Fenghou

Chapter 678 Lingzhou
Early the next morning, three hundred simple siege ladders and sixty chariots were neatly placed on the school grounds.

The craftsmen completed the task assigned by Chen Qing in only three days. Half of the sixty chariots were equipped with small trebuchets, which can throw a [-]-jin fire oil tank fifty steps away. , but it needs to fix the base to the chariot before it can be thrown.

The other half of the chariot is used to transport the fierce oil fire cabinet. The fierce oil fire cabinet does not need to be installed or fixed. It can be used directly on the chariot.

The principle of the fierce oil fire cabinet is the water gun used by children nowadays, but it is very finely made, all of which are made of cooked copper. It consists of two parts, the fire pipe and the fire cabinet. They are connected by copper pipes, of course they are not guns. It is not the kind of seamless copper tube, but a copper tube rolled out of a red-hot copper sheet.

The fire pipe is a water gun. Once the piston is pumped, the fire oil in the fire cabinet will be sucked into the fire pipe through the copper pipe, and then the piston will be pushed hard to push the fire oil out. The spray distance is also fifty steps. Of course, this This flamethrower is not a child's water gun. It needs a lot of thrust, and usually three soldiers are required to cooperate. Its role is to accurately refuel. kerosene.

After breakfast, the [-] troops of the Song Army started to set off, and the chariots and siege ladders were also loaded onto the big ship. The [-] troops stretched for [-] miles and marched north.

This time in the north attack, Chen Qing wanted to seize Xiping Mansion and enter the core abdomen of Xixia.

He said before that the attack was delayed because the siege weapons were not in place. Of course, it was just an excuse. The real reason is that the war of destroying the country needs to be treated with caution, careful observation, and step-by-step testing. It must not be rushed.

Although the Song Army planted spies in the Xingqing Mansion before, Xixia still guarded against military secrets very closely. Chen Qing didn't know how much war potential Xixia still had, how many more troops could they recruit?It wasn't until hundreds of manors were wiped out, and Xixia's [-] elite army was defeated, that Chen Qing truly felt the opponent's decline. He even let his army destroy manors one after another, but was unable to fight back.

Chen Qing decided to test the other side further and seize Xiping Mansion. If the other party didn't respond yet, then he would move northward, capture Shunzhou, Jingzhou, Huaizhou, Dingzhou step by step, and finally encircle Xingqing Mansion.

At noon the next day, the army going north met Liu Qiong and Tang Qian who were going south. Hearing that the two had intercepted a wealth of [-] camels, Chen Qing was overjoyed. He spent so much money, food and resources to attack Xixia. Jin Guo's wealth was for nothing, and that would make him extremely annoyed.

He immediately credited each of them with a great contribution. Tang Qian stayed behind and went north with the army, while Liu Qiong continued to escort [-] camels to Liying County. All the materials and money seized by the Song Army were stored in Yingli County.

Liu Qiong continued to go south, while Chen Qing ordered the army to rest on the spot for an hour.

Tang Qian stepped forward quickly, knelt down on one knee and gave a military salute, "See Dutong!"

Chen Qing waved his hand, asked him to stand up, and said with a smile, "General Tang has worked hard this time."

"Reporting to Dutong, we are just waiting for work with leisure, and Brother Li Cha's subordinates are the ones who work hard."

Chen Qing laughed, and asked again: "These you went south, what changes did you find?"

Tang Qian shook his head, "We were quite nervous going south this time, lest we meet the main force of the Xixia army, but until today, we have not encountered a single Xixia person, let alone a Xixia soldier, and we even sent a scout cavalry to the manors in Hetao After walking around, we can see what it looked like when we left, and what it looks like now, there is no change, which means that no Xixia soldiers have come.”

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked, "Why are there so few Xixia people?"

Gao Ding smiled and said: "This problem can only be returned. So far, the areas we have attacked are all agricultural areas, and the Xixia people either live in the city or in pastoral areas, so it is normal not to meet them."

Chen Qing said happily: "It makes sense, everyone hurry up and rest, and strive to arrive at Xiping Mansion tonight."

Xiping Mansion, also known as Lingzhou, is the southernmost city on the Xixia Hetao Plain, and it is also the south gate of the capital Xingqing Mansion. If Xiping Mansion falls, Xingqing Mansion will be completely passive.

Brother Li Cha is very aware of this point. After inspecting Xiping Mansion a few days ago, he thought that the [-] troops in Xiping Mansion were too small, so he added another [-] troops to Xiping Mansion, but the increase was the White Armored Army, which is already very good. It is impossible for Xixia to put elite soldiers in Xiping Mansion.

The defender of Xiping Mansion is called Tuoba Jing, who is about forty years old. He once followed Li Liangfu to attack Ganquan Fort.

Tuoba Jing is a very conservative general, even if the Song Army passed by outside the city gate of Xiping Mansion, he would not take the initiative to attack, this point is appreciated by Brother Li Cha, Tuoba Jing's conservativeness prevents him from being attacked by the Song Army A strategy to lure troops.

At this time, what is more important than defending the city?
As night fell quietly, at this time, Tuoba Jing got the news from the spies that the main force of the Song Army, more than [-] people, was found [-] li away to the south, heading towards Xiping Mansion in mighty force.

This news shocked Tuoba Jing, the main force of the Song Army had only been going south for a few days, why did it come again?
What's more terrible is that the main force of the Song army seems to be coming for Xiping Mansion this time.

Tuobajing urgently ordered to ring the alarm bell, and all the troops took their positions. In the past two days, Tuobajing searched the whole city, barely collecting [-] sets of old armor and [-] spears. Putting on the armor, the soldiers are also uniformly equipped, and the military looks a little more orderly.

Half of the soldiers went to the city to defend, and the other half of the Baijia Army was responsible for carrying the supplies for the city defense.

A few miles away, the long dragon of torches coming from the north gradually converged, turning into a sea of ​​torches, Tuoba Jing was really nervous to the extreme, the main force of the Song Army really came to attack Xiping Mansion.

At this time, the torches were gradually extinguished, and the [-] troops were resting on the spot, eating dry food and drinking water. It was still early, just at Xushi, that is, at eight o'clock in the evening, Chen Qing ordered the army to rest for three hours, and they could sleep first , Get up in the middle of the night to attack the city.

Surrounded by dozens of generals, Chen Qing came forward to check Xiping City. Although he had obtained information before, he never checked it personally.

The moonlight is good tonight, there are no dark clouds, the sky is clear, and a full moon swims in the dark blue sky, making the city very clear.

Like Yingli County, Xingqing Prefecture City has no moat. The city wall is about two feet and five feet high, and there are four towers on the top of the city with a circumference of more than twenty miles.

There were Xixia soldiers standing on the top of the city, and it could be seen that they were very nervous and ready for battle.

The Song army already has a lot of experience in attacking the city, but the Xixia army has insufficient experience in defending the city. It is no wonder that this is the first time that the Song army has come to the city since the founding of the Xixia state, and it has been more than [-] years since the last Song Xia war In [-], experienced soldiers were either old or died in the civil strife. The young soldiers recruited now have no experience in defending the city.

Chen Qing pointed at the gate of the city with his whip, turned his head and said to everyone: "If we attack the gate with a battering ram, what do you think?"

Everyone agreed, "Since there is no moat, it is the time when the battering ram is showing its talents, and the humble official agrees."

"Is there no objection?"

At this moment, Tang Qian raised his hand, expressing his objection.

Chen Qing glanced at him, and said calmly, "General Tang, tell me the reason for your objection!"

(End of this chapter)