Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 648 A false alarm

"At the beginning of the year, Ye Chen attacked Xiazhou in the northwest. He broke the city in half a month, thanks to the finely researched gunpowder from the Weapons Department. A few days ago, on the day King Jin died, the imperial city wall was blown up. You and I witnessed it with our own eyes." Xu Fangyi said. : "Dazhou Chengjian, we don't have enough troops, and besieging is the worst strategy. Wang Chengxiong is timid and afraid of death. We can try to send agents in to contact Wang Chengxiong to try to alienate, while preparing to use gunpowder to blow up the city."

Pan Meidao: "In case we can't break through, we can only wait for ten days at most. After ten days, if we can't enter Dazhou, we can only enter Shu Road depending on the situation."

The next day, Pan Mei began to deploy siege fortifications in an orderly manner.Soldiers are all elite fighters, but their morale is not stable, they don't eat well, and they feel weak when doing things.

In addition, along the way, Pan Mei forcibly recruited a villager composed of four thousand strong men. Naturally, the weapons of the villager were far from enough. There were all kinds of weapons for various village fights, and there was no armor at all.But they are mainly used for work.

Pan Mei did not intend to let the army besiege Dazhou on all sides.They first divided 4 people into three battalions, one on each side of the city; four thousand cavalry were stationed five miles away from the city in the southeast of the city.

Then they drove the strong men to start building fences and ditches in front of the west gate, advancing to the bottom of the city one by one, with three layers of fortifications; heavy troops were placed on the east side.There are also some craftsmen who are busy working in the camp to make various tools such as catapults and ladders.

At this time, within tens of miles of Dazhou City, all the food that could be eaten by people and horses has been looted. Fortunately, it is autumn, which happens to be the autumn harvest season. A few days ago, the Dazhou government wanted to strengthen the walls and clear the fields. The people forced each other to die and were not allowed to burn the grain in the fields, which made the rebels easier.Otherwise, Pan Mei would not be able to find the food and grass to support their nine-day attack.

For a moment, the open land outside Dazhou City seemed to be a construction site for the main hall. The sound of sawing wood, the sound of jingling, and the sound of people carrying wooden hammers and ramming the earth... rang together, a scene of busy work.

On both sides, there are banners and flags like clouds, and a group of people and horses lined up, standing still.Looking at the city tower, several generals were walking around on the wall, and there were many soldiers standing on the wall, but the defenders did not shoot an arrow, because no matter what kind of weapon they were, they could not reach the "construction site" outside the city.

Behind the fence, eight tunnels have been dug quietly, using houses, curtains and trenches as cover to prevent people in Dazhou City from seeing where the tunnels are.

Xu Fangyi rode his horse to a tunnel opening and took a look. He turned around and saw Pan Mei who was coming to inspect, so he immediately went forward and said, "General Pan! The second is to determine the location; after digging to the bottom of the city, there are only more than a hundred steps, and a small hole is found in a hidden place in the middle, so that you don’t have to worry about the direction being too far. At night, someone quietly took a rope to measure the distance of the city wall, just in time to dig the tunnel. to the wall."

Pan Meidao: "During the Southern Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was also used, but it was done by people from the Huaxia Weifu, and others were not allowed to approach. I don't know very well. If Master Xu and I did not work together, not only would we not be able to create This gunpowder, and I don’t know how to use gunpowder.”

"I've only seen people from the Huaxia Weifu use it before, and I haven't studied it in depth. I remember that it was dug like this, but it should be similar." Xu Fangyi paused for a while when he said this, and then said: "Dig the tunnel to hide gunpowder. The same as the previous method of "hole attack", the hole attack has to be dug into the city, digging farther... There are not a few generals in the army who understand the hole attack, and there are other specialties, such as timber support to prevent collapse, knowing how to dig Can't go wrong."

Pan Mei said: "Let Mr. Xu take full power to deal with the bombing of the city."

"Then I will take orders." Xu Fangyi bowed.

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On a sunny afternoon, the autumn air is crisp and the sky is very clear, but the ground below the city is full of dust.Li Guangwu stood on the top of the city tower and carefully observed the fortifications below. The morale of the rebel army was low.But knowing that they are short of troops, they can only watch and wait for others to attack.

"Although the morale of the rebel army is not high, the deployment is very rigorous. Pan Mei deserves to be a famous general of the generation." Li Guangwu said without turning his head.

Wang Chengxiong's cheeks are flat, his facial features are regular, and his beard is always light and well-groomed, but these days he doesn't have the time to take care of it. In addition, he hasn't slept well in the past few days, his eyes are bloodshot, and his whole body sloppy.Hearing Pan Mei's name at this time, her expression changed slightly, and she said, "I heard that the traitor Pan Mei ordered the massacre of the city several times when he was attacking Southern Tang."

Li Guangwu remained calm, he had already seen Wang Chengxiong's expression from the corner of his eye.

"Lord Wang, look over there..." Li Guangwu pointed in front of him.

Wang Chengxiong said: "The dust is too heavy, I can't see anything."

"Look carefully at the new soil behind the fence." Li Guangwu said, "Pan Mei asked someone to dig a crypt."

"Acupoint attack?" Wang Chengxiong frowned.

Li Guangwu said: "Acupoint attack is too difficult. Several gold medal spies sent by Huaxia Weifu have already reported that Pan Mei asked people to collect the materials needed to prepare gunpowder along the way. I would have thought that Pan Mei wanted to use gunpowder to blow up the city. Famous at the beginning of the year The battle of Xiazhou in the world, and the fact that Pan Mei led an army to take down the Southern Tang in less than three months, one of the main reasons was that the city wall was blown up with gunpowder. According to the original intelligence of Huaxia Weifu Secretary Xu Fangyi, the traitor, is also in the Pan army, apparently they have obtained the secret formula of gunpowder from Huaxia Weifu..."

"Hey, General Li knows a lot of things! I have heard about the horror of gunpowder in the Huaxia Weifu, but this is the first time I have heard the inside story." Wang Chengxiong said with a flash of eyes.

Li Guangwu said: "The gold-medal spies of the Huaxia Weifu have repeatedly assured the general that the rebels will not succeed, but just in case, the two thousand elites under my command will go down the city wall and deploy on the west road of the city. Lord Wang is now Let the people in the city prepare all kinds of things to repair the city wall in advance, and if the gap is blown open, I will be the first to quickly plug the gap. Then Mr. Wang will plug the gap as quickly as possible when he sees the opportunity."

Wang Chengxiong looked very solemn, nodded in agreement, expressing his deep approval.

Li Guangwu said again: "In this way, whether or not the city can be defended depends entirely on the two thousand elites under my general's command. Once the city is destroyed, the lives will be destroyed, and you and I will die without a place to die! I hope that Lord Wang can advance and retreat with this general."

Wang Chengxiong's expression was fixed, and he said: "General Li, don't worry, I will definitely advance and retreat with the general."

Hearing this, Li Guangwu breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Master Wang, you are going to send someone to seal off the west side street and the east-west main road, and issue a notice that these two roads will no longer pass through, blocking the deployment of troops." Routers, Fa-rectification on the spot! At the same time, you start preparing to demolish some nearby houses, and use bricks and stones to block the gaps in the city wall."

Wang Chengxiong said solemnly, "The matter is of great importance, I will go and arrange it myself."

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In mid-August, Dazhou.

Dazhou is the place that must be passed through from the Central Plains to Shu, and it is also the last stop. It has always been a place where wars frequently occur.

Now Dazhou is shrouded in the flames of war again.

It is the dry season, and the river flows slowly in the west of Dazhou City. The majestic towers on the east side of the river and the mountains on the other side face each other far away.On the east side of the city, the sky is covered by dust and mist, and the horses and soldiers in the yellow dust are like flying clouds and fog.

Ballistas and stone bullets flew randomly in the air, and the "cracking" and "bang bang" sounds of wood rubbing against each other were mixed with people's shouts, making the city wall full of noise.

Wang Chengxiong looked at the countless siege equipment and the dust covering the sky below the city, widened his eyes and said, "Why didn't the rebels rush up to attack the city this morning? Are they going to blow up the city?"

As soon as the voice fell, there was a loud "bang" sound, and a large stone fell to the wall outside the city tower, and the broken stones, bricks and soil were immediately splashed, and the surrounding soldiers hugged their heads to avoid it. "Ah..." A soldier hissed while hugging his thigh, "My leg, my leg..."

Li Guangwu looked over, turned to Wang Chengxiongzhao and said, "We are fully prepared. If it explodes, as long as two thousand elite soldiers block the gap for half a day, we can call in the strong men to repair it overnight."

Wang Chengxiong frowned and said: "The key is when will the imperial reinforcements come? More than 4 rebels are besieging, how many days can our little people hold?"

Li Guangwu fell silent.

Wang Chengxiong said again: "The capital is nearly a thousand miles away from Dazhou. We probably won't be able to wait for King Xiangfu to arrive with reinforcements. It seems that you and I are really going to die here!"

A forced smile appeared on Li Guangwu's face: "Death in battle, shrouded in horse leather, has always been the ending I expected. As a general, is there a better way to die than this?"

"General Li..." Wang Chengxiong was moved.

Li Guangwu patted Li Chengxiong's shoulder and said: "If King Xiangfu does not come, I will lead two thousand elite soldiers under my command to go out to the city for a decisive battle. Where will Dazhou City go... I will leave it to Mr. Wang to take full control of it, and I will not force it."

At this moment, there was a sudden "boom", Li Guangwu and Wang Chengxiong's expressions changed drastically, their bodies staggered, and they felt that the city wall seemed to tremble.At the same time, earth and rocks splashed not far from the city wall in the east, and a large puff of white smoke rushed up quickly and flew straight into the sky.

Immediately afterwards, another puff of white smoke rose from the ground in front of the fence under the city.The gunpowder smoke took off rapidly, and soon half of the city wall was covered in the gunpowder smoke, and nothing could be seen.

The screams from a distance soon passed through. Li Guangwu looked into the distance and saw that the rebel fortifications about [-] paces away were filled with gunpowder smoke. Many people ran away in the mist, their horses panicked, and a large number of horses flew chaotically Ben.

"The city wall hasn't collapsed? The gold-medal spies of the Huaxia Weifu are right, and the rebels really won't succeed." Li Guangwu shouted after a while.

The surrounding area was soon shrouded in smoke, the voice of "cough cough cough..." was everywhere, and Wang Chengxiong's voice said: "I'm scared to death, what a broken thing, the city wall didn't move, it's just too loud... ...Ahem! The smoke is too much."

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(End of this chapter)