Fan Zhongyan also looked up at the sky. It was already winter in Youyan in late October. Everything was withered and silent. The Yanshan Mountains in the distance were shrouded in dark clouds.
Although there was no snow or rain, the earth was barren and yellow. In the howling north wind, military flags fluttered, and grass and fallen leaves flew everywhere, as if telling the people on earth that winter had come.
"The rain is really bad for us, so we have to make a quick decision."
Fan Zhongyan looked towards the east, his gaze passed Xijin, Jizhou, Yingzhou, and finally to Yumen Pass.
That was the direction where Di Qing's army was.
If the fighting continues like this, victory for the Song army is inevitable.
Because the Liao army only has these three tricks. As long as we deal with their night attacks, press forward step by step, and surround Liangxiang, the Liao army in the city will be lambs to be slaughtered.
But this would be a siege, which would be very time-consuming. During the late Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao besieged Dongwuyang for a full year before he killed Zang Hong. During the Battle of Suiyang in the mid-Tang Dynasty, the rebels besieged Suiyang for ten months before finally breaking through.
If the Liao army holds its ground and refuses to come out to fight them in the field, then no one will know how much food the Liao army has in the city, and no one will know how long the war will end.
Therefore, if you want to win quickly, you can only use unexpected tactics.
This ingenious trick was created by Di Qing.
In mid-October, after the roar of artillery fire subsided on the city wall of Yuguan, the only sound left was the heavy breathing of the Song army on the city wall.
This was the sixth day after Di Qing arrived at Yuguan.
In this early winter season, the Song army was wearing thick cotton clothes and sweat was pouring down their faces.
Many people felt cold, and the sweat soon cooled and solidified after falling, sticking to their cotton clothes and emitting an unpleasant odor.
But no one takes a shower, and no one has time to take a shower.
Even when eating, many people would just take a few quick bites, drink a sip from the water bottle they carried with them, and then continue fighting.
The Song army dispatched 10,000 troops, but in reality only less than 3,000 or 4,000 of them were actually fighting.
Some people need to steer the boat on the river, some people need to carry various gunpowder, artillery shells and equipment, and others do logistical work on the boat.
Otherwise, the soldiers at the front would have nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no gunpowder, and no artillery shells to fight, and the battle would naturally not be able to continue.
"call!"
Huyan Shouyong felt that he was almost exhausted and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Just now, a large force of the Liao army actually managed to reach the foot of the city and almost climbed onto the top of the wall with a ladder.
Fortunately, although the Song army had been training with firearms for a long time, their fighting skills were also good, and they used bayonets to stab the Liao army.
Otherwise, the city of Yuguan would have been broken by now.
However, the biggest problem is that the soldiers below can be rotated, but these generals can only stay at their posts for a long time.
The Liao army charged in wave after wave, with almost no time to rest, which made them exhausted.
"It would be great if we could strike back at them once and delay their advance."
This thought flashed through Huyan Shouyong's mind.
Before he could investigate further, he heard someone shouting, "Huyan Shouyong, Huyan Shouyong, where have you been?"
That was the voice of his deputy general, Liu Du, deputy commander of the Pinghai Navy.
Hu Yanshouyong was furious and said, "Liu Du, no matter what, I am still your superior. How can you call me that?"
When Liu Du heard his words, he turned around and found him beside the bodies of several Liao soldiers. He hurried over and said with a smile, "How could that be possible? General Di told me to say this. Hurry up, General Di is calling you."
When Hu Yan Shouyong heard that it was Di Qing calling him, he didn't dare to lose his temper anymore. He tried to stand up, but almost fell down.
Liu Du pulled him up, and Huyan Shouyong felt his legs were shaking. After all, he had been fighting for several days in a row without much rest time, and the city was now littered with corpses of Liao soldiers.
When he walked to Di Qing, he saw Di Qing still standing on the top of the city wall like an iron tower, looking into the distance with a telescope.
Recently, the Liao army has always attacked the city at night, so they were beaten out of the city every time.
Even the city walls were covered with cannonballs.
The Liao army received a batch of firearms and supplies yesterday, and secretly deployed artillery fire outside the city.
If it weren't for the powerful artillery fire of the Song army and the even more powerful gunners, who were able to determine the location of the enemy artillery positions through the flashes of fire from the enemy artillery in the middle of the night and launch a counterattack bombing, Yuguan would be in great danger now.
"Di Shuai."
Huyan Shouyong walked over and said.
"Injured?"
Di Qing turned around and saw the blood on Huyan Shouyong's body.
"It's just a minor injury, just a shock in the palm of your hand. All this blood belongs to the Liao people."
Hu Yanshou grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.
"Can we still fight?"
Di Qing asked.
"I will rest for an hour."
Hu Yanshou said seriously.
"You'll have four hours' rest."
Di Qing pointed to the mountains to the north and asked, "Do you see that mountain?"
Huyan Shouyong turned his head to look.
It was now slightly bright, and with the sunrise in the east, he could see the mountains in the distance.
That mountain is Jiaoshan, which is located in the north of Shanhaiguan in later generations and is 5 kilometers away from Yuguan.
The Liao army also tried to set up artillery on Jiaoshan, but after they took great pains to transport the artillery up, they found that they could not hit the target at all.
It's too far.
The highest point of Jiaoshan is 512 meters above sea level, but the terrain is steep and there is little flat land, making it difficult to place large-scale artillery positions.
Even if the artillery was installed at the highest point, the range could not be increased by more than 5 kilometers, and the accuracy was terrible, so in the end, they had to give up.
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