Smoke billowed and fires rose. The burning buildings in the walled city shimmered orange in the evening twilight, and it looked a little warm. Several explosive packets were thrown into the newly burning fire, and with a few loud bangs, a huge wave of air swept across the fire, blowing up the burning things in all directions, and there was no way to continue to maintain the burning state.

Completely indifferent to the fact that there might be living people in the fire field, Zhao Jiaren, who entered the walled city and commanded the blasting and extinguishing the fire, said tiredly: "It's finally over." ”

Pushing forward half an hour from the time of Zhao Jiaren's speech, the troops who were about to win a complete victory were very tired but full of spirits. Now the officers and men looked tired, because as the battle was about to end, the Mongol army, which had been killed, had set a fire to the last shelter. Although the officers and soldiers who killed Xingxing did not leave many prisoners, the self-immolation of the Mongol army still had a great impact on everyone, and even the joy of victory disappeared in a shocked mood.

The commander of the siege was a young officer named Luo Qian, and when he saw such a decision, he said with a feeling of emotion: "I didn't expect the Mongol army to be so strong. ”

"Tough fart!" Zhao Jiaren shouted angrily. As soon as he heard this, he became angry, the Mongol army was just scared to commit suicide, and it was really strong that they should fight to the death. However, seeing that the officers around him looked at him in surprise, that Luo Qian was so angry that he had an aggrieved expression on his face. Zhao Jiaren immediately felt that the measures he had dealt with were not right.

But after saying this, he couldn't take it back, Zhao Jiaren Zhao Jiaren felt irritable in his heart, he sighed in his heart that his understanding of war was too shallow, he could lead a group of people to the battlefield, but there was no way to let this group of people understand the war more before going to the battlefield.

At this time, he couldn't take back Fang Cai's words, and Zhao Jiaren had an idea in a hurry. Still with an annoyed expression, he asked, "Do you understand what those people shouted at the end?" ”

The people around me were not familiar with the northern accent, let alone the Mongolian language inside. The most important thing is that they didn't actually pay attention to what the people in the fire were shouting.

Like the soldiers around him, Zhao Jiaren didn't hear what was being shouted inside. But his face was full of anger, and he said with a righteous expression: "Someone inside shouted, let us out, we don't want to die." There are also people shouting, you are all going to die with me! ”

As soon as these words came out, those with brighter minds already understood what this conversation meant. Presumably, the arson wanted to drag everyone to die together, and those who were involved did not want to die. According to the dialogue proposed by Zhao Jiaren, the tragic self-immolation and martyrdom in the fire turned into a vicious death throes.

Seeing that the propaganda was useful, Zhao Jiaren continued to continue with an angry expression: "The Mongols killed the captured Great Song soldiers in every battle, and since these people killed our Great Song soldiers, they naturally thought that there would be no good results after falling into our hands. Because he was afraid of being killed, he had to commit suicide. In addition to being ferocious, the Mongol soldiers are also a bunch of cowards! ”

Advocacy is a bit like a court defense in that it provides a logical chain of evidence. After Zhao Jiaren tried to reduce the impact of the Mongols' self-immolations, he did not want to dwell on such a negative topic. Putting away his annoyed expression, Zhao Jiaren changed to a more positive expression, "Everyone, we have won!" This is a victory for all of us, be happy, a victory is a victory. Let's shout together, Wan Sheng! Wansheng! ”

After finishing speaking, Zhao Jiaren himself took the lead in shouting: "Wan Sheng!" ”

The main general took the lead, and a sparse voice sounded below, "Wansheng ......" "Wansheng ......"

Zhao Jiaren did feel embarrassed, but he didn't get angry. If there are few such responders who need to be ashamed, it is also the shame caused by Zhao Jiaren's lack of preparation. He continued to shout, "Wan Sheng! ”

"Wan Sheng!" This time it was much better.

Just as Zhao Jiaren was about to continue shouting, outside the walled city, an emotional high-pitched shout suddenly sounded, "Wan Sheng!" Wansheng! Wansheng! "It was the officers and soldiers outside who heard the shouts inside, and even if they didn't see what was going on inside the walled city, they shouted excitedly.

After all, this battle was a victory, a victory won by the whole army in a desperate manner. Even if the last self-immolated Mongol soldiers used their lives to express their unwillingness to be subjugated, it could only be regarded as a small psychological setback for the Song army. "Wan Sheng! Wansheng! The shouts of the officers and soldiers in the city became louder and louder, and then cheers rang out inside and outside the conquered fortress on both sides.

The Mongol army, which was not particularly far from here, was confronting the Song army at this time, and these Mongol troops numbered six or seven thousand men, and they did not attack, but lined up more than two hundred paces away from the Song army. More than 200 paces of open space lay the corpses of many people and horses, which was the blood line drawn by the Song army with fierce artillery fire.

The leader heard the cheers of the Song army in the distance, although he felt that the speed of the Song army in capturing the fortified city in such a short time was unbelievable, but those cheers covered the entire walled city. Judging by any common sense, the Song army had already won the battle. By this time, it was getting late, and the Mongol generals had to leave their posts, retreat to the camp with their large teams, and bring back the information they had gathered about the Song army.

The news that Zhao Jiaren's army had broken through two Mongolian walled cities in one day shocked Boyan, and the news brought back by the Mongol army that went to reinforce made Boyan frown even more. The Mongols knew that Lin'an of the Great Song Dynasty had large Kong Ming lanterns that could float in the air, but they were never able to imitate them. This time, the Mongolian army occupied the three commanding heights of Lumen Mountain, Hutou Mountain, and Wanshan Mountain around Xiangyang, and was able to monitor the battlefield movements at any time from a high position. Unexpectedly, Zhao Jiaren actually brought a large Kong Ming lantern to the battlefield and forcibly gained a reconnaissance advantage on flat ground.

In addition to Kong Ming's technical advantage, Boyan certainly knew Zhao Jiaren's advantages in artillery. When attacking Xiangyang, there was no artillery at the head of the city where Lu Wende was located. The reinforcement generals who went to rescue the Mongolian walled city during the day stressed that the use of artillery by Zhao Jiaren's troops who came to the rescue was as if they didn't need money. Whenever the Mongols attacked, even tentatively, the Song army would use artillery to bombard the dense ranks of the Mongol army. There were 3,000 or 4,000 aid troops on each side of the strait, and after more than 200 people were killed or wounded on each side, they began to hesitate.

"Shuai, this matter is very tricky." The Mongolian generals who came to the rescue had a sad face when they spoke.

Boyan didn't have a negative expression, but he was also in a bad mood. After the death of Lu Wende, who guarded Xiangyang City, Lu Wenhuan showed unusual tenacity. Even under the onslaught of the Mongol army, the elite of the Song State led by Lü Wenhuan survived the initial shock and defended the walls of Xiangyang through brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Now that there is a rescue force like Zhao Jiaren, the Mongols can't hold the walled city. Although this situation did not exceed many of the situations that Boyan had envisioned before, it was also one of the many scenarios that was not optimistic.

"You go down and rest first." Boyan said. When the generals went out, Boyan also chose to rest. Many pre-war situations have been planned, and even if you think about it all night, there will be no more options. Instead of panicking, it is better to rest and prepare for the next brutal battle.

Compared with Boyan, Zhao Jiaren does not have such comfort. Before this aid, Zhao Jiaren did not have more detailed information, so naturally there was no way to formulate a detailed battle plan. The capture of the two Mongol walled cities can only be regarded as a tactical victory, and Zhao Jiaren has no executable plan for what tactics should be implemented after that.

Boyan can ask his subordinates to go to bed early and prepare for the battle early tomorrow morning. Zhao Jiaren could only set up more sentry posts in such an unfamiliar place and seize the time to clean up the dilapidated walled city. Many people are busy until eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening before going to bed. At five or six o'clock the next morning, I got up tired and continued to work.

At a time when most people are nervous, there are people who act frivolously because of excitement. For example, the liaison sent by Jia Yidao. Because there are 4,000 people in Zhao Jiaren's army, under the banner of the left wing army of the palace front division, there must be a similar existence of the prison army. However, Zhao Jiaren was a civilian official and not a military general, and the prison army did not dare to blow up in front of Zhao Jiaren.

Even so, on the second day after conquering the two Mongolian walled cities, the overseer also asked Zhao Jiaren at an inopportune time, "Zhao Zhizhou, can I continue to march today." ”

Zhao Jiaren only slept for more than four hours, and Zhao Jiaren replied indifferently to such nonsense: "Don't enter the army." ”

"And when will we continue to march?" The Overseer continued to ask excitedly.

Zhao Jiaren still replied indifferently: "I thought that I would have to wait for the reinforcements from behind to arrive before marching." ”

This answer made the excitement on the prison army's face seem to be poured cold water, and he tried to speak in a tone that pretended to be puzzled, but this tone was actually dissatisfied, "I think Zhao Zhizhou beats the Mongols like chopping melons and vegetables, if it is a blow, wouldn't it be better?" ”

One of the advantages of being a civil official in the Great Song Dynasty is that you can go to the scolding if you are not convinced. What supervising troops, civil officials, and military generals can be ignored for the time being, and it is easier for a coach like Zhao Jiaren to scare people. Zhao Jiaren replied coldly to the of the prison army, "I have my own opinions on this matter, you go down first." ”

I didn't expect to be treated like this, and the prison army was quite surprised. However, he was Jia Yidao's cronies, and he knew that Jia Yidao was dependent on Zhao Jiaren, so the prison army could only put his dissatisfaction in his heart and retreat stupidly.

Zhao Jiaren was also too lazy to talk nonsense, after yesterday's battle, the problem of Zhao Jiaren's lack of troops was exposed. He didn't want to get too entangled with his allies, that would be a nuisance. Now Zhao Jiaren hopes that the friendly forces can arrive as soon as possible, so that Zhao Jiaren can not worry about his back and flanks when Zhao Jiaren is fighting.

Jia Rudao agreed with Zhao Jiaren at that time that after Zhao Jiaren arrived at the front line, reinforcements would follow. Things went quite smoothly, and on the fifth day after the two walled cities were conquered, the first reinforcement army was near the battlefield. It was not Xia Gui's troops as Zhao Jiaren thought, but the Yangzhou soldiers under Li Tingzhi.

With a more cautious joy, Zhao Jiaren met with Li Tingzhi's troops. The general who led the team was named Miao Zaicheng, and there were more than 5,000 militia groups. When he saw Zhao Jiaren, he was very respectful, and Zhao Jiaren immediately made a request, "I ask you to strictly guard the walled city and defend this place when I go out to fight." ”