The struggle of the reborn prince

Bi Lege didn't dare to take a step out of the palace city, let alone face the angry people. He just scolded the Song army for their hypocrisy and hypocrisy every day in the hall, and he didn't dare to attack the city with real knives and guns. Indiscriminate means, and now they are still attacking ordinary people, it is really not as good as a beast... come down, there will be no more to come down!In addition to being worried about becoming a prisoner of the Song Army, Bi Lege still had illusions about Xiliao at the moment, hoping that he could help him with his years of friendship. He had heard of this most difficult moment and insisted not to negotiate with the Song Army.

However, as the Song Army's shelling intensified, the soldiers and civilians in Gaochang City became more disturbed, and some people began to try to escape the siege while the Song Army had not completed the siege.The rich bribed the soldiers guarding the gate to go out through the gate, while the poor took the risk of climbing down from the poorly defended city wall, and if they were not careful, they would fall to their deaths on the spot.In the first few days, it was the behavior of individual people. After a few days, some people successfully escaped, and more people joined the fleeing army, including officials and soldiers. He also changed from sneaky to blatant, and even tried to take advantage of the defenders. Open the city gates while dodging shelling.

If everyone ran away, who would defend the country and defend him, Bi Lege could only comfort the deteriorating situation, telling the people that Xiliao had promised to send troops to help, and it would not be long before a large army arrived to rescue the siege.While deceiving, he also implemented a high-pressure policy, ordering the entire city to implement a curfew, and the guards guarding Miyagi to patrol the streets, and the people were not allowed to go out casually.

The curfew was ordered, but unexpectedly, it aroused even greater anger among the people. Officials whose homes were destroyed could find a temporary shelter in the palace city, but those people were miserable and could only live on the streets.Or live in a temple.And those who escaped from the city appeared on the construction site in the north of the city, and they were 'assisting' the Song Army in building new earth barriers.Everyone knows that once the project is completed, the entire Gaochang City will be under the artillery fire of the Song Army.They will be inevitable.

The aggressive attack and shameless fighting style of the Song army finally angered the generals in the city. They asked the lord to allow them to go out of the city to fight the Song army.But their suggestion was rejected by the king, and the Song army seemed to have heard their clamor. That night, the Song army's artillery fire turned to the various military camps and city defense facilities in the city, and used incendiary bombs again.

The defenders in the north of the city were the first to bear the brunt. The city tower collapsed amid the sound of explosions and fire, and the houses in the camp collapsed.The frightened horses ran wildly in the camp, and the soldiers panicked looking for shelter from the shelling.And the generals who vowed to fight to the death with the Song army during the day were not much better. They worried that this was the preparation before the Song army launched the siege, and suppressed their timidity and urged the soldiers to go to the city to defend, but they fell in batches. under army fire.

The raging artillery fire lasted intermittently throughout the night. At dawn, people found that the neat barracks had been reduced to ruins. The surviving pillars of the kingdom huddled under the root of the city and looked terrified.Although the shelling had stopped at this time, they still refused to take a step away.And the generals who asked for the battle never said anything about fighting in the city, obviously they were also frightened...

It was already dark, but the city of Gaochang was pitch black, with no lights to be seen.It is unbelievable that this was once the most prosperous city that never sleeps in the Western Regions.While the Song army stepped up the construction of artillery positions in the southern city, they began to use artillery to continue to attack targets in the city day and night.They no longer use the tactics of concentrating their firepower on one place, but turn to sniping moving targets within their range.Any lights at night will attract the bombardment of the Song army, even the incense in front of the Buddha in the temple, which is said to be never extinguished, had to be extinguished.

The same is true in the palace at this moment.All the windows and doors were covered with thick blankets, so as not to leak a little light and cause Song Jun's dissatisfaction.Invite bad luck.Although no shells have fallen into the palace so far, everyone believes that this time is not far away, and everything should be cautious. Who knows what powerful guys Song Jun has yet to come up with!

"Who is it, and who is it?" Bi Lege, who was lying on the couch in his clothes, suddenly sat up and shouted.

"Great Khan, it was the Song Army who bombarded the city gate!" A servant heard the shout of Khan, and hurriedly lit a lamp and came over and said cautiously.Profuse Khan is like a psychopath these days. Hearing any louder sound, he would think it was the Song Army’s shells falling into the palace. The gaps were all plugged to prevent any sound from entering his ears, but the slightest movement made by the servants and maids would still terrify him.

"Bombard the city gate?!" The dim light reflected Bi Lege's extremely haggard face. He listened attentively, and it was indeed the sound coming from the north of the city. The shells hit the iron city gate, making a muffled sound like a bell. , the lingering sound spread far away, "Turn off the lights quickly, do you want to invite the Song army to bombard me and kill me?"

"Sweat profusely, the villain dare not!" The waiter hurriedly extinguished the candle. In the darkness, the waiter heard the sound of the sharp knife unsheathing, and knelt down in horror and begged for mercy.

"Do you want to harm me too?" Bi Lege shouted loudly in the dark hall when he lost his target for a moment. The bombardment of the past few days has plunged Gaochang City into chaos. Thousands of people gathered outside the palace city to petition. He negotiated peace with Song Dynasty in order to preserve the city, but after being rejected, he even stormed the palace gate and clashed with the soldiers guarding the palace city.This made him think that everyone was on the opposite side of him, and wanted to dedicate him to the Song army for surrender.

"Big sweat, I don't dare..." the servant backed up as he spoke, trying to escape, but the sound of his words revealed his position instead, and he was hacked to death with a knife!

…………

Seeing the disappointed Gaochang envoy leaving, Gao Chong and Zhao Li looked at each other and smiled, and both secretly heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed that they hadn't been busy in vain for more than ten days.Artillery attacking the city is to affect the psychological and mental state of the people through strikes. It can be said that its core is psychological warfare, which is a kind of "soft killing" that is clearly different from armed warfare.Although the artillery fire can cause heavy damage to the city, the two also know that it is difficult to destroy the entire city with the ammunition they brought all the way.

However, the appearance of the Gaochang envoys also shows that artillery attacks have a greater psychological impact on the enemy people than other combat methods. Compared with simple siege warfare, the psychological impact will undoubtedly be doubled.In particular, the government offices that have been bombed into ruins, the burnt-to-white market, the shattered corpses, women and children lying in a pool of blood, panicked officials, and trembling soldiers huddled in the root of the city are all likely to cause social chaos.This is a burden that the Gaochang ruler and the military government cannot bear.

"Supervisor, why did they refuse to have peace talks with Gao Chang today? They have already expressed their surrender!" Gao Chong asked, pouring a cup of tea for Zhao Li, as there were only two people left in the tent.

"Marshal, are you in a hurry?" Zhao Li thanked him, took a sip from his cup and said.

"Can you not be in a hurry?" Gao Chong looked at Zhao Liyan resentfully and said, "Our food reserves are less than 20 days old, and the gunpowder consumption is even greater, only [-]% is left. If we fight Gaochang like this for a few more days If we don't surrender, we will have to gnaw down this city wall with our teeth!"

"Hehe, don't worry, Commander. Today, the Gaochang envoy only said to negotiate with us for peace, but they refused to surrender. If they go back on their word after a while, we will suffer even more!" Zhao Li said with a smile.

"The supervisor means to continue to attack the city and force them to make concessions?" Gao Chong said, smacking his teeth. As the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, he had to consider not only how to capture Gaochang City, but also the entire battle situation. , there are two important towns of Qiuci and Yanqi behind, and the Xiliao army may go back and forth. Without gunpowder, their cannons become decorations.

"Well, we will not only continue to bombard Gaochang, but also more violently than the previous few times!" Zhao Li nodded and said.

"If Gaochang City refuses to give in, and we can't afford to spend it, we can only go around the city!" Gao Chong was surprised when he heard this. If the gunpowder is exhausted, they can only turn to the southeast to get through with Xixia The channel to receive supplies and fight again, and that may delay the emperor's plan again due to delay.

"Don't worry, Commander, as long as the high fortress in the northern city is built and our shells fall into the palace city, Bi Lego will send envoys to negotiate again, and they will surrender after two rounds of fighting. At that time, everything will be in crisis. Solve it yourself!" Zhao Li said.

"The supervising army is sure that Gaochang City will surrender, and they are not afraid of driving them into a hurry and jumping over the wall!" Gao Chong was a little skeptical about Zhao Li's confidence. He also knew that as long as King Gaochang surrendered, the problem of food and wages would be solved first, and the other two towns would also be settled. It is possible to give up resistance, and there is no point in fighting the West Liao Army.It's just that the Lord of Gaochang is willing to surrender at the risk of destroying the country and genocide?

"Marshal, the spirits of the people in the city are on the verge of collapse. Bi Lege is only now willing to send envoys to seek peace, which shows that he has to make a decision under tremendous pressure from all sides, and he still has illusions about us. As long as they pay tribute, they can withdraw their troops. And we refuse peace talks now, and continue shelling to tell him not to take chances, and at the same time continue to put pressure on the soldiers and civilians in the city. If we give up at this time, we will lose all success!" Zhao Li analyzed.

"Well, I understand what the Supervising Army means. Before we achieve the desired results, we firmly reject the peace talks with Gaochang, and we must continue to attack with more intense firepower, without giving them a chance to breathe, and promote our previous artillery fire. The blow effect made them have to agree to our request!" Gao Chong nodded.

"Yes, that's exactly the case. As long as we persist, Gao Chang will fall into greater panic and will definitely put more pressure on Bi Lego. In the case of being betrayed by his subordinates, he will have to fight with us. Cooperation!" Zhao Li said.

"Okay, since that's the case, I'll take a gamble with the supervisor!" Gao Chong said proudly... (to be continued...)