According to the military registration records of the Later Zhou Dynasty and the situation found by the Yangzhou branch of the "Dark Feather", the maximum number of soldiers and horses that can be assembled in the Huainan area led by Li Chongjin is about 50,000, of which the elite who have been trained and have a certain amount of actual combat experience is also about 30,000. It stands to reason that the soldiers and horses do not need to cross the team to send a large army to exterminate it, and a regiment of "Flying Dragon Army" plus 10,000 "Security Army" is enough to deal with it. However, considering that this battle was not only to test the combat effectiveness of the newly reorganized troops, but also to completely subdue the forbidden troops of the former Hou Zhou who were still dissatisfied with the Beiping Army and violated the yang and yin, the crossing team committee decided to "kill chickens with a knife", with Wang Kunjun personally in command, Qian Yuanshan and Wang Feng as deputy generals, and led the "Feilong Army" 1st Composite Infantry Division 1st Regiment, Divisional Artillery Regiment, 3rd Synthetic Infantry Division 1st Regiment, 1st Independent Cavalry Regiment, 1st Independent Artillery Regiment, 1st Marine Corps Regiment, and 8 regiments of the newly formed "Security Army". A total of about 35,000 men and horses went to Huainan to quell Li Chongjin's rebellion. In addition, in order to prevent the Southern Tang Dynasty from sending troops to help Li Chongjin, or Li Chongjin from abandoning the south of the city and escaping across the river, when the committee decided to take action against Li Chongjin at the end of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, it had already ordered Xin Feiyu to lead the main force of the "Flying Dragon Army" naval fleet to the south and stand by in the sea outside the mouth of the Yangtze River, ready to enter the Yangtze River at any time to intercept the reinforcements of the Southern Tang Dynasty or Li Chongjin's defeated army to cross the river.

Because it was the rainy season, the road was difficult to travel, which affected the speed of the advance of the soldiers and horses on land, so the counterinsurgency army marching by land and water set out from the 25th day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar in the ninth year of Xiande, and did not abandon the boat and land in Sizhou, 160 miles away from Yangzhou, until the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, and marched to Dayi Town, 50 miles northwest of Yangzhou City, on the 11th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

Considering that the soldiers were very tired after more than a month of marching, and the news from the Yangzhou branch of the "Dark Feather" showed that Li Chongjin was a little panicked when he heard that the imperial army was attacking, and while shrinking all the soldiers and horses into the city, he requisitioned the young men in the city to help defend the city, but there was no sign of destroying the city or fleeing for a while. Therefore, after the counterinsurgency army arrived in Dayi Town, Wang Kunjun did not rush to Yangzhou, but ordered the soldiers and horses to rest outside the town, and wait for the soldiers to recover their strength before going to a decisive battle with Li Chongjin.

On the second day after the counterinsurgency army was temporarily stationed in Dayi Town, An Yougui, the supervisor of Huainan Province, who had escaped from Yangzhou City under the cover of his cronies because of Li Chongjin's suspicion, defected to the camp of the counterinsurgency army, bringing Wang Kunjun the news that Li Chongjin was strengthening the city defense, levying young and strong, and secretly sent people to ask Li Jing in Jiangnan for help but was refused. So as not to prematurely expose the Beiping army at sea and affect the future conquest of Jiangnan.

After three days of rest, on the 14th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar of the ninth year of Xiande, the counterinsurgency army pulled out the camp and set up the village, and the troops came to the city of Yangzhou before the afternoon of the next day.

Although due to a series of previous impressive achievements, the Beiping Army, especially the "Flying Dragon Army" under its command, has long been famous, and it can even be called thunderous for the vast majority of generals - including the Yangzhou rebel general Li Chongjin. It can be said that this is the first time that Li Chongjin has dealt with the Beiping Army - although Li Chongjin followed the expedition during Zhou Shizong's Northern Expedition, he mainly fought independently on the front line of Zhuyi and Yi, and did not witness the battle of the "Flying Dragon Army" in Baoxingzhuang to gather and annihilate the main force of the Khitan Army. Therefore, although he is also afraid of the prestige of the Beiping Army, as a member of the Houzhou Dynasty who has experienced a hundred battles and made outstanding achievements, he can be regarded as a fierce general of the Later Zhou Dynasty who has seen a big scene, Li Chongjin still has a trace of dissatisfaction and luck in his heart, and he hopes that the Beiping Army under the city is just a waste of fame, and the Beiping Army that has been supplemented with a large number of former Great Zhou Forbidden Army has not yet been able to think in one place and work hard in one place, so that its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, so that he can have a glimmer of life this time.

It's just that nine times out of ten, things in this world are unsatisfactory. Li Chongjin hoped that the counterinsurgency army would be disheartened and low-spirited, but Wang Kunjun outside the city would never allow his subordinates to be disunited and restrain themselves. Therefore, he attached great importance to the upcoming first battle, on the one hand, he ordered the generals of all departments to strictly restrain the soldiers and horses, and strengthen management, so as to prevent those with ill intentions from secretly disturbing the morale of the army; On the other hand, after discussing with Qian Yuanshan and Wang Feng, they decided to show the might of the Beiping Army in front of the rebels and those soldiers of the former Later Zhou Forbidden Army, so that they were in awe and did not dare to have any thoughts and behaviors that they should not have—even if they might build half of Yangzhou City for this purpose.

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the ninth lunar calendar of Xiande, except for the troops who must stay in the camp, all the other horses and horses were arrayed outside the north gate of Yangzhou City. In the middle of the military formation, as the most important means of attack in the battle of Yangzhou, the two artillery regiments of the "Feilong Army" -- the artillery regiment of the First Synthetic Infantry Division and the First Independent Artillery Regiment -- and all the artillery of the artillery battalions of each regiment were all erected in accordance with the provisions of the drill code, and the black and shiny muzzle pointed directly at the north gate and city wall of Yangzhou City not far away.

In the morning, with Wang Kunjun's order, Wang Feng, who was standing on the high platform behind the artillery position, waved down the order flag in his hand.

"Boom, boom, boom", the two battalions of 36 130mm siege guns took the lead in firing, firing shells one after another at the north gate of Yangzhou City and the city wall on the left. The 130mm armor-piercing siege projectile weighing more than 10 kilograms first penetrated through the city gate or drilled into a certain depth of the city wall with a hard armor warhead, and then exploded under the action of the time-delay fuse, blasting the indestructible and heavy city gate and city wall in people's eyes out of huge potholes, and sand, stone, soil, sawdust and iron plates were splashed everywhere.

Immediately afterwards, 48 105mm howitzers of two battalions, 84 75mm field guns of another company of three battalions, as well as 42 120mm mortars and 36 100mm mortars also opened fire one after another. In an instant, the north gate of Yangzhou City and a large area around it were shrouded in billowing smoke, and many places were even more flickering with fire and flames in the air.

The first round of shelling lasted only five minutes, but the north gate of Yangzhou City and the area of nearly two or three hundred steps to the left had become a ruin, and it was said that the rebels who were stationed at the head of the city, and even the people living near the city wall were also suffering heavy casualties, and the cries, screams, curses, and cries for help were heard one after another.

Such a tragic scene was quite shocking even for the soldiers of the Beiping Army, who were accustomed to the roar of artillery and the smoke of gunpowder, not to mention the soldiers of the former Hou Zhou Forbidden Army who had seen for the first time the firearms of the Beiping Army, which were far more powerful than the firearms of the original "Divine Machine Army" and were like the artifacts of heavenly soldiers. These guys, who were not very convinced by the Beiping Army not long ago, were dissatisfied, and planned to make trouble in secret, but at this time, they were all silent, pale, and terrified in their hearts. The soldiers of the former Zhou Forbidden Army, who had poor psychological quality, were even frightened by the huge roar of the artillery and the tragic scene of Yangzhou City, and their legs trembled, and they even needed the support of their companions next to them to stand firm.

It's just that the Yangzhou rebels and people in the city didn't expect that their suffering didn't end here, and the soldiers of the Yuan Hou Zhou Forbidden Army outside the city didn't expect that the most shocking moment was actually still to come.

Two rounds of shelling of five minutes each ended, and the artillery positions fell silent for a while. Just when the soldiers thought that the artillery was ready to end here, and the infantry should advance and charge, Wang Kunjun, who was standing on the tall watchtower of the Chinese army, did not give the order for the infantry to attack, but raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of Yangzhou City.

After carefully observing for a while, Wang Kunjun put down the binoculars and nodded slightly to Qian Yuanshan, who was standing next to him. Although the latter was a little unbearable in his heart, he did not hesitate to signal the herald behind him to give the order.

The herald blew out the military order with a military trumpet, and Wang Feng, who was in charge of the front-line command of today's siege battle, did not hesitate to wave the command flag again after receiving the order here. And with the wave of the flag, a group of soldiers at the rear of the artillery position, who had not moved since the beginning of the shelling, immediately began to get busy. A moment later, twelve huge and strange weapons like steel giant cages appeared in front of the soldiers of the former Hou Zhou Forbidden Army.

Just when a group of soldiers of the former Hou Zhou Forbidden Army looked at these unheard of and unseen novel weapons with curiosity and incomprehension, the twelve 122mm 16-barrel rocket launchers of the two companies under the command of the committee were already adjusted in place under the operation of the gunners, and as the twelve launchers hiding in the launch box pressed the launch handles, in just half a minute, all 192 122mm rockets were poured into the south gate of Yangzhou City, completely turning this area into a human purgatory.

The unique whistling sound of the rocket launcher made the original Zhou forbidden army tremble, and the obvious wake of the rocket flying made them witness the real scene of the bullet raining down. If it weren't for the fear of the Beiping Army and the fact that they didn't dare to act rashly, they were afraid that there would have been soldiers of the Yuan Hou Zhou Forbidden Army who ignored the constraints of military discipline, shouted and even fled in all directions, so that they could take this opportunity to relieve the panic and shock in their hearts.

The reaction of the soldiers of the forbidden army of the original Hou Zhou was seen by Wang Kunjun, who had been holding a telescope to observe them carefully, and nodded slightly. He believed that after this battle, the soldiers of the Yuan Hou Zhou Forbidden Army, who were originally dissatisfied with themselves and disobeyed their own yang and yin, had been subjugated by the strong strength of the Beiping Army. From now on, these people will be loyal to themselves and obey themselves like the soldiers of the Beiping Army, fully integrate into the Beiping Army system, become a part of the Beiping Army, and fight for their own achievements and conquest of the world. Although he had to pay the heavy price of about one-third of the destruction of Yangzhou City, in Wang Kunjun's view, such a sacrifice was worth it.

At the end of the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar of the ninth year of Xiande, twenty minutes after the end of the shelling, Li Chongjin, who knew that he had no chance of winning, set fire to the fire with his family**. After hundreds of Li Chongjin's cronies and henchmen were captured, they were all beheaded by Wang Kunjun's order to prevent future troubles. Li Chongjin's brother Li Chongxing, the assassin of Shenzhou, committed suicide after the imperial court issued an order to crusade against Li Chongjin, and Li Chongjin's brother Li Chongzan, the assassin of Jiezhou, and Li Chongjin's son Shangshi, although Li Yanfu did not directly participate in Li Chongjin's rebellion, but as his relatives, he could not escape death and was killed in the city.

On the 27th day of August of the lunar calendar of the ninth year of Xiande, Wang Kunjun led the rebel army to return to Kaifeng.