Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 889

The gunpowder exploded one after another on the Ganzhou city wall, inside the city, and outside the city. The earth-shattering noise made the inside and outside of Ganzhou city rustle.

At this time, Yang Jiye had already ordered the cavalry to scatter around for vigilance, and the infantry began to help the engineers to set up camp outside the city. It seemed that the siege of the city was going to last for a long time.

Inside and outside Ganzhou City, there are flames and gunpowder smoke everywhere.The explosion of the gunpowder packs that fell inside and outside Lingzhou City was like continuous thunder, ringing non-stop.At the beginning, the eight trebuchet companies only tentatively judged and adjusted the landing point and the length of the gunpowder lead wire, and carried out small-scale attacks.After getting familiar with it, a large-scale salvo began.Each of the eight companies was in charge of a section, and each time they could ensure that at least a dozen gunpowder packets would fall on the city, causing the greatest damage to the almost inexperienced Uyghur defenders at once.

The huge explosion is also a terrifying weapon, which can instantly deafen inexperienced defenders.In addition, Ganzhou City was already dry at this time, and some wooden offensive and defensive war tools on the city wall were ignited after being bombed, and they burned uncontrollably.

Ganzhou city was in chaos.

However, Yang Jiye never ordered the troops to attack the city. He just sent a large number of scouts to go in all directions for a full twenty miles after the army set up camp, while the main force of the army was resting.

The defense of Ganzhou City is not comparable to that of Jingzhao Mansion of Song State and Datong Mansion of Liao State, even compared with any prefecture city of Xiangfu State today.The closer the place is to the core of the Ming Dynasty in the Central Plains, the architectural style of the city has the characteristics of the Central Plains. On the Gobi Desert and the barren grasslands of the Western Regions, a hundred years ago, even the place where the nomadic Khan lived and herds was nothing more than a Pieces of tents, set up camps, move as they say, and migrate throughout the grassland, so their fighting style has always been offensive, using offense instead of defense. The boundless desert grassland fled everywhere, and there was no such thing as defending the city.

Today, the Khitan people have developed from a tribal alliance regime of the Huns and Turks to an imperial regime, and have begun to build city walls and fortresses.Cities such as Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou in the Hexi Corridor were also built early because of the prosperity of the Western Regions since the Han and Tang Dynasties, but the defensive effect of these cities was actually very limited.

Yang Jiye is sure that at this time, if he uses the gunpowder pack of the trebuchet and cooperates with giant crossbow guns, siege chariots, crash vehicles, nest vehicles, ladders for grabbing ants, shield vehicles and other siege weapons, The army attacked the city directly, and the defenders of Ganzhou City lacked experience in defending the city, and they could break the city within three days at most.However, except for the trebuchet, Yang Jiye did not expose the powerful siege capabilities of the army, let alone intend to forcibly break the city.

The Ganzhou Uyghurs are a nomadic kingdom, and the majority of its residents are Uyghurs. If they break through forcefully and enter the city, not to mention the [-] defending army will become all the Uyghurs in the city. The loss of street fighting will be even greater serious.Or once the city of Ganzhou is destroyed, the various tribes will take advantage of the chaos to break through and flee in all directions.At that time, the Gobi grassland was vast and boundless, and it would be more difficult to hunt and surrender everywhere. It is not known when these wild horses that have run away will return one by one.What's more, Yang Jiye will use the bait of Ganzhou City to attract a steady stream of reinforcements from all the Uighur tribes outside the city.

Therefore, Yang Jiye just used a catapult to launch gunpowder packages to attack the city, which put a lot of pressure on Ganzhou City, and felt that it was in danger, but it could always be in danger. Always maintained a trace of fantasy, sticking to their royal city.

"They want to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements? I'm afraid it won't be that easy." Pang Teqin, who was hiding in the stone house under the inner wall of the city, knew that the enemy had never started to attack the city, so he could only guess like this.

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The explosion of gunpowder bags at the head of Ganzhou city and inside the city continued intermittently for half a day. In the evening, a spy rushed back to the middle camp, came to Yang Jiye, saluted the military, and shouted: " Commander-in-Chief, Uyghur reinforcements from Ganzhou have arrived, and there are 8000 people to the southwest."

A smile appeared on Yang Jiye's lips: "The support army came quite early."

As soon as he finished speaking, he shouted again: "Order the cavalry in charge of the west and south of the city to intercept them. According to the established plan, kill half of them and let the other half enter the city."

With the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief, he had already breathed a sigh of relief, and the First Black Wolf Cavalry Brigade in the west of the city and the Second Cavalry Brigade in the South of the City Volunteer Corps, who were waiting for the Ganzhou Uyghur reinforcements to arrive, immediately moved.

And not long after, in the southwest direction, dust was flying at the end of the naked eye. A group of about [-] cavalry in an irregular formation appeared. Judging from their charge, they were planning to break through the besieged city in one go. The Xiangfu Kingdom's army rushed into the city while causing massive damage and chaos.

If the army of the Xiangfu Kingdom is attacking the city with all its strength, then under normal circumstances, it is absolutely too late to respond to the sudden cavalry attack. On the one hand, restrain the army, adjust the rhythm, change from offense to defense, and at the same time mobilize sufficient troops to intercept it.It has to be said that under normal circumstances, this tactic of the Uighurs is not very clever, but it is absolutely effective. It is a fast word, which is the embodiment of the cavalry's maneuverability.

However, the army of the Xiangfu Kingdom did not attack the city with all its strength, and even except for eight trebuchets and a thousand officers and soldiers, the other troops were waiting.In this case, the arrival of these 8000 people is not to say that moths are rushing to the flame, but it is simply courting death.

However, the reality is otherwise.The [-] Uighur cavalry were confused and fought with the Xiangfu cavalry who intercepted them. On both sides, infantry fired crossbows, bows and arrows, and even gunpowder bags were thrown over.These [-] Uyghur cavalrymen all have high-nosed curly hair, murderous intent, and wield sharp scimitars. They fought with the Xiangfu cavalry who intercepted them. Where the horseshoes flew, a large cloud of dust was stirred up, quickly enveloping both the enemy and us in it. , Dust and smoke billowed, like two heavenly armies fighting in the clouds.It is difficult to see the specific battle situation.

However, the real situation is that the Uyghur reinforcements lost a lot at the beginning, even more than half in a short time. When the leader of the Uyghur cavalry was frightened and wanted to withdraw, for some reason, they killed the city gate in a daze.As for the inside of the city, although there are only 8000 reinforcements in the reinforcements, and even now it seems that they have lost a lot outside the city, the appearance of the first reinforcements has greatly boosted the morale of the Uyghur kings who are defending the city. The approaching reinforcements cheered excitedly, waved their knives and guns, and shouted happily. The whole Ganzhou city was excited for the appearance of King Qin's division. .

The noose of the suspension bridge creaked down, and the heavy suspension bridge fell on the moat with a bang, and the city gate opened... Ten thousand cavalry rushed out, and at the same time, more than 2 soldiers of the Uyghur defenders were on the top of Ganzhou City All of them held bows and shot a rain of arrows. The [-] cavalry who cooperated with the city repelled the Xiangfu cavalry who were chasing and killing the reinforcements, and the remaining reinforcements entered the city dangerously.Pang Teqin, who had been worried that the Xiangfu army would follow the reinforcements into the city despite some losses, let out a long sigh of relief.

In this battle, more than 200 people were killed by 800 Uighur reinforcements, and 400 people entered Ganzhou City.The Xiangfu cavalry lost more than [-] people.

But then Pang Teqin remembered the strangeness of Xiangfu's army attacking the city today, and his expression became gloomy again.Now, how can he fail to see that what Yang Jiye wants to do is not to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, because the reinforcements will turn around and run away at any time if they cannot be defeated, but if they are put into Ganzhou City and surrounded, they will become a circled wolf. Although it is still fierce, it is difficult to escape one.

But knowing what to do, this is equivalent to a conspiracy for him, he needs reinforcements, and even if the tribes know that it is a trap, they will come to support them without hesitation in order to rescue their Khan and Wangcheng.What's more, Pang Teqin still has a certain degree of confidence in defending Ganzhou City when reinforcements enter the city.

The catapults used gunpowder packs to attack Ganzhou City not very densely, but they were able to maintain intermittent bombing and start again.This always puts a lot of pressure and damage on the defenders.

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In the second year of Tianding, on June [-]th, Xia Jing.

"Hahaha... Yes, Yang Jiye did a good job! Not to mention the loss of hundreds of people and the capture of Liangzhou City, the Ganzhou Huangtou Uighur Khanate also lost more than 2 people, and it was captured just after the expedition. The great victory has boosted the morale of the army and strengthened the military prestige of our Xiangfu country." In the government affairs hall, Ye Chen saw the victory at the court meeting, and gave up the emperor's reserve and majesty, and let out a long laugh, beaming with joy. , In front of the Manchu civil and military applause for the good news on the front line.

All the ministers were equally delighted, bowed together and said: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty, Your Majesty's arrival in the Hexi Corridor is just around the corner."

Ye Chen nodded slightly, signaling to all the ministers to calm down, then read the victory report carefully, and said: "Well! This time the Ministry of Security and the special brigade have made their first contribution, and passed on my will to the special brigade named Xue Mijian The squad leader made first-class military exploits, and was promoted from a senior non-commissioned officer to a captain. Information about Zhou Hu from the Liangzhou Department of the Ministry of Security did not arrive in time, but he was able to atone for his merits, and his merits outweighed his demerits, so he will be rewarded once as encouragement."

Zeng Shangfei and Hu Sanguang respectfully said yes.

Han Xizai smiled, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the current victory is just the beginning. I think the news of the great victory in Ganzhou will be delivered to His Majesty soon."

Ye Chen nodded, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and said: "I hope to win the Hexi Corridor within three months."

(End of this chapter)