Early in the morning, the morning fog had just dissipated, Zhao Yong climbed the north gate tower of Xijing City and found that overnight, a five-foot thick earth wall was built in front of the Jin army camp, the length was roughly the same as the front of Xijing City, and the two sections ended at the bank of the Datong River, and there were constantly people who continued to increase the height and thickening of the earthen wall under the drive of the Jurchen soldiers. The sound of the golden soldiers' trumpets and axes and chisels could be heard clearly, and the outside of the city became a large construction site overnight.

"Marshal, the wall of the Jin Army's camp is also being reinforced!" Jiang Wei, the lion general who accompanied Zhao Yong, pointed to the distance and said.

"Hmm!" Zhao Yong looked into the distance with a telescope, there were a large number of giant trees piled up in front of the wall of the Jin army's camp, and more newly harvested trees were transported in the distance, the large wood was used to strengthen the wall, and the finer ones were transported to the wall and the earthen ram to erect a short wall, and the back was solidified with soil, leaving only a narrow road that could accommodate two horses in parallel.

"Dashuai, what do the Jurchens want to do?" Jiang Wei asked confusedly.

"This doesn't need to be asked, the Jin army wants to surround Xijing City and prevent us from breaking through!" The leopard general commanded Zhang Pu in the palm of his hand and said with a hot breath.

"I'm not blind, of course I know that they want to besiege the city!" Jiang Wei glanced at Zhang Pu and said, "I mean that the Jurchens should know that we have captured Bochuan and Baozhou, blocking their retreat and the passage to reinforce the Jin army, so it stands to reason that they should withdraw their troops as soon as possible, at least open the way back to China, so as not to fall into the encirclement, but they obviously don't want to leave!" ”

"Also, aren't they afraid that we will cut off the retreat, but will trap us in Xijing City together?" Zhang Pu also felt that something was wrong. Said suspiciously.

"Order the artillery to fire two cannons and bombard the earthen ramparts!" Zhao Yong ignored the two subordinates. Putting down the binoculars, he said.

"Fire!"

'Boom, boom', the artillery erected at the head of the city fired two shots at the Jin army's fortifications. When the shot missed, the shell fell over the earth ramparts and into the crowd of laborers who were piling up the earth, jumping on the frozen ground and breaking the bones and tendons of several people, and the rest of the people were so frightened that they scurried around, causing a wave of confusion; Another cannonball hit the earth rampart, but the effect was unexpected, only a few fist-sized clods of earth fell, and did not collapse as expected.

"Huh! How so? Zhang Pu shouted in surprise, he couldn't believe that this hastily built earthen fortress was so strong.

"Cao Yi. Are your soldiers lazy and have reduced their charges? Jiang Wei pointed to the rapid-fire cannon on the head of the city and asked Cao Yi, the commander of the 1st Artillery Brigade.

"No, the distance between the head of the city and the earthen rampart is four hundred steps, which is the maximum range of the rapid-fire cannon, and the cannon is still erected on the top of the city to fire condescendingly, otherwise it will not be able to hit the earthen rampart, and it is by no means the reason for the lack of charge!" Cao Yi put down the binoculars and shook his head, denying that it was because of his artillery.

"Then it won't be that a five-pound iron bullet can't even hit a hole, right?" Jiang Wei still suspected that Cao Yi was hiding his secrets, so he pulled him and asked.

"There's nothing new about it. When Concubine De defended Yuanzhou, she used the method of freezing the city to resist the attack of the Jurchens, and tens of thousands of Jin troops failed to break the city for ten days in a row. The results of the combination of the two can be seen! The reinforcement army Du Yu Marquis Zhuge Hong smiled and said.

"Yes, in order to facilitate the carrying, we are equipped with light rapid-fire guns. Even close fire would require several rounds of artillery bombardment to bring it down, if it were bombarded by the heavy naval guns of the navy. A salvo can make a contribution, but it's a pity ......," Cao Yi said with a wry smile.

"Hmm. Zhuge has a point, what else do you see? Zhao Yong asked the generals in the city with a smile.

"The meaning of the Jurchens is obvious, they built this turtle shell to stop our attack and continue to besiege the city." Zhang Pu said.

"I don't think so, the Jin army south of the Datong River has been expelled, and there is no problem with the communication between Xijing and the rear, wouldn't it be in vain if the Jurchens built a fortress and besieged the city!" Jiang Wei disagreed with Zhang Pu's statement.

"The emperor often said that 'abnormality is a demon', and the Jurchens, knowing that the back road was cut off, mobilized so many people to waste time building fortifications, instead of withdrawing the army as soon as possible, what conspiracy is likely to be hidden in it, what do you think?" Zhuge Hong said.

"What the Jin army did was indeed abnormal, and it was difficult for me to determine their purpose for a while, but you found that no Jurchen people have become wiser!" Zhao Yong pointed to the Jin army under the city, who was busy transporting soil and mud like ants.

"Why did the marshal say this?!" A few people looked down at the city for a while, but they didn't see anything, and asked curiously.

"The Jurchens have rarely won against us for more than ten years, except for the emperor who is superior to them in strategy and tactics, what we rely on is sharp firearms, in the field battle, our cavalry's 'stone wall' charge often makes the Jin army crushed, which can be said to be the magic weapon of our army's victory!" Zhao Yong saw that everyone nodded in agreement, and then said, "And the Jurchens can destroy the Khitan and attack the Central Plains because they are the best at field warfare and rely on their own cavalry to defeat their opponents. But now you see that the Jin army has built high earth ramparts and arranged low walls in them, which is obviously a posture of all-out defense, which seems to have given up the field battle we are best at for fear of us, but it also limits our advantage! ”

"Well, the incisive analysis of the big handsome!" Zhang Pushen said with deep understanding, "The Jin army built an earthen fortress, which can block our artillery killing, and it can hide soldiers behind it, block our attack with archers and give a lot of casualties, and force us to dismount and fight, attack on foot to break obstacles, and give full play to the melee power of its swords and guns and the advantages of individual combat skills longer than ours!" ”

"Yes, even if we break through the earthen barriers, the Jin army can still rely on the low walls and earth barriers scattered all over it to hide and block the approaching soldiers of our army, and because the road is narrow and the obstacles are mixed, we can't use the 'stone wall' impact that we are good at, so that the impact of our cavalry is greatly reduced, although the use of their cavalry is also restricted, but on the whole, it seems that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, at least we can guarantee that we will not be defeated by one blow!" Jiang Wei also discovered the mystery.

"The Jin army's earthen fortress is also very particular about building, as you have just seen, the distance between the earthen fortress and the head of Xijing City is about 400 steps, which is the range limit of our artillery, and the power is greatly weakened, and it is difficult to destroy the earthen fortress, and it is even more difficult to cause greater casualties to the soldiers inside; And if we want to destroy the earthen ramparts with artillery, we must move forward to shoot within 200 paces, this distance is within the range of the Jin army's trebuchets, they can take advantage of our forward opportunity to carry out interceptive fire, but we are blocked by the strong earthen ramparts and cannot directly aim and shoot at them to effectively suppress them. This will greatly limit the use of artillery and weaken its role. Cao Yi then analyzed the pros and cons from the perspective of artillery.

"Even if our army succeeds in breaking through the earth ramparts and passing through the obstacles, there is a more heavily fortified battalion in front of us, and we can still have the spare strength to continue the offensive after paying huge casualties? And once we are unable to attack, the Jin Army Brigade in the large camp can take advantage of the situation to attack, and our army will be in crisis! Zhuge Hong added.

"Everyone's analysis makes sense, the Jin army is also constantly looking for our weaknesses in failure, they work hard to build a fortress seems to be a stupid way, but they are all right in our life, restrain our advantages, weaken our combat effectiveness, and it will not work in the future!" Zhao Yong sighed and said, the emperor said in the early days of the army that he would learn war in war, it seems that it is not only applicable to his own side, but also to the enemy, they are not stupid, they are also improving.

"The marshal is right, the spear is strong, the shield is strong, the shield is strong, only continuous improvement can always be invincible!" Zhuge Hong agreed with Zhao Yong's opinion very much, and the others also nodded yes......

"Could it be that the Jin army really doesn't plan to retreat, and is ready to confront us here, then they will definitely be the ones who are most trapped and killed!" Zhang Pu said that he still did not understand the behavior of the Jin army, and now if both sides are on the defensive, then it will become a confrontation between the two sides, as long as the access of the Jin army is blocked, they will definitely lose, is this just a delaying tactic of the Jin army.

"Judging from the current situation, there are two possibilities: one is that the Jin army is stubbornly waiting for reinforcements here, consuming our strength, and wants to wait for domestic reinforcements to reopen the road to Xijing, replenish troops and supplies, defeat us and continue to go south; The second is that the Jin army takes defense as the attack, and uses a large battalion to contain the forces of Xijing, block our pursuit, cover the retreat of the brigade, and sacrifice a small part in exchange for the safe evacuation of the brigade! Zhuge Hong analyzed.

"No matter what, we can't let the Jin army build the earthen fortress, otherwise it will be infinitely harmful to us in the future, and we should stop them now!" Jiang Wei said a little anxiously.

"Well, Lao Jiang is right, this task will be handed over to the artillerymen, and you will find a way to make trouble for them. In addition, the two of you have to send scouts to find out the purpose of the Jin Army, whether you want to leave or stay! Zhao Yong thought for a while and ordered, and then went down to the city and returned home, thinking that he would have a headache when he had to face Jin Fushi's difficult old man......

Zhao Yong received the reply from the Privy Council, and he had a bottom in his heart, because it would take time for Ah Shu to mobilize manpower to prepare, so he was in a hurry to attack. Regarding Jin Fushi's request for an early attack to solve the danger of Xijing, and the demand for expelling the Jurchens from the country, he had been perfunctory in the name that the blocking line between Bochuan and Baozhou was not perfect, and he asked in a hurry, so he asked the Goryeo army to take over the defense of Baozhou as soon as possible, so that the Song army could concentrate its forces.

But now the situation has changed again, and what Wushu is doing seems to be covered with a layer of fog, making people wonder what he wants to do? What was even more worried was that Jin Fushi couldn't hold his breath and couldn't withstand the pressure of the anxious Goryeo lord and rashly launched an attack, destroying the emperor's plan! (To be continued......)