Behind the main artillery position, Ma Rui sighed: "It's a pity that the city wall is in the way, and the results of the battle cannot be observed." His cavalry was used as a reserve, and there was no battle for the time being. Watching the gunners set off firecrackers, I couldn't help but feel a little itchy. Zhao Xingde stared at the black arcs and said in a low voice: "How many people in the world can endure being beaten and not fight back?" The cavalry should be prepared, and if the Koreans are afraid of the power of the artillery, they will probably make a detour to our flanks and rear.

The artillery bombardment of the 8th Battalion continued until dusk, and after dark, Li Sihai sent people ashore to make contact with the 8th Battalion. After learning of the agreement that Zhao Xingde would attack the city with the Han army for twenty days, Li Sihai immediately sent another messenger ashore. He also believed that the Koreans would probably not be able to withstand the pressure of the shelling and would take the initiative to go out of the city to challenge. Therefore, Li Sihai suggested that Zhao Xingde keep shelling the distant city, but not attack the city easily. On the one hand, waiting for the Han army to arrive, on the other hand, the constant artillery bombardment put more pressure on the defenders than a rash siege. The Koreans will be waiting in fear all day long. And because the sergeants of the Chengying Battalion and the Han army knew the deadline, they would not worry about a long battle, and their morale would accumulate until the final outbreak.

Zhao Xingde was also reluctant to storm the distant city, and he deeply felt that there were too few crossbowmen in the army. With only 300 archers, it is really difficult to take advantage of the shortness of the western wall of the far city. If there were one or two thousand archers, it would be possible to surround the protruding western wall by building curved fortifications two or three times longer than this one. During the siege, the archers above and below the city shot at each other. Two or three people under the city shot one person on the city, and they could suppress the city wall so that no one could stand on the city wall at all. Fortunately, artillery could compensate for the lack of archers. When the city was actually attacked, artillery was concentrated on bombarding the narrowest section of the western wall. The city walls were low, allowing the Han army to pile up earth mountains under the city, and finally elite soldiers stepped on the earth mountains to attack the city with minimal casualties. Once the mountain fortress was captured, it was possible to pull up the artillery and bombard the other seven walled cities condescendingly, driving the Goryeo into the river to feed the fish.

As night fell, Zhao Xingde made one last round of inspections. The eighth battalion of Chengying marched for more than 100 miles in two days, and after arriving in Laiyuan County, he could not rest, so he immediately began to build fortifications, and worked hard for three days in a row. Whether it is energy or physical strength, it needs to rest and recover. At the moment of the great enemy, the general next to him was eager for his subordinates to sleep with their eyes open. But Zhao Xingde smiled in every camp tent: "If the enemy army doesn't attack, everyone can sleep well." He also specially told Liu Zhijian and Gao Su that if the enemy army did not move, no artillery should be fired before dawn. When he had done this, he himself went back to his tent, wrapped in a blanket, and fell asleep on the cold, hard ground.

His relaxed attitude infected many people, and some of the first-time sergeants were still a little nervous, but now they were able to lie down with peace of mind, and comforted themselves with their eyes open: "What the general said is not wrong." "Even the Han soldiers in the garrison camp, who have just been training for less than a month, sleep soundly one by one." Brother Liu, the enemy army won't attack the camp at night, right? Ma Biaozi asked, in the garrison camp, in addition to the sergeant, what he is most convinced of is the ten-captain Liu sickle, he is a good man who has really killed the Khitans. Liu sickle slapped his head and scolded: "What the hell are you, the enemy is attacking at night, let's fight with him, if you don't come, you can sleep peacefully and earn it in vain." Ma Biaozi grinned and said: "What the eldest brother said is that I heard that our General Zhao has been taught by a god man, and he is the most capable of divination and calculation, and the enemy's movements can't be hidden from him." Liu Yaodao's eyes were closed, and he didn't bother to pay attention to this bastard, and after a while, both of them snored loudly.

Only the sergeant on duty kept his eyes open vigilantly. The bushes around the camp had long since been cleared, and the wide trench was preceded by lanterns, and after nightfall, the position of the eighth battalion of Chengying sank into an eerie silence.

When you come to the far city, don't advise Park Chenggui: "Lord Soldier and Horse, do you want to go down to the city with archers, shoot those lanterns first." ”

"No, so as not to startle the snake." Cui Xianxi's face was gloomy, and he counted the casualties, including those on the sunken ship, and more than 170 people were killed and wounded. He was deeply ashamed of his daytime fears. After sunset, in order to prevent a sneak attack by the Goryeo naval division, the enemy's gunboats retreated to the sea and anchored. After hearing that there were only more than 1,000 enemy troops outside the far city, he sent a letter to reprimand Cui Xianxi for being afraid of the enemy's cowardice, and strictly ordered him to immediately take advantage of the fact that the "Liao" army had not yet arrived, go out of the city to attack the enemy's front, capture sharp artillery and transport it back to China.

Compared with the loss of Laiyuan City, more than 100 dead and wounded are nothing. However, as a general, it is a sin to lose troops and be unable to do anything. "You're going to make me a scapegoat." Choi Xianxi thought through gritted teeth. Usually the enemy army would guard against night attacks, and the moment before dawn was the time when people were most sleepy and sluggish, so he planned to lead his army out of the city to attack at the end of the day. Every move of the enemy army was clearly seen at the head of the city, and there was no ambush. He planned to challenge the "Liao army" head-on with 1,500 foot soldiers, and sent another cavalry general Huang Feng to lead 400 cavalry to flank the enemy's formation. When the plan was made to go out of the city to attack the enemy army, Choi Xianxi became more and more ashamed of his cowardice during the day, which was nothing more than artillery.

"Be vigilant at night to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the night to enter the city." Choi Xianxi's face was full of solemnity, and he told Park Sung-gui and went down to the castle tower. Usually he lives in Laiyuan County, but today the city tower has been repeatedly bombarded, and it is impossible to spend the night in the city tower. Back in the house, a maid brought from Kaijing carefully took off his armor for him, changed into a satin robe at home, and after the servant brought the wine and food, he knelt beside him and poured wine and vegetables. Cui Xianxi is a hereditary martial arts nobleman, and today he was frightened, and under the gentle and meticulous service of the maidservant, his eyes slowly regained his luster and took her into his arms.

.........................

At the darkest hour before dawn, there was a small uproar in the city of Laiwon, which Goryeo occupied. "Don't make a sound, be quiet." The officers carefully distributed the straw stalks and let the non-commissioned officers hold them in their mouths. The horses were wrapped in iron hooves, and as the men and horses moved, only a slight clanging sound of subway armor was heard, however, at the moment when the city gate was opened, the sergeant of the Chengying Battalion lurking nearby found it. Pan Yuheng, the commander of the ten, said in a low voice: "The Goryeo people have moved, Cao Bai will go back to report first, and Da Lin and I will count the sheep here." Cao Bai replied in a low voice, hunched over and ran backwards. There are a lot of sheep. Pan Yuheng said in a low voice, "Two hundred, three hundred...... When it was about a thousand, he asked Sun Dalin to report it again. Finally, seeing the cavalry appear, Pan Yuheng was satisfied with the evacuation of the sentry post.

"Enemy attack!" "Go into battle!" Soon after, the sergeant in the Xia State camp was woken up. The gunners immediately reloaded the guns. "Fire!" After the order was given, the ten cannons roared almost simultaneously, the light of the fire pierced the darkness, the loud roar tore through the deliberate silence, and one shell after another whistled towards the city gate. In a hurry, most of the shells hit the city walls, and only two or three shells landed in the ranks of the Goryeo army, but it caused a lot of chaos.

In the military formation of 2,000 people, almost everyone panicked, and Cui Xianxi, who had finally calmed down, was in a mess again, thinking that his subordinates must have failed to restrain his subordinates. Under the enemy's artillery attack, the army was in chaos as soon as it left the city, which Cui Xianxi did not expect, in his mind, even if the enemy found out about the night attack, he would cunningly set a deeper trap, similar to the situation in the Three Kingdoms book in which the general of Wei attacked Zhuge Liang's camp, and suddenly the cannons were raised and the soldiers were ambushed on all sides. He was anxious and angry, and secretly complained about the uncooperation of the enemy generals.

"Soldier and horse envoy, the enemy has discovered us, do you want to retreat to the city?" Park Sung-gui asked with a pale face, he had just seen a cannonball penetrate three people.

Cui Xianxi glanced at him coldly, pulled out the saber at his waist, and shouted loudly: "Don't panic, all departments are in a team." Do what you do! After shouting three times in a row, Fang turned his head and explained to the timid general: "Attract the enemy from the front, and the cavalry detour from the flank, isn't that what is the case now?" He ignored the other general and continued to shout twice: "Do what you want!" Don't mess up, don't mess up! ”

Perhaps it was infected by the envoys, or perhaps the Goryeo army itself was elite, and under the non-stop attack of ten cannons, 1,500 foot soldiers still maintained their position. Taking advantage of the darkness before dawn, more than 600 horsemen quietly left the infantry formation, made a big circle, and went around the flank and rear of the enemy camp. The rider Huang Fengzhi carefully slowed down his horse. In the war with the Liao State, Emperor Suzong felt that there were too few cavalry in this dynasty, so he requisitioned the people who had horses in the country as divine cavalry, but the riding skills of these people were really worrying, and under the full speed gallop, I am afraid that some people will fall behind, and some will fall off the horse. Huang Fengzhi secretly rejoiced. The artillery of the Xia State was concentrating on bombarding the large array of the Goryeo infantry army in front of them, and they had no effort to pay attention to this cavalry.

However, they did not escape the scout's eyes, Ma Rui and Jian Cheng had already gathered their subordinates, and both of them frowned and stared at the slow cavalry in the morning mist. "This bunch of monkeys on horseback." Ma Rui spit the grass stalk out of his mouth, "Give me the head work." He didn't wait for Jian Cheng to agree, he raised the big gun with one arm, and the tip of the spear was raised diagonally, this was the military order of the front arrow array, the war horse dug the soil under the hooves, and ran gently, Ma Rui and his personal army of ten people formed the smallest arrow, followed by the other ninety cavalry.

Cavalry is the least needed to cooperate, and it is also the most needed type of troops. The cavalry of the Xia Kingdom, which has been tempered thousands of times, is the latter situation. The front arrow formation was the most compact, and the two cavalrymen on the left and right charged almost next to each other, each armed with a spear or a horse lance, and the cavalry behind only acted according to the officer's orders. Even if they are mired in the melee of thousands of troops and horses, and there is a sea of swords and fires ahead, everyone only acts according to the codes of various military orders agreed in advance. When the speed gradually increased, the hundred cavalry were like an arrow and moved forward. The sergeants were silent, accompanied by heavy iron hooves, and only the clash of armor of men and horses reminded the people that the cavalry still had the strength of an iron hammer.

When this cavalry appeared in the field of vision, Huang Fengzhi's heart sank, and the Goryeo cavalry of more than 400 people, almost at that moment, the already loose formation was even more scattered. This time it was different from just now, the more skillful the cavalry, the more they tried to sneak to the side, and they did not want to pick up the enemy's edge.