Last year, the artillery received the battle to participate in the Northern Expedition, as the iron fist of the heavy firepower of the Great Song Dynasty Forbidden Army, the artillery department carried out intense preparations under the emperor's edict. In addition to expanding the artillery units directly under the armies and brigades and replacing them with new artillery, the three artillery brigades directly under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council have been increased to five, and the artillery command has been established on the basis of the Artillery Division. After the start of the war, the 1st and 2nd Brigades were assigned to the Zhao Li Corps, and the 3rd and 4th Brigades were assigned to the Mawei Corps.

After the Song army began the siege of Jinzhou, Zhao Xiao commanded the artillery of all units to cooperate with the infantry and cavalry to clear the outlying strongholds, but in order not to expose the real direction of the main attack, the heavy firepower mainly used the artillery of the generals and brigades. After receiving the order to participate in the attack on Jinzhou, the Fifth Brigade immediately moved from the rear overnight to the outside of Jinzhou and entered the position.

The Fifth Artillery Brigade was formed only last year under the emperor's edict with the students of the Jiangwutang Artillery School as the backbone, and it was all equipped with large-caliber new artillery, and Qiao Shijun served as the commander. The unit is organized in five five-five units, with five combat artillery battalions and one battalion and baggage brigade under the brigade, and each artillery battalion has five subordinate battalions and one directly subordinate team, and the strength varies according to the different types of artillery used. The battalion directly under the command is under the command of the command, guard, communications, and reconnaissance teams, while the baggage brigade is mainly responsible for the supply of ammunition.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions are equipped with large-caliber breech artillery, each battalion is equipped with 20 cannons, which can fire 30 catties of solid bullets, flowering shells and shotguns, with an effective firing range of 800 paces and a maximum firing distance of 1,200 paces; The fourth and fifth battalions are equipped with large-caliber mortar guns, each battalion is equipped with 15 guns, which can throw solid, flowering and incendiary shells, with an effective firing range of 600 paces and a maximum firing range of nearly 1,000 steps.

Due to the powerful artillery equipped with the 5th Artillery Brigade. When it was launched, the sound of the explosion was like thunder and spread for twenty miles, so it was called 'Thor'. And the reason why the 5th Brigade was left here is because they are heavy artillery brigades. The largest guns used weighed more than 3,000 catties, so it was very inconvenient to march and be carried by ships. It is difficult to follow the cavalry in battle. But even so, they have been hidden in the snow, have not been engaged in a single actual battle, and are ready to be used as strategic weapons at the most critical moment......

After receiving the order to conquer Jinzhou, Gao Zhong immediately led a group of people to survey the battlefield, formulate and revise the battle plan, the first emperor's tent was only ten miles away from the battlefield, which was equivalent to directly supervising the battle, which not only gave him and the generals a lot of pressure, but also made them understand the importance of this battle.

"Brother Xiao'er. Jinzhou City is high and deep, and I still need your help! After turning around and returning to the handsome tent, Gao Chong smiled and gave Zhao Xiao a cup of tea.

"Why be polite, brother, we are all brothers!" Zhao Xiao politely thanked him, although he said that his face was humble, but in his heart he was very useful, so many years of artillery has been greatly developed and valued, but the artillery department in charge of the artillery department is mostly to organize training, research tactics and improve the new type of artillery. It's been a long time since I've been in the battle line. And he knows very well that it is difficult for a soldier without military merits to gain a foothold, so he is still a little uncomfortable in his heart, and now Gao Zhong is so enthusiastic and attaches importance to himself, of course, it is very comfortable.

"That being the case. I won't say much kind words, but this siege was only given for two days. We have also seen the city defense of Jinzhou, although it has no inner city. However, there are many obstacles in the outer city, and the artillery of each army is limited. If you force your attack, the casualties will be very large, and the time will not necessarily be rich. This requires a lot of support from my brothers. Gao Zhong still asked for advice with a smile on his face.

"Don't worry too much, I have also done a detailed understanding of Jinzhou's city defense, its main city has been repaired many times, the city defense equipment is the most solid and perfect, and there is a certain ability to resist. However, the outer moats, sheep and horse walls, and barracks outside the city were all built temporarily, and there was nothing to worry about, and they could be swept away by artillery fire to open up the siege road. The main city only needs some time, and it can also use heavy artillery to blow up the gap, the problem is that the enemy can take advantage of the time to bombard the city to mobilize reinforcements, which will bring difficulties to the subsequent siege troops. Zhao Xiao pondered for a moment and said.

"Brother Xiao'er, this majesty has also taken into account, we plan to launch an attack at the same time with three routes, with the west gate as the main target, and feint to attack the east gate and the north gate, so that the enemy will not dare to distinguish the truth from the fake and dare not lightly mobilize troops to reinforce the west gate." Gao Pet said his plan.

"Although this can contain the enemy army on a certain course, it is not complete, and our main attack direction will definitely be arranged with heavy artillery, in order to suppress the enemy with the most fierce artillery fire and open up a passage, and the Jurchens will only need to see and hear it to know which side is the main attack and which side is bluffing." Zhao Xiaoyan said.

"What should Brother Yixiao mean? I know that the heavy artillery is heavy, and it is very difficult to temporarily transfer the gun position, and it is too late to say that there is no time! Gao Pet nodded, shook his head again and said, he also understands this truth, but it is difficult to have both fish and bear's paws.

"Is the marshal's plan that the artillery of each army and each brigade still belongs to the command and use of each department, and only uses the artillery of the fifth brigade in the direction of the main attack?" Zhao Xiao thought for a while and asked.

"Exactly!" Gao Zhong replied.

"How about I put the artillery of the whole army into one place, unify the dispatch and command, and at the same time change it to one main and one assistant in order to strengthen the firepower and reduce the feint attack in one direction?" Zhao Xiao put forward his own ideas.

"Oh, Brother Xiao'er, tell me in detail!" Gao Zhong frowned and said, if it is according to Zhao Xiao's words, it is necessary to make major changes to the battle plan, and the commander is indecisive before the war, and temporary intentions are the most taboo, so he wants to listen to Zhao Xiao's thoughts first.

"Dashuai, I plan it this way, we can first attack in the direction of Chayashan, now Jinzhou has been surrounded by us like an iron bucket, the surrounding people have also fled, and there are rangers patrolling the periphery, the news is difficult to spread, and the enemy reinforcements naturally cannot know that we have started; In addition, the two battlefields are separated by dozens of miles, and unless they both have clairvoyance and ears, they will not be able to hear the sound of siege artillery here, so launching an attack first will not affect the plan to send reinforcements all the way. Of course Zhao Xiao knew what Gao Zhong thought, he explained.

"Well, that's true, you go on." Gao Pet nodded and said.

"We are attacking the city in two ways in order to conceal the truth and show the false, and attack the west, then we just need to make the play more real, so that they firmly believe that it is good to assist all the way to the main attack......" Zhao Xiao led Gao Zhong to the sand table and explained his plan to him in detail.

"Okay, this plan is feasible, I'll go to the camp to make your majesty. Change the original siege plan! Gao Chong said happily that he had been persuaded by Zhao Xiao's plan......

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The city of Jinzhou is five miles in radius. The area is not large, in the Liao Dynasty with the rise of the textile industry here. With the increase of merchants, the city became more and more narrow, and in order to facilitate transactions, a grass market was spontaneously formed outside the east gate. This is like the common market day in the countryside now, when people from all over the world will gather here to trade, and as time goes by, the grass market outside the east gate prospered, and the Jinzhou government built a wall here in order to collect taxes, and sent special personnel to manage it.

The grass market then became the Guocheng of Jinzhou, and the government simply moved the weavers and merchants in the city here, and some of the merchants and large households donated money to strengthen the city wall in order to prevent theft and protect their own safety. Make this a city outside the city. Later, after the fall of the Liao State, the Jin army used the buildings here to transform them into barracks, and built them into the largest outer barracks in the east of the city. After the Northern Expedition of the Song Army, in order to move people from outside the city into the city, the Jin army set fire to the surrounding houses, cleared the shooting boundary, dug a trench on the periphery, and stationed two thousand troops to defend here, forming part of the outer defense of Jinzhou City.

On the 10th day of the first month of April. That is, a few days after the Ma Wei Corps was blocked by the Jinshui Army in Heye, the Song army, which had besieged the city for many days, suddenly launched an attack. The Tiger Wing Army concentrated six artillery battalions directly under the brigade and opened fire on Guo Cheng with the support of the three battalions of the Fifth Artillery Brigade. The shelling continued until the end of the day, destroying all the walls and moats of Guocheng. All the buildings were razed to the ground, and more than half of the defenders were damaged, except for more than 100 people who fled back to Jinzhou City. All the remnants were captured, and the Song army brigade then advanced to the city. There were also a large number of siege vehicles with the army, but it was dark and did not continue the siege.

"Great. The soldiers and civilians in the city are panicking, and they have to make plans early, and their subordinates are worried that there will be changes later! Wanyan Bingde's voice trembled and said, after he fled to Jinzhou, he learned that all the areas under the jurisdiction of the Right Marshal Mansion were lost, Wan Yan Yulie died in battle, and after the servant scattered Zhongyi almost lost his life in the Yazi River, he was worried about being punished, so he stayed in Jinzhou and did not return, but fortunately, after the defection, the emperor did not condemn the people in order to appease the people, but let him temporarily take the position of the left supervisor, so that he became the second in command of the Zuo Marshal Mansion again.

Today's Song army blew up such a large area of Guocheng in only one day, and the two thousand-man team were almost completely annihilated, and only one commander fled back, still half-dead, he was stunned in the camp by the cannonballs that fell from the sky and smashed through the roof, and became a mute who could only nod and shake his head and could not speak. Although the Song army did not continue to attack the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city were frightened by the Song army's artillery fire, and they were worried that the shells would fall on their heads tomorrow, so they gathered at the city gate and asked to open the city to let them go out to flee for their lives, while the defenders in the trenches outside the city asked to enter the city.

"Don't panic in the prison army, we only injured a mere two thousand people today, and we still have 100,000 people, but it's just a drop in the bucket. The people don't know the inside story, and they are inevitably a little afraid, as long as they are appeased and suppressed a little. Wan Yanliang said with a smile.

"Dashuai, hurry up and make peace with the people, don't really make trouble." Wanyan Bingde wiped the sweat on his face and said.

"Scattered and neglected, you immediately lead the troops to the city gates to order the people to return home, and those who disobey the order will correct the law on the spot, and then block the city gates, prohibit a single qiē person from entering and leaving, and trespass to kill." Wan Yanliang casually instructed his guards to lead the army.

"Dashuai, isn't this appropriate?" Wanyan Bingde didn't expect that his so-called slight appeasement and pressure would be a big killing, so he hurriedly persuaded him.

"Outside the city are all Song troops, and when they go out of the city, they surrender to the enemy; Those soldiers should have fought to the death to defend the land, but they were cowardly and avoided the battle, and they should be beheaded according to military law, so it is already lenient, so it is just to let them make meritorious contributions, and after repelling the Song army, they can naturally return to the city. Wan Yanliang said with a chuckle, waving his hand to let the servant scatter and go to carry out his orders.

"This ......" Wan Yan Bingde was speechless by his crooked reasoning, and watched as he scattered and ignored the order. He knew that this servant was just a slave in the past, and Wanyan Zonggan looked at him pitifully, and often helped him, and accepted him as a retainer, so he was grateful to their family, and now he was promoted to the commander of Wanyan Liang's pro-army, of course, he would carry out his orders without discount, and this must have set off a bloody storm.

"The supervising army does not need to worry, His Majesty will not see death without help, and the day before yesterday, someone from Liaoyang Mansion told me that the sailors won successive victories over the Southern Korean naval army from the north of the Liao River, sinking and destroying dozens of their warships, and losing more than 10,000 soldiers. Now that the reinforcements sent by Liaoyang Mansion are already on the way, we will definitely be able to defeat the Song army and turn the tide of the war by then. Drive Zhao Er out of Liaodong and return to Yanyun. Wan Yanliang said in high spirits.

"That's great!" Wanyan Bingde said with a smile on his face. But he couldn't help but shake his head secretly, this kid is too shameless. wanted to take away his cousin's throne and let him send troops to save him, it's really fucking shameless.

When they were in the capital, the two belonged to the latter party, and their goal was to overthrow Wan Yan Kang, but Wan Yan Bingde's new emperor was not Wan Yan Liang, but Wan Yan Yong left behind in Liaoyang Mansion. That kid is both civil and martial, loyal and honest, and deeply liked the Chinese martial arts of the Jin Dynasty. And they are both descendants of Taizu, and they are also eligible to inherit the throne. Especially after he fled to Jinzhou, this feeling was even worse when he watched what he did.

After the invasion of the south and the north, the DPRK and the central government ordered all military states to gather elite soldiers, recruit ethnic soldiers, build weapons, and prepare to resist the enemy. According to the order of the imperial court, it is to mobilize young and strong people over 20 years old and under 50 years old, and draw one out of two and two out of three to be incorporated into the army. In order to leave some of the young and strong to produce at home. However, the land under the jurisdiction of the General Zuo Shuaifu will be transferred from the Meng'an Mouke soldiers who are over 16 years old and under the age of 60, as well as Bohai, Han and Khitan Zhuang Ding in the prefecture and county, regardless of whether the family is Lao Ding or Shan Ding. Wan Yanliang's order is tantamount to announcing that all the people are soldiers, so that it is. Zuo Shuai's Mansion has 100,000 soldiers, except for those who surrender to the Song Dynasty and those who are injured, there are 60,000 soldiers in Jinzhou City.

Subsequently, Wan Yanliang issued the second order for military preparations. It is required that the old weapons of all the states and counties under the jurisdiction of the Zuo Marshal's Mansion be concentrated in the area of the Shuaifu, and craftsmen will be sent to build weapons day and night. And the materials and costs of all these weapons had to be looted from the people near Jinzhou, such as making bows and arrows. It is necessary to use the tendon leather of the cow, where does the tendon leather come from, only from the cattle of the common people, so all the chickens, ducks, cows, sheep and other animals of the people near Jinzhou became the prey of the soldiers. In his words, in order to defeat the Southern Dynasty, what is the loss of some property for the people? wiped out the Song army and recovered Yanyun, some of which were gold and silver treasures, chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep.

Before the battle started, Wan Yanliang had already made a fuss in the Liaodong area, and the people's grievances were boiling, and then he squeezed out the veteran and squashed away from drinking, and framed him for betraying the Song Dynasty, and the result turned out to be true. This qiē is too abnormal in Wanyan Bingde's opinion, indicating that he already has a heart of disobedience and is ready to stand on his own, and now he is a person under the eaves and has to bow his head, hoping that the siege of Jinzhou will be solved as soon as possible and he can escape......

Wan Yan Bingde was a little disappointed with Wan Yan Liang's actions, listening to Wan Yan Liang's confident nonsense, absent-mindedly saying a word, listening to the bursts of cries and shouts from outside the house, knowing that the servants had already started to kill. Suddenly, there was a report from the pro-soldiers, and the capital eunuch Xiao Yu accompanied the left minister Xiao Zhonggong to come. The two of them were shocked when they heard this, Xiao Zhonggong went to Yingzhou to discuss peace with the Southern Dynasty for more than a month, everyone thought that he was detained by the Southern Dynasty, but now he suddenly came back, and the two hurriedly got up to greet him.

"Zuo Shuai, why did you close the city gates, and there were riots in the city, and the soldiers killed people indiscriminately?" Xiao Zhonggong asked anxiously as soon as he sat down.

A few days ago, the Southern Dynasty suddenly said that the Jin State had no sincerity, and no longer continued to negotiate, and sent it to Jinzhou, only then did he know that the Song army had hit here, but when entering the city, it was blocked, and the soldiers outside the city shouted to return to the city, and the soldiers above the city were tense, so that they could return to the front of the battle, otherwise they would correct the law on the spot. Xiao Zhonggong took a long time to make the people in the city understand his identity, but the city gate had been sealed, and a big basket was pulled up by the city, so that he could enter the city, but he didn't expect that the city was also in chaos, the soldiers were chasing and killing the people, and there were corpses everywhere along the way.

"My lord, today the Song army siege was repelled by us, but some people were frightened to open the city gate to join the enemy, the lower officials had no choice but to send troops to suppress, in order to prevent the enemy from breaking the door, and in order to prevent unscrupulous people from offering the city, they blocked the city gate, who knew that the lord arrived at this time, and saw the joke!" Wan Yanliang hurriedly explained that Xiao Zhonggong was Shangshu Zuocheng, ranked in the third class, his position was higher than him, and he was a close confidant of Wushu, so he had to express his deference.

"Oh, I see, I just didn't expect the enemy army to advance so fast and have reached Jinzhou City!" Xiao Zhonggong let out a long breath and said, he had heard about the surrender of Xizhou City on the way, and when he saw the chaotic situation just now, he was worried that the old thing would happen again, wouldn't it be a great gift for him to send to the door?

"My lord, how is the matter of the peace agreement with the Southern Dynasty, and now that you have come back, there is a result?" Wan Yan Liang ordered someone to bring tea, sat down under him and asked.

"Alas, it's hard to put into words!" Xiao Zhonggong sighed and said, "I haven't seen Zhao Er's face for many days, they are only afraid that the Ministry of Rites will expand the negotiations, and the conditions put forward are extremely harsh, requiring us to be vassals, demarcate the boundary with the water and the Tongjiang River, and pay millions of coins every year. However, although Zhao Er was shameless, he was still obedient and did not embarrass us, and ordered someone to send us back to the south. Tomorrow I will leave and return to Beijing, and I will report to His Majesty and the Grand Master, and ask them to decide. ”

"I'm afraid I won't be able to leave for the time being!" After hearing this, Yan Liang shook his head and said with a wry smile...... (To be continued......)