The climate of the northwest is spring cold, summer drought, autumn rain is more, it is about to reach the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, the sky is like being poked a hole, the rain does not stop, Lingzhou is the continent on the river, the main stream and tributaries of the Yellow River before the Northern Wei Dynasty form a considerable river bay that is nearly 200 miles long from north to south, and 60 miles wide from east to west, and the center is this continent.

This is unique in the entire Yellow River Basin, can be called the first, the ancients exclaimed "Heqi" and "Lingzhou", that its place must have aura, so it is called Lingzhou. But this magical land, to the Northern Wei Dynasty because of the tributary cut off, this huge and friendless Zhouzhu has been trained with the Erdos Plateau in Hedong, the topographic geographical sense of the 'Lingzhou' no longer exists, leaving this new Lingzhou, although the land is fertile, but because of its previous life is the river sedimentation, the land is rich in water, plus the rain soaked, it has become a quagmire, people and horses are difficult to walk.

Seeing that the heavens are not beautiful, Zhao Ta has no ability to call for wind and rain, now the camp is soaked by rain, people are living in the mud pond, and the firearms they use are most afraid of moisture, the battle is unable to fight, he can only temporarily give up the camp, the whole army retreats ten miles back and chooses a solid place on the high ground to go down again.

It is gratifying that Zhao Yong led the men and horses of his headquarters to quickly break through Yaode City with the support of the army's direct artillery battalion, and the Western Xia defenders of Pule City, who were attacked by the enemy, collapsed without a fight, and the army of the Shaanxi Army Jingyuan Road was able to pass. Then the two armies jointly captured Mingsha City, and the Shaanxi Army was able to pass through the Shaanxi Army for more than ten days, and it is a pity that Mingsha City's 'Imperial Warehouse' stored grain, and most of them were transferred by Western Xia. However, he swept the bottom of the storehouse and got 100,000 stones. At the beginning of August, the 10th and 2nd armies finally met. Zhao Ta reassigned the defense area, and although he retreated ten miles, the encirclement was not thin at all.

The combination of the two armies was a happy event, but Zhao Ta became depressed, and the ability of the two armies on the Shaanxi Road to attack the fortified positions made him unavoidable, Pule City and Mingsha City were not strong cities, but they were blocked for more than ten days and could not pass, expecting them to break through Lingzhou City Zhao Ta had no bottom in his heart.

A series of siege battles at the beginning of the Song Dynasty were built on the strong military foundation of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and during the reign of Zhou Shizong, Zhou Shizong was a strong soldier and sent troops to defeat the Later Shu, Southern Tang, and Liao. After Song Taizu established the Song Dynasty. It inherited a unit with experience in siege operations for both generals and soldiers, which was undoubtedly of great help to the success of siege operations. The military strength of the later period was different, the Song Dynasty army did not conduct large-scale siege warfare for a hundred years, and the wars that the Song army had been exposed to before this were mainly based on defending cities. Or the construction of fortresses, the army lacked the necessary training for siege, and was mostly good at defense.

After the Song army captured Taiyuan in the Northern Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, for a long time, if it were not for the mistakes of the defender's strategy, there were few successful cases of Song, Liao, and Xia attacking the city with direct siege tactics. In the face of direct siege, the inadequacy of the Song army's generals should also be one of the reasons. Even in the war to capture Xihe during the reign of Song Shenzong, most of them were built to consolidate the results. It is obviously difficult to win by rashly sending troops to besiege the opponent's city and hoping to attack and fight. With the war, the city defenses on both sides became stronger and stronger. How to rationally use military equipment in direct siege warfare has gradually become a problem that generals must solve, and the improvement and good use of siege equipment have become an urgent problem to be solved.

Zhao Ta remembered the Western scholar Archer in his previous life? Jones said about a direct siege, he believed that if they had a sufficient advantage in time, manpower, and material, and took appropriate measures, the besiegers must have high morale and sacrifice their lives to attack the enemy's city; secondly, it is necessary to have enough siege equipment to ensure that there are things available during the siege; The last siege army also needs to have enough war supplies to ensure that the army has enough logistical supplies during the siege. …,

Now the Song army that has arrived under the city of Lingzhou has reached 100,000 people, and there are 50,000 soldiers and civilians, and there is no shortage of people. And after regaining lost ground, although there were slight setbacks, morale was also high. The seized grain plus the recently requisitioned grain and grass is enough to eat for two months, and there is still potential to be tapped, if Lingzhou City is captured. The food stored in the city is enough for them to feed for two years, and there is no problem with food. Although there were not many siege equipment. However, Zhao Ta cut down a lot of trees in Qingling, and it was useless at the Iron Gate Pass, so he asked the soldiers and civilians to be dragged here, and now he concentrated the craftsmen of the generals of the loyal army and the craftsmen in the engineer battalion to make siege equipment.

Zhao Ta is worried about the use of siege tactics and equipment by the two armies, the loyal and brave army has indeed undergone training in this area, and has successfully captured Fengzhou City and Xiazhou City, but in the face of Lingzhou City, the city wall is high, the fortified city is also the first time, and there are many buildings in the city, the roads are longitudinal and horizontal, and they have to face fierce street battles after entering the city, these are all unfamiliar to them, and they can't help but make him anxious, now what Zhao Ta can do is to choose an abandoned lonely city nearby, and let the army take turns to conduct pre-war training, At the same time, the two armies also let each other run in and familiarize themselves with each other's tactics, so as not to accidentally injure their own people in the fight, but now the autumn rain is continuous, and the training is naturally hard...

"Report to the prince, my subordinates found two teams of violators of military discipline, because they are Shaanxi generals, please ask the prince to decide!" Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and he is going to go around the camps to show his concern, but just after he is dressed neatly, Zhao Yi came in and reported.

"Oh, who are they, what have they done?" Zhao Ta turned around and asked.

"Lord Wang, a team is from the Yan army, they went to the nearby fortress to extort property, robbed cattle and sheep, and were seized by the soldiers patrolling the military justice team; The other team was from the Jingyuan army, they left the camp without authorization, and when they returned to the camp, they were stopped by the sergeant guarding the camp, but they did not listen to the dissuasion, forcibly broke into the camp, and were taken and sent to the military justice team! Zhao Yiyu reported.

"It's not a big deal, you can handle it yourself, just tell me afterwards!" Zhao Ta said casually after listening.

"Lord Wang, it's not a big deal, but it involves the commanders of the two armies, and his subordinates are still a little embarrassed, and they don't dare to make decisions without permission!" Zhao Yi said, but he was very dissatisfied in his heart, the sins of these two teams were enough to be beheaded, but the prince said that it was a trivial matter.

"Oh, it's interesting, could it be that their main general has violated discipline!" Zhao Ta said with some confusion.

"Lord Wang, no, it is the son of the two main generals who committed an accident, one is Yao Zhongping, the son of Yao Gu, the envoy of Shaanxi Jingyuan, and the other is Liu Guangshi, the second son of Liu Yanqing, the envoy of the Yanyan Road, the subordinates think that they belong to the Shaanxi Army, we punished them without authorization, and now that the war is imminent, will it affect the two armies..."Zhao Yi hurriedly said.

"Well, you think about it well, but with impunity, won't it mess up the morale of the army!" Zhao Ta said, but he pondered in his heart, Tong Guan's capital is not small, this is the cultivation of the reserve army, and these two 'second generation officials' are also famous, how to deal with this matter is really tricky, no wonder Zhao Yi does not dare to deal with himself.

Yao Pingzhong, his father Yao Gu, is now the pacification envoy of Jingyuan Road; Grandfather Yao Ji, uncle Yao Xiong, generation of famous generals in the West, the Yao family has been as famous as the breeder for decades, and the well-known "Yang family general" is far from being as famous as imagined, and although this kid is young, he is already the champion of the three armies. He was only eighteen years old in the battle of Zangdi River, and he killed many enemies, and no one could stop him, but he didn't know how to please Tong Guan and didn't get any reward, but he was respected by the heroes of Guanzhong, and he was nicknamed 'Little Taiwei'.

Zhao Ta's understanding of this person is not at this time, but in the history books, he made the greatest contribution in the battle of Zhengfangla, so he met Tong Guan and said: "I don't want to be rewarded, I just want to see the emperor." Tong Guan hated him even more. All other generals were summoned by the emperor, but Yao Pingzhong was not summoned. Later, in the second battle of Tokyo in the Jingkang period, he happened to be in Beijing, and Zhao Huan summoned the Funing Palace, gave him a generous gold silk, and promised a special reward, so Pingzhong invited the dead soldiers to cut the camp and capture the marshal to offer. It's a pity that he broke two villages in a row, but he was tricked, he lost his troops, and he ran alone without a trace, and only after a few decades, he showed up, but he became a hermit. …,

Another Liu Guangshi is not obvious at this time, his father Liu Yanqing is more famous than him, he has repeatedly made military exploits in the war with the Western Xia, captured the marshal of the Western Xia, surrendered to the prince of the Western Xia, and accumulated merit to the Baoxin Army. Later, he followed Tong Guan's father-in-law Nan Fangla and the Northern Expedition to the Khitan, and supervised the army of 100,000 with the post of Xuanfu Capital, which was really a general in the late Northern Song Dynasty. In the Jingkang disaster, Liu Yanqing and his eldest son Liu Guangguo were both killed in battle, sacrificing their lives for the country, and they can be regarded as martyrs. Liu Guangshi was not very famous at this time, but the official was not small, he served as the third class of the official with the shadow supplement, and was promoted to lead the defense envoy, and was the commander of the soldiers and horses on the Yanyan Road, and became famous after the Jingkang Change, becoming one of the four generals of Zhongxing on the same level as Yue Fei.

Now these two people have made mistakes, which makes Zhao Ta very embarrassed, it's a pity to kill them according to the law, but if you don't kill them, you have to find some reason and teach them a lesson.

"This matter has nothing to do with General Liu, it's all my idea, if you want to kill me, don't wronged others..."

"Who's making noise outside?" Zhao Ta made up his mind, and when he wanted to meet these two, something went wrong, and he turned his face to ask Zhao Yi.

"Lord Wang, it must be that Han Shizhong who is shouting outside, he is just a team, but his temper is not small, and his kung fu is good, he injured several brothers to restrain him, but this person is very famous in the Shaanxi army!" Zhao Yi said.

"Hehe, tell me about it!" Zhao Ta smiled, this person himself is no stranger, Huang Tiandang fought a battle, he and his daughter-in-law were famous, but they didn't know much about his previous affairs.

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Zhao Yi seemed to have investigated several people, and when he saw that the prince asked, he said. This Han Shizhong was an outlier when he was young, born in a poor peasant family, when he was young, he was courageous, he could ride an untamed foal, he was good at drinking, unrestrained, he was a gangster, he was a bandit, and when he was eighteen years old, he suddenly realized that he was recruited into the army to serve the country... (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )