The sky finally dimly lit up!
Near the intersection of the Yellow River Dam and the seventh-level canal, on a large trampled wheat field 300 steps away from the embankment city, more than 10,000 men were waiting aggressively to "eat him, drink him" N, divide him N" The soldiers of the Song Dynasty have been lined up in two lines, one in front of the other and one in the back, forming two large horizontal formations.
These two large horizontal formations are composed of ten battalion-level infantry square formations. Each battalion-level square formation has about five white soldiers. Half of them wore iron armor, some wore infantry armor, and some wore lighter heart-covering armor. Most of these armors are relatively poor hot-forged armors, and it is rare to see superior cold-forged armors.
After all, the time for Zhao Kai to reopen the Song Dynasty was still short, and Luoyang's handicraft industry had just started, so it was impossible to provide cold-forged armor for so many soldiers.
The remaining half didn't even have iron armor, so they had to wear armor for body protection. However, no matter what kind of armor they were wearing, the fighting spirit of these soldiers was so high that it was a bit scary. Each and every one of them had their chests out and their bellies protruding. When Zhao Kai's six black banners and two white flags (there was so much noise this morning, even fools knew it was Zhao Kai who was here, so he stopped pretending) appeared on the battlefield. At that time, more than 10,000 people cheered, roaring with the momentum of an army of 100,000!
In addition to being able to roar, the physical strength of this group of soldiers seems to be pretty good... They are all extremely strong. They marched all the way from Shangyiankou, and now they can still roar on the battlefield. This kind of physical strength is considered Cultivated and trained. Even if he is not as good as the golden thief who has been trained in the old forest, he is definitely better than the Western thief Bu Bazi.
In addition, looking at the weapons they are equipped with, you can tell that this group of people's battle formation skills are not weak either. All the soldiers who appeared under Lingzhou Diba City today were equipped with spears, crossbows, shields and a blunt weapon - these are the truly elite infantry!
As early as the Warring States Period, the world-famous Wei soldiers were able to "wear armor with three attributes, wield a crossbow with twelve stones, carry fifty arrows, place a spear on it, and wear a crown and sword." The soldiers of the Sui and Tang Dynasties were also equipped with three kinds of weapons, that is, they were equipped with bows, arrows, spears, swords and shields.
Now the soldiers under Zhao Kai have basically reached the level of the soldiers in the Sui and Tang Dynasties (early Tang Dynasty)!
Of course, with these imperial infantry alone, Zhao Kai's army would not be so arrogant... The real main force of the medieval army was the cavalry!
Although Zhao Kai only brought 25,000 men to the Lingzhou front line, there were as many as 5,000 cavalry among them! Including more than 2,000 Yulin cavalry and more than 2,000 cavalry belonging to Tiance's selected front army and Tiance's imperial tent army.
Now these cavalry are also organized into battalions, controlling the coast of Lingzhou River, and firmly covering the two wings and flanks of the ten thousand Song army placed under the dike walled city.
The elite cavalry of the Xixia Army, Pingxia Tieyaozi, is still in Xingqing Mansion. Therefore, on today's Lingzhou battlefield, the Song Army can rely on the advantage of cavalry to firmly grasp the initiative on the battlefield!
Between the two large horizontal formations of the government soldiers, eight twenty-five-pound hotpot cannons had been placed on the spot. Groups of horse-drawn carriages also brought gunpowder and stone bullets to the artillery positions.
Because he was afraid of blowing up the dam, Zhao Kai did not dare to use iron bullets. Without iron bullets, the stove would of course be useless.
In fact, stones can be burned, but the heat is difficult to control. There are holes and impurities inside the stones. Some stones have the wrong composition and will explode if they are not burned properly. And the blacksmiths don't know how to burn stones, so every row is like a mountain. That's why Zhao Kai didn't dare to let them burn the stones...just hit them with cold bullets!
Although the stove did not come, Zhao Kai's "good student" Wu Meiniang still stepped forward and was still responsible for planting flags and school shooting - now the only ones who can do this job are Zhao Kai, Huang Wubing and Wu Meiniang. Zhao Kai was an official and it was not convenient for him to "do it" himself, so Huang Wubing took a mortar to the Yellow River Dam. Therefore, Wu Meiniang can only continue to do the work of planting flags, observing, measuring distance, and calculating angle of attack.
Now, the decisive battle between the Song and Xia armies...oh, maybe it's about to begin when the divine monk Dalba from the Great White Kingdom and the enchantress Wu Meiniang from the Great Song Dynasty begin!
...
"Namo drink na da naduo nayeye, namo aliyepolujiedi..."
The sound of the great monk chanting sutras also sounded in the embankment walled city at this time! Then I saw the tall and thin Tibetan eminent monk and his disciples, already sitting cross-legged on the tower of the walled city. Each of them held the Vajra Seal with their hands and recited the "Spell of Conquering Demons". It was very reassuring to watch!
Li Liangfu and Weiming Renzhong are now trying hard to maintain a "I'm relieved" look, patrolling back and forth on the towers and walls of the walled city, and occasionally mentioning a few words to the monks.
"The divine monk's power is boundless, and the witches from the Central Plains are no match at all!"
"How can demonic methods be compared with Buddhist methods?"
"Hahaha, that little demon girl is finished. She will show her true form soon. I don't know what kind of demon she is?"
"Looks like he's either a vixen or a white snake spirit..."
Most of the defenders on the walled city belong to the Xiangqing Military Division, that is, the local soldiers of Xiping Prefecture (Lingzhou). Most of them are Han Chinese, and their ancestors were once Song people... But as early as Song Zhenzong Xianping In five years (1002), Lingzhou was captured by Li Jiqian. It has been more than 120 years. Except for the five-pronged expedition to Xia in the fourth year of Yuanfeng (1081), when the Song army briefly came to Lingzhou City, the soldiers and horses of the Song Dynasty have never arrived here again...until now!
Therefore, the Han people in Lingzhou who are guarding the city walls of Xiping Prefecture and Diba City at the moment really can’t raise much energy for the Han Dynasty of the Song Dynasty, which is always unable to cheer up... and they don’t know that the Song Dynasty The Luoyang Emperor of the Song Dynasty was now riding swaggeringly on a black Qingtang dragon horse, surrounded by a group of Yulin knights, Hanlin knights and female squadrons, waiting for the bombardment to begin.
Even if someone told them, they wouldn't believe it... How could the official family of the Song Dynasty be so knowledgeable?
But what is happening now still shocks these Han soldiers in Xixia. The Song army actually arrived outside Lingzhou City with such arrogance, and even forced the Dangxiang people's Jin Dynasty Commander Cha Ge to stay behind closed doors... What shocked them even more was that the Dangxiang people actually still Send people to dig the Yellow River dam!
Just a few people, is that all? The good wheat fields are flooded like this. Come this winter and next spring, many people will starve to death in Xiping Mansion, right?
In addition, why did Li Liangfu and Weiming Renzhong, two party nobles, bring a group of monks to the top of the city and keep telling fairy tales?
.......
At this time, Zhao Kai got off his mount and strode to the rear of the artillery position. As far as he could see in front of him, there was the high city wall.
On the top of the walled city, there are many odds and ends, including cannons, forks and logs, gantry boards, and various tools for shielding arrowheads.
The number of defenders seemed to be quite large, at least three to four thousand!
On the embankments to the south and west of the city wall, two rectangular formations of three to four hundred men were also placed, using large shields and spears to block the road from the embankment to the city wall. And behind one of the rectangular formations, there were many soldiers of the Western Bandits digging a dike! Seeing this, the Western thieves wanted to repeat their old trick and flood the Song army with water from the Yellow River!
But they probably won't succeed this time, because two generals led by Yue Fei and Dong Jingang have also climbed onto the embankment, and are now preparing to use their carriages to cover the soldiers to launch an attack!
Wang Gui, on the other hand, led the main force of the Selected Front Army over the Yellow River embankment. Now he doesn’t know where he has advanced?
Also...why are there a group of monks on the tower?
Zhao Kai raised the telescope and took a closer look. It was indeed a monk... wearing cassocks, with a bare head, and seemed to be still chanting sutras. Could it be that he was saving the Western thieves who were about to be beaten to death by the heavenly soldiers of the Song Dynasty?
Thinking of this, Zhao Kai felt a little unhappy. He strode to Wu Meiniang, took the purple flag from her hand, held it high in the air, paused briefly, and then waved it down fiercely: "Fire! Aim at the bald donkey on the tower and hit me hard. beat!"
The eight twenty-five-pound cannons shook at the same time. First there was fire, followed by thunderous sound. The smoke filled the air. In the blink of an eye, several stone bullets landed 300 steps ahead. The city walls and embankments were immediately smashed to pieces and turned into countless tiny stones, flying everywhere!
The noise was quite loud, but it did not cause many casualties - because no stone bullet hit the city tower or city wall. Only one stone bullet landed near the Yellow River embankment near the city wall. The broken stones hit several people who were working. One of the Western bandit infantrymen who dug the embankment had his skull smashed, and he died before he could even scream. There were three others whose bodies were hit by stones and were so traumatized that they screamed in pain.
Li Liangfu and Taina Renzhong on the tower were slightly relieved... The monks' spells seemed to be of some use!
But the Song Army's bombardment has just begun!
The sound of the first round of shelling was actually an order to attack!
When the cannon sounded, the four thousand soldiers of the Selected Front Army led by Wang Gui had already crossed the Yellow River embankment and detoured along the river beach to the other side of the walled city... They were close to a demolished The bridgehead for most of the pontoon. Two rows of fences were erected on both sides of this bridgehead, and behind the fences were thousands of Xixia soldiers holding bows and arrows.
Wang Gui waved his hand fiercely: "The second general is in formation! The divine arm is in front!"
The soldiers of the Selected Front Army who were following him all moved forward past him, and then quickly formed a square formation. Many of them stood in the water of the Yellow River that was up to their knees, but they didn't care at all and continued to shout slogans while forward!
The ones walking at the front were all warriors wearing iron armor and holding divine arm bows!
At the same time, Yue Fei, the commander of the Selected Front Army who had boarded the Yellow River Embankment, also took out the straight knife he was wearing, pointed forward, and at the same time raised his arms and shouted: "Iron-armored pot-throwing soldiers, move forward!"
