The struggle of the reborn prince

The climate in the Northwest is cold in spring, dry in summer, and rainy in autumn. It seems that the Mid-Autumn Festival on August [-]th is coming. The sky seems to have been poked into a hole, and the rain keeps falling. The main stream and tributaries here form a rather large river bend with a length of nearly [-] miles from north to south and a width of [-] miles from east to west. The center is this Zhouzhu.

This is unique in the entire Yellow River Basin, and it can be called the first. The ancients exclaimed "Heqi" and "Lingzhou", thinking that the land must have spiritual energy, so it was called Lingzhou.However, this magical place, due to the interruption of its tributaries in the Northern Wei Dynasty, this huge Zhouzhu has been integrated with the Ordos platform in the east of the river. The "Lingzhou" in the sense of topography and geography no longer exists, leaving this new land Although the land in Lingzhou is fertile, because it was deposited by rivers in its previous life, the land is rich in water, and when it rains, it becomes a muddy quagmire, making it difficult for people and horses to walk.

Seeing that the weather is not beautiful, and Zhao Tun has no ability to call the wind and rain, now the camp has been soaked by the rain, and everyone is living in a mud pond, and the firearms they use are most afraid of being exposed to fire, and the battle is impossible, so he can only Temporarily abandoning the camp, the whole army retreated ten li and chose a solid high ground to re-enter the camp.

It is gratifying that Zhao Yong led his troops to break through Yaode City quickly with the support of the Army Zhipao Battalion. The Xixia defenders of Pule City collapsed without a fight, and the army of Shaanxi Junjingyuan Road was able to pass through.Then the two armies jointly captured Mingsha City, and it took more than ten days of fighting here for the Shaanxi Army's Yanyan Road Army to pass. Unfortunately, most of the grain stored in the "Royal Storehouse" of Mingsha City was transferred by Xixia.But he also got [-] shi for food after sweeping the storehouse.On the [-]th day of August, the two armies finally met.Zhao Tong reassigned the defense area. Although he retreated ten miles, the encirclement was not weakened at all.

The combination of the two armies was originally a happy event, but Zhao Tun became depressed. He was disappointed by the attacking capabilities of the two armies on the Shaanxi Road. Pule City and Mingsha City were not strong cities, but they were blocked for more than ten days. Unable to pass, Zhao Tian was at a loss for expecting them to break through Lingzhou City.

The series of siege battles carried out in the early Song Dynasty were based on the strong military foundation of the Later Zhou Dynasty. During the reign of Zhou Shizong, his soldiers were strong, and he successively sent troops to defeat the Later Shu, Southern Tang, and Liao.After Song Taizu established the Song Dynasty.What was inherited was a force that both the generals and the soldiers had experience in siege operations, which was undoubtedly of great help to the success of their siege operations.The military strength in the later period was different. The Song Dynasty army had not conducted large-scale siege warfare for a hundred years, and the wars that the Song Army had been in contact with before that were mainly defending the city.Or build forts, the army lacks the necessary training for siege, and is mostly good at defense.

After Song Taizong captured Taiyuan in the Northern Han Dynasty, for a long time, if it was not for the strategic mistakes of the defenders, the Song, Liao, and Xia parties seldom had successful battles with direct siege tactics.In the face of direct siege, the lack of Song army generals' methods should also be one of the reasons.Even in the war to capture Xihe during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, most of the results were consolidated by building fortifications.It is obviously difficult to win by rashly sending troops to besiege the opponent's city and hoping to attack and fight.With the war, the city defenses of both sides became stronger and stronger.How to rationally use military equipment in direct siege warfare has gradually become a problem that generals must solve, and the improvement and good use of siege equipment has become an urgent problem to be solved.

Zhao Tong recalled what Archer Jones, a Western scholar in his previous life, said about direct siege. He believed that if they had enough time, manpower, and material advantages, and adopted appropriate means, the besieger must have a high fighting spirit. , to risk their lives to attack the enemy's city; secondly, they need to have enough siege equipment to ensure that there are things available during the siege; finally, the siege army also needs to have enough war supplies to ensure that the army gets Adequate logistical supplies.

Now the Song army that has arrived at Lingzhou City has reached [-] people, and there are also [-] civilian husbands accompanying the army. There is no shortage of people.And after regaining lost ground again and again, although there are slight setbacks, morale is also booming.The seized grain plus the recently levied grain and grass are enough to last for two months, and there is still potential to be tapped, if Lingzhou City is captured.The food stored in the city is enough for them to eat for two years, so food is not a problem.Although there are not many siege tools.But Zhao Tun felled a lot of trees in Qingling, which were useless at the Iron Gate Gate, so he asked the soldiers and civilians to drag them here. Artisans make siege engines.

Zhao Tong was worried about the use of siege tactics and equipment by the two armies. The Zhongyong Army had indeed been trained in this area and had successfully captured Fengzhou City and Xiazhou City. It was also the first time for a dense big city, but there are many buildings in the city, the roads are criss-cross, and they have to face fierce street fighting after entering the city. I set up an abandoned isolated city, let the armies take turns to conduct pre-war training, and at the same time let the two armies run in with each other, familiarize themselves with each other's tactics, so as not to accidentally injure their own people, but now the autumn rain is continuous, and the training is naturally difficult...

"Report to the lord, my subordinates have seized two groups of violators of military discipline. Since they are generals from Shaanxi, I ask the lord to make a decision!" Tomorrow will be the Mid-Autumn Festival. Come in and report.

"Oh, who are they, and what happened?" Zhao Tang turned around and asked.

"My lord, one team is from the Yanyan army. They went to the nearby fortress to extort property, rob cattle and sheep, and were seized by the patrolling soldiers of the military law team; the other team was from the Jingyuan army. They left the camp without permission. He was stopped by the camp guards, but he refused to listen to dissuasion and forcibly broke into the camp, and was arrested and sent to the military law team!" Zhao Yi reported.

"It's not a big deal, you can handle it yourself, just let me know afterwards!" Zhao Tong said casually after listening.

"My lord, it's not a big deal, but the chief generals of the two armies are involved, and my subordinates are still a bit embarrassed, and dare not make decisions without authorization!" Zhao Yi said, but he was very dissatisfied in his heart. The crimes of the two teams are enough to be punished. But the prince said it was a trivial matter.

"Oh, that's interesting, could it be that their chief general violated the discipline!" Zhao Tang said a little puzzled.

"My lord, no, it was the sons of the two chief generals who committed the crime. One is Yao Zhongping, the son of Yao Gu, the envoy of Jingyuan in Shaanxi Province, and the other is Liu Guangshi, the second son of Liu Yanqing, the envoy of Jingyuan Lu in Shaanxi Province. The subordinates miss them." It belongs to the Shaanxi Army, and we punished it without authorization, and now that the battle is imminent, will it affect the two armies..." Zhao Yi said hastily.

"Well, you've thought well, but impunity will disturb the morale of the army!" Zhao Tong said, thinking in his heart, Tong Guan's capital is not small, this is to train the reserve army, and these two officers The second generation' is also well-known, how to deal with this matter is really tricky, no wonder Zhao Yi dare not deal with himself.

Yao Pingzhong, his father Yao Gu, is now the appeasement envoy of Jingyuan Road Jinglue; his grandfather Yao Si and uncle Yao Xiong have been famous generals in the western frontier for generations. But he was far from the famous name he had imagined, and although this kid was young, he was already the champion of the three armies.He was talented in the battle of Zangdihe, and he killed many enemies, and no one could stop him, but he didn't know how to please Tong Guan, and he didn't get any rewards, but he was praised by the heroes of Guanzhong, and he was nicknamed "Little Taiwei".

Zhao Tong's understanding of this person was not at this time, but what was recorded in the history books. He made the greatest contribution in the battle of conquering Fangla, so he met Tong Guan and said, "I don't want to be rewarded, I just want to see the emperor." Tong Guan hated him even more.All other generals were summoned by the emperor, only Yao Pingzhong was not summoned.Later, during the second defense of Tokyo during the Jingkang period, he happened to be in the capital, and Zhao Huanzhao rewarded the Funing Palace with a generous gift of gold and silk, so Pingzhong invited the dead soldiers to capture the commander of the captives as a gift.It's a pity that he broke two strongholds in a row, but fell into the trap, lost his troops and lost his generals. He ran away without a trace. After decades, he showed his face and became a hermit.

The other Liu Guangshi was still unobtrusive at this time. His father, Liu Yanqing, was more famous than him.Later, he followed Tong Guan Gonggong to the south of Pingla, and the northern expedition to Khitan, and took the Xuanfu capital to control one hundred thousand troops. He was really a general in the late Northern Song Dynasty.During the Jingkang disaster, both Liu Yanqing and his eldest son Liu Guangguo died in battle, and they were considered the sons of martyrs who died for the country.Liu Guangshi was not well-known at this time, but he was not a small official. He joined the third class as an official with Yin Bu, and was promoted to the defense envoy. One of the four generals of ZTE who is as famous as Yue Fei.

Now that these two have made a mistake, Zhao Tun is also very embarrassed. It is a pity to kill them according to the law, but if you don't kill them, you have to find some reason and teach them a lesson. The two generals gave a lot of rectification, which is also a little satisfying.

"This matter has nothing to do with General Liu. It's all my idea. If you want to kill me, don't wrong others..." At this moment, there was a burst of shouting outside.

"Who is making noise outside?" Zhao Tun made up his mind, and when he was about to meet these two, something went wrong, he turned to ask Zhao Yi.

"My lord, it must be that Han Shizhong who shouted outside. He is just a team leader, but he has a good temper, and he is good at martial arts. He injured several brothers before he was restrained, but this man is very famous in the Shaanxi army!" Zhao said. Yi said.

"Hehe, tell me!" Zhao Tang laughed, this person was no stranger to him, he and his wife were famous after Huang Tiandang's battle, but he didn't know much about his past.

"Yes, my lord!" Zhao Yi seemed to have investigated several people, and when he saw the lord's question, he began to speak.This Han Shizhong was an outlier when he was young. He was born in a poor peasant family. When he was young, he was courageous. He could ride untamed horses. He was fond of drinking and unrestrained. Yes, I am enlisted to join the army, and I want to serve my country... .