The sparse sound of artillery announced the beginning of the battle. Black smoke continued to rise from the artillery forts of the Liao army and the Jin army, and the haze in the sky became even thicker. The power of artillery was already very obvious, whether it was the Liao army or the Jin army, the cavalry army or the infantry army, they were all carefully lined up outside the effective range of the enemy's heavy artillery.

Zhao Xingde stood on the artillery base, looking down at the infantry accompanying the artillery group. The gunners were wiping down the barrels over and over again, forbidding nervous inspection of ammunition on the battlefield for fear of damaging the paper-wrapped ammunition. Just behind the fort, thousands of Jin soldiers and Han soldiers sat on the ground waiting for the military order to leave, and some people looked up curiously as the gunners repeated the process of raising and reloading the guns over and over again under the password. Before the war, the gunners had been fired more than ten times with live ammunition. But on a battlefield of great pressure and chaos, no one can guarantee these complex movements. The only way to do that is to repeat, keep repeating.

"Boom-" A cannon sounded, and the round iron projectile roared through the air, crossed an arc, slowly flew over a distance of about two miles, and finally smashed heavily on the open space dozens of steps away from the Liao army's artillery fort. The shells missed, and the Liao troops around the frontal fort cheered loudly, and many Khitan cavalry shouted and waved their sabers frantically.

"It's still too far." Tong Yunjie looked ashamed. Although the shells could reach the vicinity of the Liao army's fortifications, they had exceeded the effective range of the heavy artillery, and the accuracy of the fire dropped sharply.

Zhao Xingde patted him on the shoulder, signaling that Tong Yunjie didn't have to blame himself, he turned his head sideways and asked, "Are you ready?" ”

"You can attack at any time." Liu Zhijian said in a deep voice.

Next to the central fort, a crew of fourteen three-inch guns was making final preparations. They would follow the Jin cavalry and advance to a distance of 300 paces from the frontal artillery of the Liao army, and suppress the frontal artillery of the Liao army. The predetermined position was just outside the effective range of the Liao army's small and medium-sized artillery, and it was difficult for the Liao army to hit such a small target with only a dozen heavy guns in the frontal artillery base. The three-inch artillery position was exactly within the effective range of the central artillery barrier, and the heavy artillery arranged on the central artillery could bombard the Khitan cavalry trying to make a detour from the flank and rear.

"Let me go to the front." Tong Yunjie looked at his right leg. After much hard training, he was able to follow the gun carriage on foot, and in terms of aiming and calibrating the three- and four-inch guns, he was the strongest gun commander in the Han artillery battalion.

"I want someone to be reliable to guard the rear."

Zhao Xingde took out the clairvoyant mirror and looked into the distance. The field of vision of the clairvoyant mirror is all inverted, but Zhao Xingde has long been used to it. The artillery fort on the opposite side was carefully constructed, and sometimes one or two shells were fired, accompanied by a roar and flash, and black smoke rose into the air, which was the enemy artillery test firing. Through the smoke, a sun and moon flag could be seen standing high, which represented the emperor of Liao State behind the frontal fort, but Zhao Xingde's vision happened to be blocked by the fort, and he could only see the cavalry running around inside and outside the camp with constant orders. The vision of the clairvoyant mirror swept over the camp of the Liao army, and some officers were shouting at the soldiers. Because the distance was too far, the faces of the Liao soldiers were vaguely unclear, but they could vaguely feel that some people were afraid, some were excited, and some were numb.

In the middle of the Jin army and the Liao army, except for a few lonely small trees, all the trees have long been cut down, the wild grass and shrubs are very luxuriant, this open field is covered with the scouts of the two armies, a small group of cavalry, driving each other, chasing, the battle is short and fierce.

Zhao Xingde turned the clairvoyant mirror to his side, and the large and small villages of the Jin army were connected one after another, stretching from the fort to the north and south wings and the rear, and the wooden fence and low wall closely connected the camp and the fort, which looked very strong and solid. In the camp, the Jin cavalry of the brigade was in a whole formation, and more were sitting on the ground, and the expressions of the Jurchens were calmer than those of the Khitans.

The Emperor's Village was just behind the fort, and a group of Jin generals were surrounded by Wanyan Aguda, who looked at the front with an expressionless face, like a statue. Zhao Xingde walked forward from behind after seeing his face, and bowed down to report a few words. Wanyan nodded, the generals' faces showed excitement, and several heralds rushed out. The Jurchen cavalry mounted their horses one after another, and the kidnapping horses of the brigade rushed forward from both sides of the running class.

"Are you going to attack?" Zhao Xingde said secretly, just as he was about to put away the clairvoyant mirror, Han Ningshuang appeared in the field of vision. She led two thousand Han cavalry to be stationed behind the central artillery fort, responsible for protecting the advancing artillery groups and artillery forts. Because the clairvoyant mirror has just gone from far to near, she occupies almost half of her field of vision, and her expression is very clear. Han Ningshuang originally lowered her head to think about something, she seemed to be aware of it, her willow eyebrows were slightly raised, her pretty face was cold, she raised her head, and glared at this side. Zhao Xingde was nervous in his heart, and his secret words were not good. At this moment, Han Ningshuang suddenly smiled and made a gesture to take care.

There was a hurried hoof sound behind the fort, and the herald with the flag shouted loudly in Chinese: "Artillery battalion, attack!" Offensive! ”

"Camp Guns up!"

"Prepare to attack!"

"Queue, queue!"

In an instant, various commands sounded near the central artillery fort, like a pot of boiling water. The gunners shouted trumpets and pushed the artillery in unison. From the central artillery barrier to the front position, the middle section can be driven by horse-drawn artillery carts, but when leaving and entering the gun emplacement, these heavy big guys can only be pushed by manpower. In order to boost morale, even Liu Zhijian rolled up his sleeves and worked with the gunners. Accompanying the artillery group was a battalion of musketeers, 2,000 Han spearmen, 2,000 Jurchen archers, and 500 Tiefutu who dismounted and fought on foot.

"Forward—forward—"

On the vast battlefield, the 5,000-foot army occupied only a small area. In front of the infantry, 20,000 cavalry troops lined up in a dense line. Outside the effective range of the Liao artillery, the Jurchen cavalry controlled the horses to move slowly. In the center of the cavalry array, Wanyan Zonghan followed Wanyan Digu forward, his face was gloomy, it was his glory to lead the vanguard cavalry to attack the Liao army's fortifications, but the offensive tactics were all arranged by the surnamed Zhao, which made him extremely dissatisfied. The cavalry had to slow down so that the following artillery battalions and infantry would not fall too far.

"Everyone, keep it up!"

Officers such as Zhao Xingde and Liu Zhijian did not ride horses, and walked on both sides of the gun carriage like ordinary gunners. The battlefield looked flat, and the path of the artillery crew had been surveyed beforehand, but there were always sudden potholes and small slopes ahead. At this time, Zhao Xingde and Liu Zhijian had to quickly lead the gunners to push the artillery wagon, so as not to slow down the rhythm of the army's attack.

Although it was not within the effective range of the heavy artillery of the Liao army, the shells were able to hit here. The Liao artillery battalion on the opposite side has opened fire, and a round iron projectile with a whistling wind has crossed the sky above, although most of them have fallen on the open ground, but from time to time a shell just hits the Jin army, as long as it is rubbed, it is either dead or wounded, and then wearing thick armor is also smashed to the flesh and blood, even if it is four or five hundred steps away, the power of the heavy artillery shell is still terrifying.

"It's here! This is it! Set up the artillery! ”

Zhao Xingde pointed to the triangular gravel pile that had been piled up a few days ago, in order to prevent the Liao army from noticing, the rubble pile was very inconspicuous, but it was enough to demarcate the preset position.

The guns were divided from the gun carriages and pushed into the forts, the horses and ammunition wagons were placed behind, and the individual gunners were in position. The gunners were directly guarding the artillery position, and in the eyes of the Jin army, the gunners were also a small artillery. More than 4,000 infantry troops guarded the perimeter of the artillery position.

"Quick!" "Quick!" Liu Zhijian looked at it and shouted loudly. All the gunners were already sweating profusely, but still desperately quickened their movements, even ignoring the enemy shells that flew overhead from time to time. The cavalry in front had already entered a distance where they could accelerate, and the heralds of Wanyan Di Gu Nai looked back from time to time, waiting for the signal from the artillery position. Zhao Xingde checked the gun positions one by one, and after making sure that the firing angle was correct, each gun group began to load ammunition.

When everything was ready, Zhao Xingde glanced ahead, raised the clairvoyant mirror, and said in a deep voice: "Fire!" ”

"Boom!" A bang! The No. 1 artillery group, all operated by Sergeant Xia Guo, fired a test shot, and the shells whistled out and smashed in front of the Liao army's fort. "It's a pity." Zhao Xingde sighed slightly, barely hesitated, and said in a deep voice: "Raise it by half a point!" "All the guns immediately scrambled to move the levers of the gun carriage, and the muzzle of the guns was slightly raised.

"Half a point...... Half a minute......" the artillery commanders muttered, because of nervousness, beads of sweat from the soybeans dripped down their foreheads, and they didn't care to wipe them off. Soon, all fourteen artillery groups completed the correction.

"Fire!"

This time, the shell crossed a perfect arc and almost smashed into the center of the frontal artillery of the Liao army. The Liao army's artillery fort was waiting for a head-on attack on the charging Jin cavalry, when it was suddenly bombarded by the opponent's artillery, although it was only a shell, it had already caused a commotion. The sound of shouting and shouting can be heard clearly even from 300 paces away.

Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice: "Give the cavalry a signal, we have no problem." He paused, then added: "All artillery crews, fire at full speed!" ”

Just in front of the artillery group, the Jurchen cavalry, which had long been unable to hold back, got the signal. Wanyan Digunai led 10,000 horsemen to stay in the rear to suppress the formation, and Wanyan Zonghan led 10,000 horsemen to start accelerating and sprinting. The sound of horses' hooves shook the earth, and at that moment the artillery positions behind the cavalry began to roar almost continuously!

The scene of 10,000 cavalry charging was extremely magnificent, as if the waves of the sea were crashing forward, about to collapse everything to pieces. The gunners on the frontal artillery of the Liao army and the infantry troops guarding the front all changed color. Chai Yi, the commander of the artillery corps, couldn't think about why he "happened" to be hit by an enemy shell on his own camp, and shouted loudly: "Listen to my orders, prepare to fire!" ”

On this frontal artillery fort, in addition to a dozen or so heavy guns, there are also more than 200 small and medium-sized guns of various types, with an effective firing range ranging from a few dozen steps to one or two hundred steps, and they have already been loaded with ammunition. The gunners suppressed their breath and watched nervously at the approaching Jurchen cavalry while waiting intently for the order to fire.