It had been five days since Xiao Guancong saw the Xixia people besieging the city, and it had been three days just to repel the Xixia people's siege.
After the first day of testing, the Xixia people began to attack the city.
"That's the Poxi Army..."
When the Xixia cavalry ducked out of a passage and saw pieces of siege equipment appearing, they knew that Poxi's army was coming.
"They are Han Chinese!"
Liu Wu emphasized this sentence.
"What about the Han people? Those who don't take their country and ancestors seriously are not even considered human beings, no matter who they are!"
"Fighting for Xixia and serving as a soldier of Xixia, then he is a Western traitor!"
This is Zhao Xi's theory, and it is backed up by sages: if the barbarians enter China, they will be conquered by China; if the barbarians enter China, they will be conquered by the barbarians.
Zhao Xi discovered that in this era, people identify more with their nation than their home country.
This is also an extension of the concept of clan and clan.
Therefore, Zhao Xi vigorously promoted the concept of family and country in the guard camp, and also established a sense of identification with the country and the dynasty in the new army.
Therefore, when it comes to the escort battalion and even the new army, they do not distinguish between race and only consider whether they are from the imperial dynasty.
Not to mention the siege ability of the Poxi Army, because the New Army did not give them a chance to siege the city at all.
Those trebuchets, ladders, and cowhide boxes that I don’t know whether they work or not, etc., the moment I started preparing, a bunch of gunpowder bombs flew directly over... Still want to attack the city? Why don’t you kill them!
Then there was Chong Linglang...
"They are Han Chinese!"
"Damn Han people! They are attacking the city for the Western thieves! If Commander Liu delays the battle, I don't mind enforcing battlefield discipline!"
Either he dies or he dies, it's not a difficult choice.
In the Western Army, perhaps influenced by the pedantry of the civil servants, they sometimes felt unbearable when facing their own people, even when they were attacking cities for Xixia.
And with this kind of thinking, we often miss the most appropriate opportunity to strike due to hesitation.
He has already fought for Xixia, is it possible that during the war you asked him to recognize his ancestor and return to his clan?
The royal way can only be implemented based on domineering.
"There are mountain people and villagers nearby!"
"Commander Liu, you... they are going to attack the city!"
I’m convinced! Because of this, it’s really impossible to kill Commander Xiao Guan of the Western Army at this time.
"All of them! Altitude twenty... launch!"
After all, humans are humans, not beasts like war horses, nor bulky siege equipment.
It always takes time for the launcher to launch the gunpowder shell and then it falls to the ground.
This gave those who might have been forced to attack the city an opening to escape...
"Commander Liu..."
This time I was really a little angry.
It's really a waste to use gunpowder bullets to hit Ling Lang like this. And it's not within the range of a musket.
At this time, the original defensive equipment of the Western Army came into use.
Liu Wu felt the anger of the commander of the guard camp and knew that if he continued to hesitate like this, Xiao Pass would be broken and many of his brothers would die...
War has always been cruel. Even with the new army, facing nearly 50,000 to 60,000 Xixia people, they continued to attack the city day and night for more than half a month. Although Xiaoguan was defended, the losses were quite heavy.
Xiaoguan is the first pass for the Western Army to defend Xixia, and it is also the most advanced pass. The soldiers of the Western Army here are the best among the entire Western Army. But now, nearly 20% of them have been lost.
However, Liu Wu was not too worried. With the New Army's firearms destroying the Xixia people's siege equipment, and a steady stream of gunpowder bombs being delivered, he thought Xiao Pass could be defended forever...
"Commander Liu, take advantage of the darkness tonight and lead the Western Army to retreat..."
Gu Cheng leaned behind the low stack and glanced at the Xixia people outside the wall... they held off another siege. Unfortunately, the real elite of the Xixia people never attacked the city, and the Zhusheng Army and Chuang Linglang were always fighting.
"Commander Gu, this is my Xiaoguan. It only depends on the person's presence. If it is broken, people will perish!"
Liu Wu was also leaning on a low stack like Gu Cheng. His right arm was still wrapped in linen. He didn't feel the need to retreat at this time. Tomorrow was still the time for the logistics materials to be delivered. As long as the materials arrived, Xiao Guan could not throw them away.
Therefore, Liu Wu did not understand the order asking him to retreat.
"Liu Wu, this is not the time to act heroic, this is a military order! Besides, Xiao Guan is the Xiao Guan of the Song Dynasty, not your Liu Wu's Xiao Guan!"
"Can……"
"No but! This is a military order!"
There were stones flying overhead all the time. Although they kept blowing up the Xixia people's siege equipment, the surrounding mountains and forests provided the Xixia people with raw materials for making siege equipment...
The point is, using gunpowder bombs to blow up siege engines is too wasteful.
The Xixia people could make do with trebuchets by cutting down trees, but the cost of gunpowder bombs plus transportation, even if one gunpowder bomb could blow up a trebuchet, was a waste.
"Liu Wu, you should know how many troops the Xixia people will send this time, right?"
"Nearly 200,000 fine cavalry, plus the army of catching students and the Ling Lang, it is called an army of 500,000!"
"There are only 70,000 or 80,000 Western thieves attacking Xiao Pass, right?"
"Commander Gu, I know what you are going to say..."
"You don't know! All the Western troops in the border camp on the middle road must retreat tonight and reach the designated place within three days! This is a military order!"
It was true that they had developed a sense of friendship after being in contact with him for half a month, and he also knew that Liu Wu was a man. Otherwise, he could have killed Liu Wu just for disobeying military orders.
"All border villages?"
"Yes! All border villages!"
Why? Liu Wu doesn’t understand!
Xiao Pass is the first pass to defend Xixia. Once it is released, the passes to the south are not big, let alone the passes. The key is that the south direction will become a basin suitable for cavalry operations, stretching for hundreds of miles.
The center headquarters never sent reinforcements. Liu Wu thought that the headquarters could assess the actual combat strength. Because there were gunpowder bombs, Xiao Guan's 5,000 soldiers could defend the army for half a year without any problem.
The headquarters will definitely send reinforcements by then.
Unexpectedly, before this happened, they actually received an order to withdraw their troops and abandon Xiao Pass.
If this is the case, it would be better to give up on Xiao Guan right away. Why wait until more than a thousand brothers die before giving up?
"Commander Gu, your new army should withdraw first. The Western Army is not a coward!"
I didn’t understand and didn’t ask. Liu Wu admitted it.
"What are you talking about? You bastards? Can you continue fighting after being fully equipped and traveling at a top speed of twenty miles? Don't retreat this useless thing!"
The Western Army is really not good at marching twenty miles at top speed before fighting, but... forget it!
Liu Wu also knew that arguing would not work.
Qinzhou
Zhao Xi kept pulling out flags and placing flags on the sand table. The places where he pulled them out were border villages, but when he put them in, they felt very messy.
But if you move slightly away from the big sand table, you can clearly see that these seemingly random flags have formed a circle around the entire Qinchuan.
It's just that this encirclement is too big.
"Your Highness, all the Western troops in eight border villages including Xiaoguan, Suiningbao, Krug Village, and Jingxi Village will be evacuated to designated locations tonight. The new army will also withdraw in three days..."
This is a command that no one understands.
In the three months since the war started, the east and west routes have been advancing step by step, and good news has been reported frequently.
All the border villages in the middle came under fierce attack, but they all withstood without losing a single camp.
It happened that at this time His Highness the Crown Prince issued the order to retreat.