"The Jin people knew how to make artillery carts, and they understood the principle of counterweight artillery carts at a glance, but hot air balloons are different." Wang Gui, who added a shovel of coal to the furnace in the middle of the hot air balloon, laughed. "The Jin people's hot air balloons are tight and can't withstand burning. We have been in Daming City for about ten days. We launched them here, and Yuan City opposite also launched them at the beginning. We launched them three times, and they burned twice. It seems that there is still one left, but we are reluctant to release it again. I guess it will be used in the siege."
"I see." Tian Shizhong nodded, then shook his head as if he had suddenly realized something. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was that the two cities are separated by a river, just five or six hundred steps. What if they switch to mud bullets, or wooden bullets coated with gunpowder or oil? General Wang, how dare you let the two governors take this risk?"
"No." Wang Gui quickly explained with a smile. "Let's not talk about whether they have that kind of wooden bullet. Commander Tian saw clearly that the artillery positions on the opposite side were fixed, and they were all aimed at the river... Besides, this hot air balloon flies up every day to see the military situation in the opposite city, and it has seen everything long ago. They don't know that there is an important person in the hot air balloon. Do they have to build a new artillery vehicle specifically for sniping?"
Tian Shizhong was stunned for a moment, then he picked up the telescope to look carefully. As Wang Gui said, the artillery position in Yuancheng, near the eastern port, was completely motionless, as if it had been fixed in advance, and it was estimated that it had been aimed at the river outside the city.
However, after seeing it clearly, Tian Shizhong did not relax, but became more serious. Because in his opinion, Gao Jingshan's arrangement was the right one... blocking the river to prevent Zhang Rong's navy from attacking the city from here, and also to prevent Zhang Rong from repeating the old trick of occupying the river to lead the main force of the imperial camp to cross the river... This is a strategic arrangement, and it is absolutely useful.
Moreover, after the artillery position is fixed, manpower can be freed up and it can be used with only a few supervisory troops supervising the civilians.
On the contrary, it would be unreasonable to point the artillery vehicle towards this side, hoping to fire two shots at Daming City which is out of effective range, hoping for good luck.
"How?" Yue Fei spoke again, as if continuing what Wang Gui had just said.
"Difficult!" Tian Shizhong replied with a sigh, but for some reason, he changed the topic directly. "Marshal... I will tell you one thing first. The day before yesterday, after the snow, in a place called Sunsheng Town in the northeast of Xiajin County, 3,000 of my troops swept northward and encountered a large group of Jin troops. We were defeated and lost more than half of our troops... According to the description of the defeated soldiers, it should be the headquarters of Wang Bolong, the Wanhu of the Jin Kingdom. Counting Wang Gang's defeat in Liaocheng before, Li Baoshui's rash landing after the battle, we won first and then lost. Although we have made some progress, we have already lost three battles."
Upon hearing this, Yue Fei frowned slightly, without any extra expression, and just nodded in response.
Zhang Rong, on the other hand, finally stopped observing the area around the river. While carefully putting away his telescope, he couldn't help but ask, "I've heard of this Wang Bolong's name a long time ago. I only know that he is the commander of the Eastern Army... Should he be a Han Chinese? What's his origin?"
"Although Wang Bolong is a Han Chinese, he has always lived outside the Great Wall." Yue Fei saw that it was Zhang Rong who spoke, so he explained briefly, but he spoke like a treasure, as if he knew it by heart. "In the second year after the founding of the Jin Dynasty, tens of thousands of people surrendered to Aguda, and he immediately became a hereditary Meng'an... However, there were many bandits in Liao who surrendered to the Jin Dynasty at that time, including Han, Khitan, Xi, and Bohai people, so it was not a big deal... But later, the Jin Dynasty fought for 20 years, Aguda died, and these bandits had long been confused and had no end. Only Wang Bolong participated in the destruction of Liao throughout the process, and was awarded Wanhu and Jiedushi. In the Jingkang period, he served as the vanguard of the Eastern Route Army, fighting all the way from Baihe to Dongjing City. His troops were treated, dared to fight, and were brave, just like the Jurchens. He also stood out and became the pillar of the Jin Army... In recent years, he has been stationed in the Hejian Prefecture area, and because he often personally took the lead, he was known as the first fierce general of the Eastern Route Army, and his reputation was still higher than that of Erlubu."
Zhang Rong suddenly realized, and then he also sighed: "With such a person and troops, it is normal for them to be defeated in the wild... and Hejian is directly north... Given the current situation, it is just right for Tian Dutong's subordinates to run into each other in the north of Xiajin."
"My two governors, I am not asking for favors." Tian Shizhong still looked unhappy. "Victory and defeat are common in the military. If we lose, we lose... The key is that Wang Bolong did not go south before, but he is going south now. Isn't it consistent with the military intelligence reported to the Marshal before? The Jin army has made a big decision and is going out in large numbers, preparing to surround us from all sides."
"Yes." Yue Fei held the thick rope of the hot air balloon and looked at it seriously. "A few days ago, the imperial cavalry in the upper reaches of the Yellow River sent a messenger saying that the Jin army in Longde Prefecture suddenly sent a cavalry of several thousand people to block Taihang Pass and suppress Huaizhou, apparently worried about the reinforcements from the east of the river; the scouts also recently learned that the other side of the river is recruiting soldiers on a large scale... It is said that they want to recruit 300,000 people... From this point of view, plus you ran into Wang Bolong in the northeast of Xiajin the day before yesterday, we basically know that the Jin army will attack in a large scale, and it is possible that there will be 130,000 or 140,000 households!"
Even though Master Tian had anticipated this, he couldn't help but change color at this moment.
"What's there to ramble about?" Zhang Rong was a little impatient. "Didn't the government and the court make a lot of plans in the past few years? According to those calculations, eight out of ten times will have the same result... It is indeed the case... Pengju, you called us here to come up with a response strategy, not to scare people."
"According to your humble servant, there is nothing to discuss about the countermeasures." Tian Shizhong shook his head. "I know all the previous discussions of the military academy and the Privy Council. Now the Jin army has dispatched two routes from the east and west to join forces. They have almost twice as many troops as us, and the cavalry has been regrouped. We are almost powerless in the field. We can only find a line of defense to hold out until the winter when the river dries up and freezes, and then plan for the future..."
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