Fenghou

Chapter 226
"How do you do it!"

Li Liangfu looked at the felled tree with great dissatisfaction. The thickest tree was only a little thicker than his thigh. A battering ram made of this kind of wood was almost as good as hitting the courtyard gate. How could it hit the city gate?

Seeing that his strategy of attacking the city gate was about to fail again, he stared at several generals angrily.

"Calm down, Commander! Calm down, Commander!"

Several generals explained tremblingly: "We have searched all over the two mountains, and there is no thicker tree. This is already the thickest tree."

"Hmph! What do you use this fine wood for, toothpicks?"

Li Liangfu was really annoyed in his heart, and said angrily: "I will give you one more chance at last, let me look for it, if you can't find a hundred-year-old tree, you will be chopped off!"

Several generals were so frightened that they rolled and crawled away. General Murong Tao offered advice: "These logs are actually not bad, there are about three to five hundred of them. With the logs left before, I guess it can build a few nests." car!"

Li Liangfu nodded, it is also a good plan to make a nest car to attack the city!

He immediately ordered several craftsmen leaders: "Gather all the wood to make nest carts, and change the previous gazebo into nest carts. It must be completed within three days!"

The southeast area of ​​the Xixia Camp is brightly lit. Hundreds of craftsmen are making nest carts overnight. The time is tight. Although the nest carts are very simple, they have good practical functions.

But although Li Liangfu's idea is good, whether it can be realized in the end is still another matter.

Just at the northeast corner of Ganquanbao Castle, a three-foot-high super-giant trebuchet has stood beside the city wall. After repeated trials and grinding by the craftsmen, the trebuchet is ready for great use.

The craftsman prepared another forty fireballs. This kind of fireball is two feet in diameter and has a huge appearance. The outside is woven with fine dry grass and is covered with kerosene. It will burn out before it hits the ground. The gunpowder lumps and fire cloth will be scattered and flying all over the sky, especially the fire cloth, which is covered with gunpowder and sulfur powder, burns strongly, and it will ignite the whole tent when it is attached to the tent.

Chen Qing went around and asked Zheng Ping, "Has the army assembled yet?"

Zheng Ping hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "Report to the control, [-] soldiers have assembled and can attack at any time!"

Chen Qing nodded, and said to Yang Yuanqing: "The time has come, we can launch!"

Chen Qing immediately led the generals to the top of the city to watch the battle.

Dozens of soldiers worked hard together, and the throwing rod creaked and pulled up. Two soldiers put the fire oil in the projection pot, and one soldier lit the fireball with a torch. The leading general gave an order, "Launch!"

Dozens of soldiers let go of the rope at the same time, and the wooden box with a three-kilogram iron chain on the front fell to the ground with a bang. The long throwing rod was thrown suddenly, and a fireball weighing thirty kilograms flew into the sky, like a shooting star in the sky, across the sky. , Fly to the Xixia army camp.

Chen Qing and a group of generals stood on the top of the city. Although they had seen the experiment in the afternoon, they could indeed cast a thousand steps away, but now it was actual combat, and everyone's hearts were suspended.

"We have crossed the fence line!" Zheng Ping shouted excitedly.

The fireball had already entered the sky above the Xixia army camp and was falling downwards. The fireball suddenly disintegrated in the air, and dozens of pieces of gunpowder fell within a radius of [-] feet. The wrapped cloth strips were flying in the air, and more than a dozen large tents were set ablaze.

There was a burst of cheers from the top of the city!
Chen Qing immediately ordered: "Let's launch the fire kites together!"

They not only prepared super-giant trebuchets, but also built dozens of large-scale fire kites. This kind of fire kites can be ejected and can fly as far as ten miles.

It's just that the technical content of large-scale fire kites is very high. There are no craftsmen in this field in Chen Qingjun, so he can only make dozens of small fire kites in imitation of small fire kites.

After it was built, it was found that this was not the case at all. The flying effect of the large fire kite was not ideal. Either it fell to the ground, or it flew off the route randomly, and it was difficult to fly in a straight line, so they have not used it. Worry Startle the snake.

It doesn't matter to scare the snake now, and simply eject dozens of large fire kites to see if there is any success.

More than a dozen wooden stakes were erected on the top of the city, with beef tendons tied between the stakes, like a huge slingshot. Several soldiers pulled a fire kite weighing tens of kilograms, the top of which had been ignited by kerosene. Shouting, the fire kite shot out and was covered in fire in the air. Just like the previous experiment, the fire kite turned a corner in the air and flew away to the west without falling into the enemy camp.

But the fireballs fell into the enemy's camp precisely. Five fireballs fell into the enemy's camp. Dozens of large tents were already ablaze. Taking advantage of the wind, the fire began to spread rapidly.

'when!when!when!when! The alarm sounded, and the sleeping Xixia soldiers were awakened one after another. They didn't even take off their armor while sleeping, and they took up their weapons and ran out of the big tent. There was raging fire all around. The soldiers all panicked and fled to the north in a panic. .

Li Liangfu was also woken up by the soldiers. He was shocked when he heard that the Song army launched a fire attack. How could it be possible?

He drew his sword and rushed out of the big tent, just in time to see a shooting star in the sky flying towards the camp, disintegrated in the air, turned into dozens or hundreds of small fireballs, and landed in the camp.

"damn it!"

Li Liangfu cursed in his heart, only giant trebuchets can shoot so far. Could it be that the three giant trebuchets in Baochuan County fell into the hands of Song Jun?

"Marshal, what should we do?" A general asked nervously.

"Don't panic, quickly lead the brothers to evacuate to the north outside the camp!"

Three hundred cavalry galloped in the camp and shouted, "The commander-in-chief has ordered to evacuate to the north outside the camp!"

Tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers rushed to the north one after another, and quickly gathered into a mighty stream of people, but many soldiers still couldn't escape, and were finally buried in the sea of ​​flames.

The Xixia camp became a sea of ​​flames for more than ten miles, and the fire reflected the sky red. After the Song army shot twenty fireballs, they also stopped shooting, and the large fire kites also stopped flying. The effect was really not ideal. Ten of them, only two flew into the camp in the end.

After cheering, the craftsmen immediately ran to find the blueprints of the seventh and thirty-first fire kites. If these two fire kites succeeded, they got the corresponding data.

Standing on the top of the city, Chen Qing calmly looked at the raging fire below the mountain. He already realized in his heart that after the fire, at least in a short period of time, the Xixia Army was out.

The soldiers next to them were all very excited, and a little bit regretful. So much food and supplies were burned, and they should have known that an army should be ambushed on the outskirts to take advantage of the fire to loot.

At this time, Chen Qing calmly ordered: "Pass my order, the whole army is ready to attack!"

The [-] Song Army has already assembled, including [-] cavalry and [-] infantry. The morale of the Xixia Army is low and the soldiers are chaotic, which is a good opportunity for a decisive battle.

Chen Qing ordered Yang Yuanqing to lead [-] militia soldiers and thousands of old and weak soldiers to defend the city. He led an army of [-] out of Dongcheng, and went to the north of the enemy's camp along the Baishui River.

At this time, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Xixia Army had just escaped from the camp. The army was panicked, their morale was low, there was no food, insufficient weapons, and the horses were not rescued. Tens of thousands of people were in chaos.

The fire in the camp continued unabated and had engulfed the entire camp. The surrounding fences and sentry towers were not spared either, and were ignited by the fire.

Tens of thousands of soldiers stood numbly in the wilderness, staring blankly at the burning of the fire. Their own belongings were not able to be snatched out, and they were burned by the fire. Everyone was heartbroken.

When the Xixia people fought wars, weapons, armor and horses were purchased by individuals, and the wealth captured by individuals was owned by individuals.

This fire burned almost half of their family property, filled everyone's heart with despair, and strong war weariness filled the hearts of every soldier.

Li Liangfu was equally distraught, he had no intention of rectifying the army, the situation in front of him could only be decided after dawn.

But what worries him is, how should he explain to the emperor?Not only is it impossible for him to capture Ganquan Castle anymore, but he even lost his camp. I am afraid that dismissal from office is a light matter, and he might be beheaded by the emperor. If his own is dead, what will happen to dozens of wives and concubines? ?What about the children?
At this time, Murong Tao hurried over, half of his beard and hair were burned off, he was very embarrassed, but he was very anxious, why didn't the commander consider that the Song army would attack?
"Commander, the soldiers are not prepared. They must either retreat north immediately or line up to prepare for battle. Once the Song army comes, the consequences will be disastrous!"

Li Liangfu slowly raised his head and glanced at Murong Tao, and said hoarsely, "At this moment, do you think the Song army will come again?"

As soon as the words fell, there was a scream from the east, the army was in chaos, and the cavalry of the Song Army came to kill.

Li Liangfu was stunned, and suddenly shouted: "Send the order, the whole army retreats to the north immediately!"

In fact, there was no need for Li Liangfu's orders anymore. The soldiers of the Xixia Army collapsed. Tens of thousands of soldiers fled desperately in the wilderness. Five thousand Song Army cavalry chased and killed them.

(End of this chapter)