The smoke of war spread very quickly, but no matter how fast the court moved, it was impossible for the entire army to march north in a day or two.
The military situation on the border is unclear, so all the court can do is prepare for a war.
All departments began to operate at top speed, and the workshop city began to work overtime to create firearms.
Firearms are different from traditional armaments. Whether it is for the purpose of preserving firearms or preventing border troops, the base number of firearms reserves for the border army is a fixed number.
From the moment the flames of war were ignited in Bianliang, the entire Bianliang became tense, not only the courtiers, but also the people.
There are always good people who understand the smoke, and the people know that the Song Dynasty was attacked by Xixia and Bei Liao at the same time...
The report from the frontier is finally here...~
On the third day of August, 30,000 cavalry and nearly 100,000 tribesmen, livestock, and war horses from the Western Xia Zuoxiang Army suddenly broke through Yong'an Village without warning, bypassed Jinghua Village and headed straight for Fuzhou.
They carried people and livestock along the way and swept away the food to be harvested.
On the same day, Bei Liao was stationed at Xijing Road, and Yelu Liangchen, the left-behind secretary of the Western Court in Bei Liao, led an army of 10,000 troops and Oruduo 20,000 troops, supported by nearly 30,000 Han troops, and launched an attack on Yanmen Pass.
Fulin Erzhou is the Zhejia Guard, and the firearms and equipment are definitely not as good as those of Huanqing, Yanhe, and the new army in the capital, but the early first-generation gunpowder shells and tiger squat cannons were still equipped by the imperial court.
The same is true for Yanmen Pass. With the Chanyuan Alliance as the base, there has been no major war with the Northern Liao Dynasty for decades, and the frontier army's equipment is mainly based on first-generation firearms.
Originally, with these firearms, it should be no problem to resist the attack of Liao Xia.
But reports from the front line stated that whether it was Northern Liao or Xixia, their forward cavalry no longer seemed to be afraid of the explosion of gunpowder bombs, and they adopted an offensive method of spreading their forces. Gunpowder bombs no longer had the previous effect...
Such a frontline report made the whole court feel chilly for a while, and the breathing of the courtiers could be heard in the quiet.
The Liao and Xia cavalry are no longer afraid of gunpowder bombs. The first possibility is that the imperial court has sold gunpowder bombs to Liao and Xia; secondly, Liao and Xia can also make gunpowder bombs...
No matter which possibility it is, it will be a heavy blow to the newly improved military strength of the country...~There is no way, after being suppressed and beaten by Liao and Xia for many years, this fear is deeply rooted in the bones.
I originally thought that with firearms, a sharp weapon that could harness the power of heaven and earth, it would be just around the corner to annihilate Xixia and regain Yanyun. However, before the imperial court was ready to show off its power, it was dragged back to the same starting line.
How to fight this?
The military strength of the imperial dynasty, so far, has been fully calculated, with less than 300,000 people transformed into the new army. It is difficult to say that they can crush any of the Liao and Xia families. Being able to compete is already an optimistic estimate. But now we have to face the Liao and Xia Dynasties.
alliance!
It's not that the imperial court is delaying the progress of the reform of the new army, but that it is difficult for the imperial army to select soldiers who meet the minimum standards of the new army.
There are 300,000 new troops, and no less than 50,000 new troops must be retained to garrison Bianliang. The border that stretches thousands of miles and more than 200,000 troops are already stretched thin, but now they have to resist the attack of the Liao-Xia coalition...
With this current situation, even the courtiers who know nothing about military affairs dare not evaluate the war optimistically.
"My ministers, please tell me. If you have any suggestions for the current war, you can tell me..."
This is the procedure. Judging from the performance of the ministers and workers in the court after Fu Bi read out the frontline report just now, Zhao Xi does not expect them to make suggestions.
The reason why Zhao Xi still follows this procedure is to unify his thoughts and suppress some messy thoughts to ensure that the court's thoughts are unified when fighting foreign countries.
Zhao Xi will not allow gossip in the court at this time!
"Your Majesty, I believe that it is urgent to find out the missing firearms of our dynasty! If this matter is unknown, the soldiers will not be able to fight with peace of mind!"
"Your Majesty, using the sharp weapons of our Song Dynasty to attack our generals in the border cities of the Song Dynasty is really a disaster. The top priority of the imperial court is to thoroughly investigate and eliminate the channels for the outflow of firearms!"
I really don’t know how to evaluate Fan Zhen, the Minister of Rites. His words are of no help to the war effort, but it makes people even more confused.
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen can give you an answer now for what Academician Fan is worried about: Liao and Xia war horses are not afraid of firearms and there is no necessary relationship with the outflow of firearms from the country and the dynasty."
"First of all, the firearms production in Guochao Workshop City is coded. That is to say, the ammunition of each musket is numbered, not to mention the gunpowder ammunition?"
"Secondly, regardless of whether it is the Border Army, the Western Army, the Hebei Army, or the New Army stationed in Bianliang, the firearms warehouse is inventoried every three days. The Imperial City Department must compare the firearm numbers of all inventories. Once an outflow is discovered, military orders are relevant
All personnel will be killed without mercy!"
"Furthermore, the "Wu Jing Zong Yao" written by Zeng Xiang and Ding Xueshi contains the method of making gunpowder. "Wu Jing Zong Yao" is not only printed in our dynasty, not to mention Northern Liao, it is also sold in Dali and Annan.
.”
Su Song's words were like a fuse, detonating the depressed court, and the Qinzheng Hall was instantly in chaos.
bother!
Zhao Xi had to knock on Jin Ou again...
"My fellow ministers, please do not panic. The gunpowder described in the "Martial Classics General Essentials" is not the same thing as the gunpowder produced in Gongfang City. It is okay to say that they are completely different."
"Besides, the way for war horses to be unafraid of firearms is not to be familiar with gunpowder explosions. It is also possible to stab the ears of war horses. The report on the border war did not mention the situation of Liao Xia using firearms to attack us."
Generally speaking, people who study science tend to be rational. Su Song should be regarded as one of the few officials in the Song Dynasty who focused on seeking truth and being pragmatic.
The fear in the battle report did not make Su Song lose his rational thinking.
The nearly 100,000 cavalrymen in Xijing, Northern Liao Dynasty, were still attacking the border wall as skirmishers. Su Song could almost imagine the situation... Gunpowder bullets may no longer kill a large area as before. Similarly, this method of siege also makes the so-called
The siege turned into building momentum.
Su Song is one of the people who truly understands the power of gunpowder bullets.
"Your Majesty, firearms use the power of heaven and earth to take people's lives. In the early years, your Majesty led the army to use firearms to defeat the Xixia invaders, which was an act of justice and justice."
"But we, the Song Dynasty, took advantage of the power of firearms and started provocations on the border. We used the power of firearms to massacre the Tibetan tribes, invade Lanzhou, and advance into Miaochuan. This was already disregarding the great righteousness and was not the way to be taught by a saint."
"Nowadays, Liao and Xia have a method of guarding against firearms. This is the principle of the balance between heaven and earth, and it is used to warn our dynasty of the mistake of excessive killing. I believe that we must not add mistakes to mistakes and continue to gather brutal soldiers to fight with firearms, otherwise the world will
There will be retribution!”
Who is this? Zhao Xi really doesn’t know him, he has never seen this person before.
"In the official family, this person's name is Xingshu, and he is a member of Sima Xianggong's family."
Wang Zhongzheng whispered, letting Zhao Xi understand who this was.
Zhao Xi knew about it and seemed to remember this person. During the original court debate, this person seemed to belong to Cheng Hao's sect, he also had the experience of studying under Zhang Zai, and now he is Sima Guang's sect.
Zhao Xi couldn't remember who recommended this person, nor did he remember when he was qualified to go to court. But when he said this... Zhao Xi looked at Sima Guang... Old man Sima seemed to be in trouble.
Looking at Cheng Hao, who is already an expert in censor supervision, he seems to be uninformed.
Since he was pushed out to be cannon fodder, Zhao Xi doesn't mind really letting him become cannon fodder.
"Xing Aiqing, as you said, how should the court deal with it now?"