Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 692
It was getting brighter, and the long-range mutual attack at night had ended at two o'clock in the night. After two rounds of iron fire and thunder exploded, more than half of the bed crossbows of the Liao army had been lost. All evacuated, and the Liao army took the lead in stopping the fighting.

The Song Army also stopped attacking after throwing four rounds of iron fire and thunder.

In the middle of the night that followed, the city was as silent as death.

When the morning sun shines on the top of the city, the top of the city is a shocking dilapidated scene. Forty trebuchets mounted on the top of the city were blown up to only stumps and broken arms, and the battlements were shattered, all over the place. Fragments of catapults and bed crossbows, shocking bloodstains can be seen everywhere.

The soldiers were busy cleaning up the corpses. The four rounds of bombing by the Song army killed more than 650 people and injured more than 1000 people in the Liao army. Most of them were hit by poisoned iron nails. If they could not detoxify in time, they would have only one ending. .

Although the losses were heavy, the defenders in the east city were still very vigilant. Yelu Hujian sent another 5000 men to defend the city. The soldiers leaned against the wall, each holding a shield. Resist the rapid fire of nails.

Not only the top of the city is busy, but also the Song army below the city. The trebuchet whose belt was shot off last night has been towed away. The Song army installed a higher protective plate in front of the catapult. The height of the protective plate reached three feet. This height is already the limit to affect the situation of the trebuchet. In addition, the protective plate is thickened into double layers, and the bed crossbow of the Liao army can no longer shoot through the protective plate.

In fact, most of the trebuchets were not debugged last night, and some hidden dangers have not been eliminated, so only four rounds were shot. Launch failed.

The craftsmen of the Song Army took at least two days to re-adjust and eliminate hidden dangers.

Fan Ning was listening to the report from the general who commanded the launch last night. He frowned and asked, "Are you sure there is really a dumb mine?"

Commander Chen Qing bowed and said: "You can be sure of the humble position. Last night, special soldiers confirmed the number of explosions. The results of the three groups of soldiers were the same. There were 75 explosions in total, but we shot four rounds of 76 iron fire mines. That's for sure." If one of them didn't explode, we don't know whether it fell on the moat or inside the city?"

Fan Ning pondered for a moment, then turned around and asked, "Did you find the enemy troops leaving the city during the patrol last night?"

"Reporting to my lord, I didn't find any enemy troops leaving the city."

Cao Shi next to him also said: "Even if it shoots into the city, the general Yeluhu has to see it first, and then decide whether to send Yalei away. It should not be so fast."

Fan Ning nodded, and said to the general on duty: "Add three times more patrols, patrol day and night, and no one is allowed to leave Youzhou City!"

Cao Shi's judgment was not wrong. The Liao Army did find an iron fire mine that had not exploded when it was clearing a bombed-out house near the wall. Hu Jian also rushed to the scene as quickly as possible.

Tie Huolei had already been carried by soldiers to the courtyard of a residential house not far away, surrounded by heavy security. Seeing this dark iron guy who looked like a big pumpkin, Yeluhu felt excited.

The emperor once decreed that anyone who can get the Song Army's Iron Fire Thunder will be promoted to three ranks and rewarded with 5 taels of silver. Precious.

He turned back and asked a firearms craftsman, "How about this iron fire mine?"

The gunsmith shook his head, with an incredulous expression in his eyes, and said, "I can't believe this is true. Tie Huolei has been researching for 50 years but failed to come up with it. Song Jun actually succeeded. How did they do it?"

Another firearms craftsman said cautiously: "Marshal, do you want us to study it carefully and see if we can imitate it?"

Yeluhu hesitated for a moment, he didn't dare to make a decision on this matter, he had to seek the opinion of the emperor.

"I immediately sent an eagle letter to ask the emperor. If the emperor agrees, then I will leave it to you to study."

Yelu Hujian immediately wrote a Ying letter and asked Xinying to take it to Shangjing in the north.

Two days later, Yeluhu saw that he received a letter written by the emperor Yelu Hongji, "If you get two pieces, you can keep one in Youzhou. If there is only one piece, you must send it to Shangjing immediately, and you must not act rashly."

Yelu Hujian sighed, as expected, the emperor wanted to send this orphan iron fire thunder to Beijing immediately, and he was not allowed to study it by himself, but the question is, how should he get this hundred-jin iron fire thunder Lei sent to Beijing?

This is a simply impossible task.

At three o'clock in the middle of the night, the water city gate of Beicheng creaked open, and a small boat sailed out quietly. On the small boat was a thin man, leading a strong horse. Behind the horse was a heavy burden. Another boat came out, and there was also a man and a horse in the boat, but the man was very strong.

The boat sailed slowly across the moat and docked beside the moat, when someone in the distance suddenly shouted: "Who is it?"

They were discovered by the Song Army patrol, and the two men panicked immediately. They immediately led the horses to the shore, turned on the horses, and urged the horses to run northward.

After a while, dozens of cavalry rushed over. They saw the boats in the moat and heard the sound of horseshoes in the distance. They immediately shouted: "There are enemy troops leaving the city!"

Immediately they turned their horses and chased north, while a soldier fired a rocket into the sky at the same time.

The Song Army cavalry patrolling around gathered here from all directions. In just a moment, the patrols gathered into a 300-man cavalry team, and chased northwest along the direction in which the enemy fled.

Fan Ning was woken up by his attendants in the middle of the night, "My lord, there are patrols reporting urgent military situations!"

"What time is it now?"

"It's just past three o'clock."

Fan Ning immediately realized that what he guessed might really happen, he hurriedly put on a coat and went to the outer tent, a brigade commander knelt down on one knee and reported, "To my lord, there are two cavalrymen out of the city! "

Sure enough, he wanted to transport Tie Huolei away, Fan Ning quickly asked, "How did they get out of the city?"

"Through the water gate, there are boats to transport them out of the city, and our hundreds of patrols are currently chasing them."

Fan Ning nodded, "Send down the order, try to capture them alive, and report any news!"

The commander saluted and hurried away. Fan Ning was not sleepy at this time, and he walked to the map with his hands behind his back. At this time, Cao Shi's voice came from outside the big tent, "Has Mr. Fan woke up?"

"Cao Dushuai, it's only three o'clock!"

Fanning smiled and said, "Let him in!"

After a while, Cao Shi walked into the big tent quickly, and asked anxiously, "Does the Liao army want to send away the unexploded iron fire thunder?"

Fan Ning nodded, "It should be. This iron fire thunder is very important to the Liao army. Yelu Hongji must be eager to get it, so that Youzhou will find a way to send it to Shangjing."

"But several passages are blocked, how can the Liao army pass?"

Fan Ning looked at the map, and said calmly: "The blocked passage is just a normal way in and out. If you don't ride a horse or carry luggage, you can also go over the mountains and ridges. There are still some trails for collecting herbs and firewood in the mountains. Yeluhu sees that they should That's the idea, to cross the mountain road and pass Juyongguan."

Cao Shi nodded, and said to Fan Ning: "The Liao army actually came out from the water gate, so is the water gate the weakness of Youzhou City?"

Fan Ning smiled slightly, "There has been a precedent for attacking the water gate. Using iron fire mines can indeed blow open the water gate. In fact, we can use kerosene and iron fire mines to blast the east city head continuously, so that the soldiers of the Liao army cannot stay at the head of the city. Now, our fleet will be able to sail into the moat in the eastern section, and let the soldiers climb up the city with the help of the fleet, and the main force can also easily capture the head of the eastern city without going through any water gates."

Cao Shi was stunned, and said for a while: "If that's the case, why don't you start implementing it?"

"That's a good question. Why didn't you implement it? What do you think is the hardest thing about attacking Youzhou? Is it the city wall?"

Cao Shi understood a little bit, "You mean to say that it is not difficult to capture the city wall, but the difficulty is the street fighting after entering the city?"

Fan Ning nodded, "Now the morale of the Liao army is high, there are sufficient supplies, and tens of thousands of troops can be armed among the hundreds of thousands of civilians. If we enter the city now, we will inevitably encounter fierce resistance. Even if we can win, we will inevitably pay a heavy price. This is not my style of fighting, the morale of the Liao army must be destroyed first, and then enter the city."

Cao Shi let out a long sigh, "I only understand now!"

At this moment, someone outside the tent reported, "Report to Mr. Xiang, news came from the patrol that two soldiers from the Liao Army have been captured and Tie Huolei has been taken back!"

This news made Fan Ning very satisfied. He originally estimated that there would be no news until dawn, but he did not expect to capture the two Liao soldiers so soon.

Cao Shi sneered, "Wouldn't it be better for Yelu Hujian to leave Tie Huolei in Youzhou to study on his own, and then tell Yelu Hongji the results of the research in Eagle Letter? Now, there's nothing left."

"Then you think the research on Iron Fire Thunder is too simple. You must first identify the formula, and then try again and again. Just experimenting with various formulas, there will be no results in less than a year."

After a pause, Fan Ning smiled again: "But at least the gunsmiths in Youzhou will find that there is no such material as gunpowder, so you are right, Yelu Hongji has indeed made a stupid decision."

(End of this chapter)