"Fire-" "Fire-"

With the command of the artillery commander, one after another five-pound round iron bullets pierced through the rain curtain and fell into the dense crowd with huge inertia. After the simplest correction, each shell brings a large area of screams and flesh. The pale-faced Liao army had not yet recovered from the shock of the flood, and was subjected to heavy shelling, and most of the people lost the ability to think, leaving only endless fear and panic. The bubbling blood and rain mixed together to form countless blood-colored streams, and the corpses and blood continued to flow into the torrential waters around the highlands.

Such a scene was as terrifying as hell for the Liao army. They gather in a crowd, and there is no way to avoid it.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency!" Yelu followed the prestige first, only to see the lieutenant general Xiao Sara shouting at him.

Xiao Sala desperately squeezed over and said loudly: "We are so bombarded, we are too lost!" "Yelu Xianzhen remembered that he was a member of the queen's clan, a young man with strong blood. This time, I followed him to Fangzhou, probably because there was no danger, but he could accumulate military merits. Seeing the soldiers around him trembling like walking corpses, Yelu Xianzhen understood that it was the flood and artillery bombardment that completely destroyed the morale, and the so-called defeat was like a mountain. He was in a slight trance, Xiao Sala had already squeezed in front of him, his face was covered with mud, and he said in a rough voice: "My lord, the artillery of the Song people must be killed!" ”

"Killed?" Jerod looked at the raging flood, sighed, and shook his head feebly.

The artillery fortification of the Song army is opposite the flood, how to kill it? Fly over? The army's heart has been lost, rely on you or rely on me? He looked at his subordinates around him again, and in the panic, many of the soldiers were not fully clothed and armored, and even their horses were gone. Xiao Sara followed his gaze and understood that in such a situation, Yelu Xianzhen had lost his will to fight. "The Great Liao soldiers and horses drove south, and they have never been defeated, so did they admit defeat like this?" He glared fiercely at the flood. Xiao Sala is not able to pass through the water, even if he has the heart to fight, he is afraid that he will drown if he can't swim to the other side of the water.

After a few rounds of shelling by the Song army, the signatories began to flee, and the Khitans instinctively huddled together. The narrow high ground is too crowded to fit in. The dripping raindrops fell endlessly, but at this time, it felt completely chilly. The pitch-black night sky, and the deadly shells that flew over from time to time, made people frightened to the point of despair. Some people shouted like crazy in fright, some people scrambled around desperately on the narrow high ground, dodging shells flying from nowhere, some were pushed down and trampled to death, many more were pushed into the flood, some were stuck in the mud, some were drowned in the surging flood, and the clear sky was no longer visible.

The flood formed by the bursting of the levee comes and goes as fast as it comes. After a brief period of rage, the flood waters receded. By the time dawn came, there was already a muddy swamp with puddles of water outside Fangzhou, and the Liao army was swept away by the flood. Under the deliberate instigation of the fine work, most of the signatories fled. The remaining Liao troops gathered on several high grounds, and survived the shelling all night, leaving less than 2,000 men and horses. At this time, the Liao army had completely given up the idea of conquering Fangzhou, and from top to bottom, they just wanted to escape from Fangzhou, a hellish place. As soon as the flood receded, the Liao troops on the various heights fled eastward in a hurry, pulling horses and dragging them, and the remnants of the defeated army struggled to march in the mud.

However, Lu Mingyu and Luo Xian appeared with their subordinates. Most of the soldiers of the Baoyi Army were born in Shuikou, wearing straw sandals bare-legged, and wearing light paper armor. They isolated the various units of the Liao army, and then fired arrows at the Liao soldiers who were struggling to march in the mud. The battle at this time was already a one-sided slaughter. The Liao army had the ability to fight back in a hurry, seeing their companions fall into the muddy water one after another, and the rest of the people lost the last bit of courage. The Baoyi army has not yet been persuaded to surrender, and the Liao army has all knelt in the muddy water, and the battle is over.

"That's it?" Du Fujiao rubbed his hands, looking very regretful, "It's too fast." ”

"It's over." Gao Su sighed, "General Zhao overestimates these Khitans too much. ”

Around the artillery position, the defensive line set up by 2,000 musketeers with antlers and sharp stakes was made according to the requirements for dealing with the well-organized heavy cavalry charging into formation. Because it was the first battle, the officers were required to be prepared to be stabbed in hand-to-hand cavalry. However, after learning that the battle was over, the firecrackers secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then they felt unwilling. In particular, many people were even more itchy to see that the other units of the Baoyi Army were escorting groups of prisoners everywhere and catching the horses scattered in the swamp with a smile on their faces.

Because of the flooding and muddy land, it took a lot of manpower to concentrate war horses and prisoners, Zhao Xingde let Lu Mingyu and Luo Xianshi's left and right troops do these things, and he personally brought the Ya barracks to the gate of Fangzhou City and sent a letter written by Chen Dong himself. Looking at the clear traces of the flood on the city wall, Zhao Xingde secretly called it lucky, Fangzhou City has experienced floods for many years and withstood last night's flood, otherwise, he would have died a hundred times. The city was besieged for more than a month, and the garrison at the head of the city learned that it was the Baoyi army that came to help, and immediately ran to inform the officials, and Zhao Xingde took care of the soldiers and horses to wait outside the city gate.

Gao Zhen's eyes were bloodshot, but his face was full of red light, and he was pleasantly surprised. Zhao Xingde personally came to the rescue of Fangzhou, the sudden flood, the sound of artillery all night and the battle outside the city after dawn were all his handiwork. "Sure enough, there is no vanity under the fame." Gao Zhen said to him secretly, and immediately called Chen Keli, the chief of soldiers and horses, to greet him. Looking down from the city tower, I saw a general stationed in front of the city gate, this person had a short beard on his lips, a burly figure, and an iron armor covered with a dark color, hundreds of soldiers stood solemnly behind him, this general looked calm and graceful under the support of his subordinates.

After seeing Gao Zhen and Chen Keli open the city gate to greet them, the general immediately got off his horse and greeted him with a smile on his face.

Gao Zhen arched his hand and smiled, "This official is Gao Zhen, the governor of Fangzhou, and on behalf of the father and elder of Mancheng, he thanked your ministry for saving him for righteousness!" The general humbly said: "Protecting the territory and the people is a matter of duty." Gao Zhen smiled and nodded, his eyes looked behind the general, and he didn't find anyone dressed as a scribe, so he couldn't help but secretly wonder, and hesitated: "Where is Mr. Zhao Yuanzhi?" I also ask the general to introduce him on his behalf. ”

Zhao Xingde frowned slightly, smiled and arched his hand: "Under Zhao Xingde, the grass character is straight, and I have seen the tall man of Zhizhou!" ”

Gao Zhen suddenly felt extremely embarrassed, bowed down and said, "Zhao, Mr. Yuanzhi forgives the sin, and the forgiveness is one." He was secretly surprised in his heart, he thought that Zhao Xingde was a celebrity and gentleman, but who knew that he would have such a appearance. Zhao Xingde smiled slightly: "Master Gao and Zhao have never met, what is the crime?" He stretched out his hand to help Gao Zhen up, and the misunderstanding was laughed off, and the distance between the two was narrowed a lot. Zhao Xingde then greeted Chen Keli, the head of Fangzhou's soldiers and horses, and Chen Keli was also secretly surprised: "It's better to meet than to be famous, Zhao Yuanzhi turned out to be a martial artist." Zi said, judge people by their appearance, and lose Ziyu, so it is. ”

The Baoyi army then entered Fangzhou City. The Liao army attacked the city for days, and the people were killed and wounded countless times. Many of the buildings in the city were empty and could be used as barracks. When the state capital was about to sacrifice the army, the people woke up from the shock of the flood and the defeat of the Liao army, and took out the white rice, wheat noodles, and the copper coins of the cellar that they were reluctant to eat during the siege, and collected fifteen carts of money and goods, and sent them to the place where the Baoyi army was garrisoned. In fact, this is also the hope that the military will not harass the people. Before Zhao Xingde saw it, Lu Mingyu, Luo Xianshi and others took it and distributed it to each department according to the rules, and they were happy for a while.

The motivation of the subordinates is very high, and Zhao Xingde is also happy to let go. In this battle, nearly 6,000 prisoners were captured, more than 3,000 Khitan prisoners were captured, and most of the rest were drowned in the flood. The number of prisoners has already exceeded the number of Baoyi army itself, how to deal with the prisoners so that there is no future trouble? He thought about it all night, but he hadn't thought it through. At dawn the next day, I received a message from the Military Intelligence Department with a pigeon book. Zhao Xingde took a look, but there was a secret order for him to consolidate and transform the city defense of Fangzhou. If necessary, after the main force of the Baoyi Army retreated, the 2,500 firearms battalions could all remain in Fangzhou to assist in defending the city. In addition, Gao Zhen, the governor of Fangzhou, and Chen Keli, the head of the soldiers and horses, will directly receive assistance from the military government, and the ordnance and grain of the Xia State, and even the soldiers and horses in Shuzhong can directly assist Fangzhou.

It is rare for the military government to directly intervene in the military affairs of the front line, Zhao Xingde felt slightly strange, and he couldn't imagine that Fangzhou City, which the Song State regarded as a chicken rib, was so important in the eyes of the military government. In the future, if Xia Jun wants to directly assist in the defense of Fangzhou, it must be agreed by Gao Zhen, the governor of Fangzhou, and Chen Keli, the chief of soldiers and horses, but the secret order does not mention anything about this. It seems that Zhao Xingde doesn't need to contact Gao Chen and the others in advance, or has Gao Chen and Xia Guo already been in contact?

In the next two days, Zhao Xingde had no time to think about the intentions of the house, and was only busy arranging the aftermath of the Battle of Fangzhou. Since the city defense is to be consolidated, it is best to leave the thousands of signed troops to Fangzhou. Outside the city of Xiangyang, which is close at hand, there are still hundreds of thousands of Liao troops eyeing each other. Outside the moat of the state city, it is necessary to build a cannon fortress to construct artillery fire that crosses without dead ends. Of the more than 3,000 Khitan captives, the Song State had the habit of using Fan soldiers to make prisoners as cavalry, but Zhao Xingde was unwilling to leave this hidden danger. In the future, Ezhou will need a large number of laborers to mine Daye iron ore, and these captives are not enough. Nearly 10,000 horses were captured in this battle, and among the southeastern armies of the Song Dynasty, the Baoyi Army was definitely a windfall. It's a pity that there are too few people in the Baoyi army who may be trained into cavalry, and Zhao Xingde plans to establish a cavalry of about 1,000 people for scouting and pursuit. In addition, one-third of the captured war horses were left for Fangzhou, presumably the military government would help Fangzhou train a usable cavalry. The other one-third of the war horses can be given to the Ezhou Quartermaster's Office, but they can take the opportunity to ask for a batch of money and grain from the Quartermaster Mansion to reward the army.