The man known as Commander Fan ran over and saluted Yang Yanzhao. Yang Yanzhao smiled and said: "Your Excellency, are you the commander of the artillery drill?"
The man cupped his fists and said, "Fan Chao, the little man, is the newly appointed commander of the artillery team by His Highness King Yan." It needs to be explained here that among the Yanyun Army, in addition to the ten major legions and naval forces, there are also troops directly under the Yan Palace. This artillery unit is based on artillery teams. Each artillery team has one thousand people and one hundred and fifty artillery pieces. It is not affiliated with any legion and is directly under the jurisdiction of the Prince of Yan. Currently, Yanyun has five artillery teams. , and Zhang Chao's team is the newest in the city. All the personnel have just been trained not long ago, and all the cannons have just been transported from the ordnance factory along with other ordnance supplies and food and grass baggage.
Having said that, by the way, all the personnel of this artillery team were recruited by relevant departments, and then received specialized training at the military academy. Within a few months, these people became artillery team officers. The Prince of Yan's Mansion has a unique institution of this era, the Military Academy, which is used to train various military command and military division technical talents. Chen Xiao is naturally the dean of this military academy. All senior generals are professors of command at the military academy. There are no permanent professors, so whoever has time can go to class. However, Ling Zhen, the director of the ordnance field, and the skilled technicians under him are professors in the technical department, used to cultivate technical talents in a programmed manner. This has definitely pioneered China's thousands of years. First of all.
Xiao Feng said happily: "With the cannon, if we still can't capture Changcheng Ridge, we won't be able to explain to King Yan!" Everyone nodded. Xiao Duoli turned his head and glanced at the majestic Great Wall Ridge in the distance, frowned and said: "Even with cannons, it may not be easy to capture the Great Wall Ridge!" Li Tian next to him raised his head and glanced at the Great Wall Ridge. He frowned but said nothing.
Early the next morning, the roar of cannons shook the wilderness valleys with a radius of dozens of miles. The shells roared towards the mountains, stirring up dust and gravel. From time to time, human bodies flew into the sky. The scene was thrilling.
After bombarding continuously for half an hour, the sound of artillery gradually stopped. Yang Yanzhao raised his spear and waved it forward, and the war drums rumbled loudly. More than ten thousand Yanyun Army infantry shouted and surged up the hillside like a tide, rushing to the foot of the mountain and halfway up the mountain. Suddenly, countless Xixia troops showed their figures, and then they saw rolling stones and trees rushing down. At the same time, arrows rained down from the sky like locusts flying around. I saw that Yan Yun's army was either knocked away by the rushing rocks and trees, or was shot over by arrows flying in the sky, and the attack momentum was dampened.
Yan Yun's army was extremely brave, but under such circumstances, they still roared forward and rushed forward without any intention of retreating. Instead, they became more and more courageous as they fought. However, the situation was too unfavorable, and their bravery had no effect at all. Instead, they were knocked down one after another, and their bodies were sacrificed on the road to charge.
Yang Yanzhao frowned tightly, turned his head and shouted to the herald: "Tell them to step back!" The herald immediately ordered his trumpeter to blow the horn, and only heard woo, woo, woo... short and continuous horn sounds loudly, far away. Spread far away. The red-eyed Yanyun Army soldiers heard such a horn sound coming from behind. Although they were very unhappy, they retreated without hesitation.
When the Xixia army saw that Yan Yun's army had retreated, they immediately cheered. The whole mountain was filled with people, banners were flying, and cheers soared into the sky.
However, at this moment, the terrifying thunderous thunderous sound suddenly sounded again, shaking the world. Before the Xixia soldiers on the mountain could react, waves of "waves" suddenly arose in the crowd. Howling shells smashed into the crowd, destroying bones and flesh and blood. In the blink of an eye, the Xixia soldiers suffered heavy casualties. The Xixia soldiers came to their senses and hurriedly fled in all directions. There were chaotic shouts and shadows on the mountains.
The artillery team fired a few more rounds, then stopped firing, the horn sounded loudly, and another wave of Yanyun infantry surged towards the mountains. Seeing this scene, the Xixia army hurriedly resisted. The Yanyun Army retreated immediately when encountering enemy resistance. Then the powerful storm blown by the cannon once again blew over the mountains, causing heavy losses to the Xixia Army. The Yanyun Army repeated this, first luring the enemy out with an infantry attack, and then retreating with the infantry and sweeping away with artillery. Each round of rapid fire attack could always cause great damage to the Xixia Army; Li Zongdao had long seen this. Yue Fei's attempt, but he really had nothing to do in the face of the situation in front of him. He couldn't let the Yan Yun army hide behind when they attacked the mountain!
This battle lasted for a whole day. At dusk, Yan Yun's army stopped attacking and retreated to the military camp. Li Zongdao stood on the mountain, frowning as he saw the corpses strewn all over the mountain and the fields were devastated.
General Li Yuantong ran over and said with a pale face, clasping his fists: "Generalissimo, our army has more than 10,000 casualties and casualties. The exact number is not clear yet, it may be more!"
Li Zongdao couldn't help but feel his heart sink, and murmured: "More than ten thousand people, more than ten thousand casualties in just one day! What kind of terrible weapon did Yan Yun use?" There was a look of fear on Li Yuantong's face, obviously. Thinking of the terrible scene when the cannon was in full force, "It is said that the Yanyun Army used a terrible weapon that could fire thunderbolts when they fought against the Jin people. It destroyed the city wall as if it were destroying the dead. It must be this kind of thing! I thought it was just a legend. But I didn’t expect it to be true, really, really..."
Seeing the fear on Li Yuantong's face, Li Zongdao was frightened and said calmly: "It's nothing." Li Yuantong saw that the generalissimo was so calm and composed, and his original panic and fear calmed down.
Li Zongdao asked: "What are the enemy's losses?"
Li Yuantong shook his head, "I'm not sure, I guess there are only two or three thousand people." Then he said worriedly: "If the enemy army makes up its mind to consume our army, our army may not be able to stand it for long! I don't know what the backup force is. When can we come up?" Li Zongdao said: "The mobilization of all aspects will take time. It is estimated that the reinforcements will not arrive until ten days at the earliest!" Li Yuantong did not speak, and his heart was very heavy. He felt that it was not easy to resist for ten days, so he suggested : "Generalissimo, can General Li Fenglong's troops be transferred over?"
Li Zongdao shook his head and frowned: "If his troops are transferred over, the Shenyong Army Division and the Xiangyou Army Division in the left wing may not be able to hold on. If only a part is transferred over, it won't have much effect." Starting from the beginning, he looked towards the Yanyun Army camp at the foot of the mountain, frowned and murmured: "At this point, maybe the only thing we can do is to make a dangerous move!"
When Yan Yun's army returned to the camp, Yang Yanzhao immediately gathered all the cavalry, selected 3,000 particularly strong horses, and then gave detailed instructions. Three thousand horses and three thousand knights went down immediately.
In the middle of the night, Li Yuanzhong and Li Feng led nearly ten thousand Xixia war cavalry down the mountain quietly. At the same time, Li Zongdao led the main force on the mountain to prepare for an attack.
Li Yuanzhong and Li Feng led their war cavalry to slowly approach the Yanyun camp in the distance. The men picked the bells from their horses, and nearly ten thousand horses marched quietly. At this time, the moon suddenly hid in the clouds and came out again, and the earth was suddenly bright and dark.
The Xixia army approached the Yanyun camp and looked into the camp. They saw lights like beans and silence. The entire camp was obviously in sleep. Li Yuanzhong became excited and felt that the time for revenge had finally arrived. He turned to Li Feng and whispered: "Move the rebel horses outside the camp gate." Li Feng responded, called a dozen soldiers, ran over, and put the horses away. All the horses in front of the camp gate were moved away. Li Yuanzhong raised his hand and waved forward, shouting: "Come with me!" Then he rushed into the camp gate first, and nearly ten thousand Xixia warriors followed Li Yuanzhong into the camp with a loud roar.
As soon as the Xixia army rushed into the camp, they rushed into the tents from all directions and wanted to kill people. However, every tent was empty and there was no human figure. "There is nothing here!" "There is nothing here!" "Everything here is empty!" exclaimed. The sounds come and go. Li Yuanzhong realized something was wrong and shouted urgently: "Go back! Go back!" Before he could finish his words, thrilling shouts suddenly came from all around, and at the same time, countless torches came from all directions.
At this moment, a loud sound broke through the sky, and the Xixia soldiers immediately fell on their backs. Li Yuanzhong and Li Feng shouted and led the army to break out, but they ran into Modao's army formation. The rushing momentum immediately stopped, and rows of swords were seen flying up and down, and the light of the swords was like a wall of swords! The soldiers of the Xixia Army were flying with blood and flesh, and screams were heard. Even the heavy armored cavalry would be extremely disadvantageous when encountering the Mo Dao Army, not to mention these light cavalry with thin armor and limited weight. Wherever the sword passed by, only the men and horses were broken into pieces, and blood flew. !
At the same time, arrows rained down from both sides continuously. The Xixia cavalry were not killed by Mo Dao's blade, but also died by the arrows flying in the sky. The screams and neighings of horses were heard. The Xixia army retreated for two years and was unable to break through.
Li Feng shouted loudly and urged his horse to rush forward, trying to break out of the encirclement. Li Tian saw this and rushed out, intercepting him and fighting. Both of them used long spears and fought for more than ten rounds with roars. Li Feng became timid and couldn't help but slow down his hands. However, Li Tian became more courageous as he fought. With a roar, he suddenly thrust the spear into his chest. Li Feng wanted to dodge and block, but was at a loss for a moment. He only heard a click and saw that the spear in Li Tian's hand had penetrated Li Feng's chest. Li Feng looked down at the spear that pierced his chest with a look of great fear. Li Tian pushed hard, and Li Feng screamed and flew out, falling heavily to the ground. His limbs twitched and then stopped making any movement.
The Xixia soldiers were already panicked, and they were even more frightened when they saw this scene.
Li Tianrui immediately raised his gun and shouted: "Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who do not surrender will be killed!"
The generals and soldiers of the Xixia Army were in turmoil and at a loss. Seeing this scene, Li Yuanzhong sighed and murmured: "This is the end, if we continue to fight, we will lose our lives in vain, so what's the use?" As he said this, he threw down the weapon in his hand, and it fell to the ground with a bang. A sound.
When the soldiers of the Xixia Army saw that their commander had thrown away their weapons, they naturally also threw away their weapons in a hurry. Then the soldiers of the Xixia Army dismounted and knelt on the ground. Li Tian led people to escort the Xixia army soldiers down, while Xiao Feng led people to collect weapons and horses. These are all trophies.
Although Li Zongdao couldn't see clearly what was happening in the Yanyun military camp on the mountain, he could see countless torches suddenly appearing in all directions, and Li Zongdao's heart couldn't help but sink. Then the sound of fierce fighting was heard, and the attacking army was obviously trapped in a tight siege and a hard fight. Li Yuantong on the side said anxiously: "Generalissimo, let's go to meet them!" Li Zongdao frowned and shook his head, the palm of his hand holding the handle of the knife turned white due to excessive exertion, "No, the enemy is prepared, we are not only going down the mountain. If you can't save Yuan Zhong and the others, you will fall into a trap." Li Yuantong knew what Li Zongdao said was reasonable, so he not only sighed, but this sigh contained a lot of helplessness.
Not long after, the sound of fighting stopped, and then I saw countless torches entering the camp, and then the torches were extinguished one after another, and the Yanyun camp returned to calm, as if the fierce battle just now had never happened.
After waiting for another half an hour, no one came back. Knowing that the 10,000 cavalry sent out were all destroyed, Li Zongdao felt so surprised that he felt like he couldn't breathe, but he couldn't show it at all in front of the soldiers. It seems to them that he is still the cold and calm generalissimo.
Early the next morning, Yanyun's army formed a battle formation and prepared to continue attacking Changcheng Ridge. At this moment, a scout galloped over, reined in his horse, and presented a small bamboo tube, "General, urgent military information!" When Yanyun Army scouts convey military information in front of the army, they often do not convey it verbally, but The message was conveyed through notes and letters, because if there was bad military situation, the words spoken would be immediately heard by the surrounding soldiers, which would affect the morale of the army.
Yang Yanzhao took the small bamboo tube and found a small paper roll here and there. He unfolded it and read it again without moving his voice. When the soldiers around him saw this, they just thought it was nothing serious and didn't take it to heart.
Yang Yanzhao said to the scout: "Continue the investigation and report the situation at any time!" The scout responded, turned his horse and ran down. Yang Yanzhao looked at the Great Wall Ridge directly ahead and shouted: "Attack!" Boom boom boom... the roar of the artillery was earth-shattering.
The Xixia Army officers and soldiers on the mountain were all crouching and hiding on the back of the mountain. They could only hear the crackling and rumbling sounds of the entire mountain. The entire mountain seemed to be shaking. From time to time, artillery shells whizzed past everyone's heads. Many soldiers of the Xixia Army were swearing, and some even cursed them one after another from the eighth generation of the Yanyun Army's ancestors. After yesterday's battle, the Xixia soldiers were no longer so afraid of the Yanyun Army's cannons.
However, Li Zongdao still frowned. He knew that Yan Yunjun had made up his mind to use this attrition tactic to deal with him. If there was no way to solve it, based on the situation yesterday, his side would only be able to hold on for five or six days. Got it! what can we do about it?
At this moment, Li Yuantong, the general of the Ministry, led an officer to rush over, and the message was endless: "Generalissimo, good news, the reinforcements have arrived in Hongzhou!" Hongzhou is located to the north of Changcheng Ridge, close to the Great Wall. Ridge is only more than thirty miles away, and the infantry can reach it in a day of rapid march.
When Li Zongdao heard the news, it was like good news from heaven. He was both surprised and unbelievable, because according to his previous estimate, it would take at least ten days for the reinforcements to arrive. He was at a loss when he arrived, but he didn't expect The reinforcements have actually arrived in Hongzhou. Li Yuantong pointed to the officer beside him, "This is the messenger sent by General Li Cunxiao!" The officer immediately bowed to Li Zongdao: "I pay my respects to the generalissimo!"
Li Zongdao asked happily; "Is it Li Cunxiao who is here?" The reason why Li Zongdao was so happy was because Li Cunxiao was the most talented general in Xixia. His arrival made him feel like he was sharing the burden; Li Cunxiao was originally stationed in the Snow Mountain , to prepare for Tubo, he had already transferred them over, which shows that Xixia has now made up its mind to fight to the death with the Yanyun Army!
The officer replied: "It's the general of the right wing." General of the right wing, this is Li Cunxiao's official position.
"How many troops are coming?"
"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, my general has brought a total of 80,000 infantry and cavalry, all of which are elite troops stationed in the snow-capped mountains!"
Li Zongdao was overjoyed and said, "Great!" Then he asked in confusion: "Why is Li Cunxiao so fast?" The officer said: "As soon as my general received the order from the court, he realized that the situation was serious and immediately left 20,000 troops behind. Guard the snow-capped mountains, and then lead a large force to advance lightly, traveling day and night. Along the way, we did not enter the state or government, nor did we contact other armies or any government. We just rushed on the road with all our strength, so we arrived in Hongzhou in only three days!"
"Okay! Well done! Li Xiaochun is indeed a famous general of the generation, and I really did not misjudge him!"
The officer continued: "My general is leading his army to Changcheng Ridge! The general sent a villain to inform the generalissimo that the 'Snow Mountain Army' will arrive on the battlefield this afternoon. Please don't worry, generalissimo!" "Okay, okay, Li Xiaochun is here. , I have nothing else to worry about!”
At this moment, the deafening sound of artillery stopped, and only someone heard loudly shouting: "The enemy is coming up!" Li Zongdao frowned and immediately ran towards the mountain. The surrounding soldiers all headed towards the mountain together. Run. When they came to the mountain, they saw Yan Yun's army rushing towards the mountain. Li Yuantong cursed, and then shouted at the top of his lungs: "Get ready! Get ready!"
The Yanyun Army rushed up the hillside, and the Xixia Army was ready to attack. The hand of a sergeant who was responsible for pushing the wood slipped, and the wood rolled down with a rumble. The other sergeants were startled and pushed back the rolling stone Sagi without control of their hands. At that time, Yan Yun's army had just gone up the hillside, and they were still far away. The rolling stones and trees could not reach them at all.
The sound of retreat horns came from Yan Yun's army, and Yan Yun's army who had just rushed up the hillside immediately turned around and ran back. When the Xixia army on the mountain saw this, they immediately knew that the Yanyun army was about to fire, and they turned around and ran towards the back of the ridge without waiting for orders. Almost at the same time, the Yanyun Army's cannons made an earth-shattering roar. In an instant, the mountain ridge was like a pot exploding. The unlucky Xixia Army was smashed to death by the roaring shells.
Both sides repeated such actions, and the Xixia army officers and soldiers felt numb.
The Yanyun army started shelling again, and the Xixia army hurried to hide behind the ridge. However, at this moment, three thousand Yanyun cavalry troops, led by General Li Tianrun, suddenly rushed out of the military formation and rushed towards the steep slope to the west of Changcheng Ridge like a whirlwind. The Xixia people's energy and attention were all attracted to the gentle slope. It was not until Yanyun's warriors rushed up the hillside that the Xixia people suddenly woke up. Immediately, there were loud screams and shouts, and some Xixia soldiers hurriedly ran towards the steep slope. . At this moment, the cavalry led by Li Tian rushed up the hillside and charged into the Xixia army. The horses and swords killed the Xixia army until their corpses were covered in blood and flew into chaos. Li Zongdao was shocked when he saw that the Yanyun Army's cavalry had broken through from the steep slope, and hurriedly mobilized his troops to counterattack. Li Tianrun faced a group of Xixia troops who were rushing forward to fight for their lives. He shouted loudly and led his cavalry to charge forward without hesitation.
However, the mountains are not conducive to cavalry charges, and soon the Yanyun army fell into a hard fight. The Xixia army surrounded them one after another, as if there was no end; the Yanyun army fought hard to kill, and the Xixia army was flying with blood and flesh, but each Yanyun army However, the officers and soldiers fell on their backs under the opponent's mountains of swords and spears; roars and screams were heard. Although the Yanyun army was unstoppable, the Xixia army was also completely crazy!
When Yang Yanzhao saw Li Tian successfully charging up the mountain, he couldn't help but cheer. He immediately ordered Xiao Duoli to lead 5,000 infantry troops up the steep slope, while he himself led the main force to attack from the barren slope.
The guards guarding the gentle slope could not help but change their colors when they saw the Yan Yun army coming down the mountain like a surging tide.
The Yanyun army swarmed up the mountain and attacked with all their lives despite the rolling stones and rain of arrows. Some soldiers were constantly beaten to death by the rolling stones and trees. However, other soldiers completely ignored this; the Xixia army officers desperately pushed the rolling stones and trees away. Go down and shoot arrows desperately, but the main force is now going to counterattack the Yan Yun army who is attacking up the mountain. As a result, the manpower here is very tight, and the suppression strength is obviously not as good as before.
After paying a great price, the Yanyun Army finally rushed to the top and immediately charged in frantically with their weapons. Although the Xixia Army fought back hard, they fell into a pool of blood one by one.
The Yanyun army broke through the frontal defense line of Changcheng Ridge, attacked the mountain ridge, and fiercely attacked the Xixia army that was besieging Li Tian. The Xixia army was originally very crazy, but suddenly saw Yanyun's large army coming to attack, and their fighting spirit instantly collapsed. Under the fierce attack of Yanyun's army, they suffered heavy casualties, retreated continuously, and finally collapsed completely.
The Yanyun army took advantage of the situation and pursued them down to Changcheng Ridge. They saw the Xixia army running around in panic. Soldiers were constantly being chopped down to the ground by the Yanyun army that was catching up. There were scenes of massacres all over the mountains and plains, like a huge slaughterhouse. Li Tianrun rushed to the front, slashing and killing the defeated army. Wherever his cavalry passed, corpses were everywhere.
Just as Li Tian was rushing forward to pursue the defeated troops, a herald caught up with him, rode alongside Li Tian, and shouted loudly: "General Yang reminds the general that the 80,000 enemy troops led by Li Cunxiao have already passed." Hongzhou, don't go deep in hastily, be careful!" Li Tian suddenly heard the news, but he didn't feel anything at all. He nodded, "I got it!" and then led his army to continue chasing the enemy.
Not long after, Li Tian led more than a thousand war cavalry over a mountain ridge, and suddenly saw an enemy war cavalry of more than 2,000 people approaching. The war cavalry was obviously different from the Xixia army they had seen before. They were all wearing white battle robes and had an intimidating momentum. They were obviously an elite division.
Without hesitation, Li Tian led his war cavalry to charge forward, running at full speed, with murderous intent fully unfolded; and the white-robed Xixia war cavalry also launched a charge, and their momentum was not weaker than that of Yan Yun's army. They were indeed among the elite. division.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
