Chapter 523: Rainy Night Planning

"It's too much of a deception." When had Attahai been subjected to this kind of wretchedness, he laughed angrily, "Why don't you dare? Ignorant boy of the Southern Dynasty, wait, your grandfather Atahai will go out of the city to fight with you. ”

Mongolia has been advocating attack since the time of Genghis Khan, and after the destruction of Jin, it is even more invincible, and has always forced the enemy to defend, and the matter of being forced to defend the city has almost never happened, but now it is good, and it is completely reversed. Atahai can also be regarded as coming from a Mongolian aristocratic family, where can he endure Meng Tianxiang's provocation.

With a swing of his spear, Atahai wanted to go out of the city to meet him.

"Wait." Zhang Hongfan stopped, "General Atahai, this is not the time to be rash. ”

"General Zhang, why have you become so bold? The other party will fight alone, and I will kill its sharpness. ”

"General Atahai, remember, General Ben is the garrison of Dengzhou." Zhang Hongfan didn't give Atahai any face, and said with a serious expression, "Meng Tianxiang's martial arts are strong, even among the generals of the Southern Dynasty, although you and I are not afraid of him, but when the enemy is strong and I am weak, I have just been shelled, if you and I are defeated, the morale of our army will be even more sluggish, this is the purpose of Meng Tianxiang's challenge." Tell the order to go down, archers, and release the arrows. ”

Meng Tianxiang saw the arrows shooting down on the city wall, hurriedly waved his spear, and suddenly saw the shadows of the guns, protecting his body and his horse, the dense rain of arrows could not get close to him at all, and occasionally, Meng Tianxiang laughed and said: "The Mongolian army is just like this, Atahai, you are the same, it turns out that you are just bullying the soft and afraid of the hard." ”

Atahai snorted, reached out and took a pair of strong bows, opened his bow and arrows, and shot towards Meng Tianxiang under the city. Compared to ordinary archers, Atahai's skill is much higher, and this arrow is extremely fast, and it shoots out.

Meng Tianxiang knew that this arrow was different from ordinary feather arrows, and as soon as the flame marksmanship was displayed, he shook off the surrounding feather arrows, and the tip of the spear was raised, blocking the arrows shot by Atahai, and then let out a long howl, and turned the horse away. The Song army in the distance shouted in unison: "Mongolian army, bully the soft and fear the hard, shrink the head of the turtle." Bullying the soft and afraid of the hard, shrinking the head of the turtle. ”

The Mongolian soldiers on the city wall asked for battle one after another: "General Zhang, let your subordinates go out of the city to rush and kill for a while." ”

"Can you stop the firearms?"

"This, this......" As soon as the firearms were mentioned, the soldiers on the entire city wall stopped talking, and everyone knew very well that if they could, they would not retreat to Dengzhou City.

At this time, Atahai calmed down: "The Southern Dynasty has withdrawn its troops. ”

"Well, it's the same as attacking the Lumen Mountain camp, except that the number of Southern Korean artillery is more than doubled." Zhang Hongfan watched the Song army leave expressionlessly, and then ordered: "Treat the wounded and repair the damaged city wall." ”

After dinner, I gave instructions for a while, and at about nine o'clock, Gongsun Xiaochen, Tian Xiuyan and Xu Sanquan returned to Shangying Village.

The three of them didn't care about eating, but each drank a bowl of water, and Gongsun Xiaochen reported to me: "Your Majesty, after the last general and others left Shangying Village in the early morning, they went to Nanyang under the leadership of Xu Baozheng. After a whole day of field investigations, the last general and others confirmed that there are two roads to go from Dengzhou to Nanyang, one is to go east through Luhe Town, this road is a little farther, with the speed of war horses, it takes nearly four hours, and the other is to cross the Baihe River through Wadian Town, and then go north, not counting the time to cross the river, it takes about two and a half hours, these two roads are very flat, and the surrounding area is also full of open areas, which is suitable for large-scale frontal action of the cavalry, but there is nowhere to set up an ambush. ”

"Well, Xiao Chen, after your field trip, how do you think our army should pass this section of the road?"

Gongsun Xiaochen said: "Your Majesty, the last general and General Hetian have discussed on the road, and I think that we should go to Luhe Town and advance step by step. ”

"Really? Be specific. ”

"Your Majesty, our army is mainly an infantry army, and its speed is naturally inferior to that of the cavalry, but our army has the advantage of firearms, so it is suitable for positional warfare. After seizing the city of Dengzhou, our army will take Dengzhou as a starting point, advance to Nanyang, dispatch all the scouts along the road, keep abreast of the movements of the Yuan army in Nanyang, once it is found that the cavalry of the Yuan Dynasty has signs of sortie, our army will immediately stop advancing, build a position on the spot, the land from Dengzhou to Nanyang is soft, it is easy to dig trenches, only one or two large trenches can delay the offensive speed of the Mongolian cavalry, and our army can calmly line up the formation, set up artillery, even if the Mongolian cavalry attacks from all sides, as long as the artillery is set up, Our army will be invincible. ”

I thought for a while and said, "It's still a while to take Dengzhou, so everyone should think about it again." Xiao Chen, Xiu Yan, Xu Sanquan, you go to eat first. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Under the continuous shelling, by the third day, the city wall of Dengzhou City has been incomplete, although the casualties of the defenders in the city are not large, but all the Yuan army soldiers are very clear that one more day of shelling, the city wall around the south gate will completely collapse, once the cover of the city wall is lost, everything inside will be completely exposed to the range of the Southern Dynasty artillery.

"General Zhang, you are resourceful, what should you do for the current situation?" Atahai said, standing on the city wall with a dazed face.

Zhang Hongfan's expression was grim, watching the night come little by little, and said: "According to the instructions of the marshal, try to delay the time, if you can't hold it, you will retreat to Nanyang first." ”

"Well, that's all there is to it." Atahai sighed and whispered, "General Zhang, in your opinion, how should firearms be dealt with?" ”

Zhang Hongfan shook his head and said in the same low voice: "To be honest, General Atahai, Zhang has no bottom in his heart, unless, unless we also have firearms in our hands." ”

While the two were talking, a light rain suddenly fell in the sky.

"It's raining, General Zhang, let's go back to the house."

Seeing that Zhang Hongfan didn't react, Atahai seemed to be thinking about something, and then shouted: "General Zhang." ”

"Huh? Oh, it's raining. Zhang Hongfan said, "Tianya Yin Shenzun once mentioned that one of the major weaknesses of firearms in the Southern Dynasty is that they are afraid of water, and if the rain is heavier, their firearms will not be usable, although this has not been confirmed, but I also agree with Yin Shenzun's view." There are no cavalry troops in Dengzhou City, otherwise, we can take the initiative and give it a try. ”

Atahai said: "General Zhang, from Dengzhou to Nanyang, according to the speed of the war horse under my crotch, it will only take more than two hours, why don't I go to the Nanyang camp and ask the marshal to send troops." ”

"Okay." Zhang Hongfan thought for a while and said, "General Atahai, then you set off immediately, I estimate that this rain will be the heaviest tomorrow morning." ”

Atahai knew that Zhang Hongfan was erudite and talented, and he also knew a little about astrology, so he said: "Although rainy days are also quite unfavorable for our army, the Southern Dynasties cannot use firearms, so the starting point of both sides is the same. ”

"Yes, once the firearms of the Southern Dynasty cannot be used, our army will have a chance, after all, the cavalry of our Dynasty is invincible." At the thought of the cavalry match, Zhang Hongfan seemed to have regained some confidence.

The autumn rain brings a hint of coolness, but also brings a refreshing feeling.

After careful analysis and discussion, Gongsun Xiaochen and several officials of Qin Tianjian said to me: "Your Majesty, this rain will stop about tomorrow evening, and it may rain heavily during this period, and according to the inference of the last general and others, the heaviest rain should occur between midnight today and the end of tomorrow (9 o'clock in the morning). ”

"Well, Jiang Aiqing, pass on my will, and order all gunpowder depots to do a good job of rain prevention in strict accordance with the regulations on rainy days."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tian Xiuyan said: "Your Majesty, if Shi Yuqi of Luzhou is related to the gun theft case, then the Mongols should know that our army's firearms are unusable in rainy days, and they may take the opportunity to attack." ”

"It's possible." I nodded and said, "Dengzhou City is full of infantry troops, and the number of them is less than our army, so I guess they won't be dispatched." Tian Xiuyan sent additional scouts to expand the patrol range in the east of Dengzhou City in case Nanyang Ashu suddenly attacked. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Finish, Crete."

"The end will be."

"The artillery battalion immediately set up improvised houses, the first and second teams, with the muzzles facing northeast, the target, fifty to eighty meters outside the main camp. In heavy rain, the musket is completely unusable, but as long as the artillery is fixed in position and there is a cover, it can still be fired, although the accuracy is greatly reduced, and there is no problem in scaring and scaring the Yuan army. ”

"Yes, the last general."

"Your Majesty, it seems that tomorrow's bombardment plan will be postponed by a day." Yuan Jian sighed.

"Sir, it's okay to let the Yuan army in Dengzhou have one more day of fear." Fang Ling said with a smile.

"Hehe, that's good." Yuan Jianwan said.

About three hours later, Atahai arrived at the camp of the Nanyang Yuan army. Almost at the same time, Shi Yuqi, who was galloping all the way, also arrived in Nanyang.

After listening to the reports of Atahai and Shi Yuqi, Ashu said: "The Southern Dynasty army in the south of Dengzhou has about 90,000 people, and if firearms cannot be used in rainy days, the Imperial Forest Army can be excluded, and there are nearly 60,000 horses in four compartments of the Xiangyang Military Region and one and a half compartments in the Lin'an Military Region, among them, the number of cavalry in the Southern Dynasty is only about 10,000 people, while the middle route army of our army in Nanyang has more than 60,000 cavalry, but it can be a battle." Boyan, Shi Jianjun, what do you mean? ”

"Dashuai, Boyan thinks that he can fight. Sooner or later, our army will not be able to defend itself by defense alone, and since General Shi Bi has returned to our dynasty, then we should seize the weakness of the firearms of the southern dynasty and strike a severe blow. Boyan suggested that the whole army should be dispatched, so that Zhang Hongfan would also send troops at the same time, and strike with all his might, even if he encountered any unfavorable situation, our army could easily leave, and the Southern Korean army was not enough cavalry and would not pursue. ”

Shi Tianze, the superintendent of the army, also said: "Marshal, General Boyan is reasonable, even if there is an outcome that is unfavorable to our army, our army can advance and retreat freely." ”

Ah Shu said: "Okay, act immediately." ”