The battle between the firearms era and the cold weapons era is always so inevitable.
Firearms were nothing, because the Qing Dynasty had firearms. Cannons were nothing, because the Qing Dynasty also had cannons.
However, even though they had the same muskets and artillery, the 480,000 Qing troops were defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance, which had only 30,000 invading troops.
Not to mention that Xixia didn't even have muskets, and its artillery was only the most primitive. There was a huge gap between them and the Song Dynasty's firearms in terms of technology and training.
Under such circumstances, Jingtai took Zhuola City with almost no effort, and even let his troops gallop, continuing to chase and kill the remaining Western Xia troops, marching north and reaching the Western Xia Jisang City.
Jisang City is the Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County of Gansu Province in later generations. More than 200 miles to the east is the Lingbo Mountain of Western Xia. Nearby are Gaolan County, Baiyin City, Jingyuan County and other places in later generations. At that time, it was the pasture of some tribes of the Western Xia Dangxiang, and many herdsmen lived there.
Vast hills and plateaus rose and fell, the sky was vast and the fields were boundless, the wind blew the grass low and revealed cattle and sheep. The northwest was majestic and vast, but under the iron cavalry of the Song Dynasty, countless Dangxiang herders fled in panic, believing that death was approaching.
However, the Song people just passed by like a startled wild goose, without even looking at them. Someone just left a message - this place belongs to the Song Dynasty from now on!
They left the Dangxiang herdsmen looking at each other in bewilderment and headed northeast.
From then on, it was announced that the Hexi Corridor near Qishan, which had been away from the Han people for more than a hundred years since the end of the Tang Dynasty, once again became the territory of the Han people.
Moreover, in the near future, the entire Hexi Corridor, and even the entire Western Regions, will return to the embrace of the Han people.
Amidst this commotion, the Song army began to threaten the heartland of Western Xia.
The Song army seemed to be unstoppable.
However, compared to the rapid fall of Zhuola City, the situation in Miaochuan City was not so easy.
The reason is that Miaochuan City has a more advantageous location. Although Zhuola City is a city, the mountains on the east and west sides are too close to the city, and placing artillery batteries can easily bombard the city.
However, Miaochuan City is more than ten kilometers long from north to south, and the surrounding mountains are not very high, with the highest peak only more than thirty feet. Zhang Kang sent artillery to conduct reconnaissance, and even if a gun battery was set up at the highest point, it would be difficult to hit the city.
This made it almost impossible for the artillery to attack Zhuola City by suppressing the enemy with artillery from the mountains, while the cavalry quickly rushed to the city and then seized the city.
At this moment, on the mountains south of Miaochuan City, about five kilometers away from the city, Zhang Kang was looking down at Miaochuan City below with a telescope.
The city is actually not big. Although it is the second largest city of the Qingtang regime, it was just an ordinary small county town in the Tang Dynasty. Its name was Huangshui County. It was not outstanding in politics, military and economy.
Therefore, Miaochuan City is about the same size as many county towns on the border of Song State, with an area of only one or two square kilometers. It is located on the banks of the Huangshui River. The banks are withered and yellow, and it is already a late autumn scene.
Unlike Zhuolao City where it was snowing and hailstorming, the cold air from the north had not yet blown over due to the blocking of mountains in the north. The climate in the Hehuang Valley was not that cold. It just rained a little yesterday, and there was still a bit of moisture in the air.
"Commander-in-Chief, they're still bombarding the mountains to the north, making it difficult for us to position our artillery. If the ground forces force their way in, without artillery fire support, they'll still suffer considerable losses."
Jia Kui also looked towards the city in the distance. After arriving at Miaochuan City, they certainly did not do nothing, but had already eliminated the strongholds outside the city.
Before Li Yuanhao left, he asked Yeli Wangrong to move all the remaining soldiers who retreated from the river mouth to the hill north of Miaochuan City.
This hill is the only commanding height near Miaochuan City. The Song army launched a feint attack from the north side of the mountain and took control of this vital area.
However, the terrain of this mountain range is like a dumpling, with about four continuous earthen ridges below. The fifth mountain is the highest peak, which is only twenty or thirty feet high. Although the terrain can overlook the city, the city's artillery can also hit this ridge.
This made it difficult for the Song army to install artillery on the mountain under the Xixia artillery fire, and naturally they could not use tactics like the attack on Zhuola City.
"Zhao Siluo is truly a scoundrel. The imperial court, unable to resist his demands, gave him some artillery, only to have it seized by Zhao Yuanhao, who used it against us. He himself is still gravely wounded and his life or death is unknown, yet he has brought great suffering to the Song Dynasty."
Zhang Kang was slightly dissatisfied.
The cannons on Miaochuan City are all from the Song Dynasty. They are not only very sophisticated, but also made of steel and are very durable.
Continuously firing an ordinary artillery piece more than a dozen times can cause the barrel to become overheated or even explode.
This rarely happens with Song Dynasty steel cannons, and even at high temperatures, they can be physically cooled down by pouring water on them. Unlike iron cannons, pouring water on them to cool them down will cause cracks in the barrel.
This made it difficult for the Song army to advance even if they wanted to during the intervals between artillery bombardments, because they had more than fifty cannons that could be fired in turns.
"How about we go up at night when it's cloudy and we can't see?"
Jia Kui suggested.
"That hill is too small. There's not enough space on top, so it's easy for the enemy to concentrate their fire. Plus, it's close to the city. They could easily send people out of town to scout at night. Once we go up there and install our cannons, they'll immediately cover us with fire."
Zhang Kang shook his head and said no. Of course he had thought about this method, but if he used a telescope to overlook the terrain, he would find it difficult to implement.
The main reason is that the hill is too small. The east-west length of the top of the hill is probably less than one mile, about three or four hundred meters. In addition, some places are not suitable for installing gun mounts, and the flat area on the top of the hill is even smaller.
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