The 30,000-strong army set off immediately and arrived at the Yellow River at dusk. Two thousand engineering soldiers quickly built a pontoon bridge with sheepskin rafts. By the first watch, the pontoon bridge was completed. The pontoon bridge was about two feet wide and fixed with two thick ropes on each side. The army began
Quickly crossing the Yellow River, at dawn, all 30,000 troops had crossed the Yellow River. In order to prevent unexpected information, the engineering soldiers immediately dismantled the pontoon bridge.
After crossing the Yellow River, it was only thirty miles away from Yingli County. Liu Qiong ordered the army to rest where it was and wait patiently for nightfall.
At this time, Yang Rui rushed back in time. In a small military tent, he reported the situation observed last night to Liu Qiong and Tang Qian.
"The circumference of the city is about twenty miles. There are about two thousand people guarding the city at night. There are two gates on the east and west. Among them, the west city has the largest number of defenders, with about a thousand people. The number of people in the other three cities is about the same."
"What about the situation of defending the city during the day?" Tang Qian asked.
"It's almost the same as at night, there are about 2,000 people. I think the 6,000 people are divided into three shifts and take turns to be on duty. It's obvious that they are well-trained."
"How can you tell that you are well-trained?"
They are interactive patrols and impeccable.
Therefore, interactive patrol means that two teams of patrol soldiers are walking opposite each other. There will be no loopholes because one patrol team turns around and leaves, and because the other patrol team is walking towards you, there will be no patrol loopholes on the city wall.
Liu Qiong and Tang Qian looked at each other. They both had rich experience. From the defense of the city, they could tell that the Xixia army was well-trained and did not relax because they were far behind. Sneak attacks were not easy to fight.
Liu Qiong asked again: "How high is the city wall and is there a moat?"
"The city wall is about two to three feet high, and there is no moat!"
Similar to the information they had received before, except for the capital Xingqing City, none of the other Xixia cities had moats.
"How was the weather last night?"
Tang Qian asked carefully. As the leader of the scouts, he knew the importance of weather, which sometimes determines the success or failure of a war.
"It was clear in the first half of the night, but there were more clouds in the second half of the night."
Tang Qian nodded. The nights have been like this for the past few days. It was sunny in the first half of the night and cloudy in the second half of the night. I wonder if it will be the same tonight.
"General Tang, how do you think we should fight?" Liu Qiong asked.
Tang Qian pondered for a while and said: "Our biggest advantage is that the enemy does not know our existence. We must insist on this. I think we still need to use kerosene. This is also our advantage and we cannot give up."
The two discussed for a while, and soon reached an agreement. Tang Qian would lead a thousand scouts to attack from the east city wall, seize the city gate as soon as possible, and let the cavalry enter.
.........
Liu Qiong also considered pretending to be the Xixia army to deceive the city gate, but later gave up the idea. Xixia had its own complete and strict military system, and also used the order and talisman, but what did the Xixia army's order talisman look like?
No one knows what command talisman the Yingli County garrison and the court agreed to use, and no one knows, so it is completely unrealistic to deceive the city.
The Xixia Army is not the puppet Qi Army. They are well-trained and tenacious in combat. It is also a wishful thinking to seize the city without a bloody battle. Liu Qiong and Tang Qian both know very well that there is no way they can seize the city without going through a bloody battle. As long as the cavalry enters the city, they will
Ability to use superior forces to defeat the opponent.
Sure enough, just like last night, after the fourth watch, there were finally more clouds in the dark blue sky. Gray clouds were flying south quickly in the sky, and a clear full moon appeared and disappeared in the clouds.
, sometimes the earth is covered with silver light, and sometimes it is completely dark.
Tang Qian led three hundred elite men to crawl on the ground, followed by five hundred soldiers. The three hundred soldiers were all carrying a kerosene leather bag, about ten kilograms of kerosene, a shield on their backs, and swords in their hands.
When a cloud covered the moon, the earth immediately became pitch black. Tang Qian and his three hundred men were waiting for this opportunity. They immediately got up and ran forward. After a while, the dark clouds passed by and the earth was coated with a layer of silver again.
, Song Jun lay motionless on the ground again.
There are about 300 defenders on the top of the city. They patrol back and forth on the top of the city. Although they do not hide and sleep, they do not stare outside the city to observe. After all, they are still thousands of miles away from Lanzhou and the war has not started yet. Although patrolling
The system is strict, but the soldiers' mentality is relaxed.
Gu Qing
When the earth became dark again, Tang Qian once again led his soldiers to rush and reached the bottom of the city wall in one breath.
At this time, two Xixia cavalrymen came galloping in the distance. The sound of horse hooves attracted the attention of the soldiers at the top of the city. The soldiers who were originally patrolling also stopped. Taking advantage of the distraction of the soldiers at the top of the city, two people came to the north of the east city wall.
A rope noose flew up to the top of the city and caught the battlements.
The soldiers of the Song Army began to climb up quickly. The defenders on the top of the city shouted loudly and asked. The messenger soldiers on the top of the city answered impatiently and were unwilling to cooperate with the defenders' request to check the order talisman.
Of course they couldn't produce the command talisman, but they kept saying that they were from the capital, looking arrogant.
The general guarding the city said angrily: "Don't think that just because you are from the capital, you can not abide by the rules. The rules are the rules. If you can't get the talisman, don't let me open the city!"
Several soldiers were lying on the battlements watching the excitement. One of the soldiers accidentally glanced north from the corner of his eyes and saw a black figure jumping down from the battlements. He was stunned for a moment and looked outside the city wall. The moonlight was shining out.
, shining the earth and city walls into silvery white.
Under the bright moonlight, dozens of black figures were seen struggling to climb up the city. The soldier was stunned. He suspected that he had seen it wrong. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. He suddenly shouted, "There is an enemy situation! There is an enemy situation!"
The Xixia soldiers on the top of the city looked out one after another, saw the Song soldiers below the city, and shouted, "There is enemy sentiment!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The piercing alarm bell rang, and the whole city was shocked.
Tang Qian secretly screamed, "Oh no," they were discovered by the enemy before they even reached a hundred people. They were still one mile away from the city gate, so it would be difficult to seize the city gate.
Tang Qian immediately made a decision and ordered: "Give up going to the city and shoot two gunpowder arrows!"
Two bright gunpowder arrows shot into the sky. Five hundred elites three hundred paces away and tens of thousands of cavalry two miles away launched at the same time and rushed towards the city gate.
The Song army also had a backup plan, which was to prepare a battering ram. If they failed to seize the city head, they would use the battering ram.
Only two gunpowder arrows were shot, which meant that the capture of the city might have failed. A backup plan was immediately launched. Hundreds of soldiers came running with a huge battering ram, and two hundred soldiers on both sides held up shields to protect them.
There was a big fire on the top of the city. The soldiers sprayed out kerosene. Fires were ignited at both ends of the city. The Xixia soldiers could not rush over. They fired arrows together. The arrows shot at the Song soldiers on the top of the city like a rapid rain. More than ten soldiers were killed.
Soldiers spraying fire oil fell to the ground after being struck by arrows.
Yang Rui shouted, "Raise your shield!"
The soldiers squatted down and raised their shields to resist the enemy's dense arrows. More and more arrows were coming. Enemy reinforcements arrived. A soldier shouted at the battlements: "General Yang, Commander Tang ordered us to retreat immediately!"
Yang Rui waved his hand, "Retreat!"
The Song army retreated with their shields in hand, climbed the rope and slid down the city.
Yang Rui suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He was shot by an arrow. When he turned around, he saw dozens of Xixia soldiers climbing up ladders from the inner city. There were still a dozen Song soldiers who had not retreated on the top of the city. .
Yang Rui roared, rushed forward with his shield raised, and slashed with his sword. Two Xixia soldiers were unable to dodge and were hit in the neck by the sword. They fell down the city screaming.
"General!"
Just as the soldiers were about to step forward to help in the battle, Yang Rui turned around and shouted, "The military order is like a mountain, retreat! Retreat!"
The soldiers turned over and went down to the city with tears in their eyes. Yang Rui slashed left and right, killing several people in a row, but the arrow wound on his back also caused his strength to fade away quickly, and his body staggered.
The Xixia soldiers seized the opportunity and stabbed Yang Rui with more than a dozen spears. Yang Rui was stabbed three times in a row, one of which hit the vital part of his left chest.
At the last moment of his life, Yang Rui jumped up with all his strength, and fell down the city with two Xixia soldiers in his arms. At the same time, the last of his men also retreated.