Chapter 454 Fan Cheng

After the grand court meeting on April 3, I held a military meeting in the apse of the Lin'an Palace.

Lu Xiufu first said: "Your Majesty, yesterday I received a battle report from Lord Lu Wende, the envoy of the Xiangyang Military Region, saying that the Mongolian army had increased by 30,000 troops and had arrived outside Xiangyang City in late March. ”

"Well, the main force of Kublai Khan's middle army has basically arrived in Xiangyang, and Ah Shu and Boyan have also come, it seems that it is almost there. Xie Aiqing. ”

Xie Daolin got up and said, "The minister is here." ”

"The six brigades and eighteen regiments of the Royal Forest Army have all been expanded, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, it has been completed, and my Imperial Forest Army currently has a total of 16,250 soldiers."

"Okay, order the 4th and 5th Brigades of the 2nd Division to leave for Yingzhou immediately."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Lu Aiqing, have Yan Tianlei and Crete arrived?"

"Back to Your Majesty, I'm here, I'm waiting outside."

"Okay, Xiao Qi, after passing Yan Tianlei and Crete, enter the hall."

Wanyan Tianlei and Crete, who had been waiting outside the door for a long time, followed Xiao Qi into the apse: "Weichen Wanyan Tianlei and Weichen Crete see the emperor." ”

"Wanyan Aiqing, Cretan Aiqing, please take a seat."

"Your Majesty."

I looked at the door and said: "Wanyan Aiqing, I plan to let you go to the artillery battalion as a commander, I don't know what Aiqing wants?" ”

"Huh?" Wanyan Tianlei was taken aback and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is willing, but the minister is ......."

I interrupted with a smile: "Wanyan Aiqing, do you want to say that you are a golden person, how can you take on such a heavy responsibility?" ”

"Your Majesty."

"Wanyan Aiqing, although you and Crete are not Han Chinese, you have now joined the nationality of our dynasty, that is to say, you are all from my Great Song Dynasty, and you call yourself ministers, which means that you are all from my Great Song Dynasty, this is an indisputable fact. Unless, you are duplicitous? ”

Wan Yan Tianlei panicked: "Your Majesty, where will Weichen have a heart." ”

"Since I am a subject of the Great Song Dynasty, how can I distinguish between Han, Jin, or Venetian?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Crete also followed: "The emperor is right, we are all people of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"After the face of the thunder, Crete listens to the seal."

"The minister is here."

"Wanyan Tianlei, I will appoint you as the commander of our army's artillery battalion, and I will receive the fourth-rank rank, and I will appoint you as the deputy commander of the artillery battalion, and I will receive the fifth-rank rank, and I will reward you for your military merits in the future."

"Your Majesty."

"The artillery battalion is tentatively composed of 3,000 men, with ten brigades, of which 2,000 are gunners and 1,000 are auxiliaries, which are subordinate to the Royal Forest Army. These 3,000 soldiers have completed their training and are currently in the camp of the Imperial Guards. Two Aiqing, the artillery battalion will be a new type of unit for our dynasty to deter Mongolia, a force that has mastered the artifact, and artillery is also the main weapon for attacking cities and seizing land in the future. You go back to hand over to Yun Bofei and Yun Aiqing first, and then report to the Military Affairs Institute the day after tomorrow. ”

"Yes, the emperor, the ministers obey the order."

As for the candidate for the commander of the artillery battalion, after thinking about it, I felt that Wanyan Tianlei was the most suitable, first, he was an artillery expert himself, and second, he had also been on the battlefield, and he had a deep hatred for the Mongols. As for Crete, although he has not been in contact with firearms for a long time, he has an excellent talent, and most of the mechanical part improvement plans for artillery and muskets are from Crete and Zhao Yuncong, and the most important thing is that Crete has a lot of experience in the operation skills when firing artillery.

The original generals of the imperial court had never touched artillery, although cold weapons and hot weapons were both called weapons, but the difference was huge, in contrast, I still appointed two experts to serve as the commanders of the artillery battalion, and gave the two commanders a higher rank, to show that I attach importance to the artillery unit.

"Fan Aiqing."

"The minister is here."

"Fan Aiqing, your first task is to ensure the supply of military supplies, and the smoothness of logistics is also one of the key factors that determine the victory or defeat of the war. As the saying goes, before the military horses move, the grain and grass go first, and their exploits are generally the same as those of the soldiers fighting on the front line. Ladies and gentlemen, you all know the Duanping Jinluo Campaign launched by our dynasty in the Duanping period, Shi Yanzhi Aiqing, you have personally experienced it, and naturally know that there are many factors for the failure of that battle, but it is undeniable that one of them is this logistical problem. Although the economic strength of our dynasty completely surpassed that of that year, this time the battle between Song and Mongolia will be longer, the scope will be wider, and the difficulty will be greater, so it will also be an extremely severe test for our dynasty's military logistics supply. ”

Jia Rudao agreed: "Your Majesty Shengming. ”

Fan Wenhuan stood up and responded: "Yes, Your Majesty, the minister understands." ”

"Well, Fan Aiqing, in addition to ensuring the smooth flow of materials, the military department must also strictly control logistics stations at all levels, and anyone who corrupts and perverts the law during the war will be punished by one degree, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption will intervene in a thorough investigation, and will not be spared."

"Yes, Your Majesty, the ministers obey."

I bowed my head slightly, and said to Wen Tianxiang, who was attending the military affairs meeting: "Wen Aiqing, the Government Council has issued a decree at the same time, and local officials at all levels need to unconditionally support military logistics stations in various places, and there must be no mistake. ”

Wen Tianxiang replied loudly: "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

Lu Xiufu continued: "Your Majesty, all the officers and men of the 11th and 12th chambers of General Xia Gui's department have arrived in Suizhou, please ask Your Majesty to instruct you on the next battle plan. ”

"Inform Xia Aiqing and garrison on the spot. From Suizhou to Xiangyang was mostly a rugged mountain road, and they needed to find all the roads within a month to facilitate future attacks, and the rest would be decided after I arrived in Yingzhou. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Li Beiyang, Yin Yinglei, you two stay, I have something to discuss with you, and the other Aiqing will retreat first."

Jia Rudao and the others said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the ministers will retire." ”

"Two Aiqing, I plan to let the independent car leave next month, what do you think?"

Li Beiyang said: "Your Majesty, the sailor is ready and feasible at any time. ”

Yin Yinglei then said: "Your Majesty, after these months of training, although the morale of all the soldiers in the independent compartment is high, there are many soldiers who cannot meet the requirements, so the minister intends to reduce the number of people on this mission. ”

"Yin Aiqing, how many people are you going to bring?"

"Your Majesty, the independent wing is reorganized into three armies, plus the strength of one corps of the Marine Corps, the entire army totals 10,000 people."

"There are nearly 5,000 fewer people than the original plan, Yin Aiqing, this trip to the north is extremely risky, so I need soldiers with excellent physical and psychological qualities, and I have no opinion on this."

"Your Majesty, the minister has been studying His Majesty's sixteen-character formula and the essence of guerrilla warfare recently, the northern region is vast, as long as our army can smoothly enter the Taihang Mountains, the Mongols are helpless against our army."

"Okay, Yin Aiqing, I will give you the first batch of 50,000 projectiles made by the Gunpowder Supervisor."

Yin Yinglei was overjoyed and said: "This is very good, with these 50,000 grenades, the minister's confidence is even stronger." ”

"Yin Aiqing, after landing, you will have to fight alone, and you will have to rely on yourself, it's not easy."

"Your Majesty, rest assured."

"Okay, I will go to Yingzhou at the beginning of next month, you calculate the login time, and I will inform Li Tingzhi of Yangzhou to send troops to make a feint attack to contain the Mongolian East Route Army."

"I understand."

"Li Aiqing, according to the latest information received, the Mongols sent a large number of shipbuilders to Wanshan Fort outside Xiangyang City, preparing to build warships on the spot. I decided to transfer another batch of warships from the East China Sea Fleet to Hanshui. At the same time, after your army marched north this time and sent Yin Aiqing's independent compartment to land, see if there was a chance to defeat the Mongol sailors stationed on the Shandong Peninsula. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the minister also has this plan."

"Really? It seems that we monarchs and ministers have thought of a piece. The Mongols are proficient in water warfare, and since he is in Hanshui, our army will first defeat his coastal naval division. ”

Beginning in April, the Mongol commander Ali Hague led an army of 30,000 men to storm the outskirts of Fancheng, commonly known as the Outer City. Two hundred stone throwers took turns throwing stones and smashed the outer walls of Fancheng into scars. After five days of continuous bombardment, at midnight (9 a.m.) on April 6, the Mongols began their first official siege campaign.

After the stone thrower roared for nearly a quarter of an hour, Ali Hague came to the city alone, pointed a spear in his hand, and shouted at the city: "Nanban defending the city, who dares to come out and fight your grandfather alone?" ”

"Look at your outfit, it's clear that you're a monster." Fan Tianshun, the commander of the nineteen chambers on the city wall, laughed and said, "This general will not take advantage of the courage of the horseman, monster, if you have the ability, you will come to the city." ”

Ali Hague is a native of the Western Regions, his armor and clothing are very different from ordinary Mongolian generals, and his appearance is strange, so he hates others to call him a monster the most.

"Cowardly Nanban." Ali Hague cursed as he waved his spear and ordered, "Ride the archer, attack." ”

Three thousand Mongolian cavalry archers first came to a distance of about 50 meters from the city wall, stretched out their bows and arrows, only to see rows of feather arrows shooting quickly towards the head of the city, and the Xiangyang army defending the city also did not show weakness, and the Mongolian cavalry fired. After more than a dozen rounds of shooting, the advantage of the Mongolian cavalry archers was highlighted, and they were superior to the Xiangyang army in terms of accuracy and strength, and gradually suppressed the archers defending the city. However, because the Xiangyang army had a city to rely on, the number of casualties was far lower than that of the other party.

The Mongol cavalry archers moved forward while firing, and only stopped at a distance of thirty meters.

Ali Hague gave another order, and five thousand infantry troops immediately rushed out from behind the cavalry archers and rushed straight to the city walls under the cover of the cavalry archers' bows and arrows. After paying the price of hundreds of casualties, a large rushing cart rushed to the city gate under the protection of shield bearers, and at the same time, dozens of ladders were erected on the outer walls of Fancheng.

As the Mongol infantry began to attack the city, the cavalry archers in the distance, fearing that their bows and arrows would hit their own men, stopped shooting.