Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

The earliest firearms in the world were probably the sudden firearms of the Song Dynasty, and the craftsmen of the secret department naturally thought of it. The firearms are so powerful. If the soldiers have a shrunken artillery, they will go to heaven!

Chapter 480, The Disappointing Burgundy

In the twelfth lunar month, it was snowing heavily, and in the middle of winter, the Emperor Qianshi gathered his family and held a family banquet in Shanglin Garden.

His father, who hadn't fought in the past few years, gave him a younger sister and a younger brother, both born last year, one named Shi Lan and the other named Shi Lin.

Originally, he and his second sister should be called Shi Conglan and Shi Conglin, but in order to avoid the taboo of the emperor's name, they went directly to Zidai.

During the dinner, the whole family was very happy, but the father still said repeatedly that he could still fight and wanted to fight in Yunzhou.

Shi Congyun refused without hesitation. His father is not young, he is already over 50, and he is already very dangerous in this age.

Second, if the Supreme Emperor goes to fight, that's fine. Even if there is a commander in chief, he won't dare not to listen to him.

On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the craftsmen of the Confidentiality Department showed Emperor Shi their new invention, the burst gun, in Shanglin Garden.

Emperor Shi thoughtfully removed the protruding word, and the musket was just musket or musket.

However, Emperor Shi was still very excited. He wanted to see what kind of musket it was, and wanted to shoot it himself, but the craftsman of the secret department refused again and again, and finally changed to Gu Yang to test the gun, probably because he was afraid of being bombed. The chest hurt the emperor.

Gu Yang is now an important official of the Confidentiality Department, mainly in charge of the modification of the artillery.

However, Emperor Shi was a little disappointed after trying a few shots. He also understood why the people from the confidentiality department added a word "protrude" to the musket. It turned out that the range of the musket was only about ten steps, and no matter how far away, the bullet would not know how far it would go. where it goes.

Moreover, the ignition and launching are cumbersome. With such a short distance and such a cumbersome ignition method, within a dozen steps, someone's spear and broadsword would have been cut to the head, which is very impractical.

Emperor Shi looked at their gun barrels, they were only about one and a half feet long, and in order to facilitate large-scale construction and prevent being damaged by high temperature and high pressure when firing, the bottom was made of copper. Copper is a metal that is more malleable and softer than iron. , It is not easy to explode the chamber.

The strength of the metal is still not up to the mark. This is a problem in the metallurgical process. Emperor Shi thought to himself, but it is already very early in the tenth century AD. Will work it out.

It's just that it was not a good time at that time. It was roughly in the final stage of the subjugation of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the people of the Song Dynasty had no time to continue to study it or use it for war.

But Emperor Shi had plenty of time.

Gu Yang probably saw Emperor Shi's disappointment, and immediately asked someone to bring up a new pair of armor, which was made of iron armor, and the armor pieces were all Qin army's military specifications, only the elite could wear them, and then they fought against the armor. Two shots, still within ten steps, the projectile easily penetrated the thick armor.

Shi Congyun was very happy, and said on the spot: "I can continue to allocate money to you for this matter." He played with the musket in his hand, which has a short barrel and a long wooden handle behind it.

"You continue to study, you can lengthen the barrel, and at the same time, you can change the fire wire, replace it with a better matchlock, just like the kind you prepared for the sergeant, soak the twine in strong wine for a few days , the kind after soaking in urine again." Emperor Shi pointed them out enthusiastically.

Then he asked Zhao Shijian to prepare pens and inks, and he personally drew a sketch of his matchlock gun for these workers. Xiao Huanghua and Lin Shanggong were both pregnant, because Emperor Shi liked to work hard on weekdays.

But Emperor Shi was used to being followed by people, so he asked Zhao Shijian to come and follow him.

The service in ancient times is not the kind of service that modern people can think of. Someone needs to take care of pouring shit, urinating, and even spitting, and some even use "beauty bowls".

However, Emperor Shi was very, very disgusted with these things. Compared with his previous exploitation of Zhao Shijian in Shifu, he could be regarded as gentle.

And now Zhao Shijian still has several helpers with him at any time.

As Emperor Shi drew a sketch, several craftsmen leaned their heads to watch.

Shi Huangdi instructed them, "The barrel of the gun should be lengthened, if the barrel is too short, the shot will not be accurate, nor will it hit far.

It is best to use lead, which is yellow dan, for projectiles, but this thing is poisonous, so don’t eat it. Lead is easy to deform and heavy. It is powerful enough to be used as a projectile, and it can be easily deformed and filled when it is stuffed in. Money tube, increase airtightness...that is, no air leakage...."

Emperor Shi told them a lot in Shanglin Garden, Zhao Shijian took notes beside him, and the craftsmen also took notes seriously.

"This is a major national event. You need to brainstorm. Anyone who has any good ideas can tell me. From now on, this thing will be called a musket. We must do our best to develop it. I can give you the money. Don't let me down." Shi Congyun finally shot Patted Gu Yang on the shoulder.

He immediately stood up straight. Although Emperor Shi liked to pat his shoulders to show his trust, there were not many people in the entire Qin Kingdom who had been patted by the emperor. In their confidentiality department, only confidentiality officer Feng Jisheng had this honor.

Gu Yang straightened his body, flushed with excitement, and repeatedly expressed that he would never let down the grace of God.

.......

In the twelfth lunar month, news came from the north that the Liao Kingdom was indeed just a paper tiger, even more paper tiger than Emperor Shi and Fan Zhi expected.

On the day when the army went north, Murong Yanzhao reached the city of Youzhou all the way. On the front line about ten miles away, the tribal armies on the two wings they assembled ran away when they saw the Qin army. As a result, more than 2000 people from six battalions in the middle were too late to evacuate and were surrounded by the Qin army. , and then became a prisoner without resistance.

Afterwards, their entire army did not dare to confront each other at all, and immediately retreated into Youzhou City. Xiao Siwen accepted the conditions proposed by Qin Jun.

Immediately hand over this year's cattle and sheep, plus [-] head, and another [-] horses to redeem all prisoners of war.

When Shi Congyun went to Fan Zhi's house to have dinner, he told the old man the news, and he smiled rarely.

However, Fan Zhi's family was really shabby. Once the prime minister, the family didn't even have good bowls and chopsticks, and the mansion was not big.

After he withdrew the cash, the old man ate a lot less salt.

Another thing is that Xiao Siwen personally wrote a letter, requesting that his eldest daughter come to the capital. His eldest daughter is already 19 years old and has not yet married. Frail and sickly, he may not be able to adapt to the climate when he comes to the south.

Emperor Shi didn't refuse this time, and directly asked Zhao Shijian to help reply the letter, so let the eldest daughter come, anyway, he only wants a daughter from the direct line of the Xiao family or the Yelu family.

Then the army began to return south with a large number of cattle, sheep and horses.

The matter quickly spread in Guanbei, and then from Hebei to Hedong, then to the Central Plains, Jiangnan, and even Lingnan, it spread everywhere, and it was amazing.

After all, this incident is too invigorating, and it can also show the status of Qin State and Tianwei today. I want to repent some of the Liao State. After being frightened by the Qin Army soldiers coming to the city, I dare not breathe, and I send cattle, sheep, horses, and daughters. Yes, I just laughed out loud.

It has greatly boosted Qin's military prestige, people's hearts and morale.

Only Shi Huangdi and Fan Zhi understand that they can do this mainly because of four or two thousand catties. They have already detected the undercurrents in the Liao Kingdom, and Xiao Siwen and others seem to be planning some political change. Under such circumstances, they dare not There was a real head-on conflict with Qin Jun.

Because of this, Emperor Shi ordered Murong Yanzhao and others to go northward to intimidate the Liao Kingdom.

This move now seems to be the right move. Although there is a risk, the result is very worthwhile.

So this winter, Jinling was approaching from all directions, and the Qin State's four-way army, which was about to encircle the capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, also ate the mutton sent from the north. In [-], Li Yu was assigned. There were so many people from various armies asking for battle, and the frontline soldiers all wanted to enter Jinling as soon as possible.

Some troops even went to the siege by themselves, saying that the soldiers could not meet the requirements of the New Year, and they switched to fighting against the Southern Tang people by surprise.

Emperor Shi was naturally happy to read these memorials in Daliang, but he also vetoed it. Jiangnan is no better than the Liao Kingdom. If he fights the Liao Kingdom, he will really agree to the surprise attack tactics during the Chinese New Year.

Jiangnan is different, they have no strength to resist, and Emperor Shi doesn't want to disrupt Jiangnan and smash it into a mess.

In this way, during the few days of the Chinese New Year, the armies from all walks of life stopped their offensives, ate the meat sent by the Liao Kingdom, and took shelter from the cold on the land in the south of the Yangtze River, and passed a comfortable year.

But this was just the calm before the storm. After a good year, all the Qin soldiers who had eaten meat were ready to go.

Chapter 481: Southern Tang Chess Game

Jiangnan was not without strategy in the face of the Northern Expedition.

After seeking peace to no avail and not daring to go north to Daliang, Li Yu was really scared.However, Chen Qiao, Zhang Zi, Xu Xuan, Xiao Yan and other important officials all felt that they should stick to Jiangning, and then seek victory. There are also precedents in history. More than ten years ago, Zhou attacked Taiyuan, and 10,000+ troops approached the city. The siege was impenetrable. Forced to withdraw troops.

Jiangning City is high and deep, and it is as solid as gold. The Qinhuai River outside the city can be used as an important line of defense. As long as it sticks to it, it will definitely replicate the victory of Taiyuan City back then.

After repeated assurances from Chen Qiao and others, Li Yu finally let go of his heart, and at the same time made an arrangement that Huangfu Jixun would be responsible for the defense of Miyagi, Chen Qiao would be the main defense, and the prime minister would be the military.

At the same time, he wrote a letter to the Liao Kingdom in the north by sea to ask for help, because people around him said that the relief of Taiyuan more than ten years ago was forced by the Liao Kingdom to send reinforcements, and Zhou Jun was forced to retreat.

But soon, Qin Jun's West Route Army broke through one after another, and news of Qin Jun's forced crossing in Dangtu and other places followed one after another, which made people tremble.

At the beginning, when they heard that they were building a bridge opposite Dangtu, no one in the court believed it. Many people even made fun of the Qin army who came from the north. They didn’t know the depth and width of the river.

At that time, many people vowed in front of the king that the Qin army's attempt to build a bridge was destined to be a waste of effort, and it would take time and effort, and consume their manpower and material resources. The Land West Route Army from the west.

As a result, six or seven days later, the news that stunned everyone came.The Qin army actually built a bridge on the Yangtze River. Their troops have already crossed the river by walking directly along the bridge. They attacked in depth to the south, defeated them and assembled in Lishui. The 800 army that was originally going to support Jiangning was killed by Li Xiong.

After several verifications, it was confirmed that the news was indeed true. Everyone was horrified, and there was even a kind of

The fear of "cannot fight against the sky" has been discussed in private, because bridges can be built to cross even the big rivers, and there is nothing in this world that Qin Jun can't do!

There is a negative atmosphere among many Southern Tang military officers, who feel that the Qin army is omnipotent, just like a heavenly soldier, and they can't stop the Qin army no matter what... Li Yu was horrified At that time, people kept sending people to urge Zhu Lingyun in the southern capital to gather the Zhennan Army and go up the river to destroy the pontoon bridge near Caishiji.

Now the army gathered in Lishui was defeated by the Qin army, and the Wuchang army and Fenghua army were also defeated. Only the Nandu army remained in the west.

Li Yu was afraid that Zhu Lingyun would not dare to move, so he urged him repeatedly.Chen Qiao told him that the powerful army crossing the river must be heading directly towards Jiangning. If the pontoon bridge is not destroyed, their continuous supplies and troops can be directly transported to Jiangning from the vicinity of Hezhou across the river.

That can be compared to transporting it from Jiangling and Jingzhou, which has shortened the distance by thousands of miles!In this way, the speed of the Qin army's attack will be greatly accelerated, and the momentum of the attack will be greatly increased, which is extremely unfavorable to them.

So he has sent more than a dozen envoys one after another to urge Zhu Lingyun to immediately gather the Zhennan Army to go northward and advance along the river to destroy the Qin Army's pontoon bridge.

First, he was very anxious, and second, he was afraid of being intercepted by the Qin army halfway.The west side could only wait for Zhu Lingyun's actions, while the situation in the east side was also very critical. Wu Yue ignored his persuasion with cold lips and teeth, and still sent troops.

And the Qin army's navy ships, with thousands of ships, set off from Yangzhou, intending to attack Runzhou directly.Runzhou is an important town, and Li Yu is going to send a confidant to guard it.

Li Yu thought about it, and finally chose to send his closest confidant Liu Cheng to Runzhou to oversee the army to fight against the Qin army.

Liu Cheng is his most trusted confidant. He was an official in the palace when he was a vassal king. After he became the king of the country, he has been with him all the time, his most trusted confidant.

So he wanted Liu Cheng to take him to guard Runzhou, and he was relieved only when Liu Cheng went.When Li Yu told his confidant Liu Cheng about this decision that day, he could clearly see the seriousness on the other side's face.

It seems that he also understands the importance of this matter, Li Yu sighed: "You still understand my mind." The two looked at Li Yu affectionately and said: "I shouldn't have let you leave me, but now the situation is urgent, this matter is very important." You can't." Unexpectedly, Liu Cheng cried directly after hearing this, Li Yu was a little surprised.

"Your Majesty trusts me so much. I feel very honored. I will be born as a dead head and die as a grassroots. I will repay the kindness and trust of the Lord no matter what. Your Majesty can rest assured that I will never let Wu Bing and Qin Bing One step past Runzhou." Liu Cheng swore, wiping away his tears.

Only then did Li Yu realize that he was crying because of this, and was even more moved, and the two said goodbye in tears.

The next day, Li Yu heard rumors that Liu Cheng packed all his family's gold and silver treasures in the car, loaded more than a dozen cars, and wanted to take them all to Runzhou. It was all rewarded by the imperial court. Now that the country is in trouble, what is the use of staying here? I am going to take it to the front line to disperse, reward the three armies to boost the morale of the army, and disperse all the wealth to serve the country." After hearing about it, Li Yu was even more moved and also I feel that I have chosen the right person this time, and it seems that the situation in Runzhou can be saved.

A few days later, the bad news came that the tens of thousands of legions assembled near Jiangyin in the east were defeated by the Qin army and the Wu army outside the city of Changzhou.

In this way, Wu Jun and Qin Jun can directly enter the city of Runzhou. Once Runzhou is breached, they can go straight to Jiangning without any worries.

Runzhou is an important town for the navy, and several major military towns in the south of the Yangtze River. To the west of the capital are the Wuchang Army, Fenghua Army, and Ningguo Army.

The Wuchang Army and Fenghua Army had already been defeated by the Qin Army, while the Ning Guo Army was defeated by the Qin Army who crossed the river by surprise on a pontoon bridge before they had finished gathering near Lishui, and even Li Xiong, the commander-in-chief, died in battle.

At present, only the Nanjun in Hongzhou Town near Nandu in the south, the Anhua Army in Raozhou today in Poyang County, Jiangxi, and the Zhaowu Army in Fuzhou near Fuzhou today are still available.

In the east of the capital, there are the Jiangyin Army and the Runzhou Town Navy.Now that the Jiangyin army has been defeated, only Runzhou's guarding navy is left. If Runzhou is breached, the west of the capital will be opened, and the army will approach the city of Jiangning.

A few years ago, Chen Qiao reported to him that apart from the imperial guards guarding the capital, all military towns in the Southern Tang Dynasty now include Wuchang Army, Fenghua Army, Anhua Army, Zhaowu Army, Zhennan Army, Ningguo Army, Zhenhai Navy, and Jiangyin Army. Half of the army has been defeated by the Qin army.

The rest of the Runzhou Township Navy is still holding on to resist the enemy, while Zhu Lingyun near Nandu is gathering the Zhaowu Army, Anhua Army and Zhennan Army, ready to be ordered to go north and enter the Yangtze River, and then move east along the river to burn the Qin Army in Caishiji. Nearby boardwalk.

The Wuchang army, Fenghua army, Ningguo army, and Jiangyin army have all been wiped out by the Qin army after several months of fighting... But in order to make the king not so worried, Chen Qiao still gave some good news.

First of all, he has summoned troops from nearby counties and counties, sent people to train young men, and assembled more than 5 soldiers and horses near the capital Jiangning, many of whom are forbidden troops, who will surely protect the capital.

Secondly, they relied on the Outer Qinhuai River to set up a defense line, and they were ready. If the Qin army wanted to attack, they had to wade across the river. It was very advantageous for them to wait on the bank of the river.

In the end, Jiangning City's Gaochi was as solid as gold, and they would definitely not be able to attack it.In addition, from Hongzhou, the southern capital, Zhu Lingyun also received news. After he assembled the soldiers and horses of the three towns, he found that there were more than [-] soldiers unexpectedly, because the Zhennan Army, Zhaowu Army and Anhua Army were far away from the river. , in the hinterland of the south, he had never fought against the Qin army at all, and his strength was preserved.

He is ready to wait for the spring to lead an army of [-], more than a thousand warships, known as [-] to the outside world, go north to the Yangtze River, and attack the pontoon bridge of the Qin army.

If he succeeds in the attack, the situation of the entire battlefield is expected to change.After hearing these news, Li Yu did relax a lot, and suddenly felt like seeing the sun behind the clouds.

It's just that Chen Qiao also mentioned at the end that Runzhou should send a tiger general to guard the important area. He recommended Lu Jiang, and he didn't trust Liu Cheng in both words and deeds.

In fact, most of the military officials have the same attitude. Liu Cheng is just a jester. Because he has a good relationship with the king, he is sent to guard the important town of Runzhou. The question is, will he know how to fight?

Li Yu refused without hesitation, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen can rest assured that Liu Cheng is definitely a loyal and conscientious person in state affairs. I am very relieved that he will preside over major events there." Yes, it's just that many things have nothing to do with whether he works hard or not. The key is that he must have that ability... In the end, Chen Qiao didn't say anything, and Li Yu also agreed to let Lu Jiang lead troops to support Runzhou to strengthen defenses, but Still asked Lu Jiang to obey Liu Cheng's orders.

Chapter 482, War on the Eastern Front

Runzhou, near Zhenjiang City, is located about 150 miles east of Jiangning, across the river from Yangzhou. It has been an important town in the south of the Yangtze River since ancient times.

The north goes down from the Huaihe River, takes the east road and enters the Yangtze River. After landing, the first to bear the brunt is the important town of Runzhou.

When Liu Cheng arrived, the officials and generals in the city did not greet him grandly. Liu Cheng also expressed his understanding for this. The situation on the western front was rotten.

And the east front is not much better. Before he came here, bad news came from the east...Changzhou is more than 100 miles away from Runzhou, located in the southeast, where the army of the states and counties in the east gathers. It was stationed near Jiangyin, so the middle school also called this army that maintained the main line of defense against Wuyue the Jiangyin Army.

Their army was assembled in Jiangyin and Changzhou, and then gathered under the city of Changzhou, gathering tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, preparing to resist the Wu army going north from Suzhou.

At this time, the Qin army's navy had already moved south from Yangzhou and entered the river.Then the main force of the Qin State's navy confronted their navy on the river, but sent thousands of elite soldiers eastward along the river, and then quickly captured Taohuadu in the north of Changzhou, defeated the two battalions of defenders there, and then landed.

The worst thing is that in order to defend against the Wuyue army, Changzhou built a solid wall and cleared the countryside at the beginning. Many people had already fled to the city. There were not many troops stationed in Taohuadu in the north, and there were many business travelers on weekdays. It was a lively town. After the war began, some people went east. They ran to Jiangning and other places to find relatives and friends to avoid disaster, and some ran to Changzhou city.

The young officials who came from the imperial examinations who were newly appointed in the local area for two or three years did not organize well to deal with them, and they themselves were confused, and finally ran away with the people. Jiangnan has not experienced war for 15 years, and the war in Jiangbei did not affect Jiangnan too much. , in addition to heavy taxes, there are many more widows.

Because of this, officials in Changzhou do not have much experience in dealing with wars, and neither do the people.

As a result, there are hardly many people left in Taohuadu, except for the old, the weak, the widowed, and a few people that no one cares about.

In the next few days, Changzhou Bingmadujian immediately sent two battalions there to garrison Taohuadu.The Zhizhou and Bingma Dujian in Changzhou are a little aware of the importance of Taohuadu, because there is a Jiangxin Island nearly ten miles north of it, which divides the river into the mainstream and the Jiajiang River. The water flow near Taohuadu slows down, and the water flow on both sides of the river is moderate, which is suitable for ships to dock and people to go ashore. The pier was gradually repaired and it became a ferry with many ships.

Apparently, whether they knew the prefecture or the Changzhou soldiers and horses in the south of the Yangtze River, they thought with common sense and felt that Taohuadu was important, but they were far from thinking about it in the midst of a war.

The Jiangyin army assembled more than 800 people. They only sent two battalions of local troops, [-] troops, to garrison an important ferry.

Bringing this attitude to war turned out to be disastrous. Facing a large number of ships, with more than 5000 naval guns, twelve well-equipped battalions, and more than [-] landing troops of the Imperial Army of the Qin Army, the defenders of Taohuadu are not fools. They surrendered almost without hesitation, and more than ninety-nine percent of them were captured.

The result of their being captured too quickly was that the news that the Qin army had landed was not sent out, and the people nearby almost fled. No one in the south knew that the Qin army had landed an elite army at Taohuadu.

Taohuadu is only about 5000 miles away from Changzhou, which is only a day's journey. ...Where in the west of Changzhou City, more than [-] Wuyue Army forwards have approached outside Changzhou City.

More than 2 Jiangyin troops assembled in Changzhou also built fortifications on the Hengtang River in the southeast, preparing to defend along the river and resist Wu Yue's attack.