Chen Qing once again appointed Li Qiong as the deputy commander of the capital and the military envoy to Xusu, to be informed of Xuzhou affairs. He appointed Pan Gui as the commander and the military envoy to Haizhou, and ordered them to continue to command an army of 20,000. Chen Qing gave them another 5,000 horses.
Let them return to Yancheng to rest for two days, and then return to Xuzhou to take charge of Xuzhou, Pizhou, Suzhou, Haizhou and Lianshui Army.
Chen Qing immediately deployed another 20,000 troops, divided into four armies, led by four commanders, each carrying a large amount of kerosene to defend the city, and went to occupy Chenzhou, Caizhou, Yingzhou, and Bozhou.
In this blocking battle, Chen Qing also achieved his goal. From Dengzhou to the west all the way to Haizhou, he captured all the state capitals that opposed the imperial army. This was mainly to prevent the imperial army from picking peaches.
It seems unlikely now. The emperor and the court still have a deep-rooted fear of the Jin Kingdom. But once they defeat Wanyan Wushu and recapture Bianliang, it will be hard to say. The court's mentality will definitely change, even if their finances
It is temporarily impossible to support the restoration of prosperity in the Central Plains, but the idea of picking peaches will definitely come to mind.
Li Qiong once again led an army of 20,000 people to the south. Liu Qiong worried: "Your Highness, Li Qiong is a person who surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin after all. Even if Your Highness trusts him again, he should send a supervisor!"
Chen Qing shook his head and said: "What's the use of sending a supervisory army? Either I will replace the general, or I will trust him completely and let the bird choose a good branch. I'm betting that Li Qiong is a smart man and he knows who his future lies with."
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"If Li Qiong was a smart man, what would he do?"
Chen Qing said lightly: "If he is a smart man, he will definitely send his wife and children to live in Jingzhao. If he cannot do this, sooner or later I will let Pan Gui replace him."
Liu Qiong suddenly realized that the thoughts of the superiors were beyond his ability to guess.
The day after Chen Qing returned to Xuchang, the Song army began to attack Xuchang. The attack on Yingchang Mansion was not a false attack, but a real attack. It can be said that the battle of Yingchang Mansion was Chen Qing's eastern expedition.
The top priority is to capture Yingchang Prefecture. Chen Qing's army will directly face Kaifeng Prefecture and Yingtian Prefecture. Liu Cui and Yang Zaixing's troops will also send troops to Zhengzhou, forming an outflanking trend against Kaifeng Prefecture.
Of course, if the attack on Yingchang Mansion fails, not only will the Western Army return to Ruzhou, but Chenzhou, Yingzhou and Caizhou may not be able to be saved either, and the pressure on Li Qiong will be great.
So this time, Chen Qing will take over Xuchang County at all costs and wipe out Li Cheng's army.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
At dawn, the dull sound of war drums sounded in the Song Army's camp, the door of the Song Army's camp opened, and the mighty troops rushed out of the camp.
Suddenly, alarm bells rang loudly above Xuchang City, resounding throughout the city. Li Cheng was still writing a letter to Wanyan Wushu to urge reinforcements. The sudden alarm bells shocked him, and his hand shook, and the entire letter was wasted.
Li Cheng threw away the pen, rushed out of the lobby, and asked sharply: "What happened?"
At this time, a soldier ran in and reported, "Report to the Jiedushi Envoy, the Song Army has crossed the river!"
Li Cheng felt dizzy and shouted: "Send all the left army to go to the city!"
The left army is the army of the left camp, with a total of 15,000 people. There are also 10,000 people from the right army. The entire regular army has a total of 25,000 people. In addition, Li Cheng also requisitioned 30,000 civilians in the city.
It serves as logistical support for combat operations, transporting supplies, treating the wounded, and providing food for the army, etc.
The entire city of Xuchang was mobilized, and groups of soldiers rushed to the city head. Eight thousand troops stood at the head of the west city, and another seven thousand troops were distributed at the other three city heads.
Li Cheng ordered to his deputy Cao Jing'an: "Push all the crossbows to the west city!"
There are a thousand crossbows in the city, of which 400 are deployed at the west city head. The situation looks bad now. The Western Army is likely to use heavy trebuchets, and there are not enough long-range weapons on the city head. The key is that there are no similar weapons.
Of the heavy trebuchets, there are only fifty medium-sized trebuchets, which are useful against siege soldiers. However, they are still a little unable to deal with heavy trebuchets three hundred steps away. Now they can only use bed crossbows.
A general suggested: "Jiedu Envoy, we seem to have a lot of fire crows in stock in the warehouse, which can also be used!"
Li Cheng suddenly remembered that they still had hundreds of fire crows made during the Xuanhe period, which had never been used and were piled up in the warehouse. After twenty years, they didn't know if they could be used again.
He quickly ordered: "Send fifty fire crows to the warehouse!"
Soon, several boxes of fire crows were delivered from the warehouse. After opening the box, Li Chengxin suddenly felt cold. The fire crows had been stored for twenty years and were severely affected by moisture. They could not be lit at all, which made Li Chengbai very happy.
At this time, deputy general Cao Jing'an came to Li Cheng, pointed to a craftsman behind him and said: "Jie Du Envoy, this craftsman may have a way to make the trebuchet projectile three hundred steps away!"
Li Cheng was overjoyed and asked quickly: "What can I do?"
The craftsman said: "Reporting to the Jiedushi, our trebuchet is actually a medium to large size. The medium size should be larger. Under normal circumstances, it can throw eighty kilograms of stones to about one hundred and fifty steps. If it is changed to fifty kilograms of stones,
, it can be thrown to about 200 steps. If it is further reduced and 20 kilograms of stones are thrown, it can be thrown to 300 steps. We have tested it."
"Twenty pounds of stone is too light!"
The craftsman smiled slightly and said: "If we don't use stones, how about using twenty kilograms of fire oil cans instead? It will still be effective against enemy trebuchets."
"good idea!"
Li Cheng clenched his fists in excitement. It was true that the east wind did not come but the west wind came. The fire crow disappointed him, but the trebuchet had a workaround.
At this time, the 50,000 infantrymen of the Western Army had entered the position. They crossed the bridge, lined up about two miles away from the west city wall, and set up five military formations.
One of the military formations contained ten thousand black-armored troops, holding short spears and shields and wearing heavy armor. This was obviously to prepare for street fighting.
In the military formation, there is a large platform with a height of four feet. It is made of huge wood and covers an area of three acres. It was just completed yesterday. It is guarded by the army and the enemy cannot come and destroy it.
This is the combat observation command platform. Chen Qing and the generals are watching the battle from the platform, and they can clearly see the enemy's situation on the top of the city.
At this time, thirty heavy trebuchets, pulled by oxen, rumbled across the flat bridge and headed towards the city. Each trebuchet was pulled by 20 oxen, and there were heavy blocks behind it.
plate.
The craftsmen of the Western Army have made precise calibrations for each trebuchet, and can accurately throw a hundred kilograms of fire oil cans to a distance of three hundred steps. Of course, this also involves other influences, such as wind direction, wind speed, and
Whether the soldiers' operations are standardized, craftsmen still need to make on-site adjustments.
The first thing to be placed were the huge baffles. This was also the lesson learned from Luoyang by the Western Army soldiers. If the baffles were not put down in time, they would be attacked by the enemy.
After a baffle was placed in place, a trebuchet was slowly pushed forward by the soldiers, very methodically.
Sure enough, just as several trebuchets were in place, there was a strange sound in the air, and hundreds of jackdaw arrows were roaring towards them.
"Get down!"
The leading commander shouted, and the soldiers fell down one after another.
‘Pop! Pah! Pah!’ There was a sound like fried beans, and the baffle and trebuchet were covered with jackdaw iron arrows, most of which were blocked by the baffle.
Without any losses, the craftsmen began to make rapid adjustments, and the soldiers continued to place the twenty trebuchets behind.
On the top of the city, Li Cheng frowned. He did not expect that the powerful bed crossbow had no effect and did not even hit a single soldier.
A craftsman said: "Jiedu Envoy, the opponent's trebuchets are all connected by iron chains, not the old leather belts. Jackdaw arrows cannot damage them."
"Remove all the crossbows and prepare the trebuchets!"
The bed crossbows took up too much space and were ineffective unless the opponent used a sea of people attack to be effective. Hundreds of bed crossbows and other bed crossbows that had not yet been installed were withdrawn from the city.
Thirty trebuchets were ready to show off. A 20-pound thin-skinned clay pot was put into the catapult pocket. The pot was filled with kerosene and the outside was also coated with kerosene. The soldiers lit the pot with torches.
Li Cheng shouted, "Shoot!"
Thirty trebuchets were suddenly launched, and thirty burning clay pots rose into the air and shot toward the Western trebuchets three hundred steps away.
