Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 307 Joy is not over (8)

"Gamble your life?"

Wanyan Aguda repeated the word, and he sneered, "What a 'gamble'!"

On this aged emperor, there seemed to be another awe-inspiring murderous aura.From a small tribal chief to now the emperor of the Jin Kingdom who occupies most of Liaodong, he has placed bets many times.He didn't realize it was a little funny, this little Xia countryman knew what "near death" meant.In the words of Wan Yan Aguda, "Longevity blesses the Jurchens".

"Nonsense." Wanyan Zongbi's face darkened, "Mr. Zhao is playing tricks on us." Zhao Xingde was serious, he thought there was a good way to restrain the artillery of the Liao army, but who knew that the Jurchen warriors were still going to gamble their lives.

Zhao Xingde didn't bother to argue with him, Wanyan Agu slapped his face livid, but a cold light flashed in his eyes, he shouted sharply: "Shut up!" After the voice, Yan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongbi didn't dare to speak anymore.Wanyan Aguda reprimanded: "Remember, as long as the victory is peaceful, that is not a warrior, but a tortoise! ​​Liao dogs have more people than us, better armor and swords than us, stronger cities than us, and shoot arrows on horseback It’s not bad either. But they always want to win battles without any effort, and in the end they will run away when they lose. There are few Jurchens and their armor is simple, but we are not afraid of blood and sweat, so we can defeat Liaogou!” He panted In a slow tone, he said: "General Zhao, don't blame them for their ignorance. You need to take care of them to deal with Liaogou's artillery."

"It's easy to say." Zhao Xingde nodded and said, "I will do my best." His tone was neither happy nor angry.Although he just made up his mind to help the Jin army deal with the artillery of the Liao state.However, during the battle in the morning, Zhao Xingde still carefully observed that the effective distance of the shotgun fired by the artillery of the Liao army was about 0 steps. He roughly estimated the delay time from ignition to artillery firing according to his pulse. The filling speed was also recorded.Although it was just a battle, if the enemy's deliberate falsification was excluded, he already had some understanding of the Liao army's artillery use.And it can be gradually tested in future battles.

Wanyan Agu stared at Zhao Xingde, his gaze was piercing like a needle, he was able to become the leader of the Jurchen tribal alliance from a young age, defeat the Liao Kingdom, and become the emperor of the Jin Kingdom, he has the ability to know people After looking at it for a while, I felt that although Zhao Xingde did not pretend to be 'colorful', his words of "doing his best" were quite sincere.He sighed, nodded and said, "I'll leave it to General Zhao then."

Zhao Xingde was waiting to agree, Wanyan Aguda's eyes turned slightly, and his eyes fell on Han Ningshuang, then looked at Zhao Xingde again, and said in a deep voice: "If the Liao army is defeated, my daughter Mei Ni will marry General Zhao, and the two will be safe." Soldiers and horses are her dowry." According to the custom, when a tribe loses a battle, it is necessary to present the beauties of the tribe to the victor, or marry the beauties of the tribe to benefactors and allies.The Wanyan tribe has always been known for producing beauties. In the past, the silver envoys from the Liao Kingdom visited the Liaodong Jurchens, and they often asked Wanyan tribe women to sleep with them.As soon as Wanyan Aguda said this, Wanyan Zongbi and Wanyan Zonghan were shocked.

Han Ningshuang's mind moved slightly.She knew that Wanyan Agu is a person who is very committed, as long as Zhao Xingde nods, there is no room for change in this matter.She stared at Zhao Xingde to see how he would respond.

Regardless of offending Ni Lin, Wanyan Zongbi said loudly: "Father, you must not!"

Wanyan Agu's eyes froze, and he shouted: "Shut up!" Zong Han and Zong Bi didn't dare to speak, so his expression softened and he asked, "General Zhao, what do you think?"

Zhao Xingde was also surprised, looked at Wanyan Aguda, declined and said: "I dare not hide it, I already have a wife."

"What does it matter." Wanyan Aguda shook his head and said, "I also have seven wives and sixteen children. A capable man naturally has many wives." His tone was very natural, as if this matter was a natural law.Both Wanyan Zongbi and Wanyan Zonghan stared at Zhao Xingde viciously, and if he agreed, they would have to eat him alive.Both of them have many women, but marrying their younger sister to this Zhao is as uncomfortable as eating flies.

Zhao Xingde still shook his head and said: "Thank you Your Majesty for your kindness, I dare not ask extravagantly."

"Oh?" Wanyan Aguda was a little displeased, "Since General Zhao doesn't like our Jurchen women, I won't be strong." Han Ningshuang exhaled softly, as if letting go of her mind, and felt a little uncomfortable.Wanyan Meini is Aguda's favorite jewel, and since she promised to marry her, she naturally expresses her great gratitude and attention to Zhao Xingde.Zhao Xingde refused straight away, which naturally made Aguda lose face.Even Wanyan Zongbi and Wanyan Zonghan, who were opposed at first, gave Zhao Xingde a few vicious glances again, and thought to himself, what a man who doesn't know how to flatter.

It was Zhao Xingde's first participation in the Jin Kingdom's imperial account military meeting, and it ended in such an embarrassing and strange atmosphere.Walking out of the imperial tent, it was already dusk, and there were curls of cooking smoke rising everywhere in the tent.When the sun was setting, the soldiers had finished their busy training during the day, and the night had not yet fallen, so there was no need to guard against the enemy's sneak attack.This was the most leisurely time of the day, and there was a tense atmosphere everywhere in Gemeng'anmouke's camp. Cavalry and infantry came and went in a hurry, and the camp was full of scenes of an imminent battle.

In the next few days, Yelu Dashi also seemed to have received news of the conquest of Shenzhou.In today's situation, Yelu Dashi can be as immovable as a mountain.Behind him, there are Shangjing Road, Zhongjing Road, and Nanjing Road to transport food and salaries, Xijing Road has the Mierbo tribe to support each other, and Song State has a stable relationship with Liao State.But Wanyan Aguda couldn't, Shenzhou was like a thick and sharp thorn. 'Inserted' behind the Jin army, in the north of Shenzhou, the wolf-like Khitan cavalry took advantage of the Jurchen army's southern march, burning, killing and looting everywhere like wildfire, and some small tribes and villages have even turned into white land .

No matter how the Jin army challenged, the Liao army firmly guarded the camp.A large number of Khitan cavalry spread out and wandered within a range of one or two hundred miles around the Jin Army camp.These Khitan rangers are in the sight of the Jin army.Whenever Wanyan Loushi and Wanyan Ci Bushi sent Jurchen cavalry to drive them away, the Khitan cavalry retreated, the Jurchen cavalry retreated to the camp, and the Khitan cavalry stepped forward again.The two sides have also had a few small confrontations in the past few days, each winning or losing, and the loss is less than a thousand people.

The atmosphere between the two armies became more and more tense. While Zhao Xingde took over the artillery of the Jin Kingdom, he instructed Wanyan Digunai's kidnapper to lure the Liao army's artillery to fire.The Jin soldiers kept abducting their sons and horses to attack the Liao army's barracks tentatively, in order to spy on the arrangement and reality of the Liao army's artillery.Sure enough, the Liao army set up artillery forts on the front, back, left, and right sides of the camp, but instead of a linear circular arrangement, the artillery was placed in four artillery forts, using the range of the artillery to echo each other.The defense in front of each artillery fortress is in charge of Xi Jun and slave soldiers of Tiebiying.

Under the rule of the Liao Kingdom, the status of the Xi people was lower than that of the Khitan people, but higher than other ethnic groups. Many nobles of the Xi people were given the surname Xiao, and the nobles of the Khitan people also intermarried with the nobles of the Xi people for generations.Because most of the Khitans only wanted to be cavalry, most of the armored infantry in the Liao army were served by Xi people, supplemented by the conscripted Haner Township Ding infantry.Since Yelu Dashi was restructured, Han'er Township Ding ceased to exist, so more Xi people were recruited to act as infantry, and more slaves were rewarded to Xi people, so it did not arouse great resentment among Xi people.

To attack the Liao army's artillery fortress, Zhao Xingde was more scrupulous about the Iron Wall Battalion.Under the Hejian City, those slave soldiers in the Iron Wall camp covered in iron armor and connected by iron chains left a deep impression on him.To attack the base, you can only use the kidnapper horse, which is extremely fast and flexible. However, the heavy armored infantry of the Iron Wall Battalion is the killer of the kidnapper horse.Now there are no thousands of gunfire troops in Hejian, even if there are, Zhao Xingde is not willing to put them on the battlefield where 10,000+ cavalry are galloping.

After Zhao Xingde mentioned the matter, Han Ningshuang was silent for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Zhao, don't worry too much. There are brothers from the Han army in the Tiebi camp. As long as we raise the banner, the Tiebi camp will collapse without attack." Her tone was a little low. These internal responses in the iron wall camp, or the Han soldiers who were captured by the Liao army in previous battles, or the Han children who were forcibly conscripted into the camp by the Liao army, are connected with each other by iron chains. Usually, the Liao army The guards were tight and they couldn't escape.This time there was an uprising on the battlefield, and even if they were victorious, it was uncertain whether the next ten would survive.

The sunset glow in the distance is as red as blood, covering the sky, and it is like a burning flame.Under the city of Liaoyang, between the camps of the Liao Kingdom and the Jin Kingdom, even the small trees were cut down, forming a large open area. Under the setting sun, the ground seemed to be transpired with a floating blood color.

On July 23, the sun was covered by dark clouds, and there was no wind at all. It was as hot as a steamer.The army of the Kingdom of Jin came out again, and this time, according to Zhao Xingde's instructions, thousands of heavily armored Tiefutu dismounted and served as infantry, and together with Han Ningshuang's more than ten thousand Han troops, stood guard around the artillery battalion.Zhao Xingde moved the artillery positions as close as possible to the Liao army.A total of 33 heavy artillery pieces are arranged on six mutually covering artillery bases. The heavy artillery pieces are all concentrated in the central artillery base, aiming at the artillery positions of the Liao army. The hundreds of small artillery pieces below are used to defend the fortress itself and prevent the Liao cavalry from attacking.

In previous battles, the artillery battalion of the Liao army either attacked the city or bombarded the infantry.Ordinary artillery is not accurate enough. Almost no enemy artillery hit the Liao army's fortifications, and there was even no battle where the two armies bombarded each other with artillery.Therefore, Chai Yi, the supervisor of the Liao Artillery Army, scattered light and heavy artillery on the four artillery forts surrounding the camp to bombard the Jin army cavalry.Although the artillery barracks facing the direction of the Jin Kingdom camp was the largest, they did not concentrate all the heavy artillery.That is to say, although the total number of heavy artillery possessed by the Liao army exceeds that of the Jin army, on the front main battery, the Liao army has only [-] heavy artillery pieces, which is only a little more than half of the Jin army.Although there are more than a hundred small artillery pieces on the artillery base, these artillery that are not enough to shoot can only attack the enemy troops attacking the base, and are useless in long-distance artillery battles.