Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 264 Tao Ranwo Xihuang (3)

If Zhao Xingde wants to attack Baozhou, he must first conquer Laiyuan County on the west bank of the Yalu River.Laiyuan County faces Baozhou across the river. If you ignore it and cross the river rashly, you will be cut off by the Japanese at any time.Although the two great military strategists Sun Wuzi and Han Xin had battles against the water, Zhao Xingde could only admire them.The unscrupulous shelling of the warships of the Fourth Battalion completely attracted the attention of the Japanese troops on both sides of the Yalu River.Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, under the leadership of Ma Rui, Zhao Xingde personally surveyed the terrain of Laiyuan County.

This city is quite distinctive.On the one hand, in order to control the estuary of the Yalu River, the city wall was extended as far as possible to the river bank, and it was integrated with the wharf water village.On the other hand, the low-lying terrain along the river was not conducive to holding on, so a strong city was built on a hill a little farther away, and seven small villages like a string of pearls were used to connect the riverside water village and the mountain city together. Walls were built on both sides of the north and south, and the open space in the middle was surrounded, forming a chain of villages and a long and narrow city that are extremely rare in the Central Plains.On the other side of the Yalu River, Baozhou City is roughly similar in shape.It's just that Baozhou City is large and strong, and the city wall is built of rammed earth and gravel. Laiyuan City is small, with rammed earth under the foundation of the city wall, and only wooden battlements on top.This is because Baozhou is an important town in the east of Liaodong. In addition to the Yalu River, it is also an important base for the Liao Kingdom to control the former home of the East Jurchen of the Yalu River.Laiyuan County is just a small town attached to Baozhou.

"The construction of this walled city took a lot of thought and effort, but unfortunately it was self-defeating." Zhao Xingde said with some regret.Although he didn't understand what Xiaowei Zhao meant by "self-defeating", Ma Rui nodded and asked, "Should we go to war first?" Zhao Xingde shook his head vigorously, and stamped his feet vigorously. The soil here is very solid. Suitable for construction work, "set up the cannons and give them a fight."

Soon, gunners armed with picks and shovels began to form positions.The main position is just located on the extension line to the west of Lianhuanzhai in Laiyuan County, about [-] miles away from the westernmost mountain city.Six three-inch guns were lined up, and the muzzles were aimed at the tower on the hill.Because the people of the Liao Kingdom built their cities in long strips, and if they fired shells along this extended line, even if they didn't aim well and flew over the city walls, they would most likely land in the city.In front of the artillery positions, Zhao Xingde led the infantry sergeants to dig a wide herringbone trench. At the bottom of the herringbone trenches, two artillery positions were set up, each with two artillery pieces.Tang Qiyong and Zha Shen led the centurions to station at the two flank fortresses respectively.Chashen led two hundred archers and crossbowmen to guard behind the wide trench, and Du Chuanjiao's sword and shield centuries were behind them, ready to protect the archers at critical moments.Zhao Xingde's command was on the main artillery position a little behind the central salient.Ma Rui and Jian Cheng's two hundred cavalry were stationed behind the artillery position, and behind it was the garrison battalion in charge of transportation.Five hundred soldiers of the garrison battalion honestly built a ring-shaped fort with a ditch on the outside and a low wall on the inside. The carriages and luggage were all inside the low wall.However, since most of the soldiers of the garrison battalion are not qualified archers, these fortifications can only play a limited role in killing and wounding the enemy. At most, they can delay the enemy's roundabout action.The safety of the main position of the Chengying Battalion is mainly guaranteed by the superior cavalry.

"General Zhao, when will the siege begin?" Cha Shen asked.When they got to the ground, Zhao Xingde didn't even mention the siege of the city except that he approached Laiyuan City to survey the terrain once, and then urged the sergeants to throw off their arms to dig trenches and build fortifications.The sergeants didn't mean to be lazy, but they were a little confused. "Should we wait until the Han army arrives?" Du Chuijiao said with a half-smile. The lives of the soldiers of Chengying's Eighth Battalion are precious. It would be great if they could drive the Han army to take the lead in attacking the city.

Zhao Xingde was observing the movement at the top of the city, when he heard this, he put down the binoculars and said with a smile, "Let the Japanese do the troublesome things like besieging the city."

"Ah?" Du Chuijiao and Tang Qiyong glanced at each other, feeling even more confused.Just in front of them, a wide ditch is gradually taking shape. The sergeants will pile up the excavated soil behind the ditch to form a low parapet. Inside the low wall are arc-shaped artillery emplacements. The gunners are working hard on each emplacement. Ground rammed earth.

Compared with the hills where Laiyuan County is located, the position of Chengying Eighth Battalion can only be regarded as a small ups and downs.Therefore, their every move falls in the eyes of the Communists at the top of the city.Previously, Zhao Xingde had obtained information that there were a total of [-] Communists stationed in Baozhou.However, Japan has long been determined to push the border to the Yalu River, and has been adding elite soldiers to strengthen Baozhou's defense in the past ten days. Just here, [-] Japanese troops are stationed in the far city, while in Baozhou city More than five thousand soldiers were recruited.

Li Sihai's warship suddenly went into trouble, and before the Japanese navy could react, the towers of Baozhou Shuizhai and the boats of the navy were destroyed.It's not that Xia Guoying's artillery is so powerful, but that the wooden boats of this era are too weak to be built, and the possibility of being bombarded by artillery is not considered at all.The wrecked and stranded warship blocked the channel of other navy warships.The artillerymen kept Zhao Xingde's instructions firmly in mind, and when in doubt, put the enemy as close as possible. In this way, two rounds of bombardment sank several naval boats approaching, and then turned around to bombard the distant enemy. The water village on the county side.

Watching helplessly as his ship was sunk, Pu Xianxi, the soldier of the Left Army, slammed his fist on the railing.When Cui Xianxi saw this scene, apart from anger and astonishment, he also secretly wrote down the shape of the gunboat in his heart, and prepared to draw it and present it to the court, and quickly build a batch of such gunboats. China also has firearms, and even made iron barrel cannons. The first emperor Suzong also formed a firearms army, but he never thought that rows of cannons could be arranged on sea ships in this way.

"Master Soldier and Horse Envoy, enemy troops have appeared on the land to the west."

"What?" Cui Xianxi frowned, could it be that the Liao people backtracked, "Treacherous, what a barbarian!" He murmured, and when he came to the west of the stockade, he could see the artillery positions built by Zhao Xingde and others at a glance.I can't even count how many of them there are. "It's only 1000 people, probably the forwards." He murmured, "Could it be that the Liao people really want to take back this place? Do they think they are not close enough to the Jurchens?"

Just as he was muttering, suddenly there was a loud "boom" from the "Liao Army" position on the opposite side, and a black round bullet crossed the wide wilderness with a strong wind, and it could almost be seen flying towards the city. With a sound of "whoosh", it passed the top of Cui Xianxi's head. "My lord, be careful!" The soldiers beside him shouted, and it was too late and then too fast, the shell had already flown over Cui Xianxi's head, even over the tall city tower, and hit a roof in the city heavily. There was a hula, followed by a commotion.Until then, the sweat on Cui Xianxi's back dripped down. "Iron barrel cannons, the Liao people actually brought iron barrel cannons, they are determined to attack the city."

Looking at the position of the "Liao Army", there were only ten cannons on display. Cui Xianxi endured the weakness of his legs and comforted the soldiers beside him: "Although the iron barrel cannons are powerful, their firing speed is not fast. Before the words fell, there were several loud bangs under the city. It seemed to be a test shooting just now, but now there was a "boom boom" sound, and the round and dark cast iron shells crossed the arc and flew towards the top of the city. Come.This time, someone hit the tower, and with a few bangs, the wooden tower almost collapsed, and sawdust flew everywhere.

Cui Xianxi almost immediately squatted behind the battlement. However, just beside him, a shell hit the battlement and immediately smashed the wooden battlement to pieces. The shell hardly slowed down. When Cui Xianxi turned his head to look Go, just in time to see a corpse with only half of the head left, splashing blood and falling down.Suddenly, he felt a tickle in his throat, and a burst of blood surged in his chest.After Cui Xianxi became a hereditary martial arts class, although he practiced martial arts since he was a child, he is one of the few masters of Hwarang Dao among the three armies and six guards, but he has never seen such a bloody scene.The round cast iron shells seemed to be flying slowly, not as huge as the iron barrel shells he had seen, nor as fast as the crossbow bolts, but they concealed the power to smash the battlements.Cui Xianxi only felt terrified, and he shouted loudly in a panic: "Let the arrows! Let the arrows!"

Those stationed in Laiyuan County were the elite of the Japanese Army. Although they were terrified, they still shot a round of dense arrow feathers.At this time, it seemed that everyone lost their minds. No one told the soldiers and horsemen that the artillery was three or four hundred steps away, and the effective shooting range of the bows and crossbows in the army was only a hundred steps.Hundreds of arrows shot out from the top of the city like locusts all over the sky, crossed arcs, and finally fell to the ground powerlessly after their castration was exhausted.Seeing this scene, Cui Xianxi just came to his senses and felt a little embarrassed. Although he was not good at changing the military order, the archers consciously put down their bows and arrows, and fell to the ground desperately behind the battlements.Some people even lay down on the ground.And below the city, the sound of "boom", "boom" and "boom" cannons can be heard endlessly. Round iron bullets, drawing visible arcs, smashed clumsily on the top of the city, on the wall, and on the city wall. In the open space, on the roof, on the flesh and blood.

Cui Xianxi's face was pale, and he murmured: "Isn't the iron barrel cannon only able to fire more than a dozen shells a day?" He poked his head out carefully and looked towards the enemy's position, only to see those artillerymen who were like ants Loading ammunition almost without stopping, igniting, firing, and pushing the cannon back to its original position, my heart suddenly became cold.After careful observation for a while, there was a glimmer of hope in the fear, "Although the firearms are sharp, the protective force is short. You can't be trapped in the city and wait for death. They only have 1000 people, and I have 3000 people. If the art of war is doubled, it is okay. Give it a go."

Behind the main artillery position, Ma Rui sighed: "It's a pity that the city wall is blocking it, so we can't observe the results of the battle." His cavalry was used as a reserve team and there was no battle for the time being.Watching the gunners set off firecrackers, I couldn't help feeling a little itchy.Zhao Xingde stared at the black arcs, and said in a low voice: "How many people in the world can bear to be beaten and not fight back. Cavalrymen should be prepared, Japanese are afraid of cannons, they may Detour to our side and rear."