Fenghou

Chapter 702 Decisive Battle ([-])

Under the night, the West City Gate quietly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered slowly, and a cavalry force poured out from the city. Li Yanwu ran at the front of the team with a broadsword in his hand, staring at the Song Army camp three miles away with wolf-like eyes.

It was the first watch at this time, and there was silence in the Song Army camp, and five thousand cavalry slid towards the Song Army camp under the cover of night like snakes.

The dark clouds in the sky drift away, and a full moon hangs in the dark blue sky. The cold moonlight reflects on the white snow. The black troops marching on the white snow are particularly eye-catching, not to mention that preventing the enemy from sneaking at night has always been the top priority of the camp's defense. Importantly, the Song army not only had sentry towers for monitoring, but also patrols along the battalion fence, and there were also peripheral scouts, implementing triple monitoring.

Two miles away, they were discovered by the Song army scouts on the periphery, and a gunpowder arrow 'whoosh! The ground shot into the sky, and the bright red flames swept across the night sky, alerting the camp.

On the top of the wall, Brother Li Cha's heart sank. He knew that Li Yanwu had made the problem simple. How could the Song army's camp stretching for [-] miles be easily attacked by people?
'when!when!when! The alarm bell on the sentry tower rang, and the alarm sounded loudly in the camp. The soldiers of the Song army were all sleeping in armor. After waking up, they rushed out of the big tent. Many soldiers quickly dismantled the big tent. The tent fell down.

Ten thousand soldiers on duty rushed to the barracks with bows and crossbows from all directions, ready for battle with bows and arrows. Chen Qing was also awakened by the sound of the alarm bell. Like all soldiers, he fell asleep wearing armor.

He put on his leather boots, walked out of the big tent quickly with Fang Tian's painting halberd in his hand, and the soldiers immediately put down the tent.

A soldier rushed forward and reported: "Qi Dutong, there are about five or six thousand cavalry in the city. They came out of the east city and have not yet reached the camp."

"Order the three armies to assemble, remove the tents, and order Liu Qiong to lead [-] troops to protect the military craftsman's workshop."

"Follow the order!"

Several messenger soldiers rushed away. What Chen Qing was most worried about was the military craftsman's workshop, which was located in the northeast corner, and Liu Qiong's [-] subordinates were stationed nearby.

Chen Qing got on his horse and galloped towards the camp gate to the west.
Li Yanwu's army had already reached the gate of the camp. Thousands of arrows were fired from the barracks. The sharp and powerful crossbow bolts shot at the enemy cavalry like a storm. Although the cavalry were all holding shields, the horses could not cover them. As soon as the fallen soldier stood up, he was shot like a hedgehog.

Li Yanwu didn't expect the enemy's defense to be so fierce, and he secretly regretted it, but he couldn't turn his head back, so he had to bite the bullet and shout, "Rush in! Break into the barracks!"

Thousands of Xixia cavalry held their shields high and charged towards the barracks. The cavalry in front held ropes and were about to use them to pull open the gate of the barracks.

At this time, thousands of spear-throwers from the camp of the Song army rushed to support them. They took turns throwing short steel spears outside the camp. The cavalrymen and their horses were nailed to the ground.

The cavalry in the back was so frightened that they hurriedly reined in their horses and turned their heads in panic, but exposed their backs to the crossbowmen and throwers. Another round of intensive crossbow bolts was fired, and thousands of short spears with cold light fell from the sky. All the cavalry inside fell off their horses and died tragically.

The sharpness of the Song army's defense made Li Yanwu terrified. Before they reached the camp gate, they suffered more than [-] casualties. "Retreat! Retreat!"

Li Yanwu shouted loudly, at this moment, a wolf-toothed arrow shot at lightning speed, so fast that Li Yanwu had no time to react, 'Puff! The head was pierced by an arrow, the arrow tip entered from the temple, and protruded from the back of the ear on the other side. The blood mixed with the brain sprayed together. Li Yanwu let out a muffled cry and fell to the ground.

In the distance, Chen Qing put away his bow and arrows, and said coldly: "Open the gate of the camp and kill!"

The gate of the camp opened, thousands of Song Army cavalry rushed out, and like a tide, they rushed towards nearly two thousand Xixia cavalry hundreds of steps away. The Xixia cavalry saw the death of the main general, and they had no desire to fight. Seeing the Song Army cavalry coming out, they hurriedly turned around run away.

Brother Li Cha could see clearly from the top of the city, and shouted: "Close the city gate!"

The suspension bridge was pulled up, the city gate was quickly closed, two thousand Xixia cavalry were chased all the way, and some people were shot and fell off their horses. The remaining [-] people rushed to the moat, waved and shouted, but no one responded from the top of the city. , The Song Army cavalry chased after them, firing arrows at a distance of a hundred steps, and more than a hundred cavalrymen fell off their horses in response.

The cavalry yelled at the top of the city and had to run in all directions, but the cavalry of the Song Army continued to chase and kill them. No soldiers shot arrows at the top of the city, because even arrows could not reach them.

The soldiers guarding the city stared blankly at the shocking scene below the city. The Xixia soldiers were chased and killed by the Song Army cavalry.

The strong pursuit of the Song army made every Xixia soldier guarding the city feel chills, as if they had seen their own fate soon.

The order in the camp was quickly restored, and the large tents were erected again. Although it was still early, many soldiers could not sleep, and they were lying in the large tents to chat about tonight's sneak attack.

Chen Qing came to the Military Artisan Workshop, which was a separate large camp surrounded by troops under strict guard. The camp was brightly lit, and thousands of craftsmen were busy assembling trebuchets. The chief master craftsman, Song Jun recruited him into the army in Jingzhao.

Bao Wenyun introduced to Chen Qing: "According to the arrangement of the capital, we have to assemble [-] heavy trebuchets before dawn, and the battering ram can only be started later."

Chen Qing nodded, "It depends on the situation! If the trebuchet works well, there is no need to install the battering ram."

Bao Wenyun laughed and said, "In fact, the installation of the battering ram is faster and easier. It only takes [-] people and it can be installed in an hour."

"Is it that fast?"

"Because the battering ram does not need to be adjusted for accuracy, it only needs to be installed in place. We can complete the installation tomorrow morning."

"Also, on the basis of ensuring that all twenty trebuchets are completed, battering rams can be installed."

"The humble job can issue a military order to guarantee the completion of the task!"

Chen Qing returned to the commander's tent, and immediately ordered his subordinates to bring all the generals above the command to the commander's tent to discuss matters. After a while, more than [-] generals gathered together. Although the Western Army had more than [-] troops, the generals generally For example, there are only six people in his command, Yang Zaixing, Zheng Ping, Liu Cui, Gao Ding, Liu Qiong, and Niu Gao, and there are less than thirty leaders.

On the one hand, Chen Qing has strict requirements, and he must have enough credit for promotion. On the other hand, it is also the most important point. He has subdivided military positions, such as commanders are divided into three levels, deputy commanders, commanders and senior officers. The same is true for command, command and control, even including the command of the capital, which is also three levels, and Chen Qing himself is only the commander of the upper army.

Another reason is culture. At the first level of control, both civil and military skills are required. Zhao Xiaoyi is at a disadvantage in terms of culture. Although he has very old qualifications, because he has too little literacy, he has been in the position of command.

"Everyone, although the Xixia army failed to harass tonight, if they come every night, we can't afford the enemy's repeated harassment. I think twice, we will start attacking the city tomorrow and use trebuchets directly."

"Excuse me, Dutong, is the stone throwing opportunity effective?" This is the general of the Qiang people, Ashali, who is asking.

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I'm not sure either, let's try it! If it doesn't work, go for the battering ram."

Yang Zaixing asked again: "What if the city wall is breached and the enemy breaks out?"

Chen Qing said slowly: "Brother Li Cha is more likely to break out of the siege. My opinion is not to block it hard, to minimize the casualties of our army, and use bows and crossbows to deal with them. If they break through successfully, let them go!"

Chen Qing said to Zhao Xiaoyi again: "Xiaoyi leads the rear army to prepare sandbags, we need at least [-] sandbags!"

"Humble job will be ready!"

Speaking of this, Chen Qing glanced at the generals again, and said solemnly: "Tomorrow is likely to be the last battle. I hope everyone cheer up and complete our mission of destroying Xixia!"

All the generals bowed together and said, "Never let Dutong down!"

(End of this chapter)