorial.
, as for our army’s war dead, double the pensions..."
When Wu Jie, Wu Lin and Yang Zaixing heard what coach Guo Cheng said, they were naturally happy and everyone was happy...
Subsequently, Guo Cheng ordered to strengthen the city defense to appease the few party members in Pule City who would not have time to escape. He then announced that the entire army would be renovating in Pule City for a day...
Although, in the night attack on Pule City, the Song army fought easily and suffered very few casualties;
However, what made the Song army tired was that both the cavalry and the infantry had to march from hundreds of miles away to get here, and their physical strength was wasted on the march.
Guo Cheng, who has been in the army for more than 50 years and has rich experience in leading troops, naturally knows that driving a tired division is one of the taboos of military strategists. Therefore, Guo Cheng issued a military order for the entire army to rest in Pule City for a day, which won the hearts of the troops.
The defeated Fei Tingyuan Shang led the remnant of more than 2,000 cavalry and fled westward. Along the way, his troops also gathered more than 1,000 other deserters from Pule City like lost dogs.
Now, more than 3,000 of Fei Ting Yuanshang's remaining defeated troops fled from Pule City and ran to other soldiers in different directions. Fei Ting Yuanshang had no time to reorganize his old troops.
Facing the Song Army's extremely lethal "Thunder", Fei Tingyuan did not have the courage to organize the remaining troops to counterattack to regain the lost ground. He also did not dare to flee directly back to the city in the interior of Xixia. He was afraid that Emperor Li Qianshun would kill him.
It is a serious crime to lose a city in a vigorous battle.
Fei Tingyuan Shang led the remaining troops and ran non-stop all night toward the northwest grasslands. After his troops marched forward for more than four hours, in the morning of the next day, they finally caught up with the herdsmen and large herds of cattle and sheep who had left the city.
Fei Tingyuan looked at the large herds of cattle, sheep and livestock of his tribe, and then looked back at the rear. He saw that the Song army's pursuers had already been dispatched, and he couldn't help but feel relieved and sighed:
"The Song Army possesses such a powerful weapon, God is really going to destroy our country of Daxia! Also, I lead my troops and run fast, otherwise I will be buried under the thunder caused by the Song Army.
As long as there are people and animals in my Feting tribe, they cannot be exterminated. Whether the Great Xia Kingdom established by the Li family of the Tuoba family can be destroyed by Zhao and Song, what does it have to do with me?"
Fei Ting Yuanshang's trusted generals immediately flattered him and flattered him:
"The general who planned for me, Fei Ting, endured humiliation and heavy burdens, is comparable to Gou Jian, the king of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Han Dynasty..."
Fei Tingyuan still knew that his general liked to study Han culture, so he nodded with deep understanding.
However, he was still a little worried about the safety of his own soldiers who were sent to the capital to report military information...
Fei Tingyuan Shang sat on the floor and took the roasted lamb leg from his guard. He bit off a piece of meat and chewed it in his mouth, while speaking quietly in Dangxiang dialect:
"I wonder if my brothers and nephews have rushed back to the capital now? I am a little worried, because after I lost Pule City, will our emperor blame them for the loss of the city?
"
The flattering general immediately said:
"General, don't worry, as long as we Fei Ting still have a large number of warriors to fight, the emperor will not dare to be cruel to the general's relatives!
Eighty or ninety years ago, before our "Dabai Gao Kingdom" was founded, our Fei Ting clan, like the Tuoba clan, the ancestor of the current emperor Li Qianshun, was one of the eight major tribes of our party! We Fei Ting clan
The clan will always have a cooperative relationship with the royal family, and they are not slaves of the royal family named Tuoba Li!"
"Hahaha..." After hearing this, Fei Tingyuan Shang laughed heartily and felt much relieved.
He knew his cronies, and it was reasonable to say that no matter when Xixia did not establish the "Bangni Dingguo", that is, the "Dabai Gaoguo", or after the founding of the country until now, in fact, the various clans and tribes with military strength in Dangxiang and Tuoba
The royal family with the surname Li all have a cooperative relationship.
Thinking of this, Fei Tingyuan Shang felt extremely wise for his decisive decision to abandon the city and escape for his life instead of fighting the powerful enemy Song Dynasty.
…………
At noon on the second day after the Song army occupied Pule City, Fei Ting Yuan Shang sent ninety fast horses, twenty soldiers of his own family, and ten witnesses selected from the defeated armies of Zhejianghui and Mengjing.
Representative, since they left the city yesterday, they have been traveling day and night, non-stop, only changing horses, not people, along the way. They want to report the urgent military information on the Xixia border to Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun as soon as possible...
Their horses were too tired to run, or when their horses were exhausted, they immediately gave up their horses and replaced them with spare horses...
When they traveled a long distance and rushed back to the capital of Xixia, it was already a quarter past noon the next day.
When they were blocked by the officers and soldiers guarding the city, they immediately took out the 100,000 urgent tokens given to them by Fei Tingyuan Shang, wanting to see the emperor and report the emergency to the border...
At this time, Emperor Li Qianshun of the Xixia Kingdom, who had had lunch, was sitting in the imperial study room, holding a pen in his right hand to review the memorial, and holding a rosary in his left hand...
The news officer outside the imperial study carefully shouted: "Your Majesty, war broke out on the border between Xia and Song..."
Li Qianshun, who is thirty-nine years old this year, frowned. He thought it was just a small-scale military friction on the border between Xia and Song Dynasty as before, and he said leisurely:
"Enter my imperial study and explain it in detail."
The reporting officer said: "I obey the order."
He quickly entered, knelt down and said: "General Fei Ting Yuan Shang of Pu Le City sent an envoy back to Beijing to ask for an audience with His Majesty. His envoy was waiting outside the palace gate, saying that the Song army had raided the border and had conquered the Zhejianghui and Mengjing defense lines. Heading towards Pule City. General Fei Tingyuan Shang calls for emergency rescue..."
When Li Qianshun learned about this, he was shocked and angry. He even couldn't believe it. It was clear that Xia and Song Dynasty had been in peace for nearly three years, so why did the Song army suddenly betray the alliance and invade Xia?
He was so angry that he threw the imperial pen in his hand to the ground, and said angrily and urgently: "Bring the messenger quickly, I want to question him in detail..."