"Your Majesty, this was a rare opportunity. Why didn't you just charge in and capture Fan Zhongyan?"
Li Yuanhao suddenly went back, and the personal guards around him hurriedly followed.
One of the personal soldiers was Li Muwei, the son of another cousin of Li Yuanhao. He was somewhat puzzled by Li Yuanhao's actions and raised questions.
Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice, "The Song army couldn't possibly come to negotiate with me unprepared. There must be some trick going on. Didn't you notice they seemed to be hiding something around their waists?"
"this"
Li Muwei thought that the Song army was indeed behaving strangely, so he said, "Even if it's a trick, can't we charge at them?"
"What I'm worried about is not bows and crossbows, but the firearms of the Song army."
Li Yuanhao's face was as dark as water. He said, "My spy in the Song army discovered that the Song army has gathered a group of strong soldiers. They often throw stones in the training grounds. Sometimes they go to uninhabited mountains. I often hear loud thunder. I suspect the Song army has some tricks up their sleeves."
After all, he had been operating on the border for many years and had planted some spies within the Song army. Although Fan Zhongyan had carefully selected the bombardiers, the elite men from good families brought over from Bianliang had clean backgrounds and were definitely not the type to become traitors.
However, in addition to the imperial guards transferred from the inland, the Northwest Army also recruited local Han people from the Northwest. In addition to the local Han people, there were even Dangxiang people, Qiang and Di people, and Tibetan people. These people were collectively called Guiming people or foreign soldiers, and belonged to the Hu army in the Northwest Frontier Army system.
For example, Li Shibin captured a large number of border Hu people in battles with the border Hu people and reorganized them into an army. When Li Yuanhao discovered this, he deliberately sent the Dangxiang tribe to surrender, and then on the eve of the Battle of Sanchuankou, he used internal forces to defeat Jinmingzhai.
So even though there were no Xixia spies among the grenadiers, there were some among the ordinary soldiers. These spies often saw the grenadiers training, and could also hear the explosions of grenades thrown during their live-fire training in the distant mountains.
The news had already been sent to Li Yuanhao.
Therefore, Li Yuanhao suspected that the Song army had hidden secret weapons. At the critical moment just now, he forcibly resisted the urge to attack Fan Zhongyan. It was because of his suspicion and caution that he saved his life.
After returning to his army, Li Yuanhao did not rein in his horse, but turned his head, turned his back to the Song army, and looked deeply in the direction of Anlongzhai.
A few seconds later, without further hesitation, he ordered the entire army to retreat.
The Western Xia army came quickly and left quickly, galloping away like the wind and rushing like a dust storm.
As a great man of his time and one of the protagonists of history, Li Yuanhao created a myth, at least in his time.
He defeated the Song Dynasty in the south, defeated the Liao Dynasty in the east, attacked Tubo in the west, and suppressed the Uighurs in the north.
With an area only one-sixth of the Liao Dynasty and one-fourth of the Song Dynasty, and a population one-fifth of the Liao Dynasty and one-fortieth of the Song Dynasty, they established a tripartite empire.
Therefore, his sharp intuition and keen sense of war can be said to be at the top of this era.
Li Yuanhao understood that the Song State was already on guard and it would be impossible to catch the traitor. Moreover, the news of his plan to become emperor would certainly be spread to the Song State through the traitor. At that time, the Song State would definitely intensify its military defense in the northwest.
Under these circumstances, it would be irrational to forcefully attack Anlong Village. It would be better to return and adjust our tactics and plan for another day.
After all, there is no such thing as a thief on guard against thieves for a thousand days.
The Song-Xia border was vast, with countless roads. It wasn't difficult to lead troops to infiltrate and attack unexpectedly. There was no need to engage in a head-on confrontation with the enemy outside their fortress.
On Fan Zhongyan's side, as soon as Li Yuanhao ran away, they also chased him to the top of a small hill, looking far away at the vast Western Xia army three hundred feet to the north, which was as vast as the ocean and had no end in sight.
“What a pity.”
Zhe Jimin licked his dry lips. He had only half touched the grenade on his waist when the other party ran away.
If I could kill Li Yuanhao, I don’t know how many levels I would have to level up when I return.
Fan Zhongyan said, "There's nothing to regret. This guy is vicious and cunning. Seeing that we dared to take such a risk alone, he must be suspicious. He probably wants to capture me, but don't I want to capture him just as much?"
There was no way around it. The grenade Zhao Jun had made couldn't be as small and exquisite as an orange. Due to the limitations of the fuse mechanism, he had to make a long-handled grenade.
There is a small flint built into the long handle, which does not explode when pulled. Instead, a rope needs to be pulled to continuously rotate a small steel wheel inside to rub the flint, producing sparks that burn the fuse and cause the grenade to explode.
This device is recorded in "Wubeizhi" and "Tiangongkaiwu". It is the main detonation method of the Song army's landmines and thunder bombs. It is similar to the principle of modern daily lighters.
But even modern lighters may not always be able to light a fire, let alone in ancient times. Therefore, in order to ensure the success rate of ignition, the size of this grenade is still quite large, slightly larger than the long-handled grenade used in the later Anti-Japanese War period, and is not easy to hide.
Fan Zhongyan originally wanted to take advantage of Li Yuanhao's lack of knowledge of hand grenades and to catch him off guard. However, the enemy was too cautious and did not launch an attack, which made them quite regretful.
But this was normal. If Li Yuanhao had seen their waists bulging and still rushed over so recklessly, he would not be the heroic ruler who built such a great empire. So Fan Zhongyan was not discouraged and turned his horse around and left as well.
In July of the first year of Baoyuan, Li Yuanhao personally led his troops into the territory of the Song Dynasty for the first time, and the news quickly spread back to Bianliang.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
