Poor Family Chapter 948

  Chapter 948 The Battle to Destroy the Nation (2)

The Song army went northward in three routes, the west route was Xihe Road, and Liu Wei led 50,000 troops to the north, and entered Xixia from Huizhou to respond to the rebellion of the Qiang and Uighurs. The water canyon went north, pretending to attack and diverting rewards, and restraining the Xixia army.

But the main force was on the east route. Li Yanqing personally led an army of 130,000 troops to the north. He divided his troops into two groups. One route was led by him to lead the main force of 100,000 troops to go northward through the Hengshan Grand Canyon, focusing on attacking Xiazhou, and the other route was led by Wu Jie with 30,000 troops. After the army also passed through the Hengshan Grand Canyon, it immediately turned westward, swept across Longzhou, Hongzhou and Yanzhou, and finally attacked Tiemenguan, where it blocked the support for Xiazhou's army.

Two days later, Li Yanqing arrived in Bole City with an army of 100,000. Wu Lin went out of the city and bowed to Li Yanqing, and reported the battle situation in Qinggangxia Army Village. Li Yanqing nodded approvingly, "I don't think this battle is a shock Tianlei is brilliant, I think you can lead the enemy up the mountain, gather and wipe them out, this is the most exciting part of this battle, and it is my great Song's good fortune to have a general as wise and brave as General!"

  Wu Lin was excited, and hurriedly said: "It is Dutong who trusts the inferior position, and let the inferior position do as he pleases. Dutong's employment strategy is the key to victory in this battle."

Li Yanqing laughed, and led everyone into Bole City. Bole City was originally a supply city for food and grass. The city is wide and has many warehouses. Due to the destruction of Yinzhou City, Bole City is large enough, and the terrain is not bad , the Xixia army heightened and reinforced it to become a fortified city.

  Li Yanqing walked around the city and asked again: "How far is it from Xiazhou City?"

   "Qiyu Dutong is 40 miles away from Xiazhou City and 30 miles away from Shizhou City."

  Shizhou City Li Yanqing has not considered it, the valley over there is blocked, and the city is basically a waste, Li Yanqing nodded, "Then let us use this as the logistics center for our attack on Xiazhou."

  The 100,000 army only rested for half a day in Bole City, and then marched towards Xiazhou City in mighty force.

  The Song Army was fully prepared and marched rapidly. It took only six days to assemble in Yan'an Mansion before sending troops to the north. When Li Yanqing's army arrived in Xiazhou, Brother Li Cha had just led the army to leave Xingqing Mansion.

  Wars are often about seizing the first opportunity. Many years ago, Li Yanqing participated in the Western Xia War for the first time, but because of insufficient troops, he failed to capture Xiazhou.

   But this time, he led an army of 100,000 soldiers to the city, while Xiazhou had only 4,000 guards.

Sa Jin's face was pale. He stood on the towering city wall and looked at the boundless Song army in the distance. Losing Xiazhou again, I'm afraid my life will be hard to save.

  But he was facing nearly 100,000 Song troops, while Xiazhou had only 4,000 weak troops, how could he be able to defend?

  Sa Jin felt great hatred in his heart. Yesterday afternoon, he received a letter from Feiying from Jin King Li Cha, asking him to defend Xiazhou no matter what.

   Of course Sa Jin knew the importance of Xiazhou. If Xiazhou was lost, there would be no dangerous passes five hundred miles west.

   Moreover, Xiazhou is the old capital of Xixia, which has special political significance. Once the old capital is lost, it will deal a huge blow to the people and morale of the entire Xixia.

  How can such a heavy burden be placed on me?

  Sajin howled in his heart, but he forgot how high-spirited and full of ambition he was when he became the governor of Xiazhou.

   "Captain, why don't you just grab the young men from the city!" General Wang Jian suggested to him.

   This is also Sajin's idea after he failed to attack Qinggangzhai. Xiazhou City has tens of thousands of residents, and at least tens of thousands of young and strong can be recruited. However, they have no money left in their hands, and no one cares about recruiting soldiers in the city.

   "I'm afraid that time is too late."

   "It's too late, and it only takes half a day to catch a strong man. I am willing to share the worries of the governor!"

  Sa Jin knew in his heart that even if the strong men were captured, it would still be difficult for them to defend the city, but he had to do something to explain to Brother Li Cha!

  Gritting his teeth, Sa Jin ordered: "Yes, do it now!"

Thousands of soldiers rushed to the city immediately, and the city was full of turmoil, crying loudly, the strong men wanted to be arrested, and the property was also robbed, and the Xixia women would not let them go. Seeing that the destruction was imminent, all the slave soldiers forgot their identities and were desperate Start venting the hatred in your heart.

  The Song army built a large camp outside the city. The camp stretched for ten miles. There was no barracks, and only thousands of patrols were sent to control the surrounding areas.

Large tents were erected one after another, but in the middle of the barracks, nearly a hundred craftsmen were busy building two super-giant catapults. Only these two catapults accompanied the army northward, and the remaining forty-eight catapults were still halfway north. Wan Minfu carried it with difficulty.

  Li Yanqing stood in front of the thick pillar and looked up at the two behemoths. He was also full of anticipation in his heart. Can the tactics of the super giant trebuchet play the effect he expected? Xiazhou became the best place to experiment.

  In one night, Sajin conscripted 8,000 young men and forced them to wear armor and helmets and hold spears to defend the city. However, the people in the city were ravaged and cried continuously.

With 12,000 people in his hand, Sa Jin felt a little more at ease. He thought to himself, from Xingqing Mansion to Xiazhou City, the cavalry could arrive in three days at the fastest. As long as he can guard for three days, even if Brother Richard can't , I am also not responsible.

On the top of the city, Sa Jin held a sword in his hand and stared at the Song Army camp in the distance. The night was dark, and he couldn't see the super giant trebuchet standing in the camp, but the drums in the Song Army camp were constantly beating, and the murderous intent was full of vigor, which made him feel refreshed. Restless.

   "Does the governor understand Li Yanqing?" General Wang Jian walked to his side and smiled.

  Wang Jian is a rare Han general in the Xixia army, but he is already the third generation of Xixia Han people, and he has no heart for the Song Dynasty. King Li Qianshun is the monarch he needs to serve, and Xixia is his hometown.

  More than ten years ago, Wang Jian was the general of the Xixia Capture Army. He was responsible for leading the army into the Song Dynasty to capture civilians as slaves. Since he captured the most slaves, he was also promoted along the way, and now he is the deputy governor of Xiazhou.

Sa Jin nodded, "I don't know exactly when, maybe ten years ago! At that time, I was the number one archer in Western Xia. I went to Bianjing with Jiao Shangshu, but I was defeated by a young man who just debuted. It was only later that I found out that that person was called Li Yanqing."

  Wang Jian nodded, "I see. I remember that because of this incident, the governor was reprimanded by King Jin, which delayed him for several years."

Sa Jin smiled wryly, "Later he knew that the person who defeated me was Li Yanqing, and he changed his prejudice against me. I didn't expect that I would meet this person again this time, and he happened to be a subordinate of King Jin. It was really destined. "

   "Please don't be careful, the governor. We will go all out tomorrow. With the danger of Xiazhou City, the Song Army may not be able to capture the city."

   "This is what I'm looking forward to. The only thing I can rely on is the danger of Xiazhou City."

As the former capital of Xixia, Xiazhou city is wide and the city wall is more than 20 miles in circumference. At its peak, the city had a population of 200,000 people. It is difficult to defend and attack, and at least five times the strength of the defending army is needed to hope to capture the city.

  Sajin demolished all the houses near the city wall and obtained a large number of stones. These stones weighing dozens of catties were enough to make the Song army who attacked the city pay a heavy price.

The day was getting brighter, and Sa Jin, who had hardly slept all night, finally saw the huge figures outside the city. They turned out to be two trebuchets that were higher than the city wall. The soldiers on the city also began to commotion. They had never seen such a huge figure The trebuchet stood in front of them like a giant beast, and the soldiers at the top of the city shouted.

  Sa Jin also took a deep breath, and he tried to calm down and shouted: "Don't panic, the enemy army only has two trebuchets, so it won't have much impact!"

The Song army indeed only launched two super-giant trebuchets, standing 500 steps away from the city. For the two trebuchets, Xiazhou City was only thrown horizontally, not upwards, and they could throw 500 steps away. distance.

  The 30,000 Song army has been assembled, including 20,000 shield spear infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and there are dozens of siege ladders. When the Xixia army completely collapsed in the big explosion, they began to attack the city.

  Li Yanqing rode on the horse and coldly ordered: "The trebuchet is ready to launch!"

  Two ultrgiant trebuchets creaked and pulled apart. Each trebuchet required at least a hundred soldiers to push the huge winch, and an 80-jin blasting city-shattering thunder was put into the throwing pocket.

   "Fire!"

   With an order, the two soldiers lit the match, and the match sizzled and burned. When it was about to burn to the mouth of the pot, the soldiers cut off the hook rope, and two thunderbolts were thrown high up, roaring towards the top of the city.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end