"I"
Li Yuanhao was speechless for a moment.
That's what I thought.
His scouts did investigate Wang Shiyun's troops.
However, he did not dare to attack the Song army directly.
He was afraid that if any of the Song scouts were to be leaked, what awaited him would be the Song accusation of breaking the alliance, and then the main force of the army would go straight to Western Xia.
So we could only attack Lanzhou.
Who knows, Wang Shiyun’s troops didn’t have cannons before, but are now equipped with them?
If this is really the case, I don’t know where to seek justice.
"Even if that's the case, Lanzhou City now has artillery. What should we do?"
Fei Tinggu explained in detail.
Zhang Yuan said sternly, "Your Majesty, I believe there are only 5,000 men in Lanzhou, with a maximum of 2,000 Song troops. Since we attacked Qingtang and the Song army took the initiative, it would be a violation of the contract. If the Song army were to hold us accountable in the future, we would be on our side. There's no need to worry. The most important thing now is to find a way to take the city."
"Do you have any ideas?"
Li Yuanhao asked.
"I took a look today. They are attacking from the mountains south of Lanzhou City, heading west. If we attack from west to east, we will naturally be within their range. But what if we attack from north to south?"
Zhang Yuan said.
"oh?"
Li Yuanhao thought for a moment and then said with great joy, "My military advisor is indeed very clever. We have just suffered a defeat and our morale is low. After a day of rest, we will attack from the north city."
"Then why don't we attack that mountain and knock down the cannons on it?"
Someone asked.
Zhang Yuan patiently explained, "The mountain is steep. If we attack from the opposite direction, they will fire their artillery down from the mountain, and we will suffer a great loss. Therefore, we only need to attack from the north to the south, and their artillery will be useless."
The ancient city of Lanzhou was not located on the banks of the Yellow River, but at the foot of Gaolan Mountain, about ten miles away from the Yellow River. The city's drinking water came from the Agan River, which is the Leitan River in Lanzhou in later generations.
So if attacking from north to south, Lanzhou does not have the natural barrier of the Yellow River. To the north is an endless plain area, which is very easy to attack.
When the Western Xia army attacked from the west, the Gaolan Mountain artillery in the south did not need to cross the Lanzhou city, but could fly directly over the wilderness in the northwest and hit their positions.
But if the fire is fired from north to south, the shells will pass over the sky above Lanzhou City, which may not only accidentally hit Lanzhou City, but also the distance will be farther.
It is several miles from Lanzhou to Gaolan Mountain, and several miles from north to south of Lanzhou City. In addition, the Western Xia army must have started running from several miles away.
All in all, it’s probably more than twenty miles.
No matter how powerful the Song army's artillery is, it can't shoot more than twenty miles away.
Therefore, it is indeed easier to attack from north to south.
Everyone understood, and Li Yuanhao immediately decided to take a break and launch a general attack on Lanzhou the day after tomorrow.
While the Western Xia army was analyzing the situation, the Song army was also analyzing it.
In Lanzhou City, Wang Shiyun and An Ziruo discussed countermeasures.
"When will the reinforcements arrive?"
An Ziluo asked anxiously.
"It's over two hundred miles from Lanzhou to the military camp, but we have beacon towers along the way. We've already lit the beacons, so I think we'll arrive the day after tomorrow at the latest."
Wang Shiyun replied.
During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, the Qingtang regime was gradually annexed and a large number of fortresses were built on the border.
But there was none at that time, and the nearest one was Guwei Village, which was more than 300 miles away from Lanzhou.
However, Fan Zhongyan adopted Zhao Jun's suggestion and built a large number of beacon towers along the border to quickly transmit messages.
This thing is much faster than sending messages on horseback. Almost as soon as the war started, Wang Shiyun had the beacon tower lit.
The terrain of the northern frontier is open, with many hills and mountains. The beacon towers are built on the hills. As long as it doesn't rain, the green smoke can be seen from twenty or thirty miles away.
So in about an hour, through the beacon tower, the Guwei Village had already learned the news, and the chief officer of the Guwei Village would lead his troops to provide assistance as soon as possible.
"I'm afraid the Western bandits will attack tomorrow."
An Ziluo sighed.
The nearest reinforcements are the Song army, but there are not many people in Guwei Village, only three armies, about 7,000 people, one of which is in Lanzhou and controlled by Wang Shiyun.
And Zuo Siluo was in Qingtang, hundreds of miles away, so it was impossible for him to come to the rescue immediately. Now they had only a few thousand people trapped in an isolated city.
Wang Shiyun comforted him, "Don't worry. The Western Bandits suffered a crushing defeat today, and their morale is low. Li Yuanhao shouldn't rush to attack. The only thing we should worry about now is if they attack from the north city, which would be dangerous."
"Why?"
An Ziruo was puzzled.
"I've seen it from the mountain today. It's too far from the North City. If the Western bandits still have cannons, our cannons deployed on the mountain won't be able to hit them, and it's easy to accidentally hit people in the city. If we deploy them on the city wall, we won't be able to hit them either."
Wang Shiyun explained, "Their cannons can fire over ten miles, while ours can only reach three or four miles, unless they continue to attack from the west city like they did today."
An Ziluo said hurriedly, "Today we have seized nine of their cannons, and a lot of shells."
"Place it in the city first, and I'll think of a solution."
Wang Shiyun fell into deep thought.
Night falls and the day passes quickly.
By the evening of the next day, dust was flying on the official road east of Lanzhou City.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Thousands of war horses were galloping, and the leader was a strong man with a big beard. This man was Sun Guangyi, the chief officer of Guwei Village.
When the defenders on Lanzhou City in the distance saw the flag of the Song Army, they did not open the gate immediately.
It was not until Wang Shiyun saw Sun Guangyi on the top of the city wall that he immediately ordered the city to be opened, and a large group of soldiers rushed in.
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