In the face of the real siege, the battle that occurred when the Song army filled the trenches was just a fight between children.

On the walls of Zangdihe City, people's heads are like ants, and Xixia soldiers are everywhere with bows and arrows. They pile up large sheep-headed stones that are more than half a person tall, and the yakshas and bed crossbows are ready to go, the burning torches and the Xixia military flag are waving in the wind. They are like a giant hedgehog covered with spikes, curled up, ready to invade from all directions at any time.

Outside the city wall, various Song army flags were lined up, covering the brown and yellow earth. Under the flag, Song army soldiers were densely packed, lined up in formations, swords and guns were like forests, bows and crossbows were like seas, and countless siege weapons were displayed in front of the array, like a tiger descending from the mountain, which could open a bloody mouth at any time, completely swallowing up the small city of Zangdihe City, which is only three miles in a radius.

At the time of the morning, the siege battle officially began. Amid the rhythmic sound of war drums, teams of Song soldiers stepped forward with long shields, covering the archers and crossbowmen to advance quickly, and rushed towards Zangdihe City, where the trench had been mostly filled. When the Song soldiers entered the range of the defenders on the city, the city wall immediately sounded, and giant long arrows broke out from the strings, facing the Song soldiers who were walking towards them like lightning.

The first thing the Xixia army fired was the farthest-range bed crossbow. The crossbow arrows of the bed crossbow had no pricks in front, and the arrows were replaced by iron balls larger than fists. Although the arrows were not as sharp as ordinary bows and arrows, the penetration power of this giant arrow was still terrifyingly strong under the power of the giant strings of the bed crossbow. Even if the long shield covered with iron sheets in front of the hit, it could easily penetrate the long shield and directly kill and kill the Song army soldiers behind the long shield.

Giant arrows drew blood waves among the Song army soldiers. A Song army soldier had already died before he could see the enemy's appearance. However, the long shield team of the Song army soldiers was still moving forward quickly, because the Song army soldiers knew that only by approaching the city as soon as possible could they avoid these giant arrows of crossbows with difficulty in turning the strings, and could they fight back against the defenders on the city with their bows, crossbows, feather arrows in their hands.

When the Song army soldiers entered about half a mile away from the city wall, the war drums on the city sounded, and countless divine arm bows fired together, shooting countless arrows straight towards the Song army soldiers who were coming quickly. More Song army soldiers fell to the ground and died, but the Song army soldiers were still moving forward quickly, and more Song army soldiers in the rear also pushed the drag-and-drop catapult to strike out, preparing to launch a second wave of attacks.

Finally, the brave soldiers of the Song army rushed to the 100-meter range of the city wall and formed temporary arrow-avoiding fortifications with long shields as fast as possible. As the roars of the grassroots generals of the Song army, feather arrows shot towards the top of the city with white smoke. The Xixia soldiers who shamelessly occupied the northwest territory of the Song Dynasty for many years finally began to fall to the ground by someone being caught in an arrow.

The economy was too developed and the military supplies were sufficient. The soldiers of the Song army used the most advanced gunpowder weapon of this era, which was the feather arrow with gunpowder bags in front of them. After the feather arrow was shot, not only could the arrowheads break through armor and injure people, but the gunpowder bags also sprayed flames to burn human bodies and defend the city equipment. Therefore, the soldiers of the Song army just rushed out the first round of feather arrows, and there were already fires everywhere in the city, which could stimulate the toxic smoke that could stimulate the eyes and noses to spread.

Of course, the soldiers of the Song army were unwilling to meet this result. More gunpowder arrows shot at the city wall one after another. The wooden and stone city tower became the key target of the Song army soldiers. In just a moment, countless rockets were already filled with them, and the building body gradually began to catch fire, forcing the Xixia soldiers to quickly pour water to put out the fire, and chaos began to appear on the position.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the crossbowmen in his own army to suppress the defenders on the city, the Song army's catapult also began to advance. He rushed to the vicinity of the city under the rain of arrows shot by the soldiers of Xixia, and quickly prepared for the attack at the cost of life, and then threw fireballs into the city to burn and kill the defenders on the city.

The fireball thrown by the Song army's catapult was also an original gunpowder weapon. Because the formula ratio of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal was too primitive, and it could not even be ignited with a fuse. It could only be primitive by piercing the ball into the ball body, and then it would not explode. It could only burn the flames and toxic gases, but its power was quite good. In addition to burning the soldiers of Xixia, it could also more effectively ignite the buildings above and behind the walls. As a result, a huge fire burned at the top of the city. The city also burst into flames everywhere. The toxic smoke even enveloped many areas, making the soldiers of Xixia cry, their eyes were red and swollen, and they were extremely painful.

"It turns out that gunpowder weapons in this era are like this. It's great and there is a lot of room for improvement. As long as I give me a little more time, I will definitely be able to create better and more gunpowder weapons, as well as gunpowder formulas, which I can also improve."

When using a monocular telescope to observe the siege, Zhao Rong murmured silently in his heart, and said in his heart: "The catapult has started to attack. What kind of siege weapons should be used next? I want to observe and learn more."

Liu Zhongwu, who personally directed the battle, satisfied Zhao Rong's desire to learn. While waving the flag, more Song army crossbowmen lined up and quickly built more anti-arrow fortifications far outside the city, desperately shooting various crossbow arrows to the city. The expensive feather arrows also made the defenders on the city unable to raise their heads. This is also the gap between national strength. Compared with cavalry, the Song army's cavalry is indeed far from the opponent of the Western Xia cavalry, but comparing with military supplies, the Song army left behind more than eight streets of the Xixia army, which had a small country and few people.

After successfully suppressing the firepower of the defenders in the city, the Song army's Ant Affiliated Team finally began to move. The Song army soldiers, who were in the capital, carried the flight ladder and charged quickly. The city car crashed into the city and the pointed wooden donkey that was highly expected by the Song army, also rushed towards the city gate and the city wall at the fastest speed, intending to directly knock open the city gate and open the road to the city.

The same is true on the battlefield of the partial division outside the North Gate. Under the command of Wang En, the chief supervisor of the Song army's Jingyuan Road, the partial division of the Song army also launched an ant-attachment attack. The Zangdihe City defenders, with only more than 3,000 troops, also doubled the pressure.

But unfortunately, after the ants battle began, the fortification advantages of the Xixia army were immediately revealed. With its favorable advantage of being condescending, experienced Xixia soldiers used a wooden to suppress the flying ladders of the Song army soldiers, and used a sheep-headed stone to attack the Song army soldiers who were about to approach the top with flails. During this period, they continued to throw burning bundles of grass, throw ash bottle, and throw down the yakshas covered with spikes, killing the Song army soldiers with flesh and blood, making it difficult to advance. As a result, the Song army soldiers fought fiercely for a long time, but no warrior could rush to the top of the city wall.

The overly common city-killing car quickly lost its effect. When the Song army's city-killing car finally approached the city gate, before they could hit the door, strips of bluestones with iron chains had already been smashed off the city wall, smashing the Song army soldiers who pushed the city-killing car to pieces, and their flesh was blurred. They also made the city-killing car so that wood chips flew everywhere, quickly losing their attack power. This was the case with several city-killing cars in succession.

Fortunately, the pointed-headed wooden donkey, which was highly expected by Liu Zhongwu, Zhao Rong and others, did not disappoint. After hitting under the city wall, the Song army soldiers under the wooden donkey immediately swung their pickaxe and tried hard to dig the wall. As a result, the Song army soldiers were overjoyed that even though the Xixia people added a lot of clay, lime and pebbles to the loess when they were ramming the city, they were still very easy to dig. Basically, with a hoe down, they could throw a small pit on the city wall. When they dug it hard, the pit gradually turned into a big pit, and the soil and stones began to fall in clusters.

Don’t ask the people of Xixia why they didn’t add glutinous rice juice to the loess. During the Song and Xia War, the two armies of Song and Xia built hundreds of military fortresses in the Hengshan area. Even the wealthy and powerful Song army did not dare to build a city so extravagantly, let alone the Xixia army, which was a small country and a poor country.

The Xixia army on the city wall soon discovered this danger and quickly looked for various ways to deal with the pointed wooden donkeys of the Song army. However, no matter how the Xixia soldiers threw stones and shot arrows, it was useless. The top of the wooden donkey with raw cowhide and thick plaster can effectively prevent arrows, and the slopes like the roof can easily slide the stones away, so throwing stones and bows are ineffective. The Xixia defenders had no choice but to use torches to set fire to burn the wooden donkeys, but the torches without spikes at the rear also slid aside, and were immediately swept away by the Song army soldiers hiding under the car, and they still could not form a fire that could threaten the pointed wooden donkeys.

The strange screams of croaking sounded in the city, and the generals of the Xixia defenders shouted and shouted on the city walls, sending various orders to deal with the pointed wooden donkey, but they still had no effect. Even if the strip bluestone with iron chains was transported urgently, they could only cause considerable damage to the pointed wooden donkey.

Seeing this situation through a monocular telescope, Liu Zhongwu, who personally directed the battle, also decisively ordered the siege to step up the siege, and the Song army soldiers who covered and manipulated the pointed wooden donkey to dig the city faster. The Song army soldiers worked together to draw bows and arrows to the city even more crazily, throw stone bombs and fire bombs, and use all their strength to suppress the defenders on the city. The Song army soldiers who dig the walls were even more motivated, and they worked harder to dig the city. Soon they dug holes in the city walls that could directly hide people, and they hid in the holes and worked harder to dig the city safely.

The dog jumped over the wall in a hurry. In addition to burning the pointed wooden donkeys of Song army with a large amount of bunches of soaked tiny oil, the Xixia defenders also hurriedly organized a suicide squad. During the fierce battle, they suddenly opened the city gate and rushed out, howling wildly at the Song army soldiers who were chiseling the city. They also achieved certain results at one time, killing the Song army soldiers who were chiseling the city and destroying several pointed wooden donkeys. Fortunately, Liu Zhongwu was prepared for this. While the flag was waving, many Song army soldiers who were ambushing the long shield immediately shouted and rushed out, rushing to the Xixia suicide squad that was fighting desperately out of the city, and launched a bloody battle with the Xixia soldiers under the city.

The cruelty and bloody close-knit fight cannot be described as in writing. In short, the Western Xia army's suicide squad paid more than half of the casualties and then barely fled back to the city, and the Song army soldiers took the opportunity to seize the city gate. As a result, seeing the soldiers of the Western Xia fleeing in a panic, the Song army immediately burst into joy and the morale was greatly boosted. The Song army soldiers who were drilling the city also took the opportunity to return to their posts to continue drilling the city, and they also replenished a lot of fresh blood. The crisis of the Zangdihe City defenders was only slightly relieved and they were not completely overcome.

At this time, someone suddenly patted Zhao Rong on the shoulder. When Zhao Rong, who was concentrating on observing the enemy situation, turned around, he saw that Liu Qi had come behind him at some point. He smiled and said to him: "Thanks to your pointed wooden donkey, we have great hope to quickly take Zangdihe City."

"What does the Fourth General mean?" Zhao Rong said with a smile: "The pointed wooden donkey was thought of by Deputy General Gao. What does it have to do with me?"

"You go and coax the ghost." Liu Qi smiled and said, "To say something disrespectful, what is the ability of the Chief Supervisor? I can't know? Apart from hiding in the camp playing football and drinking, he doesn't even dare to watch the battle in the siege, what else can he have? If you didn't tell him this pointed wooden donkey, I will lose my head to you."

Zhao Rong smiled dryly and didn't say anything, Liu Qi said strangely: "I don't understand. You thought of this pointed wooden donkey. Why don't you give it to my father to ask for me? Why do you have to do this extra move and pass the high military supervisor's hand?"

"Fourth General, I am from the Palace Commander's Mansion. The deputy commander is my immediate superior, and he is much higher than me." Zhao Rong finally told the truth in front of Liu Qi.

"I understand, no wonder Gao Jianjun asked you to act in the affairs of the Palace Front Office so quickly, and he really knows how to be a human being." Liu Qi heard Zhao Rong's implicit voice, and pointed to the telescope in Zhao Rong's hand with great curiosity and asked, "What is this? Why did I just see you using this kind of thing to look at the battlefield. Just use your eyes to look at the battlefield, why do you have to use this to look at this? Also, why do I have one in my father's hand today? I asked him what it is, but he won't tell me."

He had a very good impression of Liu Qi. Zhao Rong calculated it and whispered: "Fourth Generals, I will tell you what this is. Don't spread it. This is one of the current secrets of our Privy Council of the Song Dynasty. Taiwei Tong personally ordered that it should not spread it. The one in your father's hand was also the one I gave to him secretly yesterday evening."

After saying that, Zhao Rong also whispered the function of the telescope to Liu Qi, and taught Liu Qi how to use it. Without further ado, Liu Qi, a military general, could not put it down after seeing the magic of the telescope, and said with a shameless face: "General Zhao, I like this thing very much. Can you...?"

"I'll give you one quietly after I go back." Zhao Rong whispered: "But don't tell others that I only have four telescopes in my hand. I use one myself, and the other two will be given to Deputy Supervisor Gao and your father respectively. The last one will be given to you. If you leak it out, let others know that this thing came out of my hands, General Wang Dehou, General Liu, General Wang and your brothers, I will not be able to be a human being."

When Liu Qi was overjoyed, he naturally thanked Zhao Rong repeatedly, promised that he would never be rumored. He poked Zhao Rong with his arm and said with a smile: "No wonder my father would allow you to walk around the position today and observe the military situation casually. It turns out that my father's flattery has long been comforted by you."

When Zhao Rong smiled proudly, a white flag suddenly appeared on the top of the mountain at the highest point in the west and shook it hard. Liu Qi saw it with a sharp eye and suddenly said in a lost voice: "No, an enemy is coming! Who came? Could it be that Wang Dehou has been defeated?"

Having learned military command from Li Gang, Zhao Rong also knew that shaking the white flag on the observation post means that an enemy was attacking, so he quickly turned his head and looked at it, and immediately said in surprise: "How is it possible? General Wang was defeated so quickly, is it impossible?"

"Let's go to the flag formation to see the situation."

Liu Qi called out, turned his head and ran towards the flag formation. Zhao Rong, who was personally allowed by Liu Zhongwu, was also able to move at will on the position. As a result, when Liu Qi and Zhao Rong arrived in front of Liu Zhongwu one after another, a Song army scout rushed into the flag formation and knelt down on one knee to Liu Zhongwu and said, "Report to the Grand Commander, the Iron Harrier Army of the pseudo-Xia thief army broke through General Wang Dehou's interception and headed south to approach the battlefield of Zangdihe City. It is less than five miles away from Zangdihe City, and the number is about 1,500 people!"

"I know, let's explore again!" Liu Zhongwu waved his hand with a gloomy face and ordered: "Go and order Wang En to form a formation to intercept it, and be sure to block the iron kite of the pseudo-Xia thief army!"

After the command army ran away, Liu Zhongwu punched the table in front of him with a heavy punch, shouting with a blue face: "Wang Dehou, what are you doing? He actually let the pseudo-Xia thief army break through your interception so quickly, and it will ruin my big deal!"

"Master, General Wang should have his difficulties." Liu Yanqing, general manager of the Fuyan Road, said: "It is difficult to stop the Iron Harrier when he rushed forward, and with the cover of Bu Bazi of the pseudo-Xia thief army, it is definitely easier for Iron Harrier to break through General Wang's interception. Fortunately, there are not many enemies, and it does not pose much threat to our main force."

"I know." Liu Zhongwu said distressedly: "But once the Iron Harrier arrives, the morale of the pseudo-Xia thief army in the city will definitely be greatly boosted, and our morale will also be greatly affected. Wang En may have to be forced to stop siegeing the city, and the next battle will definitely be even more difficult."

It seemed as if it was verifying Liu Zhongwu's judgment. At this moment, a huge cheer sounded suddenly on the walls of Zangdihe City. It was obvious that the defenders in the city saw the arrival of reinforcements and their morale was greatly boosted. At the same time, the Song army soldiers who were not aware of the inside were also looking at each other and whispering to each other, and their morale was inevitably affected to a certain extent.

After thinking about it, Zhao Rong bowed to Liu Zhongwu and said, "Master, the general dared to go up the nearby high ground to see what the iron kite of the pseudo-Xia thief army is like. Please allow the Master to allow it."

Seeing that Zhao Rong secretly gave him the telescope yesterday evening, Liu Zhongwu didn't say anything, but waved his hand to agree. Zhao Rong quickly bowed and thanked him, and walked quickly to Zhao Xiaoyi and Wu Song who were waiting in the distance. Liu Qi quickly chased after him and whispered: "Be careful, I'll send a few personal soldiers to protect you."

Knowing that Liu Qi was out of good intentions, Zhao Rong nodded quickly, then led Liu Qi's personal soldiers and Wu Song, Zhao Xiaoyi came out of the battle, raided his horse and rushed to the high mountain west to see with his own eyes how the iron kite of the Western Xia army was invincible to the world, so that the Song army was feared by them as if they were tigers?
Chapter completed!