The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

On the second day, Zhao Tong organized his army, retaliated with retaliation, and went directly out of the city to kill a wave of soldiers. He killed the Xixia army hundreds of miles away and won a complete victory.

In fact, it is extremely difficult for the Xixia army to break through the Xiakou Pass. After all, their own army does not have many troops inside the pass, so how can they talk about breaking through the city?

The side defending the city has an advantage. The attacking side must have multiple forces in the city so that the attack can be effective. In the end, there are not as many people as there are in the city. As long as the city can't be defended, it doesn't matter whether the battle is fought or not.

But this Xixia team was impatient. After all, Brother Richard was defeated and the entire Tie Yaozi army was wiped out. This was a shocking event, a danger that had never happened in more than a hundred years since the founding of the country.

The Song Army strangled Xiakou Pass, which was the choke point to Xingqing Mansion. The Song Army succeeded here, and Xingqing Mansion felt as if someone had strangled its neck, and it was hard to breathe. of.

That's why this Xixia army attacked fiercely, trying to see if they could have a chance to break through the pass, but in the end they had no chance at all, and they lost a lot of troops.

However, this army was not discouraged, and sent people to bypass the Xiakou Pass and send a message to Shunzhou. Shunzhou would definitely send troops and horses to cooperate. When the time comes, the north and the south will attack, and the Xiakou Pass will be broken!

Zhao Tong saw the Xixia army retreating a hundred miles and found out that it was camping on the boundary, so he ignored it. He had already seen what the other party was thinking. The other party was waiting for Shunzhou troops to come from the north.

Brother Richard was defeated and left, and Tie Yaozi was completely destroyed. If this gorge is not captured again and Xingqing's throat is completely lost, then his crime will be serious.

It's just that defeat is excusable. After all, victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs. There is no principle of long-term victory on the battlefield. The Western Xia and Song Dynasties fought for more than a hundred years, and each side always had its own victory or defeat. If it was because of a defeat, he would be punished and executed. Kill, then who dares to lead troops on an expedition?

But losing important roads such as Xiakou Pass is different. This is not a simple defeat. It exposes Xingqing Mansion to the Song army.

At this moment, Xingqing Mansion is only blocked by Shunzhou, but although Shunzhou is the Acropolis of Xingqing and has a certain protective effect, the terrain is not dangerous, and it can even be bypassed from the side to reach Xingzhou.

So if something goes wrong in Shunzhou, wouldn't it mean that the whole country would suffer? If we don't take back Xiakou Pass, it will be a big crime!

Therefore, Brother Richard must be thinking of making a comeback, and the best way to recapture Xiakou Pass is to attack from both the north and the south.

Xiakou Pass is no better than some other big cities. It only has north and south gates. It is a pass, not a city.

In addition, the juncture is narrow and narrow. If two sides attack with troops, it will be better than an ordinary city. But there is a problem here, that is, how the two sides can communicate and report the news.

This is also the advantage of Xiakou Pass. As a pass, it can guard the main road and block one side, blocking the flow of information from the north to the south. It is probably only possible to attack one side alone, but it is difficult to break through one side alone.

To the west of Xiakou Pass is Wulong Ridge, which stretches very long, with cliffs and ravines to the east, and the Mingsha River below, which connects to the Yellow River. This section of the Mingsha River is now under the control of people sent by Zhao Tao. White sails are flying across the river, and hundreds of boats are vying for the current. It is very lively. , Xixia also had no ships, so it was almost impossible to send news across the river.

If the north and the south want to attack together, unless they send people to agree on the attack time in advance, it is impossible to make immediate contact.

Zhao Tong also expected that this Xixia army would definitely send people to bypass the Xiakou Pass and go north to Shunzhou to find Brother Richard. He just didn't know when the two sides would agree to attack together. At present, the troops from Shunzhou have not arrived yet, and they think they will do so in the future. Some days.

The Xixia army outside the city was a little anxious at the moment. They originally wanted to take a chance to see if they could capture Xiakou Pass, but they kept failing. Although the losses were not huge, they always retreated hundreds of miles away, which was considered a defeat.

At this time, matters were being discussed in the Chinese army's stronghold, and the commander-in-chief of the Xixia army was Dutongjun Pochao Mangfeng of the Jingsai Army Division.

There are two other chief generals below, the deputy commanders of the Jianing Military Division and the Xiangyou Military Division. There are more than a dozen generals, all with complex and solemn expressions.

This quite extraordinary mangfeng can be regarded as a famous general in Xixia. He has guarded the border for twenty years and fought numerous small and large battles with the Song army. Because the army commander is facing the Jingyuan Road, he has been fighting with Zhongshi Dao. go.

Zhongshi Dao is the so-called Lao Zhongjinglue Xianggong. He is the contemporary head of the Zhong family, one of the three major forces in the Western Army of the Song Dynasty. He is officially appointed as the Jingyuan Road Jinglue envoy.

There were actually only three generals in the Western Army of the Song Dynasty, namely Zhe, Zhong, and Yao, while the number of junior generals was no less than ten or twenty.

The Zhe family is the largest general, and the hereditary magistrate of Fuzhou in Hedong Road.

Fuzhou is located on a stone ridge on the north bank of the Yellow River. The city wall is built according to the mountain, with the mountain blocking the river. The terrain is steep, and it has always been a place where military strategists have fought fiercely.

At the time of Taizu, the position of governor of Fuzhou was granted to the Zhe family. Such an important place could be directly passed on to the Zhe family, which shows that there was no second trust in him in the entire Song Dynasty.

At that time, the Yang family in Linzhou was only considered an ordinary general, and the Yang family was actually a subordinate of the Zhe family at first. The so-called Mrs. She, the wife of Yang Ye, was actually Mrs. Zhe, and she was a daughter of the Zhe family who married into the Yang family.

The Zhe family is in Hedong, and the Zhong family and the Yao family are both in Guanzhong. The two families are at odds. Yao Pingzhong fought with the children of the Zhong family back then, and gained quite a reputation.

Now Zhong Shidao led his troops north to attack Liao. Jingyuan Road was unable to advance westward and could only defend. Mang Feng felt confident and sent his army to Xiakou Pass to regain this place.

On the way, he joined up with half of the Xixia army that had withdrawn from the other side of the Yellow River. There were nearly 60,000 soldiers and horses. He wanted to catch the gorge mouth by surprise, but in the end he failed.

However, he had already sent people to bypass the Mingsha River and deliver a message to Shunzhou in the north, so that Brother Richard would know that his troops were in the south of Xiakou Pass. If Brother Richard agreed to the strategy of flanking attack, he would definitely agree on a time.

In fact, Puchao Mangfeng still wanted to recapture Xiakou Pass by himself. After all, this was a great achievement. But at present, the hope was slim and it was simply impossible. He had no choice but to wait for news from Shunzhou.

Everyone in Xixia discussed the matter for a long time, but had no clue, so they had to disperse. Po Chao Mangfeng ordered to defend carefully to prevent the Song army from stealing the camp, and then they could only wait silently for Brother Richard's reply.

Zhao Tong also discussed matters with the generals in Xiakou Pass. In fact, it was better to say that it was a matter of discussion than teaching.

In the lobby, there were a hundred or so people, all with official positions above the army's guard commander, sitting on chairs like little boys, listening to Zhao Tong's words.

Zhao Tong looked at the people below. There were no more than ten people who had read the Art of War. The rest didn't even know about some famous military figures in history, let alone read what they wrote.

But fighting is not a treat. In the beginning, you can win some battles by relying on factors such as bravery, luck, and general trends. But after a long period of real fighting, in some wars that confront, stalemate, or even destroy the opponent, just relying on enthusiasm and luck is not enough. .

Regardless of the commander-in-chief or the generals leading the troops below, they must understand the art of war, know strategies, and have their own set of combat skills.

This is not nonsense. The Han Dynasty had Han Xin, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, the Three Kingdoms had Zhuge Sima Zhou Yu, the Tang Dynasty had Li Jing, Li Ji and Wei Zheng. Even in the Song Dynasty, there were Zhao Pu, Lu Yin and Shen Yilun who followed Taizu.

There must be advisers, or even generals who know the art of war themselves, otherwise a small fight is fine. Zhao Tong can lead his own troops, and all kinds of military affairs are under his nose, and he can make corrections at any time. But when it comes to the gathering of wind and clouds, and the sword is pointing at the world, there will only be one or two teams anywhere, and there is no way to divide the troops into many places. At that time, it is impossible to keep an eye on everyone carefully. The generals have to make their own decisions at any time, and mistakes may be frequent. , even if Zhao Tong’s strategy remains unchanged, the people below may not understand, know how, or know how to implement it. To put it bluntly, without Zhao Tong, most people don’t know how to fight at all!

Except for General Lu, Li Yanxian, and Zhang Xian who are considered familiar with the art of war, Zhao Tong's subordinates Du Bo, Yang Zhi, and Xu Ning are only half-read.

As for Lu Da, Shi Jin, Wu Erlang and others, they have never read it at all.

Some of the guards chiefs below could barely read. After reading some battle reports and letters, they had never even seen the appearance of a military book.

So Zhao Tong couldn't think of anything. Instead of waiting for those capable people, strangers and hermits to take the initiative, he might as well teach the subordinates by himself. Even if the teaching is not very good, it can't be bad, right?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he started giving lessons to a group of people.

What he was telling everyone about was Sun Tzu's Art of War. Sun Tzu's Art of War is the ancestor of military books. It is the earliest and most basic military book handed down in history.

If you want to learn military skills, you will definitely not be able to bypass this military book, but it is impossible for Zhao Tong to tell everyone from the beginning, word for word, and every detail.

You must know that the art of war cannot be fully understood overnight, and he does not have that much time to explain it in complete detail. Moreover, everyone has different talents and may not have the same understanding.

He just explained the basics of Sun Tzu's art of war, letting everyone know why and when to march, what conditions and preparations are needed for marching, and then started to talk about the use of troops in detail.

This is the key point. For the officers below, it is not important at all why they march to fight, and whether the conditions for marching and fighting are sufficient have nothing to do with them. Those are all the commanders and generals have to consider. For the guards, At this level, the winning strategy is the most important.

The first strategy Zhao Tong told them about using troops was the fire attack chapter in Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Because he often used fire attacks and was good at using fire attacks, as early as when he was fighting Fangla, Jiangning, Hangzhou and other places used fire attacks a lot.

Especially in Hangzhou, a fire burned many of Fang La's men to death. Fang La finally broke his arm and jumped from the city, relying entirely on the fire attack.

So he first taught everyone about the use of fire, and when he talked about using fire, he had to talk about using kerosene, the main ingredient of fire.

When he was conquering Fangla, he told his generals about fierce fire oil. Many people didn't know about it at that time. Zhao Tong also asked them to read the Mengxi Essay, which contained detailed records, and also asked them to buy it from merchants in the market. Come and study, many generals used this thing for lighting at night, and ended up being smoked to death.

This is all in the past, and happened in the previous article, but at that time, most of his subordinates were generals of the Forbidden Army. Now it is no longer a matter of fact, and I have to tell everyone in front of me again.

He took Mengxi Bi Tan as an example. According to Jiangning's account, in fact, this was not the first time that Shen Kuo's book was discussed in Jiangning. He had talked about it with Huang Jue, Lei Hu, etc. as early as when he went to Dengzhou. Because Mengxi The compass is recorded in the written conversation, which is a useful tool for navigation.

These people in front of me are basically from the northwest, and they are no more ignorant of kerosene than the generals of the Central Plains. What's more, after entering the Xixia realm, they used it several times in a row. Even with a little digging, they will understand that there are actually many other ways to set fire with fierce kerosene, not just That kind of simple and crude direct application and ignition.

As for other fire materials, they are all ordinary and easy to find. There is no special thing like kerosene. Even gunpowder Zhao Tu has talked about.

Gunpowder already exists now. Gunpowder was accidentally discovered by alchemists in the Tang Dynasty during the process of refining alchemy.

By this dynasty, the use of gunpowder had gone beyond the original purpose of alchemy and was used in other places. However, the gunpowder at this time was black powder, which was weak and caused very little damage. It was not used much in the military.

In the military, gunpowder is not used to generate power or propel projectiles because it is not very powerful. Instead, it is used as a combustion accelerant in fire attack tactics.

In fact, like fierce fire oil, they are used as fire materials.

In addition, gunpowder at this time was mostly used in firecrackers for viewing, and was also used in acrobatics and puppet shows as a performance tool, such as spitting flames and spitting fire, to increase the entertainment of the show.

During the reign of Renzong, Zeng Gongliang, who was in charge of Tianzhang Pavilion, organized people to compile a book called "Wu Jing Zong Yao", which was completed in four years.

This is the first official work in history that includes military technology. In this book, the word "gunpowder" is used for the first time.

This book records three of the world's earliest gunpowder formulas, namely the fireball gunpowder formula, the tribulus fireball gunpowder formula, and the poison smoke ball gunpowder formula.

Although there are many things used in the recipe, it is very simple to make. Even if it explodes, it will not be particularly powerful.

The usual process is to boil oils, greases, and waxes into a paste, mix gunpowder ingredients into powder and mix with the paste, then wrap five layers of paper on the outside, tie it up with hemp rope, and then melt and wrap it with rosin or asphalt. layer.

After drying, this shell not only protects the medicine inside from moisture, but also makes it easy to pierce and ignite from the outside.

When used, use a fire cone to completely burn the ball shell and throw it into the enemy camp, which will burn, smoke and disperse poison.

Even under this extension, there are also the production of fire-induced fireballs, tribulus fireballs, thunderbolt fireballs, smoke balls, poison smoke balls, iron-tipped fire harriers, bamboo fire harriers, gunpowder arrows, gunpowder whip arrows, etc.

However, because the power of the gunpowder formula itself is limited, all these things, no matter what kind of tribulus, poison, poisonous smoke, etc., cannot be used as tools to truly kill the enemy. In fact, all the bells and whistles are only used as tools for igniting and burning.

After talking about fire oil and gunpowder, Zhao Tong began to explain the fire attack technique with examples of battles. He started from the Three Kingdoms period, especially the Battle of Chibi, and talked for more than an hour.

The Battle of Chibi was the largest fire attack strategy in history. The planning lasted for half a year, and the fire attack was preceded by various tactics such as scheming, serial scheming, creating things out of thin air, and substituting others. It can really be called a model of military strategy.

Some of the people below have heard of Sanfen and know some of the Chibi stories, but some of them are dumbfounded.

In this way, Zhao Tong continued to talk about military strategies to the generals for two days. Until the evening of that day, a scout suddenly sent news that the army of Shunzhou in the north had moved...

(End of this chapter)