For the Liao army, the city is not important, but the killing and wounding of the enemy's vital force is important.

The enemy is dead, and even if the city is in ruins, they can eventually rebuild it.

But if the army is defeated and killed, it is useless to ask for more land, and it will not be able to hold it.

So they chose to burn Xijin and force the Song army to fight them to the death.

And for the Song army, the city was actually not important.

Their strategy was to eliminate the Liao, drive the Liao people out of Yanyun, and recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.

The Liao scouts who were observing the Song army on the city of Xijin and around them were immediately panicked when they saw this scene.

Seeing this, some generals of the Song army who were closer to Zhang Kang's camp also followed suit and simply led their troops to the east.

"Oops, they're raiding our rear troops."

He rode on horseback and watched.

The whole process seemed to take three hours, but there was basically no time wasted, and it was very quick to go from reconnaissance to judgment to analysis and finally to make a decision.

"Prepare to fire artillery."

Fan Zhongyan decided to implement this strategy.

The evacuated Liao army generals kept shouting, reorganizing their ranks and lining up their formations.

"I just visited the Malay newspaper, but there was no movement."

In the seemingly death-like silence of the Song army, a loud horn sound suddenly sounded from the main camp of the Song army.

If it weren't for the fact that it couldn't be beaten and couldn't be defended, who would be willing to take a dangerous move and abandon the city and ignore it?

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

With the existing front-loading gun technology and rate of fire, it has basically reached the level between the Opium War and the Franco-Prussian War, and at that time, the tactical method of lining up to shoot was gradually eliminated.

At this moment, the probe horse galloped in.

He believes that the tactics of queuing up to shoot in the later era of firearms in the West stem from the immaturity of firearms technology.

The majestic Xijin City stands on the vast plain, like a small hill raised by the horizon, stretching for more than ten miles from east to west.

When Fan Zhongyan's slow-moving temperament came to his senses, and then he reorganized his troops and horses to attack, it was estimated that it would be dark, and their men and horses would have already evacuated from Xijin.

"Array, array!"

Even if the city is burned, it is still within the allowable range of damage.

Zhang Kang pointed with his hand and pointed to the east and said: "Bypass Xijin and attack the retreating Liao army from the flank." ”

Countless Song troops surged away in the wilderness, with a radius of dozens of kilometers, full of galloping Song soldiers, and only two quarters of an hour later, Zhang Kang's troops took the lead in bypassing Xijin and arriving at the rear of the Liao army.

Therefore, Fan Zhongyan believes that with the improvement of the technological level, slowly changing the way of fighting war is also a kind of change that conforms to the times.

Fortunately before the second year of Qingli, the Song army was mostly equipped with bronze artillery, and the firing range was a little more than two kilometers.

At this moment, the Liao State Xijin Mansion gathered more than 400,000 Liao troops and more than 200,000 Song troops, but naturally they were not piled together, but scattered in the surrounding cities.

And the current firearms of the Great Song Dynasty are in such a stage of change, the peak of front-loading guns, and the beginning of rear-loading guns.

Then the 8,000 elite soldiers led by Zhang Kang took the lead and galloped towards the wilderness plains to the east.

And on the road to the rear along the way, the Liao army was still arranging artillery positions.

The Liao people were still confined to the traditional tactical way of fighting, thinking that fighting a war should be a legion battle, and everyone lined up to attack each other.

"Huh."

Because Fan Zhongyan only assigned strategic tasks, not combat tasks.

"Boom!"

"It's a pity, after several dynasties, Xijin is the tallest, thickest, and most populous city in my Great Liao, but today it is about to come to naught."

The movements of the Song army were quickly captured by the Liao army after the city of Xijin was broken, and these people had to wait for the large army to evacuate, and then set fire to the city and burn Xijin, so as to force the Song army to pursue them.

"Woo woo!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of artillery fire rang out in the city.

Didn't they all get their troops and horses in order beforehand, and then march forward in front of the formation?

At this moment, Zhang Kang was riding on horseback.

After a while, he reported closely: "The Song people sent a large group of scouts to watch from a distance. ”

But why was the tactic of queuing up to shoot later abandoned?

Isn't it because the technology of firearms is becoming more and more mature, the rate of fire has been greatly increased, and there is no need to arrange the formation to cover the firepower?

After the Song army left the camp, they were a little at a loss.

But at this moment, seeing that the Song army didn't seem to play cards according to the routine, he hurriedly fired artillery everywhere for a while, and kept shooting at the Song army in the wilderness in the distance.

This process will inevitably take a lot of time, at least before the afternoon the Song army will definitely not be able to send troops, the fighter plane is fleeting, it is very likely that the Liao people will retreat successfully because of this delay, and the net has been laid in the rear waiting for the Song army.

However, fortunately, these generals of the Song army were not fools, and they knew that the south gate of Xijin would definitely not be able to enter it, so after a little stagnation, they went west or east, bypassing Xijin City, and galloped away in the northeast and northwest directions.

The French artillery was mostly bronze or iron, and the rate of fire not only did not exceed two rounds per minute, but the firing range was only about three kilometers.

Yelu Zongzhen sneered: "Fan Zhongyan is so slow to react? ”

"Do you still need me to say it?"

However, Xijin City has the largest number of soldiers and horses on both sides.

At that time, the muskets, both in terms of power and rate of fire, were far from meeting the requirements, so they could only line up and cover the fire through dense phalanxes, so as to achieve long-range strikes.

If Fan Zhongyan assigns another combat mission, he must send scouts to reconnoiter the current distribution of the Liao troops, and then arrange which positions and directions to go for each unit.

More than ten kilometers away from the north city of Xijin and five or six kilometers away from the south city, the Song army camps everywhere seemed to wake up from this dead silence, all the camp gates were opened, and then the Song army cavalry rushed out.

"Why did the Song people suddenly send troops? Didn't they get their troops in order before they attacked? ”

No one thought that the Song army would make a big move at this time.

Yelu Zong really looked at the horizon in the distance with regret, and after a while, after the Liao army withdrew, the rear army of the Liao army would ignite the fish paste grease that had been arranged in the city and the remaining firewood for the winter, and burn Xijin.

"Hmm."

"Report it quickly."

And Yelu Zongzhen also arranged a large number of cavalry on the periphery, carrying grenades, and the Song army scouts fired a few shots at most to harass them.

The easternmost camp was even more than eight kilometers away from the westernmost camp, so basically the Song army itself did not know what its troops were doing.

However, at this time, not only the Liao army was a little flustered, but the Song army was also a little confused.

There are about 160,000 Liao people, plus the Liao army of Yuhe and Wanping, about 200,000 horses.

With so many people retreating, it is naturally not that simple.

And farther away, there are a large number of Song army generals who are looking around with binoculars.

From the scouts of the Song army found that the Liao people had left the city, they had to observe for at least half an hour to determine that these people were not troops transporting grain and grass, but really evacuated troops.

At this moment, I suddenly saw the northeast direction, the dust and smoke were billowing, countless horses were galloping, and for a while, there was a commotion in the migration team of the Liao people, and at the same time, there were scouts in the city who rushed out and shouted: "The Song people raid!" ”

Thick smoke filled the city walls.

After Yelu Zongzhen sighed, he asked his cronies again: "How is Song Jun?" ”

So he wasn't worried at all.

Don't look at the lack of gasoline in this era, but the army will prepare fish oil and animal oil, plus the buildings in the city are mostly wooden, and a fire will turn into a sea of fire in an instant.

The camps of the Song army were not connected together, but were divided into military units, ranging from about 5,000 to 10,000 men per battalion.

It was surrounded by villages, farmland, forests, and small rivers, which were now dilapidated, the farmland was barren, the forests had been cut down, and only the rivers were still flowing quietly.

Fan Zhongyan's main camp has 30,000 people, and about five kilometers south of Xijin City, there are nearly 20 camps of different sizes in the east and west.

Because of the siege for many days, the amount of grain and grass in Xijin is not much, so the Liao army basically does not need to carry too much baggage, except for the disassembly of some artillery, many people are only single-handed.

In the Franco-Prussian War, Prussian artillery was a Krupp gun, using a steel rifled barrel, with a standard rate of fire of six rounds per minute, and an effective range of more than four kilometers.

The scouts then reported the results they had summarized and judged to Fan Zhongyan, and it took half an hour to run from the north gate of Xijin to the camp.

Surprisingly, those Song troops didn't seem to be interested in them at all, but crossed them and continued straight north.

"Khitan warriors, follow me!"

The Song army numbered about 100,000.

Once the Song army pursued, it was immediately blocked by artillery.

The adjutant general next to him asked, "Xianggong, where are we going?" ”

"Report."

After the second year of Qingli, the Wu'an Iron and Steel Plant was put into production of steel cannons, and the sophistication of the Song army's weapons and equipment rose sharply, almost crushing the bronze artillery of the Liao army.

However, if you can kill two birds with one stone, not only keep the city, but also defeat the Liao, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?

When the Song people found out that something was wrong, they would definitely send a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the situation.

However, the Song army besieged the city, and they were blinded and forced to abandon the city in an attempt to lure the enemy deeper.

This is also one of the important reasons why the Liao people are willing to abandon the city.

Next to him, Zhang Jian comforted: "Your Majesty, why should you be worried? Defeating the Song people is the most important thing, if we can defeat the Song army in this battle, maybe we can also get a lot of their weapons, as long as we can get their guns, even if Xijin is burned, it will be worth it. ”

"Yes!"

This was what he expected.

You must know that at this time, only one and a half hours have passed since the Liao army officially left the city, that is, three hours.

Although he was a civil official, he was covered in tendons and flesh, his face was quite fierce, his eyes searched around, his eyes glanced at Xijin City, and then looked to the east.

Therefore, it was almost difficult for the Liao army to fight in the field, whether it was artillery or muskets, the range advantage was too great, and they had no way to take the Song army. Only when defending the city can you barely suppress it with the range brought by the height of the city.

Time passed minute by minute, approaching the end of the hour, and at this moment the Liao army had withdrawn about half of it.

Where to go?

A column of Liao soldiers rode war horses, slowly out of the north gate of Xijin, at a glance, the small black dots of black pressure are boundless, dense, like countless ants moving, extending north along several official roads outside the north city gate.

I saw standing on the high slope, and the rivers and mountains in the distance were unobstructed.

From the third quarter of the hour to the end of the hour, an hour and a half have passed, and there is still a steady stream of Liao people retreating in an orderly manner.

However, the Song army galloped on horseback and ran fast, and it did not come close to the five-kilometer radius of Xijin at all.

You must know that the circumference of Xijin City is 36 li, and the circumference of the Northern Song Dynasty is 530 meters, which means that the average length and width of east, west, north and south are about 4.8 kilometers.

Therefore, Fan Zhongyan simply did not assign combat tasks, and directly asked the officers and men of each battalion to send troops, and he only needed one to immediately dispatch to cut, disperse, and disrupt the troops that the Liao army was now retreating.

Fan Zhongyan held another meeting, and then the battalion leaders would disperse and run back to their camps, and finally gather their troops and horses out of the camp.

But after the war started, the people in the city of Xijin had already fled in all directions, the population in the city was very small, and the streets outside the city were naturally empty, and only a large number of Liao soldiers were still evacuated.

"yes, their guns are pretty good."

Yelu Zongzhen shook his head: "If our cannons shoot one shot, they can shoot three or four shots, and once they dig the trenches under the city, our artillery cannot suppress their artillery, and it is in danger." ”

Yelu Zongzhen's convoy slowly headed north, on a small hill about three or four kilometers outside the North City Gate.

"Song Jun, Song Jun is out."

They were near the north city gate, there was artillery in the city, and the Song army naturally would not approach, so their target must be the team that had withdrawn.

In the distance, countless Liao troops were still moving slowly northward, and their movement speed could not be considered fast, but it was not slow either.

Naturally, the generals of the Liao army are not all wine bags and rice bags, and many people soon reacted.

At this moment, a large number of Liao people came out of the two north gates.

There are two north city gates of Xijin Mansion in Nanjing, Liaoning, the one that is close to the west is called Tongtian Gate, and the one that is a little east is Gongchen Gate, and there are actually some attached streets and downtowns outside the city.

Under the blessing of the city, the Liao artillery generally has a range of about three kilometers, but it is a flat range, if the upward fire does not calculate any accuracy, it is still very easy to hit outside the range of five kilometers, but the hit rate is. Basically, it follows fate.

The adjutant general responded, and then waved his big hand and said, "Go!" ”

"There are artillery all over the city, and they dare not come near, so we must catch up with them and delay them."

The cronie replied.

Yelu Zongzhen narrowed his eyes and said, "Continue to explore again." ”

The defenders of the city must have opened fire and drove the Song scouts away.

The sound of a desolate trumpet resounded through the firmament.

However, after years of exploration, Fan Zhongyan gradually summed up a lot of experience in the use of firearms tactics.

For a while, the Liao army was even more chaotic, and some stayed in place and did not move. Some of them pursued in a panic and instigated their horses. Others are overwhelmed and scurrying around like a swarm of headless flies.

Before the Song army attacked, the Liao army itself was already in chaos.

(End of chapter)