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

The following day, several hundred Jurchen cavalry and more than two thousand herdsmen escorted even more grain and fodder southward.

The livestock were plundered from the southern grasslands, and the grain was obtained by scraping the land to the bone in northern Shanxi. Wanyan Zonghan overturned the table and drained the pond to catch all the fish, so now he has a very abundant supply of grain.

By the third day, the Jin army had built more than 30 trebuchets of various sizes, as well as more than 400 simple siege ladders.

As the Jin soldiers slowly moved their trebuchets towards the north of the city, Wang Yan ordered, "Fire!"

The Yanshan Pass was difficult to traverse, and the heavy cast iron cannons were hard to transport; there were only eight wrought iron field guns here.

Moreover, the Jin soldiers had demolished the city wall in advance, and the temporary wall they built was not sturdy, making it difficult to place cannons on it.

The other three walls of the city were unable to attack the Jin troops besieging the city from the north.

These eight wrought iron cannons are currently positioned among the chariots.

Eight of the tanks were towed away overnight and replaced with artillery to fire at the attacking troops.

"Boom boom boom!"

All the shells were aimed at the moving trebuchets, but unfortunately the aim was poor, and not a single trebuchet was hit. Instead, they killed more than ten Jin soldiers.

They bombarded the enemy until the third round, finally hitting one of them, and the gun barrel was smashed in half on the spot.

The Huihui cannons moved slowly, and the Ming army began firing again from a distance of one and a half miles away.

After the fourth round of continuous shelling, the cannons were still far from the city wall.

"Boom!"

"what!"

Suddenly, a crater appeared in the ground, and a trebuchet along with its three gunners plunged into the huge crater.

This time the cannon shot was quite powerful; it was fired so far that a large portion of it remained protruding after being lowered into the crater.

"Boom boom boom!"

Another round of shelling followed.

Those responsible for firing the cannons were mostly craftsmen and herdsmen; only two cannon operators were veterans.

They had already reached their limit in holding out until now. After several rounds of shelling, one team suddenly turned and ran away, which led to more people abandoning their cannons and fleeing.

Wanyan Zonghan, who was watching from the rear, gave the order: "The first group to flee shall be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public!"

Of the Jin army's thirty-odd trebuchets, nine had already been destroyed by shells, and three others had fallen into craters and were unable to get out.

According to Wanyan Zonghan's idea, the newly built city wall by the Ming army was just for show, and the Huihui cannons could easily collapse it by hitting it with a few boulders.

The problem now is that we can't get through with the volleyballs!

After much deliberation, Wanyan Zonghan decided to abandon the strategy of bombarding the city repeatedly and ordered a direct attack on the city (using chariot formations).

Chapter 3450 If they retreat again, they will all be beheaded!

There were two gaps in the city wall that were filled with chariots, totaling more than 300 meters in length.

At Wanyan Zonghan's command, a large number of herdsmen transformed into light cavalry, using their warhorses to drag wooden ladders toward the chariots.

Along the way, cavalrymen frequently fell into pits, and no one knew how many pits Wang Yan had dug.

Because the herdsmen cavalry were too scattered, the Ming army's eight cannons were too lazy to fire.

Only when the enemy troops were getting closer and closer to the chariots did the Ming army begin to fire arrows.

These herders, lacking armor, fell one after another to the hail of arrows.

They were also shooting arrows at the Ming army, but they were all blocked by shields or chariot shields.

Before they could even dismount and set up the wooden ladders, a large number of herdsmen and cavalrymen retreated in disarray.

Their loyalty to the Jin Dynasty was only relative to that of the various ethnic groups in Liaodong; it certainly did not reach the level of fighting to the death.

Wanyan Zonghan then ordered the execution of more than ten of the first to flee, and made the supervising team run back and forth with their heads on their hands: "Anyone who dares to retreat again will be beheaded!"

Two more groups of herdsmen cavalry were organized to advance and attack.

Under the severe deterrence of military law, someone finally rushed to the tank, cut the ropes pulling the wooden ladder, and placed the ladder on the tank in an attempt to climb it.

But that was all; they were all driven back by the Ming army's spearmen.

Wanyan Zonghan launched a fourth attack, using herdsman cavalry to charge ahead and elite Jurchen soldiers to follow.

The herdsmen cavalry exhausted the Ming army's arrows, and the Jurchen elites took the opportunity to rush to the front of the chariots.

"Grenadier!"

Whenever elite Jurchen soldiers charged into a chariot, the grenadiers on board would raise their "Ten Thousand Enemy" weapons, light them with fire ropes, and throw them over the chariot's shield.

"Boom boom boom!"

Those Jurchen elites were still building wooden ladders when they were all blown to bits, ladders and all.

The nearby Jin soldiers were so frightened that they fled in droves.

Finally, Wanyan Zonghan stopped attacking and ordered the entire army to retreat back to their camp.

Wanyan Zonghan was extremely frustrated; the Ming army's firearms were simply too difficult to deal with.

With artillery at long range, muskets at medium range, and weapons capable of taking on ten thousand men at close range, how could the Jurchen elites possibly make any use of their strength?

Let alone attacking a fortified city, even if the city walls were torn down, the Jin soldiers would not be able to break through even if they were simply blocked by chariots in formation.

The only option left is to besiege the city and attack its reinforcements.

Moreover, they had to ambush and launch a surprise attack. If the Ming army's reinforcements formed a wagon formation, the Jin army would be unable to defeat them no matter how they attacked!

Wang Yan sat on the north city tower, watching the Jurchens retreat with an expressionless face.

Most of his soldiers were from Hebei, and each of them had a deep-seated hatred for the Jin Dynasty.

If we can hold off the main Jin army force here for a few days, the other friendly forces will be able to arrive.

"Marshal, reinforcements from the Southern Bandits have been spotted ten miles south of Wen'an Town!"

Wanyan Zonghan immediately mounted his horse, leaving a force to guard the camp, while he personally led his elite troops to attack the Ming reinforcements.

To mislead Wang Yan, who was defending the city, they went around to the far east to avoid being spotted by the soldiers using binoculars.

South of Wen'an Town is Li Yanxian, who is no longer a pure cavalry general.

A portion of his cavalry, led by Yan Ping, marched eastward to join Li Jinyi in attacking Jinzhou.

The remaining cavalry were mixed with several thousand infantrymen, and Li Yanxian's military rank was even higher than Yue Fei's.

Upon arriving at Wen'an Town, Li Yanxian immediately ordered: "Use the town's houses, rivers, and chariots to form ranks and await the arrival of friendly forces."

Chapter 3451 Supplies

Hehe, I'm not leaving.

The Ming generals all knew Wanyan Zonghan's plan, so why were they in such a hurry?

Li Yanxian formed a defensive formation in Wen'an Town, waiting for Li Bao and Yue Fei to arrive and join him.

A messenger arrived on horseback and delivered Yue Fei's secret letter to Li Yanxian.

After carefully reading the secret letter, Li Yanxian smiled and said, "Since General Yue says he is confident, then I will lend him my cavalry!"

Wanyan Zonghan had too many warhorses under his command; if he couldn't win, he could escape at any time.

Yue Fei's idea was simple: just burn the Jin army's supplies!

Even if the attempt to burn the grain fails, they can still retreat into Dading Prefecture.

Once the burning of the grain is successful, it will force Wanyan Zonghan to fight a decisive battle.

Yue Fei was already fighting very aggressively, but Li Bao was even more reckless.

Upon hearing that Wanyan Zonghan had arrived, he immediately withdrew from Xingzhong Prefecture and ordered second-line troops and laborers to garrison Jianzhou Prefecture.

He had no intention of rescuing Wang Yan. Instead, he led his elite troops north on horseback, each with only one mule to transport grain, intending to attack Huihe County and Sanhan County and directly capture Wanyan Zonghan's rear cities.

Li Bao trusted Li Yanxian, Yue Fei, and Wang Yan. Since the three of them could keep things stable, why should he go all the way to rescue them?

Simply cut off the enemy's retreat!

"I entrust Hezhong County to my brother," Yue Fei said, bowing to Li Qiong. "This city is a vital supply route, so we cannot send troops out lightly."

"Even if we are to go to rescue General Li's troops, we should leave enough soldiers to defend the city."

"General Li has replied, saying that he can hold Wen'an Town for at least ten days."

"Because his army only had enough rations for ten days, the Jin soldiers would definitely cut off his supply lines."

Li Qiong smiled and said, "Go as soon as possible."

"I will not lead any troops out of the city within ten days."

"Even if the Jin soldiers challenge us outside the city, I will treat them as a pack of barking dogs."

Yue Fei said, "I have already sent the musketeers to support General Li."

"It should be."

Li Qiong didn't care about this; after all, he was just guarding the city.

This place is a key point on the grain transport route. According to the military merit calculation method of the Ming Dynasty, guarding an important military grain outpost would be a great achievement.

"Farewell!" Yue Fei said, taking his leave.

Historically, although the two were from the same hometown, they did not have a close relationship.

In this different time and space, they fought against the Jin together under Zong Ze, and were a fixed duo of main general and deputy general for many years.

Zhao Yuan did not have much ill feelings towards Li Qiong, because the Huaixi mutiny was absurd to begin with.

At that time, Liu Guangshi was stripped of his military power, and Zhao Gou appointed Yue Fei to take over those troops.

However, fearing that Yue Fei would be difficult to control, the relevant appointments were kept secret, and Yue Fei was warned not to make a fuss. In other words, the appointments could be changed at any time. If Yue Fei obtained Liu Guangshi's troops, it would be equivalent to controlling five-sevenths of the main force of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Prime Minister Zhang Jun wanted to take command of the army himself to avoid being outwardly obedient but inwardly defiant by military generals, and to take overall control of the counterattack plan.

Qin Hui also didn't want Yue Fei to become too powerful, otherwise how could they negotiate peace?

Therefore, neither the emperor nor the leaders of the war and peace factions wanted to hand over the army to Yue Fei.

Such an important appointment, yet the court's fickle attitude angered Yue Fei so much that he resigned.

Before resigning, Yue Fei had told Zhang Jun that Wang De and Li Qiong had a conflict, and it would be inappropriate for either of them to be the commander-in-chief.

Zhang Jun paid no attention to this and promoted Wang De, who had few soldiers, to the position of commander (to make him easier to control), which made Li Qiong increasingly dissatisfied.

Chapter 3452 Three-pronged Approach

Zhang Jun, fearing a mutiny, quickly separated the two men's troops.

In fact, separating them was enough, but Zhang Jun went overboard by appointing Lü Zhi as the military supervisor to stabilize the troops.

The mess they'd made before had already caused great resentment among the military leaders.

When Lü Zhi arrived at the army camp, he not only failed to appease the generals, but also arbitrarily replaced Liu Guangshi's former generals.

They also exchanged sarcastic remarks, exacerbating the conflict between Li Qiong and Wang De—all of this was for the court to install trustworthy military generals and drive away those who were not so obedient.

Perhaps it was Li Qiong's complaints, or perhaps it was his rude remarks that angered the supervising officer Lü Zhi.

Or perhaps this was Zhang Jun's goal, and Lü Zhi then submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting that Li Qiong be dismissed from his post.

He not only submitted memorials to the emperor, but he also failed to be meticulous in his work.

The clerk serving Lü Zhi actually told Li Qiong about this matter.

Li Qiong was both shocked and furious, fearing that he would be accused of treachery and suffer a miserable fate after losing his military power.

Therefore, Li Qiong discussed with the resentful generals and led more than 40,000 troops and 200,000 civilians to directly join the puppet Qi regime supported by the Jin Dynasty.

At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty only had 200,000 troops available, and nearly a quarter of them were gone in an instant.

If it weren't for Zhang Jun and Lü Zhi provoking all the military commanders, how could Li Qiong have been able to take so many soldiers and civilians away?

The Huaixi Mutiny was a collective will of the military leaders, and Li Qiong was merely the leader of it.