In Suiyang Xicheng in the morning light, the city gates were dark and gaping, like a monster with its bloody mouth open and spitting out thick smoke, which made people feel creepy.
Mao Dezu was frightened, but as a general he could not show any timidity, so he shouted bravely: "The city gate has been opened, and the rewards for meritorious service are right in front of you. Follow the fool and rush forward."
The target of the war horse was too big. Mao Dezu jumped off the horse and walked carefully towards the city gate under the protection of his personal guards. Yong troops were everywhere on the city wall, and stones and arrows were thrown at the city walls.
The Song army was frightened, but was frightened by the arrows and stones thrown from the city. They retreated regardless of the generals' scoldings.
Mao Dezu looked at the open city gate not far away, looked up to the sky and sighed. His strength failed again and again. The soldiers were discouraged and were unable to attack even if the city gate was opened.
After retreating 200 steps to reorganize his troops, Mao Dezu discovered that more than 2,000 of the 10,000 people who fought last night had been lost. With such high casualties, it is no wonder that the soldiers were frightened.
When Wang Zhen'e saw that the Song army had withdrawn the whole team, he ordered his men to close the broken city gate again, and found planks of wood to temporarily nail the gap. Straw bags filled with soil that had been prepared in advance were piled into the roots of the city wall, and the entire city gate hole was filled with straw bags. It would not be so easy for the Song army to attack the city again.
At this time, the sun has jumped out, and Suiyang stands in the fire under the rising sun, becoming more and more majestic.
Liu Yu looked gloomy. After nearly two hours of fierce fighting, he had used up all 18,000 kilograms of pill fire and still could not conquer Suiyang City.
Xicheng once broke through the city gate and entered Wengcheng, but nearly two thousand soldiers were killed by Yong's gunpowder. I don't know how much gunpowder was hidden in Suiyang City. Yong's army had this weapon, so it was not easy to break the city.
Looking at the Yong-character flag flying at the top of the city, Liu Yu felt helpless in his heart. At this moment, the division's veterans were exhausted, and if they continued to fight, it would only cost the lives of the soldiers.
The horn sounded whimpering, and the Song army retreated like a tide. A cheer sounded from the city wall, and the cheer spread, and the entire Suiyang City burst into joy. …
Zhao Tian's reinforcements have arrived at Fugou City, more than 200 miles away from Xiangyi. There were only 8,000 soldiers and horses when they came out of Xiangyang. New troops continued to join along the way. When they arrived at Fugou, the number of reinforcements exceeded 30,000.
This trip only carried military rations for ten days. The supplies for the army were provided by counties along the way. The long convoy carried 20,000 kilograms of gunpowder, a large number of bows, arrows, crossbows, and more than 5,000 short iron spears.
Battle reports arrived every day. Zhao Tian knew that Suiyang was surrounded by Liu Yu's army, and the cities around Suiyang had been captured by the Song army. The situation was critical.
The number of the Song army is about 60,000, and most of the soldiers he leads are new troops. Most of the soldiers have no experience in fighting on the battlefield. If they rashly engage the Song army, they may lose more than they win.
"Invite Secretary Ding." Zhao Tian ordered. During this battle, Yang Anxuan ordered the staff to accompany him, and asked Ding Quan, the left envoy of the Department of Commercial Affairs, to accompany Zhao Tian as military counselor.
With little effort, Ding Quan arrived with a smile, raised his hands and saluted, "What are your orders from Zhao Sima?"
Zhao Tian pointed at the map and said: "Yesterday, the Commercial Information Department sent intelligence information. Fu Liang brought more than 10,000 reinforcements from Jiankang. Currently, Liu Yu has 60,000 soldiers and horses in Suiyang City. I think he will be right soon. Suiyang launches an attack, should our army speed up its march to provide reinforcements?"
Ding Quan said with a calm expression: "The city of Suiyang is fortified and deep. General Wang has experienced hundreds of battles. There are tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of people in the city. The army and the people are united. It is not easy for Liu Yu to break the city. On the contrary, we have more troops." As a new recruit, Zhao Sima cannot advance rashly and it is better to advance steadily."
Zhao Tian nodded and said: "Fang Huai is right, but the Song army will besiege Suiyang. Yu intends to recapture Xiangyi and Ningling and open up the western passage of Suiyang."
Ding Quan stroked his beard and said, "Xiangyi and Ningling are both small cities, and they can be captured as soon as the army arrives."
Zhao Tian said in a deep voice: "It may not be difficult to seize Xiangyi and Ningling, but Liu Yu's army is on the side. We only need to hold on to the two cities for two or three days. The Song army will inevitably come to help. By then our army will be passive."
Ding Quan thought for a moment and asked, "Brother Zhao, what are your plans?"
Zhao Tian motioned for Ding Quan to sit down and said, "Does the Department of Commercial Affairs have secret guards lurking in these two cities?"
Ding Quan said: "There are two people in Ningling City."
"Yu intends to send thousands of people to ambush outside first, and then sends people to sneak into the city to look for them. If they can persuade the officials in the city to lead the people to open the city gate,
, should be remembered as the first achievement. ” Zhao Tian revealed his plan.
Ding Quan muttered: "At that time, the Song army came to attack in large numbers. Tang Qing, the magistrate of Ningling County, was unable to resist the enemy and surrendered to the city. Afterwards, Liu Yu moved Tang Qing away and appointed Zhou Jian, a member of the Taiwei Mansion, as the county magistrate. The county magistrate was also changed. Chengjun Lieutenant Colonel Dong Liang, but the county magistrate Ma Hong and the county officials have not been replaced. The people of Ningling are devoted to their lord, so they might as well give it a try."
Zhao Tian said happily: "If we can take Ningling, Xiangyi will become an isolated city and can be conquered soon. Ningling and Xiangyi will be returned to my hands, and the siege of Suiyang will be broken naturally."
Ding Quan recalled that when Yang Anxuan defeated Yao Qin, Huang Fu sent intelligence in Chang'an City, and was awarded the title of Viscount based on his merits afterwards. He had been looking for opportunities to make military exploits, and now the opportunity had come.
Standing up, Ding Quan clasped his fists and said, "Brother Zhao, how about leaving the capture of Ningling to Yu? Yu personally sneaks into the city and strives to recapture Ningling City as soon as possible."
Zhao Tian shook his head and said: "Although Ningling City is important, Fang Huai's safety is also very important. Sneaking into Ningling is extremely dangerous, and Fang Huai cannot be involved in the danger himself."
Ding Quan was a little moved and said with a smile: "Thank you Brother Zhao for your care. Yu is eager to do his best, but he is a little forgetful. Yu will not sneak into the city personally, but I hope Brother Zhao will leave the matter of seizing Ningling to Yu."
Ding Quan was always cautious in his actions, so Zhao Tian came to him for discussion because he was interested in him. After hearing Ding Quan's promise not to go to the city in person, he immediately smiled and said: "Then I'll bother Fang Huai. How many people do you want to bring? You can order the troops yourself." .”
"There are only more than a thousand people in Ningling City, so we can't attract attention here," Ding Quan said, "Brother Zhao has 800 soldiers from the brave camp on this trip. It is enough for Yu to take away 500 people."
Yang Anxuan selected elite soldiers to establish a brave camp, and today there are only three thousand soldiers. He went to the Qiang and Hu lands to fight, bringing with him 1,500 people. Before returning to Xiangyang, he left these 1,500 people with Meng Longfu, Kuai En, and Yang Anyuan each with 500 people, and the remaining 1,500 people stayed in Xiangyang. .Ь.
This time Zhao Tian led his army to rescue Suiyang. Yang Anxuan was afraid that the new army under his command would not be strong enough, so he specially assigned 800 soldiers to his command to serve as the sharpest men to kill generals and capture flags on the battlefield.
Hearing that Ding Quan wanted to fight for the brave camp, Zhao Tian smiled and said: "Fang Huai knows how to pick people, okay, Yu Hui will arrive at Ningling in ten days, Fang Huai has calculated the time to launch."
In order to prevent the news from leaking, the soldiers of the Five Hundred Heroes Battalion did not take the official route. Instead, they took a small path into the mountains under the leadership of local herb collectors. Ding Quan thought he didn't have the ability, so he used an ox cart and took two followers, disguised as medicinal merchants, and swaggered from the official road to Ningling.
Although Suiyang was besieging the city, there were still merchants coming and going on the road. Ding Quan and several small traders he met on the way went forward together. Some were going to Puyang Queshi, and some were going to Xiayi to buy pears.
Ding Quan pretended to ask casually: "There is a war in Suiyang. Is it okay if we go to Ningling?"
Meng Chang, who was going to Puyang City, smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. I passed by last month. The gate of Ningling City is closed. It doesn't matter if I pass by."
Rao Yu, who was going to Xiayi to sell pears, also interjected: "I plan to go from Yan County to Xiayi. A few days ago, someone came back from Xiayi selling pears and said that Song Gong restrained his soldiers and horses not to harm the merchants."
On July 20, everyone came to the vicinity of Chengkuang City. Some continued to go north, while others turned east. Ding Quan pretended to go to the countryside to buy medicinal materials and broke up with everyone.
Heading east to the pre-arranged rendezvous point, the five hundred soldiers of the Heroic Battalion, led by Wei Rong General Yang Chong, had arrived the day before and were hidden in the mountains southeast of Ningling City.
Yang Chong sent someone to inquire about the situation of Ningling City in advance, pointed to the map and said: "Sir Ding, the four gates of Ningling City are closed, and there are no less than a thousand Song troops defending the city. Last night, I secretly led people around Ningling City. Turn around, the city's defense is very tight and there are no loopholes."
Ding Quan asked: "Do you know the condition of Suiyang?"
"I heard from merchants in the past that Liu Yu built a long siege and dug deep ditches outside Suiyang City, and he is attacking Suiyang these days." Yang Chong responded.
Ding Quan thought for a while and said, "In the evening, Yu personally went outside Ningling City to see if there was any chance."...
Outside the east city of Suiyang, the Song army camped, and the atmosphere in the Chinese army's tent was solemn.
This morning's battle not only used up all the alchemy fire, but the casualty statistics afterward showed that there were 3,472 dead soldiers and 1,487 injured soldiers. The night attack lost many soldiers and had little effect.
Liu Yugang returned from the wounded soldiers camp
Come, the cries of pain from the wounded are still lingering in my ears. Medical Officer Lu has been so busy that he hasn't even eaten lunch.
Xie Hui and others followed Liu Yu. After Liu Yu sat down, Xie Hui said: "My lord, Suiyang City is too dangerous and it may be difficult to capture it in a hurry. However, our army has been besieging the city for more than two months. The food has been harvested by our army. There are more than 10,000 Yong troops in the city and hundreds of thousands of people. I think the food in the city is already insufficient. As long as it is firmly trapped, Suiyang will naturally collapse without a fight."
Liu Yu nodded and said: "It's Yu who is a little eager. The attack on the city is not going well. The soldiers have to rest for a few days, and the siege equipment also needs to be replenished. Yu is worried that Ningling and Xiangyi will not be protected when reinforcements from the Yong army arrive, so he wants to send troops Go to these two cities to strengthen defense."
In this morning's battle, Wang Xuanmo led 5,000 soldiers and horses to attack the north gate. It was just a feint attack to contain the Yong army, and the casualties among his soldiers were not serious. When he heard that Mao Dezu had broken through the west gate and that soldiers broke into Wengcheng and were killed by Yong's gunpowder nearly two thousand people at once, he couldn't help but feel frightened. He often spoke bold words in front of Liu Yu, for fear that the next time Song Gong ordered him to lead the army Main attack.
After hearing Liu Yu's words about sending people to defend Ningling and Xiangyi, Wang Xuanmo immediately said, "My lord, Yu Yuan will lead his army there."
Wang Xuanmo was also from Taiyuan, but not from Wang Huilong's family. His grandfather Wang Lao was the prefect of Shanggu in Houyan. He was later captured by Murong De and lived in Suiling City, Xiapi County, Xuzhou (today's Suining). Liu Yu sent troops to Yan (South). Hearing about Wang Xuanmo's virtuous reputation, he recruited him as a historian. When Wang Xuanmo talked with Liu Yu, his words were astonishing and he often made bold remarks, which suited Liu Yu's wishes and was used highly. .Ь.
Liu Yu thought for a moment and said, "It's great if Yan De is willing to go. How many troops and horses do you want?"
Wang Xuanmo straightened his chest and said boldly: "With only three thousand soldiers and horses, I can protect Ningling and Xiangyi without any loss."
Ningling and Xiangyi are each guarded by more than a thousand Song soldiers. With the addition of 3,000 soldiers, they can defend for a while even if the Yong army comes to attack. If the war is serious, it will only take three or four days to send reinforcements.
Liu Yu said: "Yu gave Yan De five thousand soldiers and horses, and brought extra food, grass and baggage. He only needs to hold on for more than a month. After Suiyang is defeated, he will be rewarded based on his merits."
Wang Xuanmo said with emotion: "I will definitely live up to my lord's trust."
