Chapter 526 Bloody Gobi Desert
Cao Youwen sighed and said: It's not easy for anyone, everyone is working hard.
It was not easy for Gao Jin's Western Group to deal with Tahai and Menggedu's troops, but as they advanced along the Helan Mountains, each pass was a dangerous place.
Lao Cao asked the staff to raise a smoke signal on the top of the mountain to sound a warning. On the one hand, it was to tell Commander Zhao that we are still fighting, and on the other hand, it was to let Miao Gui and others see that perhaps Miao Gui was really lost.
At this critical juncture, the Eastern Expedition Group of the Jinning Army in the east was progressing very smoothly. Meng Gong commanded an army of nearly 80,000 to cross the river and advance eastward. After breaking through the natural barrier of the Yellow River, they were like a piece of cake. In three days, they occupied Linquan and Fangshan, threatening Bingzhou, an important town in the northeast.
However, Meng Gong did not actually march north, but instead headed east, heading straight to the city of Shizhou, intending to meet up with Lai Chuanfang's group in Luoyang, capture Pingyang Prefecture, and complete the actual occupation of Hedong.
The royal court of the grassland empire has received a letter from the eagle in Hedong, requesting rescue.
When the royal court received military reports about the crisis in Hedong and Hetao, the government and the public were shocked. They had originally thought that the crown prince would return with the army from the Western Expedition and would slaughter all the enemies in order to take back the fertile Guanzhong of the New Song Kingdom. However, they did not expect that the war would turn into such a dangerous situation.
However, the Queen of the Grassland could not dispatch a single soldier to provide support. The garrison of the nearest Datong Prefecture had all been sent to assist in the defense of Jiuyuan City. Where else could they send troops?
The empress of the grassland sent a series of reprimanding imperial edicts to Zhending Prefecture in Hebei, ordering Hubili to send troops to resist the enemy.
The entire Zhending Prefecture in Hebei was shocked when it learned that the Shenwei Army had crossed the river and successfully occupied the counties in Hedong.
Hubili was surprised that the New Song Kingdom dared to launch a two-front war and wanted to recover Hedong at the same time. When he just received the battle report, he thought that the Shenwei Army was making a feint to the east and attacking in the west in order to disperse the pressure on the northwest battlefield.
Little did he know that the Shenwei Army was pretending to be strong and strong, and they attacked him forcefully. When he received the unit numbers of Meng Gong, Lai Chuanfang and Cao Youliang, all of whom appeared in Hedong, it was already too late.
Hubili didn't care about the edict from the grassland empress. He quickly adjusted his deployment and defended to the west.
The Central Council of the New Song Dynasty was also urging all regions to support the frontline operations. Large quantities of food and military equipment were continuously transported to the northwest battlefield. Newspapers in various regions were promoting and encouraging active military participation and killing the enemy. A large number of medical personnel were walking on the road leading to Yulin Village. The two war machines, one in the south and one in the north, were accelerating rapidly.
When King Zhao Feiyan saw Zhao Yulin leading his troops northward and heading straight for Linzhou out of Yulin Village, he was extremely nervous and was about to resign his throne and go to Guanzhong to accompany Zhao Yulin.
Yangjin told her that the most important thing right now was to stabilize the rear and mobilize all forces to support Brother Yulin in the battle.
The first edict issued by the Central Court in Chengdu was to summon imperial physicians from all over the country who were good at treating injuries and sprains to go to the front line to treat the wounded.
Yangjin said that Deputy Envoy Tan was in charge of military supplies and had already made arrangements. The urgently needed materials could only be drawn from Guanzhong, which was too late.
However, a large number of medical personnel are needed to treat the wounded after the war. We will send imperial edicts to various places near Shaanxi and organize a group of imperial doctors to support the medical treatment on the front line.
Then a nationwide donation of money and materials was launched to support the war.
The entire New Song Dynasty was involved in supporting the front-line operations.
The people of Huaxi Village outside the west gate of Chengdu also strongly supported the war. Old Zhang led the elders of the council to hold a common people's meeting. The people threw the coins they earned into the big pot in the middle of the venue one by one. The council counted them in public and sent them to the two wives, Hulan and Aqian, to pass them on to the court.
When Qian saw such simple villagers, her eyes became moist.
Hu Lan was still busy despite her big belly, but she didn't look happy.
The guard Barter, like her, felt very uncomfortable listening to the people's angry curses on the Northern Barbarians. The Northern Barbarians, who were considered to be the most heinous criminals by the people, were actually their fellow brothers and sisters. The one who led the troops to attack the Great Wall and burn, kill and loot was Hulan's fellow brother.
In the northwest, on the Gobi Desert south of Nailong Mountain, Zhao Yulin was also busy, carefully deploying defenses.
It was already dark, and the two armies had already called a truce. But he knew that the Mongolian army was good at night battles and surprise attacks, so he did not dare to be careless.
Zhao Yulin asked Li Shichang to send someone to mix the fennel beans and soybeans fried last night and spread them on the shallow grass in front of the Gobi Desert.
Let the infantry troops take out all the mines and bury them to block the Mongolian army's sneak attack route, so that he can have a good sleep tonight.
Just after midnight, Zhao Yulin was awakened by a violent explosion not long after he lay down. He went out of the tent and saw that there was flames and explosions in front of the camp.
Then, the artillery of the Kamui Army continuously fired thunder bombs at the Asakusa area.
After an incense stick of time, a truce was finally reached.
The artillery observation post reported: The enemy's sneak attack was thwarted, and as expected, a large number of troops were stranded on the shallow grass. Many of them must have been killed after the bombardment.
After receiving the news that the sneak attack failed in the central army tent, this guy dejectedly asked for sleep and would attack again at dawn.
He never understood why the horses stopped moving when they reached the edge of the Gobi Desert. Some horses refused to move even when their riders clamped their legs or whipped them, and even snorted as they looked for food on the ground.
Haha, this is a clever trick that Zhao Yulin thought of to lure the enemies. If the Mongolian army wants to launch a surprise attack at night, they will definitely not rush out of the camp in a big way. These thieves will definitely wrap their horse's hooves and slowly move to the front of the Shenwei Army's position before launching an attack.
Well, he sprinkled the fried fennel beans and soybeans, which are the delicacies that horses like to eat, there. When the Mongolian army slowly walked over, the horses had already smelled the fragrance and put them into their mouths. How could they move?
At dawn, the war horses neighed in the camp, and teams of cavalrymen lined up and set out towards the rising sun.
The artillery commander received the report and discovered the enemy's Huihui artillery position, and immediately ordered an attack with new mortars. Bai Heng had too few weapons and could not wait until the enemy opened fire before attacking, otherwise it would be too late.
When Kuangduan heard the report that his Huihui cannon was destroyed before it was placed, and the accumulated shells exploded, killing many people, he was so angry that he vomited blood.
This was a brand new weapon given to him by Hubili, with a long range and great power. Before he had even fired two shots, most of it was already destroyed.
The guy quickly retreated to a safe place and set up artillery, waiting for the right opportunity to avenge him.
However, his chief commander in charge of the artillery disagreed and reported to him: The range of the Huihui artillery was not enough. If they retreated to a safe distance, they would not be able to reach the positions of the New Song Army. What was the use of it?
Kuo Duan hesitated, he felt that success or failure depended on this one move, and he had to use all his weapons.
This guy told the soldiers who were going to the battle to stop their actions and eat and drink first. He dispatched all the hot air balloons that Hubili had sent him. The northwest wind was strong, and the hot air balloons flew over the Shenwei Army and dropped eggs on them, killing Zhao Qier.
This guy gave the order: Everyone, bring out all the Huihui cannons and catapults and fight with all your might to defeat the Shenwei Army.
Near noon, the Mongolian army set out. At the beginning, five 10,000-man teams charged as a group, and three 10,000-man teams were prepared as substitutes. The two sides soon engaged in a fierce battle.
The first was a long-range firepower battle. This time the Mongolian army's artillery had learned its lesson and did not make centralized deployments to avoid being destroyed by a single mortar explosion from the Shenwei Army.
The Mongolian army's Huihui cannons were spread out at distances of ten or twenty feet each, and some were cleverly hidden behind piles of weeds, rocks, and small earthen mounds. This made it difficult for the Shenwei Army to detect and destroy them.
The Mongolian army's artillery also used flag commands like the Shenwei Army. Although the effect of the artillery bombardment was not ideal, it was able to survive to the greatest extent.
As a result, the Shenwei Army's front-line positions were threatened by the Mongolian artillery fire and had to be defended against artillery fire.
Kuangduan also received support from Hubli's sky army consisting of more than 50 hot air balloons. After the huge hot air balloons were launched into the air, they flew with the wind and quickly flew towards the Shenwei Army's position.
The Shenwei Army's hot air balloon air force was absent from the battle in the northwest because Zhao Yulin led his troops to maneuver at high speed and could not bring the slow-moving air force with him. In addition, there was a strong northwest wind in the sky, and the air force would be blown back to Guanzhong if they went up.
Moreover, the astronomer predicted that the wind direction would not change in the near future, so the Shenwei Army's air force had to give up the opportunity to participate in the war.
However, the Shenwei Army has a weapon to restrain hot air balloons, that is, grenade launchers. Each group is equipped with a few grenade launchers to attack hot air balloons.
Seeing the Mongolian army's hot air balloon flying quickly, the warriors of the Shenwei Army immediately rode to the front line to pursue. Soldiers holding grenade launchers in their left and right hands rushed towards the direction of the hot air balloon, and fired with the latest rifles equipped with grenades.
Immediately, the hot air balloon caught fire and exploded.
However, the wind was too strong in the sky, and the Mongolian army's hot air balloons were flying fast without any operation. It was also the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly. The bright sunlight made it impossible for people to open their eyes. It was difficult for the gunners to accurately hit the balloon baskets. Half of the hot air balloons flew over the sniper positions of rifles and grenades and flew straight into the camp of the Shenwei Army to bomb it.
The Shenwei Army soldiers along the hot air balloon immediately dodged to the sides.
When Kuangduan saw that his hot air balloon successfully entered the Shenwei Army's position and carried out bombing, he was overjoyed and immediately ordered the cavalry to attack.
Push out the Huihui cannon and fire forward.
Zhao Yulin saw the Mongolian army's huge hot air balloon flying towards him, with his artillery position behind him. He immediately took the 800 million gun from Ke Zhenxie and ran forward, firing at the hot air balloons from a distance. One by one, the hot air balloons exploded, caught fire, and fell to the ground.
Even so, seven or eight hot air balloons still flew over his head.
The Mongolian soldiers were also throwing bombs without stopping. When Zhao Yulin wanted to shoot again, he was tackled to the ground and pinned down by the guard captain Ke Zhenxie and three guards. Immediately, deafening explosions were heard all around him.
By the time the guards helped him up, the hot air balloon had already flown over his head. Zhao Yulin grabbed the 800 million gun and fired bursts of bullets. Three of the hot air balloon's bombs were thrown onto the artillery position of the Shenwei Army.
Fortunately, the artillery saw the crisis and quickly transferred a large amount of explosives and thunder bombs. The artillerymen who were unable to transfer in time covered the remaining explosives with their bodies, so there was no large-scale explosion and the artillery position was finally saved.
