Yang Yan went to Niushou Mountain to arrange the affairs of Qiuqiu, but in fact, he was just a fool. After Yang Yan left home that day, he and Gao Zhen immediately led the 7,000 men and horses of the Ma Jun Si Xiao cavalry army and the 2,000 men of the infantry Si Changning army to go up the Yangtze River by boat and march towards Sichuan. Chen Min and Qi Fangzhi really stayed in Niushou Mountain and took responsibility for arranging Qiu Qiu's affairs, but all the documents sent back to Jiankang were in the name of Yang Yan, giving people the false impression that Yang Yan was still staying in Jiankang.

Moreover, the momentum of the Great Song Dynasty in Jiankang was to emphasize the importance of the imperial court to the Autumn Season, and on the other hand, it was also to cover up the military plan against the Western Xia, and the main purpose was to paralyze the Jin State. If Jin Guo knew that Yang Yan had gone to Sichuan, even if he did not mobilize the army, Jin Guo would also be vigilant and take precautions in advance.

In addition to Zhao Chen, only Chen Junqing, Zhao Ruyu, Han Yanzhi, Liu Hui, and Li Xianzhong knew about this plan in the DPRK. After Liang Kejia and Hong Shi were dismissed, Zhao Chen did not immediately appoint a new prime minister and a candidate for the governor, and temporarily maintained a situation of one prime minister and one counselor, which reduced the number of people who knew about the plan and enhanced the degree of secrecy. Even Chen Min and Qi Fang were only told that Yang Yan had another task, and they didn't know what Yang Yan was doing. Even Gao Zhen, who followed Yang Yan into Sichuan, Ma Jun Si Xiao Cavalry and Infantry Si Chang Ningjun all pedaled on the boat before they learned where they were going.

In Yang Yan's house, only Zhao Yueru and Zhao Qianru knew about it, and everyone else thought that Yang Yan really went to Niushou Mountain, and in order to hide people's eyes, even Zhao Yueru stayed at home this time and did not go out with Yang Yan.

Therefore, when the entire Jiankang was busy preparing for the autumn festival, Yang Yan silently led the army into Sichuan. First met with Wang Yan, the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan, in Xingzhou, and Meng Zongzheng, who was under the control of the imperial garrison in Xingzhou, and understood the current situation on the Song-Jin border in Sichuan and Shaanxi. At this time, the Jin army obviously did not realize that the Great Song Yijing had begun to arrange arrangements to counterattack the Western Xia, so the border between the two countries appeared very calm.

Yang Yan also asked Wang Yan to be careful of the Song-Jin border, because once the Great Song began to counterattack the Western Xia, it was difficult to say what action the Jin would do, and he had to prepare for the worst. Then Gao Zhen stayed in Xingzhou to make other arrangements, and he led his men and horses to continue northward and arrived in Lanzhou.

After Yang Changpeng and Cao Xun learned that Yang Yan had arrived, they were also very happy, knowing that they were finally going to launch a counterattack against the Western Xia army. As soon as Yang Yan arrived in Lanzhou, he immediately gathered the generals and announced that three days later, he would be in front of the pass and start a war with the Western Xia army. After holding back in Lanzhou City for more than a month, the soldiers of the Song army were all breathing a sigh of relief, so when they heard Yang Yan's order, they all rubbed their fists and waited for a decisive battle with the Western Xia army three days later.

But Yang Changpeng was a little worried, because at present, in Lanzhou City, there are more than 8,000 defenders of his own, and Cao Xun brought the two armies of the palace front division of the Qianfeng and Shengjie armies and the two armies of the infantry Si Xiongwu and Jinyong, totaling more than 26,000 people. Coupled with the Ma Jun Si Xiao Cavalry Army and the Infantry Si Changning Army brought by Yang Yan, there were a total of 10,000 people, and the total strength was about 45,000 people. There are more than 8,000 defenders in Dongguan Fort and Xiguan Fort, and more than 15,000 local township troops, distributed in various cities. All combined, the total number of Song troops was less than 70,000.

The total strength of the Western Xia army attacking Lanzhou this time was 120,000, and in the early siege of the city, about seven or eight thousand people were killed, and they were not wounded. The Western Xia army now under the city of Lanzhou has a total of more than 90,000 people.

After Yang Changpeng introduced the comparison of the strength of the two sides to Yang Yan, he said: "With the current strength of our army, if the city is defended, after the Western Xia army cannot be attacked for a long time, the flaws will be exposed, and then it is the best policy to send troops to attack." And the two armies faced each other and fought head-on, although we have improved the Divine Arm Crossbow and the Repeating Crossbow, once we open the formation and fight head-on with the iron cavalry of Western Xia, I am afraid it will be difficult to win. What's more, there is still an 'Iron Harrier' in Western Xia, Zihao, do you want to think about it again. ”

Yang Yan hadn't answered yet, Cao Xun said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, don't worry, the eldest brother will never fight a battle that he is not sure of, what is there to be afraid of the 'Iron Harrier', didn't you see the elephant army when the people entered the city just now?" At the beginning, the Iron Float was beaten to the ground, and I am afraid that the eldest brother brought it specifically to deal with the 'Iron Harrier'. As soon as I saw him smiling, I knew that he must have some bad idea in his heart. ”

Yang Yan couldn't help laughing, and said, "Brother Peng, don't worry, I have considered the situation you said." So don't worry about it, it's just that in the past three days, let the soldiers get more familiar with the improved god arm crossbow and repeating crossbow, so as not to mess up your own hands and feet when you are fighting. ”

Although Yang Changpeng and Yang Yan are cousins, they don't have many times to fight side by side together, although they know that he is resourceful and good at winning by surprise, but most of them are told about it afterwards, and they have not personally experienced it with Yang Yan, so their confidence in Yang Yan is not as sufficient as Cao Xun. Although Yang Yanyi had explained, he was still a little uneasy, but he couldn't say anything more, so he had to go and prepare.

※※Support original ※ "Song Xiang" in ※※※

"What? Did the Song army battle in front of the pass? "He barely believed his ears. Since the Western Xia sent troops, it has been almost two months, and the Song army has been hiding in the city and not coming out, and the Western Xia army has no way to do it. Now I have begun to think about whether it is time to retire. Today, the sun came out of the west, and the Song army actually took the initiative to go out of the city to meet the battle for the first time, and it also showed the whole formation, which was simply a challenge to the Western Xia army.

However, at this time, a dark cloud flashed in Wei Ming Jizhong's heart, and he faintly felt that something was wrong. Three days ago, there was a support army in Lanzhou City, this matter was known to Wei Jizhong, but the spies also found out very clearly, the support army was only more than 10,000 horses, which was not enough to change the strength of the two armies, and the Western Xia army still had an absolute advantage. Under such circumstances, Song Jun still dared to take the initiative to go out of the city to challenge, is there another reason.

At this time, the generals of Western Xia also found that the main general was in deep thought, and seemed to be hesitant, Wei Mu Tingping couldn't help but say: "Ling Gong, what's wrong with you?" Since we crossed the river, haven't we always wanted to fight with the Southern Song Dynasty, but now that the opportunity has finally come, why are you hesitating? ”

As soon as Wei Mu Tingping said this, Wei Ming Jizhong woke up from his contemplation, and couldn't help but smile bitterly, he had been looking forward to the Song army going out of the city to face the battle, and finally waited until the Song army finally came out of the city. Isn't this exactly what I want to be in now? What else is there to hesitate about. Thinking of this, Wei Ming Jizhong suppressed the uneasy emotions in his heart, and immediately ordered loudly: "The whole team, go to battle." ”

The camp of the Western Xia army was about ten miles away from Lanzhou City, because the Song army was arrayed out of the city, and was afraid that the Song army would take advantage of the opportunity of their array to attack, so Wei Ming Jizhong decided to take advantage of the camp to form a formation, and then advance to Lanzhou City. The number of troops in the Western Xia army was about 65,000. There were 10,000 cavalry on each flank and 3,000 archers on each side of the central army, holding down the position. Eight thousand cavalry and one thousand fifteen hundred "Iron Harriers" were located in the middle of the central army, and the rest of the infantry troops were behind the cavalry.

The number of Song troops in front of the pass was about 30,000, and the number of people in front of Lanzhou City was spread horizontally. There were also thousands of archers stationed on the city walls, the cavalry on both sides, commanded by Wei Jiao and Cao Xun respectively, and the infantry army in the middle, commanded by Yang Changpeng.

Yang Yan stood at the head of the city, looking at the Western Xia army slowly approaching the Song army from a thousand steps away, and said to Fang Mao, the commander of the Changning army beside him: "Fang commander, the Western Xia army is here, you can start preparing." ”

Fang Mao nodded, waved the order flag in his hand, and shouted, "Set up a cannon." I saw the soldiers push four red silk-covered carts, come to the battlements, uncover the red silk, and reveal four blue seeping Shenwei cannons.

A total of five Shenwei cannons were made, and this time Yang Yan came to Lanzhou and brought four. Moreover, the Changning Army of the Infantry Division is actually an army that specializes in the use of firearms.

This is the first time that the Song army used it after the Shenwei cannon was cast, and he tried the knife on the Western Xia army. Compared with when the gun was tested, now the gun carriage, bearing axles, bolts, wheels, etc., are all available. At the same time, each Shenwei cannon was equipped with twenty-four soldiers. Sixteen of them were the push-and-lift cannons of the marching army, and eight operators were divided into two groups of four, one of whom was responsible for igniting the fire, and the other three were responsible for loading the cannon and calibrating the target, and all of them were extremely well trained.

At this time, four Shenwu cannons were lined up in the middle of the city wall, one every three zhang. The cannon was already on the battlement. And the artillerymen were busy fixing, calibrating the position of the muzzle and filling the gunpowder cannons. The rest of the soldiers were driven three feet away from the artillery. But almost all of the soldiers had seen it for the first time, and everyone was so curious that they couldn't help but look at it twice.

After all the preparations were completed, it took more than a quarter of an hour. At this time, the Western Xia army advanced to a position about 800 steps away from the Lanzhou city wall. Fang Maolai reported to Yang Yan: "Yang Shuai, you can fire now." ”

Yang Yan nodded and said, "Let's start." ”

Fang Mao said: "Order." Then he waved the flag in his hand again. The soldiers immediately lit the fuses of the two Kamui cannons first.

"Boom-boom-" The two loud noises came out almost at the same time, and a large amount of smoke immediately filled the city, and the walls of Lanzhou City seemed to tremble, and many soldiers were shocked to the ground. Almost every one of them had a shocked expression on their faces, and even the soldiers who were arrayed under the castle couldn't help but look back at the city walls.

In the formation of the Western Xia army, separated by more than 800 steps, although the huge roar was still heard very clearly, it was not as shocking as the Song army. But with this huge roar, I saw a large amount of dense fog erupting from the walls of Lanzhou City, but before the soldiers of the Western Xia Army could understand, there were two loud bangs of "boom-boom-" in their own array.

At the site of the explosion, there was a sudden cloud of dust and flying sand and rocks. And scattered around the site of the explosion, countless soldiers let out screams and fell to the ground. The horses were also frightened by this huge roar, and they roared one after another, and the knights on horseback hurriedly tightened their reins and desperately controlled their mounts. There was a commotion among the Western Xia army.

As soon as the smoke cleared, the artillerymen on the ramparts began to clean the chambers of the guns and reload the gunpowder cannons. And the other two Shenwu cannons also began to ignite the cannons.

"Boom-boom-" There were two loud bangs, and the formation of the Western Xia army boiled again. The unrest that had not subsided suddenly became even more widespread. Countless others fell to the ground screaming, and began to run in fear with the frightened horses. And most of the soldiers looked at Lanzhou City in front of them in a daze, and their hearts were terrified. Everyone was thinking in their hearts: What is this thing from the Song Army?

The four Shenwei cannons on the head of Lanzhou City were divided into two batches, and they took turns firing the cannons, firing three or four rounds in a quarter of an hour, and each shelling could make waves in the array of the Western Xia army. The Song soldiers who were arrayed under the city also woke up from the shock brought by the initial cannons, and with each round of artillery bombardment hitting the Western Xia army, they would let out earth-shattering cheers.

In fact, although the momentum of the artillery seems to be very large, the actual lethality is actually very limited, and each cannon only kills dozens of people at most, and the actual effect is only greater than that of a thunderbolt, but the range is much farther. Therefore, the vast majority of the Western Xia army was not hit.

But it was the first time that the Western Xia army had suffered such a blow, and it was a blow from such a distance, you must know that even the bed crossbow used by the Song army before, the longest range was only five or six hundred steps, but the artillery could hit about a thousand steps, and I had never heard of the Song army having such a weapon before, far beyond the range of the Western Xia army could withstand the blow, so I didn't even know what it was. Now it is natural that everyone is frightened and in chaos. At this time, the chief general of the Western Xia army, Wei Ming Jizhong, and other generals were also confused by this outstanding blow, and they did not know whether to continue the attack or retreat.

And just when Wei Ming Jizhong and the generals looked at each other, the artillery of the Song army still took turns firing artillery, and the formation of the Western Xia army was in chaos, and the soldiers were all running around, some running forward, some retreating, everyone hoped to be able to dodge the blow falling from the sky, in fact, no one knew how to dodge this kind of blow that had never been experienced before, but everyone felt that if they ran, they would always have a greater chance of dodging than waiting to be beaten in place. However, men and horses crowded each other, trampled on each other, and injured and killed countless people. Moreover, there were many frightened war horses who rushed out of the formation uncontrollably and galloped wildly on the battlefield.