Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 789 The Eve of the Great War
"Chief of Staff, after I go out to battle, you cooperate with the county lord to defend the city!"

"Pass the matter of patrolling the city to the deputy brigade commander. If there is any change in the city, kill it!"

"The first battalion leads the headquarters to follow me out of the city!"

"Huang Guang, you lead your battalion cavalry to fight together!"

Han Tao assigned the task with a few words. In fact, everything was planned, and it only needed to be slightly modified.

An officer took the order and left after saluting. At this point, the magistrate had no choice: "How sure is Brigadier Han? You bring a battalion of infantry and a battalion of cavalry, a total of 2000 people, and the Liao enemy outside the city is enough There are tens of thousands of people."

Han Tao smiled and said: "Don't worry, my lord, I just want to test the quality of the Liao army and capture a few prisoners. I won't be too far away from the city, or I won't be able to come back if I am surrounded. And there are fewer people, just to mobilize , the battle fails, and it is convenient and quick to retreat.”

The county magistrate sighed, cupped his hands and said, "I hope Brigadier Han will be careful!"

"Beware of the Liao enemy!" Han Tao's calm voice was full of confidence.

Fuzhou.

Accompanied by Li Guangshun, the head of the Black Wolf Army, Yang Jiye went up to the tower to watch the city defense.

Since the imperial court deduced that Xiao Dage, the king of the South Court of Liao Kingdom, was likely to attack Fuzhou City with all his strength, Li Guangshun had mainly worked hard on the defense of Fuzhou City in the past three months, except Zhangjiabao and other three military forts to strengthen the defense. Two wooden walls were built outside the city wall, and a large number of wooden piles were buried on the outermost side.At this time, the soldiers in the city were enthusiastically inspecting the city defenses, as if they had endless energy all over their bodies.

A towering tower was built behind the east tower of Fuzhou City. This is the commanding height of Fuzhou City and the command headquarters when defending the city. From here, with a telescope, you can completely see the city walls and gates of the whole city.A five-foot-high command flag has been raised on the tower, and there are several command flags and battalion flags of different colors around it. Li Guangshun scanned the entire prefecture city, intending to show off in front of the general, and ordered the flag officer to start testing The command system stipulated in the latest command order issued by the General Staff.

When the commanding flag is pointing towards a certain city gate, the defender's flag on the gate tower will also be waved. This is called "responsive flag", which means that the order from the upper peak has been received.Li Guangshun and Yang Jiye followed the direction of the command flag, and the flag on the city tower shook several times, each time passing the order to the lowest company flag.

Then there is the test of troop control under the tower, where the battalion commanders beat clappers and war drums one after another after answering the flag, and go up to the city to support or form a battle formation inside according to the order of the tower.

There are also black and yellow flags on the towers of the gates, which are the warning flags to report the battle situation to the towers and the report flags to report the mission execution status.There are messengers on both the tower and the banner, and these soldiers can be used to meet complex tactical communication needs.

The semaphore was also used simply in the army of this era, but it was far from being used like the Xiangfu country today. Now in the Xiangfu country, the semaphore has become the most important command method of the army. Li Guangshun, who is far away in the tower, cannot It is impossible to make accurate commands by using the flag of the regiment commander to command specific soldiers, and the warning flags of various ministries are the eyes of military chiefs at all levels.Once the flag is lost, it means the loss of command. No matter how many troops there are, and no matter how well equipped they are, they will immediately separate from the army system.

Every time the flag was lit, the troops under command quickly responded to the flag and passed down the order. Yang Jiye saw that the black wolf army's flag language was proficient and accurate, so he couldn't help smiling and nodding his head slightly to express his appreciation.Every commanded officer also led his subordinates to pay tribute to the direction of the tower while passing on the semaphore.

This extra action was aimed at the general Yang Jiye. Under the leadership of the brigade commander, battalion commander, and company commander, the soldiers raised their weapons above their heads and beat desperately while their team's flag was waving.Where the flag was heading, everyone shouted madly towards the tower.

The cheers spread through the army like flower balls, and the enthusiastic voices and the jumping figures of soldiers continued endlessly.After the last flag was ready, the troops who had been called could not bear the loneliness. No matter where they were, all the soldiers made the loudest voices to show their courage and fighting spirit to the general on the tower.

After the overwhelming cheers were over for a long time, Yang Jiye took a long breath and said, "Very good, Your Majesty wanted to rank the seven major legions in terms of comprehensive combat power during the small court meeting last time. The Black Wolf Legion just look at this The momentum should be able to enter the top three."

Li Guangshun heard the news of the ranking for the first time, his eyes lit up, and his heart was already full of fighting spirit.I just received an urgent report from Zhangjiabao on the front line, and the Liao army really came to invade, and they have already appeared in Zhangjiabao.He really wanted to take the main force out of the city now, and fight towards the front line of Zhangjiabao to fight the Liao army.However, this strategic plan was personally formulated by the General Staff of the Military Division, and issued to each legion after His Majesty's official decision.Their Black Wolf Army could only defend the city in the early stage and attract the Liao Army, while the Xuanwu Army had already gone around the rear of the Liao Army by a secret route. Coupled with the two-sided attack, the Liao army panicked, and they could only go out of the city to kill the enemy when they felt like retreating.

Town West Fort.

Yelu Hanye led people into the city, and after meeting with Deng Chongxuan and Yang Yanqing to discuss, he followed Yang Yanqing's defense plan, and the people who led them took charge of the two wings.

And Deng Chongxuan, the head of the Suzaku Legion, had no time to rest, so he and Wang Chao boarded the podium set up for them, looking down at the field fortifications ahead.

The podium is three feet three feet high, with brick and earth barriers at the bottom, wooden ladder towers at the top, and a platform that can accommodate ten people on the top.The two stood on this platform.Not only can you have a panoramic view of the entire defense line.It is even better to see clearly the distance of several miles in the wilderness. If you look at it with a telescope, you can see ten miles away.At the same time, it is also handy to get information from the watchtowers on both wings.

The command company directly under the army's staff has already planted the banner of the army leader Deng Chongxuan on the top of the command tower.On the banner of Zhangliu, there is a row of gold-plated characters: "Deng of the Suzaku Legion".

The bastion, the horizontal parapet and the three low walls have been repaired. There is a gap of about fifteen feet between every two outer walls. Zhang Yuan.

The engineer battalion is still laying out the horse-proof and wooden fences between the horizontal parapets of the bastion, and is still cultivating soil at the bottom of the fences and tamping them down to strengthen the fences.The cement is still being mixed in the back to prepare to water and strengthen these fences and horses. Only the 30-meter fence in the middle has not been reinforced. This is the gate reserved for the troops.Fifteen feet further on, there are a large number of newly built thatched and wooden houses, which are the residential areas and shelters for the soldiers of the Suzaku Legion.The Liao people brought by Yelu Hanye who entered the city live in the deep part of the fort, surrounded by a wall, to prevent these Liao people from possibly having the secret work of Brother Yeluxiu outside, except for the more than 1 people who were screened out by Yelu Hanye Liao people can help with some things, but they are strictly forbidden to leave their residences.

In the large number of thatched huts and wooden huts located in the fort wall, in addition to clothing, cloth, charcoal and water boiling utensils are also prepared in these huts.Once soldiers are injured in battle, they can be transferred to these field camps immediately. There is a medical team from the Suzaku Legion here. The military doctors have personally inspected all the fire pits, and strictly require that the fire pits be lit at any time. It was already cold, and in this season of fighting, the severe cold could turn the slightest breach into a fatal wound.

As early as when the Liao army appeared, except for the engineers who were still busy reinforcing the fortifications, Wang Chao ordered other troops to enter a rest state to recover their physical strength, so that they could go into battle with full energy.

The command flag of the regiment commander was waved up and down, and the flags on the several-mile-long front also responded to the flag one after another. Looking at the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in front of him, the spears and halberds were like a dense forest.It really made Deng Chongxuan feel like his chest and abdomen were filled with passion, and he almost wanted to break out of his body.This is the first battle he has organized under his command since he led the Hengshan Sixth Army Village to surrender to Chengxiang Fu Kingdom and became the commander of the Suzaku Legion.

Since the founding of the country, there have been two wars with Song and Liao. Except for the Xuanwu Army who suffered a big defeat and was once disabled, the other armies fought very well. If their Suzaku Army can't hold Zhenxi Fort this time, Then Deng Chongxuan and the Suzaku Legion will be inferior in the Xiangfu National Army.What's more, one more month will be the first New Year's Day after the founding of the Xiangfu Kingdom. There has long been news in the court that the Manchu Dynasty will be awarded civil and military titles based on the meritorious service since the founding of the country. If he has no military achievements, where will he get the title.This is also the reason why he personally led the cavalry to meet Yelu Hanye, and let the deputy army commander Wang Chao stay on the defensive.

Just after the time passed, the sentry towers on both wings sent out warning signals almost at the same time.

Soon, a row of black figures appeared in front of Deng Chongxuan's eyes. This black line stretched across the safety of the wasteland and was heading towards the position outside the castle of the Suzaku Legion.The enemy army slowly emerged from the horizon, like a streak of ink, slowly revealing from the background of the wasteland in front of the defenders.

When the enemy entered the first five miles of the position, Deng Chongxuan and Wang Chao stood up from their seats.Take two steps forward, hold on to the railing with one hand, and start to observe the enemy with the binoculars in the other. Just now, it was vague and not very clear, but suddenly it is clearly visible.The watchmen and messengers behind them also tensed their nerves. One pushed his eyes to the maximum to see the enemy carefully, and the other was ready to send orders at any time to send the troops resting in the cold shelter to the defensive front.The operators in the trebuchet positions also grabbed the ropes and prepared the gunpowder packs.True, what will be fired will be all powder packs, not a single stone.

But the order to prepare for the battle was never issued. Wang Chao looked at the enemy brigade parked a few miles away, and saw their rangers patrolling a hundred steps away from the outer low wall, and sneered: "Why is the Liao army so timid now?" If that’s the case, don’t you even dare to conduct reconnaissance when you see our army?”

(End of this chapter)