Seeing Zhao Kai's murderous look, Han Shizhong coughed and said with a smile: "Brother, Li Qianshun didn't seem to say he wanted to fight... Now it's just the gold thief who wants Li Qianshun to send troops."
Obviously, Han Shizhong was not willing to start a war with Xixia in the northwest. He and Xixia are also old rivals, and they know how difficult Xixia is.
Moreover, the next main battlefield is clearly in Hebei. Why are you going northwest to fight Xixia? Isn't this an extraneous problem? What if the fight fails, what should Hebei do?
Yelu Yujian also nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes... Li Qianshun was a thief who guarded the family and had no great ambitions. Moreover, he had always been close to the Liao Kingdom and deeply hated the Jurchens for destroying the Liao Dynasty. After the fall of the Liao Kingdom, he also recruited many The Liao people who were unwilling to lose their country were all led by Xiao Heda, the commander of Xiazhou, and were also stationed in Xiazhou.
Therefore, he will probably not send out large-scale troops. At most, he will take advantage of the opportunity to seize the three prefectures of Feng, Fu, and Lin, and the Jinning Army's land west of Hexi. If we defeat the golden thief, it will not be difficult to claim these lands. "
The political affairs of Xixia are no longer entirely decided by party members!
Because Li Qianshun took in many Khitan escapees when the Liao Kingdom fell... This group of people are all warriors, and are now led by Xiao Heda, an accomplice of the Liao Princess, and they have become an independent entity in the Xiazhou area. This group of Khitans and Jurchens hated the subjugation of their country, and there was no way they could help the Jurchens to fight against the Song Dynasty.
Not only would they not contribute, they might even plot a rebellion while the Xixia army was dispatched, so Li Qianshun did not dare to risk his life and fortune to fight Zhao Kai to the death.
Of course it is impossible for Zhao Kai to go all the way to attack Xingqing Mansion... He can't cross the Yellow River either! But it’s hard to say for Xiao Heda!
Therefore, in Yelu Yujian's view, if Zhao Kai is not willing to spend money, then ignore Xixia, and they will probably not really fight against the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Kai turned his attention to Yue Fei, his most trusted general. Now Yue Fei "doesn't understand politics" and only talks about military affairs. So he won't say whether Xixia should be beaten - if the eldest brother says it should be beaten, that's what should be beaten! Isn't there something in Brother's "Man Jiang Hong" that says, "Driving a long car, crossing the gap in the Helan Mountains"? This is to beat Xixia!
However, Yue Fei still shook his head slowly, "The army will leave Xiaoguan and march along the Huluchuan and the Yellow River. It will take three hundred miles to Lingzhou... If there is a field battle, my brother and Li's son-in-law can take the lead, but Lingzhou How to capture it? If we don’t capture Lingzhou, I’m afraid the Western thieves won’t be afraid.”
Yue Fei pondered for a while and then said: "Besides, it is three hundred miles away from Xiaoguan to Lingzhou, and the infantry can only reach it after six or seven days of march. It is impossible for the Western bandits in Lingzhou to be unaware of the news, and they will definitely take precautions and want to make a surprise attack." Lingzhou is absolutely impossible... Moreover, the city of Lingzhou is hard to capture, and the Western bandits will not be in a hurry to rescue them. It is also difficult to use Lingzhou as bait to lure the Western bandit soldiers into a decisive battle!"
The Xixia army's field combat capabilities have no advantage at all against the old Western army led by Tong Guan, let alone against today's Song Dynasty soldiers? But the question is...why are the Western thieves eager to fight a decisive battle with the enemy who is deeply alone? Wouldn't it be better to let the enemy retreat in Lingzhou City until their veterans are tired and then fight back?
"Officials, what Lieutenant Yue said makes sense!" Li Fuchen, a young man of eighteen or nineteen, got along best with Zhao Kai, but now he did not support Zhao Kai's proposition. After Yue Fei finished speaking, he took over the topic and said: "The Western thieves know that I can't last long, so they will definitely dig deep ditches and high fortresses and refuse to fight me. It is not difficult for the soldiers to march three hundred miles to Lingzhou, but Lingzhou city is on solid ground and dangerous, and the city is connected to the Yellow River embankment. Not only is it extremely difficult to capture, but it is also extremely difficult to capture. Moreover, the defenders may dig embankments and release water at any time.
In the past, during Shenzong's five-pronged expedition to the Xia Dynasty, Jingyuan and Huanqing had more than 130,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians. They attacked Lingzhou for 17 days but failed. Miserable failure! "
The terrain of Lingzhou is somewhat similar to Sanshan Floating Bridge and Wannian Xindi. The city defense is connected to the dam, and the riverbed of the Yellow River near Lingzhou has become higher than the ground due to sedimentation.
At that time, the army led by Gao Zunyu and Liu Changzuo failed to attack Lingzhou and failed to control the Yellow River dam. As a result, the Xixia army burst the embankment and released water. They suffered heavy losses!
Li Fuchen was a general of the Western Army, and many of his elders had participated in the profound five-pronged campaign against Xia, so he was also afraid of the task of capturing Lingzhou.
Huang Wuji was also from the old Western Army, and he also knew that the Western bandits were very hard-boned and difficult to defeat quickly, so he also advised Zhao Kai: "Brother, with our current military strength, if we fight one on one, even if we want to destroy the Western bandits, we will not be able to win." How difficult it is... It is nothing more than using the Tang Dynasty's method to deal with Goguryeo, sending troops year after year and fighting for three to five years, so that their elites cannot rest, the old and the weak cannot farm, the national power is gradually exhausted, and the country will naturally perish. .”
Huang Wuji's method is actually quite reliable, even better than Genghis Khan's six conquests in Xixia.
In history, there are quite a lot of Genghis Khan's six conquests in Xixia, but those six conquests were not carried out together, but were carried out one after another over a period of 22 years. Therefore, Xixia could continue to recover blood and survive being beaten six times by the Mongols.
If Genghis Khan continuously attacks Xixia, Xixia will definitely not be able to last three years... But Zhao Kai is not interested in playing with Xixia for three years!
"I know what you all mean!" Zhao Kai smiled and shook his head after listening to everyone's opinions, "This time I have no intention of destroying the Western Bandits... I want to kiss him this summer. Pick up an elite brigade and leave Xiaoguan and go straight to Lingzhou with lightning speed. Return immediately after capturing Lingzhou. There will be no delay. You will definitely be able to return before the gold thieves attack Hebei, Hedong, and Huaidong. Arrive at Guangwu Mountain Camp. What do you think?"
He is no longer as fast as the wind, but as fast as lightning. It is a blitzkrieg!
Hebei's pacifying envoy Ma Kuo was also from Shaanxi. After hearing this, he just shook his head and said: "The distance between Guangwu Mountain and Lingzhou is two thousand miles... that's four thousand miles back and forth! Even if you can travel eighty miles a day, It will take fifty days! If the officials want to leave and return within three months, they must gather Shaanxi soldiers within forty days, break through Lingzhou City, and then repel the counterattack of the Western bandits! How is this possible? "
Liu Ziyu, the envoy of the Hebei camp, also shook his head: "The official...if you are delayed at the gate of Lingzhou City, Hebei will be in danger!"
"There is no delay," Zhao Kai shook his head, "To tell you the truth, when I left Luoyang last year, I had someone secretly build a siege weapon. It is now completed. I plan to rush back immediately to test it. If it can be used, We should be able to break Lingzhou City within three days.”
What weapon is so powerful? Can you defeat Lingzhou in three days? Everyone present was stunned. Could this official be drunk and talking nonsense?
"Brother," Han Shizhong reacted first and asked, "What kind of sharp weapon is that? Is it so powerful?"
Zhao Kai smiled mysteriously: "It doesn't hurt to tell you, this sharp weapon is called a cannon!"
The cannon is finally here!
After nearly two years of traveling through Zhao Kaihun, it was finally cast.
Before Zhao Kai left Luoyang, he handed over the task of manufacturing cannons to Zhao Kai, the "Principal Assistant" of the Ministry of Household Affairs - yes, Zhao Kai's cannons were not produced by the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Industry, but by the "Central Bank" of!
The specific department in charge is the Fu Finance Supervisor under the jurisdiction of the "Price Minister" - this is a money supervisor with an annual output of 200,000 copper coins, located in Baibo Town outside Luoyang City. Copper coins are made of copper, so the Financial Supervisor of Fu hired many coppersmiths and kept a large amount of brass.
Zhao Kai has already asked carpenters to make ten mortar models of different sizes, and he also drew the drawings himself, and asked Zhao Kai to take him to Fucai to supervise the coppersmiths to try to cast them - this is actually not difficult, if it is that kind of cannon. Coppersmiths may not be able to cast a cannon with a very long barrel. But Zhao Kai's requirements were not that high. What he wanted was a mortar that was short and fat, like a soup pot. The difficulty of casting this thing was not as difficult as casting the big bell used in the temple.
Moreover, Zhao Kai also offered a thousand bolts of silk, ten corporal guards, and ten ninth-grade official photos as rewards!
As long as Zhao Kai tried the cannon and found it qualified and suitable for use, the responsible craftsman who made the cannon would be promoted and make a fortune!
Just a few days ago, Zhao Kai received a report from Zhao Kai, saying that all ten mortars had been cast according to Zhao Kai's requirements.
With the cannon, Zhao Kai felt that he had enough confidence to speak!
Anyone who refuses to accept will be bombarded with cannons!
"Cannon? How powerful can this thing be?"
Some people actually doubt the power of cannon! Zhao Kai took a look and found that this man was actually Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong was thinking of the cannon used to throw big rocks. He didn't recognize the cannon next to the word "fire".
"Brother, we have all seen cannons. No matter how big they are, they can't smash open Lingzhou City in three days!" Yue Fei also misunderstood. He didn't recognize the cannon next to the word "fire"!
"That's right!" Huang Wuji didn't know the word "cannon" either, "It's difficult to build a large cannon outside Lingzhou City without moving it... It's impossible to destroy the city in three days, right? "
Zhao Kai looked at the group of generals below who didn't know the word "gun" and wanted to say something, so he waved his hands to stop everyone and said, "There is no need to say anything... Nothing is better than seeing with the eyes! Why don't you just follow me? Let's go back to Luoyang and see the power of this cannon together. I can assure you that this cannon is very light and very convenient to transport.
If you think that this kind of cannon is not enough to blast open the Lingzhou city wall after firing, then I will not attack the Western bandits.
If you all think that the firepower of this cannon is amazing, then you might as well give the Western Bandits a hard blow. Use it to blast away Lingzhou City first, and then use it to attack the Western Bandits who counterattack in Lingzhou... These two battles will be fought After all, the West Thief's vitality must have been severely damaged. It's hard to say whether Li Qianshun can still control Xiao Heda by then. "
Zhao Kai had already said this, but the group of generals below didn't say anything. They just looked at Zhao Daguan's house blankly.
What does it mean? Zhao Kai was a little confused by them. After a while, Yue Fei was the first to ask: "Brother, what is 'fire' and what is 'firepower'?"
Zhao Kai laughed when he heard this - you just don't know!
"Pengju," Zhao Kai said, "Follow your brother to Luoyang to see it. By then you will know that cannon is a good thing!"
