Fenghou

Chapter 542 Siege

The fierce siege battle between the two sides lasted for more than an hour, but the Song army never used fire oil to deal with the soldiers of the puppet Qi army. Far inferior to Xixia soldiers and Jurchen soldiers.

But there is another reason that Li Cheng could not have imagined in his dreams, that is, the heavy siege ladders caused the soldiers to refuse to work hard.

The previous siege ladder was very narrow and could only accommodate one soldier. The attacking soldiers either rushed up to the city desperately, or jumped down half dead. There was no third way to go.

But now the heavy-duty siege ladder can accommodate three people side by side. The siege soldiers found that the Song army on the top of the city was too sharp and powerful. I worked my ass off.

As a result, although the two sides fought fiercely, the casualties were not heavy enough. There were two hundred heavy siege ladders, and none of the soldiers could rush to the top of the city. This is also understandable. In many cases, the soldiers had no way to retreat. Fighting with one's back against the wall can, on the contrary, stimulate one's potential and fight to the top of the wall.

On the contrary, if there is a retreat, there will be a life-saving thought, and the fighting power will naturally not explode.

Li Cheng, who was watching the battle from a distance, also saw the clues. He was really annoyed. These fights were meaningless and would demoralize him.

"An order is issued to stop the siege, and the army will withdraw!"

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The bell for withdrawing troops rang, and if the army retreated like a tide, Chen Qingling said: "Stop shooting, let them retreat!"

Liu Cui stepped forward and said anxiously: "Dutong, the crossbowman can kill the enemy army in a large area by shooting from behind!"

Chen Qing said lightly: "If you want to kill the enemy in a large area, I have already ordered the use of kerosene!"

Liu Cui was a little discouraged. This battle was not enjoyable, and it was far less enjoyable than fighting with the Xixia people.

Chen Qing smiled and said: "I said it before, after this battle, we will really stand up, how can we stand up? Of course, there are more than [-] troops. If we kill them hard, where will my source of troops come from?" Add it."

"Humble and dull!" Liu Cui stepped back with her fists clasped.

Tens of thousands of enemy troops retreated like an ebbing tide, leaving more than [-] corpses on the battlefield, and the Song Army also suffered more than [-] casualties.

At this time, Yang Zaixing stepped forward and said, "The humble job has some ideas!"

"you say!"

"The humble officer feels that in order to capture a large number of enemy troops, he must use positional warfare to defeat the enemy army. The humble officer is willing to lead another cavalry to increase the attack and harassment of the enemy army and disrupt the morale of the enemy army."

Chen Qing thought for a while and said: "Your idea is right. Sooner or later we must use positional warfare to defeat each other. This is actually my idea, but now the time is not up, and you don't have to go out anymore. With Liu Qiong's five It is enough for Qianjun to harass outside..."

"In today's battle, Li Cheng will definitely realize the importance of kerosene and gunpowder. I'm afraid he will strengthen the protection of the second batch of kerosene. We must also deal with it."

Chen Qing nodded, "I have deployed Liu Qiong a long time ago, and I have considered all possibilities. I believe he will not let me down. All we have to do is wait patiently."

The puppet Qi army temporarily stopped attacking the city, but Li Cheng was very depressed. He already understood that he could not attack Chengji County with conventional warfare. At least [-] or more.

But even so, they all attacked very hard, and the soldiers simply refused to work hard to attack the city.

Li Cheng felt depressed and asked someone to invite Yao Bing, his aide.

"Did you see today's siege?"

Yao Bing shook his head and said, "I watched the battle from the sidelines. Frankly speaking, it's not very ideal. With today's state, we definitely won't be able to win Chengji County."

Li Cheng sighed and said, "I feel the same way, but there is nothing I can do. The Song army's defense is really impenetrable."

Yao Bing smiled and said, "If we have enough resources, we still have hope to break through Chengji County."

"What do you mean by resources, sir?"

"Oil and gunpowder!"

Li Cheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Do you have gunpowder and kerosene? Our trebuchet has been destroyed. How can we use it?"

Yao Bing said slowly: "The last time our gunpowder ship exploded, to be honest, I was shocked. I went to the scene the next day, and two ships were blown to pieces. One ship contained three thousand catties of gunpowder, and the other One ship contained [-] catties of gunpowder, and other ships also had a lot of gunpowder, but none of them exploded, but only burned. Later I learned the reason. The gunpowder of other ships was placed outside, covering a layer of fire. Cloth, and the two ships were installed in the cabin, which is equivalent to a large powder keg, so they exploded.

I was thinking, if we make a very strong and sealed big box, put three thousand catties of gunpowder in the big box, and then detonate it near the gate of Chengji County, it will definitely blow up the gate of Chengji County If we blow up the inner and outer city gates, will our army be able to rush into the city? "

Li Cheng felt as if he was waking up from a dream, and he slapped his fist and said: "Mister is too right, don't blow up the city gate, blowing its water gate is enough to blow down the city wall."

"So the transportation of kerosene and gunpowder this time is very important. I believe that Chen Qing will definitely do it."

"But Weishui City is in our hands, how will their cavalry pass?"

"Either take the waterway to go there, or go south to the North Immortal Pass, and you can go around from there."

Li Cheng nodded, "Sir, you are right. Although I have made arrangements, I am not afraid of [-], just in case. I still have to send troops to respond!"

At Jingzhao Weishui Wharf, more than [-] large ships loaded with military supplies set off. The large ships went westward against the current. Although the southeast wind was blowing, the wind was not strong enough, so there must be trackers on the shore to pull the fibers.

Hundreds of trackers chanted and walked on the shore, pulling more than [-] large boats slowly with long ropes. There were also [-] puppet Qi cavalry guards on the shore, strictly protecting the safety of the fleet.

In addition to cavalry and trackers, there are nearly a hundred boatmen who are responsible for steering and stabilizing the sailing of the boat.

The boss of the boat is a man in his thirties, with his upper body bare on the bow, revealing his bronze-colored muscles. There are twenty soldiers on each boat, guarding the safety of the boats.

Finding an opening, the boss of the boat walked to the stern and smiled at the boatman who was pole-pulling: "Let me do it!"

"No! No! I'll do it."

The boss of the boat also picked up a long pole to assist the punting. Seeing the soldiers resting in the cabin, he lowered his voice and said, "I just got off the cargo ship to check. It is true that there is only kerosene, not the gunpowder you mentioned."

"Do you have the key to the cargo compartment?"

The boat boss laughed and said, "The key has already been handed in, but I still have one more. There are three keys in total, and I only handed in two."

"Have keys to the other twenty or so ships?"

The boss of the boat nodded, and he gave a few more precautions, then turned and left.

The name of this boatman is Wang Miao. His real identity is the head of the Song army scout. Not only him, there are a total of [-] scouts, one person on each boat. No, I didn't see gunpowder, only [-] barrels of kerosene.

The news from the ship's boss just confirmed their guess. There was only kerosene on board, and the gunpowder was transported by another route, most likely by land.

Wang Miao sent one of his subordinates to spread the news last night, and what he has to do now is to burn the ship and all the kerosene.

But it was more difficult. During the day, each large ship was strictly guarded by [-] soldiers. At night, all crew members had to go ashore, and there were only soldiers on board. What's more, the entrance of the warehouse was locked by a big lock, and it was impossible to enter.

But today the boss of the boat went in to check for water leaks, but Wang Miao had already seen the opportunity. The boss of the boat had the key to unlock it.

At night, the boat rested on the shore, and the boatmen were driven to sleep on the shore. Two thousand cavalry were not far away from them. They carried small tents, and the soldiers rested in the small tents, but five hundred cavalry were still patrolling the shore.

Not only are the cavalry patrolling on the shore, but there are also ten patrolling soldiers on each large ship, just at the entrance of the cargo hold, and are heavily guarded.

The boat boss found Wang Miao, handed him a bunch of keys, and whispered, "Each key has a number on it, corresponding to each ship, so don't make a mistake."

Wang Miao nodded, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, when are you going to do it?"

"I'm afraid there will be no chance at night. I plan to make an appointment at the same time for lunch tomorrow to check whether the cargo hold is leaking. There will be no communication between the soldiers guarding the ship."

The boat boss grinned, "I will ring the bell at noon tomorrow, and you should ring the bell as a signal!"

(End of this chapter)