Zhending city.
After Zhao Tai moved the camp to the bottom of the city, he began to set up artillery carts to bombard the city wall.
Relying on the long range of the Pizhou cannon, the Qi army threw thunderbolts into the city unscrupulously and smashed stones against the city walls.
Under the bombardment of the Pizhou artillery group, thunderbolts and stone bullets rained down on Zhending. The defenders on the city wall hid behind the wall stacks and shivered, and the soldiers in the city screamed and fled.
As the Qi army fired cannon stones day and night, houses in the city were destroyed, and cracks began to appear in the city walls under the attack of cannon stones.
The Mongolian army in the city wanted to counterattack the Qi army's artillery fire, but they did not have a trebuchet with the same range.
The weapons of the Mongolian army could not reach the Qi army's artillery group. They wanted to rush into the Qi army's camp and destroy the Qi army's artillery group, but they were reluctant to spare the lives of the Mongolian soldiers.
Wokuotai has never been so angry since he raised his army.
In the past, the Mongols surrounded others to attack, but now he was the one who was blocked in the city and beaten.
Faced with Zhao Tai's aggressiveness, Wo Kuotai was so angry that his mouth was full of blisters and his bowel movements were dry. He wanted to send troops to fight several times, but finally endured it.
"Prime Minister, how is the progress of the Pizhou cannon that you asked the craftsmen to imitate?" Wo Kuotai touched the blisters on his mouth and asked in a deep voice.
Yelu Chucai said: "Your Majesty, we failed to capture the actual object. It will take time for the craftsmen to complete the imitation!"
Wokuotai said angrily: "I have had enough. I am bombarded by Qi thieves every day. I will give them three more days. If they can't build it, they will all be chopped down!"
…
When Wokuotai was angry in the city, the Qi soldiers who had eaten breakfast began to operate the artillery cart again and launched a bombardment in the city.
At this time, in the Qi army's tent, Zhao Tai stood in front of the map, looking at the geography of Hebei.
Wang Bin shook his feather fan and said, "Guanzhong, Bashu, Jiangnan, and Hebei can all be separated from each other. If we fight for the world, Guanzhong and Hebei will be the best, followed by Bashu and Jiangnan. The land of Hebei is bounded by a big river in the south and the sea in the east. , leaning on Taihang to the west and Yanshan Mountain to the north, the mountains and rivers are in a great shape, and we have a stronghold in the upper reaches, and we have the power to control Liuhe. If the king can capture Hebei, he can look at the Central Plains!"
Zhao Tai nodded, "If we can drive the Mongols out of Hebei, and only have Taihang and Yanshan as barriers, we can take advantage of the mountains and rivers to resist the Mongols. However, Wo Kuotai obviously knows that Hebei is powerful, and the army is stationed there and will not retreat. I don’t want Gu to control Jingxing, and I don’t want Gu Bei to drive away Yanshan.”
Shandong is too small and has no room for strategic maneuvering.
This time, the Qi army's Northern Expedition was to gain sympathy and occupy the moral high ground, to create living space, and to indirectly force the Southern Song Dynasty to send troops to Shandong by attacking Mongolia.
These three points are very important to the Qi Army. If any point is not realized, the Qi Army will be in trouble.
At present, Zhao Tai has occupied the moral high ground through the Northern Expedition and won the recognition and sympathy of some people.
The first goal set by Zhao Tai has been achieved, but the second goal, to create living space to the north, has only been half achieved.
If the Qi army wants to avoid being trapped in a two-front battle, it must be the first to inflict pain on Mongolia, or occupy enough prefectures and counties to the north. Only in this way can the Qi army retreat south when the Southern Song Dynasty launches an attack.
Now that Mongolia does not want a decisive battle with the Qi army and insists on not leaving, Zhao Tai can neither hurt Mongolia nor occupy more states and counties to the north.
Wang Bin shook his fan and said, "If the Tatars can be driven out of Zhending, the king can send a group of troops to control Jingxing and cut off the connection between Hedong and Hebei. Then continue to the north and drive the Mongolian army past Yanshan. Then there will be no big problem. So worried!"
Zhao Tai shook his head, "Gu thinks so too, but I'm afraid Wo Kuotai won't let Gu Ruyi!"
At this time, the two were talking when Zhao Hu came in with the tent and said, "Your Majesty, there is news from Lin'an."
Zhao Tai's heart tightened and he clenched his fists, "Is the Southern Song Dynasty going to send troops?"
Zhao Hu said: "The King is wise and the Jin Yiwei reported that the Tatar envoys arrived in Lin'an and humiliated the ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty in the street, but the Song court did not respond. Manager Hu predicts that the Southern Song Dynasty may not be able to withstand the pressure of the Tatars and will attack Shandong in the near future."
Wang Bin said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the Southern Song Dynasty has assembled an army of 300,000 in Huainan. Your Majesty must drive away Wokuotai as soon as possible, and then leave and go south!"
Zhao Tai pondered for a while, "First send an order to Li Fen, so that he does not have to move closer to Gu, leave 10,000 horses in the river to bluff, lead the Ninghai and Xiaosheng armies to hide in the day and night, and return to Shandong first."
Now that Wokuotai is being exported by Zhao Tai, he will not pay attention to Li Fen's tribe who stayed in Hejian after the capture of Hejian.
If the Southern Song Dynasty attacked Shandong, not to mention anything else, the number of 300,000 horses alone would be enough to put huge pressure on Zhao Tai.
Zhao Tai's Northern Expedition took away 90,000 elite troops, leaving less than 60,000 troops in Shandong. They still needed to be stationed in various places, and it would definitely be difficult to withstand the attacks of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Now that the Qi army was engaged in a two-front battle, and the infantry was slow to maneuver, Zhao Tai could only let Li Fen withdraw first, while he continued to confuse Wokuotai.
Wang Bin said: "Mongolia has a vast territory, and the main force is cavalry. If the king wants to defeat Mongolia and force Mongolia to sue for peace, I am afraid it will take several years, or even more than ten years. Although the Southern Song Dynasty has many soldiers and horses, its monarchs and ministers are weak, and the king only needs one battle. We can make them surrender. This time, as long as the king can defeat the Song army quickly, we can stabilize the overall situation before the Mongolian army can react and attack Shandong. Now that Shandong's troops are empty, the king must also try to escape!"
Zhao Tai nodded slightly: "Now that the two armies are close together, I must first drive Wo Kuotai out of Zhending!"
After saying this, Zhao Tai immediately said: "Command the artillery group to bombard the city wall alone!"
At the foot of Zhending City, the artillery batteries of the Qi army were firing step by step. A messenger hurried over and shouted an order, "Your Majesty's military order, replace the stone bullets with a section of the city wall that must be destroyed!"
The commanding officer heard the sound and immediately ordered, "Change the stone bullets and smash the city wall!"
The soldiers operating the artillery group quickly took down the thunderbolts that were about to be fired into the city and replaced the cannonballs with stones.
At this time, the artillery group loaded the stone bullets and continued to bombard the city wall. Huge boulders immediately dented the wall, and the stones on the city wall fell one after another.
As the artillery group blasted the city wall, nearly 10,000 Qi infantry troops began to line up in front of the artillery group. The soldiers removed the fence in front of the artillery array, apparently preparing to rush directly into the gap after the city wall collapsed and seize the real city.
~~~~~~
When Zhao Tai received news that the Song army was about to attack, Shi Songzhi and Yang Weizhong had already arrived in Chuzhou.
At Yang Weizhong's urging, the various units of the Song Army stationed on the south bank of the Huaihe River began to take action. The Southern Song Navy was the first to attack.
Qi generals Lu Wende and Lu Wenhuan led the Qi navy to fight for a day and lost to the Southern Song navy. They led the Qi navy to break through the obstruction and withdraw from the Huaihe River.
The Song Army's navy immediately destroyed the Qi Army's water stronghold and controlled the Huaihe River waterway, clearing the way for the Song Army to cross the river on a large scale.
On the south bank of the Huaihe River, Shi Zhaizhi saw pillars of smoke rising from the Qi army's water camp on the opposite bank. He couldn't help but said proudly: "Zhao Tai, this time the imperial court has sent 300,000 troops. Let me see what else you can do!"
