People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 291 He has a big iron cannon, I have a small steel cannon

In mid-August, on the vast Saibei grassland.

Countless knights are heading towards Helan Mountain like streams converging into rivers.

The king of the Dangxiang people gathered his brave soldiers together again to attack their enemies.

From the first year of Bao's reign when Li Yuanhao returned in defeat, to the end of Kangding's reign after he signed a contract with the Song Dynasty, Li Yuanhao summoned troops many times.

But it was not a war with the Song Dynasty, but a war with the Xizhou Uighurs who occupied a small half of the Western Region, and the Huangtou Uighur, Caotou Datta and other tribes in the Haixi Corridor.

Li Yuanhao controls the Hexi Corridor. If he wants to compete with the Hehuang Corridor occupied by Qingtang, he must establish the source.

Therefore, he repeatedly attacked the Western Regions in order to rob the sources of merchants and prevent them from taking the Hehuang Corridor to Qingtang.

This effect was significant. A large number of merchants from the Western Regions returned to the Hexi Corridor, and Xixia prospered as a result.

After several attacks, many small tribes of Uighurs, Uighurs, and Dats along the Haixi Corridor were annexed by Xixia, and Li Yuanhao's strength increased again.

This time, Li Yuanhao announced to many tribes that he wanted to attack Qingtang to avenge the past. After hearing about it, many tribal leaders and noble leaders did not hesitate and immediately led their troops.

As long as they did not fight against the Song Dynasty, the party nobles would still understand the wise decision of their King of the Xia Dynasty.

Even among them, there are a small number of relatively smart nobles who are worried that the relationship between Qingtang and the Song Dynasty is so good. If they attack Qingtang, they will attract the army of the Song Dynasty.

But Qingtang and Xixia are feuding, and their hatred has blinded most people's eyes, and they don't think about it that much at all.

From day to evening, countless Xixia knights came. Until August 24, Li Yuanhao finally gathered about 80,000 cavalry, and under his personal leadership, they marched towards Qingtang in a mighty manner.

It took about half a month to gather 80,000 people, which was considered fast.

Nomadic soldiers come from the vast steppes and often need to go to various tribes at short notice, but a tribe may be scattered over hundreds of square kilometers.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao can now gather nearly half of the country's power within a period of time, which can be said to be a manifestation of the improvement of Xixia's comprehensive national strength.

Several years have passed, and some young men from the party have grown up to the age where they can fight.

In addition, Li Yuanhao also recruited some small tribes of Uighurs, Uighurs, and Datu, and gathered more than 60,000 party soldiers, and more than 10,000 other small tribes combined forces. Their strength cannot be underestimated.

A few days later, Xixia Xiliang Mansion, the border between Qingtang and Xixia, Zhuolu City.

This place was Guangwu County in the Tang Dynasty, located in the area from Datong Town to Hongcheng Town south of Yongdeng County in Gansu Province in later years. It was the headquarters of Zhuoluo and Nanjun Division set up by Yuan Hao in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In this way, plus the 20,000 troops stationed locally, Yuan Hao gathered an army of 100,000 to attack Qingtang.

In fact, Zhuolu City was closer to the Song Army's territory.

Because this place is north of Lanzhou City in later generations, and passing Lanzhou City controlled by Qingtang in the southeast is the border between Song State, Qingtang and Xixia. There is a military stronghold of the Song Army called Ancient Wei Village.

As you can tell from the name, it is Tongwei County in Gansu Province in later generations. It is located between Lanzhou City and Tianshui City. It is also an important transportation hub for trade between Qingtang and the Song Dynasty.

If Li Yuanhao attacked Qingtang directly from Liangzhou, he would not only have to cross the Qilian Mountains, but he would also have to be careful about being attacked by the Song army when he crossed the mountains. Obviously, it would be a loss more than the gain.

Although in the second year of Jingyou's reign, Li Yuanhao crossed the Qilian Mountains and raided Maoniu City in Qingtang, which later became Datong Hui and Tu Autonomous County in Qinghai.

But the price is that it is difficult to keep up with the logistical supplies. After eating the captured supplies and preparing to withdraw the troops, they were seized by Zunsiluo and were killed in Huangshui. They were severely defeated.

Therefore, in order to prevent the recurrence of such a thing that the logistics could not keep up, Li Yuanhao could only bypass the Qilian Mountains and attack from the border of Qingtang in Songxia.

It's the end of Yin time and the beginning of Mao time, it's five o'clock in the morning, and it's not bright yet.

The gate of Zhuoluo City opened.

Countless densely packed horses slowly came out and headed south.

This is Li Yuanhao's vanguard force, composed of soldiers from the Xizhou Uighur, Huangtou Uighur, and Caotou Datta tribes who surrendered to him.

His large army is currently located in Gaizhu City in the northwest.

It was only at 3:30 pm that after the pioneer troops exploring the path set off, Li Yuanhao led the main force and began to move south.

In fact, it is unreasonable to let these people serve as vanguard cannon fodder, because those who surrender and surrender often have low combat effectiveness. If they are defeated by the enemy, they will easily be rolled back and affect the entire army.

However, since in ancient times there were often slave armies, death row armies, and surrender armies as vanguards, they naturally had means.

For example, threatening their families.

After these tribes came over, the life and death of the tribes were controlled by Li Yuanhao, so he was able to use these people so boldly.

The mighty vanguard army moved all the way south, followed by Li Yuanhao's front army, middle army and rear army.

The army stretched for dozens of miles and headed towards Lanzhou along the Zhuanglang River.

In fact, in the third year of Jingyou's reign, Li Yuanhao defeated Xi Siluo and occupied Lanzhou.

But wasn't he beaten violently by Lao Fan later?

At that time, Lao Fan joined forces with Xi Xia to launch a general attack on Xixia, beating Li Yuanhao until he could not find his way.

Although Zushiluo hit a wall there and was defeated by Yeli Wangrong.

However, when Yeli Wangrong returned to Xingqing Mansion, he came back again and took Lanzhou back.

Therefore, at this time, Qingtang was probably a political power that was entrenched in the area from Xining, Qinghai to Lanzhou City, Gansu, and belonged to the easternmost end of the Hehuang Corridor.

At this time, Lanzhou is located at the junction of Qingtang and the Song Dynasty, and is prosperous with the development of Zhao Jun's five-way trade national policy. The Tubo people here speak Chinese, use Chinese characters, wear Hanfu, and trade with Song Dynasty copper coins.

Almost the entire economy was controlled by the Han people. The Song Dynasty even stationed an army of about 2,000 people outside Lanzhou City for the purpose of maintaining security and trade on the border between the two sides.

Early in the morning, An Ziluo, the Tubo general in Lanzhou City, got up from his mansion, put on the silk robe of the Song Dynasty, put on the official hat and jade belt given to him by the Song Dynasty, and walked out of the mansion like a seventh-grade county magistrate in the Song Dynasty. .

Not only was he awarded a title by the Song Dynasty, but Si Siluo was also granted the title of Shanzhou Governor, Baoshun Hexi Army Jiedushi, and Shan, He, Huang, Kuo, Lan and other five states to observe and deal with the surrender of Fan.

As the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Kingdom, it seemed to have a tendency to become the No. 1 brother in Asia again. All surrounding countries began to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Song Dynasty. Before the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Kingdom, the Xiansiluo regime, which was extremely pro-Song Dynasty, naturally benefited first.

At this moment, An Ziluo put on silk and satin and planned to patrol the city first as before. Then go to a restaurant opened by a Song Dynasty person to have a hot pot stir-fry, and then go to a tea house opened by a Song Dynasty person to drink hot tea and listen to the stories told by storytellers from Bianliang this year. Finally, go to the brothel and enjoy the arrangement of those blond beauties from the Western Regions.

However, just as he was about to leave the house, the sound of a "wuwuwuwu" horn suddenly sounded above Xicheng.

Several riders came galloping towards the city, shouting anxiously as they entered the city: "The Xixia people are coming, the Xixia people are coming!"

As the sound continued to spread, Lanzhou City, where Hu and Han people were originally gathered, suddenly went into an uproar. The crowd was in chaos and running in all directions.

Although An Ziluo has been a little lazy in the past two years, it was he who, as the vanguard general of Xisiluo, raided Li Yuanhao's army and caused Li Yuanhao to be defeated by Zong Gehe.

Therefore, he was still calm. After learning about this, he quickly asked his men to bring the horses and immediately sent people to the Song Army camp to ask for help.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, An Ziluo had already put on his armor and climbed onto the city wall.

At this moment, all the gates of Lanzhou City were closed. When the scouts passed the news to the city, more than an hour passed. First, they saw dust coming from the northwest, and then there were dense black spots at the end of the road.

The only good news is that the ancient city of Lanzhou was located on the south bank of Huangshui River. There was a pass between Luoluochuan, that is, Zhuanglang River and the Yellow River, called Dongyuguan, which was stuck at the Yellow River ferry.

The Xixia army obviously did not dare to try to cross the river easily, but chose to go east along the north bank of the Yellow River towards Lanzhou and cross the river from the west of Lanzhou.

This is also a plain area, almost from Xigu District to Qilihe District of Lanzhou City in later generations.

At least the Xixia army did not cross the river from the upper reaches and then suddenly appear in Xicheng.

Otherwise, I'm afraid there would be no time for An Ziluo to prepare calmly.

But even so the situation is not optimistic.

An Ziluo looked at the densely packed cavalry in the distance, slowly approaching along the plain area to the northwest, and couldn't help but look sad.

The total population of the Tubo tribe under the rule of Zusiluo was 200,000 to 300,000, and the number of young and strong soldiers was about 60,000.

But it couldn't hold off Taiping for several years. It was suddenly attacked and it was impossible to gather so many troops.

There are only more than 5,000 soldiers in the entire Lanzhou City, and including the Song Army, there are only more than 7,000 soldiers in total. As for the other party's vanguard army alone, there are probably only ten to twenty thousand.

How can this be good?

"General, Deputy Commander Wang is here."

A soldier reported to him.

"Please."

An Ziluo said quickly.

After a while, Wang Shiyun, the deputy superintendent of the ancient Weizhai village, came in a hurry.

As a general of the Song Army stationed there to protect trade, he naturally knew An Ziluo, so he asked directly: "General An, how is the situation?"

"General Wang, you came just in time, Xia Jun is calling."

An Ziluo pointed outside and said: "Our scouts reported that their vanguard army alone has ten or twenty thousand people. I'm afraid their large army is behind them."

"I have sent people to Guwei Village to report the news. General Liu will bring people to help soon. We must repel them first!" Wang Shiyun looked at the situation outside and quickly analyzed it.

If the enemy is allowed to attack the city immediately, they may not be able to withstand the attack. Once Lanzhou city is defeated, Xixia relies on the city, and even if the Song army comes with reinforcements, they may not be able to capture it.

When the time comes, the main force of Xixia will immediately head west towards Qingtang, and the Xisiluo regime that the Song Dynasty has been supporting will be in danger.

So they have to buy time.

At least the enemy's vanguard army must be defeated and blocked outside Lanzhou City.

"What is the solution?"

An Ziluo asked, "We have too few people. Otherwise, why don't we recruit troops in the city immediately?"

"No, there aren't that many weapons and equipment for conscription now."

Wang Shiyun thought for a while, glanced around, and noticed Gaolan Mountain, a high mountain in the south of Lanzhou City. He pointed to the mountain behind and said: "You must defend the city first. Before the main force of Yuan Hao arrives, you must not be defeated by the enemy. Wait for me An hour’s time.”

"what are you up to?"

"Go up the mountain and lay artillery!"

Wang Shiyun just said this and said nothing else. He turned around and left, leaving An Ziluo confused.

This is a military secret. Although Qingtang has a good relationship with them, they cannot tell it.

In fact, it can be said that the artillery technology of the Song Dynasty is advancing rapidly.

Thanks to Zhao Jun's establishment of a steel plant in Wu'an, through two later generations of steel-making technology, steel production has been greatly increased, enabling overtaking in corners and directly making steel cannons.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, red cannons and muskets could easily explode because the guns at that time were made of wrought iron, which was far less hard than steel.

But now that steel is available, steel guns can be made directly, and the stability is greatly improved.

So not only are super cannons weighing more than 2,000 kilograms and capable of hitting a distance of more than ten miles, but the Song Army now also makes small cannons like that.

Among them is the Weiyuan Cannon, which is two feet eight inches high, five inches high from the bottom to the fire gate, three inches and two minutes from the fire gate to the belly, the caliber of the cannon is over two inches and two minutes, and it weighs one hundred and twenty kilograms.

In the Song Dynasty, 120 kilograms was equivalent to 150 kilograms in later generations. In other words, the total weight of this cannon is as big as one person, and it can be carried by two or three people.

The ancient Weizhai was not a new army and was not qualified to be equipped with extremely powerful artillery.

However, as a frontier army that could fight at close range with Xixia at any time, the imperial court gave priority to supplying a large number of these small mortar-like cannons. There were thirty in the ancient Weizhai, ten of which were in the hands of Wang Shiyun.

It's just that the power of this kind of cannon is definitely not comparable to that of cannons, and its range is only about three or four miles. It's not like today's cannons that weigh more than 2,000 kilograms, which can blast more than ten miles away with one shot.

Therefore, Wang Shiyun planned to seize the commanding heights and give Xixia a big surprise by broadening his field of vision and increasing the shooting range.

Soon Wang Shiyun immediately returned to the Song Army camp outside Dongcheng, and asked more than 2,000 soldiers in the army to start climbing up the mountain with ten small steel cannons and hundreds of large and small ammunition.

At the same time, the Xixia army, which was more than ten miles away, was slowly getting closer and closer from the dense black dots.

After about half an hour, they finally slowly walked outside Lanzhou City, and under the command of the Xixia general, they began to prepare to attack the city.

However, unexpectedly, they did not charge forward directly.

Instead, they began to form an array four or five miles away.

Immediately afterwards, the Xixia army slowly pulled out more than ten cannons, and aimed their dark muzzles at the city wall!

Wang Shiyun, who was watching from the mountain, couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.

The Xixia people quietly built cannons. What's going on?

Fortunately, they didn't install cannons at the top of the city. Their cannons could shoot more than ten miles, but their small cannons could only shoot three or four miles, which was a big disadvantage in terms of range. If he had not chosen to go up the mountain, he would have been in danger.

In this daze, the Xixia people's cannon suddenly started firing.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The muzzles of more than a dozen cannons suddenly burst into flames.

The black ammunition drew an arc in the sky and slammed into the gate of Lanzhou City. Most of the shells were deflected and hit the city wall, which did not move at all.

However, a cannonball miraculously hit the city gate hole, and the city gate burst open.

"Damn it, the Western thieves also have cannons!"

Wang Shiyun cursed secretly, and then shouted: "Is the cannon ready?"

"Pretended."

shouted the gunner.

"Aim at their artillery array and blast them!"

"Yes!"

"Wait a minute, use explosive bombs!"

Wang Shiyun shouted.

The Song Army has developed explosive bombs.

Although the actual lethality is not as good as live ammunition, it is still very useful to fight this kind of artillery array.

Even if the enemy's cannon cannot be damaged, it can still kill the gunners around the cannon and prevent the enemy from firing again.

At that moment, the ten gunners immediately adjusted the muzzle of the cannon, measured the center and height, and based on their experience, lit the cannon one after another.

Then I saw more than a dozen sounds suddenly erupting from the cliff halfway up Gaolan Mountain, which was at least ten miles away from the city.

Then ten black shadows also cut through the void and flew towards the outside of the city.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Ten bombs exploded instantly.

Some did not control the time of the gunpowder fuse and exploded in mid-air.

Some did not fall into the enemy's camp at all and exploded between the two armies. Others' muzzles were adjusted too high. Although they hit the enemy, they did not hit the enemy's artillery array.

This kind of ultra-long-distance firing still requires too much accuracy from the gunner. Unless it is covered bombing, it is impossible to be so accurate.

However, despite this, the huge sound of the explosive shells still startled the Xixia people, and the entire military formation immediately caused a commotion.

"Come again!"

Wang Shiyun saw the effect and immediately ordered to continue.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

It was the second round of small cannon fire. Taking advantage of the commanding heights, the range was greatly increased.

Moreover, the small artillery of the Song Army fired extremely fast, reaching almost ten rounds per minute, which was much faster than the three or four rounds per minute of the large artillery.

The Xixia army over there was still loading bombs, and then the second round of shelling by the Song army came again.

After a burst of bombing, a cannonball happened to land on the enemy's artillery array. Although it did not hit the opponent's cannon, it killed several gunners and bombloaders around them.

At this time, the Xixia army was completely panicked.

Then a few seconds later, a third round of artillery fire came.

The explosive bombs exploded in the crowd, causing mud and dust to fly, and some people were even blown up high.

This gave the Xixia people a great impact.

Especially those other tribe soldiers who had never seen the power of firearms. Even if Li Yuanhao controlled their tribe, they could not resist it and were in danger of being defeated.

"Kill!"

After several more rounds of shelling, Li Yuanhao's vanguard army finally couldn't hold on and began to collapse.

An Ziluo in the city was overjoyed to see this and even shouted: "Kill out!"

"Kill!"

The more than 5,000 Tibetan soldiers in the city were also greatly shaken in morale. They opened the city gate and rushed forward in a swarm.

It's just that the Xixia people originally wanted to use long-range cannons to blast open their city gates before attacking, so the distance was a bit far away and they couldn't catch up for a while.

However, there were still more than ten cannons remaining on the position, but they were captured by An Ziluo.

Wang Shiyun on the mountain wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a laugh: "The Western thieves are nothing more than that. He has big cannons and I have small cannons, but they are not as good as us, hahahahaha!"

He didn't have much stock of explosive shells, just a few dozen. Fortunately, the enemy collapsed. Otherwise, it would be difficult to destroy the enemy's cannon by just relying on solid bullets.

(End of this chapter)