Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 650 Yanzhou Night Battle
At night, the 30 Song troops had been deployed, and they came out in full force, distributed five miles away from Yanzhou City, and surrounded the city.

Among them, the main force of [-] tonight's attack was waiting in line in the wilderness south of the city. They temporarily sat on the ground to rest, sharpened their guns, and waited for the order to attack.

Another [-] cavalry were cruising near the east and west cities, waiting for the Xixia soldiers who broke out.

The top of the city was heavily guarded as usual, and [-] Xixia troops guarded the top of the city, watching the outside of the city vigilantly, guarding against the night attack of the Song army.

The Kushui River is sparkling, shining white in the dim moonlight. The Kushui River is a small river with a small flow, but it is so precious on the edge of the Gobi Desert where water is scarce, so that the city wants to include it, The Kushui River passed through the city, and flowed out from a thin gap in the south wall corner of the city. After flowing out, the river bed gradually widened, but it was only three to four feet wide.

It was almost two o'clock, and two water ghosts wearing black swimsuits quietly entered the water. They were carrying a small sampan, and on the sampan was a large cabinet, which was a special kind of cabinet. There are two heavy iron fire mines in it, weighing 150 jin.

It is very difficult for soldiers to explode two iron fire mines together, even if the difference is only a second, one of them will explode, and the other will often be blown up, so we must find another way. Tiehuolei are actually conjoined twins, they are connected internally, if one explodes, the other will also explode at the same time without being blown away.

Two water ghosts pushed the sampan forward in the bitter water river. The sampan and the wooden cabinet were also painted black, making it difficult to find in the dark.

Not long after, the small sampan quietly floated down to the city, and slowly stuffed it into the gap in the corner of the wall. The buoyancy force pressed the sampan and the wooden cabinet tightly above the gap, making them unable to move.

Song Jun had already considered this point. He actually exposed the fire rope from the side opening of the cabinet. The fire bag was wrapped in a small sampan and wrapped in a tarpaulin. A water ghost took out a fire bag and ignited it. The two water ghosts immediately dived into the water and swam out with all their might.

Fifty thousand soldiers covered their ears and prostrated themselves on the ground. For a moment, they heard an earth-shattering explosion. Flames and city soil rose into the sky, black smoke filled the air, and water and mud fell from the sky. When the smoke cleared, The city walls within [-] feet on both sides of the Kushui River have completely disappeared, while the walls of hundreds of feet have collapsed, and the high walls have turned into mounds, which can be rushed up directly.

Of the [-] soldiers guarding the southern city, at least a thousand were killed or killed by the shock. The rest of the soldiers were dumbfounded and hadn't recovered from such a violent explosion.

Zhong Er roared, "Kill!"

Fifty thousand soldiers of the Western Army rushed into the city like a tide, and Li Chaolun also woke up from the violent explosion. He knew that the Song Army must have entered the city, so he shouted anxiously: "Order the whole army to resist, and must kill them!" Withdraw from the Song army!"

The soldiers in the barracks were in chaos. Most of the soldiers rushed out of the camp with spears and knives before they could put on their armor. Fierce street fighting broke out in the city.

The city was full of fires and soldiers fighting. Women and children were scared to hide at home, and hid in the cellar with their children in their arms. Every household in Yanzhou City had a cellar.

Some young and strong men ran out to check the situation, and were soon shot dead by soldiers from both sides. The armor of the Song army was neat, the helmets were all white, and the left arm was tied with a white belt.

The [-] Song army trained for a year of night battles, their advantages were fully demonstrated, and their cooperation was very tacit. A team of [-] people included [-] crossbowmen, [-] sword and shield soldiers, and [-] spearmen. The soldiers cover and shoot the enemy in the dark and high places, the sword and shield soldiers charge, and the spearmen follow closely behind. Once the two armies engage in close combat, the spearmen immediately kill the enemy by using their long weapons. The shield soldiers retreated to the two sides to respond.

In contrast, the soldiers of the Xixia Army were very chaotic. Most of them did not wear armor. When they saw abnormal people, they hacked or shot them with bows and arrows, and even killed each other.

After half an hour, the Xixia soldiers who were killed in the street fighting and retreated steadily began to break out from the east gate and west gate. Although they also knew that there were probably soldiers from the Song Army outside, the Xixia soldiers who broke through were still holding a little luck .

Just one mile away from the East Gate and West Gate, 20 Song Army cavalrymen have drawn their swords, waiting to break through the Xixia soldiers. Five miles away, [-] troops have already laid a net.

Thousands of Xixia soldiers swarmed out from the east and west gates first, and fled in all directions. The cavalry who had been waiting for a long time attacked from all sides, slashing burrs with knives, and mercilessly killed the fleeing soldiers...

When it was almost dawn, Li Chaolun committed suicide, and the remaining Xixia soldiers saw that they had nowhere to go, so they put down their weapons one after another and left the city in batches to surrender.

This is a battle of great disparity, with 30 troops against 5000 troops. From the moment the city wall was blown down, the Xixia Army was doomed to fail. In this battle, more than [-] soldiers of the Xixia Army were killed and [-] were captured. There were more than [-] people, and nearly [-] people were killed or injured in the city. Most of them were men. Women and children hid in the cellar, but escaped unharmed.

However, the tenacious resistance of the Xixia Army also caused the Song Army to pay a heavy price, with nearly 6000 casualties. This is the heaviest casualty of the Song Army since the beginning of the Xixia War.

10,000 Song Army soldiers escorted [-]+ women and children to Yan'an Mansion for resettlement, and prisoners of war were sent to Weicheng for detention. Weicheng has already detained nearly [-] prisoners of war. Han Jiang, on behalf of the court, has clearly told them that they will be released after five years of mining. , If you want to continue to be an enemy of the Song Army, then the Song Army will no longer keep prisoners of war and slaughter them all.

The war in southern Xixia was basically over. Zhong Er led [-] cavalry and [-] infantry to continue to wipe out the remnants of the Xixia army, while Han Jiang led an army of more than [-] to go north to join Fan Ning's army.

At the beginning of July, 50 Song troops surrounded Xingqing City. Xixia was originally a small country, and most of the country was covered with mountains, Gobi and deserts. It relied entirely on the steep terrain and powerful soldiers to fight the Song army with its vast land and resources. Once the geographical advantage was broken However, once the Song Army gives full play to its advantages and avoids its weaknesses, the advantages of Xixia's powerful soldiers will also be offset.

So far, the Song Army has never conducted large-scale field battles with the Xixia Army, and this time, with 50 troops besieging the city, the Song Army will not give the Xixia Army another chance.

The camp of the Song Army was three miles away from Xixia City, and a tall and solid barracks with wooden walls was built. The wide Tanglai Canal to the west was filled with warships of the Song Army. Unable to cross the naval defense line.

"According to the information we had before, Xixia was seriously divided. The mother party headed by the Empress Dowager Liang and Liang Yibu controlled the current military and political power in Xixia, while the nobles of Xixia advocated the implementation of the regent system and opposed the empress dowager. They mainly controlled This is the reason why the cavalrymen of the Dangxiang tribe in Helan Mountain have been reluctant to come to rescue Xingqing Mansion because of the various tribes of Xixia, that is to say Shengdangxiang."

In the big tent, Fan Ning and Han Jiang chatted about the current situation while drinking tea.

"What about the Hexi Corridor?" Han Jiang asked with a faint smile after taking a sip of tea.

"The Hexi Corridor is more complicated. If Li Yuanhao had reached a peace agreement with Qingtang Tubo after occupying the Hexi Corridor, he would have gained a firm foothold. However, he was too ambitious and wanted to conspire with Hehuang to force Qingtang Tubo to the Song Dynasty. In addition, he moved the Dangxiang nomads to the Hexi Corridor. This was obviously to seize the pastures of the Qiang people. Of course, they were strongly resisted by the Qiang people. In the end, the immigration failed, which led to the hostility of the Qiang people, as well as the Han people in the Hexi Corridor. , Li Yuanhao is using the method of marriage, but it will not be too successful. After all, the party members are very xenophobic. You can see the situation of the Queen Mother Liang today. In fact, the party members can also accept the queen mother, but the premise is that the queen mother must be born The party aristocrats, but the Empress Dowager Liang is a Han Chinese, so the problem arises."

"Now that the Song Army and Tubo are jointly attacking the Hexi Corridor, will Tubo have ambitions for the Hexi Corridor?"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "How could it be possible to have no ambition? For such a fertile pasture, ambition alone is not enough, but ability is also needed. Qingtang Tubo is just a branch of Tubo, which can occupy Hehuang and Qinghai Lake as well as them. If they want to occupy the Hexi Corridor, they may not even be able to keep Hehuang in the end, Dong Zhan should be very clear about this, he sold us this time because he hoped that the Song Dynasty would let Hehuang go."

"It looks like we can control the Hexi Corridor?"

Fan Ning nodded, "Only the Han people can keep the Hexi Corridor for a long time. First of all, we are a farming people. We will not rob the pastures like the Dangxiang people and the Tubo people. We will only occupy the city. Based on this, the Qiang people support us. Second, We have a market, and the horses and sheep raised by the Qiang people can be sold to us. The third point is that the taxes in the Hexi Corridor in the Song Dynasty were very low, or even tax-free. Of course, they were welcomed by all ethnic groups in the Hexi Corridor. After leaving the Hexi Corridor for thousands of years, we returned to the Hexi Corridor only to restore the rule, not foreign invaders.”

"Then when do you think we can break Xingqing City?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "We need to wait patiently, maybe two or three months! The city should face a food crisis."

At this moment, a soldier reported outside the account, "I want to tell you, Mr. Xiping Mansion sent a man, who is said to be the Prime Minister of Xixia."

(End of this chapter)