The sneak attack led by Zhao Hu that night was neither a success nor a failure. As expected, the Xixia army burned the midnight oil and fought at night. Hundreds of Liao craftsmen worked overnight under the protection of heavy troops. There were hundreds of soldiers in the open space in front of the Xia army's camp.
Bonfires and thousands of torches illuminated everything, and dozens of horse patrols shuttled around to keep watch.
It can be seen that the Xixia army was not afraid of the Song army knowing its intention to build a trebuchet to attack the city, but also carefully protected the safety of hundreds of craftsmen, basically eliminating the possibility of a night sneak attack by the Song army.
Zhao Hu and others were afraid that opening the city gate would attract the attention of enemy sentries, so they led seven or eight skilled soldiers down from the corner of the northwest city wall and quietly approached the front of the enemy camp. However, after arriving in front of the formation for a long time, there was no sign of anything.
When he was close to the opportunity to strike, Zhao Hu was so angry that he scolded his mother.
But Zhao Hu didn't want to return empty-handed. Although the craftsmen couldn't even get a piece of their clothes, according to Su Jin's explanation beforehand, raw materials could be destroyed without being killed. There were piles of trees cut down from Longshan Mountain.
They were piled at the edge of the open space, and there was no special protection except for hundreds of patrol soldiers who held torches and circled the edge of the field every few seconds.
So Zhao Hu led seven or eight experts to move patiently little by little. After waiting patiently for nearly an hour, he finally successfully arrived at dozens of piles of logs in the west of the camp. Although the logs were not easy to ignite, they had some effect.
With the help of kerosene, seven or eight piles of logs as big as a hill were quickly set on fire.
The fire ignited and immediately alerted the Xia Army soldiers who were patrolling in all directions. They rushed in from all directions. The figures of Zhao Hu and others walking in the fire scene were also spotted by the Xia Army soldiers who arrived first. Zhao Hu did not stop doing anything.
He led his men to kill more than a dozen Xixia horsemen, seized their horses, and fled back. The Xia soldiers were bluffing while firing arrows behind them, but there was no real pursuit. No one dared to chase them in the dark night.
The other party was running around, and the Song army had dug countless traps in the open ground at the north gate. Chasing people in such a place in the middle of the night was simply a joke with their own lives.
Zhao Hu's unsuccessful return made everyone a little frustrated, but Su Jin was very happy that Zhao Hu returned safely. He had no hope for this kind of sneak attack. Xia Jun would not be wrong even if he had no brains.
The craftsmen of the Song Dynasty are heavily protected. If you are allowed to easily succeed in front of their army, wouldn't it be a joke for the Xixia army to attack the city with great fanfare?
Under the Song people, otherwise how could a small country in a barren land beat the Song people to pieces? If it weren't for the geographical limitations that prevented Xixia from becoming strong and wealthy, the Song country would have already become the possession of Xixia.
In Su Jin's view, the biggest gain from Zhao Hu's move was not that he burned a few piles of Xia Jun's wood. There was so much wood on Longshan that even 100,000 people could cut it down in a year. Su Jin's biggest gain was that Zhao Hu's move was
The move suddenly made him have a bold plan. This plan was so bold that even he himself was a little scared. Su Jin didn't dare to tell everyone about the plan he thought of. Firstly, the time had not come, and secondly, this plan would cause everyone's anger.
Unanimously opposed, Su Jin decided not to mention the matter for the time being and would bring out the plan at the appropriate time. Everything would depend on how the war develops.
The Song Dynasty's night attack and burning of wood not only did not anger Li Yuanhao, but made Li Yuanhao understand something.
When convening a meeting with all military generals, Li Yuanhao laughed when talking about what happened last night: "The Song people are afraid! The burning of the wood in the night attack is proof. The Song people are afraid of the trebuchets we are building to attack the city, otherwise why would they?"
What about sending people to stop them? In the eyes of the Song people, we Daxia warriors can only charge and kill on horseback, but are incompetent to attack cities and fortresses, because our Daxia Iron Army never bothers to use these siege equipment, and they did not expect that we would change our usual approach.
Building siege equipment has hit their weak point, and I want to reward General Qu Lie, the leader of the Dai'er tribe, who prompted the Liao craftsmen to come to help."
The generals of the Xia Army were convinced that although Li Yuanhao was cruel and cruel, his vision was unique and precise, and he could see through the key points at a glance. The Song people were afraid; but they remained silent about what Li Yuanhao said about getting Liao craftsmen to help.
Needless to say, in fact, these craftsmen were not people who came to help at all, but were the work of Qu Lie, the leader of the Dai'er tribe on the border of Liao Kingdom who had recently surrendered to Daxia, and the governor of Shanxi's Five Tribunals.
After Qu Lie surrendered to Daxia, he relied on Li Yuanhao's support to constantly harass the borders of the Liao Kingdom. These hundreds of Liao craftsmen he looted from the Liao Kingdom and dedicated them to Li Yuanhao. Li Yuanhao
I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but now I realize that what Qu Lie offered was a treasure. These people were craftsmen accompanying the Liao army and were good at building siege equipment. Without these craftsmen in this battle, the Xia army would have nowhere to go.
As for Qu Lie's actions, which had caused extreme dissatisfaction among the Liao people, Liao Xingzong even sent an envoy to severely reprimand Xia for what he had done, and issued an ultimatum to Li Yuanhao to hand over Qu Lie to the Liao for disposal. Li Yuanhao ignored it, and Li Yuanhao even
The Song Dynasty is not afraid, let alone the Liao Kingdom.
Li Yuanhao understands the psychology of the Liao people very well and has a thorough understanding of the current situation. With the current situation, the Liao and Song Dynasties appear to be in peace with each other, but in fact they are two baying donkeys in a trough. Sooner or later, the two countries will be at odds with each other.
It was a shameful day, and although Daxia seemed to be the weakest, it could influence the balance of power between the two countries. In comparison, Liao was more willing to join forces with itself to fight against the Song people, as long as they didn't do too much.
If you go too far and get a small advantage, Liao Xingzong cannot do anything to him.
Li Yuanhao allowed Qu Lie to harass the Liao Kingdom, which seemed unwise. It would make people think that it was stupid to offend the Liao Kingdom for nothing during the war between Song and Xia. But in fact, this was Li Yuanhao's shrewdness.
Li Yuanhao knew very well that it was precisely because he was at war with the Song Dynasty that the Liao people would tolerate this. Once he and the Song people negotiated a peace and truce, if he tried to take advantage of the Liao people, he would incur a hundredfold retaliation; at the same time, this move was also Li Yuanhao's
In order to vent his anger on the Liao people, who not long ago rejected their proposal to jointly send troops to attack the Song people, the Liao envoys entered Bianliang and reached some secret agreement with the Song people. More than 200,000 troops were sent to the border.
He only stayed for two months and then withdrew. This made Li Yuanhao very angry. So he not only allowed Qu Lie to plunder the Liao border, but also ordered the local troops stationed on the Xia-Liao border to turn into bandits and plunder the Liao people.
It was a punishment for the Liao people who went back on their word.
After working day and night for five consecutive days, the craftsmen almost died of exhaustion. The results are indeed obvious to all. One after another trebuchets were erected in front of the formation, with thousands of trebuchets erected in the three positions on the left, center and right.
Simple trebuchet; in the past five days, Xia soldiers have not been idle, felling trees, transporting rocks, and thousands of soldiers holding shields slowly searching for pits in the open space at the north gate. Once a pit is found,
Immediately, soldiers carrying sandbags came to fill the pit.
The defenders on the top of the city yelled angrily, but they were helpless. They could only watch the Xia army move below the city, but there was nothing they could do about it; fortunately, the Xixia soldiers were quite afraid of the missiles that could shoot four hundred paces away.
Although there were only about twenty bed crossbows in the Song army, these bed crossbows could not be blocked by shields. When they hit the Xixia soldiers who were holding shields, blood flew everywhere and they were shot.
Naturally, the person in question was killed to ashes, and even the three or four people next to him would be affected and injured; so when more than twenty crossbows were fired together, groups of Xia army soldiers searching for the traps paid a heavy price.
At the price, dozens of people were turned into meat by a row of crossbows. This deterrent force forced the Xia army to stop the search within 400 steps of the city; and the pits in this range were the most dense, which was also
Let the Song troops feel at ease a little.
In the early morning of the eighth day of August, when Xia Siling and Xiao Sui'er were helping Su Jinzhenguan get dressed, Wang Dynasty rushed into the inner house like a gust of wind, shouting: "Master, the Western thieves have begun to attack the city."
Su Jin was startled, bit her lower lip, and finally started. It had been six days and it was time to start.
Su Jin said hurriedly: "Inform Jingtai and Pan Jiang to meet at my north gate."
Chao Chao said: "They are already at the top of the city."
Su Jin nodded and said: "Prepare your horses, we will go immediately."
Wang Chao turned around and ran out. Su Jin stood up, took the iron helmet handed over by Xia Siling and put it on his head. He reached out and touched the scabbard hanging at his waist and walked away.
Xia Siling held his hand, looked at Su Jin and said, "Be careful, the slave family is waiting for you to come back."
Su Jin smiled, patted her face and said: "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me, and nothing will happen to Weizhou. You can go find Brother Zhaoting and help him handle some logistical matters. From now on, everyone will be fine."
We must do our part for Weizhou."
Xia Siling nodded firmly and said, "The slave family will do it."
Su Jin glanced at Xiao Sui'er and said: "Sui'er's cooking skills are good. You will cook the meals for me and a few adults at noon today. All the people will fight in this battle. We are also role models for the people of Weizhou. How about you?"
You do this every day, but you must also let the people see that the people around me, Su Jin, are also contributing to the defense of the city."
Xia Siling and Xiao Sui'er nodded repeatedly, Su Jin smiled and waved, turned around and walked away