Fu Song

Chapter 139
Zuo Qiuming was already vigilant enough and reacted quickly enough, but he still miscalculated the speed at which the Guangrui army was advancing.

Zuo Qiuming, who had never dealt with the Guangrui Army before, compared the Guangrui Army with his own elite. In his opinion, he already looked up to Xiao Ding.Under such weather conditions and road conditions, it would take at least two to three days for Xiao An to appear in Yanzhou City.

Li Hao, who went to mobilize reinforcements, could arrive at Yanzhou City in at most five days after putting aside those cumbersome troop deployment procedures. In other words, the time left for Xiao Ding to attack Yanzhou City was at most one day.

From Zuo Qiuming's point of view, an experienced general like Xiao Ding will definitely leave enough time for himself to retreat, so that he can leave safely when things go wrong.

After all, there is no time to throw everything aside for a life-and-death duel.

But in just one day, the Guangrui army arrived at the city of Yanzhou.

Standing on the tower, looking at the flag of the Guangrui Army fluttering in the distance, Zuo Qiuming frowned into the word Sichuan.

It wasn't the vanguard of the opponent who came, but the main force.

Those fluttering flags have already explained everything.

Why is the marching speed of the Guangrui Army so fast?Zuoqiu Ming really couldn't figure it out.

But an obvious fact is that the time Xiao Ding used to attack Yanzhou City will be extended from one day to about three days.The pressure on Yanzhou City has doubled.

The army stationed in the city only had [-] infantry and [-] cavalry, which sounded like a lot, but spread over each section of the city wall, the number was pitifully small.

"Have you counted the young and strong recruits in the city?" He turned his head and looked at a person dressed as a civil servant beside him.

"Return to the general, and the count is out. There are men in their early [-]s between the ages of [-] and [-]." The civil official clasped his hands.

Zuo Qiuming nodded in satisfaction: "Choose [-] of the strongest and distribute them with knives and guns, and prepare to go up the city wall to help defend the city. Well, if there are those who are proficient in archery, they must be selected individually. The rest can't Scattered, ready to listen anytime."

"Yes!" The civil servant repeatedly agreed, turned around and hurriedly went down the city wall.

"General, let's go out and charge for a while to see how good the opponent is!" On the other side, a young general who was about [-] years old held his saber and stared at the flying Xiao flag in the distance.

The Guangrui Army is right under the nose of the opponent, camping in a grandiose manner.Generally speaking, at such a moment, they should send cavalry to approach the city to guard or threaten, and at the same time, they should use infantry to protect the soldiers who built the camp.

But the Guangrui Army did nothing, and just exposed the soldiers they built the camp to the eyes of everyone in Yanzhou City.

They had to set up camp before dark, otherwise the temperature would continue to drop at night and the cold would kill them.

If the cavalry went out of the city, at this distance, if they increased their speed, they would be able to rush to the front and slaughter them in a few breaths.

Is Xiao Ding so stupid?

Of course not.

The name of a man, the shadow of a tree, how could a general who won such a great reputation in the battle with the Liao people make such a mistake?

Then there is only one answer.

They are provocative.

And the confidence lies in the dark group of cavalry gathered on the left side of the camp.

Both sides understand this kind of war language.

For the soldiers of the Dingnan Army in Yanzhou City, this is blatant contempt.

Unlike the armies in other parts of the Great Song Dynasty, the Dingnan Army has never stopped the pace of war. Their combat effectiveness is definitely ranked among the top few in the current Great Song Dynasty army. Those Great Song garrisons on Shaanxi Road , in the eyes of the Ding Nan army, they are no different from a group of lambs.

It was precisely because of the strength of the current army of the Song Dynasty that Li Xu had the confidence and determination to rebel.

A fighting army is naturally proud and bloody.

Just like Guang Ruijun.

If such pride and bloodiness are lost, how can we talk about fighting power?
Zuo Qiuming turned his head and glanced at the generals on the left and right. Although the weather was very cold, everyone's faces were flushed. Even the ordinary soldiers seemed to be indifferent.

If you don't fight, I'm afraid it will be a heavy blow to the morale of the soldiers in the city.

"Pengju, take five hundred cavalry and attack from the west city." Zuo Qiuming pondered for a moment, and said to Guo Peng, the most powerful general under his command, who had just stepped forward: "If the opponent is really strong, you don't have to love to fight. Go around to the east city and enter the city!"

"Understood!" Guo Peng cupped his hands and said: "The general knows the importance, the city is short of troops, the general will never lose too many brothers for the sake of greed."

Bored, Xin Jian poked a snowdrift in front of him with a spear, leaving the snowdrift riddled with holes.The commander put up this battle in order to lure the enemies in the city to come out and fight.

After taking down Huamachi, Huimin Fort, Wanglejing and other places, and captured a large number of opponent's soldiers, they have thoroughly figured out the opponent's strength in Yanzhou City. The lack of troops is the opponent's death spot.

Being able to lure opponents out of the city, and then kill a batch of them, will be beneficial to the Guangrui army.

And at such a moment, those who dare to go out of the city must be the leaders of the opponent's army. It is much more cost-effective to kill a group of such guys in the field than to keep them to fight when the Guangrui army is attacking the city.

Although Xiao Ding is young, he is a veteran soldier who knows how to arouse the anger of his opponents.

He put on such a posture to force his opponent to jump in and test the water even though he knew it was a trap.

Morale is an invisible thing, but sometimes, it can really affect the trend of a war.

Before the Dingnan army came out, Xin Jian raised his head and looked at the city wall in the distance, thinking that this must be the enemy's idea of ​​the commander and made up his mind to be a turtle.

"Zhengjiang!" West, riding a long snow dragon, yelled loudly while galloping forward. "Enemy cavalry, enemy cavalry!"

While running and calling, he raised his arms high and made a gesture.

About five hundred rides!

Xin gradually understood.

Commander Xin Dao was indeed an old man on the battlefield. He estimated that there would be at most [-] horses in the city, and the opponent really came with [-] horses.

Exactly!

He jumped on the horse, raised his spear, and looked at the iron kites who jumped on the horse behind him.

It was an iron kite, not the cavalry of the headquarters of the Guangrui Army.

"If you ride the best horses and wear the best armor, you should be the bravest heroes!" Xin Jian shouted, "If you kill one enemy cavalry, you will be rewarded with money. If you kill three enemy cavalry, you will be promoted to a higher rank."

"Yo ho!"

Behind Xin Jian, five hundred armored iron kites cheered in unison.

They are the best among the iron harriers, so they are the first to have armor. Even the horses under their crotches are covered with leather armor. If the equipment on each person's body is converted into money, at least dozens of pieces.

And things like armor, even if you have money, you may not have a place to buy them.Even if Xiao Cheng had the father of the third envoy on his head, and Luo Gang used the name of the father of the Eastern Mansion, he only squeezed out [-] pairs on Shaanxi Road, and the rest were Guangruijun and Ding Nan Jun had a little stock, and then Tuoba Yangwei and Ren Duogui each contributed dozens of them to make up this much.

It takes too much time and effort to make a pair of armor.

Just like now Xiao Cheng owns iron mines in Hengshan, set up an iron smelting workshop, and recruited a large number of blacksmiths, but in a month, he can only make one or two armors, and the efficiency can be described as terrible. .

There are hundreds of thousands of iron pieces in a pair of armor, which are completely knocked out by hand, and then strung together one by one with cowhide ropes. These are not only hard work, but also require a lot of hands.It is impossible for Xiao Cheng to manufacture armor on a large scale at all.

Five hundred iron kites in armor are now in front of the Guangrui Army.You must know that even the cavalry of the Guangrui Army Headquarters are only wearing leather armor, with iron plates inlaid on their vital parts.

Similarly, as the Dingnan Army of the former imperial army of the Great Song Dynasty, their equipment was only in leather armor.

Cavalrymen wear leather armor, which is lighter and more flexible, and can support longer battles. After all, armor weighing dozens of catties is a heavy burden for both soldiers and horses.

It is impossible for them to run long distances in full armor.

But today's scene is exactly their forte.

Head-to-head confrontation, the tip of the needle against the wheat awn.

With a horse, Xin Jian rushed out first. For the newly formed iron kite, getting promoted and getting rich is still the most effective incentive. reward.

Five hundred strong riders flashed out from the corner of the west wall, shouting and galloping all the way.

It was said that there were only five hundred cavalry, but when the five hundred cavalry scattered and charged, the momentum was still extremely terrifying.

Under the leadership of Guo Peng, they rushed directly to the camp that Guangrui Army was building.

And what greeted them was a torrent of steel with only five hundred people.

On the city wall, when Zuo Qiuming first saw the iron cavalry flashing out of the Guangrui army camp, his eyes narrowed and he grabbed the handle of the knife at his waist. Leaning his upper body forward, he groaned slightly in pain.

He knows the goods.

He would never have imagined that there would be a heavy armored cavalry in Guangrui's army.

On such a small battlefield, light cavalry and heavy cavalry collided head-on, and one can imagine the fate.

He no longer thinks about victory or beheading, he just hopes that Guo Peng can bring a few more people back.

"Come on, bring up the archers and prepare to cover General Guo!" Zuo Qiuming shouted.

Guo Peng is not a reckless man. Seeing such a situation, he will definitely not get entangled with the enemy. It is his best choice to get rid of the opponent and escape.

On the city wall, rows of archers rushed up, and in the hole of the city gate, a dozen tall and round men were always ready to listen to the order to open the city gate so that Guo Peng and others could come in.

(End of this chapter)