The army continued to advance.
As a result, after walking for only more than ten minutes, when he was still seven or eight miles away from Lanzhou City and about three or four miles away from his vanguard army, he saw continuous explosions ahead.
Soon after, the vanguard army finally couldn't hold on and began to retreat.
There was no need to think about attacking at this time. He immediately ordered to intercept the defeated vanguard and reorganize them into formation.
“Run!”
"Shenwei Tian is angry."
"This is God punishing us!"
Many soldiers from the small tribes of Uighur, Huihe and Tatar shouted in fear and galloped away on their horses.
Not only them, even the Tangut officers who controlled them in the army couldn't stand it and followed them around in panic.
no way.
First of all, their cannons couldn't reach the other people's mountains.
Secondly, Wang Shiyun and his men’s small cannons could not compete with others in terms of distance and power on flat ground, but with the range making up for it on the mountain, their advantage in firing rate became apparent.
In the past, whether it was a gun or a cannon, they were all muzzle-loading designs, and bullets and shells had to be stuffed into the barrel of the gun and poked in with a milling tube.
However, the cannon needed to increase its power and range, and the barrel was very long, which resulted in a very slow reloading speed.
It would be good if we could fire three to five rounds a minute.
The barrel of a small cannon is shorter than that of a large cannon. When you stuff a shell into it, the barrel will be exposed to the bottom in an instant, so the firing rate is naturally much faster.
Under the constant bombardment, the morale of the Uighur, Huihe, and Tatar tribes, which were already low, could not withstand it at all. Not to mention the people, even the horses fled in all directions, unable to withstand the attack.
Li Yuanhao was extremely anxious when he saw this, but there was no point in being anxious. He could only order his generals and officers to go and reorganize the troops immediately.
He looked around and his eyes finally settled on Gaolan Mountain in the distance.
The mountains are high and the forests are dense. You can vaguely see silver light flashing on the cliff halfway up the mountain. It seems that you can also see some almost invisible black spots looking at this side.
The distance between the two sides was really too far, at least more than ten miles, or even twenty miles. Even though the plain area had a wide field of vision, without a telescope, it was impossible to see what was over there.
"Your Majesty, I will lead my men around and attack the mountain. I don't believe there are many soldiers and horses hidden in the mountain."
Some generals also noticed this and immediately asked Li Yuanhao for orders.
Li Yuanhao did not agree immediately, his eyes showing deep thought. However, at this moment, the gate of Lanzhou City in the distance opened, and countless Tibetan soldiers rushed out.
This made the battlefield even more chaotic.
Seeing this, Li Yuanhao was worried that there was an ambush in the city, so he could only say: "Retreat quickly!"
"Retreat quickly!"
The generals around also shouted hurriedly.
For a while, the two sides were chasing and fleeing, and there was not much fighting. Soon Li Yuanhao's army retreated like a tide, and even the cannons brought by the vanguard were seized.
The Western Xia army retreated more than 30 miles, which is roughly the distance from Xigu District to Chengguan District in Lanzhou City in later generations.
As night fell, tens of thousands of troops were forced to set up camp.
This time Li Yuanhao brought 50,000 men with him. Of the 100,000 men, 20,000 were stationed in Zhuolao City as a reserve force, and the other 30,000 were stationed at the river mouth to prevent the rear troops from coming to support if Lanzhou was not captured in a short time.
What they never expected was that according to the report of the spies who sneaked into Lanzhou City disguised as merchants, Lanzhou, which was supposed to have only 5,000 defenders, no firearms, and no cannons, actually had such powerful firepower.
Moreover, the enemy dared to go out of the city to fight, which forced the suspicious Li Yuanhao to retreat back in shock and confusion.
At night, there were tents everywhere on the wilderness plains.
In the big tent in the middle, Li Yuanhao held a military meeting with everyone.
Candles were lit in the tent. Although Xixia was a small country and lacked some resources, it did have paraffin mines.
Resin and paraffin were commonly used to make candles in the Song Dynasty. Although the smell was a bit unpleasant, it was not difficult for the powerful and wealthy to add some spices to the materials.
The flickering light of the candles in the room made Li Yuanhao's slightly lowered face hidden in the darkness, which made people feel a little uneasy and fearful.
He was silent for a long time before suppressing his anger and saying, "Can anyone tell me what's going on? Didn't the scouts report that there were only 5,000 defenders in the city and no cannons?"
"this"
General Fang Dangqiu Hu hesitated and said, "But all the scouts who entered the city are like this. Could it be that Zuo Silu has purchased cannons from the Song army during this period?"
"I don't think so. There must be some trick."
Another general, Fei Tinggu, asked in detail, "How did An Ziluo know we were coming? How could he dare to leave the city and fight? I have my doubts."
He looked at Zhang Yuan, who had remained silent, and said, "I suspect there are spies in the army."
Li Yuanhao immediately looked at Zhang Yuan suspiciously.
Zhang Yuan gave a wry smile and then said, "Your Majesty, I actually think there are no spies."
"oh?"
Li Yuanhao said noncommittally: "Tell me."
"If there were spies, how could we possibly cross the river safely? They could simply set up their cannons at the river mouth and attack us halfway across, resulting in heavy losses for our army."
Zhang Yuan patiently explained, "Furthermore, if the king defeats the enemy, he will also pursue them. So there is nothing wrong with An Ziluo leaving the city to fight and hunt us down."
"Then how do you explain this cannon?"
Li Yuanhao asked.
"Your Majesty, do not forget the Song army."
"Are you talking about the Song army outside Lanzhou?"
"good."
Zhang Yuan said, "Our spies previously discovered that they only had over 2,000 men and no cannons. But what if cannons were delivered right after our investigation? The Song Dynasty now has over a thousand cannons. It's possible we could make a few more this year and send them to the military camp."
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