Li Yuanhao's plan is almost perfect, but everything will not go as planned. Sometimes, no matter how careful you plan, accidents will happen. This is a variable.
The three-pronged army, nearly 100,000, sent troops to Yanzhou. Originally, they were pushed directly by the roar of mountains and tsunamis. However, after they were intercepted by Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun at Sanchuankou, the Chinese army's attack on the city became somewhat weak. In addition, Fan Yong and Lu Shouqin were forced to defend the city by Li Kangbo. All the soldiers and civilians in Fushi City tried their best to defend their homes. For a while, the Xixia army was unable to attack the city.
Fushi City was originally the seat of the prefecture of Yanzhou. How could it be easily captured when it was a large city in the border state?
The city defense was complete, and although there were few soldiers, there was no shortage of equipment in the city, and the young and strong people could use it with a little training. The rolling stones and wood stored on the city wall, as well as the lead, water and gold juice poured down, and the Xixia army was unable to attack the city several times.
There were even sharp weapons like the Eight Bull Crossbows on the city wall, which created a certain deterrent for the party members. They did not dare to easily push the Chinese army to the bottom of the city. They could only rely on soldiers to charge round after round.
And those wooden siege equipment were all destroyed and shot into gunpowder bombs. The siege battle was not only a competition in consumption, but also a technical competition. The Song Army was not good at anything else, but it was experienced in defending the city and had a lot of gunpowder bombs. , so we can defend the city.
When Li Yuanhao returned triumphantly and prepared to gather two armies to attack the city, God seemed to be on the side of the Song people. That day, heavy snow fell from the sky, and the snow was like goose feathers, covering his eyes and making it impossible to distinguish the direction for a while.
Attacking the city in the snow not only caused heavy losses, but also made it difficult to defeat the enemy. Li Yuanhao ordered a rest and reorganization, and gradually consumed the Song Dynasty's military strength in the northwest by encircling points and calling for reinforcements.
But who would have expected that the reinforcements would not come for a long time, and the siege of the city would be difficult to make progress. Instead, the soldiers and civilians in the city often cheered, as if they had defended the city. On the other hand, the Xixia army was tired from long battles.
Li Yuanhao knew that if he could not capture Yanzhou City now, it would be more difficult to capture it later, so he immediately ordered the army to reorganize and launch the largest charge.
Three days later, the heavy snow finally stopped, but the Xixia army was stunned by the Fushi City in front of them. The shiny city seemed to be covered with ice and snow armor, and it was like a weak crystal palace.
Li Kangbo ordered the soldiers to carry buckets of water all night long and pour water on the city wall, which turned the cold snow into ice and made it even more difficult for the soldiers of Great Xia to climb the city wall!
There was a lot of food and grass in the city, but the Xixia army outside the city was stretched thin. Li Yuanhao was furious and ordered people to search nearby villages, but the people of Yanzhou had already evacuated, either hiding in the surrounding military strongholds or hiding in the mountains. The cavalry of Gucao had little harvest.
How could the red-eyed Li Yuanhao miss the opportunity? Unwilling to be reconciled, he immediately ordered the entire army to attack the city, besieging Fushi City from all directions at the same time, completely abandoning the defense on the outside.
But just when the army was besieging Fushi City and Fushi City was on the verge of collapse, Xu Huaide's troops in the east actually defeated the Xixia Army and killed them. Although they did not reach Fushi City, the soldiers and civilians in the city were shocked and vowed to fight the enemy to the death.
Fortunes are unparalleled, but misfortunes never come alone. When Fushi City could not be attacked for a long time, Li Yuanhao received bad news from the rear. The Linzhou capital commander Zhe Jimin and Rouyuan Village advocated Cha, attacked Langhuang, Dang'er and other clans, and killed the army leader Ao Bao. , and Wang Zhongbao, the commander of the two prefectures' soldiers and horses, unexpectedly led his troops into the Helan Valley and defeated the Tibetan general Luo Bu at Changjiling. For a while, Daxia was actually at a disadvantage.
Although he hated Fushi City in his heart, his reason told Li Yuanhao that he could not delay it any longer. The heavy snow extinguished his enthusiasm for attacking Yanzhou and reminded him of his original intention of going south.
Since the Song army has been defeated at Sanchuankou, there is no need to become passive due to gains and losses in one city and one pool.
Even if he knew that the troops of the Song Dynasty would not come to rescue Yanzhou and instead attack Daxia as a plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao, he still could not take the risk because there was still the Ganliang army to the west that he was most worried about.
Ye An is not someone who is easily satisfied. He is a real hungry wolf who can bite Daxia from the west anytime and anywhere!
In fact, what he was most worried about in this battle was Gan Liang sending troops, and he was also most worried about Ye An commanding the battle, so he united with the Liao people to go south together. With the attitude of the Song Dynasty, he would definitely pay attention to the Liao Dynasty and dispatch Ye An to stop the enemy.
Now that the Liao people are annexing Youzhou and refusing to make any further progress, who knows if he, Ye An, will suddenly appear with troops... After all, he is the person who plays the most unconventional cards.
The Xixia army retreated, which relieved the soldiers and civilians of Yanzhou who had been tense for a long time. In fact, Fushi City was at the end of its strength at this time, and the city would be broken within a day if the battle continued.
Fan Yong looked at the retreating Xixia army and had a feeling of surviving a catastrophe. Then he looked back at the city of Yanzhou. There were countless casualties among the people, and there were not many soldiers left. There were endless sounds of crying and wailing.
At one point, he cried loudly: "A gentleman must not use swords or weapons! How can I see my parents in Yanzhou?!"
Li Kangbo came over to plead guilty at this time: "I offended Duke Fan before the war, please punish him!"
Fan Yong smiled bitterly and said: "I almost disgraced the city, how can I punish the general? Good advice on the battlefield, thank you to the general!" After speaking, he turned to look at Lu Shouqin who was full of flattery and said: "Negotiating a peace before the battle, I am a fool to give advice! Ruo Yanzhou
If there is a mistake, you and I are both sinners! I will report it truthfully and wait for the official decision!"
Lu Shouqin was stunned. These words were very obvious. Both he and Li Kangbo understood that this was to make him a scapegoat. Lu Shouqin was shocked and begged for mercy again and again: "Fan Gong, forgive me! Fan Gong, forgive me! Brother Li, beg for mercy for me. Anyway,
I will also go to the city to defend and fight with you!"
Li Kangbo opened his sleeves and looked at Lu Shouqin and said, "If the court investigates, I will report the truth truthfully. I won't be able to hide your military exploits! But I won't hide your efforts to persuade the Commander-in-Chief to negotiate peace!"
Hearing this, Lu Shouqin collapsed. He knew that he, the leader of the Yongxing Army, had come to an end. He had made a lot of good things in the northwest over the years, but it was terrible that he would not be able to enjoy it.
After getting off the city tower, Fan Yong received battle reports from all over. In fact, Xu Huaide's troops in the east did not defeat the Xixia army. Instead, they took advantage of the fact that the party members were not familiar with the roads, and civilian guides came with them from the road. The two sides could not fight.
Just one day.
But the real reinforcements, Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun's troops, fought fiercely with Dangxiang's army at Sanchuankou for several days. Although the elite were annihilated, they also bought time for Fushi City. If not for them, Li Yuanhao would have broken the city long ago.
Regarding the capture of Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun, Fan Yong decided to personally go to Shu to plead for merit and protect their families. This was something he owed them.
In fact, from the time when Fushi City was besieged, Fan Yong knew that he had made many big mistakes. Firstly, he should not have trusted Li Shibin's name too much and entrusted him with the army to guard Jinming Village. Secondly, he should not have sent Shi Yuansun.
After seizing Tumen Village, the third company ordered the army to return for reinforcements, but the urging was too much.
But what if you knew it?
The northwest elites led by Liu Ping and Shi Yuansun were all destroyed. Although they withstood Li Yuanhao's conspiracy to go south, the Song army suffered too many losses in this battle! Fan Yong did not dare to read the report...
And this battle report was not only sent to Fan Yong, but also to the court, and to Zhao Zhen. Although Zhao Zhen did not issue an order to punish Fan Yong, there was a rumor in the palace that the official dropped a tea cup that night when he received the memorial and was injured.
The palace people and the queen went there in person to appease the emperor.