Chapter 426: Retreat Again!

"Those who owe blood debts, not one shall escape." Zhao Xu's expression was resolute.

For this Northern Expedition, he did not shirk his duty but came to participate in the war according to the imperial decree; in truth, he wanted to use this opportunity of a joint military campaign to take the initiative in engaging Xiliang and the Northern Di.

Basically speaking, after passing the initial period of biding his time in Yanzhou, as his wings grew full, he possessed the willingness and strength to change from a defensive posture to an offensive one.

Regardless of the outcome of this Northern Expedition, after returning to Yanzhou, he would make his enemies deal with his attacks.

Instead of passively counterattacking as he had before.

"Your Highness is right, debts must be repaid!" Ma Han clenched his fists.

Ever since his father died, the only person he felt he could rely on in his heart was this Yan Wang.

He could not trust anyone else.

If he were not burdened with the status of Head of the Family of the Ma Family, he would even have wished to be a general under Yan Wang's command.

Riding into the city with Ma Han and patrolling Weicheng once, Zhao Xu ordered Qin Shan to repair the walls of Weicheng and fish out the sandbags from the moat.

If the war went poorly, they might still need to hold Weicheng.

After leaving Weicheng, he went to the Wei River again to urge the soldiers to build the bridge.

For him, the sooner he could link up with Zhao Heng, the better.

Otherwise, if the central army were to be defeated like a collapsing mountain, his pressure would rise sharply.

Keeping them around to make up the numbers was also fine.

Xian City.

The troops of the Dou Family were on the left flank, while the troops of the Wang Family and the Han Family were on the right flank.

The Imperial Guard soldiers were in the center.

In front of them, the artillery was lined up in a row.

As the order was passed down, the artillery emitted a huge, booming sound.

Accompanied by firelight and roars, the cannonballs flew straight toward the enemy battle formation of Ma Jin.

"Ah..."

Soldiers hit by the cannonballs let out miserable screams and were sent flying backward, knocking down a whole row of soldiers.

Over three hundred cannons fired continuously, the cannonballs falling like raindrops, and soldiers were killed from time to time.

Yet, braving the artillery of the Great Song army, the troops of Ma Jin continued to advance.

When the two armies were one hundred and fifty meters apart, the matchlock infantry standing behind the artillery stepped forward about thirty meters.

At this time, they picked up their matchlocks, and after the enemy entered the hundred-meter range, they ignited the gunpowder.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

White smoke rose, and the flintlock infantry were completely shrouded in gunpowder smoke.

At this moment, beyond the hundred-meter mark, besides the screams of Ma Jin's soldiers, there was also the sound of bullets striking metal shields.

At this moment, in Ma Jin's army, the soldiers in the front row were carrying heavy shields.

These heavy shields were very thick and required two people to lift them, all to resist the fire of the matchlocks and protect the soldiers behind the shields.

In the initial battles, they had once let the shield-bearers use the small round shields they carried to block the bullets of the matchlocks.

But this was of no use; the matchlocks easily pierced through their small round shields.

Thus, Gule had the craftsmen in the city forge heavy shields.

Today, these heavy shields were finally put to use.

"Thud!"

Having resisted a wave of matchlock bullet rain, the soldiers were rejoicing.

Suddenly, a loud sound like a tolling bell arrived.

It turned out that the matchlock infantry had immediately retreated upon seeing this, and the artillery had finished reloading and fired again.

This time, the cannonballs directly struck the heavy shields.

The heavy shields were sent flying flat by the direct impact of the cannonballs.

At this moment, the shields seemed to turn into flying blades; wherever they went, Ma Jin's soldiers died miserably under the flying shields one after another.

At the same time, more artillery fired, and one heavy shield after another was knocked away.

"Damn it!" On the city wall, Ma Jin smashed his fist hard against the wall.

Gule and Wuyan looked pale.

Fighting the Great Song army these past few days, they had been thinking about how to deal with the combination of artillery and matchlocks.

But they discovered that shields that could be lifted could not stop the matchlocks, and the heavy shields that could stop the matchlocks were too cumbersome.

Now, facts proved once again that in front of artillery, these heavy shields became accomplices in taking the lives of their soldiers.

More people were killed by the heavy shields than by the cannonballs themselves.

"It seems that if we want to break this formation, we can only fight fire with fire, or use a large-scale charge of elite cavalry," Gule said.

Wuyan nodded; this conclusion was equivalent to saying that with the Great Song army equipped with artillery and matchlocks, and having mastered battle formations suitable for firearms, they in Xiliang were no longer a match for the Great Song.

"It seems that forming an alliance with the Northern Di is not necessarily a bad thing, otherwise we might truly be unable to stop the Great Song's Northern Expedition army," Wuyan frowned tightly.

At this time, the soldiers whose heavy shields had been blown away by the artillery were routed.

The soldiers turned and fled into Xian City one after another.

"Hahaha... good, well fought!"

In front of the command tent, seeing the enemy army routed, Zhao Heng clapped his hands and laughed.

For the first three days, they and the enemy soldiers in Xian City had been evenly matched.

But in the last three days, they had basically won more and lost less.

A rare smile appeared on Yang Feng's face.

He could tell that the enemy troops inside the city were truly fighting them.

But they were truly at a disadvantage.

At this moment, he could not help but admire Yan Wang even more.

If not for the firearms provided by Yan Wang and the Battle Formation taught by him, how could the Great Song Imperial Guard have such might today?

It was just a pity that in this battle, the Shizu Army had learned the tactics of the Imperial Guard.

These past few days, they had been imitating them.

The Second Prince echoed with a laugh, "Congratulations to Father Emperor, felicitations to Father Emperor. With this Northern Expedition, Father Emperor will surely go down in history."

Hearing this, Zhao Heng's laughter, which had just stopped, started up again.

Then, he said, "Father Emperor, after six days of fighting, the other side must have suffered over eighty thousand casualties. Your son believes there is no need to continue facing them in battle every day. It would be better to directly surround Xian City, launch an assault, and take Xian City. After all, they keep losing, so their elite forces must be exhausted, and the remaining troops are vulnerable."

Zhao Heng nodded slightly, feeling very tempted.

However, seeing Yang Feng at his side, he could not help but ask, "What does General Yang think?"

Yang Feng said, "Since the enemy is willing to fight in the field, and we have the advantage, why not continue to face them and deplete their forces? It will not be too late to surround the city once they dare not come out to fight again, and it can also reduce the casualties of the Great Song soldiers."

"It is just that I do not want to wait anymore." Zhao Heng suddenly smiled, "Surround Xian City completely now, and launch the assault tomorrow."

Yang Feng opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.

He was clear that every decision he had made since leaving the pass ran counter to the situation on the battlefield.

This emperor no longer trusted him.

Zhao Heng's order was issued, and the soldiers, led by their commanders, immediately began to act.

Like water meeting a Hetan, they split from the front of Xian City and immediately enveloped it.

This scene naturally fell into the eyes of Gule.

Exchanging a glance with Wuyan and Ma Jin, he said, "It is time to continue retreating north, otherwise if we are trapped in Xian City, the plan will fail."

Wuyan nodded, even though they had wanted to drag it out for eight days.

But the situation forced them to move ahead of schedule.

That night.

A sky-high blaze suddenly erupted in Xian City.

The red light illuminated the Great Song camp at Xian City.

Just as the Great Song soldiers were attracted by the firelight.

Suddenly, the drawbridge at the North Gate of Xian City was lowered.

A large number of black Cavalry rushed out like beasts in the dark night.

They held torches and Curved Blades, killing their way north.

Following behind the Cavalry were a large number of Xiliang soldiers.

They did not linger in battle, but simply ran behind the Cavalry.

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