Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 365 Han Jialian Hu Bing (3)

The solid shells landed on the ice one after another, some smashed a big hole in the ice, some penetrated directly into the sea water, and some bounced on the ice, causing ice slag to fly in all directions.The Liao army was caught off guard, and thousands of people were in chaos. They turned their backs on their backs, and all the ministries galloped desperately towards the shore.However, with the running of countless men and horses and the continuous bombardment of solid shells, the roar gradually began to echo under the entire ice surface, as if a sleeping beast was about to wake up, and it was letting out a deep roar from the depths of its throat , as if there were bursts of muffled thunder coming from the depths of the sea.Among these dull sounds, there is an occasional crisp sound, which is the sudden cracks in the ice layer.These cracks were weak at first, but there were more and more, longer and faster. Gradually, crackling sounds of "Ka——", "Ka Ka", "Ka Ka Ka——" came and went, replacing There was a dull thunder, and even on the ice where the cannons were roaring and the noise of people and horses was neighing, it was so clear that it was palpitating.

"The ice is broken—" "The ice is blown—" "Run—"

The terrified running exacerbated the cracking of the ice layer, the crisp cracking sound became louder and louder, cracks appeared on the ice surface, and the piercing sea water quickly rushed up the ice surface. As the center of gravity of the people and horses on the sea ice moved, more The sea water surged up, and the original small cracks gradually turned into wide cracks, like a huge gaping mouth, swallowing the Liao soldiers and horses who had no time to escape.

Xiao Tachi looked at the continuous flashes of light on the sea, which were the gunboats of the Xia State Navy firing, his face became contorted with anger.Countless Liao army infantry are desperately retreating northward.The Guannan camp was attacked by the Han army, and there were not many people in the dark. After the panic resistance, all the Liao army began to flee north.In the dark night of Nanshan City, the light of the iron barrel cannons flashed and flashed, and countless heavy shells were thrown far away.The Liao army who fled north through the east and west sides of the city suffered heavy casualties.However, the cruelty of the Han army has long cast a shadow of fear in the hearts of the Liao army.The Liao army would rather flee under intensive artillery fire than stay in Guannan, Suzhou as a prisoner.The roads on both sides of Nanshan City were narrow, tens of thousands of horses huddled together in the dark and ran desperately, and many people trampled on each other.The frightened Khitan cavalry tried their best to urge their horses, but in just a few miles, many horses stumbled and fell down.Even the Khitan cavalry bypassed Nanshan City, continued to bypass the Liao camp in the north of Guanbei, and retreated towards Liaoyang.

A group of Liao generals ran to Xiao Tachi's side after taking the lead, seeing this situation, they all looked at each other in blank dismay.Guo Baoyi, the deputy governor, was full of worry.Since the wooden shield cannon was destroyed, the Liao army stormed Nanshan City for days, resulting in many casualties.Fighting at night is a taboo for military strategists, and fighting in haste is another taboo.The Han army had obviously planned for a long time. If Xiao Tachi was not angry about being attacked by surprise and forced his army to attack Nanshan City, or even forcibly counterattack Suzhou Guannan through the place that was being bombarded by artillery, how many casualties would be caused?

The Guannan Camp was burning so brightly that it could be seen clearly even across Nanshan City.Xiao Tachi was silent for a long time, his face was flickeringly illuminated by the flames, and finally he said slowly: "The soldiers and horses who received Guannan from the former barracks have retreated, and all the troops are ready to guard against bandits taking advantage of the situation to attack the camp."

Several generals including Guo Baoyi and Xiao Yixue secretly breathed a sigh of relief.With such a defeat, everyone was not in a good mood. They went down to supervise the army, the cavalry mounted their horses to guard, and the infantry guarded the camp.Xiao Tachi sent another cavalry army to take in the soldiers who had dispersed back to Guanbei, but this time, he did not mention the matter of military punishment.

"Boom—" "Boom——"

It was impossible to aim accurately in the dark night, and the gunners on the naval gunboats on the sea only pointed the muzzles roughly towards the shore and fired as quickly as possible.Even so, watching the Guannan Liao Army continue to flee back to the north, Li Sihai kept urging, "Quick, quick—" the gunners filled the ammunition and immediately lit the fire.Amidst the roar of the cannons, the hull of a gunboat shook violently. Not long after, people in the bilge suddenly found that seawater was constantly pouring up from below, and the boat immediately became a mess.

"The bilge is leaking!" "The boat is shaking!"

Just looking at the speed of the seawater gushing out, I'm afraid the damaged gaps are too small to be sealed.When the officer decided to abandon the ship, the sailors climbed onto the deck one by one like mice, and quickly lowered the boats on both sides of the ship.Under the watchful eyes of the other four gunboats, the abandoned ship slowly sank into the icy water.At this time, the sky was already twilight.

"It's 'grandmother'," Li Sihai angrily hammered at the railing, "What kind of broken ship did the Ordnance Department build!"

On the boards of the remaining gunboats, the sailors who just got up from the water were trembling.One of them was already pale with cold, his lips were purple, and he was shivering in the cold wind under a blanket.The eyes of the other sailors were all on the battlefield on the shore, but he looked at the ship of the Han army not far away, showing complicated eyes, which were a little hot and painful.When he saw Li Sihai's figure on Diao Dou, he slightly moved the blanket covering his head.

Chen Kang sneaked to Liaodong without telling everyone.When he heard the news that the Liao army was besieging Guannan in Suzhou, he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. However, the ordinary military newspaper did not appear, and he did not distinguish between the names of Tieshan Island and Tieshanbao. Chen Kang always thought that Han Ningshuang was staying in In Iron Mountain Fort.He is familiar with military books and knows the Han army and the terrain of Suzhou like the palm of his hand. He thought that defending Tieshan Fort was putting himself in a desperate situation, so he became more and more worried.As the son of a vassal king, he was not allowed to leave the fief without authorization, so he used some means to leave a letter and left Kang Guo without his eyes and ears.

For the imperial court, it is a fairy tale like a fairy tale that the son of the vassal prince gave out his fiefdom for a woman.In particular, Chen Kang's success as the heir of King Kang with the children of the Chen family was made possible by the Huguo Mansion, the Prime Minister's Mansion and the General's Mansion all the time.The nobles of the Kang Kingdom, including Kang Deming, the captain of the Huguo Mansion, have always had some knots.Once this matter breaks out, the whole river may be in trouble.After the military intelligence department learned about it, it immediately suppressed the news strictly, and only said that Kang Guo's son was seriously ill and needed to rest indoors.The Military Intelligence Department only notified Li Sihai secretly, and immediately arrested Chen Kang when he saw him, and escorted him back to Kang Guo for further disposal.This is also the reason why Chen Kang was able to travel southward, and even boarded the Navy's ship as a royal messenger.

The east gradually 'revealed' thousands of rays of light, and there was only a piece of ruins left in the Liao army's camp in Guannan. The corpses of the Liao soldiers and horses were scattered all over the vicinity, and many of them died in the trampling of each other.In the sea to the west of Nanshan City, there were countless broken ice floes and corpses.Most of the Liao army fled back to Guanbei, the sea ice was completely destroyed, and the navy sunk a ship inexplicably, and the battle that night gradually ended in chaos.

Wearing a blue cloak, Han Ningshuang went ashore again surrounded by generals of the Han army. The Shizikou Wharf at the foot of Laotieshan Mountain had been cleared, and hundreds of Han soldiers were waiting on the wharf.Han Ningshuang looked at Nanshan City not far away, turned her head and laughed in a low voice, "Are you impatient?" Li Ruoxue's face flushed.She was wearing the uniform of a soldier of the Han army. Although others could tell she was a woman at a glance, the generals of the Han army were not surprised that there was a woman beside Han Ningshuang.

When Han Ningshuang returned to Tieshan Fort, the blue unicorn flag was hoisted again on the top of Laotieshan.Although the Tieshan Fort captured by the Liao Army is a dangerous place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, however, there is a secret passage in the Tieshan Fort for the leaders of the Han Army to escape, which is unknown to the Liao Army including Han Kuang. .Last night, after the Han army broke through the Liao army's Guannan camp at night, they only separated a part of their troops, and captured Tieshan Fort through secret passages.Because most of the Liao army stationed at the fort were those who attacked Tieshan Fort and killed many Han soldiers, and there were almost no prisoners left in this battle.Just like how the Liao army conquered Tieshanbao, the Han army threw the enemy's corpse directly from the cliff into the sea.

Behind Nanshan City, the Han army that had already landed was rushing to repair various fortifications. Although the melting sea ice made it difficult for the Liao army to gain a foothold in Guannan, Suzhou, they still needed to be prepared for a surprise attack by the Liao army's light cavalry.Gao Bolong led more than [-] riders to stand guard next to the artillery fortress.When the Han troops in each camp saw the blue unicorn flag, they all burst into cheers in unison.