Chapter 406 Smelling Something Strange
In Xuzhou, Hubili was hosting a banquet to celebrate the victory and was shocked to learn that the Shenwei Army had sent troops to Zhengzhou.
He pondered carefully. The front line reported that the Shenwei Army had troops moving from Xinyang in the south to Zhengzhou in the north. There were no less than ten columns with a total force of at least 200,000. There was also intelligence that Zhou Ping, the chief of the Shenwei Army's navy, had also returned to Xiangyang from the South China Sea.
What is Zhao Qier going to do?
There is no need to make such a big fuss just to attack Zhengzhou.
Is he planning to suddenly retake the entire Central Plains?
The more Hubili thought about it, the more frightened he became. He gestured on the map. From Zhengzhou to Kaifeng, and then from Kaifeng to Shangqiu, if the Shenwei Army attacked one by one like an iron fist, then he would be in great pressure if he was met with a fierce counterattack from Yu Jie.
Hubili was sensitive to the fact that the force of the Shenwei Army's attack this time was unprecedented and he had to be cautious. He immediately sent a letter to the Grassland King's Court Flying Eagle to request support and at the same time ordered the troops to withdraw quickly and move closer to Xuzhou.
After receiving Hubili's call for help, the Khan of the grassland spat out a mouthful of blood. He believed what the boy said was true, but he was powerless to save the situation. He told Mengge to pass on his order and let the two sons of the Ture family fight.
When Mengge received the military order from the Khan of the grassland to go south to rescue, they were still far away from the Yellow River. He laughed and said that Hubili was still a child, and he panicked and asked for people and bows and arrows when the enemy came out. This battle was still worth fighting.
However, Su Butai, who was beside Meng Ge, carefully reminded Meng Ge that his little brother was also very smart and would not be so anxious to deliver the letter unless the situation was urgent.
Military intelligence showed that Zhao Yulin, the commander of the Shenwei Army, was in Nanyang. More than a dozen Shenwei Army columns had been spotted on the front line, and there were no less than 200,000 Song troops concentrated there.
Hubili must have sensed something strange in the atmosphere on the battlefield.
Mengge was a little unhappy. He said, "Who hasn't commanded an army of 230,000?" Then he waved his hand and ordered the troops to speed up their march, heading for Kaifeng.
However, Zhao Yulin is the kind of person who will take advantage of your weakness to kill you, and he will not give Hubili a chance to relax.
Although the New Song Dynasty was established only a few years ago, the Shenwei Army is a united whole. As early as when Zhao Yulin sent the Fire Phoenix to Jinghu South Road, the New Song Dynasty's military department's secret order to mobilize troops reached Cao Youwan, requiring him to immediately send troops to Jiangbei after stabilizing Jiangnan.
Fire Phoenix, as the inspector of the Central Court, is on the same page as the female gang leader, and their thunderous styles are immediately displayed.
The two of them acted quickly and killed several local provincial governors who had committed serious crimes. After stabilizing Jinghu South Road, they went to take charge of Fuzhou.
When Cao Youwan saw the Fire Phoenix arrive, he ordered Cao Youliang to stop managing local affairs. After he freed up his hands, he led two columns and 40,000 troops to the north immediately.
His vanguard officer came to Meng Gong's tent in Jiankang Prefecture to report that the Shenwei Army had dispatched 40,000 soldiers and horses to assist in the battle, and that another 20,000 troops and weapons and food would follow, all of whom would obey the general's orders.
Meng Gong was overjoyed, but then he became worried again.
He and Yu Jie lost most of their navy and had no reinforcements on the battlefield. The Mongolian navy commander Zhang Rou led hundreds of ships of all sizes south, leaving him helpless.
Obviously, it would be difficult to compete with the Mongolian army with only tens of thousands of infantry.
At this moment, Zhou Ping came in to report.
This guy saluted Meng Gong and reported: The four brigades of the Shenwei Army Navy and five hundred warships have come to help in the battle and will follow your orders.
What?
The Shenwei Army has five hundred warships coming to help in the battle, and they still obey his orders?
Zhou Ping nodded and said that Commander Zhao had ordered: You must obey General Meng's orders. He also explained to him that although the Shenwei Army had fewer warships, their combat power was no less than that of any of the Northern Barbarians' large ships.
Meng Gong was very excited and nodded vigorously.
Yu Jie's battle robe was stained with blood after fighting so many times. After returning to the big tent, he was greatly encouraged by hearing a series of good news, and kept shouting that they were saved.
Zhou Ping told them that Commander Zhao had already gone north to the Yellow River, and the Shenwei Army would push the battle line from west to east to Zhengzhou and Xinyang. Hubili found that the rear was dangerous, and he would never dare to act so recklessly again.
A group of Jiangbei generals were all overjoyed. Meng Gong took off his helmet, combed his messy white hair with his hands and said: Our hair has turned white by waiting, now let's plan a counterattack and drive the Northern Barbarians back to their grandmother's house.
The brothers immediately gathered together to discuss the war and quickly deployed their troops.
In Zhengzhou, the vanguard of the Shenwei Army has already monitored the four gates of the city, and the follow-up troops are forming a siege.
The Mongolian garrison commander Liu Yuzhou had already withdrawn his troops into the city and was working hard to strengthen the city's defenses.
This fellow was asking about Rong Yang in the government office. The two lieutenants who escaped back reported to him that the firearms of the Shenwei Army were too advanced. The catapults alone could not get close to them. There were also hot air balloons in the sky to help in the battle. The rebel thunder bombs were like hail and rain. The brothers could not break through their blockade at all.
Liu Yuzhou was furious and cursed the two men for boosting the enemy's morale and destroying his own prestige, which was simply disrupting the army's morale. He ordered the guards on his left and right to drag the two deserters out and chop them into pieces.
Four ferocious warriors immediately came up and dragged the man out.
Liu Yuzhou had heard of the power of the Shenwei Army, but he did not expect to face them so soon.
After the invasion of the Mongolian army, the big landlords in the Central Plains surrendered one after another. The Liu family was considered a big family, and there were also the Shi family and Zhang Rou, who followed Hubili.
These can be regarded as representatives of the Han army. They forgot their roots and followed the Mongolian army to capture cities and kill as many Han people as possible.
This guy is nervous now.
The 100,000-strong Shenwei Army captured Gong County without a fight, and then surrounded Rongyang, leaving it behind.
Now Rongyang City was about to fall, and only a handful of soldiers had escaped into Zhengzhou. How could he defend Zhengzhou with only 50,000 troops?
His eldest son told him that Prince Hubili secretly sent thirty hot air balloons, which were half the size of the Shenwei Army's, and would definitely deal a heavy blow to the Shenwei Army in a real fight. However, he felt that the Mongolian royal court was using them as pawns to resist the attack of the New Song Army.
His fourth son immediately convinced his eldest son, saying unconvincedly that they had not yet had a head-on confrontation with the Shenwei Army, so how could they think that our troops could not defeat them? Whether they could succeed or not could only be determined after the war.
Liu Yuzhou impatiently drove his fourth son away, leaving his eldest son with the strategy. Finally, he did not forget to ask his eldest son to leave a group of men outside the east gate in case of any emergency.
At this time, Zhao Yulin was studying tactics with his brothers in Kaoshantun outside the west gate of Zhengzhou. Chuanfang set up the forward command post in the yard of a large landlord in the village, and the accommodation was quite good.
The staff officer hung up a huge map and explained in detail that Zhengzhou City was guarded by an enemy general named Liu Yuzhou. This man was not only a vicious local landlord, but also had thousands of relatives from the surrounding lineage. When the Shenwei Army came in, they could not collect food and fodder along the way, and could not recruit civilians. It was all related to Liu Yuzhou.
Moreover, the walls of Zhengzhou were thicker and taller, much thicker than those of Xingyang. The enemy had set up a large number of fortresses inside and outside the city and organized cross-fire to block the attack, so a strong attack would definitely not be easy.
Lai Chuanfang said that now that the army had arrived at the city, they must take it. He decided that Gu Shan would personally lead the three columns to attack the west gate, clearing away obstacles and preparing for the army's siege.
Gu Shan took the order and left.
The city of Luoyang was not completely located on flat ground. The builders took advantage of the situation and built several forts around it for support. Therefore, in order to attack the city, they had to take these outer positions first.
In one day, the various units of the Shenwei Army cleared the snow in front of their gates, broke through the front fortress and advanced to the city wall. Gu Shan reported to them that the enemy's position was built solidly and tricky. Even though we had catapults and mortars, we still suffered heavy casualties before we captured the position.
He felt that attacking the city would be several times more difficult than attacking Rongyang.
Lai Chuanfang said generously, "No matter how difficult it is, it is much better than when we first started in Yibin. What is there to be afraid of? Let the brothers rest for one day and attack the city the next day."
In the city, Liu Yuzhou was also discussing with the generals. The main general and the deputy generals all had dejected looks on their faces , and the atmosphere in the hall was filled with solemnity.
The Shenwei Army broke through the surrounding fortresses and approached the city in just one day, and no soldiers escaped. They saw the horror of cannonballs flying and smoke everywhere from the city.
It's only been a few days since the beginning of autumn, it's too cold. Liu Yuzhou told everyone not to be discouraged, Prince Hubili sent us a killer weapon, we have the same hot air balloon as the Shenwei Army on the opposite side, but it's bigger and more powerful than the Shenwei Army, but it's not the critical moment yet, so I didn't go up.
Tomorrow, if the enemy attacks the city, we will send out the Heavenly Army to launch a surprise attack, so that they can also taste the power of our Heavenly Army.
When the generals heard that they also had hot air balloons and heavenly troops, they immediately became energized as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and their faces were full of smiles.
Liu Yuzhou waited on the city wall for a whole day, but he did not see the Shenwei Army attacking the city. He only saw flags waving outside the city, and it seemed that the Shenwei Army was still arranging its troops and making preparations.
This guy told the guard to guard the city tightly, and after watching him, he went back home to undress, went to bed, caught his concubine and gave her a good beating before resting. He was awakened by the loud explosion, knowing that the Shenwei Army was attacking the city. He got up with a dizzy head, asked his concubine to help him change his clothes and go out, and asked his personal guards to put on armor for him while shaking his body.
By the time this guy arrived at the foot of the city wall at the west gate, he was already surrounded by attacks from the Divine Might Army's thunder bombs and sky-shaking mines.
Oh my god, it’s just dawn and the Shenwei Army is attacking. They really don’t give us any time to rest.
His eldest son reported in horror that the firepower of the Shenwei Army was too strong. After only two rounds of artillery fire, the defenders on the city suffered more than a thousand casualties, and the fourth brother's leg was blown off.
Liu Yuzhou was furious when he heard this. It is said that the emperor loves the eldest son and the people love the youngest son. The fourth son is his favorite, but he had his leg blown off by the Shenwei Army.
How can I marry a pretty wife in the future?
This guy immediately ordered the heavenly army to go out and destroy the Song army's hot air balloon on the top of the city.
The Mongolian Army's Sky Army immediately took action, and soon large balloons were placed on the large parade ground in the north of the city, and the soldiers began to ignite and inflate them nervously. Because the Mongolian Army's balloons were made of thick cloth, they had to be much larger than the Shenwei Army's hot air balloons to hold up the load, so the inflation speed was naturally slower.
However, the hot air balloon was still expanding rapidly at a visible speed.
