Under night, the west city gate quietly opened, the suspension bridge slowly lowered, and a group of cavalry poured out from the city. Li Yanwu ran at the front of the team with a big sword in his hand, staring at the Song Army camp three miles away with wolf-like eyes.
It was the first watch, and there was silence in the Song Army camp. Five thousand cavalry were like snakes, sliding towards the Song Army camp under the cover of night.
The dark clouds drifted away, and a full moon hung in the dark blue sky. The cold moonlight reflected on the white snow. The black team marching on the white snow was particularly eye-catching. What's more, preventing enemy sneak attacks at night has always been the top priority of the camp's defense.
Importantly, the Song army not only had sentry towers for surveillance, but also patrols along the camp fence, as well as scouts on the perimeter, implementing triple surveillance.
Two miles away, they were spotted by Song army scouts outside. A gunpowder arrow shot into the sky with a 'whoosh!', and a bright red fire swept across the night sky, alerting the camp.
Brother Richard's heart sank on top of the city. He knew that Li Yanwu had simplified the problem. How could the Song Army's camp, which stretched for twenty miles, be easily succeeded in a sneak attack?
'Dang! Dang! Dang!' The alarm bell on the sentry tower rang, and the alarm sounded loudly in the camp. The soldiers of the Song Army were sleeping wearing armor. After waking up, they rushed out of the tent. Many soldiers quickly dismantled the tent.
After untying the main tent rope, the big tent fell down.
Ten thousand soldiers on duty rushed to the camp fence from all directions with bows and crossbows, bows and arrows ready, and they were ready for battle. Chen Qing was also awakened by the sound of alarm bells. Like all the soldiers, he fell asleep wearing armor.
He put on his leather boots and walked out of the tent quickly with Fang Tian Hua Ji in hand. The soldiers immediately put down the tent.
A soldier rushed forward and reported: "Qi Dutong, there is a cavalry in the city, about five to six thousand people. They came out of the east city and have not yet reached the main camp."
"I ordered the three armies to assemble and remove the camps, and ordered Liu Qiong to lead an army of 20,000 to protect the military craftsmanship workshop."
"Follow the order!"
Several messengers rushed away. What Chen Qing was most worried about was the military craftsman's workshop, which was located in the northeast corner. Liu Qiong's 20,000 subordinates were stationed next to it.
Chen Qing got on his horse and galloped towards the west camp gate.
Li Yanwu's army has arrived in front of the camp gate. Thousands of arrows were fired from inside the camp fence. The sharp and powerful crossbows shot at the enemy cavalry like a storm. Although the cavalry all held shields, the horses could not cover them. Many people fell on their backs, many of them turned upside down.
As soon as the fallen soldier stood up, he was shot like a hedgehog.
Li Yanwu didn't expect the enemy's defense to be so fierce, and he secretly regretted it, but he couldn't turn back, so he had to bite the bullet and shout, "Charge in! Charge into the military camp!"
Thousands of Xixia cavalrymen rushed towards the military camp with their shields raised high. The cavalrymen in front held ropes and were ready to use the ropes to open the gate of the military camp.
At this time, thousands more spear throwers arrived in the Song Army camp to support them. They took turns throwing fine steel short spears outside the camp. The Xixia cavalry who reached the camp gate fell off their horses one after another, and their shields were also shot through.
The cavalrymen and their horses were nailed to the ground.
The cavalry behind were so frightened that they hurriedly reined in their horses and turned around in panic, only to expose their backs to the crossbowmen and hurlers. Another round of intensive crossbow firing, coupled with thousands of short spears falling from the sky with cold light, fell from the sky at a hundred paces.
All the cavalrymen fell off their horses and died tragically.
The sharp defense of the Song army frightened Li Yanwu. They suffered more than 3,000 casualties before they reached the camp gate. "Retreat! Retreat!"
Li Yanwu shouted loudly, and at this moment, a wolf-fang arrow shot at lightning speed. It was so fast that Li Yanwu had no time to react, "Pfft!" His head was shot through by an arrow, and the tip of the arrow was shot from his temple.
In, from the back of the ear on the other side, blood spurted out together with the brain matter. Li Yanwu screamed and fell to the ground.
In the distance, Chen Qing put away his bow and arrows and said coldly: "Open the camp gate and fight out!"
The camp gate opened, and thousands of Song cavalry rushed out, killing nearly two thousand Xixia cavalry hundreds of steps away like a tide. Seeing the death of their general, the Xixia cavalry had no intention of fighting. Seeing the Song cavalry coming out, they hurriedly turned around.
Escape.
Brother Richard could see clearly from the top of the city and shouted loudly: "Close the city gate!"
The suspension bridge was pulled up and the city gate was quickly closed. Two thousand Xixia cavalry were chased all the way. Some people were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. The remaining more than 1,700 people rushed to the moat and waved and shouted, but no one responded at the top of the city. Only for a moment
, the Song Army cavalry caught up with them, and fired a volley of arrows a hundred steps away, and more than a hundred cavalry fell off their horses.
The cavalrymen cursed at the top of the city and had to scatter in all directions, but the Song army's cavalry continued to chase them. No soldiers fired arrows at the top of the city because they could not reach them.
The soldiers guarding the city stared blankly at the shocking scene below the city. The Xixia soldiers were chased by the Song cavalry and were killed continuously. In less than a quarter of an hour, all the Xixia cavalry were killed, and the Song cavalry retreated back to the camp like an ebbing tide.
The Song army's fierce pursuit made every Xixia soldier guarding the city feel chilly. They seemed to have seen their own fate in the near future.
Order in the camp was quickly restored, and the tents were erected again. Although it was still early, many soldiers could not sleep. They were all lying in the tent chatting about tonight's sneak attack.
Chen Qing came to the military craftsman's workshop. It was a separate large camp, surrounded by troops closely guarding it. The camp was brightly lit, and thousands of craftsmen were busy assembling trebuchets. The leader of the craftsmen was called Bao Wenyun, who was originally a weapon of Taiyuan.
The chief craftsman of the institute was recruited into the army by the Song Army in Jingzhao.
Bao Wenyun introduced to Chen Qing: "According to the arrangements of the capital, we have to assemble twenty heavy trebuchets before dawn, and the battering ram can only be started later."
Chen Qing nodded, "It depends on the situation! If the trebuchet is effective, there is no need to install a battering ram."
Bao Wenyun smiled and said: "In fact, it is faster and easier to install the battering ram. It only takes five hundred people to install it in an hour."
"Is it that fast?"
"Because the battering ram does not require debugging accuracy, it only needs to be installed in place. We can complete the installation tomorrow morning."
"Okay, on the basis of ensuring that all twenty trebuchets are completed, the battering ram can be installed."
"In a humble position, you can issue a military order to ensure the completion of the mission!"
Chen Qing returned to the commander's tent, and immediately ordered his men to bring all the generals above the commander to the commander's tent for discussion. Soon, more than 20 generals gathered in the commander's tent. Although the Western Army had more than 200,000 troops, the generals were generally in disarray.
The positions are lower. For example, there are currently only six people in his command, Yang Zaixing, Zheng Ping, Liu Cui, Gao Ding, Liu Qiong and Niu Gao, and there are less than thirty in command.
On the one hand, Chen Qing has strict requirements. Sufficient merit must be given for promotion. On the other hand, and the most important point, he subdivides military positions. For example, commanders are divided into three levels: deputy commanders, commanders and commanders.
The same goes for command, leadership and control. Even the capital control is at the third level. Chen Qing himself only went to the military capital control.
Another reason is culture. The commander-in-chief must have both civil and military skills. Zhao Xiaoyi suffered a disadvantage in terms of culture. Although he is very senior, he has been in the leadership position because he has too little literacy.
"Everyone, although the Xixia Army's harassment tonight failed, if they come every night, we cannot afford the enemy's repeated harassment. I have thought twice about it and we will start attacking the city tomorrow and use trebuchets directly."
"Excuse me, Commander, is the stone throwing machine effective?" This is the Qiang general Asali asking.
Chen Qing smiled and said: "I'm not sure, let's try it! If it doesn't work, use the battering ram."
Yang Zaixing asked again: "What if the city wall is breached and the enemy breaks through?"
Chen Qing said slowly: "Brother Richard is more likely to break through. My opinion is not to block it hard, minimize the casualties of our army, and use bows and crossbows to deal with them. If they succeed in breaking through, let them go!"
Chen Qing said to Zhao Xiaoyi again: "Xiaoyi leads the rear army to prepare sandbags. We need at least 300,000 sandbags!"
"The humble office will be ready!"
Having said this, Chen Qing glanced at the generals again and said solemnly: "Tomorrow is likely to be the last battle. I hope everyone will cheer up and complete our mission of destroying Xixia!"
All the generals bowed together and said: "We will never let you down!"
