The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 389 His face turned pale

Under Yue Wenxuan's direction, a large group of craftsmen built a small factory.

The factory was built in Chuzhou, on a hillside rich in limestone. First, a large number of workers were hired to dig stones and clay. Then, the workers mixed the limestone and clay and calcined them in a vertical kiln to produce cement clinker. Finally, the clinker was put into a ball mill and ground into cement.

The process was not difficult, and under Tang Yanshu's command, the workers quickly mastered the entire set of movements.

The production line started operating immediately!
Large quantities of cement were shipped out of the factory...

The cement was transported to Chuzhou City and immediately used for paving roads.

The prosperity of Chuzhou attracted countless refugees from the surrounding areas. These refugees were recruited as road construction workers, starting with basic tasks such as mixing cement, and then laying cement roads.

Shouchun!

Yue Wenxuan rode a tall horse and stood on a small hill, gazing at the distant city of Shouchun.

Standing beside him were Gong Er Niangzi and... Zhang Jun!
Indeed, Zhang Jun, one of the four generals who revived the Southern Song Dynasty, is now standing with him, a man from the Northern Song Dynasty, and they are even chatting and laughing together, just like family.

Zhang Jun was "invited" to come and watch the game.

He's not good at fighting tough battles, but when invited to watch a game, he doesn't hesitate at all and comes running without hesitation.

Zhang Jun glanced at Shouchun City ahead and said, "It's too far away here, and I can't see it clearly, but I'm afraid it's not safe to get closer."

"It's alright, you can see clearly." Yue Wenxuan took out a monocular telescope and handed it over.

Zhang Jun: "???"

This monocular telescope was a plastic model that Yue Wenxuan had placed in from outside the sand table. It didn't take up much space. After Zhang Jun took it, he followed Yue Wenxuan's advice and looked at it. The distant city of Shouchun seemed to be pulled right in front of him, startling him so much that he exclaimed, "What a treasure!"

Yue Wenxuan chuckled and said, "Our Northern Song Dynasty is not lacking in all kinds of strange and wonderful treasures. General, you will see even more strange things in a little while."

Zhang Jun had long known that the Northern Song Dynasty was powerful, but he didn't know just how powerful it was. Now, the telescope had opened his eyes to its power.

Yue Wenxuan: "The reason we invited General Zhang to watch the battle this time is simply to have him witness that Shouchun will be fought back by our Northern Song army from the puppet Qi regime, by fighting it back with every single sword and spear. It will be obtained honorably, not by stealing it from the Southern Song."

Zhang Jun smiled ingratiatingly. He understood that the Northern Song Dynasty wanted to silence some people.

To avoid a future situation where the Northern Song Dynasty recaptures Shouchun, but the Southern Song Dynasty insists that the Northern Song Dynasty seized it from the Southern Song Dynasty, it would be troublesome to argue about it then.

Zhang Jun thought to himself: Whether or not there's any arguing depends on how strong you are. If you're strong, no one dares to mess with you, so who's going to argue with you?
Just then, Yue Wenxuan spoke up: "General Zhang, if you were to attack Shouchun, how would you do it?"

Isn't that obvious? Of course I'd run away!

Zhang Jun thought this to himself, but he couldn't say it aloud. He pretended to use his binoculars to search for weaknesses in Shouchun City, and pointed, "Look, there's a huge hole in the city wall over there. The puppet Qi army used a hole like this to break through Shouchun City. If I were to attack the city, I would definitely focus on this spot. I might launch a feint attack from another direction in the city with my main force, and then send out a small team of brave warriors to raid this breach."

Yue Wenxuan nodded: "Yes! General, you are truly a fine general."

Gong Er Niangzi could tell that there was a great deal of mockery in Zhenjun's words, and she didn't believe that Zhang Jun hadn't noticed it.

Turning around, I saw Zhang Jun looking completely calm and collected. It was obvious that even if he had heard it, he was pretending not to.

Gong Erniangzi decided to be blunt and said, "In my opinion, we shouldn't attack the breach."

Zhang Junqi asked, "Oh?"

Gong Erniangzi: "Since the pseudo-Qi army broke through Shouchun City from there, wouldn't they have guarded that place? There must be a large number of ambushes hiding in the houses behind the breach. If a small team of warriors rushed in through that breach, they would be shot in a circular pattern by their crossbows and their souls would be sent to the underworld."

Zhang Jun: "..."

You know what, when you think about it carefully, Zhang Junyan realized it made sense. He hadn't expected that this young girl could come up with such an analysis.

That's a bit unfair!
Zhang Jun couldn't help but ask, "So how does the Privy Council plan to attack this city?"

Gong Erniangzi said, "Shouchun has been plagued by war for years, and the city walls have fallen into disrepair, which is why there is that gap, right?"

Zhang Jun: "Indeed!"

Gong Erniangzi: "The city walls aren't very stable in other places either, right?"

Zhang Jun: "Indeed!"

Gong Erniangzi: "Since that's the case, why do we still insist on attacking that breach? We can just make a few more breaches in the city wall. Then we can attack through whichever breach we want, making it impossible for the puppet Qi army inside to defend against us."

Zhang Jun: "That's easier said than done."

Gong Er Niangzi: "Whether it's easy or not, let General Zhang witness it with his own eyes."

After saying that, she turned to the messenger and said, "Let the artillery battalion get to work. Don't shoot people, just shoot at the city walls. See which part of the walls is weak and then knock it down."

The messenger immediately ran off to relay the order...

Soon, the Northern Song army mobilized and deployed its forces towards Shouchun City.

There were many commanders at the front, including Zhang Yong and his wife, who had been transferred here after studying at the military academy for several months in rotation; Qi Chongwen, the second-in-command of the Qi family; and Sui Yi, a surrendered general from Yan'an...

With them around, Gong Er Niangzi no longer went to the front lines; she simply stood on the hillside, overseeing the entire battlefield.

Zhang Jun thought to himself: If I had known the Northern Song Dynasty was so powerful, I would have taken a closer look today to see just how strong they really were.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a loud "boom" at the foot of the mountain.

The Northern Song Dynasty's artillery battalion launched the prelude to the attack...

Then, a series of booming sounds echoed as one solid iron ball after another flew towards Shouchun City.

After years of fighting, the moat of Shouchun City had long been filled in...

The shells kept falling on the city walls, either veering over them and landing inside the city, or crashing onto the muddy ground outside the walls.

Dust and sand flew everywhere, and gravel flew everywhere.

The puppet Qi soldiers on the city wall screamed in terror.

The defending general, Wang Yanxian, was also astonished.

His tactics were exactly as Gong Erniangzi had guessed: a large number of archers were lying in ambush behind the breach, ready to catch the Northern Song army's suicide soldiers off guard when they launched a surprise attack on the breach.

Unexpectedly, the Northern Song army was far away from the city and did not come over at all, and then the cannons started to bombard them.

Solid iron projectiles thundered and pounded against the city wall.

The city walls of Shouchun had been in disrepair for many years and had been repeatedly ravaged by battering rams, catapults and other weapons during the war. How could they withstand such devastation as cannon fire? With each cannonball that hit the walls, a large section of the wall could be felt shaking and trembling.

The puppet Qi army was so frightened that their faces turned pale...

Zhang Jun, who was watching from a distance, also turned pale...

(End of this chapter)