People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 377 Abandoned Son Attack and Kill
At the end of Shenshi and the beginning of Youshi, the clouds were dark and the sun was hazy, and the thunderous rainstorm came as expected.

At this time, both Fan Zhongyan in Youyan and Di Qing in Yuguan, more than 200 kilometers away, were aware of the seriousness of the matter.

Rainy days will only greatly reduce the power of the firearms that people in the Song Dynasty relied on. Gunpowder is easily affected by moisture, so be careful when storing and loading it. Although the gun has a waterproof design, wind and rain can still cause various problems with the gun.

For example, the ignition success rate of flint is reduced, the gunpowder is not fully burned due to moisture, causing the gun to misfire, or even if the bullet is fired, the accuracy will be greatly deviated due to the influence of wind and rain.

And not only the muskets, but the artillery will also be affected. Therefore, in this heavy rain, the Song Army's ability to fight in the field will be seriously weakened.

At this moment, outside Yuguan, the sky was as gloomy as ink, as if there was no sunshine. It was obviously only afternoon, but it was gray as if it was approaching dusk.

If you stand at Yuguan and look outside, you will see more than a dozen Liao army camps rolling up and down about five or six miles away from the city. They are not connected together, but scattered and distributed separately.

The number of people in the camp ranged from three to four thousand to as many as ten thousand. A rough estimate of the Song army in the east of Guangyuguan showed that there were at least sixty or seventy thousand Liao troops.

As time went by, all the follow-up troops of the Liao State were blocked east of Yuguan. A large number of Liao troops, gunpowder, and supplies were piled up. They attacked at night, causing great trouble to the Song army.

In the torrential rain, the Liao army camp in the distance suddenly woke up from the deathly silence. With the sound of ping ping, war drums and horns, in several camps that were horns with each other, groups of soldiers came from the ramming earth village. A head emerges from behind the crenellation of the wall, a bow is unsheathed and a sword is unsheathed.

Unexpectedly, the Song Army's fleet left at the dock and made their tactics, so the Liao Army obviously had to consider countermeasures.

Just like the Song army suddenly attacked the Liao army stationed at Jiaoshan the day before yesterday.

The Liao army can set up a pontoon bridge on the Yu River, and the Liao armies on the east and west sides can naturally communicate with each other, and they are no longer divided as before and cannot concentrate their strength.

Horse hooves trampled the mud and water splashed everywhere.

"so what should I do now?"

He observed that although the Song army was strong in field battles during the day, its night operations were unsatisfactory, so he formulated a strategy of multiple night attacks, which caused a lot of trouble to Di Qing.

"Yes."

"Your Majesty."

When he reached Xiao Wanli, he turned over and dismounted and said, "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty's ship has sailed."

Shulvchuiliji said: "The scouts saw them setting sail to sea, but they disappeared."

When Shuluchuiliji heard Xiao Wanli's words, he also realized that something was wrong and said hurriedly: "Now after the heavy rain, the elm water has surged. Although the Song army's ships are unstable, they have anchors and ropes to fix them, and there are cannons on the ships. , we can’t get close at all.”

It is very likely that the Song army wanted to defeat them one by one and first concentrate their forces to attack Xiao Xiaomu's side, which had a relatively small number of soldiers and horses, and then deal with his side.

But similarly, the Liao army in Guangning was not large, with less than 20,000 troops.

Xiao Wanli asked.

Even those who are not fishermen know the consequences of going to sea in heavy rain.

"You mean, the Yushui River has surged now?"

Xiao Wanli, the new king of Lanling County who stayed in Tokyo of the Liao Kingdom, inherited the title of his elder brother Xiao Pidi. Xiao Pidi was framed and died by the Empress Dowager Xiao in his early years. After Yelu Zongzhen succeeded to the throne, he rehabilitated him. Since Xiao Pidi had no heir, he reused him. His younger brother Xiao Wanli.

Xiao Wanli suddenly grasped the key.

"Yes."

In the distance, the East China Sea was also covered with dark clouds, with lightning and thunder.

There are Song Army ships on the Yushui River, and they cannot go there to support Xiao Xiaomu. However, if they can destroy the Song Army ships on the Yushui River, then the Song Army's defense line will be directly torn open with a big hole.

Xiao Wanli was puzzled and looked to the east.

After all, Yelu Zong really had to deal with the main force of the Song army, and it was impossible to send too many troops and horses from Xijin to support him.

Shulvchuiliji said.

So the current situation is that the pressure on Guangning is far less than that on Yuguan.

"The Song people are really powerful. They use ships and cities to connect each other and support each other. If you want to attack one side, you will inevitably be attacked by the other side. Moreover, their cannons are very light."

Shulvchuiliji was wearing a raincoat and riding a horse in the rain.

"No, they must go west first and attack King Qi."

Xiao Wanli frowned. The Liao army's artillery was more than two thousand kilograms. Although the Song army's main battle artillery was also more than two thousand kilograms, it had more than two hundred kilograms of small steel cannons, which were much more maneuverable than the Liao army.

So it's hard to understand what Song Jun wants to do.

"It's going to get dark soon. Isn't going out to sea at this time looking for death?"

In this case, it would be difficult for them to bring the artillery to the shore or outside the city. After all, the Song Army's artillery was not for nothing.

"A ship at the dock?"

The Song Army has now moved all its ships to Yuguan Port, because it is close to Yushui, making it convenient for the fleet to block the river.

Everywhere was the sound of clattering armored leaves, anxious and angry urgings, uniform shouts, short and urgent orders and sharp police whistles.

Xiao Wanli immediately realized something was wrong.

Nowadays, the Song Army's firearms are indeed affected by the heavy rain, but their artillery is also useless, so he originally wanted to use primitive methods to surprise the Song Army's city in the rain and at night, and directly attack the city by force.

If Di Qing had not been equally brave and good at fighting, although he was able to resist the Liao army that was ten times more powerful with a small number of troops, he was still not at a disadvantage. I am afraid that the Song army that was attacking this time would have been forced back from Yuguan by the Liao army and returned to the ship.

This man is only forty years old this year, but he was a Bohai native who followed Xiao Xiaomu, who stayed in Tokyo to fight against the rebellion. He was not only brave and good at fighting, but also brave and resourceful, and was highly regarded by Xiao Xiaomu.

"Could they go around to our rear and sneak attack our troops?"

Guangning, on the other hand, basically relied on city defense.

Shulvchuiliji said.

"How high did it get?"

"It probably made the Song army's ships two feet taller."

"That's all?"

Xiao Wanli frowned.

Logically speaking, the higher the water level, the worse it is for them.

This means that the higher the level of the Song army's ships, the harder it will be to hit the shore as before.

But the same low water level means that the current is not very turbulent, which poses no threat to the Song Army's ships. At most, it only makes the ships sway.

Shulu Chuiliji smiled bitterly and said: "The water level of Yushui has dropped a lot before. The heavy rain has just started, so I'm afraid it won't rise so quickly."

"Then make the flow of Yushui more rapid and the water level higher!"

Xiao Wanli said with a ferocious smile.

"What do you mean, your Majesty, to store water and flood the river?"

Shulu Chuiliji immediately understood what Xiao Wanli meant.

"You go and do this!"

Xiao Wanli said.

"Yes."

Shulvchuiliji immediately reined in his horse and jumped away.

The Yushui River originates from Jiaoshan Mountain, and due to heavy rains upstream, the water level must have risen sharply.

He only needs to build a small dam in the mountains to block the source, and soon enough water will flow down and wash away those ships.

The sky was getting darker and darker. It was the beginning of Youshi, which was about five o'clock in the afternoon, but it felt like seven o'clock.

It was as if there was only a touch of dimness left between heaven and earth.

With the sound of high-pitched horns, Liao troops from all directions began to attack Yuguan again.

It is true that the Song army's combat effectiveness has declined, but in fact, the Liao army is just like that. No one can show unparalleled elite momentum in the rain and darkness, not even the Liao army that was once strong in field battles.

This led to frequent problems such as chaos in the Liao army's attacks, disordered command, and disordered attacks.

On the top of the city, guns were fired and grenades were thrown. Some were charging forward, while others were watching. Whenever a ladder was erected, no one dared to climb up.

Because the Song Army would definitely throw a few grenades down from the female wall, many ladders would simply be blown up.

The heavy rain was falling overhead, and grenades were thrown from time to time. Everyone was terrified, and no one wanted to be the next victim.

Although the Liao army also had grenades, many of them could not be thrown on top of the city due to the heavy wind and rain.

After all, the limit for ordinary people is to throw it twenty or thirty meters away, not to mention that they have to throw it more than ten feet high in the violent wind and rain, which is more than three or four meters above the city.

The two sides went back and forth like this, fighting fiercely all night.

It was not until the beginning of Yinshi that the Liao army finally withdrew, leaving more than a thousand corpses outside Yuguan.

The Song army on top of the city was not having a hard time either. There were only more than a thousand defenders in the city, and they fought to the death with tens of thousands of Liao troops outside the city. The cost was very high.

If the Song army on Yushuang River had not tried every means to rush to the rescue, such as firing artillery in the rain, or shooting from a distance to harass the attacking Liao army, I am afraid that Yuguan would have changed hands now.

"Report, Commander, the Liao army has retreated."

"Report, Marshal, the water has begun to rise in the city, and a lot of our gunpowder has been wet."

"Report, Commander, twenty-one cannons have taken in water and misfired."

"Report, we don't have enough grenades."

.

All kinds of bad news came one after another, and Di Qing's face was as dark as water.

Although he calmly commanded the city for a night and repelled several attacks by the Liao army, he did not feel tired at all.

Even though his eyes were bloodshot, he didn't move at all, as if the bad news had no impact on him.

Until after a while, the sky gradually became brighter. Around six o'clock in the morning, the world changed from pitch black to gray and foggy.

The heavy rain above our heads was still pounding down, and Liu Du, the deputy commander of the Ping Navy, came in a hurry and said: "Report, Commander Di, the water level of Yushui has begun to drop."

“Has it dropped?”

Di Qing's expression finally changed slightly, and he pondered: "How much has it dropped?"

"About five or six inches."

"Sure enough, the Liao army will definitely store water in Jiaoshan."

"what should we do?"

Liu Du asked: "Let all the ships withdraw from the river now?"

"Do not."

Di Qing narrowed his eyes, "As soon as the ship leaves, they will know that it is useless to store water, and they will immediately release the flood. Once the flood has gone, they will immediately build a pontoon to rescue the west bank."

Di Qing said, "What's going on with Hu Yanshouyong and Wang Kui?"

"No news yet."

"Go and explore."

"Yes."

Liu Du took the order and left.

Xiao Wanli's guess was correct. Some ships of the Song Army left the dock and indeed attacked Xiao Xiaomu.

In the past few days, the Song Army's main attack direction was Xiao Xiaomu. After several days of fighting, Xiao Xiaomu's side suffered considerable losses and was now in a slightly weak state.

The boats on the wharf and on the Yushui River were the back-up tools for the Song army's retreat, and they were also the final trump card.

Among them, the card at the wharf has been played, and there are still ships on the Yushui River. Once the Liao army successfully uses the flood to wash away the ships, the Song army will have no way out and no backhand.

It has to be said that the Liao army also has masters.

But unfortunately, Di Qing also guessed that the enemy would store water, so he also had a plan.

Time passed like this.

By noon, news finally came from Guangning.

After Hu Yanshouyong led the fleet to Guangning, he raided Xiao Xiaomu's camp at night and cooperated with Wang Kui to achieve a great victory.

Xiao Xiaomu had to withdraw more than ten miles to the northwest. If the Song army had not been weak in pursuit, Xiao Xiaomu would have been completely wiped out in this battle.

"The Imperial Academy once said that it is better to use your remaining brave men to chase down the poor bandits, and not to use your reputation as an academic overlord."

Di Qing pondered and said to Liu Du who came to report: "Now that the Liao army in the west has been defeated, it is time to take advantage of the victory to pursue it. But if we concentrate our forces to the west, the enemies on the east bank will come."

Liu Du scratched his head and said, "Yes."

"So we have to thank the Liao army for helping us block the river. When we go west and defeat Xiao Xiaomu, we can come back and continue to defend the Liao army on the east bank."

Di Qing smiled.

Liu Du was puzzled and said: "The Liao army helped us block the river? Commander Di, I am a little confused in this humble position."

"What do you think would happen if we left immediately?"

“They’ll release the floodwaters.”

"But what if we don't leave?"

"We will release the flood after enough water is stored to destroy our ships."

"Then let them keep it."

Di Qing said calmly: "Go and convey the military order, ask everyone to abandon the ship and leave, gather all the troops except Yuguan, and immediately go to the west bank to pursue Xiao Xiaomu."

"what?"

Liu Du was surprised and said: "But this leaves only a thousand people in Yuguan. If the Liao army invades, we will be here."

Di Qing smiled and said: "Let's not say that they dare not invade during the day. Even if they dare to come, we can just abandon the city and leave. At this time, they have already stored water in the mountains upstream. Why bother to think about blocking the Liao army on the east coast? Attack Linyu Mountain That’s it!”

In an instant, Liu Du understood.

Yes.

The Liao army wanted to store water to attack the ships.

Then they might as well find another way.

Abandon small boats on some rivers and keep large boats.

Concentrate your forces to deal with Xiao Xiaomu.

If Xiao Wanli on the east bank noticed and launched a large-scale invasion, the Song army in Yuguan would abandon the city and escape, take an empty boat to the other side, and then directly attack the dam in Linyu Mountain.

The Liao army had many troops, and its mobility was far inferior to that of the Song army. I don't believe that the Liao army could build a pontoon bridge and cross the river quickly in such a short period of time.

Once the Song army failed to cross the river and attacked the dam, it only took a few artillery shots to destroy the dam.

At that time, the flood that was originally used to destroy the Song army's ships became an obstacle that hindered the Liao army's support to the west.

Di Shuai's move of abandoning his son to attack and kill is really a masterstroke!

(End of this chapter)