Early the next morning, three hundred simple siege ladders and sixty chariots were neatly placed on the school field.
The craftsmen completed the task assigned by Chen Qing in only three days. Half of the sixty chariots were equipped with small trebuchets. This small trebuchet can eject a thirty kilogram fire oil tank fifty steps away.
, but it needs to have the base fixed on the chariot before it can be thrown.
The other half of the tank is used to transport the Mengyou fire cabinet. The Mengyou fire cabinet does not need to be installed or fixed. It can be used directly on the tank.
The principle of the fierce oil fire cabinet is the water gun used by children today, but it is very finely made. It is made entirely of wrought copper and consists of two parts: the flame pipe and the fire cabinet. They are connected with copper pipes. Of course, it is not a gun.
It's not a seamless copper tube, but a copper tube rolled out of red-hot copper sheets.
The flamethrower is a water gun. When the piston is pulled out, the fierce fire oil in the fire cabinet is pumped into the flamethrower through the copper pipe. Then the piston is pushed hard to push the fuel out. The spray distance is also fifty steps. Of course, this
This kind of flamethrower is not a water gun for children. It requires a lot of thrust and usually requires the cooperation of three soldiers. Its function is to accurately add fuel. When the fire at the top of the city burns, it can continuously spray towards the top of the city.
kerosene.
After breakfast, the Song Army's 150,000 troops began to set off. Chariots and siege ladders were also carried onto large ships. The 150,000 troops stretched for 20 miles and headed north.
In this northern attack, Chen Qing wanted to seize Xiping Mansion and penetrate into the core belly of Xixia.
He said before that he was unable to attack because the siege weapons were not in place. Of course, it was just an excuse. The real reason was that the war to destroy the country needed to be treated with caution, careful observation, and testing step by step, and it must not be rushed.
Although the Song Army had placed spies in the Xingqing Mansion before, Xixia still kept very tight guard on military secrets. Chen Qing did not know how much war potential Xixia still had. How many more troops could they recruit? Until hundreds of manors were destroyed.
, and defeated the 70,000 elite troops of Xixia. Only then did Chen Qing truly feel the opponent's decline. He actually allowed his army to destroy manors one after another, but was unable to fight back.
Chen Qing decided to further test the opponent and seize Xiping Prefecture. If the opponent still did not respond, he would then advance northward and seize Shunzhou, Jingzhou, Huaizhou, Dingzhou step by step, and finally surround Xingqing Prefecture.
At noon the next day, the army going north met Liu Qiong and Tang Qian who were going south. Hearing that the two had intercepted a fortune of 3,000 camels, Chen Qing was overjoyed. He had spent so much money, food and resources attacking Xixia. If Xixia's
All the wealth was in vain for the Kingdom of Jin, which made him extremely upset.
He immediately credited both of them with their great achievements. Tang Qian stayed behind to follow the army northward, while Liu Qiong continued to guard 3,000 camels to Liying County. All materials and money captured by the Song army were stored in Yingli County.
Liu Qiong continued to move south, and Chen Qingze ordered the army to rest on the spot for an hour.
Tang Qian quickly stepped forward, knelt down on one knee and performed a military salute, "See you, Commander-in-Chief!"
Chen Qing waved his hand, asked him to stand up, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work this time, General Tang."
"Reporting to the capital, we are just waiting for the hard work, Brother Richard's men are working hard."
Chen Qing laughed and asked again: "When you went south, what changes did you find?"
Tang Qian shook his head, "We are nervous about going south this time, for fear of encountering the main force of the Xixia army. But until today, we have not encountered a single Xixia person, let alone a Xixia soldier. We even sent a scout cavalry to the manors in Hetao in our humble position.
After walking around, we can see what it looked like when we left and what it looks like now. There is no change at all, which means no Xixia soldiers came."
Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked: "Why are there so few people in Xixia?"
Gao Ding next to him said with a smile: "This question comes back to the humble function. So far, the areas we have attacked are agricultural areas, and the Xixia people either live in the city or in the pastoral areas, so it is normal not to encounter them."
Chen Qing said happily: "It makes sense. Let's take the time to rest and try to reach Xiping Mansion tonight."
.........
Gupu
Xiping Mansion, also known as Lingzhou, is the southernmost city on the Hetao Plain in Xixia and the southern gate of the capital Xingqing Mansion. If Xiping Mansion falls, Xingqing Mansion will be completely passive.
Brother Richard knew this very well. After inspecting Xiping Mansion a few days ago, he thought that the 8,000 troops in Xiping Mansion were too few, so he added another 20,000 troops to Xiping Mansion, but the increase was the White Armor Army, which is already very good.
It is impossible for Xixia to put elite soldiers in Xiping Mansion.
The guard general of Xiping Prefecture is called Tuoba Jing, who is about forty years old. He once followed Li Liangfu to attack Ganquan Fort. He was appointed commander of the Xixia Army. The commander of the army was equivalent to the control of the Song Army, and the commander of the army was equivalent to the commander of the capital.
Tuoba Jing is a very conservative general. Even if the Song army passes by outside the gate of Xiping Mansion, he will not take the initiative to attack. This is something that Brother Richard appreciates very much. Tuoba Jing's conservatism prevents him from falling into the trap of the Song army.
A strategy to lure troops.
At this time, what is more important than guarding the city?
Night fell quietly. At this time, Tuoba Jing received news from the spies that the main force of the Song army, more than 100,000 people, was found thirty miles away to the south, heading towards Xiping Mansion in a mighty manner.
This news shocked Tuoba Jing. It had only been a few days since the main force of the Song army went south. Why did it come again?
What's more terrible is that this time the main force of the Song Army seems to be heading for Xiping Mansion.
Tuoba Jing urgently sounded the alarm, and all the troops were in their positions. Tuoba Jing searched the whole city in the past two days and barely collected 6,000 sets of old armors and 15,000 spears. Some of the 20,000 white-armored soldiers replaced
Put on armor, and the soldiers are also uniformly equipped, making the military look a little neater.
Half of the soldiers went to the city to defend the city, and the other half of the white-armored troops were responsible for carrying supplies for the city defense.
A few miles away, the long line of torches coming from the north gradually gathered and turned into a sea of torches. Tuoba Jing was really nervous to the extreme. The main force of the Song army was indeed coming to attack Xiping Mansion.
At this time, the torches were gradually extinguished, and the 150,000 troops were resting on the spot, eating dry food and drinking water. It was still early, and it was just at midnight, that is, at eight o'clock in the evening. Chen Qing ordered the troops to rest for three hours, so they could take a nap first.
, got up in the middle of the night and attacked the city.
Chen Qing, surrounded by dozens of generals, came forward to inspect Xiping City. Although he had received information before, it was more direct and clear that he had not personally inspected it.
The moonlight is good tonight, there are no dark clouds, the sky is clear, and a full moon swims in the dark blue sky, making the city particularly clear.
Like Yingli County, Xingqingfu City has no moat. The city wall is about two feet and five feet high, and there are four towers scattered on the top of the city with a circumference of more than 20 miles.
The top of the city was filled with Xixia soldiers. It could be seen that they were very nervous and ready for battle.
The Song army has rich experience in attacking the city, but the Xixia army has insufficient experience in defending the city. It is no wonder that this is the first time since the founding of Xixia that the Song army has attacked the city, and more than 20 years have passed since the last Song-Xia war.
Years ago, the experienced soldiers were either old or died in civil strife. The young soldiers recruited now have no experience in defending the city.
Chen Qing pointed at the city gate with his horsewhip, turned around and said to everyone: "What do you think if we use a battering ram to attack the city gate?"
Everyone agreed, "Since there is no moat, it is the time for the battering ram to show its skills. I humbly agree."
"No objection?"
At this time, Tang Qian raised his hand to express his objection.
Chen Qing glanced at him and said calmly: "General Tang, tell me the reasons for your objection!"
