During the days when Liu Jianji attacked Tiansheng Village, he used a lot of artillery and played various tricks. This time, he attacked Lingzhou, with his troops as the main attack and Zhang Kangjun assisted.

Lingzhou is an isolated city with no reinforcements outside. There is no way to escape close to the Yellow River, so there is no way to escape. Once the city is broken, since the roads outside are full of Song troops, the Dangxiang troops in the city have nowhere to run. This is already a dead end. Esangge does not surrender, and the only reliance is that the Song army will not spend too much effort on itself. A city lord is far inferior to a prefect of the Song Dynasty. As for using tens of thousands of troops to attack fiercely? Isn’t it good to do something else with this skill?

However, when the Song army really came to attack, Esangge still didn't believe it. He knew that the Song army was gathered under the city, but he always thought it was just to scare him, and he would turn north after staying for a few days.

There were a thousand unbelievable Esangge on his face, got up from the selected village women, put down the wine glass in his hand, and put on his military uniforms. With the order of the personal soldiers to arrive at the city. Not long after leaving the city lord's mansion, he heard a shocking sound outside the city, which scared him so much that he staggered.

The personal soldiers hurriedly supported him and said, "Sir, this is the artillery of the Song army outside the city, which is very scary!"

Esanggeqiang calmed himself down, and held the puppet and said, "Why is the Song army's artillery so moving? Where is our Pixi Army?"

The personal soldiers shook their heads and didn't say anything, but just accompanied Esangge to the east city.

When he arrived at the tower at the top of the city, Song Jun came to attack. Esangge felt his feet shaking and almost sat on the ground. He held his breath and concentrated. Esangge held his breath and looked out of the city, but saw black smoke outside, so he could see clearly.

After a while, Esangge said, "What kind of magic did the Song army use? It's in the clouds and fog, and people can't see clearly!"

The personal soldier said: "This is the artillery of the Song army. When the cannon is fired, it is like this. I asked the people who retreated from Tiandu Mountain to Lingzhou. They all said that the artillery of the Song army is like this. It is shot far and its strength is fierce, which is extremely difficult to defend against!"

Before he finished speaking, a fire suddenly appeared from the black smoke outside the city, followed by a shocking sound. The black smoke rose and the city head shaking again. Esangge then realized that the Song army was fighting the city gate, and he was shocked.

Lingzhou was the old city of the Sui and Tang dynasties. During the Xianping period, Zhao Jiqian attacked Lingzhou many times but failed. Finally, he first took the Qingyuan army and then went to Huaiyuan Town. Lingzhou became an isolated city before conquering Lingzhou. After conquering Lingzhou, Zhao Jiqian continued his tribalization policy, making all the counties under Lingzhou become tribes, and the county town was abandoned. Lingzhou City had never been repaired. Its current appearance is the way Zhao Jiqian looked when he broke the city. The city walls were tilted and the city gates were decayed, which could no longer be compared with the strong city back then.

Of course Esangge knew this, but in his eyes, disrepair was not a problem. Not only him, but most of the officials of Dangxiang, including Yuan Hao's grandfather, thought so. They would rather repair palaces than build a city block. The good men had such a temperament. Siege and defend the city were not what they should do, so they should ride horses on the grassland and desert. In the past, the Song army was defeated by low field capabilities. When it comes to siege and defend the city, the Dangxiang army was like a child playing house in their eyes.

However, now, Esangge has been suffering from this traditional pitfall. This strong city that has been standing on the bank of the Yellow River for hundreds of years has long been a strong man on the outside and cannot withstand the bombardment of the Song army's artillery. Esangge is still comparing himself with the difficulty of the Dangxiang people siege forty years ago, and is really too arrogant. Liu Jianji outside the city is still preparing to let more than a dozen largest artillery take turns to shoot the city gate to find the accuracy, which has scared the Dangxiang army on the top of the city to death.

After coming back to his senses, Esangge jumped and shouted, "Where is the cannon? We also have cannons! Let the Baxi Army fire the cannons and destroy the Song army!"

The personal soldiers behind him looked up at Esangge with a squint, shook their heads slightly, and said nothing.

Esangge ran around the city, forcing the hiding "Puxi Army" to the city, and let them fire guns at the place where black smoke is everywhere outside the city. Although it is impossible to see clearly in the smoke, there is nothing wrong with the thickest part of the black smoke.

The little leader who was taken over said helplessly to Esangge: "Master Lord, our cannon cannot be so far away. Once the cannon is fired, not only will it not hit the Song army, but they will also let them see where we are and will hit us first. Now most of the stone cannons on the top of the city have been destroyed by the Song army. It’s not that we are afraid of death, but that this cannon will be useful to keep it in the future to defend the city!"

Esangge was not willing to believe it, so he ordered the guards around him to draw out their swords and fire artillery with the Xi army to suppress the Song army's artillery outside the city.

The little leader had no choice but to arrange two cannons, load stone bullets, and dozens of people came to grab them and attacked them outside the city.

The stone cannons used by "Poxijun" are all pulled by people, and there are many names such as "Whirlwind Cannon". However, they use many people and cannot be hit far away. The stone cannon is fired and it is barely hit to the edge of the moat.

Esangge ran around the city, asking more people to go up and drag the stone bullets farther away.

At this moment, several loud noises suddenly broke out outside the city, and many iron bombs hit the city. Not only the stone cannons that were fired just now, but even the soldiers of Dangxiang at the city wall fell down, some broke their hands and feet, and some were covered in blood.

Esangge was cut into his thigh by a knife from a soldier who was knocked away, and blood flowed in a while and he stood there in a daze.

The little leader got up from the ground and spread his hands helplessly to Esangge: "Master Lord, have you seen it? The Song army outside the city is aiming at the top of the city. Just wait for our stone cannons to shoot, and when they see where they are, they will shoot several cannons together. If they continue to fire the cannons, they will be smashed in a few hours!"

Esangge nodded in confusion, stopped talking, and walked slowly down the city with his support to the city wall. The city was too dangerous. He was the lord of the city and could not die here in vain. Now Yuan Hao pretended to be dead in Weizhou, and Dangxiang had no king. Who would he shed blood and sweat for? He would leave a good life, eat, drink and spend the rest of his life with the most important thing.

Dangxiang is a tribal system. When the Yuanhao clan is enough to control various tribes, everything is easy to say. Once his elite troops are lost, why should the chiefs of each tribe listen to him? Not to mention that in the past few years, Yuanhao has imposed heavy taxes and has the benefits of fighting against foreign countries. He has suffered losses from various tribes and used paper money to blackmail the entire territory. Everyone has been dissatisfied with him for a long time.

Now, the cities and tribes did not surrender to the Song Dynasty, but did not surrender to Yuanhao, but for themselves. Some did not want to return to the rule of the Song Dynasty, and most were still fighting for their status after the Song Dynasty. Especially the leaders of the tribes were worried that after the Song Dynasty, the county and county would lose their traditional territory, and slaves and tribes would not want to surrender to the Song Dynasty. On the contrary, the officials of the cities and prefectures surrendered the most quickly, and they had no territory or tribe to consider it. As long as the official title and salary were appropriate, they would immediately offer the city.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Zhenzong, they actually faced this situation, but it did not affect the entire territory of Dangxiang. However, at that time, the imperial guards could not constrain military discipline, and the imperial guards did not send enough officials to govern. Zhao Jiqian still had great appeal. On the one hand, the imperial guards burned, killed, looted too much, forcing the Dangxiang people to Zhao Jiqian's side. On the other hand, the Song army relied on the land that was captured by the surrendered tribe leaders. As soon as the wind direction changed, they turned to Zhao Jiqian and eventually failed.

Farming and nomad are two different modes of production, and the political structure and governance methods determined by this are naturally different. Farming often does not recur too much for farming, nomadism, and annexation wars, but they are different from each other. If you cannot clearly recognize this difference and take necessary measures, you will get half the result with twice the effort.

From Mazhiling, Tiandu Mountain, and Hengshan line, there are vast areas that are suitable for farming and pastoral use. The Qin and Han dynasties expanded northward, turning this area into fertile fields, with a dense population, and the border of the Central Plains dynasty went straight to the bottom of Yinshan. From the southward crossing of Yongjia, the Five Barbarians moved south and the Xianbei entered the Central Plains, and this area began to become a pasture again. There were brief recurrences in the early Tang Dynasty, and soon this area became a place to resettle the Hu people in the innervation, and the infrastructure for farming was almost gone.

After occupying this land, rebuilding the agricultural civilization is not a matter of one day or one night. It requires great efforts. The court has used a lot of manpower and material resources to achieve it for decades. If we fail to recognize this, even if Yuan Hao is destroyed, we will still be like Taizong and Zhenzong dynasties, and we will eventually lose it again.

Esangge left the city, and the soldiers of Dangxiang were no longer willing to fight. They looked for places to hide and waited for the Song army to break through the city. With the power of artillery shown today, it was a matter of time before the broken city gate was broken down. Why should we struggle? The princes and nobles no longer resisted, so why should we let these soldiers work hard? The elite soldiers with status in Dangxiang have been transferred away. Now the city is the lowest-level garrison, and the Zhan Fu and the village women who are no different from slaves. After joining the Song Dynasty, his situation will only be better and will not get worse.

In the black smoke outside the city, Liu Jianji wiped his eyes with a wet cloth and said to Zhao Xun beside him: "This cannon is all good, but this black smoke is really unbearable! It would be great when there will be a cannon that does not smoke!"

Zhao Xun was also choked and said to Liu Jianji: "It is better to endure the smoke than to bleed desperately. I see that the Lingzhou city gate in front of me can't get many cannons. I tried it today, and the cannons will be fired tomorrow, and I will just smash it in one fell swoop! The "Puxi Army" on the city front of the city was mostly broken, and I think I will do nothing. After the city gate is broken tomorrow, I will lead the army in to capture the thief chief, and Lingzhou City will be captured soon!"

Liu Jianji said disdainfully: "The thieves are not good at siegeing the city or defending the city. Today it seems that it is not a false statement! He actually put the stone cannon on the top of the city. Isn't this a conspicuous target? Isn't it a big shot? Isn't it a big shot to break the city gate tomorrow, and we may be able to break Lingzhou in three days!"

Whether it is a stone cannon or a cannon, such heavy weapons that defend the city should not be exposed to the firepower of the siege. The cannons should have sufficient protection, and the stone cannon should be under the city wall, not delaying the attack outside the city, and perfectly avoiding the firepower of the attacking party. However, it was common to place stone cannons on the top of the city in this era, and the same was true for the Song army, with the exception of Xu Ping's army.
Chapter completed!