Fu Song

Chapter 362 The Raiders Stand Out
Zheng Xiong really wanted his opponent to come out of town.

The army of the Song Dynasty, because of years of accumulation, has considerable experience in defending the city.The enemies facing him were, after all, once part of the Song army.

In this world, the most difficult things to fight are not those so-called super big cities. The bigger the city, the more people guarding it, it also means that it will have more loopholes. As long as you look for it patiently, or even try your best to create it, There are always opportunities.

But a purely military stronghold like Shentangbao is the last place the generals are willing to attack.

Because there is only one purpose for the existence of such a fortress, and that is to fight. All his designs are designed to effectively kill and injure the attacking enemy.

To capture such a military fortress, the price to be paid is too high.

But if he wanted to defeat the Western Army and set foot on Hengshan Mountain, Shentang Fort had to be taken down.

The large-scale siege trebuchet from the Jingshi Craftsman Camp opened Zheng Xiong's horizons.

This is the first time he has seen this kind of counterweight trebuchet, and it is also the first time he has seen a trebuchet that can throw hundreds of catties of boulders to such a long distance.

Although the accuracy is still questionable, and the firing speed is extremely slow, as long as one hits, the damage to the enemy will be extremely considerable.

Of the two hits earlier, one directly destroyed half of the city gate of Shentang Castle, and the other smashed a horse wall and the front battlements to pieces. Perhaps a huge monster has appeared on the city wall. Crack, and a few more hits, maybe the city wall can be smashed down.

The enemy is bound to come out. If they don't try to destroy this large trebuchet and let the Song army continue to smash it outside, they will eventually smash down the city wall.

There are only more than [-] defenders in the city.

No matter how lucky you are, you will end up with one death and one less.

As long as they are willing to come out, it is always better than staying in the city wall to deal with the attackers.

Zheng Xiong set up a trap, and then sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, waiting for the defenders in the city to come out.

Sure enough, the enemy came out.

Even though they knew very well that what was waiting for them ahead was a trap, they still had to jump in.

Five hundred people!
Five hundred people in full armor.

That equipment made Zheng Xiong a little jealous.

Even Ban Zhi in front of the emperor is probably at this level, Xiao Ding is really willing to spend the money.

Large shields on the outside, long spears in the back row, and then crossbowmen, a fairly satisfactory offensive lineup.

The Song army under the city dodged a road that led directly to the huge trebuchet.

A concave-shaped lineup was placed in front of the west army out of the city.

Are you coming, or not?
I'm here, I'm afraid I won't be able to go back.

If you don't come, you can only watch me slowly smashing you, cooking the frog on a low fire can still slowly boil you to death.

"The Western Army is fierce and brave. They never see anyone in their eyes. They will definitely rush over." Under the banner of the Chinese Army, Zheng Xiong said to the captain next to him with a smile.

"As long as they come, their whole body will be made of iron, and they will be smoothed layer by layer!" said the captain in charge of the flag.

"It's thanks to this trebuchet! Otherwise, Li Yi has been stuck in the city, and I really can't do anything about him for a while." Zheng Xiong looked at the huge machine in front of him: "The craftsman camp in the capital is still here after all." The most brilliant craftsmen in the world don't know how many good things are hidden in the imperial city."

"Li Yi is just one of Xiao Ding's personal soldiers, with little knowledge, how can he be your opponent, General!" The captain in charge of the flag flattered him.

Zheng Xiong held his beard and said nothing, he didn't compare Li Yi with Li Yi, how can he say that he is also a Jinshi and has led the army for many years, the word Confucianism is not bad at all when he puts it on himself.

The five hundred western troops were indeed struggling.

Every step forward will cost a few lives.

Their goal was about a hundred steps before the trebuchet.

At this point, they can use the ballista to shoot out the deadly weapon.

The eight-ox crossbow has an effective range of [-] steps, but it is a pity that the eight-ox crossbow cannot be moved at all.But this kind of easy-to-move ballista has a range of only about one hundred steps, while that damn huge trebuchet has a range of more than eight hundred steps.

The Western Army had to use their lives to escort the ballista within range.

Forward, and forward.

The formation was getting thinner and thinner.

But they are getting closer and closer.

Zheng Xiong stood up and narrowed his eyes, he saw the ballista in that team.

What can a ballista do?
Zheng Xiong didn't know.

But since the Western Army has to pay such a high price to rely on it, there must be a reason for them.

"Stop them, don't let them go any further!" Zheng Xiong said coldly.

The flag was waved, and more Song troops piled up densely.

At this time, the formation of the Western Army suddenly changed. The previous square army became a conical offensive lineup. Feeling uncomfortable for a while, the Western Army immediately rushed in a dozen steps.

enough!

The ballista player waved his mallet and slammed it heavily on the bracket of the ballista.

Thunderbolt with burning sparks flew towards the huge guy a hundred steps away.

To be on the safe side, Li Yi tied the two Thunderbolts together.

He only has three Thunderbolts in total.

The thick crossbow with two shocking thunders was inserted into the huge base of the trebuchet with a snap, and everyone's eyes fell on the last short fuse.

The so-called gunpowder weapons are no strangers to the master craftsmen from the craftsman camp in the capital.

It's just that the lethality of that thing is very limited.

Some Song troops were equipped with this thing, the most famous one is the swarm, but once it is ignited, it can’t control its direction at all, even if it flies there, it explodes, but it’s more to scare the horses , There are also those with poisonous smoke inside.

No one cares about this stuff.

Only Zheng Xiong took a deep breath.

The Western Army spent hundreds of lives, and the things they sent over, how could it be a fancy but useless thing!

Then, he heard a thunderclap.

The sun is shining, and the sun is shining brightly!

That's the case with a bolt from the blue.

Huge thick smoke rose, mixed with the screams of countless people.

Zheng Xiong only felt his ears buzzing, and the soldiers around him dutifully pounced on him with shields to protect him firmly. When he lifted off the shield and stood up, he saw a few stumped limbs and a head Landed less than two steps away from him.

The hustle and bustle of the battlefield suddenly fell silent after this thunderbolt.

All eyes turned to the direction from which the explosion came.

Only the group of Western troops who came out of the city turned around and went back when the crossbow arrows were inserted into the catapult. Even after the explosion, they did not turn back at all.

After all, the grass balls had been stuffed in their ears beforehand, so the shocking noise would not affect them too much for those who were mentally prepared.

The trebuchet was gone.

That huge machine was directly blown into a pile of fragments.

The people within ten steps around the catapult were either shattered into pieces along with the catapult, or they were lying a little farther away bleeding from their seven orifices.

It doesn't look like there is any external injury, but in fact, the internal organs may have been shattered long ago.

The remaining two hundred western troops rushed all the way to the bottom of the city. The Song army outside the city seemed to be blown out of their souls by the bombing. Unexpectedly, none of the troops went up to kill them. It was a good idea to break the city. Opportunity, even if it can't enter the city, at least it can inflict huge damage on the western army that is leaving the city.

But the loud noise completely stunned them.

"Ming Jin, withdraw troops!" Zheng Xiong gave the order with a livid face.

Watching the Song army retreating gradually, bursts of cheers came from Shentangbao.

Castanopsis is an extremely important military fortress of the Song Army. When the Western Army retreated, this was the only place that wanted to stick to it and refused to give up. The Song Army spent a lot of effort to completely expel the Western Army here. After going out, thousands of troops brought from Huainan are now stationed here.

Their main task, in addition to guarding this node, is also responsible for delivering food, grass and equipment to Zheng Xiong's troops ahead.

The army in front was like a broken bamboo, winning consecutive battles, but they were held in this place by the coach. Naturally, they were extremely dissatisfied.

Castanopsis stronghold is an important military location, but now it is located in the rear of the army, there is no battle to fight at all, even if there are a few small fish and shrimps, facing thousands of troops, how can they come to seek death?

They can't go to the front line to fight. In terms of credit in the future, they will only have a little bit of corners. They are amazing for maintaining the food road and stabilizing the rear. What is this?

Could it be that they ran all the way from Huainan to Shaanxi just to set off for others?

These northern armies are not necessarily stronger than the Huainan army!
Chen Ping was angry in his heart, but Zhang Chao's majesty was not something he could provoke, so he swallowed his anger and stayed in the Castanopsis village, but he was slack in his heart.

Every day, the subordinates brought in fresh game, and paired with good wine, they drank it every day.As for the official business, it was just a matter of allocating supplies, and he didn't need to do it himself as a general.

In such a relaxed atmosphere, the entire Castanopsis village has ushered in a huge crisis that they never dreamed of.

When the watchtower's sentinel opened his somewhat astringent eyes and stood up with a big stretch, he was stunned to find not far away, the enemy's cavalry teams emerging one after another.

He screamed, roared hysterically, picked up the gong in the corner, and struck it vigorously.

The Western Army, like a divine soldier descending from the sky, suddenly bypassed the front line that was still fighting fiercely, and appeared in front of Castanopsis stronghold.

A feathered arrow flew over, and the soldier who was beating the gong got an arrow in his throat, and fell down from the tall arrow.

The sound of hooves was like thunder, and tall war horses galloped towards them. Nooses flew out one by one, and caught the thick fence. Then the ropes were tightened, and the fence was pulled down row by row, followed by cavalry.

When thousands of iron harriers passed by Castanopsis campanula, followed by Bubazi pouring in again, the entire military camp was already bleeding like a river, and thousands of unsuspecting Song soldiers were brutally slaughtered.

Is it Chen Ping's fault?
of course!

As a general, he doesn't even have the most basic vigilance, and doesn't even use the most conventional methods. If he can send patrols to patrol the surrounding area, if he can send out scouts to search, if he can have even the slightest understanding of the war Silk's awe, although still can't avoid the fate of failure, but it won't let the Western Army succeed so easily.

In fact, even Xiao Ding himself did not expect that Castanopsis Village would be taken down so easily.

It is not unreasonable for Zhang Chao to put [-] people here.

However, the deployment of the coach was ruined because the generals below were slack in the implementation process.

But is this only Chen Ping's responsibility?
Naturally not, even speaking, the general from Huainan is not even the main responsibility.Even if he did his best, he still couldn't avoid the fate of extinction when facing five thousand iron kites and twenty thousand steps.

Because fundamentally, Da Song's judgment was wrong from the perspective of strategy.

They believed that Xiao Ding would go all out to fight Yeluxi, while Hengshan would rely on geography to delay time and look for opportunities in defense.

But Xiao Ding did exactly the opposite.

His main force was hidden in the Hengshan Mountain. At this moment, the strange soldiers stood out, and after taking down the Castanopsis stronghold in one fell swoop, the army rushed towards the Fushi of Yan'an Prefecture at the fastest speed without any hesitation.

That's where Zhang Chao, who is in charge of the six-sided military, is located, and Lan Sixin, the appeasement envoy of Shaanxi Road, is also there right now.

Take the Yan'an Mansion, capture Zhang Chaolan Sixin and other high-ranking officials of the Song Dynasty, and this war will end early.

When a Song army cavalry covered in blood rushed into Fushi and Zhang Chao's camp, even Zhang Chao, who had always been in front of the Taishan collapse without changing his face, was pale and was discussing with Zhang Chao. Lan Sixin is even more confused.

Tens of thousands of Western troops came from Baigan Mountain, attacked and destroyed Castanopsis stronghold in one fell swoop, and now they are going straight to Fushi.

"Taiwei, quickly retreat to Jingzhao Mansion!" Lan Sixin trembled as he spoke.

"The pacifier should go to Jingzhao Mansion first, but Zhang can't leave for a while!" Zhang Chao just sat there without moving, just staring at the huge map on the wall.

At this moment, he finally knew that Xiao Ding's main force had always been in Hengshan.

"How courageous!" Zhang Chao murmured, "Do you really look down on Song's army so much? Do you really think you can easily eat us?"

"Taiwei, you and I must not fall into Xiao's hands." Lan Sixin said loudly.

"The appeasement envoy will go first, and the Taiwei will break it for you. The iron kite and the Bubazi are famous in the northwest. This time, Zhang has experienced it!" Zhang Chao suddenly stood up: "Come on, beat the drum and gather the generals!"

Lan Sixin fled all the way to Jingzhao Mansion in a hurry, but Zhang Chao and Zhang Cheng led more than ten thousand soldiers and went straight to Sanchuankou.

Fushi is safe to defend, but Sanchuankou is different.

As long as there is a stalemate with Xiao Ding, Wang Jun will come after hearing the news, and Zheng Xiong will withdraw immediately.

As long as Xiao Ding is held back, the Western Army will definitely lose to the Liao Army on another front. Although the Song Army cannot defeat Xiao Ding in person, in the end as long as they can take down Hengshan and hold Hengshan in their hands, this battle will be a great one. It still can't be considered a loss.

(End of this chapter)