On the official road on the south bank of the Wuzhang River, the sound of horse hooves rumbled like thunder, and three thousand cavalry were just following the marching camp commander Han Shizhong and the marching counselor Chen Gui, walking in front of the army heading east.
Behind them, countless military flags of various colors rolled up, and endless infantry and vehicles followed.
To their left, on the slowly flowing Wuzhang River, there were countless warships and boats, arranged in two long columns, heading east together with the infantry and cavalry on the shore.
The elite main force of the Song Army in Kaifeng is now marching along the waterway, leaving the impregnable Kaifeng Mansion, and is marching eastward along the Wuzhang River in a mighty manner.
In order to send troops this time, Li Gang, the privy envoy, camp envoy in charge of Kaifeng's military affairs, and stay-at-home in Tokyo, spent all his money.
Now following Han Shizhong and Chen Gui, in addition to the 13,000 elite infantry and cavalry brought by Han Shizhong from Liangshanbo, there are also the 50,000 line camp troops and 100,000 Kaifeng Xiang troops stationed in Kaifeng Mansion by Li Gang (actually Minzhuang, enjoy Xiangjun treatment) selected 67,000 elite soldiers.
In addition, all the warships of the "Liangshan Fleet" stationed in the "Moat Lake" in the east of Kaifeng Fucheng also moved along the Wuzhang River under the command of Song Jiang and Li Kui to cover the flanks of Han Shizhong's command - if Without these more than 100 warships, Han Shizhong would not dare to leave Kaifeng Fucheng with 80,000 infantry and cavalry to fight in the field with more than 200,000 gold soldiers.
In addition to the Liang Shanshui Army, Han Shizhong also has another trump card in his hand, which is the camp artillery led by the marching counselor Chen Gui!
Artillery, not artillery...the sides are different, and the equipment is of course different. Although this stereotype is one of the inventors of tubular firearms that can be verified, the matter of casting artillery is still relatively complicated, and Zhao Kai cannot take care of it for the time being. So he could only make a fuss about the cannon and "invented" the counterweighted cannon!
Of course, the stone-throwing counterweighted cannon is not very powerful in field battles. After all, the accuracy of this thing is quite worrying. Unless the opponent is stupid and doesn't move, it won't kill a few people.
However, Zhao Kai also discovered three types of powerful ammunition in the inventory of the Kaifeng Mansion Ordnance Supervision, allowing the counterweighted cannon to exert a certain power in field battles.
These three types of ammunition are clearly poisonous smoke fireballs, thunderbolts, and fierce fire oil!
The poisonous pyrotechnic ball is an incendiary bomb that emits thick, choking smoke. It is not very lethal, but it has a good effect on disrupting the enemy's formation.
Zhentian Lei is a cast iron bomb filled with gunpowder - the power of this thing is a bit elusive. Sometimes it can make a lot of noise, sometimes it doesn't make a sound, and sometimes it can barely blow the bomb shell into pieces. Two halves...Zhao Kai actually knows the reason for Zhen Tianlei's unstable performance? First, the casting process of the bomb shell was not up to par, and it was too thick to be easily broken; second, the formula of the gunpowder was unreasonable, the purity of the saltpeter and sulfur was not enough, and it was not granulated; third, there was no tubular fuse.
However, Zhao Kai did not spend any energy to improve these problems... because he found another powerful firearm on the weapons inspector's bill - fierce fire oil!
Menghuo oil should be a kind of light crude oil, which is produced in Shaanxi. Under the Ordnance Supervision of Kaifeng Prefecture, there is a fierce fire oil operation that specializes in collecting and storing fierce fire oil.
After Zhao Kai returned to Kaifeng Mansion after the Battle of Hecaikou, he noticed the fierce fire oil when he was counting the anti-gold supplies. So he ordered Zhongshi Dao, who was out of Shaanxi Province, to find a way to collect some and send them to Kaifeng Mansion.
At this time, a lot of fire oil was stored along the northwest coast to guard against Western thieves. So Zhongshidao quickly collected tens of thousands of kilograms of fierce fire oil and sent people to Kaifeng Mansion. Coupled with the inventory of the Ordnance Inspector Meng Huoyou, Zhao Kai has enough "Zhao Lotov Cocktail Cans" to use. Of course, he does not have to deal with granular gunpowder and artillery - these two things are not difficult to say. It is difficult, but to truly equip the troops and form combat effectiveness, it will take a year or two. In comparison, Menghuo Oil Tank is relatively fast to get started with!
Moreover, gunpowder and artillery technology may be leaked to the gold thieves... The gold thieves took over the Khitan people's handicraft industry and were able to refine gunpowder and cast copperware.
As for fierce fire oil, the gold thieves have no place to dig it!
With the three trump cards of warships, long-range cannons, and heavy fire oil tanks, Han Shizhong and Chen Gui, who led their troops on the expedition, were of course full of confidence - I have the advantage, and I will win this battle!
On the south bank of Wuzhang River, against the river embankment, there is a tall arrow tower standing at regular intervals. Minzhuang, who was eating the food and pay of the Xiang army, was stationed on top of the arrow tower. At this time, they were all very energetic, staring intently at the area controlled by the Jin soldiers on the north bank of the Wuzhang River. From time to time, they loudly reported their findings to the Chuanqi who was guarding under the arrow tower.
These messengers would immediately rush to Han Shizhong and Chen Gui and continuously report to them the latest movements of the Jin army on the north bank of the Wuzhang River.
"Lieutenant Han, Bachelor Chen, the gold thief's red and black flag has been hung out at Chenqiao Town's Xianlie Temple... It seems that the gold thief has broken Chenqiao Town!"
"Lieutenant Han, Scholar Chen, and the gold thief's horse have arrived at the bank of the Wuzhang River 10 miles ahead. Also arriving with them are some carts equipped with cannons!"
"Lieutenant Han, Bachelor Chen, a large group of gold thief knights in white robes appeared on a slope south of Chenqiao Town. They may be the leader of the gold thieves!"
Is there a big boss? How big is it?
Han Shizhong and Chen Gui looked at each other, reined in their horses, took out their telescopes, and began to look northward...
...
Wuzhang Hebei, south of Chenqiao Town, Wu Qimai is riding a horse on a high slope, surrounded by Wanyan Wanju, Wanyan Puluhu, Wanyan Yanmu, Wanyan Wulu, and Wanyan Tart Lan, Wanyan Boji, Wanyan Alu and other "Da Wanyan", as well as Yelu Yujian, Yelu Mawu, Xiao Zhonggong, Liu Yanzong, Guo Yaoshi and other Khitan and Han lackeys. Farther away, a large group of Jurchen Tiefutu cavalry and Kaizi horse cavalry surrounded them, protecting Wanyan Wu Qimai and other senior officials of Dajin, inside and out.
Wu Qimai didn't have a telescope, and he didn't know that someone was looking at him from more than ten miles away at this moment, but he could still roughly estimate the number of Song troops.
"One hundred thousand..." Wu Qimai smiled and said to his left and right, "That's almost the number! We have more than 200,000 people, and the Song army only sent 100,000 troops. The advantage in this battle is mine!"
After all, Wu Qimai knew the art of war very well and knew that 230,000 to 40,000 was much greater than 100,000, so the advantage was in his hands, and it was huge!
Wanyan Pruhu, who was standing next to him, saw that his father was confident, so he rashly interjected: "Dad, why don't we mobilize tens of thousands of elites to get to the front of the Song army, cross the Wuzhang River, and then attack the Song people's infantry?" The cavalry brigade, defeat them in one fell swoop!”
Wu Qimai glanced at his son indifferently and said with a smile: "To cross the Wuzhang River, and to defeat the Song army in one fell swoop... You can't imagine it! The Song people were advancing by water, and there were two or three soldiers on the Wuzhang River. There are hundreds of warships, and these warships are equipped with crossbows and divine arm bows. How can our people withstand them?"
Wu Qimai looked relaxed, but he gently rejected Wanyan Pruhu's rash suggestion, which made several big Wanyan people below him frown a little. Their military resources are not sufficient. The food and grass brought by Daming Mansion have been exhausted. Fortunately, Wanyan Nianhan had some sent over. When the army marched eastward, they scared away the defenders of Chenqiao Town. They did not fight. And we got a big town and grabbed some grain and grass... but we still couldn't sustain the consumption of more than 200,000 people and hundreds of thousands of horses!
Wanyan Wu was begging for money, but he smiled and asked Wanyan Onli, "How are you going to fight?"
Wanyan Wanli said without a smile: "Your Majesty, we have many soldiers and generals, and we are sure of victory. Of course we should fight steadily... We can first set up a stronghold on the north bank of the Wuzhang River, set up cannons, and force the Song army to retreat. boat, then send sharp troops to forcibly cross the Wuzhang River, set up a pontoon bridge on the river, and finally cross the Wuzhang River and advance towards the Bian River. In short, we do not take the initiative to attack the Song army relying on the Wuzhang River, but force them to attack We! Only in this way can we break the Song Dynasty’s method of advancing by land and water!"
This Wanyan Wanli was obviously psychologically affected by the Battle of Yuncheng and the Battle of Hecaikou. He did not dare to fight the Song Army's infantry and cavalry warships at the same time. He had to separate the Song Army's land and water armies first, and then he could Be sure of victory.
Wanyan Wu Qimai nodded with a smile and said: "Although our army has a great advantage in this battle, we must be cautious... The rise and fall of the country depends on this battle. If we can win, Kaifeng Mansion will be ours." With the contents in my bag, even if the officials of the Song Dynasty are not captured by me, they can only flee to the southeast. A situation like the Northern and Southern Dynasties can be fought out no matter what. If..."
If you can't win, it will be a disaster!
But it’s better not to say such depressing words. Wu Qimai thought: With such a huge advantage, how could he not win? Although the Song people had warships, they were no match for hundreds of cannons... Once their warships retreated, those 100,000 infantry and cavalry were no match for the more than 200,000 golden heavenly soldiers!
...
At this moment, Han Shizhong was holding a telescope and carefully looking at the high slope where Wu Qimai was, keeping in mind all the faces that could barely be seen clearly through the telescope.
Seeing Wu Qimai and others riding down the high slope towards Chenqiao Town, he put down his telescope and said to Chen Gui beside him: "Scholar Chen, let's fight the gold thief in this area! "
Chen Gui had also put down his telescope. He looked at Han Shizhong who looked confident and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Han, how do you want to fight?"
Han Shizhong said: "You can attack halfway across the river... Let some of the gold thieves cross the river first, then move forward by land and water, cut them in two, and finally eat the gold thieves crossing the river. Although the gold thieves have many soldiers, If we eat up 20,000 to 30,000 yuan without force, our energy will definitely be greatly damaged, and we will have no choice but to go north."
Chen Gui said: "You can also send someone to contact the officials and ask them to send troops to attack the rear of the gold thieves, making it difficult for them to take care of them!"
Han Shizhong nodded heavily: "Okay, let's do it!"
