People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 381 The Song Army besieged the city
The big ship was slowly approaching on the sea, the sea breeze was blowing, and the flags were flapping in the wind.

The Song Dynasty has not yet made a national flag, but military flags have existed since ancient times, so the ships of the Song army all have their own military flags.

As one of the seven largest fleets of the Song Dynasty, the Zhenhai Navy has only more than 20 ships and only 5,000 people, but there are more than 500 large and small artillery pieces on the ship alone, and the firepower is very sufficient.

The color of their flag is also vermilion, which represents the Fire Virtue of the Great Song Dynasty. On it is a black warship riding the wind and waves, and below is the ocean breaking waves, symbolizing the suppression of the sea.

At this moment, Zhou Gang, commander of the Zhenhai Navy, was standing on the deck of the Fu Ship, looking into the distance with a telescope. The lookout on the ship was also observing the direction of Yuguan with a telescope.

"Boss, this is the main ship of the Ding Navy. They are signaling to us to send some assault ships into the river to intercept the Liao army!"

The lookout who had been following Zhou Gang since the casual team did not address Zhou Gang as commander or compliment him as a general. Instead, he followed his previous habit and called him "boss". His voice was so loud that he had to shout at the top of his lungs as the howling sea breeze blew. .

Zhou Gang could hear the violent wind blowing in his ears, and when he heard the watchman's call, he also shouted loudly: "I'm not blind, Liuzi, pass the order and let Han San execute the order."

"Just execute the order directly? What if?"

"Try giving a password first."

Yushui is not a big river, but the width of the river is only one or two hundred meters. In addition, it is the end of the rainy season and it is still in the rising stage, so the narrow part is at least twenty or thirty feet.

The entire river soon became chaotic, and many Liao soldiers who were already halfway along the river were frightened and began to turn their boats around.

Some ships have passed, some are still in the middle of the river, and most of the Liao troops are still pushing water into the river on the east bank. The entire Yushui River is quite prosperous.

Therefore, it is not easy for these Liao troops to cross the river in a short time.

"Yes!"

Therefore, when Zhou Gang saw that the password was correct, he issued the order, and the flagman immediately began to signal to other nearby ships.

But the Song army's fleet didn't care about this. With a roar, as the front ship took the lead in firing, the Liao army fleet in the distance became even more chaotic. Many people capsized directly in the panic and fell into the water. I don't know how many people drowned. .

"Let's go!"

They rumbled into Yushui, like an aircraft carrier sailing into the Panama Canal, and even the wide river seemed a little narrow.

But with the arrival of the Song Army's ships, everything changed drastically.

In this case, it would only be possible unless Yuguan fell, the Dinghai Navy and the Heping Navy were completely annihilated, and the flag waver was captured by the enemy.

"boom!"

"It's a Song ship, run quickly!"

"Help, help me, Gu Gu Gu Gu Gu."

It didn't take long for more than a dozen assault ships and assault ships next to the main ship to speed up and sail towards Yushui.

"Ah ah ah, paddle quickly, ah ah ah, I'm going to fall down."

"Don't mess, don't mess, paddle back, paddle back."

There is a basket on the mast, and the lookout in the basket works with another flag bearer to wave to the Dinghai navy docked at the dock in the distance.

At this moment, the Yushui River was very lively. Xiao Wanli's 20,000 former troops were crossing the river. The river bank was very lively. A large number of Liao soldiers were pushing the boats that had been prepared long ago into the river and starting to row.

These assault ships and assault ships are definitely small compared to large ships such as Fu Chuan and Feihu, but compared with the small boats of the Liao army, they are simply giant.

After a while, the correct command was indeed sent back from Dinghai Army.

A cannonball fell into the river, causing water to splash everywhere. It frightened the Liao army nearby and rowed hurriedly, but inadvertently caused the boat to shift and fall.

In an instant, these Liao troops who could not swim fell into the current and were submerged by the river.

In fact, the ships of the Song Army have artillery on both sides, and there is only one main gun in the bow direction, so there are very few shells that can be fired, only a few sporadic rounds, and the accurate head may not be able to hit.

But the deterrence brought by artillery is not trivial. Many people are frightened by the terrifying artillery fire and keep swaying in panic. The result is that haste makes waste, and if they are not careful and fail to maintain balance, the ship will capsize. The ship was directly destroyed and people were killed.

As the assault ships in front cleared the way, the Song Army's fleet formed a long snake shape. When passing by the Liao Army, the artillery on the east side officially opened fire. In an instant, hundreds of artillery shells flew together, causing the Liao Army on the east bank to flee. Scattered away.

At this moment, the Liao army's boats on the river were falling like raindrops, and the Liao army on the shore were even more scattered. Moreover, in addition to artillery, the Song troops on the ship also lay on the side of the ship and fired continuously, killing countless Liao people.

Just over an hour later, there were no Liao troops on the entire Yu River. In other words, except for the corpses of the Liao troops and the boats they were on that were washed away downstream, only the Song army who was still showing off their power was left, controlling the entire River surface.

"Commander!"

At this time, Zhou Gang's main ship had also arrived at the dock, and then quickly arrived at Guangning City to meet Di Qing.

Di Qing stood on the top of the city and was looking at the situation on the river in the distance. Guangning City was actually quite far away from the river, about four or five kilometers away. It was difficult to see clearly what was happening on the river from this position.

However, we could still vaguely see heads floating in the distance, and many Liao troops who had crossed the river to the west bank were fleeing in all directions, scattering like birds and beasts.

However, the Song army on the west bank did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it, but remained where it was, just watching from a distance.

"Ah."

Di Qing said expressionlessly: "You are three days behind schedule!"

Zhou Gang's hair suddenly stood up, and he almost broke down in cold sweat. He quickly raised his hands and explained: "Commander, this is not a sign of contempt for one's duty, but a sudden storm at sea, which nearly destroyed the ship and killed everyone. He had no choice but to wait for the storm to pass before he could continue sailing."

"Make up for the mistake!"

Di Qing said in a deep voice: "Take your people and disperse those Liao troops immediately."

"Yes."

Zhou Gang hurriedly took the remaining people with him.

Hu Yanshou came over and asked curiously: "Commander, we have won a great victory, why don't we attack with the whole army?" Di Qing shook his head and said: "Our army has experienced several days of fighting, but our morale and morale are still pretty good. , but the strength is low, not to mention the ammunition is exhausted. To avoid casualties, let Zhou Gang and others go. "

The Song Army has been fighting hard for several days and has run out of ammunition. What they need now is to replenish their status immediately and have a good rest while letting the logistics department refill the ammunition.

If they attack now, the soldiers of Ding Haijun and Ping Hai Hai will have to fight hand-to-hand with the Liao army, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Although there is a high probability that this will not expand the results of the war, and at least thousands or even nearly ten thousand Liao troops on the west bank will flee, at least the soldiers of the navy and the navy can be saved.

Preserving vitality and dealing with the enemy is a tactic Di Qing learned from Zhao Jun, so even if he would rather lose some ships, he is not willing to sacrifice his soldiers. He fully learned from Zhao Jun the principle of "save people and lose land, and both people and land will survive" Essence.

Zhou Gang knew that he arrived three days late, which was a big taboo in the military. If he did not perform meritorious service, he might be held accountable by the military court of the Ministry of War afterwards, so he worked very hard to lead people to kill him.

The west bank was bustling for a while. More than 2,000 Song soldiers raised their guns and fired continuously. A group of scattered Liao soldiers fled in all directions. The whole wilderness was full of people chasing after each other. Small black spots fled in panic and staged a thrilling battle. Battle royale game.

When it got dark, the war was finally over. The Song Army reorganized the army and replenished weapons and ammunition from the Zhenhai Navy. After the Zhenhai Navy's logistics supply ships were evacuated, the remaining supply ships including the Dinghai Navy and the Heping Navy set off again. Hang, leaving Guangning and heading to Nigukou Military Village.

The supply ship is mainly responsible for the transportation of grain, supplies, gunpowder, etc. The Song Army was unable to send the supply ship back because of continuous heavy rains. It was very dangerous for the supply ship to return to the sea, so it could only be parked at the dock.

Moreover, the war between the two sides was uncertain at that time, and the Liao people's offensive was fierce. If they were not careful, they might retreat to the sea. If the supply ship leaves, the remaining ships will most likely not be able to accommodate that many people.

Now that we have Zhen Haijun's replenishment, and the rain has finally stopped, we can naturally start again and return to Hebei to replenish supplies.

With the help of Zhen Haijun, the Song army quickly stabilized the situation. It not only repelled the Liao attack, but also recaptured Yuguan and deployed artillery at Yuguan, making the already disorganized Liao people even more unhappy. step.

So at the end of October, after more than half a month of hard fighting, Di Qing finally gained a foothold in Yuguan. Xiao Wanli no longer dared to invade, so he could only gather the defeated soldiers while retreating to Laizhou.

During this period, the officers and men of the Ding Navy and the Ping Navy were also very miserable.

Due to the storm, Zhenjun arrived a few days late, causing flaws in the original plan, and the Song army was almost defeated.

If Di Qing had not commanded Ruoding and relied on the three defense lines of Yuguan, Yushui and Guangning to attack Xiao Wanli in the east and Xiao Xiaomu in the west, struggling for many days, I am afraid that the Song army would have run out of ammunition and food. Defeated.

Therefore, it can be said that this battle was not only a tenacious fight by the Song Dynasty navy, but also Di Qing's ultra-high-level military command tactics. It is by no means a matter of luck.

And just when Di Qing was killing everyone in Yuguan, Fan Zhongyan had already started his next move.

Youyan, analyze Jinfu.

The rainy season, which lasts for more than ten days, comes and goes quickly.

This period was when the Liao army attacked the most, and the two sides were in constant entanglement.

But when the rainy season passed and the Song people's firearms showed their power again, it became the Song army's turn again.

The Liao army retreated like a tide, returned to the city, and set up cannons to wait.

Fan Zhongyan took advantage of the victory to pursue, and more than 100,000 Song troops moved forward again, forming camps around Liangxiang step by step, completely surrounding Liangxiang city.

Their position was set up three or four kilometers away from Liangxiang County, firmly outside the artillery fire of Liangxiang City.

In the Battle of Songjin, the Ming army had artillery, and so did the Qing army. However, the war lasted for two full years. The Qing army relied on the tactic of encircling points and calling for reinforcements, and finally killed the last elite of the Ming Dynasty outside the pass.

After this battle, except for Wu Sangui's remaining 30,000 soldiers who fled back to Shanhaiguan with him, the Ming Dynasty's nine elite troops outside the pass were completely lost, and they completely lost their ability to counterattack the Qing army.

Therefore, ancient warfare does not mean that having artillery will make you invincible. The artillery used to defend the city has an advantage over the siege artillery in terms of natural range. It is not that easy to break the city.

If Han Qi had been involved in this battle, the outcome would have been hard to say.

However, Fan Zhongyan's tactical style is quite similar to Zeng Shatou's. He is a typical character who sticks to the stronghold and fights stupidly.

Instead of fighting a city offensive and defensive battle with you, he can just surround the city and continue to fight against you.

It depends on whether you, the Liao Kingdom, have more food and grass, or whether I, the Song Dynasty, have more abundant national power.

More than 100,000 Song troops from Hebei came overwhelmingly. If you stand in Liangxiang City and look at it, you will see densely packed Song military camps everywhere outside the city.

In addition to the stockade, the Song army dug trenches in the wilderness outside during the day, with three floors inside and three floors outside, doing civil engineering work, and surrounding Liangxiang City, as if they were trying to build dozens of rings for Liangxiang.

When the defenders of Liangxiang City saw the situation outside the city, they were almost desperate.

Although Yelu Zongzhen had stored a large amount of grain and grass in Xijin Mansion, more than 100,000 Liao troops rushed to Xijin Mansion in a short period of time, so that there was a slight shortage of grain and grass.

After all, the war is actually about logistical supply capabilities. Subsequent food and grass needs to be supplied from Dading Prefecture in Beijing and Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo. Dading Prefecture mainly produces livestock on the grassland, while Liaoyang Prefecture and Xijin Prefecture have large plain areas. , so wheat will be produced.

Cattle and sheep need to be grazed while they are alive, but their meat cannot be stored for long after they are dead. Therefore, in fact, the main food of the Liao army still relied on wheat and some corn that could be stored for a long time.

During the Song Dynasty, there were more than 100,000 troops on the roadside in Hebei, and tens of thousands of forbidden troops were mobilized from the central government. Together with the navy, the total force was close to 200,000.

The Liao Kingdom was more prosperous.

The Liao Kingdom itself had more than 100,000 troops in Xijin. Yelu Zongzhen also transferred the Pishi Army and the Suwei Army from Beijing. Together with the troops from the Bohai, Nuzhi, Shiwei and other tribes, the total strength exceeded 30. Ten thousand.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Xijin Mansion, and the food they consumed every day was measured in massive amounts. After the increase in productivity in the Song Dynasty, there was no pressure, but it was different in the Liao Kingdom.

Fighting protracted wars has never been the strength of the nomads.

For this reason, Yelv Zongzhen could only suppress the ethnic minorities in the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom and ask them to pay tribute of grain and grass, while urging Xiao Xiaomu to deal with Di Qing as soon as possible, open up Yuguan, and allow the subsequent grain and grass to follow.

Unfortunately, as the rainy season passed, the last advantage of the Liao army disappeared. Liangxiang was quickly surrounded by the Song army, giving the Liao army a strong sense of oppression.

What is even more desperate is that the Song army has begun to prepare artillery fire to attack the city at night.

Although Liangxiang also had artillery, the number was incomparable to that of the Song army. They set up artillery positions at night, started calibrating them at dawn, and directly bombarded the city, making it almost impossible for the Liao army to take the lead and could only huddle under the city wall.

Under such circumstances, the Liao army in Liangxiang City fell into a state of panic and fear.

(End of this chapter)