Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 607 The army goes south
Under Fan Ning's deployment, 20 troops were stationed in 21 strong cities in northern Hebei and 30 counties in central Hebei. Three-level defense system from line to surface.

On March [-], the Liao army, consisting of [-] cavalry and [-] infantry, divided into two groups and went south from Bazhou and Baozhou respectively, which officially opened the prelude to the large-scale invasion of Hebei by the Liao Kingdom.

At the same time, the governments of counties and prefectures in central Hebei also issued warnings, mobilizing people to go up the mountains or into the cities to temporarily avoid the war.

With the large-scale invasion of the Liao army to the south, the atmosphere in the capital suddenly became tense, business was affected, and transactions in various markets became cold. On the contrary, public places such as teahouses and restaurants were full of business, and people came to talk about the war. guests.

The Baohe restaurant is also in hot business. The guests are talking loudly about the deployment of the Song army. Some guests agree with the Song army's strategy of controlling the enemy with stability and not attacking easily. Some guests think that the Song army is too conservative and dare not attack boldly. They fought red-faced and refused to give in.

In the elegant room on the third floor, Liu Suifeng looked expectantly at the wicker box on the ground, but Wang Qinying shook her head at the 200 taels of gold, "I took too much risk for this cup of iron fire thunder, and finally I bought 230 taels of gold myself." Money bought a soldier to get this iron fire mine. The three iron fire mines in 300 have numbers. Once the ship arrives in Kunzhou, it will be found that one is missing. After the court traces it, I will also be a suspect. So I want [-] taels of gold, even a penny less."

Liu Suifeng was speechless for a while, they bought information, 200 taels of gold was the highest price, yet Wang Qinying wanted 300 taels of gold.

But Liu Suifeng also knew the importance of Tie Huolei to them, so he could only sigh secretly, and said again: "Can you let me take a look first."

"can!"

Wang Qinying lifted the wicker box onto the table and opened the lid. Inside was a black guy that looked like a pumpkin. Liu Suifeng tried the weight, and it weighed about [-] jin. At the top was a teacup-like teacup. *Qinying took off the iron cover, revealing a long coil of fire rope, and the other end of the fire rope went deep into Huolei.

Wang Qinying pointed to a line of inscriptions on the iron cap, "This is its serial number, and the bottom has the same serial number."

Liu Suifeng looked at the serial number on the hat, and the iron hat was engraved with the number A 970 No. [-].

"Is this the one?" Liu Suifeng turned around and asked Wang Yong.

Wang Yong didn't know the formula, nor did he know the mine-making technology, but he had seen the iron fire mine once, and the first test of the iron fire mine was carried out in the firearms department's test field.

He lightly stroked the iron fire thunder with black metallic luster, nodded and said: "It is it, exactly the same as what I saw."

"It seems to be a little lighter."

"Early iron fire thunders were relatively light!" Wang Yong explained.

"Okay! Then it's a deal, 300 taels of gold."

Liu Suifeng took another 100 taels of gold and added it in, and pushed a plate of [-] ingots of gold to Wang Qinying, "I hope our next cooperation will go smoothly!"

The Liao State Intelligence Center has received a new task. In addition to making them obtain the iron fire thunder formula and manufacturing technology at all costs, they are also asked to get the blueprint of Wanshi Fuchuan as soon as possible, and the Overseas Economic and Strategy Office happens to be involved in Fuchuan. and the manufacture of various other ships.

Zhou Que pinned his hopes on Wang Qinying again.

Wang Qinying nodded, "I will try my best!"

He put away the 300 taels of gold and left the elegant room without looking back.

Liu Suifeng gave Wang Yong another 50 taels of silver as thanks for his appraisal fee, and then he walked towards the inn with the heavy wicker box in his arms.

In the shopkeeper's room of the inn, Zhou Que had been waiting for a long time.

When Liu Suifeng walked into the room, he immediately took the wicker box and put it on the table to carefully examine the iron fire mine inside.

Liu Suifeng curled his lips and said, "That bastard actually asked for 300 taels of gold in the end."

"no problem!"

Zhou Que said casually: "As long as I can get Tie Huolei, even if he wants a thousand gold, I will give it!"

He took a closer look at the iron fire thunder, and it was exactly the same as some of the clues he had. The iron shell had a cap, and the number was engraved on the cap. The shape was the same as the popular pumpkin in recent years.

"What did Wang Yong say?" Zhou Que asked again.

"He said it was true. I think the weight is a bit on the light side. He said that the early ones were relatively light, and then gradually gained weight."

Zhou Que also felt a little light. He got a clue that it was more than 50 catties, but this one was only more than [-] catties, which was more than half lighter, so he was also a little confused. Liu Suifeng said this, and he could understand it. After all This is the iron fire thunder with the prefix A. It should be the first batch of iron fire thunder. It has failed for a long time, but it seems to be well maintained and oiled on it, so that it does not have a trace of rust, just like a new one. Same.

"Okay! Send it out of the city early tomorrow morning, and send it to Liao Kingdom as soon as possible."

The West Route Army of the Liao Army consisted of [-] cavalry and [-] infantry. They went south from the west bank of Baigou at the junction of Baozhou and Dingzhou, and killed all the way to the southeast. Their goal was Baosai County. They defeated Baosai County and obtained food. and supplies, and then continue to fight towards Hejian Mansion, and join the East Route Army to attack Hejian County, the command center of the Song Army.

The Liao army paid more attention to intelligence than the Song Dynasty. They also deployed a large number of spies all over Hebei, and they knew the layout of the Song army well. The Song army moved all the rural people within [-] miles of the border to the south. , they are not worried.

Xiao Han's family slave has rich combat experience and is good at grasping the key points. He understands Fan Ning's point-by-point strategy, and also sees the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy. The shortcomings are also obvious, allowing the Liao army to concentrate its forces to defeat them one by one.

Xiao Han's slaves focused on Hejian County, which is the command center of the Song Army, and the Song Army's commander, Fan Ning, was stationed here. As long as they stormed Hejian County, other cities of the Song Army would definitely come to help, and they would be besieged. Chance to help.

However, it will take time to attack Hejian County. They must have food and material supplies. Based on the information they have, Xiao Han's slaves put this food and material supply point in Baosai County.

Baosai County has always been the focus of logistics supplies. It has a large warehouse and has at least 30 shi of grain stockpiled. With sufficient food supplies, the Liao army can besiege and attack Hejian County for a long time, and there will be no more shortages of food supplies last year. , and had to withdraw from Liao.

A mighty army of 5 people approached the southeast. The leader of this Liao army was Xu Guogong and Yelu Kunping, the deputy privy envoy of the Northern Academy. He carried 30 carts, mainly tents and siege Mainly weapons, and brought [-] days of food and a lot of forage.

Yelu Kunping and Xiao Han's servants knew very well that once their army went south, the Song Army would cut off their food support, at least the West Route Army's food support. If they could not take Baosai City within ten days, the West Route Army would have to Abandon Baosai City and rush to Hejian Mansion to join the East Route Army.

The top of Baosai City is three feet high, strong and wide. Last year, a three-foot-wide moat was excavated. The circumference of the city is thirty miles. The city has a population of about [-], ranking fifth among the fourteen big cities on the border.

There are currently 6000 troops stationed in Baosai City, 8000 frontier troops and [-] imperial troops each, led by Cao Wenjing, the commander of the imperial army.

Cao Wenjing is about 37 or [-] years old. He is a partial brother of the Cao family, but he has gradually reached the position of commander from the bottom general. He participated in the war against Xixia. He has rich experience in leading troops and fighting against former enemies. He is not the kind of gold-plated Fan Ning also took a fancy to him as a son of an official, so he appointed him as the commander-in-chief of Baozhou, leading [-] troops to guard Baosai City.

Cao Wenjing had a square face and was a steady and upright person. He was fighting on the top of the city, looking sharply at the official road in the northwest direction. He had already received news that fifty thousand Liao troops were marching towards Baosai City.

"General Cao, there will be a fierce battle ahead!"

The person who spoke was the deputy general Wang Xuan. He was originally the chief general of the frontier army in Baozhou. After the merger of the two armies, he became the deputy general. But his official rank is one level lower than Cao Wenjing. He is the fifth-rank general Dingyuan, while Cao Wenjing is the fourth-rank Xuanwei general. Let him be the deputy general. Everyone has nothing to say, and Wang Xuan himself is convinced. .

Cao Wenjing smiled lightly, "There will be no accidents in this battle. We have 6000 defenders and 2 militiamen, and the opponent's army that can attack the city is only [-] infantry. You can't let the Khitan cavalry attack the city, right?" What's more, we still have the powerful Iron Fire Thunder, to be honest, I am looking forward to this battle."

Wang Xuan also nodded and said: "Before I didn't understand why Mr. Fan wanted to disperse his troops and defend the city separately. Isn't this going to be defeated by the enemy one by one? Now I understand that a hundred cities are a hundred lines of defense. The most effective way to drag down the enemy army and preserve its strength is to use the city to fight against the enemy army, and the enemy's powerful cavalry will be useless."

(End of this chapter)