Yan Chengwang's main force of nine thousand cavalry actually did not go far, the scout rangers who had been staring at the battlefield saw that Hao Tianying's department encountered danger and immediately reported back, Yan Chengwang was shocked and immediately led his troops back, but at this time, the Liao army drove out a large battalion of four or five thousand cavalry to intercept it, trying to block the main force and eat up a small force. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The reason is also very simple, it is better to cut off one of the enemy's five fingers, Yan Chengwang of course understands, seeing this, he is not in a hurry to rescue Hao Tianying, but to line up with nine thousand horsemen, intending to meet it head-on. Under this circumstance, the Liao army had suffered a big loss before but was afraid to advance, and the two sides faced each other for a few miles, and some changes took place on the battlefield.

The three thousand cavalry of the Huaixin army broke through the encirclement and joined Hao Tianying's thousand cavalry, which greatly increased its strength, and the Liao army could not stop it.

Although the Liao army went to war, it was obviously unwilling to fight head-on, and the skirmish in the morning ended quickly, and the Zhou army suffered few casualties, retreated twenty miles to the west and camped to rest, to a safe distance to confront the Liao army, and at the same time pay attention to the siege of Xiazhou City.

The Liao army's forward general Xiao Yila was killed in battle, Yelu Xiuge was quite sorry, and was restrained by Hao Tianying's department, and was still in a state of difficulty in riding a tiger and unable to advance or retreat. If you cross the river to the south to aid Li Yiyin, the Zhou army will inevitably attack, if you retreat to Jingde, then the Zhou army will definitely pursue, anyway, the 30,000 cavalry of the Yelu Tart Lie Department will arrive in four or five days, so Yelu Xiuge is not in a hurry to fight a decisive battle, so he has to drag it and send it north to urge.

And more than an hour ago, in the west of Xiazhou Tongwan City, in front of the Zhou army's infantry formation, one hundred and fifty trebuchets were pushed two or three hundred steps away from the city wall, lined up in a long column like a squatting giant beast ready to go. The commander of the front line, Xue Wenqian, gave an order, the herald waved a small red flag in his hand, and the 150 soldiers who fired the trebuchet raised their hammers and smacked them hard, and the rows of projectiles were raised at the same time, and one by one the stone bullets pierced the sky and slammed towards the city with a whistling sound, followed by a loud bang and a panicked shout of the party soldiers.

Zhang Yue is still in the Chinese army marshal holding a telescope to watch the battle, Xiazhou Prefecture City is the city of Tongwan, according to the soldiers' report, the circumference of this city is nearly fifteen miles, divided into the inner and outer cities, the outer city is divided into the east and west cities, it is a horizontal irregular rectangle, the wall is more than three zhang high, and it is a section of the raised horse-faced fort-type city wall, there are piers of ten zhang at the four corners, and there are battlements at the mouth of the wall head, it is not easy to storm this city.

Tongwan City is built with steamed soil and glutinous rice pulp, its solidity, Zhang Yue later generations have heard of it, look at the situation in front of him, the city wall should be the original appearance of Tongwan City. As long as this city exists, the ambition of the party members or those who move here will never disappear, so this evil city, which has been filled with countless lives, must not be left behind. Moreover, the people who live in the city are all members of the Li family, and there are many other parties scattered in the other three states.

"Has Zong Jingcheng arrived?" Zhang Yue stood on the watchtower of the Chinese army and asked loudly.

"I heard that I arrived in Changze yesterday, and I should be able to arrive today!" Li Duoshou replied affirmatively below.

"Send someone to pick it up! Be sure to arrive before noon, and you must take this city in three days at most, and completely cut off Li Yiyin's thoughts. Zhang Yue urged loudly.

The trebuchet was launched for a whole morning, and the party soldiers defending the city did not dare to show their heads at all, and crowded into the pier to hide. Zhang Yue did not let the ladder hand and the rushing car officially attack, that would only cause senseless sacrifices, the horse-faced city wall, the defenders also have 20,000 soldiers, if you want to attack it, your own 40,000 soldiers may not be enough.

At noon, the army stopped on the spot, rested and waited, and did not return to the camp. Zhang Yue received the report that Zong Jingcheng led 500 horsemen and 3,000 Huining miners to come with 5 or 600 carts, so he took Yang Xuanli and other 300 horsemen to personally welcome Wuli.

These carts carried not only grain and grass equipment, but also some very important secret weapons, 300 barrels of fierce fire oil and 20,000 catties of gunpowder. Before the war, Zhang Yue ordered Shanzhou to order Zong Jingcheng to go to Haixi monk Lin Zhengon to trade, but the gunpowder is currently in all the stocks of Huining.

"I've been delayed until now, have I brought all the city-breaking weapons I want?" Zhang Yue asked with a little dissatisfaction, the army arrived at the city of Tongwan, but it was stationed in the camp for five or six days, and this is what he was waiting for.

"Hey...... The previous carts are all under the personal care of the last general, mainly Haixi to transport oil, and then filter it once according to the lord's words, which has been delayed for a long time, and the lord forgives the sin! Zong Jingcheng was dressed in a crimson official robe, wearing a black gauze on his head, with a light beard on his upper lip, and he looked like a civil official.

"Bring a bucket down and see how it looks!" Zhang Yue asked the soldiers to step forward and untie the felt that covered the goods in the carriage, and the eighteen large wooden barrels stacked on two sides were revealed.

The four soldiers stepped forward, carried over a bucket with a little difficulty, took out a special knife to scrape open the seal, opened the lid of the round wooden barrel, a familiar and pungent smell permeated, the soldiers couldn't stand it, and walked away. Zong Jingcheng went to the carriage and took a large white porcelain bowl and a wooden spoon, took a bowl out of the bucket and handed it over.

Zhang Yue took it and looked at it, picked up a wooden spoon and slowly poured it out, caught it with a bowl, and shone it on the bright light, it was still a jet-black with a faint yellow bright color, but it was no longer the viscous black paste of crude oil, which was not bad.

"Take it back to the camp and store it separately! You take care of it yourself, remember to prevent fire! Zhang Yue poured out the oil, handed the bowl and spoon back to Zong Jingcheng, and led his own soldiers back to the camp first.

In the afternoon of the same day, thousands of soldiers of the rear army worked together, wrapped cotton in felt, tied stone bullets with cowhide rope nets, and transported them to the front army in a trolley soaked in fire oil for later use. And more than 100 trebuchets are also divided into two rows, the front row is 200 steps away from the city wall, and the back row is 300 steps, in order to ensure that the city and the city can be hit, the soldiers first ignite the fire and then fire, suddenly, a hundred large fireballs fly up, some fall on the city, some fly into the city, and after a while, the city will be lit up with several clouds of smoke.

The party soldiers at the head of the city shouted in fear, but there was nothing they could do, and the Zhou army still did not officially attack the city. The burning stone bullets only caused some panic and confusion to the party members in the city, deterred and defeated the will of the defenders to resist, and could not really take the city.

The trebuchet was two hundred steps away from the city wall, and it stopped every time it was fired, and the defenders who were hiding fired again as soon as they showed their heads, and when they returned to the camp in the afternoon, they received a battle report from Hao Tianying from the north bank of Wushui, and Zhang Yue ordered them to continue to contain the Liao army, and if they could fight, they would fight.

That night, Zhang Yue held a military meeting, and after redeploying the combat mission, he asked Zong Jingcheng to take a bowl of fierce fire oil, and a small packet of gunpowder was demonstrated to a group of senior officers in public, and issued a strict gag order prohibiting any officer from divulging secrets.