Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 790 Battle of Zhenxi Fort ([-])

Deng Chongxuan smiled and said: "They have lived in the shadow of stone mines for more than three months. Whether it is war horses or their cavalry, they are afraid of stepping on stone mines."

"Since the Liao army dare not attack for a while, let the cavalry brigade send a platoon of cavalry out to play." Deng Chongxuan ordered, and the order behind him immediately passed on the order.

The rangers on both sides entered the battle within a hundred steps outside the fort, and there were casualties, but because the Liao army was always afraid of stepping on rock mines, they were a little distracted during the fight, fell to the disadvantage, and quickly retreated.

Because of the binoculars, the Suzaku Legion where they belonged did not need to send scouts for close-range reconnaissance like the Liao Kingdom did, to be able to clearly see the enemy's flag and general strength.

After not seeing the Liao army coming to attack for a long time, Deng Chongxuan said softly to the orderly beside him: "Form up and scold."

Soon after, the Liao army heard shouts from afar. As time went by, the shouts became more and more intense, spreading from the center of the enemy line to the two wings.

"Brother Yeluxiu! Are you here to die?"

"...Are you here to die?"

"...Did you die?"

The overwhelming shouts made the generals of the Liao Kingdom headed by Brother Yeluxiu jump into a rage.However, although Brother Yeluxiu was angry, as the commander, he was always calm.Especially when the two armies exchanged hostages half a year ago, he led [-] cavalry in a muddle-headed defeat at the hands of Xiangfu's army.This incident made him worry about it all the time, and at the same time, he was extremely afraid of Xiangfu Kingdom's gunpowder weapons.Therefore, he would never rashly order an attack without scouting out the enemy forces in this apparently newly built castle as much as possible.

"There is only one legion of Suzaku in the Xiangfu Kingdom, that is ten thousand infantry, one step cavalry, plus Yelu Hanye's people, the army in this castle is less than 3. I am leading an army of [-], I will not I'm afraid of them. What's more, the Empress Dowager has repeatedly ordered to wipe out the rebels within the border." After hearing the spies' report, Brother Yeluxiu secretly calculated.

"Send an order to check if the horse's ears are plugged properly, and then rest for an hour before launching an attack."

Looking at the sight, the Liao army did not attack immediately.The Suzaku Legion on the central defense line silently waited for orders with their weapons in hand. A quarter of them were new recruits on the battlefield for the first time. After relaxing for a while, the officers and soldiers laughed loudly at the enemy on the opposite side, and their morale was high.

After the Suzaku Legion cheered.With the sound of gongs and drums, the whole army suddenly returned to a state of silence.Zhang Sanhu, a pikeman of the First Brigade of Infantry, patted the dirt on his knees, took a step forward with his left and right companions, put his spears on the wooden fence, took off the fast crossbow at his waist, checked and installed the crossbow bolts.While praying to the gods and Buddhas in the sky, he can survive and behead at least ten people.

Brother Yeluxiu didn't wait long to arrange the deployment. After finishing the formation, long horns sounded almost simultaneously in all directions, and three thousand cavalry followed the front row of ground shield vehicles and charged towards Zhenxi Fort.

"500 meters." A distance observer of a trebuchet calmly reported the number.

The company commander of the rock-throwing machine company of the engineering battalion immediately ordered loudly: "The No. [-] gunpowder bag is ready for ejection."

The operator of the trebuchet machine had already adjusted the angle and strength, and after hearing the order, he immediately made preparations for throwing.

"400 meters." The ranging soldier read out the number again without changing his tone.

"Throw!"

Two giant trebuchets were launched one after another, and with two explosions, the company commander of the trebuchet company was looking forward to where the gunpowder package fell.

"The angle is reduced by four, and the force is increased by five." The calculation soldier quickly calculated the new projectile parameters.

All trebuchet operators are under the command of the company commander.They are making error adjustments in an orderly manner, preparing for the next launch.

The gunpowder package fired for the first time landed five steps ahead of the Liao army, and the effect was mediocre. Only three shield vehicles were blown to pieces, and the wood chips of the vehicles and the blood of the pushers were thrown into the air together.

But the next wave of ten catapults fired gunpowder packets at the same time, and all of them were thrown at the place where the Liao army was most densely populated.

Amidst the deafening roar, a large number of Liao soldiers fell down, and fragments of corpses and shield vehicles flew all over the sky.

"300 meters."

"emission!"

"emission!"

"200 meters."

After hearing this report, the company commander of the trebuchet company nodded slightly, and shouted without looking back: "Change the No. [-] gunpowder bag."

The porter brought up Xiangfuguo's latest medium-range gunpowder bag as quickly as possible. The appearance of this new type of gunpowder bag looks the same as the previous gunpowder bag, but the inside is quite different. The main point is the difference in weight.

The trebuchet operator took the gunpowder pack and put it away carefully.Other operators quickly prepared to accumulate energy,
The observer reported at the same time at this moment: "150 meters."

For Brother Yeluxiu, after the previous reconnaissance, it seemed that the Suzaku Legion on the opposite side had no time to build high walls and strong fortifications. The walls in the center of their defense line were very low, and their strength was insufficient.The two wings are the rebels led by Yelu Hanye.However, due to the protruding central defense line of the Suzaku Legion, it is difficult to detect the deployment of their flanks and rear wings, but one thing is certain, that is, the density of troops on the two wings of Zhenxi Fort seems to be higher than that in the center, and the city walls are also dense. much higher.

In addition, the Suzaku Legion seems to be a little understated. He used 1 people to guard a five-mile-long flat area.No matter how you look at it, it's a little too thin.

"Isn't it just a low wall four or five feet high? Which of the cities that our Liao army attacked in the past was not a city wall several feet high, guarded by tens of thousands of troops, and in the end they were all knocked down by my Khitan son?"

Behind him is the flag of Liao's most elite leather military commander fluttering in the air, and on both sides are elites who have served in the army for many years.In front of them, the first wave of thousands of armored elites attacked the weak defense line of the Azure Dragon Army like Mount Tai. Behind them were thousands of cavalry. As long as there is a gap in front, the cavalry can charge at the fastest speed and smash all the enemies in front of them. .The black and dense battle array was as dense as a thick carpet on the wasteland. The Pishi Army was indeed the most elite army in the Liao Kingdom.

One after another gunpowder packets roared and fell into the Liao army, blasting the shield vehicles and the people nearby into powder.The front of these shield cars is a thick plank, and the bottom has hardwood as a long shaft and rollers.There is also a thick quilt on the baffle.This kind of shield car is the standard siege weapon of the Liao army. In the past, it could be pushed from the avenue to the city after filling the trenches.

In the front row, a Liao army soldier named Fei Chengwa pushed the shield cart forward.While looking at the gunpowder bag falling on his head with a pale face, a shield car more than 20 steps away to his right was blown to pieces by the gunpowder bag just now. He saw the shield car and a dozen people nearby were blown to pieces.

He was not spared at such a long distance, and a wooden thorn flew over and pierced his arm. Although the wooden thorn had been pulled out, his right arm was already numb from the pain... But fortunately, he was about to die soon. To the impact distance.Fei Chengwa has participated in several siege battles. The general said before the attack just now that the Suzaku Legion in Xiangfu Kingdom only has 2 people, and the rebel army is less than 3 people. The strength is seriously insufficient. Such a long line of defense, as long as they can break through a little bit, and after close combat, the hateful gunpowder packs will be useless. With the strength of their Khitan warriors and three or four times the number of enemy troops, they will be able to easily defeat the enemy.And according to each siege plan, their shield chariot soldiers only need to break through a little bit on the line and put people in, even if the task is completed, they can rest.

"150 meters." Several rangefinders announced the number loudly one after another.

Several battalion commanders gave the giant crossbow the command to prepare to launch.

In the past six months, Xiangfu Kingdom's giant crossbow has been improved, or a new type of giant crossbow has been invented. Originally, it could only fire a giant six-foot-long crossbow. Gun, but it can be fired at a distance of 300 meters.Today's improved giant crossbow can fire three crossbow guns, but they are three-foot-long crossbow guns, and the effective range is within 150 meters.Making such improvements is based on the experience of previous wars, and the purpose is to increase the killing area.

Ten giant crossbows were fired at the same time, and thirty crossbows shot at the Liao army in front of them like lightning.

There were three crossbows. The angle of the guns was a little higher, and they shot over the heads of the infantry, and hit the necks of the three horses lined up behind them heavily, piercing the necks of the three horses effortlessly, and then each Stabbed on a cavalryman, the powerful force of the impact ripped the thigh from the torso before the cavalryman felt pain.Then the three spears stabbed the three horses behind them again, and when the white brains were scattered in all directions, the strength of the three crossbow spears was finally exhausted.Each crossbow gun killed two horses and a cavalryman, and wounded another cavalryman.It seems that the killing effect is mediocre, that's because the cavalry at the back was shot.It has exceeded the most effective killing distance.

Look at the other 27 crossbows. Guns shot into the infantry group in front of the Liao army.The first 27 people who were stabbed were killed before they even had time to snort. Several of them were shot in the head, directly smashing the helmet and skull into debris, and then shot through the chest of the soldiers in the back row.The spines of these more than 20 soldiers were broken in an instant, and they sat down neatly. This was not over, and they were shot into the soldiers in the back row, and there was another crackling sound, and the wounded were broken ribs or leg bones. , one after another fell to the ground and let out a burst of screams.

(End of this chapter)