Fu Song

Chapter 725
"Two hundred cannons!" Lu Wenhuan looked at Wu Ke opposite, his face turned green.

As the supreme commander of the entire Jingxiang Jianghuai War Zone of the Great Song Dynasty, the 15 elite troops on the front line plus several times more civilians, tens of millions of money, food, grass, and military equipment were all under his careful deployment, using the Yangtze River and the Jianghuai water system. , They have resisted the Liao army for eight months.

Throughout the Song Dynasty, from the initial panic to the current peace, it was all because the Liao soldiers were blocked on the frontline battlefield. The Liao army has never crossed the Huaihe River line, let alone approached the Yangtze River defense line.

With every extra day, the confidence of the soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty became stronger.

Coupled with Xiao Cheng's public opinion campaign, Lu Wenhuan, Minister of the Ministry of War, led a group of remnant soldiers who were defeated in Xiangfan. Without reinforcements and food, the old story that the Liao army was helpless was turned out and published in the Jiangning Daily The big book is a special book, the image of an undefeated military god is already in the hearts of the people.

During the Chinese New Year last year, many shops already had the image of the door god of Lu Wenhuan in military uniform. People bought it and pasted it on the door. It is said that the effect is very good.

But Lu Wenhuan knew in his heart, how could he be considered an undefeated army god!
Back then, if the current Chief Assistant Xiao Cheng hadn't sent Wang Zhu Yueteng and others to lead the army north to rescue, he would not have been able to defend Xiangyang at all. At that time, Xiangyang was almost at the end of its rope.

But the current situation is completely different from that time.

With more elite soldiers, better equipment, inexhaustible food, grass, ordnance, a stable rear, and an endless supply of troops, you don't have to think about anything, you just need to focus on commanding the battle.

In the front, whether it was Wang Zhu, Wei Wu, or Gao Yingxiang, Xiao Cheng's direct descendants, they did not give half a discount to following his command to fight, and made his initial worries disappear without a trace.

As for Xiao Cheng, all he had left in his heart was admiration.

Without Xiao Cheng, naturally there would be no such courageous troops on the front lines today, no abundant finances, no sharp weapons, and no current situation in the Song Dynasty.

If you have to say who is the undefeated military god of the Song Dynasty, it should be Xiao Cheng, not yourself.

Lu Wenhuan arrived in Xuzhou for inspection this time because of new changes in the Jianghuai theater.

The Liao people suddenly became quiet.

Such quietness, for Lu Wenhuan, who was old in war, naturally knew that it was not a good thing.

What happened next from the Liao people really confirmed Lu Wenhuan's conjecture.

They are all old foxes who have been around for thousands of years, and it is clear at a glance what the other party wants to do.

The Liao people gave up their original style of play, and all their troops were moving closer to Xuzhou. At the very beginning, Lu Wenhuan was extremely happy about this kind of lonely throw.

In his opinion, the Liao commander had lost his head.

Such a lonely throw, but gave himself a great opportunity.

The concentration of troops by the Liao people is indeed a huge threat to Xuzhou, but if Xuzhou can be safe and sound, and then use the superior water power of the Song Dynasty to go straight into the enemy's rear, not to mention completely annihilating the opponent, at least it can make the opponent unstoppable. Don't consider the retreat, otherwise, once the grain road is cut off, there is a danger of the entire army being wiped out.

In this case, the Liao people will have to retreat.

According to Chief Assistant Xiao Cheng, the retreat of the Liao people is a farewell forever!

They would never want to see Jianghuai or the Yangtze River, let alone threaten Jiangning and other places.

From then on, Great Song Dynasty and Great Liao Dynasty will once again enter into a stalemate of equal strength.

As time goes by, Da Song will inevitably gain the upper hand.

Because the army of the Great Song Dynasty is no worse than that of the Liao Kingdom, but the ability of the Great Song Dynasty to make money is not as good as that of the Liao Kingdom.

But now he suddenly understood why the Liao Congress did this!

Two hundred cannons!
"How many artillery do we have?" He looked at Gao Yingxiang in front of him.

"A total of sixty bronze cannons! Of course, there are also some oak wood cannons!" Gao Yingxiang said. "But there are definitely not two hundred doors!"

"If two hundred cannons are concentrated on one point and bombarded, what effect will it have?"

"Even if the city wall can withstand it, the defense on the city wall must not be able to withstand it."

"Then why do you still look so calm?" Lu Wenhuan said angrily.

Gao Yingxiang laughed: "Shangshu, when you entered the city, you should have seen the trenches and tunnels being dug under our city, right?"

"Of course I saw it! What does this have to do with resisting artillery?"

"Naturally it is related!" Gao Yingxiang explained: "All the tunnels are criss-crossed and connected to each other. Our soldiers and horses will enter these tunnels to deal with the opponent. The power of artillery, in front of these criss-cross tunnels, the power We can use these tunnels to flexibly mobilize our troops. If the opponent wants to push these iron cannons to a distance that can threaten our city, they must first occupy these tunnels."

Gao Yingxiang dipped his fingers in some tea, drew some criss-cross lines on the table, and placed the teacup in the middle of these lines.

Lu Wenhuan tilted his head and looked at these lines, and suddenly asked: "What is the firing range of our bronze cannon?"

Gao Yingxiang laughed loudly: "Shang Shu, in addition to ordinary bronze cannons, we also have several heavy cannons weighing tens of thousands of catties. The range of these cannons can cross our trenches and tunnels and directly attack the enemy. There are not many heavy artillery, but when both sides have artillery, but only we can hit them and they can't hit us, the impact on morale will be great."

"In this way, the war will actually go back to the original stalemate." Lu Wenhuan pondered: "It's just that the stalemate in the entire Jianghuai River has become a stalemate under the city of Xuzhou!"

"However, the severity of the war will rise rapidly!" Speaking of this, the smile on Gao Yingxiang's face disappeared: "Because in the entire Jianghuai, whether we or the Liao people, there is still room to move around. But here, everyone thinks it is too narrow to turn around. The knife is bloody, the gun is deadly, and every step forward will inevitably be paved with blood."

"Before the dawn, it is always the darkest!" Lu Wenhuan took a deep breath: "I will send you some more soldiers and horses. In Xuzhou City, 5 people are stationed, is it enough?"

Gao Yingxiang nodded and said, "The last general sits in charge himself."

"As long as you can hold Xuzhou firmly here, the Liao people will not be able to attack for a long time, and the rear will be threatened again. If there is no food and grass, they will have to return in vain." Lu Wenhuan said excitedly: "We remain undefeated in Xuzhou, but In Hedong and other places, we have gained a lot of advantages, and in the places east of Jing, Zheng Zhihu's land division has already landed and is starting to establish a base area. The battle of Xuzhou will be a great turning point in the war between Song and Liao."

"After this year, life will be easier. Shoufu said that starting from next year, it's time for us to start a counterattack!" Wu Ke said with a smile.

Lu Wenhuan turned to look at Wu Ke, and asked, "Wu Ke, why can the Liao people make so many iron cannons, but I haven't heard that we have iron cannons? It's never said that the Liao people are making artillery technology Above, better than us, right?"

"Lu Shangshu, I really know something about this matter!" Wu Ke said: "In fact, we have been making iron cannons, but the technology is not good enough. There are too many trachoma and air bubbles in the cast iron cannons, and the chamber will explode at every turn. It is too dangerous, although the bronze cannon is more expensive and slower to cast, but it is better than the quality and can be controlled."

"Could it be said that the Liao people conquered this technology?" Lu Wenhuan looked a little nervous.

"Impossible!" Wu Ke sneered: "If you want to make iron cannons, the first thing you need is the skill of steel smelting. If we can't do it, they can't do it either. They are superior to the technology of steel smelting. But it is far behind us. It’s just that we care about the lives of soldiers, and they don’t care! Shang Shu, they will make more short-lived iron cannons like this in the future, it’s nothing more than gambling with human lives!”

"So that's it!" Lu Wenhuan breathed a sigh of relief, "The bombs exploded too much, I'm afraid it will hurt morale!"

Luyi, where Zhang Ren of the Baiyu Army is stationed.

Zhang Ren's troops, who have experienced many fierce battles, have been stationed here for half a year to rest and recuperate. The [-] soldiers under his command had already been replenished during the Chinese New Year last year.

What made Zhang Ren happy was that the recruits to his team were not ordinary recruits, but all from martial arts schools from all over the world.

Even the students of Yanziji Martial Arts Academy were allocated about a hundred students.

This is much better than those recruits who are recruited from the people and assigned to the army after half a year of recruit training.

Students from martial arts schools in various places have at least one year of specialized training.

Of course, when it comes to the army, especially the experienced troops like Zhang Rentong's, they basically have to shed another layer of skin before they can become qualified subordinates in Zhang Ren's eyes.

In half a year, these people have already made Zhang Ren very satisfied.

"These guys are much better than us!" Ren Zhong said enviously as he looked at the guys below who were only wearing a pair of shorts and were punching military punches under the leadership of the officer.These recruits are generally a head taller than Ren Zhong, and their healthy body looks particularly bright under the sunlight. Sweat flows from their dark muscles and falls to the ground. The ground is already wet It was wet, and the place where the soldiers stood seemed to have rained.

Whether it's Ren Zhong or Wu Zheng, they all came from hard backgrounds. When they should grow up, they didn't have enough to eat. Naturally, they couldn't grow tall because of lack of nutrition.

Both of them were very short, Ren Zhongzhen was from the north and was only seven feet tall, while Wu Zheng was from the south and was even worse, less than seven feet tall.Seven feet, about 1.6 meters or so.

But Zhang Renke is different. He was born in a family of officials and officials. He has eaten well since he was a child, has sufficient nutrition, and is nine feet tall.

The soldiers below are generally eight feet tall, even nine feet, and there are quite a few of them.

Insufficient height, this is what Ren Zhong and Wu Zheng regret most, because muscles can be acquired through acquired exercises, but with this height, no matter how big officials they are now and how good the food they eat, it is impossible to grow an inch taller.

"After resting for half a year, my bones are itchy!" Wu Zheng stretched his waist, "Commander, right now there is a lot of fighting in Shangqiu, everyone is fighting in full swing, and we have almost rested, tell the general Said, it’s our turn to go up. Zhang Zhe of Zhecheng has been transferred again, so why don’t we make a move?”

"I wrote a letter to the general, but nothing came of it!" Zhang Yiyi spread his hands. "We can only wait, but once an army like ours wants to use it, it must be used on a knife-edge. If there are others who can't chew it, it will be our turn. The general will never forget us. "

"Indeed!" Wu Zheng said proudly, "Now we are in the entire White Feather Army, but we are called the second most powerful!"

"Who is the first?" Ren Zhong said unconvinced.

"The general's personal soldier! Do you want to compare?" Wu Zheng asked with a smile.

"Forget it!" Ren Zhong shook his head.

All three laughed.

Amidst the laughter, there was a war horse coming from afar. Looking at the flag on the back of the taxi seat on the horse, the three of them were all refreshed.

This matter, sometimes it is really inadvertent, just now they were talking about it until their bones itch, but in a blink of an eye, they saw the messenger who sent the order.

Just looking at the flag on that guy's back, they knew that they were about to go out again.

A wax-sealed letter was handed to Zhang Ren.

Opening the letter and carefully reading the contents of the letter, Zhang Ren's eyes showed a look of surprise, and he handed the letter to Wu Zheng: "The command of the Marshal's Mansion, our department will immediately dispatch and transfer to Xuzhou City to listen to it!"

"To Xuzhou, not Shangqiu?" Both Wu Zheng and Ren Zhong were stunned.

They belong to the Baiyu Army and have no affiliation with Xuzhou's Eastern Xingyuan.

"So it's the order of Lu Shangshu of the Marshal's Mansion, not the order of General Gao Xingyuan in the East." Zhang Ren said thoughtfully: "It seems that there must be big troubles in Xuzhou. There are 4 troops in Xingyuan in the entire East. In one place, [-] to [-] people are stationed, and even the troops from the White Feather Army have to be transferred, which means that a big battle is about to begin!"

"A big battle?" Both Ren Zhong and Wu Zheng showed excitement on their faces.

"It's an opportunity, but it's also a risk!" Zhang Ren said.

"Whether it's a big battle or a small battle, which time did you not fight with your head up? Death is fate, and life is luck!" Ren Zhong pressed his knife and said: "Speaking of it, Xuzhou is the main battlefield Woolen cloth!"

"Order the whole army to rest tomorrow, get ready and reward, and the day after tomorrow, the whole army will go out!" Zhang Ren clenched his fists, "Under Wu, the soldiers and horses have not moved, and the food and grass go first. It will be hard for you again. I'm afraid you will sleep in these two days." No, these things have to be arranged."

"Commander, rest assured!"

"Ren Tongzhi, you are in charge of the advance matters. Everything along the way must be cleared up. The time for the order is relatively short. You must make proper arrangements for how to march along the way and where to rest. I need my soldiers to be energetic immediately when they arrive in Xuzhou. into combat."

"understand!"

(End of this chapter)