Fenghou

Bao Wenyun said with a smile: "In fact, the installation of the battering ram is faster and easier. It only needs 500 people, and it can be installed in an hour."

"Is it that fast?"

"Because the battering ram does not need to be adjusted for accuracy, it only needs to be installed in place. We can complete the installation tomorrow morning."

"Also, on the basis of ensuring that all twenty trebuchets are completed, battering rams can be installed."

"The humble job can issue a military order to guarantee the completion of the task!"

……

Chen Qing returned to the commander's account, and immediately ordered his subordinates to bring all the generals above the command to the commander's account to discuss matters. After a while, more than 20 generals gathered together. Although the Western Army has more than [-] troops, most of the generals have military positions Low, for example, he currently has only six people in command, Yang Zaixing, Zheng Ping, Liu Cui, Gao Ding, Liu Qiong and Niu Gao, and there are less than thirty people in command.

On the one hand, Chen Qing has strict requirements, and he must have enough credit for promotion. On the other hand, it is also the most important point. He has subdivided military positions, such as commanders are divided into three levels, deputy commanders, commanders and senior officers. The same is true for command, command and control, even including the command of the capital, which is also three levels, and Chen Qing himself is only the commander of the upper army.

Another reason is culture. At the first level of control, both civil and military skills are required. Zhao Xiaoyi is at a disadvantage in terms of culture. Although he has very old qualifications, because he has too little literacy, he has been in the position of command.

"Everyone, although the Xixia army failed to harass tonight, if they come every night, we can't afford the enemy's repeated harassment. I think twice, we will start attacking the city tomorrow and use trebuchets directly."

"Excuse me, Dutong, is the stone throwing opportunity effective?" This is the general of the Qiang people, Ashali, who is asking.

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I'm not sure either, let's try it! If it doesn't work, go for the battering ram."

Yang Zaixing asked again: "What if the city wall is breached and the enemy breaks out?"

Chen Qing said slowly: "Brother Li Cha is more likely to break out of the siege. My opinion is not to block it hard, to minimize the casualties of our army, and use bows and crossbows to deal with them. If they break through successfully, let them go!"

Chen Qing said to Zhao Xiaoyi again: "Xiaoyi leads the rear army to prepare sandbags, we need at least 30 sandbags!"

"Humble job will be ready!"

Speaking of this, Chen Qing glanced at the generals again, and said solemnly: "Tomorrow is likely to be the last battle. I hope everyone cheer up and complete our mission of destroying Xixia!"

All the generals bowed together and said, "Never let Dutong down!"

Chapter 7: The Final Battle ([-])

In the early morning of the next day, there was loud drumming in the camp of the Song army, the gate of the west camp opened, and heavy trebuchets came out of the camp. Each trebuchet was two feet high and was huge, being pulled by several camels Walking slowly, followed by teams of soldiers on both sides.

Catapults followed one after another, and there were more and more soldiers, with banners flying and murderous looks.

The horns on the top of the city continued to sound, "Woo————" Xixia soldiers also rushed to the top of the city one after another, drawing their bows and arrows, and the situation was extremely tense.

Brother Li Cha also went to the top of the city. When he saw the heavy trebuchet of the Song Army, he couldn't help but gasped. He had never seen such a huge trebuchet. In the past, the Song Army could not transport such a trebuchet into Xixia, and Xixia itself could not. Unable to make it, this huge monster made all Xixia soldiers feel uneasy.

Brother Li Cha raised his arms and roared, "Strictly guard the city, and fight the Song army to the end!"

Xixia soldiers also raised their arms and shouted, "Fight to the death with the Song army!"

At this time, Brother Li Cha quietly retreated to the city, he took a token and handed it to the soldiers, "Go and order General Xiahou to get ready and break out from the north city gate!"

The soldiers flew away, and Brother Li Cha came to the Jinbing camp again. Han Chang's [-] Congregation Army and [-] Jurchen cavalry lived in the Jinbing camp. Brother Li Cha decided to defect to the Kingdom of Jin. You must follow him.

Brother Li Cha found Han Chang and said nervously: "The situation is not good. If the Song army breaks through the city, we will break through immediately."

Han Chang smiled lightly: "Is the prince so unconfident? Can the Song army break through the city in one battle?"

"Hey! The Song army has powerful siege weapons, but we don't have strong defensive weapons. We really lack confidence, so we should prepare first."

Han Chang nodded, "I'm going to Beicheng, right!"

"Exactly! I will send two rockets as a signal, and the iron kite will break out of the encirclement, and we will follow behind."

"I see, my lord, go ahead and prepare for the battle!"

Brother Li Cha left in a hurry, and the commander-in-chief Wan Yan Yimu worried: "20 troops are besieging the city, can we break out?"

Han Chang pondered for a while and said: "I have fought against Chen Qing for many years, and I have gradually figured out some of his ways. My intuition tells me that he will let Brother Li Cha break through."

……

The barracks of the Song Army had been dismantled, and the surrounding area of ​​Xingqing City had become a snow-capped wilderness. Hundreds of thousands of Song troops lined up in the wilderness outside the western city wall, with spears like forests and banners like clouds.

In front of the team were twenty heavy-duty trebuchets. This kind of heavy-duty trebuchet could throw a huge boulder weighing a hundred catties two hundred steps away. Of course, it could also throw fire oil, but today the Song army's goal was the city wall.

There is a huge baffle in front of each heavy-duty catapult, which is to prevent the crossbow arrows of the Xixia defenders from shooting. At a distance of two hundred steps, the crossbow arrows on the top of the city can completely shoot and kill the soldiers manipulating the catapult.

Soldiers and craftsmen of the Song Army were busy preparing. Dozens of soldiers pushed the huge winch together. The iron chain creaked and pulled down the thick throwing pole. piece.

Chen Qing looked at the top of the wall and shouted: "Launch!"

Twenty heavy trebuchets were fired at the same time, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" With a series of projection sounds, a 20-yuan boulder rose into the air and smashed towards the city wall of Xingqing Mansion.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The 20 yuan boulder smashed hard on the city wall, making a dull sound. At the same time, thousands of arrows were fired from the top of the city, and dense crossbow bolts were fired at the trebuchet.

Twenty giant baffles are like twenty shields, blocking most of the crossbow arrows, and the other crossbow bolts pass over the head of the catapult, even if they hit the catapult, it will have no effect. As for manipulating the soldiers, their The position is very low, they can't be seen from the top of the city, and the crossbow arrows can't hit them.

The second round of trebuchet was launched, and another 20 yuan boulder roared and smashed against the city wall, and finally hit the city wall hard.

Brother Li Cha sneered, Xingqing Mansion was built with big blue bricks, very strong, what's the use of smashing it with huge stones?

"My lord, the city wall is cracked!"

The soldiers shouted one after another, and saw that the city wall was cracked, and the cracks were spreading rapidly, and the soldiers were so frightened that they dodged one after another.

Brother Li Cha looked at the city wall with his head, and was stunned for a moment, the city wall was full of cracks, each one was as wide as a fist, and the widest crack was already a foot long, from the foot of the city to the top of the city, it was particularly dazzling.

how is this possible?Brother Li Cha couldn't believe it. After only two rounds of boulders hitting the wall, did such a wide crack appear?

At this time, the third round of the Song Army's trebuchet was launched, and another 20 yuan boulder was thrown, "Boom! Boom!" There was a dull loud noise on the city wall, and the city wall began to shake. In the collapsed cracks.

Fortunately, it was mainly the ground at the top of the city that collapsed, and the wall collapsed not seriously, only about three feet down, and the soldiers on the top of the city ran away one after another.

The Song army continued to launch boulders, and the cracks in the city wall became more and more large. The entire city wall was riddled with holes, but the frame did not collapse, and it still lacked a fatal blow.

Chen Qing stared at it for a moment, then ordered: "Use fire oil to attack the top of the city, and prepare to fill the moat!"

The Song army changed its attack method, and huge fire oil tanks were thrown out, falling on the city wall or on the top of the city, and raging fires ignited both above and below the city.

The Xixia city guards couldn't stay still anymore and began to retreat to both sides. Fire oil tanks kept throwing fire, and [-] Song cavalry rushed out. Each cavalry carried three bags of soil. Many boulders had piled up in the moat. The cavalry threw bags of sand directly over the boulders.

The [-] cavalry continued to shuttle and transport the soil. After running three times, they filled up a section of the moat about [-] feet long.

"Ugh-"

A low-pitched horn sounded, and a gigantic beast appeared behind the trebuchet. A five-foot-tall battering ram appeared, and a huge wooden frame with eight pairs of giant wooden wheels on the lower floor was slowly pulled by thirty camels. walk.

In the middle of the wooden frame is hung a four-foot-long battering ram head by a thick iron chain. It is made of a jujube trunk with a diameter of one meter and weighs ten thousand catties. Power enough to destroy the world.

It took two years to make this battering ram, and it took a year just to find the body of the ram. Finally, a jujube tree king with hundreds of years was found in Wonju, and the trunk of this monster was made. battering ram.

Not only the Xixia soldiers on the top of the city were stunned, but even the soldiers of the Song Army were also shocked to see this huge battering ram pass by them.

The fire on the top of the city was still burning. The soldiers of Xixia watched desperately as the giant beast approached the city wall step by step, but they could do nothing. Nearly 2 people had gathered under the west city, ready to desperately resist the attack of the Song army.

The battering ram is walking rumblingly. Thirty soldiers are standing on the base. The body of the battering ram is fixed from below by iron chains to prevent it from swinging during the march. Thousands of soldiers of the Song army follow on both sides and behind it, and everyone holds it high. shield.

The battering ram was getting closer and closer, and 150 steps away from the city wall, the Song army began to untie the camels and pull the camels back to the camp, turning into thousands of people pushing the battering rams together to move on.

There were only a hundred steps away from the city wall. At this time, thousands of arrows were fired in the city. A cloud of arrows like a dark cloud crossed the burning city head and shot at the giant beast. , or hide behind the giant wheel.

The battering ram was filled with arrows, but it had no stopping effect, and the battering ram was still rolling forward.

The giant wheel ran over the moat, and the sandbags underneath were a bit soft, causing the wheels to sink downwards. "Hold! One, two, three!" Thousands of people struggled to lift up, and the first pair of front wheels finally passed the moat, and the front end of the chassis immediately held up. the city wall.

"Ready to start!"

The soldiers on the chassis took off the fixed iron chains, jumped off the chassis, and pulled up the iron chains one by one. The soldiers behind rushed forward and pulled the iron chains together. At this time, the arrows could not be shot from under the city wall. , Hundreds of soldiers struggled to pull the four iron chains, and the battering ram was slowly pulled back.

"Relax!" A commander yelled, and the soldiers let go at the same time. The thick battering ram was like a pendulum, and the head of the hammer was shining with cold light, and it slammed into the city wall...

Chapter 7 Chapter Three: The Final Battle ([-])

With 'Boom! ' With a loud bang, the wall in front of the battering ram collapsed as if its backbone had been smashed, the sky was filled with dust, the fire was extinguished, and the soldiers of the Song Army retreated one after another, and the smoke and dust made people breathless.

But the dust dissipated slightly, and the city wall collapsed for nearly a mile, and the buildings inside appeared before everyone's eyes. If buried with masonry and sand, the hammer body will not be damaged, and the value is not worth much. The key is the hammer body and iron chain, which will generally not be damaged.

Chen Qing waved his sword and shouted: "The city wall has collapsed, go into the city!"

"Kill!"

An army of one hundred thousand rushed forward like a raging wave like a sea. At this time, thousands of arrows were fired in the city, and [-] Xixia soldiers rushed up. The soldiers of the Song Army who followed the battering ram resisted with shields and laid planks on the moat.

Liu Cui led [-] infantry soldiers to the ruins of the city wall first, and fought fiercely with the [-] Xixia soldiers who intercepted them.

Brother Li Cha's heart was already cold, he said to his soldiers: "Fire gunpowder arrows!"

The soldiers fired two gunpowder arrows, and in the sky 'pop! The explosion exploded, and Brother Li Cha led 1 confidant cavalry to the north city gate. At the north city gate, [-] iron kite cavalry had already assembled, and [-] golden soldiers also arrived. There are hundreds of carriages, including brother Richard and the family members of the main generals, princes and concubines, as well as officials, dignitaries and their families who support brother Richard.

A total of [-] troops were ready to break through, accounting for half of the city's troops. The other half of the troops rushed to the east city to resist the Song army's attack. The south and west gates were empty. The [-] Song army was led by Gao Ding. It has already entered through the south gate.

The northern city slowly opens, towards the suspension bridge, the front army is the iron harrier, the iron harrier is the heavy armored cavalry, just like the Iron Buddha in the Kingdom of Jin, it is the most mysterious and powerful army in Xixia, but unfortunately limited by national power, There were only [-] cavalry in total.

It is most suitable to break through, Xia Houliang shouted, "Rush out!"

The three thousand iron kite cavalry suddenly mobilized and rushed out of the city. The Song army on both sides fired arrows at random, but they could not penetrate the armor of the cavalry and horses. The three thousand iron kites rushed forward like a strong wind. Behind them were three The thousand female real iron cavalry, followed by Brother Li Cha's 1 cavalry, led by Shang Dongyan, the commander of the capital.

The last was the [-] Congregation Army led by Han Chang. The Congregation Army was infantry, and the others were cavalry. Among them, Shang Dongyan's cavalry had hundreds of carriages mixed in.

Outside the northern city was the [-] Song Army led by Liu Qiong. They did not stop them, but only symbolically fired arrows at the enemy troops breaking out from both sides. After paying the price of more than a thousand casualties, the Xixia army successfully broke through and turned to the direction of the Henan grassland. go……

Nancheng, Xicheng and Beicheng also killed a large number of Song troops. 18 Song troops surrounded more than 3 Xixia soldiers standing on both sides of the ruins of the city wall. The Xixia soldiers who were about to fight to the end collapsed instantly, dropping their weapons and surrendering one after another.

There were still thousands of guard soldiers who did not surrender and fought stubbornly. They were finally wiped out by the Song army's [-] crossbowmen and [-] throwing military storm-like crossbow arrows and dense flying spears.

This is why Han Chang judged that Chen Qing would let them break through in the end. Letting them break out could greatly reduce the casualties of the soldiers of the Song Army. To annihilate the enemy, Chen Qing would have to pay the price of at least 7 soldiers killed in battle, but that was an ideal state, and it was more likely that the price would be more than 5.

But no matter whether it was 3 or 5, it was unbearable for Chen Qing. He had already paid the price of more than 5 soldiers killed in battle. If this number became [-] or [-], how would he explain it to the people in Sichuan and Shaanxi?

So after Brother Li Cha was released, the remaining soldiers would no longer have the will to resist, and a large-scale surrender could be achieved.

The prisoners of war were taken away, and the Song army immediately imposed martial law throughout the city. No one was allowed to go to the streets, but soldiers were also not allowed to come and rob. Chen Qing needed to deal with some people accurately and quickly, that is, the royal family, foreign relatives, officials, and literati of Xixia , generals, wealthy families, although Brother Li Cha has already helped him deal with a batch, and took away another batch, there are not many people left, but it is still not enough, and the remaining people must not be let go.

From the Jin Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the handling of all foreign races would lead to great chaos in the end. Either it would turn into a military disaster that disrupted the Central Plains, or it would become independent and become a cancer of the central dynasty. The fundamental reason is that these foreign princes and nobles have survived, and their culture has also been preserved , has never been Sinicized, and has always formed an independent kingdom on the land of the Central Plains. When the Central Plains was in chaos, they took the opportunity to rebel.

So killing their leaders and nobles, obliterating their culture, leaving only ordinary people, and then scattered all over the Central Plains, this is the long-term way.

Although it was a bit cruel at the beginning, when it is time to be cruel, you must not have the kindness of a woman.

Chen Qing ordered Wang Duo, the commander of the upper army, to lead [-] soldiers to carry out this mission. According to the list drawn out by Cao Baozong, they searched from house to house. Women and boys under ten years old were allowed to be spared. There were more than [-] men in total. , All young and old were taken away, and they were nowhere to be found again. Only one thousand guan was left for the left-behind women to support their families, and everything above [-] guan was confiscated.

It was not until dawn the next day that the biggest hidden danger was dealt with. Even if there were still some fish that slipped through the net, it would not be too harmful. We will gradually deal with it in the future. As long as eyeliners are placed among the party members, these fish that slipped through the net will be gone I can't stand the big waves.

Of course, Xixia did not perish. Brother Li Cha led the remnant forces to escape to Datong Mansion. More importantly, they would definitely bring all the Dangxiang nomadic tribes along the way to Datong Mansion.

After dawn, the Song army lifted the martial law in the whole city, and began to post safety notices everywhere, and cooked porridge on the main streets to relieve the victims.

There are only hundreds of eunuchs and maids left in the Western Xia Palace. The prince and concubine followed Brother Li Cha to escape. As for the emperor Li Qianshun, no one knew his whereabouts. I know, maybe he is still in Brother Li Cha's hands, maybe he has been secretly executed.

But these are not important to Chen Qing, and Chen Qing doesn't care either. What he wants is Xixia's land and wealth, and destroys the knife hanging above his head. Without Xixia's strategic containment in the north, his army can Concentrate on moving east.

Historically, the Northern Song Dynasty was unable to defeat the Liao State repeatedly. A big reason was that Xixia had strategically contained the Northern Song Dynasty. Without Xixia, there would be a huge confidant problem missing.

Chen Qing took a nap in the palace, just woke up, and washed his face a little. At this time, Hu Yanyun walked over quickly and handed a booklet to Chen Qing, "This is the inventory of the warehouse, except for grain, pig iron, Except for copper ingots, wood, sheepskin, medicinal materials, and dyes, there is no other cloth and silk. It is said that except for the cloth and silk that were given to the Kingdom of Jin and captured by us, the rest were rewarded by Brother Richard to the soldiers."

"Where's the money?" Chen Qing glanced at the inventory and asked again.

"There are still 20 taels of silver, which have not been taken away. There may be hundreds of thousands of copper coins, which are currently being counted. Good china and precious ivory furs and expensive furniture, etc., are still being counted."

Chen Qing nodded, "Give them ten taels of silver each for the maids and eunuchs in the palace, let them go home, and let them take away their personal belongings."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

"It's all done, and this imperial palace is also completely demolished. It's good to use these timbers to build government buildings and schools."

"Understandable!"

Hu Yanyun left in a hurry, Chen Qing got up and left the palace. Just after he left the palace, he met Yang Zaixing head-on.

"General Yang, please speak!"

"Xiaozhi received the news from the scouts that Brother Li Cha took away all the Dangxiang tribes on the Henan grassland. I asked for instructions whether to chase after them and take back the cattle and sheep."

Chen Qing shook his head, "It's going to be a blizzard soon, it's more dangerous to chase, let them go!"

That night, a blizzard swept from the north, from Dingzhou to Mingsha County, the entire land of Xixia was shrouded in a blizzard.

Chapter 7 Chapter Four Disposal

At noon, the snow was still falling, but it was already much smaller. The fields, roofs, treetops, and streets were covered with thick snow. Children started to come out to play and have snowball fights on the street. They were suppressed by fear all the time. The city finally had laughter, and it was for this reason that the adults did not call the children home to let the laughter last longer.