Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Chapter 1994 Easy to Defend, Difficult to Attack

At the foot of Taiyuan City.

Looking at the tall and sturdy city walls, Wanyan Loushi advised:

"Marshal, this city is not easy to capture,"

"Continuing to fight will only waste our supplies."

"The previous siege lasted for more than half a year,"

"I've barely even climbed the city walls a few times,"

"Why do we have to fight it again?"

Wanyan Zonghan said, "If we don't capture Taiyuan, we can never destroy the Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming army is besieging the Pingding army,"

"It would be better to leave one force to attack Taiyuan."

"Our main force went to quell the rebellion,"

"A decisive battle with the main force of the Ming Dynasty in Shanxi,"

Wanyan Loushi suggested,

"They defeated the main force of the Ming army in Shanxi,"

"The morale of the defenders of Taiyuan will surely plummet."

"Perhaps we can surrender without a fight."

Wanyan Zonghan thought it over carefully, then nodded and said, "Okay!"

Actually, he didn't want to leave.

They wanted to attack Taiyuan.

This has almost become an obsession.

Wanyan Zonghan fought for many years,

Invincible in battle, unconquerable in attack.

Unfortunately, we're stuck here.

There was absolutely nothing they could do about taking Taiyuan City.

Warfare must not be fought on impulse.

He stared intently at Taiyuan City for a while.

Wanyan Zonghan ordered his troops to be divided.

He was going to lead the main force to engage Zhang Guangdao in a field battle.

The task Zhao Yuan gave to Zhang Guangdao

He was to be allowed to defend the city.

They tied down Wanyan Zonghan's western army.

But everyone has selfish desires.

Yang Zhi and Li Bao successively made great contributions.

Zhang Guangdao led troops in Shanxi for more than a year.

They only managed to capture one county town, one fortified town, and two stockades.

Yao Pingzhong has led troops to support Shanxi.

Zhang Guangdao felt that he had enough troops.

He didn't want to defend the city to the death.

So he led his men to pacify the military city.

Attracting Wanyan Zonghan's main force to come to the rescue,

He wanted to confront the Jin Dynasty's most elite troops head-on!

Generals under Yao Pingzhong

Four people are relatively well-known.

They are: Liu Qi, Wang De, Wu Jie, and Wu Lin.

Wooden cannons,

It was carried by laborers along the mountain path.

Yao Pingzhong's eyes lit up, and he asked:

"These wooden cannons can actually be used?"

Zhang Guangdao nodded and said, "It can be used, but it can only shoot a few dozen paces away."

"So I prepared quite a lot."

"How many?" Yao Pingzhong asked.

Zhang Guangdao grinned: "More than a year,"

"I built more than three hundred doors."

"The bullets are all made of stone,"

"The problem is there isn't enough gunpowder,"

"They urged the imperial court to transport it several times."

"More than three hundred cannons..."

Yao Pingzhong gasped.

He could imagine the scene of a volley.

Zhang Guangdao said, "If we launch a full-scale attack regardless of casualties,"

"I have already captured Pingdingjun City."

"The terrain here is excellent,"

"It would be extremely appropriate to keep it for besieging the city and attacking reinforcements."

"The battlefield used for troop deployment,"

"I selected more than a dozen places,"

"This is the perfect spot to unleash the full power of a barrage of cannons!"

.....

Yang Zhi led the elite troops of Hanzhong,

He went to Zhao Prefecture to meet up with Guan Sheng, Zong Ze, Yue Fei, and others.

Meanwhile, the elite troops of Kuizhou under Li Bao's command,

A small number were taken by him to Dengzhou and Laizhou.

Most of them went to Shenzhou to be under Zhao Yuan's command.

In addition, Yang Zhi's firearms troops used in the previous battles against the Western Xia...

I returned to Beijing at the beginning of the year.

They were accompanied by the capital's firearms troops and heavily armored guards.

They were all transferred to Shenzhou and placed under Zhao Yuan's command.

Now by Zhao Yuan's side,

It had 3000 heavily armored infantry, 6314 musketeers, 210 various types of arquebuses, and 9000 elite troops from Kuizhou.

The Hebei Eight-Character Army consisted of 7200 men, and 6000 temporarily recruited local militia (who were mainly used for defending the city).

Chapter 1995 All-Out Attack

These are just soldiers.

The number of logistics support personnel (who are all regular logistics personnel and receive military pay in peacetime) was not included.

All the musketeers are here.

Zhao Yuan's expectation was five thousand.

Ordnance factories across the country are rushing to complete production.

Under the premise of ensuring quality,

More than a thousand more muskets were produced than expected.

Don't think that the manufacturing speed of muskets is too slow.

They're also building cannons at the same time.

Moreover, cannons were prioritized, and both the navy and naval forces were equipped with many iron cannons.

The musket was brand new.

The musketeers, however, had been practicing for six months.

First recruit soldiers,

Two or three people share one gun.

They take turns conducting shooting training.

Meanwhile, we await the delivery of new guns for equipment.

Some muskets fired too many times.

They might even be eliminated prematurely.

Furthermore, since Zhong Xiang has already perished,

Another 30,000 Huainan New Army soldiers and 10,000 Zhejiang New Army soldiers were transferred north.

They are currently heading north along the canal.

Cao Cheng, Yang Zaixing, and other rebel leaders

There were also surrendered generals from the puppet Chu regime, such as Yang Hua, Chen Tao, and Li Herong.

They were each allowed to choose three hundred personal guards.

He was assigned to the Huainan and Zhejiang military units as a general.

They rushed to Hebei to fight without stopping—to put it bluntly,

It means transferring them away from their hometowns.

This will make it easier for the imperial court to digest the Hunan territory more quickly.

The original generals who were replaced by them

He was then transferred to serve as a military officer in the Hunan local army.

This was to strengthen the imperial court's control over Hunan.

"The Jurchens have reinforced their troops, and the general in command is Wanyan Chamu."

Wang Yan presented the intelligence he had just received with both hands.

Zhao Yuan took it and looked at it, then smiled and said, "Excellent."

As the Ming Dynasty's military strength in Shenzhou continued to increase,

Moreover, they swaggered around without any attempt to hide it.

The Jin state also correspondingly increased the strength of the Yongning Army.

Even Wanyan Chamu brought Jurchens to reinforce them.