However, when these senior officers looked at each other, they were not overly surprised... A few days ago, they heard the news that Zhao Song's official family was advancing rapidly in Hedong, and their hasty attack failed, so they decided to cut off the river. They knew at that time that the Song army would do what they wanted.

react.

The most direct response of the Song army was, of course, to attack the city.

Only since the Japanese army made that decision that day, everyone tacitly agreed to give up Gao Jingshan and Yuancheng.

It's just that these words are destined not to be said out loud, especially since there is a Liaohe and Pu Suyue in the army.

In this way, the four-character flag of the Song Army and the five-color flag of the Jin Army were flying on the mountains on both sides of the river. The commanders of both sides clearly understood the situation. In addition, Gao Jingshan should also be fully clothed on the mountain.

They entered the city wall just to avoid being recognized and targeted for removal. They did not display any flags or wear any overly obvious attire.

Of course, the Song Army also had an extra hot air balloon, but it was not yet ready for battle and did not rise.

And in this state, the Song army prepared various siege matters in a grand manner, and then had a meal on the position in a grand manner, and the Jin army in the city also gathered behind the city wall early, preparing to fight. The main force of the Hexi Jin army

, and even attacked decisively before the Song army launched a formal attack.

However, this kind of attack was undoubtedly easily suppressed by the Song army relying on the river embankment fortifications.

In the afternoon, as the hot air balloon of the Song Army rose, the battle officially began. The artillery car took the lead in roaring, bombarding the remaining turrets and temporary fortifications on the city wall, and more artillery stones fell directly.

They arrived at the weak points of some crumbling city walls. Immediately, under the cover of artillery carts, Song troops from three sides were dispatched almost at the same time. Under various flags, the flash of armor and white blades was like sparkling waves, and countless soldiers holding bows and crossbows

The Song army advanced forward and suppressed them without stopping, and the goose chariots also started one after another, heading straight to the city.

The so-called goose cart refers to a siege cart with four wheels and an iron outer cover. It can be equipped with a bumper or not, and can directly protect people to carry out fortification work in weak areas under the city, such as digging tunnels and walls.

, or even just arrange a safe point under the city to facilitate subsequent siege, which is considered the basic configuration for siege.

Turning back to the scene in front of him, Gao Jingshan, who was dressed in the ordinary uniform of a low-level officer, did not choose to go down to the city, but stood on the bare northern city wall with his sword in hand... Ever since he sent Pu Suyue out, he had taken off that trap.

Armor no longer wears furs, but always stands on the front line as it does today to stabilize the morale of the troops in the city.

However, the sky was covered with artillery and stone, and the goose chariots were rushing straight to the city, but Gao Jingshan's eyes were always wandering... because he had not yet found the main means of siege by the Song army today.

If the Song Army wanted to carry out a saturation attack, it would have to be in the middle of the night and start attacking the city early in the morning. However, in winter when it gets dark very early, it would delay the attack until noon. There must be a core, the main one. , the key trump card.

However, the cannon carts rumbled, but they were just a general attack. They were not concentrated in a certain direction and targeted a certain weak city wall. The same was true for goose carts. There were them in front of every city gate, and there were also some in front of several city walls that had their fortifications smashed away, but there were no Whichever city gate or specific city wall has a backup goose cart prepared in front of it, it is just one... For example, here in the north, seven or eight goose carts are dispatched at the same time, almost parallel to the city, and there is no depth connection at all.

"There was movement in the tunnels that we heard everywhere before." An officer came to the city to report. "The east and west are very obvious here in the north of the city."

This made Gao Jingshan even more confused... The Jin Army had already dug a trench in the city, so what was the use of the tunnels? And if this was the Song Army's trump card, then there was no way they could survive today.

However, Yue Fei, who was so decisive and quick to kill Wang Bolong that day, and Yue Fei who was so ruthless and directly moved the camp to the city, would he put his hope in the tunnel?

Does the other party think he is a fool and doesn't know how to dig a trench?

Could there be an insider?

As his mind was spinning, the Song Army's goose chariot had already approached the city wall. Gao Jingshan didn't have time to think too much, so he turned around and ordered his subordinates to go up to the city to defend and prepare for rockfall attacks... Stones are very precious, and basically all of them are fired by the Song Army these days. came in, and the Song Army was very cunning. After the fortifications on the city head were smoothed, most of the projectiles turned into hard mud pellets that were polished and dried. Such projectiles are still very lethal to people, and once they hit the ground It will explode and cannot be used by the Jin Army in turn.

For goose carts, mud balls are mostly useless, and they still have to rely on stones and hooks, and more importantly, gunpowder and oil for burning.

"Marshal, it's better to use a little more force!" A few miles away to the west, although the specific details could not be seen, it was still clear that Wanyan Wushu, who was in the midst of the Song army's offensive, could not hold back and directly attacked in the cold weather. In the cold wind, Li Su turned to his side and discussed in a low voice. "There are some things that I still have to explain to the Bohai Ten Thousand Households... Besides, there must be reserves in the city. If Yue Fei suddenly captures it, there will be no time to burn it." I’m afraid it will also be detrimental to the situation.”

Ba Lisu was silent for a while. After a while, he turned back to look at Wan Hu from Datong. The latter understood, shook his head and left.

In other words, what caused the Jin Army to finally change their strategy was actually not the failure of the second general offensive under the cold wave. In other words, there was another reason for the failure of the second general offensive - that is, the scouts behind them came to report. After the Song army broke through Queshu Valley, they suddenly attacked northward at an alarming speed.

Just judging from the chronological order of messengers being sent out before several important towns were besieged, and the chronological order of several mountain passes in Taihang Mountain being blocked, the Jin army also realized that the main force of the Song army, and even the official family of Zhao Song, who liked to draw pictures as Cangzhou Zhao Jiu's people have arrived directly at Taiyuan City.

This news, coupled with the speed of the march and the scale of the army's dispatch, really shocked the top brass of the Jin Army in Hebei. Especially the tens of thousands of households on Hedong Road, including Marshal Ba Lisu, all quickly changed their minds. He began to give up his insistence on Yuancheng. If it failed, he could take advantage of the situation to release the river water and block Yue Fei's plan to cut the river north. It was also supported by Ba Lisu at that time.

However, as the saying goes, everyone is more worried about Taiyuan, and a few people are starting to think about Zhending or Hejian. It’s not like no one is still worried about Yuancheng... It’s just that the new Wanhu Pu Suyue has fallen, Piaohe’s attitude is particularly determined, Jin Jun

The top management must consider the attitude of this powerful household.

The Jin army suddenly strengthened their offensive on the river, which caught the Song army a little off guard, but this could not delay the advancement of the city. Finally, two huge siege towers that completely matched the height of the Yuancheng city wall were activated.

Gao Jingshan became slightly nervous and focused more on the two siege towers. However, when it came to good news, he could clearly feel that the sun seemed to be gradually setting towards the west.

This shows that time is passing by and he just needs to hold on.

By the way, if Gao Jingshan in Daming Prefecture is persevering in despair, then Wanyan Fenghe in Taiyuan Prefecture is in a weird mood at this time, because the Zhao Song official family in the south of the city seems to be holding a banquet and an obvious

A performative array.

The scene was huge. The general platform in front of the Song army camp had just been rammed and was built just two days ago. The desks and desks were spread out in a wide area. Countless officers, ministers and staff were sitting in rows. Although the specific movements could not be seen clearly, under the afternoon sun, there was a slight sound.

Reflected by the snow, the field of vision was clear, and Wan Yan folded on the city wall and could clearly detect that there was someone behind the cases placed under the dragon in the middle, and there seemed to be many things placed on the cases.

In fact, it seems that it is not incomprehensible to hold a banquet at this time, because it is the Chinese New Year. A banquet will be held in the city, a military parade will be held, and then large rewards will be given to boost the morale of the troops, and the city will be intimidated by the display of military power and supplies.

If you think about it this way, even last night you said that Zhao Guan's family was not the kind of people who wanted to have a banquet on the spot, but Wan Yanyiyi still felt that it was somewhat reasonable.

But he still fell into a complex emotion of confusion, vigilance, suspicion and surprise, and his brows were furrowed.

Because he still couldn't accept that the Zhao Song official family who defeated Wanyan Loushi would do such a thing - at the same moment, countless Song soldiers and civilians were still digging holes and building embankments beside the Fen River in the west of the city, and dozens of

A newly built goose cart is also advancing from the east, north and south to continue the previous work of uprooting the deer village and destroying the sheep and horse wall.

This kind of thing had been going on every day before. According to the progress, it would take at least four or five days to completely destroy it. This was under the premise that Wan Yanzhe could not use artillery in the city.

As for the Zhao Guan family, under such circumstances, they came out to have a banquet in public, and then looked at these sparse and ordinary things as if they were watching a drama.

At the same time, even tens of thousands of soldiers of the Song Army were sitting in formation in the snow on both sides of the general platform in front of the camp. They had eaten and eaten in front of the Jin Army before, and now they were wearing the clothes that were destined to be used today.

Full of useless armor, holding spears, powerful crossbows, and large axes that are also destined to be useless today, they are like a guard of honor making gestures to the people under the dragon flag in the middle, and they are also watching the auxiliary soldiers as the official rides and cuts.

Common people do such ordinary things.

But what’s so cool about that?

Even with the protection of the goose carriage, casualties are inevitable... What's the point?

The man under the dragon hat was indeed the one who was rumored to have been planting mulberry trees in the harem for seven or eight years and vowed to destroy the Jin Kingdom. Indeed, in ten years, he gradually went from being an exiled official who was close to destroying the country to establishing himself in Nanyang.

Retaking Tokyo, then defeating the Lou family, and annihilating Xixia, has become the official family of Zhao and Song Dynasty with swords hanging over the heads of almost all the nobles of the Jin Kingdom?

Didn’t the real Zhao Song official family go directly to Hebei? Yelu Mawu surrendered?

But even so, we should bring the army, right?

With so many soldiers under his nose, it cannot be faked, so the official family of Zhao and Song under the dragon must also be real!

Time passed little by little, and he became more and more stunned and uneasy, to the point where he was sweating profusely. However, he looked around and saw that the artillery carriage of the Song Army had not yet been completed. It was still lying in the factory within sight, and was indeed being assembled. middle.

Even the small artillery vehicles used by the Song Army in Queshu Valley were nowhere to be seen.

He gradually became uneasy. On the general platform in front of the camp in the south of the city, beside Zhao Guan's family, except for a few commanders who talked calmly, almost all the officials and officers present had already become uneasy... This was indeed a banquet, with all kinds of food and wine. Therefore, they were even more unable to accept that Zhao Guan's family would suddenly do such a thing, and they were even more suspicious and vigilant.

This official, in particular, did not use the chicken, duck or fish in front of him from beginning to end. He just sat there with his hands folded, urging others to eat, and talking to the commander-in-chief, as if he was just waiting for something.

And this uneasiness and vigilance reached a climax as the disgraced Yang Yizhong turned back.

"The officials have a purpose!"

The guard, Shao Chengzhang, took a step forward and announced loudly under the dragon banner: "Today's New Year's Eve banquet is over. Prince Han Shizhong of Yan'an County, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army Li Yanxian, and all the commanders have returned to their headquarters and are on standby!"

After the decree was issued, the generals in armor on the general platform stood up one after another, but suddenly realized that most of the so-called headquarters were actually in the large open space on both sides of the general platform, so they turned to both sides of the general platform, but Han Shizhong and Li Yanxian went east together, preparing to return to the east and north of the city.

For a moment, there were only a few close ministers and Wu Jie, Wang Yan, and Ma Kuo who were still dining calmly on the general stage...these two latter people were definitely insiders.

Because immediately, the Zhao Guan family, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly took action, tore up a duck that had already been cooled, and then started to eat it wantonly... At this situation, all the officials were shocked, except Wu, Wang, and Ma. , he was just startled and didn’t react much.

Of course, the commotion of many generals leaving the city and Han Shizhong and Li Yanxian returning to their respective directions with their own banners also made Wanyan Fenghei, who was on the south gate of the city, more and more vigilant. He was also keenly aware of what was going on. Things were coming, so he concentrated more and began to hesitate whether to launch the artillery carts in advance to drive away these goose carts in the south of the city to avoid future troubles.

"Report to the capital! The noise from the tunnel in the west of the city has stopped!"

"Du Tong, the offensive in the south of the city is gradually slowing down!"

"Capital, the noise from the two tunnels here has stopped. You must have noticed the inner trenches."

"Du Tong, the offensive in the west of the city has also slowed down, and the Song army has begun to abandon the goose chariot and retreat."

"Du Tong, the Song Army's artillery carriage has stopped in the northwest of the city."

One reward after another relieved Gao Jingshan, who was already exhausted. As early as after Wang Bolong's battle, he had no fundamental hope of defending Yuancheng. Therefore, as the Song army retreated today, he was not willing to do more. Thinking about it, I just feel like I’m getting through it again today.

"How many other goose cars are occupied?"

After glancing at the open space to the north of the city that was destined to be the main attack direction, Gao Jingshan felt more and more relieved, because as far as he could see, even the Song army here began to relax and relax... The two siege towers were halfway there. At that time, several artillery carts that he had been holding back were fired together and were destroyed on the way. This should be the turning point in the battle that caused the Song Army to lose the opportunity to siege the city. At this time, the Song Army's artillery carts had gradually stopped, and only A few goose carts were still clanging under the city, and there seemed to be some soldiers still banging on the roots of the city wall.

"Four...three...only two left!" Meng An observed carefully and gave an answer. "The one in the doorway below has not moved for a long time, and it has not penetrated deep into the city gate at all.

, the one in the west also escaped just now..."

"Use gunpowder!" Gao Jingshan now just wants to end the battle quickly. "Throw the firewood first, then the gunpowder, then throw the torch down, burn the last three cars, and also burn the one in the doorway under your feet!"

Meng An next to him was also a little overwhelmed and immediately responded.

After a while, the well-prepared Yuancheng defenders took firewood, oil, gunpowder and other items and threw them directly on several goose carts under the city. As these items were thrown, the last few groups of threatening Song troops ignored them.

Everyone abandoned their vehicles and fled, but the Jin army shot several more from the top of the city, and then attracted a counterattack from the Song army's crossbowmen who were covering them.

But these are insignificant things. What surprises me is that here at the foot of Gaojing Mountain, the goose cart that had been silent all this time actually had a few people escape as the firewood fell.

"Look at the silent goose carriage elsewhere!" Gao Jingshan snatched the torch from the officer beside him and scolded him sternly. "There's no way there's anyone inside, so we waited for a surprise attack at night!"

The officer did not dare to neglect, turned around and left.

Gao Jingshan did not hesitate. After the sergeant beside him threw down a bag of gunpowder, he lit the torch and threw it down.
To be continued...