Compete for the Song Dynasty

Hearing that it was Pingpoguo, more Xixia soldiers gathered around: "It's Pingpoguo!!" The soldiers burst into cheers.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away from me. Xixia soldiers don’t have this concept. The main reason is that the water source has disappeared for several days. The only road leading to the water source is full of mines. Back off, who dares to step forward and deal with it by military law!"

Order still needs to be maintained, otherwise the dozen or so carts of Pingpo fruit would not be enough for [-] soldiers, and a massacre caused by Pingpo fruit would occur. Du Luo hurriedly sent someone to notify Wang Mengye. Wang Mengye also rushed over, he was very excited when he saw this Pingpoguo, this is a timely help.

Man Chang hurriedly called to escort Ping Poguo: "These are all sent by Prince Liang!"

Man Chang replied: "Yes, Lord Liang knows that everyone is very anxious because there is no water. These are just a few, and Prince Liang's soldiers are mobilizing more fruits everywhere, and they are trying to find water sources to solve the urgent need!" [

Wang Mengxuan picked up a Pingpo fruit and took a bite. It was so sweet and juicy that I could even hear the sound of Du Luo and the others swallowing their saliva. Where did the saliva come from? Everyone tasted terrible. If there is saliva, it is also to quench thirst.

"General, you have been refusing to retreat to the southwest. The prince said that you are in order to confront the Song army. Another reason is that you do not want to face the prince of Liang. Now you know, the mood of the prince of Liang is still towards the Xixia army. , you don’t want to protect such a monarch, do you want to protect the Queen Mother who seeks power!”

Du Luo couldn't bear it anymore: "Yes, what General Man said is reasonable, General Wang Mengyao think twice!"

When he said this, the deputy generals around Wang Mengxi responded one after another.

The effect of Pingpo fruit is too great, Wang Meng thought for a while: "Prince Liang has a way to destroy Yongle City!"

"Yes, there is, but the prince can't tell us for the time being!"

Wang Mengxuan nodded and turned back to tell Du Luo to divide the apples as much as possible first.

"General, don't be too anxious. I think if the prince sees you, he will solve the follow-up matter as soon as possible after knowing the situation of the former enemy." Man Chang said without losing the opportunity.

These words touched Wang Mengye quite a bit. Seeing that Liang Yibu was well prepared, even if he headed southwest rashly at that time, Liang Yibu must have sufficient countermeasures.

Now it is not only the water source that has been cut off, but also the connection with the imperial court for the Xixia army. Wang Mengye carefully weighed the pros and cons, so it may not be a bad thing to take refuge in Liang Yibu, at least he no longer has to bear the infamy of his face. If success is still the hero of the founding of the country, he no longer has to succumb to that woman's lust, he nodded: "Take me to see Prince Liang!"

It is a curse to say that if you have milk, you are a mother, but no matter how plump the ideal is, it is more skinny than the reality. Without water, it means that you can’t even make porridge and rice. When the tongue is dry, the one with water is the father.

It’s not like Xixia soldiers. Xixia soldiers are also people, and they are also recruited by ordinary people. To the common people, it doesn’t matter who leads the soldiers and who is in power. People are going to die, so what ideals do they talk about? If they live simply, who can make the people have clothes to wear? , I have food to eat, and then I will talk about higher demands such as dignity, and now Xixia soldiers want only water, and Wang Meng is not stupid. Apart from his own consideration, he didn't know that there were only two wells in Yongle City. Therefore, even if the soldiers do not riot at this time, if the Song army rushes out of the city, the defeated Xixia army will come back to Xingqing Mansion, not to mention the Pingpo fruit, it will simply not be able to eat any good fruit.

The time to witness the miracle has come. Wang Mengyue only brought one or two lieutenants and a few personal guards to see Liang Yibu. Thinking that there were more than 300 people in Hengshan Village, Liang Yibu and his [-] soldiers were taken in, and what was even more unexpected was that [-] Xixia troops would follow behind.

Even Liang Yibu himself couldn't believe it. When Wang Pang said that he could really do it, Sha Shiyan and other members of the Salt Gang were stunned. Beside, Wu Tong patted Sha Shiyan who hadn't recovered yet: "Wang Pang has reappeared, and there will be unexpected things in the future. Brother Sha, you have to be mentally prepared!"

The Song Army in Yongle City, like the Xixia Army, was looking forward to a rain. There were only two wells in the city, and the people waiting to fetch water by the wells lined up a long queue with various containers that could fetch water. In the early morning of the second day after going to see Liang Yibu, officials of all sizes in the city gathered in the government office: "Shen Jinglue, how are we going to fight this battle? The soldiers and common people are complaining." Local officials all gathered in the government office to ask Shen Kuo the countermeasures.

"The only way now is to retreat." Shen Kuo said.

Xu Xi was the first to jump out: "Withdrawing the troops, wouldn't Li Shunju's death be in vain? Besides, we have more people than Xixia. Wouldn't it be a disgrace to my court to retreat like this!"

"If you don't retreat, you just sit and wait for death. Besides, if Xu Wei didn't make the decision on his own, how could there be such a big loss." Shen Kuo was sullen. It's easy to do, with the help of the city, it can give the enemy some blows, but if you rush out like this, you will die, but if you don't rush, the Xixia army has surrounded the city, and the Song army can be trapped to death if you are trapped. Good retreat.

When Shen Kuo talked about Xu Xi's pain, he quibbled in a hurry: "What does it mean to make decisions without authorization? There are two votes in favor of the three of you. Besides, Shen Jinglue, didn't you object at the time? Who knows that the Xixia army will kill them, no matter what. I do not agree to retreat!" [

Just as the two were arguing, they suddenly heard a soldier report: "Shen Jinglue, hurry up and have a look at the city, the Xixia army is going to attack the city!"

This was what Shen Kuo was most worried about hearing. He hurriedly led the crowd towards the top of the city. Two hundred paces below the city stood Xixia soldiers. In front of the front row of soldiers was a row of three-bow ballistas. After that came rows of soldiers carrying crossbows.

Bows are common to infantry and cavalry, but crossbows can only be used by infantry. Because crossbows generally use their feet to open the crossbow, the range is also long, but the shooting frequency of crossbows is low. From the enemy cavalry entering the range to close combat, only three or four Therefore, the Song army sometimes set up crossbowmen, crossbowmen, and crossbowmen to shorten the interval between firing arrows. The bed crossbow fires dozens of arrows at a time, which is very harmful to the enemy's intensive attack. Due to its powerful power, The siege army often shoots at the city wall so that the sergeants can antagonize the city, so the siege army calls this crossbow arrow a stepping arrow.

Seeing that the Xixia army was really going to attack the city, the deputy general stepped forward to take orders from Shen Kuo. Shen Kuo shook his head: "What we are afraid of now is that the Xixia army will besiege the city. If he attacks hard, we can destroy as many as we can. Prepare to defend and endure." Just wait a little longer!"

Shen Kuo gave such instructions, but time passed by bit by bit, and the Xixia army had no intention of attacking. It is now June and July, and the sun is already shining after noon, and the soldiers on the city are sweating profusely Next, even Shen Kuo, who was watching the battle on the city with a fan, was drenched in sweat.

"Why aren't you attacking?" Xu Xi said impatiently as he flashed his clothes.

Shen Kuo cast a glance at Xu Xi: "How about, Manager Xu leads the troops to fight!"

Xu Ximing knew that Shen Kuo was ridiculing him, but blushed and couldn't say anything.

"Shen Jinglue, it's time to see something is happening." Shen Kuo hurriedly looked down the city with everyone. This look was new, and several carriages came out from the back of the Xixia soldiers camp, and baskets of baskets on the carriages went down. Not knowing what they were moving, Xixia's soldiers simply sat on the ground, waiting to get things out of the car.

A cannon-throwing cart was pulled out from the ranks, and the soldiers shouted: "Song Jun in the city, listen up, our lord wants to give you a gift!"

"Fire the arrow." Xu Xi yelled.

Now no one listened to him, everyone looked at Shen Kuo, Shen Kuo frowned and wondered what Wang Pang and his son were going to do.

A cannon cart is not a cannon, but a catapult in the words of modern people. The original catapult structure was very simple, a huge lever, the long end was a leather case or a wooden basket loaded with stones, and the short end was tied with dozens of stones. When the order is issued, dozens of people pull the rope at the same time and use the principle of leverage to throw the stone. However, the technology of throwing stones reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. "Wu Jing Zongyao" said, "Every cannon is a sharp weapon in the army." Also, both offensive and defensive divisions use it", which shows the emphasis on catapults. The book also introduces eight commonly used catapults in detail, the largest of which requires 250 people to pull hands, is 876 meters long, and can launch 45 kg of stones. Shooting 90 steps (14085 meters converted into modern units by the Song military system), it must be pointed out here that the "Wu Jing Zong Yao" may have greatly reduced the range of the stone chariot for the purpose of keeping secrets or deliberately misleading the enemy. According to other ancient records and modern scientific calculation simulations, the launch distance of this kind of catapult is not less than 500 meters, which can be said to be an ultra-long-range strike in the era of cold weapons.

Of course, the one in front of me is so exaggerated. It seems that a dozen people can pull it. Xixia soldiers put a basket of Pingpo fruit on the catapult, and a dozen people pulled the rope, and a basket of Pingpo fruit flew towards the city. However, compared with the huge stone, the Pingpo fruit is much lighter, flying over a pile of Pingpo fruit with a splash, Song Jun was shocked and hurt at first when he was hit, and then realized that the Pingpo fruit immediately became a mess , One after another rushed to grab the fruit, and even those who fell to the ground and shattered were snatched by extremely thirsty soldiers.

Shen Kuo, Xu Xi and others were also almost hit. Seeing that the soldiers snatched all the fruits on the ground, Xu Xi stomped his feet in grief: "This, isn't the Xixia people teasing us? Shen Jinglue, what do they mean? , why don't you vote more..."