Fenghou

Chapter 461 Collapse
As night fell, Tang Qian slowly approached Tongxi County with dozens of people, including the scout chief Lin Tao and his men. Lin Tao had been monitoring the county for three days and was familiar with the situation of the city wall. He said to Tang Qian: "Go to the northeast corner, there is a big crack in the ground over there, and the situation inside the crack cannot be seen clearly from the top of the city."

Tang Qian pondered for a while and said, "Could they pay more attention to the cracking of the ground?"

"No! I have observed carefully, the defenders at the top of the city didn't pay special attention to the ground crack, and there are not many soldiers at the corner of the city wall."

Tang Qian nodded, "You watch the city for me, I will take two brothers to investigate!"

There are [-] defenders in Tongxi County. Even though it is night, the city is still brightly lit. Soldiers are patrolling back and forth, and the defense is extremely tight.

At this moment, Tang Qian ran along the gully at the northeast corner, which was not deep, and if he stood up straight, he would be spotted by the top of the city immediately, so Tang Qian and his two men stooped and ran all the way.

Running to the bottom of the city, Tang Qian slowly climbed out of the ravine, his body clinging to the city wall, and two of his men followed him to cling to the city wall, and they walked slowly along the north city wall.

This area is a deep loess area, there are no big stones, and the city walls are all made of burnt bricks. The years have been very long, at least a hundred years old, and they have been eroded by wind and sand, and they have basically been abandoned.

Tang Qian took out a small hammer and told his subordinates to look up. He hit the masonry gently, 'Bang! 'There was a slight muffled sound, but there was no response from above. The wind was very strong at night, and the sound of the wind covered the knocking sound.

Tang Qian scratched the city wall with his fingers, and it was already pulverized and shattered into countless small pieces. Tang Qian almost suspected that if he smashed a few more bricks, the whole city wall would collapse.

Tang Qian chose more than a dozen pieces of city wall. This time he didn't use a hammer to hit it, but dug it with a dagger. The dagger slashed lightly, and the brick powder fell to the ground, and they were completely decayed. It will be in ruins.

"let's go!"

Tang Qian let out a low shout, and rushed away with two of his men, jumped into the ravine and ran everywhere.

At this time, Yang Zaixing led the army twenty miles away, and he was waiting for Tang Qian's confirmation. Behind him, there was a five-foot-long bumper log, made of jujube wood, which was extremely thick and weighed several thousand catties. The head has been shaved into a round head, which is very suitable for ramming.

Tang Qian rushed forward with his men, and reported to Yang Zaixing, "The humble post has been confirmed. The bricks and stones of the north city wall are loose and broken with one blow. You can easily knock down the city wall with a ram."

"You must have smashed down the city wall, rather than knocking out a city hole?"

"Reporting to the commander, the city bricks are too fragile to hold up, and the city wall will collapse under one blow. How dare you use your head as a guarantee!"

Yang Zaixing nodded, turned around and asked Liu Qiong, "When does General Liu think it is more appropriate to attack?"

Liu Qiong thought for a while and said, "I suggest attacking the city at the fourth watch, when the enemy troops in the city are fast asleep."

"It's exactly what I want. The army is ordered to rest in place and set off on the third day!"

At the time of the fourth watch, half of the defenders on the city wall were reduced, but there were still soldiers patrolling the top of the city. Three miles away, Yang Zaixing observed for a while, and said to Liu Qiong, "It seems impossible not to disturb the other party, we can only attack by force!"

Liu Qiong nodded, "The humble leader led the army to cover with bows and arrows!"

Yang Zaixing lightly waved his hand, "Attack!"

Two hundred tall and strong soldiers set off carrying rams, and one hundred of them held large shields for cover. Like a millipede, they quickly rushed towards the city wall.

When they were two hundred steps away from the city wall, they were spotted by patrolling soldiers on the top of the city, and an alarm bell sounded immediately on the top of the city, "Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The whole city was shocked, the Xixia army was sleeping in armor, and would get up at any time when something happened. The Xixia soldiers in the entire Tongxi city rushed from all directions to the head of the north city.

Outside the city, the millipedes accelerated their running speed, while Liu Qiong led [-] cavalry to rush forward, shooting arrows at the top of the city, and the arrows rained down, firmly suppressing the defenders on the city wall.

There is no moat in Tongxi County. Seeing the soldiers of the Song Army getting closer and closer, they roared and slammed a hammer on the city wall. The blow weighed ten thousand catties, and a five-foot-wide hole was immediately smashed into the city wall. The bricks of the city were smashed, and the sand inside poured out.

The soldiers of the Song Army retreated quickly, which was the key, otherwise they would be easily buried by the collapsed city wall. They had experience that there would be a very short interval between the wall breaking and the collapse, and this interval was their only chance to evacuate.

The soldiers of the Song army retreated a dozen steps away in an instant. At this moment, the city wall could no longer hold up and collapsed. Suddenly, the dust flew up and filled the air with fog. The soldiers of the Song army continued to run back and ran for dozens of steps in one breath. Only then did he stop slowly.

When the dust and smoke cleared, a shocking scene was revealed. The city wall had completely collapsed. Tang Qian was right. The knocking of a hole triggered a chain effect, just like dominoes, one after another, completely collapsed For two miles, thousands of Xixia soldiers were buried by the collapsed city wall.

Liu Qiong drew out his saber and shouted, "Follow me in!"

"Kill ah-"

Three thousand cavalry shouted, rushed towards the gap in the city wall like a flood, and rushed into the city.

The [-] cavalry in the distance also mobilized, and under the leadership of Yang Zaixing, they charged towards the north city wall.

On the third day of February, Cao Baozong's [-] troops arrived in Longxi County and set up a camp three miles away from Longxi County. The strength of the army is enough to crush the Song army in the city, not to mention that he also carries a huge number of heavy siege weapons.

Under the protection of hundreds of cavalry, Cao Baozong walked around the city wall, and he could see that there were not many defenders at the top of the city, and the total number of them was only about [-], which was completely in line with his expectations.

The new deputy general, Tuoba Chengqing, suggested: "General, the opponent's army is insufficient, why not use our superiority in strength, attack the east city and the north city at the same time, and crush the opponent with absolute strength!"

Cao Baozong nodded. This suggestion touched his heart, and he also had the same idea. Attack the city with all his strength, capture Longxi County as soon as possible, and then use Longxi County to face Chen Qing's main force. When the time comes, attack on a large scale and defeat the enemy's main force in one fell swoop!
The most urgent task now is to engage in siege warfare as soon as possible.

"Order the three armies to take a good rest, prepare food supplies, and after capturing the city, each will be rewarded with five taels of silver."

Speaking of this, Cao Baozong turned around and asked, "How long does it take to assemble the trebuchet?"

A general quickly cupped his fists and said: "Report to the general, thirty heavy trebuchets can all be assembled tonight!"

Cao Baozong happily said: "Tomorrow morning, first attack the opponent's city with a trebuchet, and then attack in a large scale!"

That night, the Xixia army camp was brightly lit, and hundreds of craftsmen were assembling the trebuchets. They started in the afternoon and made very rapid progress. They had already assembled half of them when it was dark, and they should be fully assembled by tomorrow morning.

At the same time, the craftsmen had to replace the rungs of the [-] siege ladders, at least the first three of which had to be replaced with iron rods to prevent them from being cut off by the Song army. Second error.

The trebuchet of the Xixia Army is a large-scale trebuchet, relatively primitive, requiring fifty soldiers to pull it at the same time, and can throw [-] catties of stones two hundred and fifty steps away. It is because it is relatively primitive that it is easier to assemble .

At the same time, in Longxi County, Xie Changzhi led [-] craftsmen to prepare two thousand-step guns. In addition to the thousand-step guns, the Song Army also had [-] medium-sized trebuchets, which were installed on the north and east sides of the city. , can throw a gunpowder barrel weighing twenty catties two hundred steps away.

Both sides are actively preparing for the war, and the prelude to the war is about to begin.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As soon as the sky dawned, the huge war drum sounded in the camp.

[-] troops were left to guard the camp, and [-] Xixia troops quickly assembled. Cao Baozong wore a gold helmet, silver armor, and a long spear in his hand, looking majestic.

He galloped in front of the [-] troops on his horse, brandished his long sword and shouted: "Heroic Xixia warriors, today is the time to show off your military exploits, let the Song army tremble in front of our powerful troops! In this battle, we must fight Win!"

"We must win! We must win!" Tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers shouted loudly, and the shouts went straight into the sky.

"set off!"

Cao Baozong shouted, and the [-] army set off, mixed with [-] large trebuchets.

(End of this chapter)