Five thousand Xixia troops carried more than thirty siege ladders and attacked the east city like a tide. All five thousand Song troops went into battle, two thousand people defended on the top of the city, and three thousand people fired bows and arrows inside the city.
All the cities were filled with civilian houses, and more than a thousand people had been evacuated. The soldiers were using the shelter of the civilian houses to prepare to fire arrows.
Neither side has heavy attack weapons and can only rely on strong bows and crossbows.
The Xixia army advanced within a hundred steps, and two thousand crossbowmen fired arrows at the top of the city. The arrows were like rain, suppressing the Song army on the top of the city.
At this time, Chen Qing gave an order, and the soldiers in the city began to fire. The arrows crossed the top of the city like dark clouds and floated quickly outside the city.
Black arrows fell in an instant, and the running Xixia soldiers fell down one after another. Their shields were not big, and they had to ensure a certain angle to completely block the arrows. If they were distracted, the arrows would take advantage of them.
Murong Tao's 20,000 troops were Xixia's captured troops, which were the border troops of Xixia. When war did not break out between Song and Xia, their mission was to go deep into the Song Dynasty to capture Han slaves. The Xixia captured troops numbered 200,000.
Mainly composed of Dangxiang and Qiang people from the border, they are cruel in character, flexible in body, and good at climbing mountains and ridges.
Although they were constantly hit by arrows and fell down under rounds of arrow fire from the Song army, they still attacked the fort one after another. There was a circle of moat outside the fort, which was a dry ditch, and sharp hidden weapons such as sharp stakes were buried in it.
Once you fall into the ditch, you will definitely die.
The Xixia army had already built more than a dozen wooden bridges on dry ditches with wide planks of wood. Xixia soldiers rushed in like a gale carrying siege ladders, reached the top of the city, and swarmed up.
Chen Qing had experienced hundreds of battles in defending the city. Two thousand soldiers were divided into forty groups, with fifty men fighting against a siege ladder. The extra soldiers were used as emergency support and were led by Yang Zaixing.
In addition, 60 soldiers with the best archery skills were selected from the Divine Arm Crossbow Army and assigned to three horse-facing walls to shoot coldly from the side, specifically shooting at enemy generals and strong soldiers. This is also the accumulated experience of Jianxiaoguan.
Valuable experience, very effective.
The Song army demolished hundreds of abandoned houses and obtained large rocks and logs to make rolling logs and stones, which they threw at the soldiers on the siege ladder.
Groups of soldiers were hit by rocks and fell down the city screaming. Many fell into dry ditches and were directly pierced by sharp wooden stakes.
"dash forward!"
A centurion stood on the edge of the siege ladder, waving his spear and shouting.
At this moment, three powerful crossbow arrows were shot at the centurion at the same time. The arrows were as fast as lightning. The centurion could not dodge. He was hit by three arrows at the same time. The centurion screamed and jumped from the ladder.
Fell down.
However, ambush against the wall is not the most powerful trick of the Song Army. The most powerful trick is the Song Army's ladder-breaking axe.
Dozens of tall and powerful soldiers wielded long-handled axes and severely broke the two rungs at the top of the siege ladder. The attacking Xixia soldiers lacked the last step, just like the cavalry without stirrups and had nowhere to focus.
Trapped at the top, unable to go up or down, in the end he had no choice but to be stabbed down the city with random spears in despair.
But soldiers who knew about it were often assassinated, while the soldiers below were holding shields and could not see what was happening above. Therefore, soldiers continued to be assassinated and came down to the city, and soldiers continued to rush up.
It was not until half an hour into the attack that Murong Tao, who was watching the battle from a distance, finally noticed the clues. Not a single soldier rushed to the top of the city.
Murong Tao immediately ordered soldiers to check the situation. Not long after, the soldiers came back on horseback and said: "General Qi, the top rung of the siege ladder has been broken, making it difficult for the brothers to climb up the city."
Murong Tao was shocked. This was the first time he heard of such a thing. He immediately ordered: "Send the order to withdraw the troops!"
'Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!'
The bell rang for withdrawal, and the five thousand troops retreated in panic, leaving behind more than a thousand corpses.
General Cao Li urged his horse forward and clasped his fists, saying: "I want to attack again, please give me permission from the commander-in-chief!"
Murong Tao shook his head, "We can't capture the Ganquan Fort with 5,000 people!"
He took one last look at the majestic fort and sighed, "Send the order to withdraw the troops and return to Deshun Prefecture!"
At noon, the Xixia army finally abandoned Ganquan Fort and retreated.
...........
In the wilderness to the south of Xi County, Fengxiang Prefecture, two armies were fighting fiercely. War drums were rumbling, shouts of killing were loud, dust was flying in the sky, and the entire sky was filled with a layer of choking red dust.
Commander Jiao Wentong led three thousand troops to resist the thousands of vanguard troops led by the puppet Qi general Zhang Zhongxiong.
Jiao Wentong originally decided to defend Yi County, but in the morning he received an order from the commander-in-chief Fu Xuan, ordering him to go out of the city to block the westward advance of the 5,000 puppet Qi vanguard and buy time for the deployment of the main force.
But after Jiao Wentong fought with the enemy army, he discovered that the enemy army was not just 5,000 troops, but 10,000 troops, and there were thousands of cavalry among them. The Song army was no match for the puppet Qi army. The Vietnam War was less and more than half of the casualties were already suffered.
.
"General, if we don't break through, our entire army will be destroyed!" A general rushed forward and shouted.
Jiao Wentong hesitated. Fu Xuan asked him to resist for three hours. It was less than two hours now, but he also knew in his heart that now was the last chance. If he didn't break through, his entire army would really be destroyed.
"Breakout!"
Jiao Wentong finally issued the order to break out of the encirclement. He turned his horse's head and led his army to fight south. More than a thousand Song troops fought desperately to break out of the encirclement, and finally opened a bloody road and fled south.
Zhang Zhongxiong watched the Song army flee away, but did not pursue him. Instead, he shouted loudly: "Continue to advance westward!"
Zhang Zhongxiong did not have time to clean up the battlefield, so he led more than 8,000 troops and continued to rush west...
At this time, Fu Xuan was deploying defenses. He was retreating and escaping, but because there was too much money and supplies, he needed to transport them across the river from the north bank of the Weihe River, which took a lot of time. Five thousand troops were waiting restlessly on the south bank of Weinan. Their other
An army of two thousand people from Longzhou has withdrawn to Dashan Pass, and now it's their turn."
Fu Xuan never thought about guarding Fengxiang. The first thing he did when guarding Fengxiang Mansion was to catch traitors. He ransacked the houses of dozens of wealthy families, killed the owners for treason, and confiscated most of his property.
Fu Xuan's personal pocket.
Fu Xuan was staring at the approaching ship. At this moment, a harsh horn sound came from the east, "Woo——"
The vanguard of the puppet Qi army came, and Fu Xuan was so angry that he cursed: "I asked him to resist for three hours, why did he come so quickly?"
Hateful, he knew in his heart that once he was entangled by the enemy and their main army came to kill him, it would be impossible for him to retreat south.
Fu Xuan looked at the big ship still on the river, and then at the enemy vanguard, which was getting closer and closer. No matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to save his life.
Fu Xuan immediately ordered: "The army withdraws southward!"
Following Fu Xuan, the five thousand troops turned around and ran towards the original direction of the monk...
On the afternoon when Fu Xuan gave up Fengxiang Prefecture and retreated south, the puppet Qi Zuo Marshal Li Cheng led an army of 50,000 to the foot of Fengxiang County and learned that Sun Qi of Fengxiang Prefecture surrendered. At this time, Zhang Zhongxiong escorted hundreds of carts and arrived.
Fu Xuan's wealth was seized, including tens of thousands of coins and hundreds of thousands of pieces of cloth.
Li Cheng ordered all copper coins and cloth to be rewarded to the soldiers, which immediately inspired the three armies and their morale was high.
Zhang Zhongxiong clasped his fists and said: "I heard that Chen Qing was appointed envoy to Qinzhou. He only has a few thousand troops. Qinzhou is very close to Fengxiang Mansion. Why not take this opportunity to sweep across Xihe Road in one go?"
Li Cheng pondered for a moment and said: "What Marshal Dudu of the Supervisory Army means is that after we capture Fengxiang and Longzhou, we march north to cut off Guan Shigu's retreat, join forces with Guo Dutong to attack Pingliang Prefecture, capture Pingliang Prefecture, and then go south.
Attack the Beixianren Pass. As long as the Beixianren Pass is captured, both Chen Qing and Lintao's commander of troops and horses, Wu Gao, will be turtles in the urn and cannot escape even with their wings."
"Having said that, I'm afraid that Chen Qing is unwilling to fight to the death and retreats south when the situation turns bad. It's better to humble himself and lead 20,000 troops to Xianren Pass. On the one hand, he will monitor Chen Qing and on the other hand, he will cut off the Song army's retreat."
Li Cheng made sense after thinking about it. He immediately gave Zhang Zhongxiong 10,000 troops, including his own 10,000 troops, and rushed to Qinzhou with 20,000 troops. At this time, Du Marshal Wan Yanchang sent Du Commander Han Chang to lead 20,000 troops.
Xie Congjun rushed to Fengxiang, and Xie Congjun took over Fengxiang Mansion.
Li Cheng personally led an army of 40,000 people from Longzhou to the north, and combined with Guo Zhen's army to encircle Pingliang County. Guan Shigu, the commander-in-chief of Pingyuan Army and Horses, led an army of 20,000 people to break through and failed, and was surrounded by groups in Pingliang County. At this time, the Song army was about to run out of food.
, the fierce general Dai Cheng led 300 cavalry to successfully break through the encirclement and rushed to Dashanguan Pass for help.
