Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The Xixia reinforcements came not only from Brother Richard, but also from the Gansu Military Division.

The word "Gansu" comes from the "Gansu Military Division" in Xixia, which is the collective name of Ganzhou (Zhangye) and Suzhou (Jiuquan).

First, Ding Zhongyi, the magistrate of Xiliang (Wuwei), received a letter asking for help and immediately called the deputy generals and deputy generals of the Southern Army.

The two began to gather troops at all costs and recruited all the soldiers they could recruit. They voluntarily gave up Zhenwu City (Ancient Bone Dragon City) and contracted the defense line to Renduoquan City to reduce the consumption of military food transportation and reduce the defensive pressure on the western front.

At the same time, they sent a letter to the Gansu Military Division asking for help.

The commander-in-chief of the Gansu Military Division is King Qi Li Renyi, and the deputy commander-in-chief is Po Chou Ma Qi. There was also a Ganzhou governor named Zhang Yu, who also served as the military supervisor of the Gansu Military Department.

"Po Chou" and the previous "Ye Li" are both surnames from the Eight Parties of the Party.

When Brother Richard arrived in Huizhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Liangzhou had completed the gathering of troops, and the total strength reached 60,000. If they were given enough time and food to recruit, all ethnic groups of Han, Qiang, and Tubo would be recruited. Called, the three states can pull out more than 100,000 troops.

But the combat effectiveness of these 60,000 Xixia troops is really worrying.

The Song and Xia wars lasted for more than ten years, and Xixia's Henan Military Division and Gansu Military Division suffered heavy losses. Renduoquan City alone was massacred twice by Liu Fa, directly massacring thousands of veterans, and even the Xixia soldiers who surrendered in Kaicheng were not spared.

When fighting in Huizhou, Yanzhou and other places, soldiers from here are often sent there.

A large number of people were lost and could only be replenished by arresting Han people.

At present, one-third of the more than 60,000 soldiers are Han Chinese, and there are also a large number of Qiang tribe soldiers.

Party soldiers are also getting younger overall, with most of them aged between 15 and 25, and there are less than 5,000 veterans over 30 years old.

The whole army marched to Jisang (Gulang) and stopped.

Firstly, they were waiting for the delivery of food and grass, and secondly, they were afraid of being ambushed. They wanted to wait for Brother Richard to arrive on the battlefield.

Several fast horses came running, they were Brother Richard's messengers.

After Li Renyi opened the letter, he handed it to Po Chou Ma Qi: "The Jin King's army has penetrated Xiguan Fort, threatening to force the Han army to return for reinforcements. We can start here."

Supervisor Zhang Yu said: "I'm worried about two things. First, there has been no news from Henan Army for almost two months. Could it be that he has fallen? Second, the Han army's cannons that sound like thunder can shoot iron. Is the long stick really as difficult to deal with as it appears in the letter asking for help?"

Li Renyi said categorically: "Henan Army Division will definitely not fall. Although the walls of the sub-castle have collapsed, the walls of the mother city are extremely thick. No matter how powerful the Han soldiers' divine artillery is, they cannot collapse the thick walls. Over the past few decades, , how many times have the Han attacked Henan Army Division, and three thousand soldiers can hold out for more than half a year. This time there are 20,000 soldiers. If Zicheng does not fall, I will not even plan to send reinforcements, because the Han soldiers will definitely not be able to break it."

"I hope so." Zhang Yu always felt that something was wrong.

Ding Zhongyi, the magistrate of Xiliang, said: "Even if Henan Army Sicheng has fallen, we must send a large army to take it back!"

This statement is politically correct and no one can refute it.

The status of Liangzhou (Wuwei) in Xixia is similar to that of Luoyang in the Song Dynasty. It is the legal companion capital of Xixia.

Once the Henan Military Division is gone, the capital of Xixia will be exposed to the front of the Ming army, and the city will have to be taken back even with human lives.

Ju Ming concentrated his forces to attack Henan Army Division, which was a strategically necessary step to attack the enemy!

Two days later, Xixia's leading cavalry unit successfully entered the Kalochuan Valley.

Seeing that there were ravines on both sides of the river valley, he sent more than ten riders to investigate and prevent the Han army from setting up an ambush in the ravine.

Probably after Tianzhu County in later generations, the scout cavalry from both sides met, and a small-scale cavalry battle broke out.

…

Yang Zhi summoned the generals for a meeting: "The enemy's reinforcements are coming soon."

"I'm here to attack!" Gong Xiu shouted immediately.

Yang Zhi nodded and said, "Okay, after lunch, let the soldiers rest for a while and then attack the city."

Gong Xiu said in surprise: "Isn't it possible to attack the city at night?"

"Where did I say to attack the city at night?" Yang Zhixiao asked.

"I've been beating drums and shouting every night for more than a month. Isn't this just a tactic to tire out the troops? Although I don't read much, I also know this truth. It can not only make the enemies in the city sleep poorly, but also make them paralyzed and careless," Gong Xiu Said, "When the enemy is tired and sleepy and accustomed to the shouting at night, then suddenly send troops to attack!"

Yang Zhi laughed and said, "I thought the same way, but General Li said it would be better to send troops during the day."

Li Yanxian said: "We have been tired for more than a month. The enemy general must be prepared at night, but he did not expect our army to attack during the day. This is the first, and let's talk about the second. The enemy's city walls collapsed in many places, and they were besieged and tired for many days. , the morale has long been reduced to what it used to be, and there is absolutely no need to attack at night. Our army can better utilize the advantages of military formations and firearms by attacking the city during the day."

Gong Xiu nodded and said, "That's true."

The meeting ended soon, and Gong Xiu went to make military deployment.

Today is Han Huaizhong's turn to defend the city. He saw the Ming army mobilizing troops and organized the soldiers for defense step by step.

They have all formed a routine.

This has been the case every day for the past two months.

The Ming army sent out troops in turns in the morning, pretending to attack the city, and then just bombarded the gaps with artillery.

In the afternoon, when the bombardment stopped, a feint attack was carried out with loud drum beats. The Ming army advanced in formation for a certain distance to frighten the defenders in the city and then retreated.

As for the Xixia defenders, after listening to the sound of cannons and drums, they moved to carry earth, wood and stones to simply plug the gap opened by the blast.

Then at night, the Ming army was outside the three city walls, with three thousand men each holding torches and shouting, and the drums could last for an hour.

The next day, it was the same routine again.

The Ming army outside the city could take turns to tire out the enemy, but the Xixia army inside the city really couldn't sleep well because a feint attack could turn into a real attack at any time.

One after another, the ground stone bullets were slightly smaller in diameter than the standard iron bullets. They were also wrapped with a layer of cloth and were stuffed into the barrel by the artillerymen.

Reducing the diameter and wrapping pieces of cloth are all to reduce the wear of rough stone bullets on the barrel.

Observing the movements of the Ming army's artillery from a distance, the Xixia soldiers automatically left the city wall, especially away from several gaps. They were already very experienced.

"Boom boom boom!"

As the cannon sounded, stone bombs flew out and hit several gaps in the simple fortifications.

The iron bullets and stone bullets thrown by the Ming army provided fortification materials for the Xixia army, and a large number of projectiles were blocked in the gap. The fallen red clay city wall was also smashed into small pieces and built up to block the gaps.

Since the diameter of the stone bullet is smaller, the power of the blast is also smaller, but as long as it hits the temporary fortifications, those obstacles can be blasted away immediately.

Even the ambitious Xixia soldiers yawned when they heard the bursts of artillery fire, preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

The bombardment was not continuous, but intermittent, and the intervals were also very random.

The gunners didn't know that they were going to attack the city today, and they were even in the mood to joke. They cleaned the gun barrel slowly, and when they found it was too rough when loading stone bullets, they would stop and polish it themselves.

As noon approached, both sides knew the bombardment was almost over.

The Ming army began to serve food, and after each unit finished eating and rested for a while, it was time to take turns to feint attack.

Han Huaizhong also followed normal procedures and assigned soldiers to guard various gaps, but he did not dare to let soldiers stand directly behind the gaps.

Because from time to time, the Ming army would add an artillery bombardment in the afternoon to specifically bombard the defenders directly behind the gap. When the artillery fire was increased for the first time, the Xixia army was caught in the act, and dozens of people were killed and injured on the spot.

Baskets of iron bullets were brought up, and the gunners immediately looked serious, knowing that today they would really attack.

Of course, stone bullets are still fired in the first round.

"Boom boom boom!"

Han Huaizhong had a headache when he heard the sound of cannons. As long as the Ming army had "an extra meal" in the afternoon, the defenders had to "work overtime" at night and build fortifications in the dark.

"Dong-dong-dong-dong!"

After a round of artillery bombardment, during the interval between artillery reloading, the drums of the Ming army's position were beating loudly, and Gong Xiu led his troops in formation.

Under normal circumstances, this group of infantry will advance a certain distance and scare the defenders into retreating slowly. Then a second infantry unit was sent out to reorganize and advance in a feint attack. It was supposed to be training in array every day.

There are still some Xixia archers left on the city wall far away from the gap.

When Gong Xiu led his troops into shooting range, the Xixia soldiers were too lazy to draw their bows. Because they are too experienced, it is difficult to have any effect when shooting bows and arrows. The Ming army infantry is 100% armored, and shooting arrows is a waste of their own energy and arrows.

The sound of artillery was recalled again, and the second round of shelling in the afternoon began.

Han Huaizhong didn't take it seriously at first. After the cannonball hit the ground, he suddenly heard an officer shouting: "It's an iron bullet. The Han soldiers have fired iron bullets!"

Han Huaizhong was lying behind the parapet, carefully stood up and looked outside, only to see that the Ming army infantry seemed to be moving further forward, and there was no sign of stopping at all.

"Shoot, shoot!"

Han Huaizhong shouted a few times, and then said to the messenger: "Order all the troops to guard the gap, and all the soldiers in the city are wearing armor and preparing for battle!"

It is impossible for troops on rotation to wear armor all day long, especially elites wearing iron armor, as that would be too exhausting.

Just as they were putting on their armor in a panic, Gong Xiu had already accelerated his troops forward. The siege troops on the other two sides also took small boats and began to cross the river. Once the defenders dared to divide too many troops into the gap, they would choose to really attack the city.

The infantry accelerated and the bombardment continued.

Infantry and artillery coordination?

Suddenly attacking the city during the day, the Xixia defenders were caught off guard and most of them were unable to enter combat positions in the first place.

Even the two generals Li Yuchang and Yeli Fulu were still in the city at this moment, and they hurriedly hurriedly heard the warning bell. The troops who were taking turns to rest were in chaos. They put on their armor and went to get their weapons. The voices of officers ordering to assemble were everywhere outside the barracks.

Several gaps are large enough, so as long as they are not close to the sides, there is no need to worry about falling rocks and rolling logs.

Teams of soldiers carried the planks and placed them, and the Yuanyang team stepped on the planks and rushed up the rugged obstacles. The Xixia defenders formed a defensive formation, and for a while arrows rained down.

The long card player carries a huge shield in front, and the rattan card player throws a javelin while building the plank.

The squad leaders specifically aimed at enemy officers and fired arrows, and the more than a thousand musketeers mixed in the team also targeted enemy officers for cold shots.

The musketeer's attack has the most obvious effect. When fired at close range, he can hit almost accurately. Those Xixia officers wearing armor may be fine if they are hit by arrows, but they fall down immediately after being shot.

The messy obstacles at the gap made the terrain extremely complicated. The Yuanyang team could form an effective formation, but the Xixia defenders could not even maintain their formation. A large number of middle and low-level officers were killed by the musketeers, and the grassroots command system of the Xixia garrison completely failed.

The defense was simply made of paper, and the Ming army could break it with just one stab.

Four battalions of the Ming army had already rushed into the city, and Li Yuchang and Yeli Fulu came to support them with their armored troops.

"How did the Han army enter the city so quickly?" Li Yuchang said in disbelief.