nycdaug Chapter 354: Harassment of the Food Route
Chapter 354: Harassment of the Food Route
More than 70,000 elite Song troops plus 70,000 elite Tangut troops of Li Yuanhao of Western Xia, who had lost 10,000 men, advanced like a hot knife through butter and attacked the Liao capital of Shangjing with an invincible force.
This was not only because the Song army was very powerful, but also because the Liao Kingdom had already shrunk its defense line and mobilized troops from all over the country to Shangjing City, preparing to concentrate its forces to fight a decisive battle with the Song army.
When the army arrived at the gate of Shangjing, the regent Zhao Defang gave the order confidently: "Yang Yanzhao will surround the east gate, Cao Wei will surround the west gate, Gao Yingxiong and Li Yuanhao, you two will follow me to attack the south gate."
Li Yuanhao asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, why isn't the north gate surrounded?"
Regent Zhao Defang smiled faintly, "This is called the tactic of encircling three sides and trapping one. If we surround the enemy on all sides, the hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers in the city will fight to the death when they see that there is no way out. But if we leave this way out for them, the enemy will think about this way out while fighting, and their will to fight to the death will not be so strong.
"Our army's fierce attack will inflict heavy damage on the enemy, and the enemy's morale will be weakened, and some will want to escape. When the enemy escapes through the escape route I have left for them, it will be much easier to chase and kill the fleeing enemy than to attack the enemy who is stubbornly defending the city."
"Your Highness is wise! You are extremely intelligent and worthy of being called a god of war!" Li Yuanhao complimented with all his heart.
The Regent Prince Zhao Defang, riding on the snow-covered BMW, could not help but curl up a smug smile at the corner of his lips, "I am a good student who has studied and applied the miraculous tactics and battle examples taught by the princess with all my heart and brain."
Yelu Xiezhen led an army of 160,000 and vowed to defend the city to the death and keep the Song army out. There were sufficient soldiers in the city and the warehouses were full of supplies and food. His goal was to fight the city for three months and wear down the logistics support line of the Song army deep in the hinterland. When the Song army had no choice but to withdraw, he could take the opportunity to counterattack and kill the enemy, and achieve a tragic victory from defeat.
When the Song army deployed their siege formation, Marshal Yelu Xiezhen angrily cursed, "The cunning regent Zhao Defang actually left a gap in the north gate. How insidious and cunning!"
Empress Dowager Xiao, who was dressed in military uniform and personally went up to the city to observe the enemy, sighed silently, "Song's Regent Prince Zhao Defang is a rare military prodigy in a thousand years, and his reputation as a god of war is not unfounded."
At this moment, Marshal Yelu Xiezhen's confidence that he could defend the city to the death for three months and defeat the enemy and turn defeat into victory had disappeared in an instant.
Regent Zhao Defang left a way out, and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers defending the city lost their faith in fighting the enemy to the death. How could a great marshal like him hold on to the city even if he wanted to? ...
A figure in black quietly appeared beside Yelu Xiezhen, and a cold voice sounded as if it had returned from hell: "Queen Mother, Marshal, Cheng is willing to lead a group of elite lightly armored cavalry to harass and cut off the supply route of the Song army."
Yelu Xiezhen looked back at the man in black who had asked for the order, and saw that his gloomy eyes were staring at the commander-in-chief's flag in the distance below the city, emitting a cold and vicious light of revenge.
Yelu Xiezhen was moved and smiled, "Master Cheng, your loyalty is commendable. I will give you 10,000 elite light-armored cavalry and send you to go around the rear of the Song army to harass the enemy's grain route for transporting military supplies."
Cheng Wuya bowed and saluted, "Cheng will definitely live up to the Marshal's trust and expectations!"
Yelu Xiezhen and Empress Dowager Xiao looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Among the Han people, there were heroes who risked their lives to save the nation, but there were also many traitors who sold out their country for their own selfish interests.
In the past few years, Cheng Wuya and his dozen men have been fleeing like rats. After fleeing to the territory of Liao, he finally found his senior brother Han Bei who was hiding in the mountains, but he could not persuade him to come out of the mountains to assassinate the regent Zhao Defang and avenge his master.
Cheng Wuya helplessly wandered around the Liao Kingdom for a while, and found Han Bei's cousin Han Derang, who was a high-ranking official in the Liao court. With Han Derang's recommendation, Empress Dowager Xiao gave him a sinecure of the third rank, which helped him gain a firm foothold in the Liao Kingdom.
Cheng Wuya's jealousy and hatred for the Regent Zhao Defang never disappeared, and killing Zhao Defang became his obsession. Even if he couldn't kill him, he would fight against Zhao Defang in this life!
The Song army did not launch a siege when they first arrived at the city. In the middle of the night, Cheng Wuya and a dozen of his trusted men, led by 10,000 elite light-armored cavalry of the Liao army, quietly left the north gate in the cover of night.
Yun Yi and six shadow guards lay on a hilltop, watching the shadowy black shadows pouring out from the city gate under the faint moonlight, counting their numbers silently in his heart.
Yun Yi's lips curled up into a smile. The prince had a plan in mind. He specially sent our Shadow Guard, a high-level scout team, to monitor the movements of the Liao army at the remaining north gate. Sure enough, there was a fish about to be hooked. He turned his head to look at the brothers around him, "About 10,000 people, all elite light armored cavalry. Mo Zhen and Mo Shan, you two go and report to the prince quickly."
Mo Zhen and Mo Shan obeyed the order, stood up, and used their lightness skills to fly away.
On the second day, Regent Zhao Defang ordered Li Yuanhao to lead 30,000 Tangut soldiers to carry out the main attack, with the Song army providing the support.
Li Yuanhao had no complaints about this. Wouldn't the surrendered army need you to work hard in the front to feed you? Since ancient times, this has been the fate of surrendered soldiers. However, surrendering to His Royal Highness the Regent of Song was still a blessing. With the magical and powerful weapons of the Song army as pioneers, the soldiers responsible for the siege were just like picking up leaks to pick up military merits, which was really what they wanted.
Li Yuanhao confidently led 30,000 infantrymen to form a siege formation under the city wall. When he saw the 40 cannons covered with red cloth and hundreds of catapults launched by the Song army, the corners of his lips curled up, and he was full of fighting spirit.
When the shells from the Song army's forty artillery pieces and the thunder bombs fired by hundreds of catapults rumbled down on the city walls, in the air filled with smoke, the faith of Marshal Yelu Xiezhen, who had defended Shangjing City for three months, completely collapsed in an instant!
Looking at the tragic scenes of blood and flesh flying amidst the rumbling thunder and smoke, Yelu Xiezhen felt heartbroken as if it was being rubbed by a big hand. However, he could only issue military orders calmly with the determination to fight to the death.
The steel knives in the hands of the supervisory team were stained with blood, but they finally managed to hold the situation. Teams of reserve troops were called up from the bottom of the city wall, and bloody corpses were thrown off the city wall. Marshal Yelu Xiezhen could only use human lives to fill the city defense.
Li Yuanhao led his soldiers to charge three times with siege ladders, but they were all resisted by the defenders on the city wall. After the siege troops suffered 3,000 to 4,000 casualties, Regent Zhao Defang ordered the troops to retreat, and the first day of the siege ended.
Marshal Yelu Xiezhen stood on the city wall where blood flowed like a river, corpses and rubble were scattered all over the ground, and the smell of gunpowder and blood filled the air. He felt a chill in his heart!
In a siege, the defenders should have had a great advantage in the casualty ratio, especially in the city of Shangjing, which had high walls, thick walls and abundant military forces. The Song army attacking the city should have had to pay five or ten times the price.
However, this was supposed to happen, but because of the magical weapons in the hands of Zhao Defang, the regent of the Song Dynasty, the trajectory of the war laws was changed.
The Song army's siege troops suffered only 3,000 to 4,000 casualties, and the wounded soldiers were desperately snatched back by the Song army. The wounded soldiers with a very high mortality rate were also treated as treasures.
However, the Liao army defending the city suffered more than 13,000 casualties. I wonder how many of those injured soldiers survived?
This kind of war cannot be fought even if a great god were to command it!
Cheng Wuya, I hope you can succeed in harassing and cutting off the food supply of the Song army. I will lead my soldiers to fight to the death for a few days, and wait for the Song army to retreat after their food supply is cut off!
Cheng Wuya led a 10,000-man lightly-armored cavalry to the rear of the Song army to harass and cut off their food supply. At dusk, the army hid in a valley to rest.
"Sir, a Song army team transporting food and supplies appeared on the official road thirty miles away. There were more than six hundred carriages loaded with supplies, and three thousand Song soldiers escorting the supplies."
The scout captain jumped off his horse, knelt on one knee, and reported the military intelligence to the commander Cheng Wuya with excitement in his voice.
"Great! Zhao Defang, even the wisest man can make mistakes. Even if you are as cunning as a fox, there will be times when Cheng will catch you.
Send out troops! Kill this Song army and burn their food supplies!"