Lord of the House

Vol 12 Chapter 81: cross the river

Beiyan had expected that the Huaidong Army would set up a trestle in front of the enemy to help the soldiers and horses cross the Fenghe River, but the Fenghe River flows from the southwest to the east, with more than 70 miles along the coast, and all of them are plain areas, so there is no suitable place to build the trestle. There are eighty out of one hundred.

The Zhouqiao Brigade, which moved westward with the soldiers and horses of the middle road, was composed of more than 4,000 craftsmen and other auxiliary soldiers. The soldiers and horses in the front dispersed quickly, and more than 20 bridge-building points were selected along the east bank of the Fenghe River. Prepare.

On the east bank of the Fenghe River, Chen Zuo's troops were in the middle, the first and second brigades Li Baidao and Liang Shou advanced to the area along the river, and the third, fourth and fifth brigades were at a later position for defense; On both sides of the war zone under the jurisdiction, Han Caizhi and Hu Qiaoguan each had a brigade arriving in the area along the river, ready to participate in the first batch of river crossings at any time.

More than 20 bridge-building points are scattered on the forward positions of the four brigades. Even if the Beiyan soldiers and horses on the west bank saw that the Huaidong Army had the intention of building bridges and rushing to cross, there was no way to take targeted prevention.

Thousands of carriages and nearly 20,000 mules and horses traveled between the Jinhai Sea and the east bank of the Fenghe River, bringing a large amount of materials to the front line.

As of the 16th, on the forward positions of the four starting brigades, eight artillery positions and a larger number of near-river crossbow platforms have also been quickly constructed, with a total of forty heavy artillery pieces above 24 catties. , to push the first position.

The sound of the test-firing artillery rumbled like a spring thunder blasting in the ear, the iron bullets pierced through the air, whistled and made a sharp air-piercing sound, and the bullets fell like ploughs, slicing the soft soil soaked by the rain after the summer, and in the big city. Shocking scratches were left on the ground.

Although at a range of four miles, forty solid iron bullets were fired at a time from the eight artillery positions, the density of the resulting shells was very limited. Even if a dense array of cavalry charges, and forty heavy artillery fires solid bullets, it may not be able to kill twenty or thirty cavalry at one time, but the movement of the heavy artillery is so loud, it is still called those Yan who have never seen Huaidong artillery. The hearts of the northern soldiers swayed.

However, this also strengthened the determination of Nahe Wugu and other Beiyan generals, Yuhuai Dongjun, to be outside the city of Yanjing.

The power of heavy artillery to kill soldiers in a concentrated manner is limited, but in terms of bombarding buildings such as city walls, it is not as powerful as heavy catapults.

The traditional heavy stone-throwing crossbow must be advanced within three or four hundred steps from the city wall, so that it is possible to project the stone projectile directly to the side of the city wall. Similarly, at such a close distance, it is easy to call the defending soldiers and horses to fight back. Unless the siege soldiers and horses have the ability to completely block the defenders in the city, the heavy catapults cannot be pushed to the front of the battle.

And Huaidong's heavy artillery can be built four miles away from the city wall or even farther, and can be densely deployed in the protection array of the siege troops, which greatly increases the number of defenders fighting back, The difficulty of destroying its artillery positions...

Although Yanjing City is strong, it will continue to bombard Huaidong Artillery without the ability to counterattack, and it will collapse sooner or later. The Huaidong Army's method of blasting the west barrier of Jinhai is even more terrifying. This is called General Beiyan, who is clumsy in defending the city, and has no confidence in defending the city. On the field outside the city.

As night fell on the 16th, a larger number of light artillery pieces were pushed out from the back cover camp and entered the artillery position; the scorpion crossbow on the crossbow platform on the river bank threw a large number of kerosene cans and kindlings to the opposite bank for ignition. Illuminating the night sky on the west bank of the Fenghe River, more of the east bank positions are hidden in the night.

Taking advantage of the raging fire on the west bank, the Zhouqiao Brigades quickly dispatched men to cross the river from the forward positions of the four pioneering brigades. A group of more than ten or twenty soldiers moved the heavy anchors connected to the iron cables from the river. dragged to the other side.

The heavy anchors cast by Huaidong, the heaviest one can reach four or five thousand catties, and the smaller ones also weigh one or two thousand catties. Usually, a 2,000-ton main battleship needs such a huge heavy anchor of twenty or thirty anchors to be able to fix the hull on the sea of ​​turbulent waves.

When the west bank of the Fenghe River lacks enough fixings for the floating trestle, it is the best substitute to drag the heavy anchor to the west bank and dig the iron claws deeply into the soil.

The iron claws of the heavy anchors dig deep into the soil, and then piles are reinforced for reinforcement. The iron cables connecting the heavy anchors are stretched on the east bank with a winch, and the special square-headed and square-angled pontoons are quickly lowered into the water and connected with the iron cables. Get up, lay the trestle, a simple pontoon bridge with a width of fifty or sixty meters, and it takes almost two hours to set up.

In order to increase the bearing capacity of the pontoon, different numbers of skin pontoons are also fixed on both sides of the pontoon.

In the depths beyond the light of the campfire on the bank, Tong Huacheng and a dozen scouts hid in the grass about three or four hundred steps away from the river embankment, watching the Huaidong Army quickly build a pontoon under the darkness.

Tong Huacheng, as the leader of the West Temple Supervisor, is the scout that Beiyan is best at spying. He disagreed with Na Hewugu, and he didn't need to lead the troops, and it was useless to stay in the camp, so he took the initiative to invite the battle to the front to scout the movements of the Huaidong Army at close range.

Even if he had expected this before, Tong Huacheng was deeply shocked by the high efficiency of Huaidong Army's construction of the pontoon bridge.

Looking at the dark shadows of the Huaidong Army's crossbow platform and artillery positions on the opposite bank under the faint starlight, Tong Huacheng knew that this was not a good opportunity to rush up and destroy the Huaidong Pontoon Bridge.

At this time, approaching the west end of the pontoon bridge and entering the range of two or three hundred steps together will only cause the crazy bombardment of Huaidong Heavy Crossbow and Fu Fire Crossbow.

The Huaidong Army used five pontoon bridges as a group, and at the east end of each group of pontoon bridges, two or three hundred heavy crossbows and dozens of more powerful fire crossbows were deployed.

Although Tong Huacheng knew that his soldiers and horses on the left wing, including the young generals, were mostly **** soldiers who were not afraid of sacrifice, he did not think that any soldiers and horses could be directly at a distance of two or three hundred paces. In the face of such a dense attack of Huaidong Crossbow Array, it will not be destroyed.

Only after the Huaidong Army first sent troops and horses to cross the river on a small scale, the elite cavalry they deployed at the back rushed up and mixed with the Huaidong Army to limit the use of the Huaidong Heavy Crossbow; At this time, destroying the Huaidong Pontoon Bridge with a heavy axe or arson is the appropriate tactic.

Soon, the information along the Fenghe River gathered: In the middle section of the Fenghe River, the Huaidong Army rushed to build 26 pontoon bridges at the same time after nightfall. Surprised.

The Huaidong Army obviously understood the plan here. The pontoon bridges were built under the cover of the night, but Tong Huacheng only saw that the Huaidong Army's troops and horses were all concentrated on the east bank after dark. The shield cart and the crossbow were all pushed to the east end of the pontoon bridge, but they were dragged until midnight, and the Huaidong Army had not officially crossed the river and entered the west bank. It seemed that they were testing the patience here.

"General Tong..." A few people bowed their heads and hid in the grass to touch them. Tong Huacheng was lying on his back against the dirt pit. Through the darkness of the night, it seemed that he was a scout from Han Cundu's side to scout out the enemy's situation at close range. He pressed his voice and asked, "What's new about Han Cundu?"

"The three trestle bridges built by the Huaidong Army at Hancundu are very different from the pontoon bridges built in other places." The person said.

"What's the difference?" Tong Huacheng asked with a frown, he was worried that some unexpected new situation would happen at this time, the war was about to break out, and it was impossible to change the plan.

They did not dare to set fire to the alert of the Huaidong Army, so the people who came came slammed into a piece of sand, and used branches to draw a simple drawing of the trestle bridge erected by the Hancundu towards the Huaidong Army: "At Hancundu, the Huaidong Army did not use floating boats or iron cables. , and the bridge trucks were pushed directly into the river to connect them. It seemed strange to me, but I was afraid that I would be scared by the grass, so I didn't send people to conduct close reconnaissance. It's just that this is a strange thing, and I came here to report General Tong..."

Moat bridge carts are often used in siege, but only a small width moat is needed. Push the moat bridge carts down the moat, so that the two ends are stuck on the bank, forming a moat bridge that can be crossed by men and horses, but the width of the Fenghe River in the direction of Hancun Bridge is Fifteen or sixty feet, it is not impossible for the Huaidong Army to build such a large trench bridge car, but it may not be easier to use than a pontoon bridge.

Moreover, it is not impossible for a 156-foot-long giant trench bridge car to be formed once on the shore and then launched into the water.

Tong Huacheng was also very suspicious of the trestle bridge built by the Huaidong Army in the direction of Hancundu, but he couldn't wait for him to rush to Hancundu to take a closer look. It was lit, and the two banks of the Fenghe River were illuminated as bright as day. Seeing that the Huaidong Army was about to cross the river, Tong Huacheng could only quickly retreat with the scouts to avoid the battlefield where the two sides would fight **** to the end...

Tong Huacheng retreated to the top of a low mountain on the west bank. At this time, the two sides of the Fenghe River were full of roaring campfires, which almost set the night sky on fire, and also illuminated the battlefield on both sides of the Fenghe River. In the light of the splendor, the shadows of people, the neighing of cars and horses, all kinds of situations on the battlefield can be seen.

"It's not good!" Tong Huacheng's heart jumped suddenly, he suddenly found that the Huaidong Army's crossing points in other places were perfunctory, only the crossing of the river in the direction of Hancun was the most resolute. Between the light and the dark, it was as if a black stream of iron entered the West Bank.

Just now, the scout reported that the trestle built by the Huaidong Army at Hancundu was different from other places. Combined with the situation in front of him, Hua Tongcheng could of course understand that the Huaidong Army must have another direction at Hancundu, so they could not guess. Tou's deployment ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ did not care to hide the trail, Tong Huacheng immediately sent his subordinates to lead out the war horse hidden behind the low mountain, and hurried to the direction of the camp, hoping to remind Na Hewugu to pay attention in time. When the direction of Hancundu changed, he led dozens of cavalry to the direction of Hancundu.

However, in response to the sudden river crossing operation of the Huaidong Army at this time, the counterattack of the Beiyan troops and horses on the west bank defense line also quickly started at this time.

Beiyan's left wing camp also noticed that the Huaidong Army was the most resolute in crossing the river in the Hancun crossing, and the crowd was the most dense. At this time, they had no time to think about it. They had to take advantage of the Huaidong Army's unsteady foothold on the west bank. Resolutely To fight back, it is practically impossible to leave too much time for them to hesitate or think. Under the cover of darkness, the 5,000 cavalry that assembled at Luohedian after nightfall resolutely attacked in the direction of Hancundu.

Tong Huacheng joined the cavalry halfway along the way, and there was no way to stop this attack, except to tell the general Tan Moluo to be wary of the Huaidong Army's change in the direction of Hancundu.

The 5,000 cavalry had already entered the Huaidong Army's fire crossbow range, and were divided into three groups to rush to the south.

The artillery was fired in the night, and the flames spewed from the muzzle were like flamboyant fireworks, and the whistling cannonballs bombarded.

A little hesitation and a pause at this time meant that the Huaidong Army could be called to fire one more round of artillery, and he realized that at least 20 or 30 elite cavalry would be killed by the artillery fire. The charging friendly forces are caught in a threatened flank.

Only by attacking forward, and only by getting close to the Huaidong Army, can the fire crossbow and heavy crossbow of the Huaidong Army on the east bank become ineffective, and only the battle formations of the Huaidong Army entering the west bank can be torn apart and the Huaidong Army will be destroyed. The floating trestle bridge above the Fenghe River is destroyed, and there is a chance to retire later... My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter

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