Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 32 Dilemma
On the second day, after breakfast, Ye Chen and a group of soldiers followed Cao Bin to the Beiying Watchtower.

Looking around, I remembered that there were endless camps the day before yesterday, with banners like clouds in the camps, drums like thunder, and the city was surrounded by the city.There are countless soldiers wearing red-tasseled Fanyang hats fighting and attacking the city, and the arrows come and go like dark clouds.The huge stones thrown by hundreds of trebuchets bombarded the earth like a meteor shower...

But now, those scenes are all gone.The endless camps have already moved back, the army besieging the city from all sides is gone, and the stormy crossbow arrows are gone.The frightening boulders that came and went in the air were gone.The flood flooded in, submerging half of the city, and the capital of Northern Han Dynasty is now a vast ocean.

At this time, there was only a sound of war drums, and countless soldiers suddenly appeared in the valley where the river came from the east, and they were the imperial troops under Li Jixun's command in Dongying.They rode in small boats, but most of them only stood on the huge rafts made of thick logs. The boats and rafts were equipped with strong bows and crossbows. It took a lot of effort to prop up, so he rushed towards the south gate of the capital of Beihan with a lot of noise.

Since ancient times, using the power of nature is far more powerful than thousands of troops. A fire broke out in Bowangpo, and Guan Yunchang flooded the seven armies. They all made use of the terrain and the natural power of water and fire to create a disaster artificially.However, this is a tall and majestic city after all, with a generous and solid foundation. Can this man-made flood destroy the city in one fell swoop?

Before the southern camp, Zhao Kuangyin led Zhao Pu and several other ministers to stand on the watchtower at the same time.

"Look, it's General Zhao who came out in person." A sharp-eyed civil servant said in a low voice.

I saw Zhao Zan leading thousands of elite soldiers, riding all kinds of crude boats and rafts, shouting all the way to the city of North Han.

And the Northern Han Army, which had long been held in the city, immediately shot a dense rain of arrows at them.Because the flood flooded to half the height of the city, they were already very close to the top of the city, but standing on such an inconvenient ship and raft, they could neither carry heavy siege weapons nor flexibly dodge the enemy's arrows. For every advantage, there must be a disadvantage. Although the imperial army of the Song Dynasty was brave and good at fighting, this round of charge still returned without success under the rain of countless arrows.

But the attack continued, and soon the Nanying Forbidden Army attacked again. A member of the Song Dynasty, General Zhan, abandoned his helmet and armor, and took a small boat in front of him, beating the drums to boost morale. There was no place to dodge, and his personal soldiers stood on the side of the narrow boat and used shields to protect his body, but a gap was accidentally exposed, and a sharp arrow shot him in the head. The second charge failed again.

After a while, the Song army sent troops again. This time, the Song army no longer used manpower to attack hard. Dozens of rafts were connected together, and countless pieces of firewood were piled on the rafts. The boat master controlled the direction around the raft and sailed to North Seoul.Next to each ship control master, there are two elite soldiers holding shields to protect the eight ship control masters.

When the raft was about to reach the south gate of Jinyang City, it set fire to it. All Song soldiers jumped into the water and swam backwards. One after another, the wooden rafts hit the south gate of the city. The soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty fled to the city walls on both sides.The fire soared into the sky, and even the surface of the water was red.

The dozens of wooden rafts were jammed together, and the flames burned into the sky for more than half an hour. Before the flames were exhausted, hundreds of wooden rafts followed closely behind, and the forbidden army began to shoot arrows.

One of the largest rafts drove forward and aimed at the city gate. On the raft was a strange looking big crossbow. It was an "eight-ox crossbow". A huge arrow thicker than a throwing gun, with three smaller arrows on the left and right, called "one shot and three arrows", this shot hit the gate that was almost completely burned by the flames, and the huge door that was already crumbling by the fire The city gate couldn't stand the heavy damage and collapsed, and the torrent rushed in. The Song army was overjoyed and just about to wave their halberds to order the three armies to take the opportunity to enter the city. Unexpectedly, the city tower shook a few times. down.

The huge tower collapsed, causing the flood to create a huge wave more than two feet high, which overturned the first few small boats and rafts. As a result, the tower collapsed. Although the main body of the tower was submerged in the water, it held back However, the attempt to enter the city with the flood was in vain, especially since a corner of the tower was still erected on the water surface, which hindered the approach of rafts and boats, and the speed was greatly affected.Seeing this situation, Liu Jiye, the guard at the head of the North Han City, secretly called it a fluke, and quickly organized crossbowmen to shoot arrows on the boat and raft from the left and right of the broken wall to prevent the Song army from approaching.

Liu Jiye stood at the top of the city, commanding and dispatching, while holding a big bow, he personally shot arrows at the Song army. flood.Song Jun stood on the turbulent raft with no roots on his feet. He couldn't even show six points of his usual bravery. He was shot by Liu Jiye accidentally and fell to the ground.

General Song, who commanded the raft, gritted his teeth with hatred, and shouted: "Take the arrows, and I will take the top of the city."

The eight-ox crossbow changed its function again, and the short and thick arrows were put on the bowstring, and they were shot to the city wall row by row, and firmly nailed into the wall. As long as the raft can get close to the city wall, the soldiers will You can use the "ladder" made up of these arrows to climb into the city, but the city is full of arrows, and there is no shortage of defensive weapons such as rolling logs and rocks. .

The two sides fought fiercely for a long time, with countless deaths and injuries each. During this period, several big straw bags have been rolled out in North Seoul to fill in the loopholes caused by the collapse of the South City Gate.The firewood was soaked in water and it was difficult to ignite.Despite being wet, it still keeps the softness of the firewood, and it is not afraid of giant rasps at all. Moreover, such a large haystack cannot be climbed even if it is close. Hope is even slimmer.

Zhao Kuangyin watched from a distance, and saw Song soldiers falling into the water like dumplings falling into the water exposed to the rain of arrows on the top of the city. He wished he could go to the battlefield in person as he did back then, but now he is the king of a country, and he has already gone to the battlefield in person. It has become a forever dream.What's more, if he goes to the battlefield in person, can he succeed in one battle?

That Liu Wudi in the city really lived up to his reputation, he was not chaotic in the face of danger, and turned the unfavorable conditions for the defenders into the conditions that made it easier to defend the city. At this moment, the flood is raging but he can't use his strength, and the empty army is useless , Zhao Kuangyin became more and more anxious.Because he knew that the fast horses of the Khitan people in the north were approaching step by step.

"Send the order, beat the drum and withdraw the troops!" Zhao Kuangyi gritted his teeth and issued the order to withdraw the troops.

All three wars were defeated, leaving countless dead bodies, and the Song army retreated with drums.

The sky had already dimmed, dead trees and fallen leaves rolled up and down in the turbid running water, and there were many corpses of soldiers floating in the water in the distance.In the vast ocean, the capital of Northern Han Dynasty seemed to be a huge fortress floating on the water. No one knew whether it could survive the flood and retreat the Khitans, but at least for now, at least tonight, it was still standing there perfectly.

On the third day, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the army to attack the city from all sides by boat again, but because the "water attack" on Jinyang was a temporary plan, the Song army's ships were not prepared enough, and the water depth was not enough, so it was difficult for large ships to launch. , Several attacks were shot back by random arrows on the city.

After five days of stalemate like this, the water level gradually dropped, Jinyang City was still unable to attack, and the battle situation fell into a stalemate.

But on this day, a few remnants of soldiers from the south who sent food and grass came to the camp, bringing a very bad news.

The grain and grass were robbed by the Liao army's elite disguised as the Song army, and all of them were destroyed on the spot except for a few used by the Liao army.

At this time, Liu Jiye, the famous general of the Northern Han Dynasty, played a huge role in fortifying the walls and clearing the fields in the early stage. The Song army had no domestic supply of food and grass in the rear, and had nowhere to raise food and grass for a while.In the early stage, the food and grass were only enough for the army for half a month at most.However, it will take at least [-] days to raise food and grass in the country and send it to Jinyang City.Far food can't solve near hunger at all.

Zhao Kuangyin blocked the news of the looting of grain and grass, so as not to shake the morale of the army. At the same time, he sent [-] troops to take a shortcut to Guanzhong to raise grain and grass, but was blocked by the Liao army.

At this point, the Song army was caught in a dilemma. Zhao Kuangyin was unwilling to spend such a high price. He did not break through Jinyang City and destroy the Northern Han Dynasty.

Ye Chen has followed Cao Bin for the past few days, heard and seen, and has a very good understanding of the current situation.And he knew that Zhao Kuangyin's Northern Expedition to the Northern Han Dynasty ended in failure in history.But he was vague about the specific process, and only vaguely remembered that the Song army finally flooded and attacked the city, but failed.

He still remembered that there seemed to be some important thing in the future. He frowned and pondered these days, trying to think of it, and then offered a plan to make a contribution, but he just couldn't remember it.

In the end, Guo Wuwei didn't wait for the messenger to reply. Thinking that there might be a mistake, he brought two followers from the Taiping Sect, and the three of them sneaked out of the city in the middle of the night and came to the deserted stone castle.

After finding the messenger's body, Guo Wuwei frowned and pondered for a while, then muttered to himself: "It seems that a certain big shot in the Great Song Army doesn't want me to be an official in the Great Song Dynasty, um... to be precise, he doesn't want us The power of the Taiping Sect has entered the Central Plains."

"Since I am going out of the city in person, I have to do something to help Zhao Kuangyin in the snow. Only in this way can I find a high-ranking official in the Song Dynasty, otherwise I will be squeezed out by the high-ranking officials of the Song Dynasty. The Khitan army went around to the rear and robbed the Song Dynasty's food and grass. Then I will add more fire to put the Song army in danger, and then come forward to help Zhao Kuangyin solve the crisis and help him break through Jinyang City. In this way, even if that High Song officials like Zhao Pu and Cao Bin can't stop Zhao Kuangyin from conferring on me." Guo Wuwei thought to himself, but he already had a plan.

(End of this chapter)