Since the beginning of the war, the daily war report has become the top priority of the imperial court. However, after five more victories, the first defeat report finally came.

Yang Yanzhao did not hide anything about Yang Zongbao's defeat, and he truthfully wrote the first defeat of the Song army in the battle report.

However, Yang Yanzhao didn't expect that this ordinary small loss would actually cause an uproar in the imperial court. Many ministers were completely unacceptable to this defeat.

Unexpectedly, just after the war report was released, a minister impeached Yang Yanzhao on the spot, saying that he was nepotistic and caused the defeat of the Great Song Dynasty, and he should be replaced.

However, the impeachment of the emperor and the cabinet were ignored, this was just a small local defeat, and there was no need to make a fuss.

Victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, how can there be an undefeated general in the world, if the coach is removed at the slightest mistake, then it is estimated that no one in the entire Great Song Dynasty can be qualified for the important rule of the coach.

However, although there was no suspicion about Yang Yanzhao, there was still a big discussion within the cabinet about this defeat.

The cabinet ministers also didn't figure out why the Song army, which was armed with guns, would get such a defeat.

"Underestimate the enemy, apart from this explanation, I really can't think of any reason to make the Great Song lose this battle." After reading the war report, Zhang Zhibai came to such a conclusion.

"I think underestimating the enemy may be one of the reasons, but there should be other reasons, if it is just a slight enemy, it should not be so miserable." This is Kou Zhun's idea.

"Old Iron. What do you think? Jiang Yu, who also felt strange, finally looked at his old friend Tie Zheng.

"Huh?" Tie Zheng said after looking at the battle report repeatedly: "I think the trenches mentioned in the battle report should be another key. This thing is so familiar, huh? Where do you think you've heard of it? ”

Just when the ministers couldn't remember where they had heard of this trench. Suddenly, a childish voice came from outside the cabinet: "Trenches? Isn't that something that my father used in the Battle of Lanyuan? ”

As the voice came, a half-sized man walked into the cabinet.

"See Your Highness." After seeing the figure come in, the ministers hurriedly saluted. It turned out that this half-grown son was Zhao Teng, Zhao Weiji's eldest son.

Seeing that everyone saluted him, Zhao Teng also returned the salute one by one very politely. Just after the salute was over, Tie Zheng asked him, "How did Your Highness know about the trenches?" You didn't participate in the review of the Battle of the Abyss? ”

After hearing Tie Zheng's question, Zhao Teng smiled bitterly: "I'm not very interested in these things, but don't forget my imperial sister." She's good at these old things, after the last review. She kept talking about the trenches, and she thought that if there was a war in the future where everyone used guns and cannons, the trenches would definitely become an important part of the battlefield.

I advise you to ask your father about this matter at the end, and he will probably be able to give you a satisfactory answer.

I'm going to quit here, and I still have homework after that, so I won't bother you. ”

After speaking, Zhao Teng saluted again, and then withdrew from the cabinet.

Just after sending Zhao Teng away, the ministers went up to the second floor to find Zhao Weiji, and no one could be more familiar with the use of trenches than Zhao Weiji in this era.

And Zhao Weiji seemed to have known that the ministers were coming to him, so he had already asked the little eunuch to move the chair and wait there.

"You're here? I know what you're asking. Sit down. After speaking, Zhao Weiji pointed to the chair that had been placed there.

Just after the ministers sat down one after another. Zhao Weiji spoke: "Regarding this defeat, I can actually predict it in advance. After all, guns are not invincible, and it is normal to suffer some setbacks, but I didn't expect the Khitans to be so good at learning, and they actually thought of using trenches to restrain artillery attacks.

I won't be able to explain to you here why something like a trench can restrain an artillery attack, but you just need to remember that if a soldier hides in a trench, he will be able to take less damage from artillery fire.

Moreover, once the soldier hides in the trenches, he can effectively dodge the attack of the rifle, in short, it is a tactic that can effectively restrain the current army. ”

After listening to Zhao Weiji's explanation, the ministers probably understood one thing, that is, Yang Zongbao lost unjustly at this station. However, there is one thing that the ministers are not too able to understand, since the trench was first created by the Great Song Dynasty (of course, they don't know that it was plagiarized by Zhao Weiji from later generations), then why were we still defeated by this tactic?

Didn't the battle of the abyss, which appeared for the first time in the trenches, be specially reviewed?

Regarding this question, Zhao Weiji smiled bitterly: "Actually, the review of this battle was requested by me by name. In addition to explaining the tactical use of artillery rifles, it is also hoped that the tactics of trenches will be taken seriously.

It's just that contrary to expectations, everyone's eyes are all on the offensive means of guns, and only one person has paid attention to the defensive tactics of trenches. ”

There is actually another person, which makes the ministers curious, who is this person?

"This man? Don't worry, this man is in the barracks of that army right now. ”

……

The person Zhao Weiji said was his eldest princess, Zhao Ling'er, who was now in the barracks.

"Yang Zongbao, let's talk about you, are you really worthy of this evaluation? Knowing that there is already a problem with morale, why not withdraw in time?

I know, you probably don't dare to withdraw for the sake of your humble face, right? If you retire from the army, you probably won't be able to hold your head up in front of me for the rest of your life.

But you didn't think that if you continued to fail, would you be able to hold your head up in front of me? Or do you think you'll be able to figure it out if you get through the night safely?

Didn't you think that the Khitans came back to attack at night? Didn't you attend the review of the Battle of the Abyss? Is there an old stubborn still telling you that the Khitans are not good at night fighting? ……”

Zhao Ling'er probably counted Yang Zongbao for half an hour, during which Yang Zongbao couldn't say a single rebuttal, and all his thoughts seemed to have been seen through, without any mistakes or omissions.

And Yang Yanzhao on the side had no way to interject, because what he wanted to say was basically finished by Zhao Ling'er, and Yang Yanzhao, who had nothing to say, could only watch.

Finally, Zhao Ling'er, who was almost scolded, stopped and talked endlessly, and took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

Seeing that Zhao Ling'er finally stopped counting, Yang Zongbao finally took a breath, but although every sentence Zhao Ling'er scolded was very reasonable, he was still very unconvinced by Zhao Ling'er, he always felt that you were just talking and not practicing. You can do it, you can do it.

However, he didn't express this sentence directly, after all, he had just lost the battle, and he really didn't have the confidence to shout like this. He just filled his eyes with this feeling, but he didn't expect that this was seen through by that little girl.

After Zhao Ling'er saw Yang Zongbao's unconvinced eyes, she put down the teacup in her hand, and then said, "Oops? You're still not convinced? Do you want to say that I don't practice here? Are you doing it? ”

"Holy? This girl can read minds, huh? I want to be able to see through everything. For his own no-nonsense, Yang Zongbao can only continue to slander.

"Okay, I'll teach you how to deal with the other party's trenches, and you come with me. You've also taken a review course on the Battle of the Abyss. ”

How did she know I had taken that class? There was no record of that class for the generals who were auditing, so she had no reason to know?

What Yang Zongbao didn't know was that the person who was sitting next to him in that class at that time was Zhao Ling'er.

I saw Zhao Ling'er digging a small ditch on the ground, and then pulled out a few flags from the sand table and inserted them into the ditch. A simple mock trench was born.

Then Zhao Ling'er asked Yang Zongbao: "Is it that when the Khitan soldiers hide in the trenches, your artillery fire will not be able to play a good role?" Rifles can't hit them, and if you send troops close to the trenches, you will be killed directly? ”

Zhao Ling'er's three problems in a row happened to be the biggest problem that Yang Zongbao encountered on the battlefield, and he couldn't think of how to solve it so far, so he could only nod helplessly.

At this time, Zhao Linger began to deduce: "There are only two problems you are facing now, one is that you can't fight, and the other is that you don't dare to approach."

In fact, there is a solution for the attack, but you just didn't think of it. ”

"There's already a solution? What is that? "Yang Zongbao never thought that this problem had already been solved?

Looking at Yang Zongbao's blank face, Zhao Ling'er shook his head with a sigh, and then said: "You know artillery, rifles, have you forgotten that there is a thing called mortar in our Great Song Army?" That kind of thing was invented to solve this situation. ”

With Zhao Ling'er's reminder, Yang Zongbao finally remembered that there was still such a thing as mortars. Due to the short range of mortars, the power is slightly inferior to artillery, and there has never been a situation that requires mortars to solve, so this thing has not been mass-produced. It is also not very valued by the generals.

"You finally remembered that there is such an artifact? I really don't know how you usually conduct war rehearsals.

As for not being able to get close, there is actually a solution, do you want to hear it? ”

Yang Zongbao nodded, after all, since mortars are not usually taken seriously, he only brought a dozen of them on this expedition just in case.

To really deal with the Khitans in the trenches, it is still necessary to rely on the soldiers to get close to use rifles. (To be continued......)