Chapter 376: Defensive Counterattack

"Kill!"

The loud shouts resounded through the sky.

The fighting lasted from early morning until dawn, without stopping for a moment.

Fan Zhongyan sat in the rear camp, frowning slightly as he listened to the noisy sounds outside.

Among the sounds were the roar of artillery, the sound of gunfire, and the continued explosion of grenades.

The Liao people finally chose to start a 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 drawbacks of the firearms era. Although firearms are powerful, even in the era of mercury-fired rifles, the hit rate is not very high during the day, let alone at night.

To complete fire coverage, if there are no machine guns and missiles, you can only rely on the fire network formed by submachine guns and automatic rifles.

However, the Song Dynasty does not even have submachine guns and automatic rifles. It is still in the era of rear-mounted flintlock muskets. Even if it has developed a striker-type musket, it has not yet been equipped with the entire army.

So when was the same period in the West?

It was probably during the Paris Commune and the period when the Third French Republic was established. At this time, Western firearms tactics were still in the era of line infantry tactics, which is commonly known as the era of queuing to kill.

Therefore, it is difficult for firearms to exert their power during night battles - there is no vision at all, no fire coverage, and no one can be hit, making it easy for the enemy to get close.

But why does Zhao Jun admire Fan Zhongyan, who likes to play defensive tactics, instead of Han Qi, who likes to play reckless tactics?

Isn't it because Fan Zhongyan plays good defensive tactics and is experienced?

After he arrived at Youyan, he had no intention of attacking Xijin Mansion. He directly started to build a stable camp on the outside, dug trenches and built walls, pressed forward step by step, and steadily advanced the defense line.

So when the Liao army rushed into the Song army's camp, they discovered that the Song army was too stupid.

There are several continuous and deep trenches on the outside. A wooden parapet is built above the inner wall like a city wall. There are also a large number of watchtowers, fortresses and artillery in various large and small camps, all connected together.

Once there is a war, the Song troops in the camp will fire their guns first, whether they can hit them accurately or not, and they can scare the Liao troops who are attacking.

Torches were lit everywhere outside the surrounding wall, and the lighting was not very far away. Within a radius of about ten feet, some Liao soldiers reached under the wall and threw grenades inside, but they were quickly shot to death.

There were also some Liao troops cleaning up the Song troops on patrol in the periphery. The two sides fought fiercely, causing casualties on each other.

But in general, because the Liao army lacked the equipment to attack the camps, it was almost impossible to break through the Song army's camps everywhere.

"Report!"

The messenger hurried into the tent and reported to Fan Zhongyan: "Report, sir, the enemies in the right camp have been repulsed, and General Zhou wants to come out of camp to pursue them."

"Did he chase him out?"

Fan Zhongyan asked.

"Not yet."

"Let him go to support the front camp first."

"yes."

The messenger went out to reply.

In addition to Fan Zhongyan, there were also important officials such as Wei Huanzhi, the transfer envoy of Hebei Road, Tianyou, the director of Changping, Wang Ding, the prison director, and Han Fang, the censor.

After the others left, Fan Zhongyan put down the brush in his hand, lowered his head and saw a white hair falling on his shoulder, and sighed: "This battle is not easy to fight."

Wei Huanzhi wondered: "Mr. Sir, the Liao people can't advance even an inch, so what's the problem? If the city is besieged for a long time, they will be able to win."

"If only it were this easy."

Fan Zhongyan smiled, brushed the white hair off his shoulders, then pointed to the map on the table and said: "Dark night will reduce our advantage in field battles with the Liao people. In addition, there is another serious problem."

"what is the problem?"

Everyone was puzzled.

"After all, our village wall cannot be compared with the Liao people's city wall. It is nothing during the day. What if they secretly transport artillery near the camp at night?"

Fan Zhongyan asked back.

This sentence immediately made everyone feel cold.

The Liao Kingdom was not like Xixia, where the entire country only had a few hundred cannons.

As a large country with strong national power, the Liao Kingdom has a very large number of artillery in the land of Youyan, at least one or two thousand.

Although it is not as good as the Song Dynasty, this number is enough to cope with the national level war with the Song Dynasty.

If the Liao Kingdom transported cannons into the wild, their walls would not be able to withstand the bombardment.

"Now you know why I put the camp here instead of outside Liangxiang City."

Seeing the solemn expressions on everyone's face, Fan Zhongyan said: "Fortunately, the Liao people do not have field artillery. Otherwise, we cannot imagine the consequences. Now that we are surrounding the Liao city, we need to be relaxed and relaxed. We must not take chances or be careless."

"yes."

Everyone responded quickly.

Fan Zhongyan then said: "Pass my military order. After driving away the nearby Liao army, 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 once again leaned on the case and began to write something.

The sound of gunfire and grenades outside the camp gradually subsided.

When it was close to dawn, the Song army indeed discovered the Liao State's artillery transport team about three kilometers outside the camp.

Fortunately, the Song army discovered it early. If the Liao army had successfully deployed the 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 camp. Just in time to lift Chang Ping Si Tianyou came over from outside and said to him: "Mr., the new batch of food and grass has arrived."

"Well, send this letter to Daizhou and ask Zhang Yaozuo, the transfer envoy of Hedong Road, to 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."

Fan Zhongyan also looked up at the sky. In late October, the land of Youyan had already entered winter. Everything was withered and silent, and the Yanshan Mountains in the distance were shrouded in dark clouds.

Although there was no snow or rain. But the earth was withered and yellow. In the fierce and whistling north wind, the military flags were fluttering, and grass and fallen leaves were flying everywhere, as if telling the people on the ground that winter was coming.

"Rain is really not good for us, so we must fight quickly and decisively."

Fan Zhongyan looked east, his eyes passed over Xijin, Jizhou, Yingzhou, and finally cast to Yuguan.

That was the direction of Di Qing's army.

If the battle continued like this, it would be inevitable for the Song army to win.

Because the Liao army only had these three tricks, as long as they dealt with their night attacks, pressed forward step by step, and surrounded Liangxiang, the Liao army in the city would be lambs to be slaughtered.

But doing so would be a siege, which would take a long time. In the late Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao besieged Dongwuyang for a full year before killing Zang Hong. In the Suiyang War in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the rebels besieged Suiyang for ten months before finally breaking the city.

If the Liao army held on and refused to come out to fight them in the field, no one would know how much food the Liao army had in the city, and no one would know when the war would end.

So if you want to win quickly, you can only use a strange trick.

This strange trick is Di Qing.

In mid-October, on the city of Yuguan, after the roaring artillery fire retreated, only the heavy breathing of the Song army on the city remained.

This was the sixth day after Di Qing arrived at Yuguan.

In this early winter, the Song army wore thick cotton clothes and sweated profusely on their faces.

Many people were chilly, and the sweat was cooled and solidified soon after it fell, sticking to the cotton clothes and emitting an unpleasant odor.

But no one took a bath, and there was no time to take a bath.

Even when eating, many people only hurriedly took two mouthfuls, filled a mouthful of the water bottle they carried with them, and then continued to fight.

The Song army dispatched 10,000 people, but in fact, only less than 3,000 or 4,000 people were actually fighting.

Some people needed to operate the boats to sail on the river, some people needed to carry various gunpowder, shells and equipment, and others did logistics work on the boats.

Otherwise, the soldiers in front would have nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no gunpowder to use, and no shells to fight, so the battle would naturally not be able to continue.

"Huh!"

Hu Yanshouyong felt that he was almost exhausted and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Just now, the Liao army successfully killed to the bottom of the city and almost climbed up the wall with a ladder.

Fortunately, although the Song army had been training firearms for a long time, they did not fall behind in fighting skills, and they used bayonets to pick up the Liao army.

Otherwise, the Yuguan city would have been broken now.

However, the biggest problem is that the soldiers below can change their defense, but these generals can only stick to their posts for a long time.

The Liao army charged in waves, and there was almost no time to rest, which made them exhausted.

'It would be great if we could counterattack them once and delay their offensive. ’

This thought flashed through Huyan Shouyong’s mind.

Before he could investigate further, he heard someone shouting, “Huyan Shouyong, Huyan Shouyong, where did you die?”

That was the voice of his deputy general, Liu Du, deputy commander of the Pinghai Army.

Huyan Shouyong was furious and said, “Liu Du, no matter what, I am still your superior, why do you call me like that?”

When Liu Du heard what he said, he turned his head and found him beside the bodies of several Liao soldiers. He hurried over and said with a smile, “How could that be possible? This is what General Di told me to say. Go, General Di is calling you.”

When he heard that it was Di Qing calling him, Huyan Shouyong didn’t dare to lose his temper anymore. He tried to stand up, but he almost fell down.

Liu Du pulled him up, and Huyan Shouyong felt that his legs were shaking. After all, he had been fighting for several days in a row and didn’t have much rest time. The bodies of Liao soldiers were everywhere under the city.

When he walked to Di Qing’s side, he saw that Di Qing was still standing on the top of the city like an iron tower, looking into the distance with a telescope.

Recently, the Liao army always attacked the city at night, so they were beaten to the city every time.

Even the city walls were full of shells.

Yesterday, a batch of firearms and supplies arrived, and the Liao army secretly set up artillery outside the city.

If it weren't for the powerful artillery of the Song army, and the more powerful gunners, who judged the location of the enemy's artillery position through the fire emitted by the enemy's artillery in the middle of the night and launched a counterattack bombing, Yuguan would be in danger now.

"General Di."

Hu Yanshouyong walked over and said.

"Are you injured?"

Di Qing turned around and saw the blood on Hu Yanshouyong's body.

"It's just a minor injury, just a shock in the tiger's mouth, all this blood is from the Liao people."

Hu Yanshouyong grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

"Can you still fight?"

Di Qing asked.

"Let me rest for an hour."

Hu Yanshouyong said seriously.

"You can rest for four hours."

Di Qing pointed to the mountains in the north and said, "Do you see that mountain?"

Hu Yanshouyong turned his head to look.

At this moment, the sky was slightly bright, and with the sunrise in the east, he saw the mountains in the distance.

That mountain was Jiaoshan, north of Shanhaiguan in later generations, 5 kilometers away from Yuguan.

The Liao army also tried to set up artillery on Jiaoshan, but they took great pains to transport the artillery up and found that they could not hit it at all.

It was too far.

The highest altitude of Jiaoshan is 512 meters, but the terrain is steep and there is little flat land, so it is difficult to place large-scale artillery positions.

Even if the artillery is set up at the highest point, the range that can be increased is less than 5 kilometers, and the accuracy is terrible, so it has to be given up in the end.

"I saw it."

Hu Yanshouyong said.

"Just now our scouts came to report that the enemy has a camp about ten miles away from the foot of the mountain on the west side of the mountain. I suspect that it is the enemy's camp used to attack Guangning. When you have a rest, take someone to remove it. Wang Kui will Cooperate with you."

Di Qing said.

Wang Kui was the commander of the Ding Navy. This time, the Song Navy only dispatched three units. Two units came to Yuguan and the other unit went to Goryeo.

After all, four of the seven navies of the Song Dynasty are now in the south. Not only are they stationed in Annan, but they are also continuing to explore places like Luzon in the south. The southern fleet will definitely not be transferred here in a short time.

So now Di Qing's military strength is actually somewhat stretched.

However, the Song Army still has a navy in Huainan, the Taizhou Town Navy. It is already on its way, and reinforcements will be coming from Yuguan soon.

"yes."

Huyan Shouyong responded.

Then Di Qing saw that his legs were still weak and said with a smile: "What, are you scared?"

"It's impossible to be afraid. The Huyan family has been going through life and death since they followed Taizu Taizong. I cannot afford to lose the honor of my ancestors."

Hu Yanshou patted his thigh and said with a smile: "It's just that I haven't fought close to each other for a few days. I was suddenly killed by the Liao army on the city just now. I was also shocked. I was almost stabbed to death. I still feel a little scared now." ”

"Hahahahaha."

Di Qing also laughed and said: "It's a good thing not to be afraid of death, but don't be too reckless. If you can solve it with a gun, don't fight in close combat. Our family is still waiting for us to go back. Don't let them cry."

"The official knows."

Huyan Shouyong responded, but then his expression returned to normal.

Having said that, how can a military general not know the dangers involved when fighting on the battlefield, but he just has to sacrifice his life.

What's more, compared to some of his dead brothers, he was already very lucky. He blocked with his weapon in time and saved his life. Otherwise, he would be just a corpse now.

The smell of blood under the city came to my nostrils, the sky was dim and bright, and the Liao army retreated like a tide.

It’s not just Yuguan.

Guangning was also relieved.

The Liao army was attacking from two sides. It must have at least 50,000 to 60,000 troops, camping in various places and raiding from time to time.

Although the Song army blocked Yushui in advance, preventing the east and west Liao armies from gathering and concentrating their efforts to conquer a city, the huge disparity in numbers still made it very difficult for the Song army to deal with.

After all, the tactic of queuing to kill must be that the more people, the better. The Song army's troops were too dispersed. They had to guard the ships, watch the rivers, and defend two cities. The pressure was not ordinary.

But perhaps it was this contempt that made the Liao army slack off.

In the afternoon, under the cover of ships, Hu Yanshou successfully raided a camp of the Liao army with a series of small field artillery such as the Weiyuan gun, buying a lot of time for Guangning.

And during the day, Di Qing even personally led hundreds of people out of the city, raided another camp of the Liao army, and killed more than a hundred enemies before returning.

This attack dealt a certain blow to the Liao army, and they actually stopped a lot that night.

But everyone knows that it is impossible for the Liao army to abandon Yuguan.

Therefore, the subsequent battles became more and more fierce.