In the name of stacking artillery ammunition, the Xia State Camp tightly sealed the entrance to the tunnel. It is not a simple matter to dig a tunnel underground along the specified direction, the direction can not be offset, and the depth is also particular, and each section of the excavation must be supported with a solid wooden structure to prevent the tunnel from collapsing. Fortunately, the Han army had already advanced the trench to a distance of more than 100 steps from the city wall, and the distance of excavation was not too long, Ding Zhuang transferred from the iron mine, excavated for more than 20 days, and finally carved out a huge space under the north city wall of Kaizhou City, and placed a powder room. The gunpowder used for blasting was not mixed with the artillery powder pack brought by Xia Guo, but with sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter bought by the fourth battalion.

In order to prevent the Han army from leaking the news, it was not until September 7 that Zhao Xingde told Wang Hengzhi the details and asked him to lead his trusted subordinates to seize the city together. There were less than 1,000 soldiers in the Xia State Camp and garrison battalion outside Kaizhou, and without the cooperation of the Han army, even if the city wall was blown up and the city was attacked, there would be heavy casualties under the dying counterattack of the Khitans.

"What?" Wang Hengzhi was taken aback and said, "Can General Zhao really capture Kaizhou?" He couldn't believe his ears. Many Khitan people in several nearby states and counties took refuge in Kaizhou, so in addition to the 5,000 Khitan troops defending the city, there were also tens of thousands of Khitan men.

"Yes," Zhao Xingde nodded, he simply and generously took Wang Hengzhi to visit the entrance of the tunnel, "After the detonation of this tunnel medicine room, once the northern city wall collapses, we will rush into the city through the gap in the city wall." Most of the elite soldiers of the Liao army defending the city were stationed in the south, and the rescue was too late for a while, so we held the gap in the city while assigning men and horses to rush into the city. In order to prevent leakage of information, General Wang sent his trusted subordinates to act with us, only to inform the other Han troops to prepare to storm Kaizhou on all sides, and to place a powerful battalion near the northern city wall. Wang Hengzhi nodded, he bent down to look at the deep tunnel, and sighed, "General Zhao really has a way, and he thinks far-reaching. "I secretly said in my heart, it's a pity that my Liaodong Han Army didn't have such a talent.

Two days passed quickly. Wang Hengzhi originally didn't plan to really conquer Kaizhou, but now he can pick the peach of victory with his feet, and he is also uncharacteristically full of spirit, and does not hesitate to fake Han Ningshuang's military order, not only to set the day of the siege on all sides at the ninth hour of September, but also to force the villages to integrate the veterans into the first wave of siege teams. With the prestige he had built up in the Han army for decades, the generals of the Han army had to deal with it even if they complained. By the evening of September 8, all Han armies had been in place, and the most elite Han armies, together with Wang Hengzhi's Kaizhou army, had been arranged outside the northern city wall. It was all the old troops that Wang Heng trusted directly, so he was willing to obey the order to attack the northern city that had never been attacked before. At the same time, five artillery pieces were secretly pulled down from the southeast fort at night and placed on the fort north of Kaiju City.

It wasn't until an hour before the city wall was ready to be blasted that the various departments of the Han army knew the specific details of the siege, and the generals of the Han army outside the northern city wall were overjoyed, knowing that the army that rushed into the city first would definitely get the most oil and water. The veterans were all gearing up, but the recruits who had not fought a tough battle were very nervous, after all, they had not really fought with the Khitans in the two months since the siege of the city. The Chengying battalion occupied the nearest starting position to the predetermined gap, and the three hundred sergeants were covered in heavy armor, and another five hundred soldiers from the garrison battalion went with them to capture the city of Yacheng in Kaiju. The treasury of Kaizhou is located in the state office near the northern city wall, and the Han army has been attacking the southeast city continuously for two months, which has attracted the main force of the Khitan army. Relatively speaking, the northern city has a relatively empty army.

Tian Jue, the centurion of the garrison camp in charge of igniting the fire, was covered in dirt, like a vole, and he was the last to crawl out of the pit and gestured at Zhao Xingde.

When the time came, the five cannons on the southeast artillery fortress began to roar, here as the second breakthrough point of the Han army's siege, Wang Hengzhi arranged five thousand Han troops to attack the city in the southeast of the city, and Pu Tieyan, the second master of Kaizhou Village, supervised the battle over there. A moment later than the cannon fire in the southeast, a muffled sound was suddenly heard in the north of Kaizhou, like the sound of drums covered by a quilt. Zhao Xingde felt the ground tremble twice under his feet, and at this time, the Khitan defenders on the city wall could no longer stand, and they stumbled and fell. Some people shouted, "The ground moves, the ground moves!" "Yet the walls still stand there, seemingly undamaged.

"No problem, right?" Wang Hengzhi asked a little nervously. Du Blowing Horn and Chashen, who were preparing to attack the city, also turned their heads.

Zhao Xingde didn't speak, his eyes only fell on the northern city wall.

At this time, the artillery fortress in the north of Kaiju City also opened fire, "Boom——, boom-" After a few loud bangs, a cannonball smashed on the city wall, splashing a large number of city bricks. Du Fujiao was hesitating to attack the city, at this moment, as if he was dazzled, the thick city wall seemed to shake, and then collapsed violently, and the dust raised covered the entire city, looming a gap seven or eight zhang wide, and even the figure of the Khitan defenders could not be seen. When the other Han troops were still shocked by the collapse of the city wall, Du Fujiao and Cha Shen jumped out of the trench with the people of Xia Guoying, and with the cover of smoke and dust, the sergeants occupied the gap in the city wall almost unscathed. A steady stream of Han troops poured into the city of Kaizhou by stepping on the bricks and soil of the collapsed city wall.

The city of Kaizhou was besieged for more than two months, and the Han army only concentrated in the southeast corner of the siege, except for digging trenches outside the city. At first, Yeluyuan, the defender of Kaizhou, thought that the Han army was attacking the east and the west, but after more than two months, the southeast corner of the city was really hard to defend, and there was no movement in other places, so he believed that the Han army was relying on artillery and deliberately slammed a corner of the city. So Yelu Yuan concentrated his cronies and elite soldiers in the southeast. Later, the Khitans found that it was safest to avoid shells behind the bombarded city wall, and even Yeluyuan's tent was moved behind the southern city wall. At the same time as the northern city wall collapsed, Yelu Yuan was supervising the formation under the southeast city, and when the Xia army rushed into Yacheng, Yelu Yuan got the news of the collapse of the north city wall, and at this time more than 2,000 Han troops had rushed into Kaizhou City, and bloody street battles were unfolding everywhere in the city. In addition to fighting and looting, the Han army also kept setting fires everywhere, and Kaizhou City was full of flames, a scene of broken cities.

Chashen led some of the sergeants and garrisons to guard the gap in the city wall, while Du Fujiao took the sword, shield and crossbowmen to the state without stopping. This short route has been practiced many times outside the city, and the narrow road is encountering a group of Liao troops who came from the state government to reinforce them, and all the sergeants shouted, the strong crossbows were the first, and the sword and shield hands swarmed up. The Liao army was taken by surprise, the commander who led the troops was killed, and the others fled from the side alleys. After the Xia army dispersed the hundreds of Khitan soldiers who stayed in the state ya, Du Fujiao ordered his subordinates to close the gate of the yacheng, wave the banner of the Phoenix Cottage, and not let other Han troops enter. He forced down the idea of doing it himself, and sent a ten-master to personally count the grain, grass and goods accumulated by the Liao State. The other sergeants followed Du Blowhorn to guard the door.

The Khitans were originally nomadic people, and they were besieged by the Han army in Kaizhou for more than two months, and the morale and morale of the people in the city were extremely depressed. Shouts of killing sounded everywhere in the city, and many Khitan troops scattered without resistance, and many more tried to flee by taking the road. The defeat was like a mountain, and the guard Yelu Yuan couldn't stop, and finally had to ride a war horse and rush out of the south gate under the entourage of his relatives.

The Han army besieging Kaizhou on all sides was supposed to rely on a trench to stop the Liao army that had fled from the city. However, everyone wanted to rush into the city and loot their belongings, and they were unwilling to fight with the fleeing Khitan cavalry. The Han army in the south, west, and east of the city could not capture the city gate, and the generals actually led their troops to the north city, scrambling to enter the city through the gap in the city wall that had been blown down. For a time, at the gap in the city wall, which is less than ten zhang long, thousands of Han soldiers will be huddled together, and people from various cottages shout and curse each other to make way for themselves. The garrisons who originally guarded the gaps in the city walls were even more crowded away by these Han troops. Centurion Chashen hurried back to his life.

This chaotic scene had already made Zhao Xingde's heart burn. "These Han troops abandoned the defensive ground and crowded here. If the Khitan guards came to their senses, and used the cavalry out of the city to block the waist and trample on the horses, would they reverse the victory or defeat? After listening to Cha Shen's report, after pondering for a while, his eyes became a little cold, and he said slowly: "General Wang, in my opinion, the military discipline of the Kaizhou Han Army is time to be rectified. If not, I am afraid that there will be no need to fight with the Liao people in the future, and the Han army itself will be in chaos first. ”

Wang Hengzhi's face was embarrassed, and he explained: "All departments used to set up their own cottages, but now they are gathered together in a hurry, and Wang Mou is also more than willing to do it......" Looking at the Han army in chaos at the gap in the city wall, Wang Hengzhi sighed in distress.

"Get together in a hurry," Zhao Xingde repeated, and asked rhetorically, "Will we have to disperse again in the future?" He didn't believe it, Wang Hengzhi had no interest in integrating the various units of the Han army. But Wang Hengzhi is a good man in the Han army, and it has been two months since the 30,000 Han army Chen soldiers opened the city of Kaizhou, and he has never seen him and other Han army village owners blush. If the Han army had been trained as a whole as soon as possible, it would not have been so unbearable.

"This ......" Wang Hengzhi was still a little hesitant. Zhao Xingde interrupted him and said in a deep voice: "If you don't choose a day, tens of thousands of people here are in chaos, and the Khitan cavalry who have already left the city may take advantage of the situation to counterattack at any time." If General Wang had a heart, he would first make a decision to restore order, and then rectify military discipline and integrate all departments of the Han army. I would like to help General Wang. The cavalry was sent over to warn that if anyone insisted on disrespecting the military order and wanted to force them there, there would be no blame for the ruthlessness of military law. ”

When Zhao Xingde spoke, he had already passed the order. More than 200 iron cavalry were already waiting beside them, and the cavalry of the Chengying Battalion were all riding horses in Hexi, although they were not as good as the Tiger Wing Army, all of which were caged in heavy iron armor, in the eyes of ordinary Han soldiers, they were already terrifying iron horses. The gun's swarthy barrel glowed with a metallic sheen in the morning light, and the gunners were busy turning the angle of aim down slightly, and the muzzle of the black hole was aimed above the gap in the northern wall.