At this time, the Liang army, which had stabilized its position, was organized by King Kong and the two people, and immediately began to fight back with earth-shattering fire.

The industrial level and overall manufacturing process of the Liang state were superior to those of other princes outside the Xian state, largely because the Ligong faction had been entrenched in the neutral mountainous area between the border between the two countries of Liang, and the Ligong faction was revered by the Son of Heaven, so that the Liang state could obtain more advanced metallurgical and manufacturing technology.

It is undeniable that Liang has a strong technical foundation, and has studied and improved its own technology, which is slightly higher than other princes, but it is not at the same level as Xianguo.

The artillery is a thing, subject to the cognitive and technical constraints of the times, after returning to the copper cannon, the early performance is actually not much different, the biggest significant performance difference is that under the same projectile quality and range, whose cannon is lighter, who uses less materials, Liangguo's copper cannon is significantly smaller than the Weiguo artillery, and the body shape is lighter, but the range is still not improved.

Therefore, most of the solid projectiles fired by the Liang artillery were only four or five miles, and occasionally some large-caliber artillery could reach seven or eight miles. Because it was still dark, the Liang army did not know at all that the "guards" were firing at that distance, so they fired back indiscriminately, and the guards were unscathed, on the contrary, the longer the time dragged on, the greater the casualties of the Liang army.

After the shelling lasted for four quarters of an hour, the Liang army camp was in flames, and the Xian artillery fire ignited the accumulation of black powder, causing a series of violent explosions, and the Liang army began to disperse.

"General Kong, the front army suffered heavy casualties, the fire was out of control, and the battalions were no longer able to control it, so please make a quick decision on the capital governor."

The right governor said quickly, Kong Lin's face was pale:

"The guards are too deceitful, give an order, the whole army will immediately withdraw to Lingchang, quickly!"

Without waiting for the words to fall, Wang Guan reminded:

"General Kong, the captain ordered us to stick to this place, and not to retreat without military orders, and you and I can't afford to be guilty of it."

"I can't care so much, this guard is fierce. Our army suffered thousands of casualties in half an hour, and the overlord cannon was lost in a swarm, if we wait until the Tianming Guards come to attack, the firearms of the guards are powerful all over the world, how can you and I parry. At this time, retreating to Lingchang can still protect the whole army can protect Lingchang, if the whole army is annihilated, there is no main force of our army west of Lingchang, what should the guards do if they invade the homeland. ”

In addition to the Northern Army, the Liang Army's forbidden army, the southern army, the aristocratic private soldiers poured out, only the county soldiers in various parts of the country did not have the main force of heavy troops, Kong Lin suffered great losses under the artillery bombardment of the Xian army, and the Liang army, which had not undergone the baptism of artillery, was psychologically and tactically not ready for battle, and continued to hold on to the camp and waited for only the annihilation of the whole army.

persuaded Wang Guan that the Liang army immediately fled westward, discarding all the grain and grass, only bringing cannons and earth-shattering fire, and even fled in panic without caring about the wounded.

By ten o'clock in the morning, the Liang army's infantry had already run out of more than ten miles, but this Kong Lin general still had some integrity, he did not run first with the cavalry, and led the cavalry to break behind, so as not to take the opportunity for the guards to go out and chase after the infantry all the way. It can be seen that most of the current aristocrats still have some military ethics, and not all aristocrats are greedy for life and afraid of death.

When the Liang army fled westward, Jiang Jie was not in a hurry to pursue, and immediately camouflaged the artillery after stopping the shelling, and released two teams of men and horses into the Liang army's camp to investigate the results of the battle.

Because the cavalry and horses of Kong Lin's department are all high-class war horses, and Jiang Jie's horses are all second-class horses that captured the guards, and their physical endurance and speed are not as good as the horses of the Liang army, the sixth and eighth formations are all infantry troops, and they rashly engage with the cavalry of the Liang army, which is very unfavorable to the Xian army, so Jiang Jie does not fight with Kong Lin, pretending that the horses are unbearable, and the speed is lowered after chasing for a while, so the reciprocating operation, and the Kong Lin Wang Guan department is driven back to Lingchang in the afternoon.

And Gu Ruquan led the main force to leave Lingchang the day before yesterday to continue the attack, so at this moment it is not known that Kong Lin Wang Guan fled back to Lingchang, and Jiang Jie arrived at Lingchang City to collect troops and horses. After leaving behind a 5,000-man pad, he led the main force to continue westward.

After seeing the movement of the "Guards", Kong Lin and Wang Guan, who were embarrassed, couldn't help but wonder again:

"This guard does not besiege the city, continue to go west to do something!"

Wang Guan was puzzled, Kong Lin was very uncomfortable, he said:

"Could it be that the guards are trying to attack my city!"

Wang Guan was taken aback:

"The guards are crazy, who dares to attack my city! Will it be to flee north through the passage to join the main force of the guards? ”

"It may be possible that Ruijun is rumored to be surrounded by the Xian army, and the defense army will inevitably fight hard when they move north. Behind this guard army was the Xian army, which was flanked by our army and the Xian army whether it was going north or south. Now it seems that he wants to go north through our country, but in case it is in retaliation for our army to send troops to attack the city, this will be bad. ”

"In this case, I should take advantage of the fact that the guards are in flames, why not send troops to attack him, and never let him escape into our territory." Wang Guan suggested, Kong Lin was cautious:

"What you and I can think of, how can the guards not think that they have just been defeated by the guards this morning, and the morale of the army has been greatly damaged, and they will attack immediately in the afternoon, if the guards are trying to lure our army out of the city and set up an ambush in secret, the situation will not be very bad."

Kong Lin feared that the westward advance of the guards might be just a trick to lure him out of the city. Because no matter what the intentions of the Wei army were, as long as they attacked the city of Liang State, the Liang army had to return to help, so he was led by the nose by the Wei army, and there was a potential threat of being ambushed and intercepted halfway, and he would not take this risk until the situation became clear.

So not long after the guards withdrew one after another, Kong Lin sent scouts again to ask Gu Ruquan for help. However, when he was defeated in the morning, two groups of scouts were sent successively, and they did not arrive at Gu Ruquan's camp until the afternoon of the same day. The reason was that he was secretly dragged by the scouts lurking in the Xian army on the way, so the scouts on this road would never arrive at Gu Ruquan's camp on time in the afternoon.

Gu Ruquan would continue to march south to attack the cities of Weiguo, but he would soon find that most of the cities in the south had been surrounded by the Xian army or had fallen into the hands of the Xian army.

That night, fifty miles east of Lingchang City, Baili Yan led his troops to chase down the underground village here, and collected the corpses of the Liang army and the wounded soldiers for rescue treatment.

"Wei Qi, what are the casualties of the Liang army?"

"Deputy Marshal Qiqi, so far there are 3,175 corpses, and 567 people are seriously and lightly wounded. Half of the casualties were due to excessive bleeding and untimely treatment, while the rest died either from artillery fire or from explosions and injuries. ”

"The wounded continue to be rescued, the deceased centurion and above will not be buried for the time being, the following will be buried on the spot, and tomorrow the army will be stationed on the spot and will not advance westward for the time being."

"No!"

After instructing Wei Qi, Bai Liyan and Xu Jin said:

"General Xu, how is the situation of the various departments going south?"

"Deputy Marshal Qi, the various ministries are besieging the cities as planned to persuade them to surrender, and if there is no accident, most of them can be persuaded to surrender. Ye Xue's two armies have basically completed the encirclement of Rui County, and it is reported that the main force of the guard army is less than 500 miles away from Rui County, and they will encounter it within three or five days. ”

"It's good to be tight, General Xu, come and see." Bai Liyan picked up the wooden stick on the table and pointed to the direction where Xue Sheng's department was located north of the Ruijun map hanging behind him: "It is Ye Xinbu's army and a cavalry that are responsible for besieging various places, and Xue Sheng's main force did not participate in the encirclement, so the establishment is still intact, and Xue Sheng's department is located at the northern end of Ruijun and occupies favorable terrain." If the guards wanted to go south without any worries, they had to eliminate Xue Sheng's troops.

If the guards knew the details of Xue Sheng's subordinates, they might not attack rashly, but if they didn't believe in evil, they might launch an offensive to test it. However, if the guards did not fight, Xue Sheng should take the initiative to attack and attack the defenders, so Xue Sheng's seventh town army would have a big battle.

As long as Xue Sheng's main force is complete, the problem of one enemy and two is not very big. In the middle of winter, the weather in Ruijun is slightly warmer, but there is not much rain, and as long as there is no heavy rain in recent days, the guards will definitely be defeated. ”

Bailiyan issued a mortar to Xue Sheng, if the guards dig trenches and hold on to the battle, the effect of the breech guns will be greatly reduced, so they can first use artillery to destroy the ground offensive and light and heavy firepower of the guards, and then use mortar grenade launchers and Xianjun's overlord guns to strike at forward fortifications and trenches under the cover of infantry, and finally use infantry to approach, use grenades to drive away, shoot with rifles, and finally use cold weapons to fight hand-to-hand, assisted by hot weapons.

Under the fierce offensive and artillery suppression of the Xian army, the guards were basically useless, and the hard crossbows may still have some role in hiding the trenches, and they can fire cold arrows into the sky, but they are in vain in the face of mortar grenade launchers and even unconscionable guns, because the range is simply not enough, and even if it is enough, the accuracy of those arrows and crossbows is insignificant.

Due to the time zone, it was late at night in Chenling, not long ago a horse carrying Hongling entered from the west gate, and went directly to the duty room of the palace state supervisor, Bailiyan's urgent mail was immediately transferred to the palace guards and sent to the inner palace and handed over to the chief manager Jiang Hao.

At this time, not long after King Xian fell asleep, he heard the news that the palace maid on the side called him, and King Xian was a little annoyed:

"Why call the widow in the middle of the night?"

Hearing the news that King Xian was displeased, the little palace maid replied tremblingly outside the bedroom:

"King Qiqi, Hongling urgent mail has been sent from the front line."

King Xian was half asleep and half awake at this time, and when he heard the four words "Hongling Urgent", he sat up and stood up, and his heart beat wildly. Then he turned over and couldn't put on his shoes, and came to the outer hall barefoot, Jiang Hao was already waiting here, and he hurriedly asked:

"Where's the Secret Box!"

Jiang Hao took out the secret box and handed it to King Xian, and said carefully:

"It has just been delivered, please take a look at it."

King Xian took the secret box, confirmed that the fire paint was intact, and then opened the secret box with a knife and took out the secret document.

Zhao Xun stayed in the rear, so since the start of the war, Zhao Xun has sent more war reports, and it is not convenient for Bailiyan to send war reports on the front line, and there is not much need, non-major events, and will not send them to the national capital. Suddenly sent Hongling an urgent letter, and he could only think about the worst at the moment.

Immediately opened the secret letter, came to the candle flame to take a closer look, the heart that had just been hung fell heavily to the ground again, King Xian's hands suddenly closed the secret letter, opened his eyes and his heart beat wildly:

"Hiss......"

King Jian Xian looked frightened, Jiang Hao cautiously stepped forward and asked:

"King, it can't be an accident on the front line!"

King Xian squinted at Jiang Hao and said:

"Your nephew has a secret letter to be delivered."

"Not yet, what does the king mean?"

"Go, take an empty king's decree and the widow's seal."

"No!"

Jiang Hao didn't dare to ask more, turned around and left to do something. King Xian carefully read the letter from Bailiyan again, and after examining it word by word, he immediately approached the candle flame, which was burned to ashes in a short time.

When Jiang Hao took the seal of the holy decree, King Xian used the seal to stamp the seal on the lower right corner of the blank holy decree, and the pen leaked a big "earth" word in the center of the holy decree. Then put it into the secret box and handed it to Jiang Hao:

"After sealing it, send it to Yongxing Hou in an urgent mail."

A holy decree was not written and was about to be sent out, Jiang Hao couldn't help but wonder:

"My Majesty, is this how the decree was issued?"

"Yes, that's it." King Xian nodded in affirmation, and then said, "In addition, the matter of delivering Hongling's urgent mail tonight must not be publicized. ”

"No!"

Liang Guo openly intervened, hindering the attack and defense of the Xian army was unexpected, and he never thought that Baili Yan would be bold enough to take the initiative to attack the Liang army.

In this kind of matter, the ministers will never make decisions for the monarch, and in the end, the king of Xian has to make his own decision, and more people know that they can only make extraneous branches. At this time, it was too late to stop Bailiyan, he could only agree, but he couldn't say it explicitly, so he replied with the word "earth" to let Bailiyan understand it himself.

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