Zhao Kai has arrived!
Under the banner of Xiang Ke, they led the Tiance Selected Front Army commanded by Yue Fei, the Tiance Imperial Guard Army commanded by Dong Jingang, the Yulin Army commanded by Li Fuchen, and the artillery general commanded by Huang Wubing, a total of more than 25,000 People have arrived at the front line of Xiping Mansion!
And he himself did not camp on the west bank of the Lingzhou River. Instead, accompanied by Yue Fei, Guo Tiannu, Dong Jingang, Huang Wubing and others, he quietly entered a place near the Yellow River Dam and The village of the seventh-level canal that diverts the Yellow River water into the Yeongjucheon River began to observe the high-rise Yellow River embankment walled city.
The village that Zhao Kai entered was very close to the seventh-level canal and the Yellow River dam built in the Tang Dynasty. It was only a thousand steps away from the walled city built at the intersection of the Yellow River dam and the seventh-level canal.
The residents living here fled to the east bank of Lingzhou River before the Song army arrived. Only more than 200 infantrymen belonging to the Xixia Xiangqing Army Division guarded here.
Before Zhao Kai arrived, Yue Fei and the soldiers of the Selection Front Army suddenly rushed outside the village gate on horseback, then dismounted and launched an attack. First, they threw a few copper kettle bombs, which stunned the Xixia soldiers guarding the entrance to the village. Then they swarmed in, and the battle was resolved in less than a stick of incense. Dozens were slaughtered and the rest were taken as prisoners.
The so-called copper kettle bomb is to fill a small cast bronze kettle with black powder and iron slag, then wrap a fuse with a wooden tube and wrap several layers of silk to plug the mouth of the pot. It's a very simple design, and its power is just right, but it's a little expensive - a copper kettle weighing more than one kilogram costs several hundred copper coins just for the material (including losses)! Including gunpowder and labor costs, a copper kettle bomb always costs a lot of money, and it's not cheap (it's usually less than 1,000 Wen). However, in order to win Xixia quickly, Zhao Kai did not care about money. Before leaving Luoyang, he asked the Fu Caijian Artillery Factory to build hundreds of copper kettles, purchased more than a thousand from the market, and collected a total of two thousand, all of which were transformed into bombs!
After Yue Fei captured the village, Zhao Kai immediately moved in, found the tallest adobe house, went up to the roof, and began to use a telescope to observe the Yellow River embankment city a few hundred steps away. This telescope is more valuable than a cannon and is the only one in the world!
It was Zhao Kai who found a glasses master in Luoyang City (glasses existed in the Song Dynasty, but the lenses were not ground with glass, but with crystals). He ground two convex lenses with crystals and gave them to the Ziwei Palace for decoration. The carpenter made a stretchable sleeve, and then installed the lens himself... It works well, but it's not good at all, because this telescope only has two convex lenses and a sleeve, so The imaging is upside down, which is not something I’m used to.
Through the eyepiece of the telescope, Zhao Kai saw an inverted castle, leaning on the intersection of the equally inverted Yellow River embankment and the seventh-level canal - this is where the embankment and the canal meet, so it is relatively spacious and can Build a small castle.
The river embankment and the canal are not very tall, and cannot be compared with the Wannian New Embankment near Kaifeng Mansion. Without this castle, it would not be difficult at all to seize the embankment and canal.
A wide trench was dug under the river embankment and canal where the castle was located. The trench was filled with water, but it was unknown how deep it was.
In addition to attacking from below the castle, the Song army could also attack the castle along the top of the seventh-level canal and the Yellow River embankment. However, the top of the dam and the top of the canal are relatively narrow and cannot accommodate too many troops, and the Western bandits must have deployed corresponding defenses.
In addition to these three lines, enemies attacking the embankment castle can also climb over the Yellow River embankment and then attack from behind the castle.
In addition, there is another difficulty that Zhao Kai did not expect, that is, the Yellow River dam looks old and broken...it seems that it has not been properly repaired for hundreds of years, and he does not know whether it can withstand two The bombardment of a fifteen-pound mortar? But before the bandits could dig in, the embankment was blown down by cannon!
Moreover, the dam does not look stable at all. It seems that it can collapse with just a casual dig...
Zhao Kai stood on the roof, holding a telescope and observing for a long time. After a long while, he softly uttered a few words: "Have you been interrogated?"
"The interrogation has been completed." It was Dong Jingang who replied, and all the prisoners captured by Yue Fei were handed over to him for personal interrogation.
"How many days will it take to dig the dam?" Zhao Kai asked.
"One day!" Dong Jingang replied.
How encouraging!
Dong Jingang paused and then said: "The Western thieves have two digging methods, one is to dig river embankments, and the other is to dig a large canal... There is a sluice between the large canal and the Yellow River. Digging the large canal After the canal, if we open the sluice gate and release the water vigorously, our camp will be flooded! And as long as we close the sluice gate afterwards, the water will recede immediately, and it will be easy to repair the canal without causing flooding.
In addition, the advantage of digging a large canal is that it is easier to control the water potential, and the sluice gate can be closed before the water overflows the Yeongju River dam. In this way, Lingzhou City will not be flooded! If we can seize this castle and control the sluice and canal, we can also dig out the other side of the canal and flood Lingzhou City with water! "
This Dong Jingang looks vulgar, but in fact he is quite considerate, and his questions are very clear... It is estimated that the Western thieves who were forced to question him were beaten until they didn't even recognize their mother! And it wasn't just one Western thief who was beaten, at least seven or eight of them were beaten, and they were beaten individually.
Therefore, what Dong Jingang came up with through forced questioning should be credible!
"How thick is this dam? Can it withstand the bombardment of hotpot cannons?" Zhao Kai asked again.
"The intersection of the dam and the canal is relatively wide and strong, and should be able to withstand it." Dong Jingang said, "But other parts of the dam and the canal cannot...the tops are only more than one foot wide. , cannot be bombarded with iron bullets.
In addition, this earthen castle was mainly built of rammed earth, and there was not much wood, so it was impossible to burn it all. "
What encouraging news!
Zhao Kai thought to himself: There is only one day!
Moreover, the bombardment cannot be relaxed, arson bombs are of little use, and the tops of the embankments and canals are too narrow... How to fight this?
"How to fight?" Zhao Kai decided not to think about it and asked directly!
"Place the hotpot cannon on the outside of the trench below the walled city, and bombard the walled city with stone bombs as a feint attack." Yue Fei immediately took the question and replied, "Then send troops across the Yellow River embankment and bypass the Yellow River beach to attack the back of the walled city. , where the water level is high, the height of the embankment is relatively low, and there is also a pier and a pontoon bridgehead that can be used."
"I know!" Zhao Kai said with a smile, "Fire the frontal bombardment to attract the attention of the Western thieves, and then send warriors to sneak attack from behind...what a clever idea!"
"No," Yue Fei shook his head, "That's just a feint."
"What?" Zhao Kai was stunned, "Are we going to launch the main attack from the top of the dam?"
"Exactly!" Yue Fei nodded, "We attack from the top of the dam... Only in this way can we catch him by surprise and succeed in one fell swoop!"
"But the top of the embankment is only more than one foot wide, how can we attack?" Zhao Kai asked.
"We can move the hotpot cannon up..." Yue Fei said, "use it to shoot gravel flatly!"
Okay, 25 pounds of shotgun! Zhao Kaixin said: Isn't this too cruel? But I like it very much!
"Flat shot?" Zhao Kai suddenly frowned, "Then how to resolve the recoil?"
"Use earth bags," Huang Wubing interjected, "Officials and ministers have tried flat shooting with ten-pound cannons at the shooting range outside Xuanwu City... You can pile many earth bags behind the gun mount to relieve the stamina. .”
"Also," Yue Fei added at this time, "we can also transform the pallet truck into a tow truck and lift it up the embankment... This way our soldiers can hide behind the tow truck and throw bombs!"
"Good idea!" Zhao Kai nodded heavily, "When will it be ready?"
Yue Fei calculated, "Tonight, everything will be ready tonight, and we can start the attack early tomorrow morning!"
Zhao Kai nodded: "Before dark tomorrow, I will capture the diba city!" He thought for a moment, "Today is May 30th... On the third day of June, I will be in Lingzhou Sleep in the city!”
Yue Fei, Li Xiaozhong, Dong Jingang and others all nodded silently. Although they didn't say anything, Zhao Kai could still see worry from their expressions.
Because they know that Lingzhou City is already the hinterland of the Western Bandits! The entire clan of the Western bandits will soon arrive from Xingqing Mansion!
At that time, it will be difficult for Zhao Kai to capture Lingzhou City... He only has about 25,000 men at hand, and Xiang Ke also leads 100,000 people to besiege Mingsha City (including only 100,000 soldiers) half), with a total strength of no more than 125,000.
We are not afraid of the hundreds of thousands of Western bandits in a field battle, but it is not enough to storm Lingzhou City, which is guarded by so many Western bandits.
And it’s almost June... This is June in the lunar calendar, which is equivalent to mid-July in the Western calendar. It’s very close to the time when the weather gets cooler.
Once the weather in North China turns cold, the Jin soldiers will launch an attack. If Zhao Kai cannot return to North China in time, then this blitzkrieg will be a failure!
Although time is tight, Zhao Kai's confidence remains the same. His greatest advantage is probably his extremely strong self-confidence! In addition to his self-confidence, Zhao Kai also has great style and is willing to share money and land!
Seeing that his good brothers were a little less confident, Zhao Kai also calmed down and pointed to Lingzhou City to the east: "We, the Song Dynasty, have been fighting with the Western bandits for more than a hundred years, and countless loyal soldiers have their bones buried in the west... ..Among them may be your elders, relatives and friends! And this city is the key to the survival of the Western Bandits. Back then, the Western Bandits captured this city first and then they were able to claim the title of king and emperor! This Lingzhou City is the Yan State of the Western Bandits. Capital City!
In three days, I can lead you to snatch this Lingzhou City back from the hands of the Western Bandits. The Western Bandits' national destiny will also come to an end... According to my will, I only want Lingzhou City. The official treasury of the Western thieves in the city, and the property of the nobles of the Western thieves, will all be distributed to the soldiers! Half of the hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land outside the city will be rewarded to meritorious soldiers who are willing to settle in Lingzhou, and the rest will be used to house the soldiers! "
