“Kill!”
The deafening shout resounded through the sky.
The battle lasted from the early hours of the evening until dawn without a moment's pause.
Fan Zhongyan sat in the rear camp, listening to the noisy sounds outside, and frowned slightly.
The sounds included the roar of artillery, the continuous sound of gunfire, and the continuous explosion of grenades.
The Liao people finally chose to start the night battle at night, using grenades to blast at close range, which really caught the Song army off guard.
This is actually one of the disadvantages of the firearms era. Although firearms are powerful, even in the era of fulminate of mercury rifles, the hit rate during the day was not very high, let alone at night.
In order to complete fire coverage, if there are no machine guns and missiles, we can only rely on the fire network formed by submachine guns and automatic rifles.
But the Song Dynasty did not even have submachine guns and automatic rifles, and was still in the era of breech-loading flintlock rifles. Even though it had developed striker-type muskets, they had not yet equipped the entire army.
So what was the situation in the West during the same period?
It was probably during the Paris Commune and the establishment of the French Third Republic. At that time, Western firearms tactics were still in the stage of line infantry tactics, which is commonly known as the era of line shooting.
Therefore, it is difficult for firearms to exert their power during night battles - there is no field of view, no fire coverage, no targets can be hit, and it is easy for the enemy to get close to them.
But why did Zhao Jun promote Fan Zhongyan, who liked to use defensive tactics, instead of Han Qi, who liked to use reckless tactics?
Isn’t it because Fan Zhongyan is good at defensive tactics and has a lot of experience?
After he arrived in Youyan, he had no intention of heading straight for Xijin Prefecture. Instead, he began to build a stable camp on the outskirts, digging trenches and building walls, pressing forward step by step and steadily advancing the defense line.
So when the Liao army rushed into the Song army camp, they found that the Song army was too cruel.
The outer periphery is composed of several continuous and deep trenches, and above the wall of the village, there is a wooden parapet built like a city wall. There are also a large number of watchtowers, fortresses, and artillery in the camps of various sizes, which are connected together.
Once a war broke out, the Song army in the camp would fire their guns out first. Whether they could hit the target or not was another matter, but it could at least scare the Liao army that was attacking suddenly.
Torches were lit everywhere outside the surrounding village walls, and the illumination did not reach very far, only about ten feet. Some Liao soldiers sneaked under the village wall and threw grenades inside, but were quickly shot to death.
Some Liao troops were clearing out the Song troops patrolling on the periphery, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, with casualties on both sides.
But in general, since the Liao army lacked equipment to attack the camps, there was almost no possibility of breaking through the Song army's camps.
"Report!"
The messenger hurried into the tent and reported to Fan Zhongyan: "Report, sir, the enemy in the right camp has been repelled, and General Zhou wants to leave the camp to pursue them."
"Did he chase her out?"
Fan Zhongyan asked.
“Not yet.”
"Let him go support the front camp first."
"yes."
The messenger went out to reply.
In addition to Fan Zhongyan, there were also Hebei Road Transport Commissioner Wei Huanzhi, Director of the Ministry of Revenue Tian You, Director of the Ministry of Criminal Justice Wang Ding, Director of the Ministry of Censors Han Fang and other high-ranking officials in the room.
After everyone left, Fan Zhongyan put down his brush, glanced down and saw a white hair falling on his shoulder, and sighed: "This battle is not easy to fight."
Wei Huanzhi was puzzled and said, "Sir, the Liao army can't advance an inch, so what's the problem? We can defeat them after a long siege."
"If only it were that easy."
Fan Zhongyan smiled, brushed the white hair off his shoulders, and then pointed to the map on the table and said, "The darkness will reduce our advantage over the Liao people in field battles. Besides, there is another serious problem."
"What's the problem?"
Everyone was puzzled.
"After all, our fortress walls can't compare to the Liao people's city walls. They're nothing during the day, but what if they secretly transport artillery to the vicinity of the camp at night?"
Fan Zhongyan asked back.
This sentence immediately made everyone feel cold.
The Liao Kingdom was not like the Western Xia, whose entire country only had a few hundred cannons.
As a powerful country, the Liao Kingdom had a large number of artillery pieces in Youyan, at least one or two thousand.
Although not as many as the Song Dynasty, this number is enough to deal with a national-level war with the Song Dynasty.
If the Liao Kingdom transported cannons into the wild, their village walls would not be able to withstand the bombardment.
"Now you understand why I placed the camp here instead of outside Liangxiang City."
Seeing everyone's serious expressions, Fan Zhongyan said, "Fortunately, the Liao people have no field artillery, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. Now that we are besieging the Liao city, we need to be flexible and not take chances or be careless."
"yes."
Everyone quickly agreed.
Fan Zhongyan then said, "Pass on my military order. After driving away the nearby Liao troops, each battalion must immediately send out scouts to investigate. Be careful of the enemy moving artillery at night."
"yes."
Everyone agreed again.
After Fan Zhongyan issued the military order, he bent over his desk again and began to write something.
The sounds of gunfire and grenades outside the camp gradually subsided.
As dawn approached, the Song army indeed discovered the Liao army's artillery transport team about three kilometers outside the camp.
Fortunately, the Song army discovered it early. If the Liao army had been able to successfully deploy artillery, the camp would have been in danger.
In the early morning, Fan Zhongyan, who had not slept all night, finally walked out of the tent. Tian You, the director of the Ministry of Revenue, came over and said to him, "Sir, a new batch of food and fodder has arrived."
"Well, send this letter to Daizhou and have Zhang Yaozuo, the Hedong Road Transport Commissioner, handle it immediately."
"yes."
Tian You agreed, then looked up at the sky and said, "The weather has become gloomy recently. I'm afraid it will rain heavily."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
