The struggle of the reborn prince

Last year, the Artillery was received to participate in the Northern Expedition. As the iron fist with heavy firepower of the Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty, the Artillery Division under the emperor's edict made intense preparations for the battle.In addition to the expansion of the artillery directly under the armies and brigades and the replacement of new artillery, the three artillery brigades directly under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council were increased to five, and the Artillery Command was established on the basis of the Artillery Division.After the war started, the first and second brigades were assigned to the Zhaoli Corps, and the third and fourth brigades were assigned to the Mawei Corps. Now only the Fifth Artillery Brigade remains on the Jinzhou front.

After the Song Army started the siege of Jinzhou, Zhao Xiao commanded the artillery of various departments to cooperate with the infantry to clear out the outer strongholds, but in order not to expose the real main attack direction, the heavy firepower mainly used the artillery of the generals and brigades.After receiving the order to participate in the attack on Jinzhou, the Fifth Brigade immediately moved from the rear overnight to enter the position outside Jinzhou City.

The Fifth Artillery Brigade was formed under the emperor's decree last year with students from the Jiaowutang Artillery School as the backbone. It was equipped with large-caliber new artillery, and was led by Qiao Shijun.The troops adopt a five-five organization. The brigade has five combat artillery battalions and one directly subordinate battalion and supply team. Each artillery battalion has five subordinates and one directly subordinate team. The strength of the brigade varies according to the different types of artillery used.The battalion directly under the jurisdiction of the command, security, communications and reconnaissance teams, etc., while the supply team is mainly responsible for the supply of ammunition.

The first, second and third battalions are equipped with large-caliber front-loading artillery, and each battalion is equipped with [-] cannons, which can fire [-]-jin solid bullets, flowering bullets and shotgun shells, with an effective range of [-] steps and a maximum range of [-] The fourth and fifth battalions are equipped with large-caliber mortars, and each battalion is equipped with fifteen guns, which can throw solid bullets, flower bombs and incendiary bombs. The effective range is [-] paces, and the maximum range is nearly [-] paces.

Because the cannons equipped by the [-]th Artillery Brigade are powerful, the sound of explosion can be heard for twenty miles when fired, so they are called "Thor".The reason why the Fifth Brigade was kept here was because they were heavy artillery brigades, and the largest artillery they used weighed more than three thousand catties. Therefore, it was very inconvenient to march and be carried by ships, and it was difficult to follow the cavalry to fight.But even so, they have been hidden in the snow, and have not been engaged in an actual battle. They are ready to be used as strategic weapons at the most critical moment...

After receiving the order to conquer Jinzhou, Gao Chong immediately led a group of people to survey the battlefield, formulate and revise the battle plan. The former emperor's tent was only ten miles away from the battlefield, which was tantamount to directly supervising the battle, which not only gave him and the generals a great deal The pressure also made them understand the importance of this battle.

"Brother Xiao, Jinzhou City is high and deep, and you still need your help!" After turning around and returning to the handsome tent, Gao Chong smiled and offered Zhao Xiao a cup of tea.

"Beloved brother, why be polite, we are all brothers!" Zhao Xiao thanked the passage politely. Although he had a humble face, he was very useful in his heart. The artillery has been greatly developed and valued over the years, but he is in charge of the artillery department. Most of what I do is to organize training, study tactics and improve the new artillery, etc. It has been a long time since I have been in the battle.And he knows very well that it is difficult for a soldier without military exploits to gain a foothold, so he still feels a little uncomfortable in his heart. Now that Gao Chong is so enthusiastic and values ​​himself, he is of course very comfortable.

"Since this is the case, I will not say more polite words. Your Majesty only gave two days to attack the city. We have also seen the Jinzhou City Defense. Although it has no inner city, there are many obstacles in the outer city. The artillery belonging to the army is limited in power, if it is forced to attack, the casualties will be great, and the time may not be rich, so it needs a lot of support from brothers." Gao Chong still asked for advice with a smile on his face.

"You don't have to worry too much, Marshal. I have also done a detailed understanding of the Jinzhou city defense. Its main city has been repaired many times, and the city defense equipment is the most solid and perfect, with a certain ability to resist. But the outer moat outside the city and the sheep and horse walls The forts and fortresses are all temporary constructions, which is nothing to worry about. They can completely clear the way with artillery fire and open up the road to attack the city. The main city only needs some time, and the gap can also be blasted with heavy artillery. The problem is that the enemy can take advantage of the time to bombard the city. Mobilizing reinforcements will bring difficulties to the subsequent siege troops." Zhao Xiao pondered for a moment and said.

"Brother Xiao, Your Majesty has also considered this. We plan to launch an attack from three directions at the same time, with Ximen as the main target, and pretend to attack the east gate and north gate, so that the enemy will not be able to tell the truth from the fake and dare not easily deploy troops to reinforce Ximen." Gao Chong Said his plan.

"Although this can contain the enemy to a certain extent, it is not complete. We will definitely deploy heavy artillery in the main direction of attack, in order to suppress the enemy and open up passages with the most violent artillery fire. The Jurchens will know when the time comes. One side is the main attack, the other side is bluffing." Zhao Xiaoyan said.

"Then what should Brother Yixiao mean? I know that the heavy artillery is heavy, and it is very difficult to temporarily transfer the artillery position, and it is too late in time!" Gao Chong nodded, shook his head and said, he also understands the truth, but the fish It's hard to have both.

"The commander-in-chief's plan is that the artillery of each army and brigade will still belong to the command and use of each department, and only use the artillery of the fifth brigade in the main attack direction?" Zhao Xiao asked after thinking about it.

"Exactly!" Gao Chong replied.

"I suggest that the artillery of the whole army be grouped into one place, and the dispatching and command be unified. At the same time, in order to strengthen the firepower and reduce the feint attack in one direction, how about changing it to one main and one auxiliary?" Zhao Xiao proposed his own idea.

"Oh, Brother Xiao, tell me in detail!" Gao Chong frowned and said, if he followed Zhao Xiao's words, he would have to make major changes to the battle plan, and before the battle, the commander was hesitant, and impromptu actions are the most taboo. So he wanted to hear Zhao Xiao's thoughts first.

"Commander, this is my plan. We can first check the direction of Yashan to launch an attack. Now Jinzhou has been surrounded by us like an iron barrel, and the surrounding people have all fled, and there are rangers patrolling the periphery. It is difficult to spread the news. If we go out, the enemy reinforcements will naturally have no way of knowing that we have attacked; moreover, the two battlefields are separated by dozens of miles, unless they have clairvoyance and ears, they cannot hear the sound of our siege artillery, so they launched the attack first. The attack will not affect the plan of fighting for aid all the way." Of course Zhao Xiao knew what Gao Chong thought, he explained.

"Well, this is indeed true, you go on." Gao Chong nodded and said.

"We attack the city in two ways to hide the truth and show the falsehood, so we just need to make the show a little more real, so that they can firmly believe that the main attack will be the main attack..." Zhao Xiao led Gao Chong to the sand table and told him Explain your plan in detail.

"Okay, this plan is feasible, I will go to the camp to report to His Majesty, and change the original siege plan!" Gao Chong said happily, he has been persuaded by Zhao Xiao's plan...

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The city of Jinzhou has a radius of five miles, and its area is not large. With the rise of the textile industry and the increase of merchants in the Liao Dynasty, the city became smaller and smaller. To facilitate transactions, a grass market was spontaneously formed outside the east gate.This is like a market day that is common in rural areas nowadays. People from all over the place will gather here to trade in those few days. As time goes by, the grass market outside the east gate prospers, and the Jinzhou government built a wall here to collect taxes. , assign special personnel to manage.

Caoshi became the Guocheng of Jinzhou. The government simply moved the weavers and merchants in the city here. Some merchants and big households donated money to strengthen the city wall in order to prevent theft and protect their own safety, making it a city outside the city. .Later, the Liao Kingdom perished, and the Jin army used the buildings here to convert them into barracks, making it the largest outlying camp in the east of the city.After the Northern Expedition of the Song Army, in order to move people from outside the city into the city, the Jin Army set fire to the surrounding houses, cleared the shooting range, dug trenches outside, and stationed two thousand-man teams to defend here, forming Jinzhou. Part of the outer defenses of the city.

On the tenth day of April, that is, after the Mawei Corps was blocked by the Jinshui Army in Heye for several days, the Song Army, which had been besieging the city for many days, suddenly launched an attack.The Tiger Wing Army concentrated six artillery battalions directly under the army brigade, and with the support of the third battalion of the fifth artillery brigade, they opened fire on Guocheng.The bombardment continued until the end of the day, destroying all the walls and moats of Guocheng, razing all buildings to the ground, and damaging more than half of the defenders. Except for more than a hundred people who fled back to Jinzhou City, all the rest were captured. Under the city, there were still a large number of siege engines coming with the army, but it was only dark that they did not continue to attack the city.

"Marshal, the soldiers and people in the city are panic-stricken, and they need to make plans early. The subordinates are worried that things will change if they are too late!" Wanyan Bingde said in a trembling voice. After Yu Lie died in battle, and his servant San Zhongyi almost died in Yazihe, he was worried about being punished, so he stayed in Jinzhou and did not return. Fortunately, after Sa Lihe defected, the emperor did not convict him in order to appease the people, but let him take the place of Zuo In this way, he became the second in command of Zuo Shuai's mansion.

Today's Song army blew up such a large area of ​​Guocheng in just one day. The two thousand-man teams were almost wiped out. Only one thousand-man commander escaped, and he was still half dead. He was smashed from the sky in the camp. The cannonball that pierced the roof was stunned, and he became a mute who could only nod and shake his head but could not speak.Although the Song army did not continue to attack the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city were terrified by the Song army's artillery fire. They were worried that the shells would fall on their heads tomorrow, so they gathered at the city gate and asked Kaicheng to let them escape for their lives. , while the defenders in the trenches outside the city demanded to enter the city.

"The supervising army should not panic. We only injured two thousands of troops today. We still have [-] people, but it's just a drop in the bucket. The common people don't know what's going on, so they are inevitably a little scared. We just need to calm down and suppress them." Wan Yan said with a bright smile.

"The commander-in-chief should hurry up and calm down the people, and don't really cause trouble." Wanyan Bingde said, wiping the sweat off his face.

"The servants are scattered, you immediately lead the troops to the gates of the cities to order the people to return home, and those who disobey the order will be punished on the spot, then seal the gates and prohibit all people from entering and leaving, and do not hesitate to kill anyone who trespasses." Wan Yanliang casually ordered himself The bodyguard's personal army commanded.

"Marshal, isn't this inappropriate?" Wanyan Bingde didn't expect that his so-called little appeasement and repression would mean mass murder, so he hurriedly persuaded him.

"There are Song troops outside the city. When they go out of the city, they surrender to the enemy. Those soldiers should have fought to the death to defend the land, but they were timid to avoid the battle. They should be executed according to the military law. This is already lenient. This is just to let them do their crimes and make meritorious deeds. Naturally, they can fight back the Song army. Back to the city." Wan Yanliang said with a light smile, waved his hand to make servant Sanhutu go forward to carry out his order.

"This..." Wanyan Bingde was dumbfounded by his unreasonable reasoning, and couldn't explain it, and watched Pu Sanhutu accept the order and leave.He knew that this servant San Hutu was just a slave in the past. Wanyan Zongqian looked at him pitifully back then, and often gave him money and accepted him as a retainer, so he is grateful to their family. Now he is promoted to Wanyanliang's pro-army commander, of course He will carry out his orders without compromise, and this trip will definitely set off a bloody storm.

"You don't have to worry about the supervising army. Your Majesty won't leave you alone, and someone from Liaoyang Mansion told you the day before yesterday that the navy has won consecutive victories over the Southern Dynasties navy from the north of Liaobei, sinking and destroying dozens of its warships, and losing more than [-] troops. , Now block them in Heye, two more battles will be needed to win a complete victory. Now the reinforcements sent by the Liaoyang government are on the way, and we will be able to defeat the Song army by combining internal and external forces, turning the tide of the battle, and driving Zhao Er out of Liaodong. Come back to Yanyun again." Wan Yanliang said vigorously.

"That's great!" Wanyan Bingde said with a smile on his old face, but he couldn't help shaking his head secretly, this kid is too shameless, he wants to take away his cousin's throne, and then ask him to send troops to rescue him, it's really fucking shameless.

When they were in the capital, both of them belonged to the rear party, and their goal was to overthrow Wanyan Quan, but Wanyan Bingde's new emperor was not Wanyan Liang, but Wanyan Yong who stayed behind in Liaoyang Mansion.The child was both civil and military, honest and honest, and was deeply liked by the Chinese and military forces of the Jin Dynasty, and he was also a descendant of the Taizu, so he was also qualified to inherit the throne.Especially after he fled to Jinzhou, watching what he did felt even worse.

After the southern and northern invasions, the central government ordered all the military states to collect elite soldiers, recruit clan soldiers, build weapons, and prepare to fight against the enemy.According to the order of the imperial court, young adults over the age of 20 and under 50 were mobilized, one out of two out of three, and two out of three out of three into the army, leaving some young men to give birth at home.However, the area under the jurisdiction of the general Zuo Shuai's mansion will be recruited from Meng'an Mouk soldiers who are over 16 years old and under 60 years old, as well as strong men from Bohai, Han, and Khitan in prefectures and counties, regardless of whether they are old men or single men.Wan Yanliang's order is tantamount to announcing that all the people are soldiers. As a result, Zuo Shuai's mansion has [-] soldiers, and apart from those who were injured by Sui Sali, there are [-] soldiers in Jinzhou City .

Afterwards, Wan Yanliang issued a second order for military preparations, requiring that all the old weapons from the states and counties under the jurisdiction of the Zuo Shuai Mansion be gathered in the area of ​​the Shuai Mansion, and send craftsmen to build weapons day and night, and the materials and costs of all these weapons They must be searched from the people near Jinzhou. For example, to make bows and arrows, you must use the tendons and leather of vertebral cattle. Where does the tendons and leather come from? It can only come from the cattle of ordinary people. The animals became the prey of the soldiers.In other words, in order to defeat the Southern Dynasty, what does it matter if the people lose a little property?After the Song army was wiped out and Yanyun was recovered, there were gold and silver treasures, chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep.

Before the battle started, Wan Yanliang had already caused chaos in the Liaodong area, and the people complained. Later, he pushed out the old general Sa Liyao and framed him as a traitor to the Song Dynasty, which turned out to be true.All this is too abnormal in Wanyan Bingde's view, it shows that he already has the heart of disobedience and has made plans to stand on his own feet, but now he has to bow his head under the eaves as a human being, and only hopes that the siege of Jinzhou will be resolved soon so that he can escape be born...

Wanyan Bingde was a little disappointed with Wanyan Liang's actions. Hearing Wanyan Liang's confident nonsense, absent-mindedly talking to each other, and listening to the bursts of crying and shouting from outside the mansion, he knew that the servant was gone. Kutu has already started to kill.Suddenly, a personal soldier reported that Xiao Yu, the Metropolitan Supervisor, came with Xiao Zhonggong, the Prime Minister of the Left.Both of them were shocked when they heard this, Xiao Zhonggong went to Yingzhou to negotiate with Nanchao for more than a month, everyone thought that he was detained by Nanchao, but now he came back suddenly, the two hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"Master Zuo, why is the city gate closed, and there are riots in the city again, and the soldiers kill people indiscriminately?" Xiao Zhonggong asked anxiously as soon as he sat down.

Xiao Zhonggong spent a month in Yingzhou and Ma Kuo, but there was no progress. A few days ago, the Southern Dynasty suddenly said that Jin Guo was insincere and would not continue the negotiation. He sent it to Jinzhou. Only then did he know that the Song Army had reached here However, when they encountered obstacles when entering the city, the soldiers outside the city clamored to return to the city, and the soldiers above the city were at war, telling them to return to the front, otherwise they would be executed on the spot.It took Xiao Zhonggong a long time to let the people in the city understand his identity, but the city gate was sealed, and a big basket was lowered from the city to pull him up, and he was able to enter the city. Unexpectedly, the city was also in chaos , The soldiers were chasing and killing the people, and there were corpses everywhere along the way.

"My lord, we repelled the Song army's attack on the city today, but some people were so frightened that they wanted to open the city gate to join the enemy. Who would have thought that my lord would come here at this time, and see the joke!" Wan Yanliang hurriedly explained that Xiao Zhonggong is Shangshu Zuocheng, who is in the third class, has a higher position than him, and is Wushu's confidant , he had to show respect.

"Oh, so that's the case, but I didn't expect the enemy army to advance so fast and have already reached the city of Jinzhou!" Xiao Zhonggong said with a long breath. He had heard about the surrender of Xizhou City on the way, and saw the chaotic situation just now. , Worried about the recurrence of the old things, wouldn't he be a big gift to his door?

"My lord, what's the matter with the peace talks with the Southern Dynasty? Now that you've come back, there is a result?" Wan Yanliang asked someone to bring tea, and sat down next to him.

"Ah, it's hard to say!" Xiao Zhonggong sighed, "I haven't seen Zhao Er's face since I left for many days. They are afraid that the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites will expand the discussion, and the conditions they put forward are extremely harsh. Nashui and Huntong River demarcate the boundary, and pay millions of yearly coins every year. How can such conditions be agreed? Of course, the truth is that they fought hard according to reason, but they broke up. Although Zhao Er is shameless, he still obeys the rules. He did not embarrass us, and ordered someone to send us back to the south. Tomorrow, I will leave and return to the capital, and report to His Majesty and Grand Master, asking them to make a decision."

"My lord, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave for the time being!" Wan Yanliang shook his head and said with a wry smile...r1152

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