Fenghou

"what?"

Tuoba Chengqing hesitated for a moment and said: "A soldier who fled back said that Chen Qing might be commanding the battle at the top of the city."

"Ah!" Cao Baozong was completely stunned.

……

After capturing Tongxi City, the Song Army transferred all grain and grass materials to Tongxi Fort.

Soon, Yang Zaixing stared at Xinxia City again.

Xinxia City is not so much a castle as it is a slab-walled barracks. The city wall is rammed with mud and wood. In just two months, it is impossible to build a masonry city wall.

In fact, many cities in the Western Regions and grasslands were made of mud. Xinxia City was so thick that it could barely be regarded as a military city, but this kind of city wall would collapse in a few years.

Xinxia City is relatively small, with a circumference of only eight miles, and there are [-] garrisons inside, mainly storing grain. Before, there were [-] shi of grain stored, and now there are only half of them left.

In the afternoon, in the woods more than a dozen miles north of Xinxia City, nine thousand cavalry were resting, and Yang Zaixing was discussing with Liu Qiong how to attack Xinxia City.

The walls of Xinxia City are as thick as ten feet. It is impossible to use rams to break open like in Tongxi County. The gate is also made of thick wooden doors, but it is much thinner than the city wall, so ramming the gate is one way.

However, Liu Qiong discovered another shortcoming of Xinxia City, that is, the city wall is not high, estimated to be less than two feet, it is made of rammed earth, it cannot be raised high, and it is easy to collapse.

Isn't it easy to go to the city if it is less than two feet?

"The siege gate is inappropriate!"

Liu Qiong pondered for a while and said: "The other party is a mud wall. How to fix the city gate is a big problem. It seems easy to break open, but maybe it's the opposite."

Yang Zaixing smiled and said: "It's not difficult to fix the city gate, as long as two thick logs are buried deep in the ground, the city gate can be fixed on these two logs, but the problem is not here, the problem is that the enemy defenders Basically, they are concentrated on both sides of the city gate, and our attack on the city gate will cause some unnecessary casualties."

Speaking of this, Yang Zaixing added: "I'm not saying that there can be no casualties in wars, that's impossible, but unnecessary casualties are best avoided as much as possible."

Liu Qiong nodded, "General Yang is right, but if I were the general of the enemy army, I would build a second defensive wall with thick mud bags behind the city gate, so that even if the Song army broke through the city gate It doesn't make sense either, I think it's easier to attack the top of the city, or attack the city at night, so that the Xixia army can't defend against it."

Yang Zaixing and Liu Qiong have reached a consensus to give up attacking the city gate and attack the enemy's city wall.

Yang Zaixing said excitedly: "The enemy's troops are only 2000, and the maximum number of patrols at night is 1000, and the main force is concentrated at the city gate, so there are only a hundred or so patrolling in the east city at most. Let's go up first with 300 people and occupy a city. You can keep killing them.”

Speaking of this, Yang Zaixing said with a smile: "Let me lead three hundred elites to the city!"

"It should be my turn this time!"

Liu Qiong's eyes widened. Although he was only a lieutenant general, he refused to give in this time. Every time Yang Zaixing got the chance to attack, he seemed to never have such a chance.

The two argued for a while, but both refused to give in, so Yang Zaixing could only resentfully said: "Then use the old method, draw lots to decide, two wooden branches, one long and the other short, and the long one will be drawn to the city."

Yang Zaixing got up and went to a small tree not far away to break two branches. When he came back, he spread his palms to show Liu Qiong, "That's right! One is long and the other is short."

Yang Zaixing immediately turned his back, pinched the lower part of the branch, held it up to Liu Qiong and said with a smile, "You smoke it! The one that grows is yours."

Liu Qiong looked at it for a while, and pulled out the left one. He was suddenly surprised that it was a short branch. He was so annoyed that he threw the wooden branch on the ground bitterly, trampling on it and breaking it.

Yang Zaixing laughed loudly, "You smoked it yourself, you can't blame me, it's in my hands, I didn't cheat."

Yang Zaixing showed Liu Qiong the long branch, but quickly stuffed a short branch into his sleeve with his left hand.

"Okay! You go to the city, and I'll cover you." Liu Qiong had no choice but to say.

……

Chapter 463

Night shrouded Xinxia City, and Xixia soldiers on the top of the city were patrolling back and forth, looking out of the city vigilantly.

Yang Zaixing led [-] elite soldiers gradually approaching the east wall. The city gate was on the west wall, and the east wall was on the back wall. There were not many soldiers on the city wall, only a hundred or so patrolling.

Yang Zaixing still chose the northeast corner of the city, which is a two-way zone with the least number of patrolling soldiers.

At the same time that Yang Zaixing led [-] elite troops to approach the northeast corner of the city, Liu Qiong also led [-] main soldiers to slowly approach the east city.

In addition, Liu Qiong also deployed a thousand soldiers to block the city gate, and deployed a thousand soldiers to ambush on the official road to the south, preventing a single enemy soldier from escaping.

The construction time of these military cities is too short, and there is no time to build beacon towers. For the time being, the camp can only be notified by means of eagle letters or cavalry reports.

The Song Army also thought of this, so the Song Army chose to attack at night, so that neither the eagle letter nor the pigeon letter could be sent.

A sentry stood on the northeast corner, and Yang Zaixing hid behind a big rock. 'It hit the sentry's throat, and the sentry fell from the top of the city holding his throat.

"There is an enemy!"

Suddenly a few Xixia soldiers stood up from the corner, shouting loudly.

"Damn it!" Yang Zaixing cursed secretly, he never thought that there were still people hiding and sleeping in the corner.

"dash forward!"

Yang Zaixing shouted, and three hundred soldiers rushed towards the city wall carrying five simple wooden ladders.

Yang Zaixing shot three consecutive arrows in one breath, and three Xixia soldiers who were shouting were hit by the arrows and fell down one after another. Yang Zaixing picked up his spear and charged towards the city.

'when!when!when! '

Alarm bells rang loudly on the top of the city, and the patrolling soldiers on the north and east walls rushed towards the northeast corner one after another.

The Song army had already boarded the wooden ladder and rushed to the top of the city first. Ten soldiers guarded the ladder, and the Xixia patrol soldiers also rushed up from the north, and a fierce battle broke out in an instant.

"You build a human ladder!"

Yang Zaixing ordered several soldiers to build a human ladder. He climbed a few steps on the human ladder, jumped to the top of the wall, and stabbed the Xixia soldiers rushing to the east with his spear like a storm. In the blink of an eye, seven or eight soldiers were all throat He was shot and fell to the ground.

Yang Zaixing blocked the patrolling soldiers on the east side of the city, and gave the soldiers of the Song Army a precious respite. Immediately, more than a dozen soldiers rushed to the city and joined the fierce battle.

The Xixia soldiers in the whole city were alarmed, and groups of soldiers rushed towards the east wall.

Liu Qiong led a main force of [-] to kill quickly from a mile away.

The Song army has rushed to the top of the city with more than 150 people, and they are inseparable from the two hundred patrol soldiers. The Xixia army is also very powerful and full of resilience.

Not long after, all three hundred soldiers went to the top of the city, and the number of Xixia soldiers on the top of the city also increased to 500. Arrows rained like rain, and the shouts of killing shook the sky. Neither side refused to retreat. They erected dozens of simple wooden ladders and quickly climbed to the top of the city.

Song soldiers swarmed up the city, more and more, "Follow me!" Yang Zaixing shouted, leading two thousand soldiers, rushed down the city wall, entered the city, and met a thousand Xixia soldiers who came from the barracks head-on, and the two armies fought again. Fight together.

Although it was night, the soldiers on both sides were easily recognizable. The helmets of the Xixia soldiers were mainly ox horn helmets with two horns, which were easy to identify.

As more and more soldiers of the Song Army participated in the battle, the Song Army had an absolute advantage, and the enemy was retreating steadily. Soon, another Song Army came behind them, attacking back and forth. This Xixia Song Army could hardly escape. .

The west city gate has been opened, and many Xixia soldiers fled to the outside of the city, but they were attacked by a thousand Song soldiers outside the city who fired arrows, and hundreds of soldiers who rushed out of the city fell down one after another.

The battle ended after only half an hour. All 200 Xixia soldiers were killed, including more than [-] soldiers who escaped from the city. No one escaped from the two interception lines set up by the Song army.

Next, the Song army cleaned up the battlefield, moved the grain, and moved the [-] shi of grain in the city to a ravine more than ten miles away to hide it.

Song Jun then filled the soil with sacks and piled them neatly in the warehouse, pretending to be grain, but covering the surface with a thin layer of grain.

Yang Zaixing led hundreds of people to dig a big pit at the foot of Dongcheng, covered it with wooden boards, and then covered it with a thick layer of soil, so that it was completely impossible to see that there was another big pit below.

But this was not enough, and a tunnel was dug outside the city, leading directly to the big pit. Even if the big pit was discovered by the enemy, the soldiers in the pit could escape through the tunnel. The tunnel exit was set in a narrow gap, which was not easy to be found.

The army was busy all night and morning before everything was done. The army rested for an afternoon. Yang Zaixing left Tang Qian and led a thousand cavalry to continue monitoring Xinxia City, waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

Under the leadership of Yang Zaixing and Liu Qiong, [-] cavalry left Xinxia City and headed north to Xinqing City. Yang Zaixing's task was to concentrate his forces to defeat the supply army cities along the way, behead all the enemy troops along the way, and at the same time rob food and grass. supplies.

Finally, when the enemy army crossed the Yellow River, they attacked halfway.

……

There were only 4000 people left in the Xixia Army, and half of the army was killed by the Song Army in World War I. It was unacceptable for anyone to change.

The Xixia soldiers complained, and everyone was dissatisfied. All the dissatisfaction was concentrated on the coach Cao Baozong. All the generals found that the coach had no real skills, and he was completely inexperienced.

The cognition of the generals was passed on to the soldiers, so that all the soldiers lost confidence in future battles, and the call for withdrawal was loud.

At this moment, coach Cao Baozong fell ill.

In a large tent, five main generals of the Xixia Army gathered together to discuss what to do next.

These five commanders all came from various military divisions. They are not ignorant of marching and fighting, but they have been watching Cao Baozong's jokes before, until now they find that the problem is serious. Maybe they will lose their lives In Longxi County, these five people began to worry.

They all realized that if Cao Baozong's plan were to withdraw to the north, the entire army would be wiped out. This was something they could not accept anyway. Cao Baozong refused to change, so only they changed.

A commanding officer said bitterly: "He must not be sick, it must be that he doesn't know what to do in the future? Just find an excuse to escape."

Deputy General Tuoba Chengqing waved his hand, "Whether he is really sick or pretending to be sick, it doesn't matter now. We can no longer expect him to lead us out of the predicament. We can only rely on ourselves. Let's talk about it!"

Everyone looked at the commanding army Xia Lian. Although he was not a lieutenant general, he had the oldest qualifications and rich combat experience. However, he was also an old man in the officialdom and didn't want to take the responsibility on himself, so he kept silent and didn't interfere with Cao Baozong's affairs. any decision.

Now, he couldn't keep silent any longer.

Xia Lian sighed and said slowly: "Now the situation is very clear. There will never be only a few thousand Song troops in the city, there should be tens of thousands, including Chen Qing's main force must also be in the city. Now their strength should have surpassed ours. Actually What I am worried about is not the Song Army in the city, but Xinxia City, Tongxi City and other places. I don't believe that Chen Qing didn't attack them? If the Song Army occupies the military city, we will be in big trouble."

The construction of these logistical military cities along the way is also the most criticized place by the generals. It sounds good to be called step by step, but in fact it is tasteless and unrealistic at all.

The military city is dilapidated and low, with few troops, and it can't resist the attack of the Song army at all. The Song army can completely concentrate its forces to defeat them one by one.

I really don't know why Cao Baozong built them. If he is worried about the lack of logistics, he should bring more food supplies and the grain for the first half of the year. Could it be that Longxi County can't be conquered in half a year?

Isn't the construction of these military cities just to send food and supplies to the Song army in vain?

"General Xia means that these military cities have become our hindrance?"

Xia Lian nodded, "Let's talk about Xinxia City! It happens to be guarded on the official road, and our army can bypass it, but what about the luggage? We can't get through the luggage. If we can't attack the city, we have to give up the luggage. Without food and grass, if we We are blocked halfway, how long can we hold on?"

There was silence in the big tent. Everyone knew that the consequences would be serious. There were several valleys along the way, and it was indeed easy to be blocked by the Song army.

Tuoba Chengqing thought for a while and said, "Before Shang Dongyan suggested to kill Qinzhou, what did Xia Tongjun think?"

Xia Lian still shook his head, "If we had an army of [-], we could go to Qinzhou, but if we go now, we will definitely end up dead."

"Then what should we do now?" Everyone was anxious.

Xia Lian said unhurriedly: "You can retreat to the west and go to Lintao Mansion!"

Chapter 464 Mutiny

Cao Baozong did fall ill, but it was just a heart disease. He realized that he had been fooled and sent [-] troops in vain, which made him feel remorse, anger, worry, and fear.

The regret is that he shouldn't have trusted the intelligence of the Qinzhou spies. He still hasn't understood why he failed, but put the blame on the wrong information.

Anger is Chen Qing's insidious and cunning, setting a trap to let himself fall. If he knew that Chen Qing was in the city, he would never attack the city like this. Why didn't he know that Chen Qing was in Longxi County?Because the intelligence said that Chen Qing would lead the army to set off on the fifth day of February, so the intelligence was still wrong, and it was not his responsibility.

The worry is that he doesn't know how to retreat. He is very worried that the scene last year will repeat itself, and their entire army was wiped out halfway.

I was afraid that he was afraid that the emperor Li Qianshun would be angry and kill himself. If the whole army was wiped out again, how would he explain to the emperor when he went back?

It was this mentality of worrying about gains and losses, coupled with the huge pressure of failure, that Cao Baozong couldn't bear it mentally, and he simply fell down and pretended to be sick.

The big tent was very quiet. Cao Baozong was lying on the bed with a pale face, his eyes were sunken and lifeless, and his lips were bloodless.

The soldiers put wax on his face, the effect was very good, at least Tuoba Chengqing was fooled into thinking that he was really seriously ill.

Tuoba Chengqing sat beside him, took out a joint letter and said: "Everyone knows that the general is ill and unable to make a decision, so our five generals in charge of the army had a temporary discussion and reached a consensus to withdraw the troops. Let's take a look at this plan. Can the general agree?"

This is actually five people forcing the palace. If Cao Baozong refuses to accept their plan, then they will take some extraordinary measures. Cao Baozong may be seriously ill and die tonight.

The Xixia Army has always only recognized strength. Children from aristocratic families like Cao Baozong have no foundation in the army, no confidant generals and direct troops. No major general will tolerate him anymore.

Cao Baozong just has no actual combat experience and is easy to talk about wars on paper, but he is not stupid, and he is extremely smart, otherwise the emperor Li Qianshun would not be deceived by his rhetoric and sent him to be the chief general.

Cao Baozong immediately understood what the other party meant, and these generals had already left him alone and made their own decisions.

He was secretly vigilant in his heart, and asked quietly: "Tell me about the plan?"

"Everyone has unanimously decided that the army will withdraw to Lintao Prefecture and occupy Didao County, or return to Lanzhou from Lintao Prefecture."

Cao Baozong was stunned, and immediately asked anxiously: "Leaving from Lintao, what about the military cities in the north?"

Tuoba Chengqing remained silent and did not answer his questioning.

Cao Baozong stayed for a while, then sighed, "What about the luggage?"

"The luggage is also carried together, but the siege weapons do not need to be carried, which will drag us down."

Cao Baozong pretended to be very weak and said: "I'm very sick and can't make a decision anymore, you just make a decision, don't tell me any more!"

"Understood, the general will take good care of his illness, and we will send troops to escort the general."

Tuoba Chengqing turned and left.

When the opponent walked away, Cao Baozong struggled to sit up and yelled, "This is a mutiny! I want to sue the emperor. It was the bastards' obedience and violation that made the soldiers unwilling to attack the city with all their strength, which led to the defeat."

Cao Baozong's mind suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He finally found the real reason for the defeat. It was not wrong for him to send [-] troops to attack the city, but his generals secretly disobeyed his orders and made the soldiers refuse to work hard. It was too late to take it down, which led to heavy casualties in the end.

Aware of this, Cao Baozong immediately said to several soldiers: "Pack up your things, we will leave as soon as it gets dark."