The Northern Tang Army was in formation, and Li Guangbi, who was riding on his horse, watched the cannonballs fly through the air and fall into the city of Handan, raising clouds of smoke and dust.
Unlike Li Guangbi, many generals in the Northern Tang Army saw dozens of large long cannons fired together for the first time. Witnessing this scene, they couldn't help but marvel.
Looking at the generals beside him, Li Guangbi said in a deep voice: "The advent of artillery means that the role of city walls and cities has been greatly reduced. In future battles, you must change your thinking and not stick to the rules... Now that you have seen the power of artillery.
It’s powerful, who can tell me about its disadvantages?”
There was a general under Li Guangbi named Li Baoyu, whose original name was An Chongzhang. His ancestor was An Xinggui, a Persian who had great fame in the Tang Dynasty.
Li Baoyu grew up in the Western Regions. He liked horseback riding and archery. He was calm and resolute. He was a general in the Anxi Army and was later transferred to serve under Li Guangbi.
Li Baoyu said to Li Guangbi: "Guardian, artillery is good for siege, but the gun body is heavy and difficult to transport. Moreover, before firing, it must be assembled and debugged, which takes a long time. The transportation and erection of artillery often require several days of effort.
, if any clues are discovered during this process, we only need to send out a cavalry force as an ambush, and then take advantage of the gap between the two armies to directly attack the artillery array by surprise, and the threat of the artillery can be eliminated."
Li Guangbi nodded slightly: "At any time, protecting the artillery formation is the key."
At this moment, a Tang army scout from the front came to report to the Chinese army, saying that the Yan army in the city had been disorganized and began to flee outside the city.
The generals of the Northern Tang Dynasty asked for help one after another, hoping to pursue the Yan army.
Li Guangbi: "Shi Siming has always been very cunning. What he is best at is pretending to be invincible and then quietly setting up an ambush while his pursuers are paralyzed and careless."
After looking around at the crowd, Li Guangbi said loudly: "The generals must obey orders and must not advance rashly or be greedy for success. They must attack in tandem without seeking a quick victory. They aim to drive away the enemy."
Li Baoyu cupped his hands and said: "Protector, Shi Siming is afraid that if he escapes from Handan City this time, he will run towards the Yellow River. If the Yan army enters Huazhou, they can take a boat at Baimadu and go down the river to Qizhou (Jinan).
.If Shi Siming is allowed to cross the Yellow River, this battle will probably be difficult to fight."
Li Guangbi nodded and said: "That's right. The key to this battle is whether it can cut off Shi Siming's retreat... If you want to do this, it depends on Pugu Huaien..."
At the same time, above the Bohai Sea.
The Hebei Navy, composed of hundreds of large and small ships, is heading southeast.
Pugu Huaien stood on the deck of the flagship Zhenwei, looking at the sea in the distance, his face a little pale.
Du Huan walked up from the cabin, saluted Pugu Huai'en and said: "Captain, we will arrive at Laizhou Port in half an hour."
Pugu Huaien tightened the sword around his waist, and while feeling the shaking under his feet, he said helplessly: "If I have a choice next time, I will definitely choose to ride a horse and walk, and I will never take a boat again. On the contrary,
You people, you have been sailing on the sea all year round, and you have never felt uncomfortable?"
Du Huan: "The last general's hometown is in Gyeonggi Province. From the time I was born until I went to Anxi to serve, I never even rode on a ship. Later, during the first Battle of Talos, the Tang Dynasty was defeated, and I was taken as a prisoner of war to Sahara in Dashi.
Fortunately, Malhan met the prime minister and was able to escape. After wandering on the sea for more than a year, he finally returned to his homeland."
When Pugu Huai'en heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "In the first Battle of Talas, the Tang Dynasty was defeated, and tens of thousands of Tang soldiers were captured by the cannibals. Why didn't the Anxi Protectorate come forward to redeem the prisoners?
?”
Du Huan said helplessly: "The governor of Anxi at that time was Gao Xianzhi. The Tang army lost in the Battle of Talos. Gao Xianzhi was worried that the court would be angry, so he underreported the battle losses. In this way, although Gao Xianzhi was punished, he was not punished.
The worry for our lives is that we, the soldiers of the defeated army, will never be able to return to the Tang Dynasty."
Pugu Huai'en sighed: "To put it this way, it's thanks to the Prime Minister that he sacrificed his life to go to Dashi. Without him, if you want to return to your homeland, you won't know how long it will be."
Du Huan: "We prisoners are all abandoned soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. The only person we have to thank for being able to return to our hometown is the Prime Minister. Last year, when we sailed to Quanzhou by boat, the local Jinglue Mansion heard about our affairs.
The government sent people with heavy gifts and promised official positions, hoping to persuade us to stay in Quanzhou and serve the Southern Tang court. Not only that, in order to stop us, the Quanzhou government also said that there were frequent wars in the north. If we insist on going north on this trip, I am afraid it will
There is fear for one’s life.”
"Except for a few soldiers who were homesick and wanted to leave the ship and stay, others, including me, declined the proposal of the Imperial Palace. Everyone had only one thought in their minds at that time. This life was given by the Prime Minister.
, even if the journey north is difficult and dangerous, I still have to hold on to my last breath and go back to repay my kindness."
Pugu Huaien took a long breath, patted Du Huan on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "What a good man!"
At this time, a shout came from the watchtower: "Laizhou Port is seen!"
Du Huan bowed his hand to Pugu Huai'en and turned around to go to the ship castle.
The latter moved his legs and feet, looked at the land getting closer and closer on the distant sea, and said softly: "We can finally get off the boat."
Most of the Yan Army warships in Laizhou Port were docked in the navy camp.
In the view of Yan Jun, the only one that could pose a threat to Laizhou was the Hai'an Navy of Yangzhou Prefecture in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
However, if the Navy of the Southern Tang Dynasty wanted to go north, it would have to pass through Mizhou, Dengzhou and other places. The beacon towers along the way would definitely notify Laizhou Port several days in advance after discovering the enemy's situation.
In other words, Laizhou Port has no rivals in the Bohai waters and does not need to carry out external reconnaissance and early warning.
Therefore, when the Beitang Navy was spotted on the watchtower of Laizhou Port, the defenders' first reaction was to be dazzled.
After the Laizhou defenders repeatedly confirmed that it was an enemy attack, the Beitang Navy had already sailed to the water south of Daxie Island, only a few miles away from Laizhou Port.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The defenders ran to the top of the tower in panic and rang the warning bell.
There was a sudden chaos inside the naval camp.
Many of the sailors of the Yan army who had not fought for many years had forgotten who their commanders were.
Because the door bolt of the port arsenal was rusty, dozens of people worked together and spent a lot of effort to open it.
The most outrageous thing is that the Yan Army deputy general Lou Lie, who was on duty at Laizhou Port, was not in the military camp, but went to Goulan in the city to drink flower wine.
When the Zhenwei ship sailed only a thousand meters away from the Laizhou Port, the Yan army only had two fighting ships, which could barely sail out of the gate of the naval camp.
Du Huan raised his flag and ordered all the gunboats of the Beitang Navy to fire a salvo on the starboard side.
After a burst of earth-shattering cannon fire, hundreds of iron bullets flew across the sea and flew directly towards the Yan army's ships.
A Yanjun battleship, which was swinging sideways, was hit by several iron bullets at the stern and upper deck. Most of the ship's castle on the deck suddenly collapsed. The sailors inside were killed and injured numerous times. The survivors were so frightened that they cried for their fathers and mothers.
They all jumped off the boat to escape.
Another fighting ship had slightly better luck, but its mast was broken by a cannonball.
However, the fallen mast hit the bottom and happened to crush the fighting ship's lieutenant who had just boarded the ship to take command, crushing him to death on the deck.
The two battleships were severely damaged and immediately lost their combat capabilities, blocking the exit of the Yan Army's camp, making it impossible for subsequent battleships to sail out.
Most of the Yan navy, which had never seen the power of artillery, was confused on the spot when faced with this unknown weapon.
The sailors abandoned the ship and fled, and the officials were at a loss and could only ask for help from the navy camp.
Soon, the Beitang Navy's second salvo targeted the Laizhou Navy camp.
After a round of artillery shells flew past, a watchtower in the navy camp collapsed into a pile of ruins amidst the harsh sound of collapse.
At this point, the entire Laizhou Navy completely lost its combat effectiveness and became a piece of meat on the chopping board.
The Beitang navy began to approach the coast, and the side guards were put down on the deck. One after another, the war horses carried weapons and baggage on their backs. Under the guidance of the soldiers, they jumped into the shallow sea and swam ashore.
The three thousand elite cavalry of the Northern Tang Dynasty passed by sea and bypassed the natural dangers of the Yellow River. They completed their assembly at Laizhou Port and began to march towards Shi Siming's rear area - Qingzhou, Zizhou and Qizhou.