Only a few battlements fell off the scorched city wall that was bombarded by artillery. The city wall only shook a few times, and then stood still.
However, the counterattack on the top of the city seemed to have stopped. Lang Tan opened his oar shield and looked back at the city wall, only to realize that what he had blown up was just an outer stone wall. There was still hard rammed earth inside the stone wall. Those
Although the rammed earth has cracked, it has not collapsed.
Tongtouguan was originally just a rammed earth city wall. The stone wall outside was probably added after Yelu Yixin arrived, and he still didn't put in enough gunpowder.
Fortunately, I had put less gunpowder just now. If I had put enough gunpowder, once the rammed earth wall collapsed, I would have been buried alive by those flying watchtowers and battlements.
The ground behind him was covered with large and small stones. Some of the soldiers had no time to protect their bodies, and their flesh and blood were bruised by the stones. They lay there helplessly and howled.
Some unlucky soldiers were hit by a boulder as tall as one person, and even their shields and themselves were reduced to a puddle of tiny pieces.
Hai Dongqing, who was originally exploring at high altitude, had already flown into the clouds due to the violent explosion, and had no intention of coming down for a while.
"Come again!" Lang Tan waved his hand behind him. The enemy riding on the top of the city had been knocked unconscious and the explosion had to be re-arranged.
The Song army who followed behind came to the city again with bags of gunpowder. They quickly piled up the bags, lit the fuse and ran back. This time, they had to run far enough.
Lang Tan, who retreated to the beach, stared at the gunpowder pile intently, watching the fuse burn out and a flash of light. Lang Tan habitually buckled the oar shield on his body and turned his back to Copperhead City.
The oar shield on his back seemed to have been pushed hard by someone. Lang Tan staggered and then stood firm. After the explosion of gunpowder, when the dizzy Lang Tan looked back, he found the city wall.
Finally disappeared...
However, there was an urn standing there less than 50 feet behind the city wall. The anger in his chest rose, and the stubborn Yelu Yixin actually placed the urn that should be placed outside into the city.
However, such a discovery also chilled him. If he had not used gunpowder to blow up the city wall arbitrarily, if he had only blown open the city gate, once his subordinates entered Wengcheng, they would have been condescendingly killed by the Liao people.
At this time, there were countless Liao people lying on the ground in Wengcheng. Some of the Liao people had been burned by the phosphorus fire and condensed into a ball. The sour smell of the phosphorus fire was carried by the wind along with the exploded city wall, making people sick to smell it.
Seeing the dense Liao people on Wengcheng, Lang Tan gave up his intention to attack the city first and began to order the arrangement of advance positions along the first wall of Tongtou Pass.
He firmly believed that as long as the artillery was brought over, there would be no city in the world that could not be opened. Under the conditions of victory, there was no need to risk the lives of his own soldiers to fill it.
Before the artillery was delivered, the war came to a halt again. Because they were afraid of the phosphorus fire bombs in the hands of the Song army, the Liao people did not take advantage of the Song army's defense line to attack.
Yun Zheng estimated that after the Liao people faced this horrific killing at noon today, it would take some time to stabilize their military morale. Most likely, they would launch a large-scale attack tonight, so he replaced the tired and tired
Lang Tan, who was hit hard, replaced Wu Jie to hold the front line.
If the artillery wants to cross the river, the simple pontoon bridge in front of us cannot support it. At this time, a strong bridge is needed to allow the artillery weighing 2,600 kilograms to safely cross the Yang River.
Once the artillery falls into the river or mud, if you want to fish it out under the existing conditions, you need to formulate a systematic plan. Yun Zheng does not want his winning treasure to be in any danger.
There are no new artillery pieces shipped to the imperial court. It’s not that they are not given, but because the journey is too long. It takes time and a lot of manpower and material resources to transport such heavy artillery. And time, manpower and material resources are just in front of us. What the Song Dynasty lacks most.
After arranging all the offensive, defensive, and support matters, Yun Zheng returned to the Chinese army's tent. When he saw Chen Lin rushing over, her face seemed very ugly.
After receiving a military report from Chen Lin, Yun Zheng's expression also changed. The military report said that the Northern Expedition's reinforcements led by Zhong'e had deviated from the direction and were heading towards Fengzhou.
Yun Zheng stood up and came to the sand table. After taking a look, he placed the black flag belonging to Zhonge on Yuyang Ridge in Fengzhou and couldn't help but sigh.
The border troops of the Song Dynasty have always been arrogant, and the Western Army has always had the habit of making their own decisions. They relied on themselves as the most powerful military group in the Song Dynasty, and they always obeyed and disobeyed the military orders of the big guys in the court, especially when the good old man Di Qing left. After the Western Army, they became more and more arrogant because of their contribution to guarding the border.
Yunzheng was full of sympathy for the arrogance of the Western Army. If they could not even use the word arrogance, they would have automatically given up their right to speak on the politics of the Song Dynasty.
The Western Army does not just belong to Di Qing or Zhonge. It has guarded the border for the Song Dynasty for many years, fought with the Xixia people, fought with the Liao people, and even returned to participate in domestic rebellions. The influence of the Western Army is not limited to the northwest. , since participating in quelling the Nong Zhigao Rebellion, Lingnan and Dali have also seen the shadow of the Western Army.
Yun Zheng would not be surprised if the influence of this military group has penetrated into all areas under the jurisdiction of the Western Army and is penetrating into the court.
In this battle allocation, the Western Army was very dissatisfied with their auxiliary position. They were dissatisfied that they had paid a huge price to suppress the main force of the Liao people, but allowed Yunzheng to easily take down the huge Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture. of peaches.
However, Yunzheng's power was not something they could bear. Therefore, under the double suppression of Yunzheng and Di Qing, the Western Army could only swallow this bitter fruit.
Now the situation in the north is extremely clear. Yunzheng is advancing with great success. Facing the Liao army, he can be said to be unstoppable. He killed Xiao Dahu in Yunnei Prefecture and now broke Yelu Yixin's eight-door golden lock in Fengsheng Prefecture. As long as the Tongtou Pass is broken, the Nanjing Road of the Liao Kingdom will be at his feet. Even if the Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji leads a million Liao troops, he cannot be the opponent of Yunzheng and Di Qing. Under attack from both sides, as long as the Liao Emperor If he still has a little sense, he will choose to retreat, coercing the people of Nanjing Road to retreat to Zhongjing Road, Shangjing Road, or Tokyo Road.
At this time, the most glorious military exploits undoubtedly belong to Yunzheng. The king of the North has been easily obtained. The Western Army may not get anything except some insignificant rewards.
So they set their sights on their old enemy Wu Zang Yipang. At this time, Wu Zang Yipang was dealing with the Liao army in the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom, and he wanted to coerce a large number of Liao people to go to the west to open up a new life for themselves. territory, and participate in the battle for Congling.
Instead of hiding behind to help Yun Zheng and Wang Anshi put down the local rebellion, Zhong'e's follow-up army should actively participate in the battle to weaken Wu Zang's army.
Although Zhong E was the commander of the second line of reinforcements, he had to leave Yun Zheng's back at the request of all the generals of the Western Army and instead seek the battle direction that was most beneficial to him.
After planting the flag, Yun Zheng said to Chen Lin calmly: "The purpose of sowing lies is to hide Pang Pang's body. I can't say whether this is good or bad.
If Wu Zang Pang's strength can be greatly weakened in Fengzhou, Wu Zang Pang's foundation in the Xixia Kingdom will be shaken, and extremely serious internal strife may arise.
In this way, the Western Army can put the strategy of annihilating the Xixia Kingdom on the agenda. If our Jingxi Army wins the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, their Western Army will definitely gain the military merit of destroying the Xixia Kingdom."
Wen Yanbo, who hurried back, said angrily: "What is Zhong'e doing? Our Song Dynasty has just been able to stand firm, can we still walk a few steps to get the strength to run?"
The whole country is tightening their belts and fully supporting the Northern Expedition. We are about to win. Why do they have to make trouble at this time?
If they really want to achieve the feat of overthrowing the country, they can wait until the Northern Expedition is over and the Song Dynasty has rested for five to ten years. Even if they don't want to fight the Xixia Kingdom, I and others will force them to go. What's the rush at this time! "
Chen Lin said with a gloomy face: "Everything is going well in the army at this time. Naturally, Marquis Yun cannot leave the army. Why don't I go to the Western Army and ask why Zhong E is here?"
Yun Zheng was good at measuring the distance on the sand table and shook his head: "It's useless. This military report was signed eight days ago. Logically speaking, the distance between our two armies is within five days' journey. This military report is The reason why the report lasted for eight days means that the army has already left the station for four days, and Chen Gong may not be able to catch up."
Chen Lin stomped her feet bitterly and shouted: "Then send Hai Dongqing to ask Marquis Yun to immediately issue the most severe military order. I am a subordinate. If you don't believe me, you dare to blatantly disobey the military order."
Wen Yanbo persuaded with an embarrassed look on his face: "Mr. Chen doesn't know. Zhong'e is only controlled by Marquis Yun, but he has a certain degree of autonomy. When His Majesty paid homage to the general, he did so to the four chief generals, Marquis Yun and Marshal Di." , Zhonge, Fubi, a total of four armies.
If we put aside the word moderation, Zhonge is actually equal in power to Marquis Yun, so Marquis Yun does not have the power to give orders to Zhonge."
Chen Lin looked towards Yunzheng in shock.
Yun Zheng shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands and said: "It's true. The powers of officials in the Song Dynasty have always been structured like a stacked bed frame. This will indeed effectively supervise the power and reduce the possibility of mutiny, but it will only A certain amount of flexibility is missing.
But even I welcome such a power structure. After all, power cannot be without constraints. Power without constraints will soon turn into a scourge.
Wen Gong, you must remember that you must not only apply this model to Yun Zheng, this model is feasible for all military commanders in the future."
Wen Yanbo gritted his teeth and said: "This is natural!"
Chen Lin held Yun Zheng's sleeve and asked repeatedly: "How should we deal with this matter?"
Yun Zheng burst out laughing and said: "It's going to rain. If my mother wants to get married, he has to do it..." (To be continued)