Chapter 344: Easily Conquer

Xiazhou Regent Prince Zhao Defang smiled and continued to serve the old general a cup of tea. "The old general is righteous. He led the Zhe family army to fight for the Song Dynasty and resist foreign enemies. He has made great contributions. Your Majesty and I will never forget the loyalty of the Zhe family.

In this battle to seize Xixia, I will personally lead the army to attack the heartland of Xixia. I ask the Zhe family army to protect our flanks and prevent the Liao army from taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack and cut off our retreat."

Zhe Dejian, who received the task, smiled and raised the teacup and said respectfully: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, with my Zhe family army here, I will never let a single Liao army soldier enter the Song Dynasty. I wish your army invincible. , and achieve immediate success."

Regent Prince Zhao Defang smiled faintly, raised his cup and drank together, and after putting down the teacup, he suggested, "Old general, I will send someone to issue military orders to the two generals of the Zhe family. You might as well follow me to the front line to see how our Song army captured Xiazhou City."

Zhe Dejian agreed happily, "But I dare not ask you. Since the prince has opened the invitation, I will follow the prince to Xiazhou to see how our Song army is invincible."

Xiazhou was originally the territory of the Song Dynasty. It was captured by Li Jiqian after the rebellion. From then on, the Song Dynasty lost the place to raise horses, and the combat effectiveness of the Song army gradually declined. If it weren't for the invention of the Great Song Divine Arm Bow and the Thunder Bomb by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, the Song army would have had little confidence in capturing Xiazhou, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The Zhe family army was known for its ability to fight and kill enemies bravely, but the Zhe family army also lost confidence in retaking Xiazhou City after several attempts.

The Prince Regent Zhao Defang led 6,000 elite Moyun cavalry soldiers and Gao Yingxiong's 20,000 troops to easily capture several military camps and attack Xiazhou City.

General Zhe, who followed to watch the battle, looked at the Xixia soldiers on the towering city wall, and thought to himself that His Royal Highness the Regent brought only a few troops to attack the city, and wondered what good strategy he had to fulfill his boast of taking Xiazhou City within a day.

Zhe Dejian did not doubt whether His Royal Highness the Regent's words were arrogant. How could a god of war who could recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in a month be an incompetent and boastful person? But the Zhe family also tried to take back Xiazhou, but because Xiazhou City was easy to defend and difficult to attack, they finally returned empty-handed. He really couldn't understand how His Royal Highness the Regent could take Xiazhou in a day?

Gao Yingxiong commanded three thousand archers and advanced to the bottom of the city wall, then stopped outside the range of the enemy's arrows. The three thousand infantrymen in charge of the main attack also carried siege ladders and stopped three hundred steps outside the city wall. The catapult formation pushed forward, and ten cannons covered with large red cloth were also pushed out of the army formation.

Zhe Dejian looked at them curiously, pointing at the weapons covered with red cloth as if they were treasures and asked, "Your Highness, what kind of siege weapon is hidden by that big red cloth?"

A sly smile flashed across the eyes of the Regent Prince Zhao Defang, "That is a new weapon developed by Shen Qiu, the Junior Supervisor of Military Equipment, called the Red Cannon. I don't know its specific power."

Hearing what His Royal Highness the Regent Prince said, Zhe Dejian didn't take it seriously. He said, "Oh!" and focused his attention on the catapults. He had heard that the catapults in the army under the Regent Prince could launch powerful thunder bombs.

Ye Liren, the defender of Xiazhou City, held the sword at his waist and looked at the Song army outside the city with a serious expression. The neatly-formed ranks and fully-armored warriors exuded a fearless and invincible iron-blooded military spirit under the hunting banner.

Seeing the soldiers' rapid and uniform movements under the command of the flags when the other side mobilized the army to deploy troops, Ye Liren's right eyelid twitched twice. The commander of the Song army, the Song Dynasty's god of war and regent Zhao Defang, was indeed well-known for his military skills.

Seeing that the other side's archer formation and infantry siege formation stopped moving forward, the catapult troops pushed forward, and a dozen things covered with red cloth were also pushed out of the army camp.

Ye Liren waved his hand and said, "Our trebuchets aim at the enemy's trebuchets and fire first, gaining the upper hand in the long-range duel."

The soldiers on the trebuchets on the city wall were busy adjusting the angle, loading stones, measuring the distance, and preparing to fire.

Although Ye Liren was quite wary of the army led by Regent Zhao Defang, he was not frightened. In this fortified city that was easy to defend but difficult to attack, 30,000 elite soldiers were waiting in a serious battle line. It was simply wishful thinking for Zhao Defang to capture Xiazhou City with only 26,000 soldiers!

The captain of the artillery battalion, Fang Erbao, ordered the soldiers to lift the red caps of the cannons, revealing ten "brides" who were not shy at all.

Each group of six gunners looked at the cannons emitting metallic light in the sun as if they were their own daughters-in-law. They were excited and excited. Soon, it would be the moment for them to show their power.

Fang Erbao raised the small flag in his hand, and the order was concise and clear: "Aim at the opponent's trebuchet position, load the ammunition, measure the distance, and prepare to fire."

The artillerymen moved quickly and methodically, and the muzzles of the guns were aimed at the opponent's trebuchet positions on the city wall. After loading the iron bullets and gunpowder in the cardboard tubes, the gunner took a ruler with a scale and calculated the muzzle firing angle and range according to the geometric formulas he had learned during the training.

The thirty small catapults on the Xiazhou city wall opened fire first, and stones as big as millstones were thrown towards the catapult positions of the Song army.

Two boulders as big as millstones flew to the catapult positions of the Song army, and a catapult was knocked down. Five or six Song soldiers who were busy firing catapults were hit and screamed with blood and flesh flying. The others just looked up at their dead brothers in a hurry, and continued to work nervously with their heads down. They had to fire before the next round of enemy fire.

Ye Liren was shocked! In the first round, only ten trebuchets were tested, and two of them threw huge stones that hit the enemy's trebuchet positions, and they were very happy. After learning that the Song army was going to attack the Western Xia Kingdom, these trebuchets trained day and night, and their accuracy really improved a lot.

Next, the thirty trebuchets were adjusted according to the parameters of the two that hit the enemy's trebuchet positions, and they fired continuously. The Song army's more than 40 trebuchets would be knocked down by a rain of huge stones, and the enemy soldiers' flesh and blood would fly everywhere.

Ye Liren, who was waiting for the victory of the long-range catapult shooting, suddenly saw the metal equipment behind the opponent's catapult position, which was opened by the red cloth, emitting flames...

"Boom!..." "Boom!..." "Boom!..."

The old general Zhe Dejian, who was riding on a horse and watching the catapult position, was almost frightened by the thunder that sounded not far away.

The regent Zhao Defang smiled wickedly, "Don't panic, old general, the movement of this artillery is a bit loud, and I was also scared."

Zhe Dejian sat up, calmed down, glanced at the artillery with smoke still coming out of the muzzle, and looked up at the opposite wall.

"Ah!... Damn it! The power of this artillery is so strong! It's so accurate and has great killing power!" Zhe Dejian saw that on the enemy's trebuchet position, six or seven trebuchets were tilted and broken, and the enemy soldiers were in a panic. He couldn't help but slap his thigh and shouted excitedly.

Ye Liren on the city wall looked at the trebuchet position next to him in shock, his mouth wide open, his pupils frozen and shrunken, he couldn't believe it!

What the hell was that thing that the Song army was playing with, that could launch iron balls so far and so accurately? Ye Liren stared blankly at the dozens of corpses with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and the trebuchet soldiers who were running away screaming in panic.

Ye Liren was startled! He came to his senses, drew his sword, raised it and gave an angry order, "Don't run! Hurry up and fire in front of the enemy, those who disobey the order will be killed!"

The supervisors drew their swords and ran over, chopped off two heads, and finally drove the terrified trebuchet soldiers back to the trebuchet position.

"Old general, be prepared, the second round of artillery is about to be fired." Regent Zhao Defang kindly reminded him.

The old general Zhe Dejian turned around helplessly and rolled his eyes at the prince, "Prince, this time, I have been concentrating on watching those artillery, I can't be scared!"

Fang Erbao waved the small flag in his hand downward, "Fire!"

Ten artillery pieces spit out flames again, and the "booming" sound of the artillery exploded like thunder.

"Prince, the firing interval of this artillery is too short. I just counted to sixty, and the second round of artillery sounded!" The old general Zhe Dejian forgot the embarrassment of being teased by His Royal Highness the Regent, and turned around and shouted to the prince like a child.

At this moment, the Xixia soldiers who had just stood in front of the catapult were smashed by the shells and their flesh and blood flew everywhere, screaming and running away.

Ye Liren stared at the smoke-filled place in the distance with shocked eyes. How could the second round be launched so quickly?

Before his pounding heart could calm down, the thunder bombs thrown by the Song army's catapults also hit the densely packed soldiers defending the city on the wall like a rain of iron balls.

"Boom!..." "Boom..." "Boom..." "Boom..." Sixty or seventy thunder bombs exploded continuously on the Xiazhou city wall...