In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

On October 4, Fan Zhongyan arrived at Damingfu, Beijing, Song State, and immediately began to mobilize the entire Hebei Road army, gathering the imperial guards stationed in various states of Hebei Road and marching to the border.

Di Qing secretly went to Bohai County, Hebei, and mobilized the navy of Binzhou, Hebei and Dengzhou, Shandong. The two naval fleets, with a total of more than 30,000 people, set sail.

At the same time, as early as the end of September, the Song-Xia war in the northwest was approaching a white-hot stage.

In late September, the army of the Song Dynasty was unstoppable, conquering cities and territories all the way, and killed to the Miaochuan city occupied by the Western Xia, and outside the Zhuoluo city on the native territory of the Western Xia.

Outside the Zhuoluo city, Jingtai looked into the distance. In the northwest, it was late autumn and early winter, and it was actually snowing lightly. The snow was mixed with small hail and rushed to the face. It hit people's faces and quickly melted, turning into strands of raindrops.

It was clearly noon, but the sky was like dusk. Looking at the distance gloomily, it was like looking at a gray smoke.

Zhuolao City, located in the area of ​​Liushu Town south of Yongdeng County, Gansu Province in the future, was sandwiched between high mountains on both sides. The west side of the mountain was about five kilometers away from the east side, which meant that the Song army could threaten the entire city by setting up cannons on the mountains on both sides.

However, the Xixia people naturally knew this, so they also deployed defense forces on the mountains on both sides. In addition, there were also cannons in the Xixia native land, which made the Song army afraid and did not attack rashly for a while.

However, in the end, the Xixia people's deployment in the mountains quickly fell. The Song army sent a small force to bypass the mountains and sneak attacked the Xixia camp from behind, winning the victory.

At this time, the Song army was almost invincible in field battles. Although the cannons were very powerful on the mountains, there were a lot of jungles in the hills and mountains. After the Song army scouted the terrain, they sneaked directly into the mountains and began to launch a fierce offensive against the mountains.

The Xixia army's cannons were aimed at the Song army camp in the south, but they did not have the small steel cannons of the Song army, which made it extremely difficult to turn the cannons weighing more than 2,000 kilograms, and their flexibility was greatly reduced.

Once the enemy attacked from behind, the artillery position became a live target, and was soon pursued and attacked by the Song army all the way, breaking through several camps on the top of the mountain.

After the Xixia army on the mountains was defeated, the Xixia army in the city became a trapped beast. At this moment, Jingtai was riding on horseback, wearing a heavy cotton coat, not the kind of clothes covered with black or green linen, but wrapped in silk velvet on the outside, and there was a cloak fluttering behind him.

Behind him were soldiers riding war horses. At this time, the Song army had changed a lot in terms of military system and military uniforms. It turned out that they wore red military uniforms with iron armor and a hat on their heads, just like Lin Chong.

But now the Song army uniformly wears red linen cotton clothes in winter, a velvet hat on the head, and no armor on the body - in the era of firearms, iron armor is almost useless, and it makes no difference whether it is worn or not.

They all carry muskets on their backs, bullet bags are hung on both sides of the horse's belly, a ring-headed knife is hung on the left waist, and there is a holster on the right waist. The holster contains a pistol, which is a fire gun in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a modified version of the rifle and is suitable for close-range shooting.

If you look down from a high altitude, you will see that the Song army team is slowly moving forward, less than three kilometers away from Zhuoluo City. At this position, it is basically the limit distance for artillery to shoot on the city. If it is flat, it is about one kilometer.

"Deputy commander, our flag has been planted on the top of the mountain."

The location of Jingtai Station is a small hillside east of Zhuoluo City. The lookout on the hillside is looking at the mountains on both sides with a telescope.

He saw that the red flag of the Song army had been planted on the top of the mountain, and it was waving it constantly to signal this side.

"Tell them to immediately transport the Weiyuan cannon to the mountain and install it."

"Yes."

The flag bearer next to him also began to wave the flag rhythmically.

The distance was too far, and long-distance communication could only be carried out by the lookouts on both sides using telescopes to observe the changes in the flags and execute orders.

On the distant mountains, Wang Shiyun, a general of the Song army, who was observing with a telescope, saw this scene.

He used to be Wang Shiyun, the deputy chief of Guweizhai. Later, because of his meritorious service in the battle of Lanzhou City, he was promoted to the military supervisor of Gongzhou and was now the vanguard of the army.

"Have the cannons been transported up?"

Wang Shiyun turned around and asked.

"It's almost there, it's already halfway up the mountain."

"Faster, send more people to transport it."

"Yes, but supervisor, why don't we use the Xixia people's cannons?"

The messenger asked casually.

Wang Shiyun was stunned, and then pointed at the messenger and said happily: "You are really a talent, hurry up, turn the muzzle of the Xixia people's cannons."

"Yes."

The messenger hurried to convey the order.

The Song army's Weiyuan cannon is a small steel cannon weighing more than 200 kilograms. Due to the caliber problem, the range on flat ground is definitely not as good as that of artillery, which is only a little more than one mile.

But if it is installed on the mountain, the range will be greatly increased, and it is more than enough to shoot a few kilometers.

But even a small steel cannon weighs more than 200 kilograms. Climbing a mountain hundreds of meters high is simply killing people. The Song army was exhausted before they reached the halfway point of the mountain.

In this case, why not use the Xixia people's artillery?

Although their artillery is of poor quality and easy to explode, it is still artillery after all, and it can still fire a few shots.

Thinking of this, Wang Shiyun turned back and glanced at the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was full of Xixia corpses, which were shot into sieves by the bullets of the Song army that rushed up.

In the midst of a pool of blood, there were more than a dozen artillery turrets near the camp. The Xixia people used the method of embedding to bury the gun mounts in the ground to reduce the recoil of firing.

But the Xixia people had not used them yet, which was a bargain for the Song army.

Wang Shiyun asked the flag bearer to convey the order that the artillery had been installed. Jingtai, who was at the foot of the mountain, was quite puzzled when he heard about this.

"How did it get installed so quickly?"

"It should be the artillery of the Xixia people. The East Mountain also sent a message back saying that it was installed."

"These bastards are quite smart, so let them fire."

"Yes."

The messenger conveyed his order.

Soon the artillery on the top of the mountain began to adjust its direction with difficulty.

Although the flexibility was poor, it was much faster than transporting artillery from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

About seven or eight minutes later, with the roar of the artillery on the West Mountain, the Song Dynasty fired the first shot at Zhuolao City.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

The roaring sound of artillery shook the sky.

White smoke was rising from the mountains on both sides. More than ten lead bullets on the mountains drew a brilliant arc in the air and fell into the city.

Some shells missed and did not hit Zhuo Luo City, while some hit the city wall directly. A small part of them fell into the city, causing a panic and fright.

To be honest, it is very difficult to hit people with long-range artillery. Unless the enemy's tens of thousands of troops are arranged in an endless formation, you can hit them with your eyes closed.

But ancient cities often cover more than two or three square kilometers. With such a large target, the probability of hitting someone is no less than buying a lottery ticket.

However, although these more than ten shells caused almost no casualties, they were scary.

Too scary.

Seeing the houses in the city collapse, the shells embedded in the city walls, and the death that was so close, all the Xixia soldiers in the city couldn't help but tremble.

Many people looked up and watched the shells fall into the city. They were all panicking and running away, fearing that the shells would fall on them.

The remaining people who were still calm also tried to hide behind the parapet, praying that they were lucky.

However, this was only the first round.

More than a minute later, the second round of artillery fire from the Song army came.

Then came the third and fourth rounds.

While the artillery suppressed the enemy, the cavalry of the Song army began to move forward, slowly reaching about one kilometer outside the city.

"Supervisor, the barrel is too hot, and the brothers are afraid of bursting."

After five or six rounds of artillery, the members of the artillery crew responsible for firing the artillery expressed embarrassment.

As experienced artillerymen, they have trained all kinds of artillery on the parade ground.

From the earliest copper cannons to the later steel cannons, the artillery of the Song Dynasty actually tried to focus on safety.

The production cost of wrought iron cannons is low, but the burst rate is too high, especially the excessive sulfur content of ironware in the Song Dynasty, which resulted in a burst rate higher than the 25% ratio in the Battle of Songjin in the Ming Dynasty.

For this reason, the members of the artillery crew no longer dared to continue firing.

Wang Shiyun looked at the iron artillery of the Xixia army with some disdain and said: "This broken artillery, the firing rate is so slow, and it is so dangerous. The Xixia people can only make some broken copper and iron."

"The other side has also stopped. It is estimated that they have the same problem as us."

The lookout saw that the opposite mountain had also stopped.

"Have the artillery been delivered?"

"It's almost there. It has reached the top of the mountain. It is estimated that it will arrive in half a quarter of an hour."

"Then fire two more shots."

"Yes."

The members of the artillery crew waited patiently for a while, and after a slight cooling, they fired another shot.

The artillery technology of the Xixia people is still far behind.

Whether it is workmanship or raw materials, it is not comparable to the artillery of the Song Dynasty.

If the artillery of the Xixia people is still at the level of the Ming Dynasty, the artillery of the Song Dynasty is already at the level before World War I.

Even now, breech-loading muskets and artillery have appeared, but because the replacement cost is relatively high and it has just been invented not long ago, it has not been immediately promoted to the entire army.

At this time, Jingtai, who was at the foot of the mountain, saw that the artillery suppression on the top of the mountain seemed to have been somewhat slack, and he probably knew the situation, so he said: "Keep pushing forward."

"Yes."

The messenger immediately took out the horn from his waist and blew it.

Then the Song army, which had been moving forward at a uniform speed, began to disperse to the left and right sides. Tens of thousands of people rode horses, without any formation at all, and moved forward quickly.

In later generations, there was a slogan for infantry and artillery coordination: "Artillery bombards, artillery bombards, and infantry charges after artillery bombards; infantry charges, infantry charges, and infantry cannot charge until artillery bombards." This is the standard tactical relationship between infantry and artillery.

The artillery firepower of the Song army has suppressed the city, and the Xixia army on Zhuolu City was bombarded and could not raise its head. It was the time when the cavalry approached.

But at this moment, the Song army artillery stopped. If it continued to stand there, it would only be beaten, so it simply charged.

The horses first moved forward slowly, and then the cavalry in the front began to increase their horsepower, urging the horses to accelerate. The soldiers rushed forward all the way. They were scattered on the vast plain land, and there was no cavalry close to them within a few kilometers.

In the era of cold weapons, people had to stick together. In the era of firearms, sticking together was to seek death.

Sure enough, taking advantage of the temporary silence of the Song army artillery on the mountain, the Xixia people hastily organized a resistance, and the artillery on the top of the city began to counterattack, roaring and firing outside the city.

But the Song army was too scattered, and except for a few unlucky guys, the casualties could be described as negligible.

The Xixia army fired only two rounds, causing more than a hundred casualties, and the Song army artillery on the hilltop began to fire again, with a fierceness several times more exaggerated than before.

Because the Xixia national strength was weak, even with the whole country's strength, only more than 200 artillery pieces were built. After all, the cost of a cannon alone was more than 500 strings of cash, plus the other miscellaneous expenses, the total cost was close to 1,000 strings of cash.

Li Yuanhao couldn't get so many even if he sold his pots and sold iron, and most of them had to be placed on the border between Song and Xia, so Zhuo Luo City had only more than 30 artillery pieces, seven or eight on each side of the mountain ridge, and more than ten in the city, which could not form a big firepower threat at all.

However, the Song army's small steel cannons were field cannons, and the cost was relatively low. Therefore, there were 60 cannons for an army of 5,000 people. Jingtai brought more than 10,000 troops over, and there were more than 100 small steel cannons, which were enough to form firepower suppression.

The artillery of this era did not have any long-range aiming instruments or highly mobile traction vehicles, but using them for sieges was already a dimensionality reduction attack.

Dozens of small steel cannons that were finally carried up the mountain fired together and quickly suppressed the city.

When the Song cavalry approached the city less than a hundred feet away, the Song artillery began to cease fire. As the desolate sound of the horn resounded through the sky, the Song army accelerated and rushed to the city of Zhuoluo.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The Song army under the city immediately began to raise their guns to suppress the city again.

The long-range shooting of the Xixia people remained at the stage of artillery and crossbows, but the archers did not dare to drill out of the parapet to shoot, making the city very safe.

Then the Song army began to assemble small steel cannons pulled by horses outside the city. With the sound of huge cannons, the South Gate was first blown down, and a large number of Song troops poured in, and started a battle for the city with the Xixia people without suspense.

Gunshots rang out everywhere in the city. By the afternoon, from the beginning of the attack to the entry into the city, only an hour and a half had passed, and the Xixia Zhuoluo City had changed hands and planted the flag of the Song army.

Firearms and artillery did have an advantage over the Xixia people who mainly used cold weapons.

Many Xixia people had been suppressed by artillery and could not raise their heads. The resistance on the top of the city was almost non-existent. The Song cavalry could easily reach the city. Whether they climbed up with ladders or bombarded the city gates, they could easily break the city.

When Jingtai entered the city, there were only sporadic gunshots in the city. Many Xixia people fled from the north gate, and the city was left in a mess.

"Report, the enemy fled north!"

The scout came to report to Jingtai: "The Xixia people in the city had almost no resistance, they all fled."

Jingtai narrowed his eyes. He won this battle easily.

There were thousands of Xixia troops destroyed alone.

However, this was obviously not enough.

Because Zhiyuan wanted the entire Zhuo Luo and Nansi, there were still large areas in the north and east that he had not occupied.

"Chase, chase for 200 miles, I will make Xixia never dare to invade the border."

"Yes!"