Chapter 127: Loopholes Everywhere
Fenghuang turned around and pretended to hit Zhao Yulin, but he ran away smiling.
Wu Yuqi reported to everyone that Fenghuang is pregnant, and the burden on her must be heavy.
Zhao Yulin happily passed on his experience to his brothers, saying that the period when a woman just becomes pregnant is very important and they should avoid strenuous exercise.
So that's how it is. All the brothers are vying to be the father, and they are all listening with serious expressions.
He asked Miao Gui what the situation was like in Jiezhou.
Miao Gui said happily that the Wang family army finally backed down. Wang Shixian originally wanted to leave Minzhou from the southeast and attack Jinzhou. As soon as the team arrived in Minzhou, he received news that Wang Gui from Pingliang had rebelled and joined the Shenwei Army. He was so angry that he felt very disappointed.
He immediately led his troops into the border mountain pass of Jizhou, but was blown to pieces by the sweet potato mines all over the ground. After wading through the minefield, he saw the flags of the Shenwei Army waving in the valleys on both sides , and bursts of shouts.
He began to suspect that the Shenwei Army was well prepared.
Feng Guiqi shot a letter to him with a crossbow, saying that our third young master knew that he was coming to attack Jizhou, and had already prepared three large meals to eat up another 50,000 of his troops, and asked him to be the transport captain for the Shenwei Army again.
His eldest son saw Feng Guiqi, the chief commander of the Fourth Column, and immediately reported it to Wang Shixian.
Although he had many powerful generals under his command, he was also a very suspicious person. Feng Guiqi's appearance in Jizhou showed that the Shenwei Army must have a backup plan. Now Pingliang was taken by the Shenwei Army. If they marched westward to Gongchang Prefecture, even if the Wang family army occupied Jizhou, they would have lost their home base.
At this time, Wang's army had already become the wandering ghosts of the Jin Kingdom, and he dared not make any mistakes. He had to leave a way out for himself.
After Wang Xian came to his senses, he immediately withdrew his troops and personally wrote a letter and shot it to the Shenwei Army position, asking them to pass it to General Feng, indicating that the two families had reconciled and would discuss the issue of surrender.
Zhao Yulin listened and cursed inwardly: Humph, he is not as straightforward as Wang Gui. If he really surrenders to me, I don’t know what to do with him.
After talking about Jiezhou, Miao Gui moved on to the interior of the country. There were still many states and counties that stubbornly defended their city gates and refused to hand over peacefully. He asked him what to do.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that this was the top priority. He asked the brothers to sit down and discuss together. He told them solemnly that the Shenwei Army had made things worse after its advance into Guanzhong. The Mongolian Army and the Lin'an court were watching them. In a word, they had to be low-key in the future. Low-key, low-key.
The brothers looked at him with some confusion.
Wu Yuqi explained to everyone that after taking Chang'an, the young master originally planned to let the brothers go to Chang'an to discuss matters and have two days of happiness. However, considering that General Cao was in charge of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and the Administration Office had already followed up, he simply handed Chang'an over to the Qingyeyuan camp and went directly to Fengxiang Prefecture to discuss the Northwest war alone. This was to let the officials of the camp see that no matter how powerful our Shenwei Army was, it was also an army under the Administration Office.
He then added: "We seem to be strong in numbers now, but when we spread out and protect our defense zone, we see loopholes everywhere. On the one hand, others are worried that we will become stronger day by day, and on the other hand, we are still far from strong enough. So we need to be cautious about everything we face and continue to develop and grow ourselves."
The brothers listened, but there was no sound.
Zhao Yulin didn't want to tell the story of the attack on Shunfeng's chief steward Lu Youpeng, which would make them suspicious and worried. Everyone was in danger, but he had to remind his brothers to be careful with their words and actions.
Seeing that no one said anything, he said, "Let's continue talking about military affairs. We have cast a big net so far, but there are still many large and small stones stuck in the net. We can't reel in the net, and thus we won't get any fish."
He asked Wang Hancheng to stabilize Fengxiang Prefecture, and he and Miao Gui went to Pingliang in the northwest to first seal the gap.
Miao Gui thought it was necessary, as Huaping in Pingliang and Zhenrongzhou and Deshunzhou in the north were still in the hands of the enemy. Wang Gui went to persuade Huaping to surrender but it was ineffective, and changes would occur over time.
Zhao Yulin said there was no time to lose and we would set off tomorrow.
At night, he warned Fenghuang not to do any strenuous exercise, and he took charge of the military affairs in Fengxiang Prefecture and strictly enforced military discipline. Wu Yuqi also did not go to Pingliang, but established the intelligence network here first.
Zhao Yulin set out at dawn. Along the way, he criticized Miao Gui harshly, blaming him for being timid and missing the opportunity to seize Zhenrong Prefecture.
Two days later, they arrived in Pingliang. Wang Gui knelt before him in fear, stammering that he had not completed his mission and asking for punishment. Zhao Yulin quickly helped him up and told him that kneeling was not a custom in the Shenwei Army, and that once you join the Shenwei Army, you will be brothers for life, and you can talk about anything.
Wang Gui reported that there were only two thousand people in Huaping County, but the defending general was a close confidant of Wang Sixian. He went to the city gate to persuade them to surrender, but was attacked by arrows raining down on him. Fortunately, he was shouting from a distance with an iron loudspeaker, otherwise, he would have become a hedgehog.
The brothers immediately burst into laughter.
Zhao Yulin looked at Miao Gui and asked him to make the decision.
Miao Gui suggested that why not put Huaping aside for now and directly attack Shunde Prefecture or Zhenrong Prefecture?
Hao Xiaoming immediately agreed, thinking that there were still some brothers in Huaping City that Wang Gui knew, and it would not be too late to persuade them after we conquered the two states on the border.
Lu Huacai said bitterly that he had wanted to take action for a long time. The Zhenrong City was originally called Pingxia City. It was built by our Song Dynasty to pacify the Western Xia. It was surrounded by walls made of rammed earth. A catapult and a fire from a splitting cannon would allow Gao Jin's men to ride into the city.
Zhao Yulin looked at Gao Jin and asked him if he heard it, then rode his horse straight into the city.
Gao Jin said cheerfully that it was not that simple, the cavalry must first guard against the Mongolian light cavalry that came to attack, otherwise the brothers would not even be able to dig defensive trenches.
Hao Xiaoming despised him and said that he underestimated the infantry of our Shenwei Army.
Zhao Yulin started to criticize us. We cannot make unnecessary sacrifices.
Miao Gui comprehensively analyzed the battle situation and said that there had been no major changes in the Mongolian army in recent days, but instead there were signs of retreat. He planned to attack Shunde Prefecture first, attract the Mongolian army to come to the rescue, and then ambush the reinforcements.
Zhao Yulin believed that the Mongolian army was very likely to retreat because they were used to attacking in the autumn when the sheep, cattle and horses were fat and strong, and they did not care about the gain or loss of a city or a place. But now it was March with flying sand and rocks.
However, he thought Miao Gui's arrangement was inappropriate and too conservative. Since he judged that the Mongolian army was going to escape but attacked Shunde Prefecture first, then the Mongolian army would be like a frightened bird. Wouldn't they all run away quickly when they heard the cannon fire?
The brothers burst into laughter again.
He told us to do the opposite. We should attack Zhenrong Prefecture first, let the Shunde Mongolian troops who were about to escape come to rescue, and then wait for an opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.
Miao Gui immediately deployed the operation.
The team set out, Zhao Yulin went to inspect the cavalry, Gao Jin's men already had three corps, 15,000 people. Zhao Yulin said that this time they were fully armed and all out, so they should not be careless, because the Mongolian army liked to move lightly and flexibly, so they had to predict in advance.
Two days later, the battle started. The Shenwei Army quickly wiped out the outer enemies and advanced to the city in one breath.
A hundred years ago, the Song army built Pingxia City here to guard the border. Today, the enemy is still guarding the inner and outer three-meter-high earth walls. Zhao Yulin looked at Miao Gui with disdain and said, "This city can stop him, General Miao?" It's incredible.
Miao Gui's face turned red and he ordered an immediate attack.
Hao Xiaoming used the catapult as a barrel cannon, directly throwing the explosive packs with ignited fuses, quickly smashing a 20-meter-wide gap in the south gate, and Gao Jin's first corps of 3,000 cavalrymen rushed in.
Following behind was Hao Xiaoming's 10,000 troops fighting in the streets. When they encountered resistance, they simply used iron bars to blow up the houses. The Mongolian army was no match for them.
At this time, scouts from the outside reported that a batch of Mongolian reinforcements, at least 5,000 light cavalry, rushed over from 30 miles to the north. Miao Gui told him that these were Mongolian troops that had been transferred out of the city and had returned, so he asked Lu Hua to use positional warfare to lock down the enemy.
The Shenwei Army had already started digging trenches, and only now was Lu Hua picking up the microphone and shouting, causing the brothers to work even harder.
Zhao Yulin stood on a small hill and looked out, saying that the Mongolian troops from Shunde had not arrived yet, so there was a need for a battle.
Gao Jin rubbed his hands and said that he had been prepared for a long time and was just waiting for them.
The fighting was still fierce in the city, and the battle outside the city had already begun. It was not easy for this light cavalry to easily rush through the blocking position designed by Zhao Yulin.
Even if the soldiers of the Shenwei Army launched three consecutive blocking shots with the Shenbi crossbow, it was still a deadly lineup for the lightly armed Mongolian army. The firing speed was too fast, and the arrows like small iron rods splashed over like water. The Mongolian cavalry kept falling down, forming a small hill on the front line of the attack.
The Mongolian army in the city was already engaged in a melee with the Shenwei Army and was unable to organize any support for the outside of the city. Instead, the large city became the best support for Lu Huacai's Fifth Column.
At this time, the Mongolian army from Shunde arrived and headed straight for the east gate. Gao Jin happily led his troops up immediately. His men had been waiting on the south side and had buried large areas of sweet potato mines on the official road, extending all the way to the swamp in the north. These men were ruthless and wanted to drive the Mongolian army into the swamp to enjoy themselves, just like a wolf driving sheep.
Zhao Yulin saw clearly through the telescope that the Mongolian army was a little overwhelmed after the two sides met. Gao Jin arranged 2,000 revolving muskets in the front. When the warriors got close, they raised their hands and fired. The Mongolian army from a distance fell down. The momentum of the attack was immediately weakened by half.
By the time the two sides were engaged in a melee, the Mongol vanguard had already collapsed and began to flee northward along the official road.
Zhao Yulin saw through the telescope that the enemy's formation had changed and they were all running towards He knew that this Mongolian army was not far from being destroyed.
Looking at the sniper positions of the Mongolian army in the north of the city, although the Shenwei Army had retreated to the second line of defense, the Mongolian troops who came back to support had lost their morale. They only heard the shouting and killing from the east, and knew that the reinforcements from Shunde Prefecture had arrived, so they cheered up and launched a second round of attack.
This time the Mongolian army charged more fiercely. It is said that an army that mourns will win. Is the Mongolian army really going to rush into the city this time?
The answer is definitely no.
Zhao Yulin felt a little uncomfortable watching the bloody massacre, and shouted to Miao Gui: Launch a general attack.
Immediately, the charge of the Shenwei Army sounded, and inside and outside the city, the cavalry, infantry and artillery all roared at the Mongolian army.
