Water Margin people

Chapter 1326 Rout

"Artillery? I have one too!"

Seeing this, Lu Zhishen urged the artillery troops in the rear to move forward quickly. The cavalry was too fast, which made it easy for the artillery troops to get out of touch during the surprise attack.

The horses pulled the artillery to the front of the formation, the artillery quickly adjusted its angle, and then there was a burst of artillery fire.

An explosion broke out both above and below Hongzhou City, and the Xixia soldiers were thrown into chaos.

"Kill me!"

Lu Zhishen shouted and commanded the army to move forward. He wanted to take advantage of the enemy's confusion to gain more results.

The Xixia army ran into the city in fear, and there was even a stampede in the chaos at the city gate.

"Form up as a small team and kill!"

Lu Zhishen yelled and ordered the soldiers to charge and kill. The enemies were now gathered around the city wall, huddled together. If you want to kill the enemy, you must charge in a small military formation. If you charge randomly, you will probably be killed by the enemy.

"Form up and kill!"

"Military advisor, why?"

"What did General Liu discover?"

Liu Fa said.

Shi Xiu looked at Lu Zhishen and said, "They killed tens of thousands of enemies in the battle just now. Now the enemies are frightened. As long as they attack violently, they will definitely break the city."

Gongsun Sheng shook his head and said.

Qiao Daoqing, Shi Xiu, Fan Rui, Liu Tang, Li Ying, and Du Xing immediately organized their soldiers to attack from three directions.

"You mean there's gunpowder on it?"

"Backhand? What other backhand can there be?"

"I did find some clues!"

"Master Lu, why not attack the city overnight!"

"The artillery is too high, fire!"

Shi Xiu looked at Gongsun Sheng in confusion and asked.

Hu Cheng also commanded the army to change the angle of the bombardment at this time. The army was already in close combat. If they still attacked outside the city, they would probably accidentally injure friendly troops. In this case, it was better to focus on bombarding the city walls and inside the city to disintegrate the enemy's defenses.

"The enemy has been staying in Hongzhou for a long time and has not been able to leave the city. It is impossible that they are not prepared at all. Although the city is in chaos now, the enemy's back-up plan is not yet known. If they attack rashly, they may fall into a trap."

"The city of Hongzhou seemed to be in chaos, but in fact the defeated troops did not advance to the city. The defenders on the city did not move at all. But when the artillery bombarded me just now, I noticed that there seemed to be an unusual explosion on the city."

Shi Xiu frowned and thought, and then looked at Hongzhou City. He had almost reached the bottom of the city and found nothing.

Everyone looked at Liu Fa and asked.

The battle lasted until dark, and then the Xixia army completely withdrew to Hongzhou City, and there was a pile of corpses outside the city.

Gongsun Sheng said.

Liu Fa opened his mouth and said that he had been observing. Although there was no obvious discovery, several unusually powerful explosions in the city made him suspicious.

"No!"

Gongsun Sheng looked towards Hongzhou City. The sky had darkened at this time. There were a lot of fires on Hongzhou City, and soldiers could be seen setting up defenses.

"I'm not sure, but the explosion was indeed more powerful, and there was abnormal black smoke. As you all know, the smoke after the explosion of our gunpowder in Qi was white-gray, but the smoke from the abnormal explosion on the city just now was pure black. !”

Liu Fa said.

"Then it must be black gunpowder! The Xixia people often use gunpowder in battles. It seems that they have prepared a lot this time!"

Lu Zhishen said, there is a Poxi Army in the Xixia Army, which is good at using cyclone cannons, and can even be mounted on a camel's saddle to fire stone balls as big as a fist. It is an extremely troublesome unit.

"Didn't the enemy use it just now? That's all!" Liu Tang said, they had already seen the enemy's artillery before, and it was completely incomparable to theirs.

"No, those are just ordinary artillery. The cyclone cannon has a mechanical launching device that rotates around the gun axis. It can change directions and adjust the shooting direction at will."

"And artillery is the second most important thing, gunpowder. If there is a lot of gunpowder in the city, then it would be inappropriate for us to attack the city!"

Lu Zhishen shook his head and said, Xixia people are not skilled in skills, their artillery is definitely not as good as Qi's, and their gunpowder is very common, but a large amount of gunpowder is very scary in close combat. Even if the explosion is nothing, the burns are enough for a person to drink a pot, and this kind of The attack does not care about armor defense.

"Then what should we do? The enemy has already gone to Guwuyan City, and the plan to cut off the enemy's food and grass will probably fail!"

Qiao Daoqing said.

"Let's see if they dare to leave the city tomorrow!"

Lu Zhishen thought for a while but couldn't think of any good solution, so he could only wait.

Hongzhou City.

At this time, the city was wailing, and the soldiers had some injuries. Most of them were not caused by the enemy, but by our own side when they fled into the city.

"How are the casualties?"

Brother Richard asked as he looked at the generals.

"More than ten thousand people died! Tens of thousands of people were injured..."

A general replied hesitantly.

"Ten thousand people died and tens of thousands were injured? I asked you to get closer to the formation, why are you running around!"

Brother Richard roared angrily. The reason for today's disastrous defeat was that several armies did not obey the command and rushed into the military formation in panic, causing chaos on their own side.

"Prince Jin, it's not our fault. The 60,000-strong army suddenly withdrew, leaving such a big gap. How can we quickly move closer to fill it?"

"And the enemy just launched a surprise attack and didn't give us any time to react. Do you think we should move closer or form a formation to meet the enemy?"

Besides, there were various orders at that time. One moment we were told to get closer, the next moment we were facing the enemy, and the next moment we were told to retreat to the city! "

When everyone saw Brother Richard shifting the responsibility to them, they all retorted unconvinced.

They are not entirely responsible for today's tragic defeat. The army was well organized, but Brother Richard suddenly transferred 60,000 troops and horses, causing the entire army to become fragmented. This was the reason for the defeat.

"Prince Jin, now is not the time to think about responsibilities. The enemy army is just outside the city. What should we do?"

Li Heda looked at Brother Richard and said, the war is imminent, and retreating from the enemy is the most important thing.

"Send out scouts to detect the enemy's movements, and also take a look at the situation in Guwuyan City!"

Brother Richard ordered to the soldiers beside him.

"Prince Jin, in today's battle, the enemy in front of us is far stronger than the Western Army in the past. I'm afraid it will not be easy to defeat the enemy!"

Li Heda looked at Brother Richard and said that he had also participated in the battle between Xixia and the Western Army of the Song Dynasty. Although the Western Army was elite, it was equally matched with the elite Xixia Army, with each winning or losing.

But the enemies we saw today were completely different from the previous Western armies. These enemies moved quickly, had the ability to seize opportunities, and were powerful in combat. They only showed some flaws today, and the enemies attacked quickly, catching them off guard.

"Tomorrow, take the iron kite to test the enemy!"

Brother Richard looked at the crowd and said, Tie Yaozi are their most elite troops in Xixia.

"Your Highness, Prince Jin, how about I be the vanguard tomorrow?"

Li Heda looked at Brother Richard and asked him to fight. He had also seen Tie Yaozi before. He was indeed a rare elite.

"Li Dutong, tomorrow is just a trial, not a decisive battle!"

Brother Richard declined politely. He was not willing to let Li Heda steal the limelight. If Li Heda was allowed to make great achievements, Li Heda would definitely take the opportunity to gather the remnants of the Liao Kingdom in Xixia, and it is likely to become an uncontrollable force by then.

(End of this chapter)