"Kill!"

The earth-shattering cry resounded through the sky.

The fighting lasted from the early hours of the evening until dawn, without a moment's rest.

Fan Zhongyan sat in the rear camp, listening to the noisy sound outside, frowning slightly.

There was the roar of artillery, the incessant sound of gunfire, and the constant explosion of grenades.

In the end, the Liao people chose to start a night battle at night, using grenades to blast at close range, which really caught the Song army a little off guard.

This is actually one of the disadvantages of the firearms era, although firearms are powerful, but even in the era of thunder mercury rifles, the hit rate is not very high during the day, let alone at night.

In order to complete the fire coverage, if there are no machine guns and missiles, you can only rely on the fire network formed by submachine guns and automatic rifles.

But the Great Song Dynasty now does not even have submachine guns and automatic rifles, and is still in the era of rear-loading flintlock pistols, even if a firing pin musket has been developed, it has not yet been equipped with the whole army.

So when was the West at the same time?

It was probably during the Paris Commune, the founding of the French Third Republic, that Western firearms tactics were still in the era of line infantry tactics, commonly known as line shooting.

Therefore, it is difficult for firearms to exert their power when fighting at night - there is no vision at all, they cannot be covered by firepower, and they cannot hit people, and they are easy to be close to the enemy.

But why does Zhao Jun respect Fan Zhongyan, who likes to play defensive tactics, instead of Han Qi, who plays reckless tactics?

Isn't it because Fan Zhongyan plays well in defensive tactics and is experienced?

After he arrived at Youyan, he had no intention of creating a head to Xijin Mansion, and directly began to build a stable camp on the periphery, digging trenches and repairing the wall, pressing step by step, steadily advancing the defense line.

So when the Liao army rushed into the Song army camp, they found that the Song army was too doggy.

The periphery is a series of deep trenches, and the wooden female wall is built above the walled wall like a city wall, and there are a large number of watchtowers, fortresses, and artillery in various camps, which are connected in all directions.

Once there was a war, the Song army in the battalion would put their guns out first, and then talk about whether they could fight accurately, and they could also scare the Liao army that was attacking by surprise.

Torches were lit everywhere outside the surrounding wall, the lighting was not very far, about ten zhang range, some Liao soldiers touched under the wall and threw grenades inside, but they were quickly killed by random shooting.

There were also some Liao troops who cleaned up the Song troops on patrol duty on the periphery, and the two sides fought fiercely, with casualties on each other.

But on the whole, because the Liao army lacked the equipment to attack the camp, there was almost no possibility of breaking through the camps of the Song army.

"Report!"

The messenger hurriedly entered the tent and reported to Fan Zhongyan: "Report, Xianggong, the enemy in the right camp has been repulsed, and General Zhou wants to go out of the camp to pursue." ”

"Did he chase out?"

Fan Zhongyan asked.

"Not yet."

"Let him go to the front camp first."

"Yes."

The messenger went out to answer the order.

In addition to Fan Zhongyan, there are also Hebei Road transfer envoy Wei Huanzhi, Changping Si Tian You, Wang Ding, and Han Fang, the Imperial History Division.

After the others left, Fan Zhongyan put down the brush in his hand, looked down and caught a glimpse of a white hair falling on his shoulder, and sighed: "This battle is not easy to fight." ”

Wei Huanzhi wondered: "Xianggong, the Liao people can't advance an inch, what's the difficulty?" The siege is long, and it can be victorious. ”

"If only it were that easy."

Fan Zhongyan smiled, brushed the white hair off his shoulders, and then pointed to the map on the table and said, "The dark night will reduce our advantage in field battles with the Liao, and in addition, there is a serious problem. ”

"What's the problem?"

The crowd was puzzled.

"After all, our walled wall can't be compared with the wall of the Liao people, it's nothing during the day, and what if they smuggle artillery near the camp at night?"

Fan Zhongyan asked rhetorically.

This sentence suddenly made everyone feel cold.

The Liao State is not like the Western Xia, and the strength of the whole country is only a few hundred cannons.

As a powerful country, the Liao State has a very large number of artillery pieces in the land of Youyan, at least one or two thousand or more.

Although it is not as good as the Great Song Dynasty, this number is enough to deal with the country-level war with the Great Song Dynasty.

If the Liao State transported the artillery to the wilderness, their walled walls would not be able to withstand the bombardment.

"Now you know why I'm putting my camp here, not outside the city."

Fan Zhongyan saw that everyone's expressions were solemn, and then he said: "Fortunately, the Liao people do not have field artillery, otherwise the consequences would not dare to imagine. ”

"Yes."

Everyone hurriedly responded.

Fan Zhongyan said again: "Pass on our military order, after driving away the nearby Liao army, each battalion must immediately send scouts to investigate everywhere, and be careful that the enemy carries artillery at night." ”

"Yes."

And they answered again.

After Fan Zhongyan issued the military order, he once again fell on the desk and began to write something.

The sound of gunfire and grenades outside the camp gradually subsided.

When it was close to dawn, the Song army found the Liao army's artillery delivery team about three kilometers outside the camp.

It is also a loss that the Song army found out early, and if the Liao army was allowed to arrange the artillery smoothly, I am afraid that the camp will be dangerous.

In the early morning, Fan Zhongyan, who had not slept all night, finally walked out of the camp tent, and happened to lift Changping Si Tianyou from outside and said to him: "Xianggong, a new batch of grain and grass has arrived." ”

"Well, you sent someone to Daizhou to send this letter, and asked Zhang Yaozuo, the transfer envoy of Hedong Road, to do it immediately."

"Yes."

Tian You responded, then looked at the sky and said, "The weather has become gloomy recently, I'm afraid it will rain heavily." ”

Fan Zhongyan also raised his head and looked at the sky, the land of Youyan in late October had already entered winter, everything was silent, and the Yanshan Mountain Range in the distance was shrouded in clouds.

Although it didn't snow, it didn't rain. But the earth is withered and yellow, and in the fierce and howling north wind, military flags are unfurled, and grass clippings and fallen leaves are flying everywhere, as if to tell the people on the ground that winter is coming.

"The rain is really bad for us, so we need to do it quickly."

Fan Zhongyan looked to the east, his gaze crossed Xijin, Jizhou, Yingzhou, and finally Yuguan.

That was the direction where Di Qing's army was.

If the fight continued like this, the victory of the Song army would definitely be an inevitable thing.

Because the Liao army also has these three axes, as long as they deal with their night attacks, press forward step by step, and surround Liangxiang, the Liao army in the city is a lamb to be slaughtered.

But this is a siege, and it will take a long time. At the end of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao besieged Dongwuyang for a full year before killing Zang Hong. In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the rebels surrounded Suiyang for ten months before finally breaking the city.

If the Liao army sticks to it and refuses to come out to fight them in the field, then no one knows how much food there is in the Liao army's city, and no one knows how long this war will last.

So if you want to win quickly, you can only use magic tricks.

This trick is Di Qing.

In mid-October, on the city of Yuguan, after the roaring artillery fire subsided, only the heavy wheezing sound of the Song army in the city remained.

This was the sixth day after Di Qing's arrival in Yuguan.

In this early winter, Song Jun was wearing thick cotton clothes, and his face was sweating like rain.

Many people were cold, and not long after the sweat fell, it was cooled and solidified again, sticking together with the cotton clothes, exuding an unpleasant smell.

But there was no one to take a bath, and there was no time to take a bath.

Many people, even when eating, hurriedly took two bites, poured a mouthful of water bottles they carried with them, and then continued to fight.

The Song army dispatched 10,000 men, but in fact there were less than three or four thousand actually fighting.

Some people need to steer the boat to navigate the river, some need to carry all kinds of gunpowder and shells, and some people do logistics work on the boat.

Otherwise, the soldiers in front of them would not have had to eat, drink, gunpowder, or shells, and naturally they would not be able to persist in this battle.

"Whew!"

Hu Yanshou felt that he was almost tired and paralyzed, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Just now, the large army of the Liao army actually managed to kill the city, and almost climbed the wall with a ladder.

Fortunately, although the Song army trained firearms for a long time, the fighting skills were not pulled down, and they were forced to pick the Liao army with bayonets.

Otherwise, the city of Yuguan has been broken now.

However, the biggest problem is that the soldiers below can change their guards, but these generals can only stick to their posts for a long time.

The Liao army charged in waves, barely having much time to rest, which made them tired.

'It would be nice to be able to counter them once and let their offensive be delayed.' ’

The thought flashed through Hu Yanshou's mind.

As a result, before he could take a closer look, he heard someone shouting: "Huyan Shouyong, Huyan Shouyong, where did you die?" ”

It was the voice of his deputy admiral, Liu Du, the deputy commander of the Ping Navy.

Hu Yanshou said angrily: "Liu Du, no matter how Lao Tzu is, he is your boss, so you call me that?" ”

When Liu Du heard his words, he turned his head and found him next to the corpses of several Liao soldiers, and hurriedly ran over to accompany him and said with a smile: "Then how can it, this is what Di Shuai asked me to say, go quickly, Di Shuai is calling you." ”

Hearing that it was Di Qing calling him, Hu Yanshou didn't dare to lose his temper anymore, and tried to stand up, but he almost fell.

Liu Du pulled him up, and Hu Yanshou felt that his legs were trembling, after all, he had been fighting for several days in a row, and he didn't have much time to rest, and the city was now full of Liao army corpses.

When he walked to Di Qing's side, he saw Di Qing still standing on the top of the city like an iron tower, looking into the distance with a telescope.

Recently, the Liao army has always attacked the city at night, so they have been beaten under the city every time.

Even the walls were full of shells.

Yesterday, a batch of firearms of the Liao army arrived, and they secretly arranged artillery fire outside the city.

If it weren't for the powerful artillery fire of the Song army, the gunners were even more powerful, and they judged the position of the enemy's artillery position through the fire emitted by the enemy's artillery in the middle of the night, and carried out counterattack bombing.

"Di Shuai."

Hu Yanshou walked over and said.

"Hurt?"

Di Qing turned his head and saw the blood stains on Hu Yanshou's body.

"A little injury, the tiger's mouth was shocked, and all this blood is from Liao."

Hu Yanshou grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

"Can you still fight?"

Di Qing asked.

"Rong Mo will rest for an hour."

Hu Yan Shou uses the right color road.

"Allow you to rest for four hours."

Di Qing pointed to the mountains to the north and said, "Do you see that mountain?" ”

Hu Yanshou turned his head to look.

At this moment, the sky was slightly bright, and by the sunrise in the east, he saw the mountains in the distance.

That mountain is the corner mountain in the north of the later Shanhaiguan, which is 5 kilometers away from Yuguan.

The Liao army also tried to set up artillery on Jiaoshan Mountain, but they took great pains to transport the artillery up only to find that they could not hit it at all.

It's too far.

The highest elevation of Horn Mountain is 512 meters, but the terrain is steep and rarely flat, making it difficult to place large-scale artillery positions.

Even if the artillery is mounted at the highest point, the range that can be increased is not as much as 5 kilometers, and the accuracy is terrible, so it can only be stopped.

"See."

Hu Yan Shouyong said.

"Just now our scouts came to report that the enemy has a camp about ten miles away at the foot of the mountain on the west side of Nashan, I suspect that it is the enemy's camp used to attack Guangning, when you are rested, bring someone to take it out, Wang Kui will cooperate with you."

Di Qing said.

Wang Kui was the commander of the Ding Navy, and this time the Great Song Navy only dispatched three, two came to Yuguan, and the other went to Goryeo.

After all, four of the seven navies of the Great Song Dynasty are now in the south, and they are not only stationed in Annam, but also continue to explore places like Luzon in the south, and the southern fleet will definitely not be transferred in a short period of time.

So now Di Qing's troops are actually a little stretched.

However, the Song army still has a navy in Huainan, which is the Taizhou Town Navy, which is already on the way to arrive, and it will not be long before Yuguan will be reinforced.

"Yes."

Hu Yanshou answered.

Then Di Qing saw that his legs were still weak, and said with a smile: "What, I'm afraid?" ”

"It's impossible to be afraid, since the Huyan family followed Taizu Taizong, they have come and died in this life, and the lower officials can't lose the face of their ancestors."

Hu Yanshou patted his thigh and said with a smile: "I haven't fought in close quarters for a few days, and just now I was suddenly killed by the Liao army to the city, and the lower officials were also startled, and they were almost killed by someone, and now I still feel a little afraid." ”

"Hahaha."

Di Qing also laughed and said: "It's a good thing not to be afraid of death, but don't be too reckless, don't fight in close combat if you can solve it with a gun." The family is still waiting for us to go back, so don't let them cry. ”

"Xia Guan knows."

Hu Yanshou answered, but then his face was as usual.

said so, but the generals fought the battlefield, how could they not know the danger, they just had to use their lives.

Moreover, compared to some of the dead brothers, he was already very lucky, and he used his weapon to block in time and save his life, otherwise he would have been just a corpse now.

The smell of blood under the city came to the nostrils, the sky was cloudy, and the Liao army really receded like a tide.

It's not just Yuguan.

Quang Ninh was also relieved.

The Liao army was flanked on both sides, and at least 50,000 or 60,000 troops had to be encamped everywhere and harassed from time to time.

Although the Song army blocked Yushui in advance, so that the eastern and western Liao armies could not gather and concentrate on breaking through a city, the huge disparity in numbers still made it very difficult for the Song army to deal with.

After all, the tactic of queuing up to shoot is definitely the more people the better, and the Song army's forces are too seriously dispersed, that is, they have to take care of the boats, watch the river, and hold the two cities, and the pressure is not ordinary.

But perhaps it is this contempt that makes the Liao army a little slack.

In the afternoon, under the cover of the ships, Huyanshou successfully raided a camp of the Liao army with a series of small field guns such as Weiyuan cannons, buying a lot of time for Quang Ninh.

And during the day, Di Qing even personally led hundreds of people out of the city, raided another camp of the Liao army, and killed more than 100 enemies.

This attack dealt a certain blow to the Liao army, so that they really stopped a lot on this night.

But everyone knows that it is impossible for the Liao army to give up Yuguan.

Therefore, the subsequent battles became more and more tragic.

(End of chapter)