Li Liangfu looked at the felled trees with great dissatisfaction. The thickest one was only slightly thicker than his thigh. A battering ram made of such wood could barely hit the courtyard gate. How could it hit the city gate?
Seeing that his plan to attack the city gate was about to fail again, he became furious and stared at several generals.
"Commander, calm down! Commander, calm down!"
Several generals explained tremblingly: "We have searched all over the two mountains, and there is no thicker tree. This is already the thickest tree."
"Hmph! What are you using this thin wood for, making toothpicks?"
Li Liangfu was really annoyed and said angrily: "I will give you one last chance. Find it for me. If you can't find the century-old tree, I will kill you all!"
Several generals were so frightened that they crawled away. General Murong Tao offered advice: "These logs are actually not bad. There are about three to five hundred logs. With the wood left behind, I estimate that I can build several nests."
car!"
Li Liangfu nodded, making a nest chariot to attack the city is also a good plan!
He immediately ordered several craftsmen leaders: "Gather all the wood to make the nest car, and the previous observation deck will be changed into a nest car. It must be completed within three days!"
.........
The southeast area of the Xixia camp was brightly lit, and hundreds of craftsmen were working on the nest cart overnight. Time was tight. Although the nest cart was very crudely made, it had good practical functions.
But although Li Liangfu's idea is good, whether it can be realized in the end is still one thing.
Just in the northeast corner of Ganquanbao City, a three-foot-tall super-giant trebuchet has stood beside the city wall. After repeated trials and adjustments by the craftsmen, the trebuchet has been put to great use.
The craftsman prepared another forty fireballs. These fireballs are two feet in diameter and huge in appearance. The outside is made of fine hay and is covered with kerosene. It will burn out before it hits the ground. Dozens of kilograms of fireballs will burn inside.
The pieces of gunpowder and fire cloth will scatter out and fly all over the sky, especially the fire cloth, which is full of gunpowder and sulfur powder and burns strongly. If it sticks to the tent, it will ignite the entire tent.
Chen Qing made a tour and asked Zheng Ping: "Have the troops been assembled?"
Zheng Ping hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "Reporting to the commander, twelve thousand soldiers have been assembled and ready to attack at any time!"
Chen Qing nodded and said to Yang Yuanqing: "The time has come, it's time to launch!"
Chen Qing immediately led his generals to the top of the city to watch the battle.
Dozens of soldiers worked hard together, and the throwing pole pulled up creakingly. Two soldiers put kerosene in the projection pot, and one soldier lit the fireball with a torch. The leading general gave the order, "Launch!"
Dozens of soldiers released the rope at the same time. The wooden box with a three thousand kilogram iron chain on the front fell to the ground with a crash. The long throwing pole was suddenly thrown out. A thirty kilogram fireball flew into the sky, like a meteor in the sky, streaking across the sky.
, flew towards the Xixia Army camp.
Chen Qing and a group of generals were standing on the top of the city. Although they had seen the test in the afternoon and could indeed throw it a thousand steps away, now it was actual combat, and everyone was worried.
"We've crossed the camp fence line!" Zheng Ping shouted excitedly.
The fireball had entered the sky above the Xixia Army camp and was falling downwards. The fireball suddenly disintegrated in the air. Dozens of pieces of gunpowder fell within a radius of fifty feet, but the area of the fire oil cloth was larger. It was blown by the night wind and burned.
The hanging cloth strips were flying in the air, and more than a dozen large tents were set on fire.
There was a sudden cheer on the top of the city!
Chen Qingdang immediately ordered: "Let's launch the fire kites together!"
They not only prepared super giant trebuchets, but also built dozens of large fire kites. These fire kites can be ejected and can fly up to more than ten miles.
However, the technical content of large Fire Kites is very high. Chen Qingjun did not have any craftsmen in this area, so he could only build dozens of small Fire Kites imitating them.
After building it, they found that this was not the case at all. The flying effect of the large fire kite was very unsatisfactory. It would either fall to the ground or fly randomly and deviate from the route. It was difficult to fly smoothly and in a straight line, so they never used it because they were worried.
To alert the snake.
There is no need to alert the enemy now, so we can simply eject dozens of large Fire Kites to see if any of them are successful.
There were more than a dozen wooden piles erected on the top of the city, with beef tendons tied between the wooden piles, like a huge slingshot. Several soldiers pulled a fire kite weighing dozens of kilograms. The top had been ignited by kerosene, and there was a sound.
Shouting, the fire kite shot out bullets and was covered in fire in the air. Just like the previous test, the fire kite turned a corner in the air and flew away to the west without falling into the enemy's camp.
However, the fireball accurately fell into the enemy's camp. Five fireballs fell into the enemy's camp. Dozens of tents were already burning. The fire took advantage of the wind and began to spread rapidly.
'Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!' The alarm bells sounded, and the Xixia soldiers who were sleeping were awakened one after another. They did not take off their armor even while sleeping. They directly picked up their weapons and ran out of the tent. There were blazing fires all around. The soldiers were all
They panicked and fled in panic to the north.
Li Liangfu was also pushed awake by the soldiers. He heard that the Song army launched a fire attack, which surprised him. How could it be possible?
He drew his sword and rushed out of the tent, just in time to see a meteor flying towards the camp. It suddenly disintegrated in the air and turned into dozens or hundreds of small fireballs, which fell in the camp.
"damn it!"
Li Liangfu cursed in his heart, only giant trebuchets could shoot so far. Did the three giant trebuchets in Baochuan County fall into the hands of the Song army?
"Commander, what should we do?" a general asked nervously.
"Don't panic, quickly lead the brothers to evacuate to the north of the camp!"
Three hundred cavalrymen galloped in the camp and shouted, "The commander-in-chief has ordered, evacuate outside the camp to the north!"
Tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers rushed to the north and soon gathered into a huge flow of people, but many soldiers were still unable to escape and were eventually killed in the sea of fire.
The Xixia camp turned into a sea of fire for more than ten miles, and the fire reflected the sky red. After the Song army shot twenty fireballs, they also stopped shooting. The large fire kite also stopped test flying. The effect was indeed unsatisfactory, and several ejections were fired.
Out of ten, only two finally flew into the camp.
As the craftsmen cheered, they immediately ran to look for the drawings of the seventh and thirty-first Fire Harriers. When these two Fire Harriers were successful, they obtained the corresponding data.
Chen Qing stood on the top of the city, looking calmly at the blazing fire at the bottom of the mountain. He already understood in his heart that after the fire, at least for a short period of time, the Xixia army was out.
The soldiers nearby were all excited and a little regretful. So much food and supplies had been burned. They had known that they should have ambushed an army outside and took advantage of the fire to rob them.
At this time, Chen Qing calmly ordered: "Pass my order and the entire army is ready to attack!"
Twelve thousand Song troops had already been assembled, including 5,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry. The morale of the Xixia army was low and the soldiers were in confusion, which was a good opportunity for a decisive battle.
Chen Qing ordered Yang Yuanqing to lead 6,000 militia soldiers and thousands of old and weak soldiers to defend the city. He led 12,000 troops out of the east city and followed the Baishui River to the north of the enemy camp.
At this time, tens of thousands of Xixia Army soldiers had just escaped from the camp. The army was panicked, morale was low, there was no food, insufficient weapons, and their horses had not been rescued. Tens of thousands of people were in chaos.
The fire in the camp did not slow down and had already engulfed the entire camp. The surrounding camp fences and sentry towers were not spared and were ignited by the fire.
Tens of thousands of soldiers stood numbly in the wilderness, watching the fire burn. Their belongings were burned by the fire without being able to snatch them away. Everyone was heartbroken.
When the Xixia people fought in wars, weapons, armor and horses were purchased by individuals, and the wealth they grabbed belonged to themselves.
This fire burned almost half of their property, filling everyone's heart with despair, and strong war-weariness filled the hearts of every soldier.
Li Liangfu was also upset. He had no intention of reorganizing the army. The situation at hand could only be determined after daybreak.
But what worries him is, how should he explain to the emperor? Not only is it impossible for him to capture Ganquan Fort now, but he has also lost his camp. I am afraid that dismissal from office is frivolous, and he might even be dismissed by the emperor.
Beheading, if one dies, what will happen to the dozens of wives and concubines? What will happen to the children?
At this time, Murong Tao came over in a hurry. Half of his beard and hair were burned off. He was very embarrassed, but he was very anxious. Why didn't the coach consider that the Song army would attack?
"Commander, the soldiers are not prepared. They must either retreat north immediately or line up to prepare for battle. Once the Song army comes, the consequences will be disastrous!"
Li Liangfu slowly raised his head and glanced at Murong Tao, and said in a hoarse voice: "At this time, do you think the Song army will come to kill you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a scream came from the east, the army was in chaos, and the Song Army's cavalry came to kill them.
Li Liangfu was so shocked that he suddenly shouted: "Send the order and the whole army will retreat to the north immediately!"
In fact, Li Liangfu's order was no longer needed. The Xixia soldiers' morale collapsed. Tens of thousands of soldiers fled desperately in the wilderness. Five thousand Song Army cavalry chased and killed them. The Xixia soldiers who knelt down and surrendered were escorted by Song Army infantry.