For the Liao army, the city is not important, what is important is killing the enemy's manpower.
Once all the enemies are killed, even if the city becomes ruins, they can eventually rebuild it.
But if the army is defeated and all the soldiers are killed, no matter how much land you have, it will be useless and you won’t be able to hold it.
So they chose to burn Xijin and force the Song army to fight them to the death.
But for the Song army, the city is actually not important.
Their strategy was to eliminate the Liao people, drive them out of Yanyun, and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
The Liao scouts on Xijin City and the surrounding areas who were observing the Song army were suddenly panicked when they saw this scene.
Seeing this, some Song army generals who were closer to Zhang Kang's camp followed suit and simply led their troops eastward.
"Oh no! They are attacking our rear."
He looked out from his horseback.
The whole process seemed to take three hours, but there was basically no wasted time. From reconnaissance to judgment, analysis and final decision-making, it was very fast.
"Prepare the artillery to fire."
Fan Zhongyan decided to implement this strategy.
The retreating Liao army generals kept shouting, reorganizing their troops and forming battle formations.
"The scouts just reported back, but there's no movement."
Just when the Song army seemed to be in deathly silence, a loud horn suddenly sounded from the main camp of the Song army.
If it were not possible to defeat the enemy and defend the city, who would be willing to take the risk and abandon the city?
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"
With the existing muzzle-loading gun technology and firing rate, it has basically reached the level between the Opium War and the Franco-Prussian War, and the tactical fighting method of firing squads had gradually been eliminated at that time.
At this moment, scouts came galloping over.
He believed that the tactic of line shooting at the beginning of the Western firearms era was a helpless move due to the immaturity of firearms technology.
The majestic Xijin City stands on the vast plain, like a small hill protruding from the horizon, stretching for more than ten miles from east to west.
By the time Fan Zhongyan, who was so slow in his response, reorganized his troops and launched a large-scale attack, it would probably be dark and their troops would have already evacuated Xijin.
"Form a line, form a line!"
Even if the city was burned down, it was still within the allowable range of losses.
Zhang Kang pointed eastward and said, "Bypass Xijin and attack the retreating Liao army from the flank."
Countless Song troops surged across the wilderness like a tide. Within a radius of dozens of kilometers, there were galloping Song soldiers everywhere. After only two quarters of an hour, Zhang Kang's troops were the first to bypass Xijin and arrived at the rear of the Liao army.
Therefore, Fan Zhongyan believed that as technology improved, gradually changing the way wars were fought was also a change that kept pace with the times.
Before the second year of the Qingli period, the situation was still good. The Song army was mostly equipped with bronze cannons with a range of just over two kilometers.
At this moment, more than 400,000 Liao troops and more than 200,000 Song troops gathered in Xijin Prefecture of the Liao Dynasty. However, they were naturally not piled together, but scattered in the surrounding cities.
The Song Dynasty's firearms are currently in such a stage of transformation, with muzzle-loading rifles at their peak and breech-loading rifles at their beginning.
Then Zhang Kang led 8,000 elite soldiers and took the lead, galloping towards the wilderness and plains in the east.
And along the road behind them, the Liao army was also setting up artillery positions.
The Liao people were still confined to traditional tactical fighting styles, believing that wars should be fought by legions, with everyone forming formations and attacking each other.
"hehe."
Because Fan Zhongyan only assigned strategic tasks, not combat tasks.
“Boom!”
"What a pity! Xijin has been the highest, thickest, and most populous city of the Liao Dynasty for many dynasties, but today it will be reduced to nothing."
The movements of the Song army were quickly captured by the Liao army that was left behind on Xijin City. These people had to wait until the main force evacuated, and then set fire everywhere in the city, burning Xijin to force the Song army to pursue them.
"Ooo ...
As soon as he finished speaking, a large amount of artillery fire was heard from the city.
Don’t they organize their troops first and line up in front of the battle before marching forward?
At this moment, Zhang Kang was riding on horseback.
A moment later, he came closer and reported: "The Song people sent a large group of scouts to observe from a distance."
But why was the tactic of firing squad later abandoned?
Isn't it because firearms technology is becoming increasingly mature and the rate of fire has greatly increased, so there is no need to arrange formations for fire coverage?
After the Song army left the camp, they were at a loss.
But at this moment, seeing that the Song army seemed to be playing by unpredictable rules, they hurriedly fired artillery everywhere, continuously shooting at the Song army in the distant wilderness.
This process will inevitably take a lot of time. The Song army will definitely not be able to send troops before at least the afternoon. The opportunity for battle is fleeting. It is very likely that the Liao people will successfully retreat because of this delay, and they have set up a tight net in the rear to wait for the Song army.
Fortunately, these Song army generals were not fools. They knew that they could not break into the south gate of Xijin, so after a brief pause, they headed west or east, bypassing Xijin City and rushing towards the northeast and northwest.
French artillery was mostly made of bronze or iron, with a firing rate of no more than two rounds per minute and a range of only about three kilometers.
Yelu Zongzhen sneered, "How could Fan Zhongyan be so slow to react?"
"Need I tell you more?"
But Xijin City had the largest number of troops on both sides.
The muskets at that time were far from meeting the requirements in terms of power and firing rate, so they could only line up and provide fire coverage through dense phalanxes to achieve long-range strikes.
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