The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 503 Save it!

Both of the top figures in the military faction have said this.

How could Yue Yun, Zhang Xian, Gao Chong, Yang Zaixing, Geng Meng, and the others have any objections? They all clasped their hands and said, "We only want to resist the Jin now, and we don't care about anything else."

Yue Wenxuan turned to look at Li Gang and smiled, "Look, even the military generals have this kind of awareness. Surely the civil officials, who have read countless classics, are not inferior to the military generals?"

Li Gang sighed awkwardly: "Whether civil officials or military generals, they shouldn't get involved in the matter of the throne! That's the royal family's own business. Alas! You're right. Right now, we should only consider resisting the Jin, recovering the lost territories of our Great Song Dynasty, and then we can discuss behind closed doors which emperor we should be loyal to."

He suddenly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Yue Wenxuan: "Young Master Yue, we have just arrived in the Northern Song Dynasty, and you are so frank and open. I truly admire your character."

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "I believe that everyone has the right to know. Only when you clearly know what you are doing can you achieve twice the result with half the effort. Relationships built on deception and concealment are fragile and easily broken."

Everyone agreed that it made sense...

At this moment, the true anti-Jin national united front finally entered its "complete form." As for Zhao Gou and Qin Hui's gang, who were still cowering in Jiangnan, they were not even human and could be ignored.

Early the next morning!
The entire Northern Song army was mobilized and advanced towards Kaifeng.

As soon as the Northern Song army moved, Jin scouts swiftly relayed the news to Kaifeng.

"The Northern Song army is here!"

"The entire Northern Song army rose up and advanced towards the East Gate and the South Gate."

"It's clear they're about to launch a full-scale attack on the city."

"War is about to break out."

Kaifeng was shaken; tens of thousands of Jin soldiers and hundreds of thousands of puppet Qi troops in the city were all on high alert.

The situation is even more tense for the hundreds of thousands of people living in the city.

These people were all citizens of the Song Dynasty. After the fall of Kaifeng, they experienced all kinds of hardships. First, the Jin army burned, killed, and looted when they entered the city, and then the puppet Qi regime came and ransacked the place.

The people of the city are suffering terribly!

Most people hoped that the Song Dynasty would recover Kaifeng as soon as possible, but they also feared that they would be caught in the crossfire of continuous warfare. Therefore, they felt both anticipation and fear.

The people hid in their houses, trembling with fear.

One family heard a knocking sound at their window. Peeking out, they saw a beggar knocking on their window. The family member said with a pained expression, "What time is it? I don't have any leftovers to give you."

The beggar whispered, "I'm not here to beg for food, but to tell you that when the Northern Song army breaches the city, they guarantee that they will not harm the people in the slightest, so there is nothing to fear."

The people inside the house exclaimed in surprise, but when they looked more closely, they saw that the beggar had already gone far away.

Around noon, the Northern Song army finally came into view of the Kaifeng garrison...

A massive army formation pressed in from all directions.

Here we must mention the characteristics of the Northern Song army formation. In front of the army formation were rows and rows of huge door panels, which looked like a moving wall. This made the Northern Song army formation very imposing when viewed with the naked eye.

An army of only tens of thousands can overcome the oppressive force of an army of hundreds of thousands.

Li Gang and other literati rarely went to the battlefield during the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, this was the first time that Southern Song officials had seen the military formations of the Northern Song Dynasty. They were quite curious: "So this is how the Northern Song Dynasty fought. This huge door panel is obviously used to block arrows."

Meanwhile, the military officers who were still "observing and learning" were very serious at this time, carefully studying every frame.

Zhang Xian pointed at the huge door-shaped cart and asked Gao Chong, "Can you pry this thing open with a gun?"

Gao Chong: "How is this possible?"

Zhang Xian: "Then you won't be able to break through." Gao Chong nodded, and Yang Zaixing next to him also nodded. The two fierce generals suddenly realized a problem: if they faced the enemy with such a door-like formation, they would not be able to use their martial arts skills at all. They couldn't just let their warhorses crash into the door, could they?

Numerous small holes were drilled into the door panel, and the musketeers stationed in the vehicle formation had already loaded their muskets, ready to extend the barrels through the small holes and bombard the enemy at any time.

Such defense made Yang Zaixing's scalp tingle.

"If I charge ahead for a while, I definitely won't be able to come back."

Yue Yun nodded in agreement: "Look, there are grenadiers following behind the door panel formation. They will throw the small black balls over the top of the door panels and into the enemy camp. These things are incredibly powerful when they explode."

Zhang Xian: "That little black ball is obviously used to disrupt the enemy's formation. As long as it explodes with a bang in a densely packed area of ​​the enemy, how can the enemy still form a formation?"

Han Shizhong: "I guess the Jin army won't dare to go out and fight!"

Han Shizhong guessed correctly!

The Jin army, once renowned for its field battles, has been repeatedly humiliated in its encounters with the Northern Song army. Now, they dare not engage in open warfare with the Northern Song. Their once-famous cavalry are now cowering inside the city. Their archer knights have all become foot archers, guarding the city walls.

The morale of the puppet Qi army was even lower, making it even less likely that they would leave the city to fight.

Everyone adopted the strategy of playing it safe in the city, slowly defending, and wearing down the Song army.

Once the Song soldiers were a mile away from the city, the artillery formation was deployed first.

Artillery battalion commander Zhang Yong set up his troops at a slightly raised mound.

This time, the Northern Song Dynasty mobilized the entire nation's resources to send troops, making ample preparations. The number of cannons was also unprecedented, with Zhang Yong's artillery positions featuring a full one hundred red-coated cannons.

Seeing this scene, the generals were filled with excitement.

Li Gang roared, "Who's in charge of logistics?"

Ma Congyi emerged from the crowd: "It's me, kid."

Li Gang: "How much does a single artillery shell cost?"

Ma Congyi: "A cannonball is just an iron ball. It is not expensive to make. One cannonball is roughly equivalent to the iron used in 60 iron spearheads."

Li Gang's face stiffened: "This isn't expensive? One hundred cannons would require 6000 iron spearheads to fire a single round, which is equivalent to six thousand spear-wielding infantrymen."

The civil officials' expressions all changed...

Li Gang shouted urgently, "General Zhang Yong, be careful with your fighting, be careful... you have to think about the finances..."

Before he could finish speaking, bugles sounded in Zhang Yong's camp, followed by Zhang Yong's own hoarse roar: "Full firepower! Full firepower! Don't hold back on the shells! Give the Jin dogs in Kaifeng a shock!"

Li Gang: "Save your breath!"

"Boom boom boom boom!" The sound of cannons firing drowned out Li Gang's shouts.

The artillerymen wouldn't listen to Li Gang; they would only listen to Zhang Yong.

In the blink of an eye, countless black iron balls flew towards the five-meter-thick city wall of Kaifeng...

Sand and stones flew, smoke and dust filled the air, and the great battle began.

In an instant, a corner of the eastern city wall was covered by dust, and neither side could see what had happened on that section of the wall. They only knew that white dust and smoke rose high into the sky, and black iron balls kept flying into the smoke. They could not see anything, and could only hear the bangs of the iron balls hitting the bricks of Kaifeng.

(End of this chapter)