Liu Chengzong looked at Lin Chengdong's reply to him and smiled to his left and right: "Why does this letter smell so bad?"
He is not stupid. The highest official in the city is Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li Hongsi. The current guard is Liangzhou Road Counselor Liu Shaozong, and Ganzhou Road Counselor Lin Chengdong. In the final analysis, they are nothing more than a whole division. Retreat the general.
With such an identity, Liu Chengzong thought that the effectiveness of this promise might not be as good as his fart when he responded with such a bold statement that Liangzhou City was not hostile to the Marshal's Mansion.
At the front of the battle line, Yang Qi, Bee Tail Needle, Gao Yingdeng and others stood beside Liu Chengzong. Yang Qi read the letter and said with a smile: "Commander, what this letter says is pretty good, but Commander, please don't fall for the trap." , they want to lure the commander to Duanlong."
Liu Chengzong frowned slightly. His ultimate goal for this battle was to complete Long's defeat. Hearing Yang Qi's words, he couldn't help asking: "They are talking nonsense. It is very difficult to break Long. Wu Hou's Northern Expedition was more than a thousand years ago." At that time, Ningxia was still the territory of the Hu people."
"How many roads have been built in Hexi over the past thousand years. Ningxia takes the Songshan Road directly to Liangzhou. It is also extremely convenient to increase troops from the south to Guyuan. We want to capture Zhongwei, Guyuan, and Baoji. Without Ningxia, it is nonsense to cut off Long."
Yang Qi slowly shook his head and looked at Liangzhou City, which was like a line on the horizon a few miles away, and said: "It's okay to be brave in a humble position and keep going long."
Liu Chengzong glanced at Yang Qi: "General Yang, what do you say?"
Yang Qi was very happy when he saw that Liu Chengzong was not angry. He knew that Liu Chengzong had always paid little attention to him and was afraid that he would not have the patience to listen to what he said. It seemed that although Liu Chengzong didn't like him, he could still listen to his words. This was a good thing. Phenomenon.
He cupped his fists and said: "To put it bluntly, war is not about victory or defeat, life and death, strength or weakness, it's just one word, consumption."
"Consumption?"
Yang Qi nodded: "It's just consumption. Human lives, money and food are piled up on the front line. More people are born than die, and more food is grown than eaten. The war can go on endlessly. Who can't afford it?" Who loses."
Liu Chengzong was happy to hear this. He agreed with Yang Qi's statement, but it sounded like...the advantage was not mine.
Liu Shizi is self-aware of this matter. Since he took control of Hehuang, the area along the Yellow River has become a war front.
Even though the Marshal's Mansion tried its best to minimize the impact of war, smallpox, and drought, Hehuang had more deaths than births in previous years.
Until last year, the number was close to flat.
It's just that he has been expanding and absorbing more people into Hehuang, which makes the population growth under his rule beautiful.
Of course, in horizontal comparison, Hehuang may be the place with the fewest deaths in the northwest in recent years, but there is no comparison... Who is he comparing to? In the entire Shaanxi, except for the small area in Guanzhong, there is no place that can be said to be governed. place.
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "What do you think of our energy consumption?"
"able!"
Yang Qi answered firmly, then shook his head and said: "General, you must not attack Ningxia. The most suitable places to use troops at the moment are Liangzhou, Songshan, and Qinzhou."
After that, he smiled and said: "As long as our army makes a slight move to attack Songshan, the Ming army in the Zhuanglang Valley will collapse. Even if the commander-in-chief continues to march, Hong Chengchou will end it. Even if the court changes someone to be the governor of the three sides, , it will still be broken."
"Because Gansu has always been barely self-sufficient in terms of grain and grass, but in fact it relies on Lanzhou's supply, and the court's situation is even more helpless. They have to adjust grain from Guanzhong."
"As the Marshal said before, Marquis Wu's Northern Expedition happened a thousand years ago. At that time, Hexi was self-sufficient in military and food supplies. Now Hexi is a white land. Even if there is a population, it is difficult to resettle it. What's more, the Marshal's Mansion no longer has the strength for an expedition, and the imperial court has no spare capacity. .”
Yang Qi's words were very interesting. He explained Hong Chengchou's behavior from another angle and allowed Liu Chengzong to see his past self in Hong Chengchou's behavior.
To be precise, the strategy used by Hong Chengchou was completely the usual tactics of rogue bandits. They retreated in large strides on the battlefield, extending the combat radius of the official army and creating gaps.
It's just that what Hong Chengchou wanted to talk about was Liu Chengzong's supply line. He tried to lure Liu Chengzong to make a big move by giving up the land, so as to bring the marshal's army to the same status as the official army.
Of course, Liu Chengzong believed that Hong Chengchou did not have such great courage, but that he was beaten so hard that he had no choice but to lose continuously on the battlefield, and finally retreated and took advantage of the situation... But this was quite a trick.
At this moment, the beetail needle in charge of the artillery stepped forward and said: "Commander, the artillery is ready."
"Let's fire, hit the city wall, and try to hit one."
Liu Chengzong smiled and patted Yang Qi: "I will consider what you said. Let's see how the cannon hits the city wall first."
Operating a heavy artillery weighing 5,700 kilograms is a big test for the artillery of the Marshal's Army, and at a distance of four miles, it is difficult to say what the hit rate is.
Liu Chengzong was not a professional artillery general. His artillery and artillery teams had always been operated by others, but after fighting for so many years and seeing all kinds of artillery, he knew how difficult it was to bombard a city wall four miles away.
He is very confident in the quality of his artillery, but in this era artillery must abide by the Basic Law. It is not easy to hit accurately. The best artillery and the best gunner can hit a target two feet wide and six feet high two miles away. That means you can only get one out of six.
When there was no war in Hehuang, every artillery drill was done in this event. A thousand-jin cannon could fire thirty-six shots in a quarter of an hour, and if it could hit six shots, the whole artillery could be trained by Liu Chengzong himself. The mutton and fermented milk.
Any rules or mathematics about this distance are bullshit. Such a big target is just a line two miles away.
On the battlefield, this is the width and height of the general's column appearing two miles away. From this distance, there is no way to tell where a person's head and chest are. The only thing that can be seen is whether it is a cavalry or an infantry.
A gunner of this level and a gun crew with such a high rate of fire are among the best in the world. Even a thousand kilograms of gunpowder cannot feed one of them.
That's why when Liu Chengzong attacked the city, he asked the artillery to get as close as one mile to the city wall and the battlements, because when it was one mile away, the hit rate would effectively increase to the point where three cannons could hit one.
Fortunately, Liangzhou City was very high. Even from four miles away, it looked more than twice as big as the targets they used for daily training. Liu Chengzong was confident that the artillery could fire three rounds and hit one.
Unexpectedly, the artillery fired one after another. Liu Chengzong received extraordinary joy with his telescope. They hit two of the guns, and one even hit the battlements!
Yes, Liu Shishi is 100% convinced, yes.
But what disappointed him was that the power of the heavy artillery was not as shocking and powerful as he imagined.
On the wall, the outermost city bricks were smashed into powder, and the second layer of city bricks were shattered. Even the surface of the third layer of city bricks was not visible. The only thing that made him happy was that they were hit on the battlements. That cannon directly blasted away the battlements.
If you replace it with a thousand-pound cannon, you will need at least three cannons to achieve the same effect.
For Li Hongsi and other Liangzhou defenders, what shocked them the most was actually the cannon that was fired. After realizing it, Li Hongsi mobilized the defenders to pick up the cannon in the city, but failed to pick up the cannon.
The cannonball grazed the edge of the battlements of the west city wall, flew across the entire Liangzhou City, and landed outside Dongguan City. It smashed deeply into the irrigated soil, leaving a foot-deep hole.
For most soldiers, it is normal for cannonballs to damage the battlements, and it is normal for the cannonballs to fly over the entire Liangzhou City. However, if a cannonball that can damage the battlements can fly over the entire Liangzhou City, then That's not normal.
Li Hongsi heard the soldiers report that the cannonballs were fired from outside the west gate and landed outside the east gate. Everyone was stunned.
What the hell is this?
This thing was an ancestor when it was in the field. Before anyone saw it, a cannonball fell on its head.
He decided on the spot that he would not leave the city even if he was killed. He could survive for a while even if he was shot in the city, but he would definitely be crushed to pieces by heavy artillery when he went out to fight in the field.
Outside the city, Liu Chengzong was also reflecting on the gun's range - it contained too much gunpowder.
Historically, their artillery charges were based on the weight of the gunpowder according to the weight of the shells. This was very effective in the use of light lion cannons and medium-sized kilo cannons. Artillerymen were also trained in this way. They were most familiar with this kind of charge. It not only meets the power requirements, but also ensures the accuracy of artillery.
But for this kind of heavy artillery, twenty kilograms of shells and twenty kilograms of powder seemed... unnecessary.
A thousand-pound cannon loaded with seven pounds of gunpowder and fired at the maximum range with eyes closed can only hit six miles. Even if the target is as thin as a line at this distance, they can still see a line.
The heavy artillery uses twenty kilograms of gunpowder. If the firing angle is larger, it can hit ten miles away. It is really impossible to see the line. Whether it is siege or field battle, this is a range that they have no need at all.
Although the Marshal's Mansion was not destitute in terms of gunpowder, it should not be wasted even if it was poor. Liu Chengzong estimated that only one-half or even one-third of the bullet weight would be enough for this cannon.
Soon, he had the opportunity to experiment, and a fight broke out in the southeast.
The cavalry belonging to Feng Yu's chariot battalion clashed with the Gulang defenders when they occupied Songshan Chongbian. In just three hours, five groups of Ming troops came from Songshan, Maya Mountain, and Zhuanglang Valley. More than a thousand Han people arrived at Gulang on foot.
In terms of momentum, the Ming army immediately frightened Feng Yu. He had never seen the Ming army reinforce so quickly in his life. He quickly asked Tang Qi to send a message to Liu Chengzong. He said: "Commander, I seem to have stabbed the honeycomb." !”
Liu Chengzong thought that was not the case. Yang Qigang told me that it seemed that the Ming army in the Zhuanglang Valley could not hold out for long and would retreat. As a result, their retreat was cut off, so they could not swarm in.
Liu Shizi immediately sent a message to the Wei Qian'er camp behind Feng Yu, informing him that the Ming army's intention was not to fight, but to use Songshan to rush to Ningxia.
He told Wei Qian'er, don't try to stop all enemies. I will send you door cannons, and you can just pick a lucky one and beat him.
Liu Shishi had a good idea, but the army in the Zhuanglang Valley really came back north to confront him after they heard that Hong Chengchou had withdrawn to Ningxia.
There are four generals in this legion, namely Cao Wenzhao, Chai Shihua, Ding Shaoyin, and Bai Guangen. Each of them has a reason not to run away.
The order received by Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen was to garrison Zhuang Langwei and guard Songshan within the second border wall.
Because Songshan was surrounded by the Great Wall, there was a disturbance in Songlu at that time because the border wall connecting Ningxia and Liangzhou was buried in yellow sand. The Mongols stepped on the sand and entered Songshan.
Later, the imperial court built border walls on the west, south, and east sides of Songshan, called Songshan New Border. The central idea of the new border was to circle all water sources, pastureland, and farmland outside, leaving barren land inside. Fortresses were built in these places and became the Songshan defense system.
After the Songlu were defeated, the imperial court rebuilt a Great Wall, called Songshan Chongbian, to the north of Songshan and south of the old border wall that was easily buried by yellow sand.
If Zhuang Langwei cannot be defended, even if the Ningxia border troops want to come over, they will have to walk through the desert, otherwise they will be trapped in the border wall like the Songlu were.
The situation of Ding Shaoyin and Chai Shihua is a bit complicated. Ding Shaoyin is the commander of the Liangzhou Guard, and he leads the car camp formed by the Liangzhou Guard Flag Army. Their children are still in the Liangzhou Guard City, not to mention guarding Liangzhou. their responsibilities.
As for Chai Shihua, the army he led was Yang Jiamo's Biaoying. Now that Yang Jiamo is dead, the last army in Gansu has retreated to Liangzhou City... This is the common will of the Biaoying soldiers and generals, not Chai Shihua's.
For Chai Shihua himself, he cares more about where his clan members are - he is from Xining Guards, and the Chai family was sent to Xining City by Liu Xiangyu to have a good life when Liu Chengzong settled in Hehuang when he was young.
Therefore, since he led his army into the Zhuanglang Valley, he has been standing still while others moved forward slowly; while others have advanced fiercely, he has moved forward slowly and leisurely, and he also called it protecting the car camp.
But in fact, when Ding Shaoyin's camp was heavily besieged by Xie Erhu and Basang, Chai Shihua's greatest effort was to send cavalry into the barrier wall to send a message, telling Ding Shaoyin that there were reinforcements behind him, so hold on.
If Cao Wenzhao and Bai Guangen hadn't entered the river valley, Ding Shaoyin would have been gone.
So Chai Shihua is very embarrassed at the moment. If he goes to Ningxia, he is afraid that others will sue him for not doing anything. If he doesn't go to Ningxia, he is also afraid that the group of Yang Jiamo's pacesetters under him will not be happy... Life is always faced with dilemmas, and you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you can't have both, you can only lead the most elite troops to hold back your friendly forces.
When Liu Chengzong's letter reached Wei Qian'er, Wei Qian'er was rushing to the front line. After receiving it, he felt confident that he was not in a hurry. He said to himself that the commander-in-chief had said that these people were going to flee to Ningxia. Then I would get the cannon. Continue to march.
In this way, after two days of delay, Feng Yu was also a real person. He felt that he could resist the enemy and the situation on the battlefield had been known to the generalissimo, so he did not tell Wei Qian'er that he was leading a car camp here to block the jam. More than 10,000 troops for three days.
It’s not that Feng Rui is so fierce. The Gulang Defense Center is indeed easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the river in the gorge comes out of the two mountains. The ancients said that on the Jingxing Road, cars cannot be on square tracks, and horses cannot be lined up. That's probably what it means.
The mountain road going south is extremely narrow, but even the mountain pass going north is not very wide when you come out, a little more than a mile.
Even the fortress with the Gulang garrison is very small, like Liangzhou City, which is five feet high and more than 11 miles around the city; Gulangsuo is two feet high and one hundred and sixty-five steps around the city, which is equivalent to a playground plus There are stands, and it’s a playground without a basketball court.
Such a small fort basically blocked the narrowest mountain pass from Gulang Gorge to Liangzhou. As for Feng Zhen, he led a full car camp with many artillery. The posture of the fort is similar, and the entire valley is within his shooting range.
When Wei Qian'er rushed to the battlefield, he saw smoke coming out of the valley from a distance. Two car camps with the same organization and the same artillery were stationed in the narrow valley, one in the south and the other in the north. They were carrying large and small artillery. Todoroki, it was extremely exciting.
He turned to look at the army. Liu Chengzong sent him the 'mighty general' dragged by eight horses. He then turned to look at the car camp where he was fighting against Feng Yu. At that moment, his eyes were full of sight. The light of joy.
"Let's go and try the cannon!"
Good evening!
(End of chapter)
