When approaching Xiapi City, only the dust in front of Shen was flying, and there was a faint sound of people and horses shouting to kill. At this time, a scout came to report that the Song army was fighting fiercely with the Jin army in five miles outside the city of Xiapi. It turned out that Wei Sheng's army had arrived in Xiapi, and the defenders of Xiapi went out of the city to fight, and the two sides were fighting outside the city.

As soon as Yang Yan heard this, he asked Xin Qiji to lead the infantry behind, and he led the cavalry to help the battle first.

Before the fierce battle approached, the Song army and the Jin army were in the thick of a fierce battle. The main banner of the Song army has four big characters on it: "Shandong Weisheng". Yang Yan knew that it was Wei Sheng's army, and Lijun led the Xuanfeng army and killed it from the flank of the Jin army. The selection of the vanguard army is the time when the morale is high, and it is simply unstoppable to enter the Jin army. And the Jin soldiers didn't know that it was from there, and they were all extremely brave troops, and they were not in a hurry to defend, the corners of the formation were suddenly chaotic, and Wei Shengjun immediately attacked the Song army on all fronts when they saw it, and beheaded more than 3,000 people.

Yang Yan came to the main banner of the Song army and said loudly: "I am ordered by Li Zhaofu to help Wei Dutong attack Pi, and Wei Dutong can be found." ”

The Song army rode out of the crowd, and the man on the horse was forty-five or sixteen years old, majestic and mighty, holding a big sword, and said: "Wei Sheng is here, who are you?" ”

Wei Sheng, whose name is Yanwei, was a native of Suqian (now Jiangsu) of the Huaiyang Army. Shao was recruited as an archer and moved to Shanyang (present-day Huai'an, Jiangsu). In July of the 31st year of Shaoxing (1161), the Jin army was about to invade the south, and Wei Sheng led a righteous army of 300 people to cross the Huai River to occupy Lianshui. Captured Haizhou, pacified Chest Mountain, Huairen, Muyang, and Donghai counties, and resisted tens of thousands of Jin soldiers alone. It was not until October that Li Bao sent his son Li Zi Gongzuo to Haizhou from Haidao to Haizhou that the Song Dynasty knew of Wei Sheng's merits. He served as the commander of the Shandong Loyal and Righteous Army and the former army of Zhenjiang Prefecture stationed in Zaza, and knew Haizhou affairs.

Wei Sheng is good at using a big knife, can shoot left and right, the flag is unveiled and says "Shandong Wei Sheng", and the Jin people retreat when they see it.

Not only that, Wei Sheng is also good at making all kinds of chariot weapons. He has created hundreds of Ruyi chariots, dozens of artillery cars, the car is a beast-faced wooden card, dozens of big guns, hanging felt curtain soft cards, each car with two people to push the hub, can cover 50 people. The line carries heavy weapons and armor, and the stop is a battalion, which is hung like a fortress, and people and horses cannot approach; In the face of the enemy, you can resist the cluster of arrows. The array is wishful car outside, with the flag to cover the barrier, the ballista car as the formation door, the bed crossbow is placed on it, the arrow is as big as a chisel, a arrow can shoot several people, send three arrows can be hundreds of steps. The gun carriage was in the array, and the flint cannon was also 200 paces. The two formations are similar, then the bow and crossbow cannons are issued between the formations, the knives and axes and gunners are prominent in the near formation, and the cavalry is out of the battle. The soldiers are tireless, and both advance and retreat are profitable. Serve and attack, worry about rejection, pre-plan for liberation, and night habits will not be seen. With its system in the court, the army is ordered to follow its style.

Yang Yan has heard of Wei Sheng's name for a long time. As soon as he saw Wei Sheng, he immediately jumped off Hai Dongqing, hugged his fists and saluted: "The last general will be Yang Yan, who will be the commander of the guard horse army, and I have seen Wei Dutong." ”

Wei Sheng had already received a report from Li Xianzhong and knew that Yang Yan was sent by Li Xianzhong to help him attack Xiapi. Just now, I also saw with my own eyes the combat effectiveness of the Xuanfeng Army on the battlefield, and I was naturally very happy in my heart. also turned over and dismounted, came to Yang Yan to meet him, and said: "Yang is in charge, there is no need to be polite." He called his second son again and met Yang Yan.

Wei Sheng has two sons, both of whom are in their early twenties, and the eldest son, Wei Jiao, looks as powerful and majestic as Wei Sheng, and at a glance he knows that he is a fierce general. The second son, Wei Chang, looks quiet and quiet, although he is also dressed in military uniform, he does not look like a military general. One of the two official positions is Chengjielang and the other is Chengxinlang, both of whom are low-level military attachés. At this time, Xin Qiji's rear team also caught up, and Yang Yan also guided Xin Qiji, Cao Xun, Gao Zhen and others like Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng said: "Yang commanded you to come from afar, today the Russians will go back to the camp to rest, and tomorrow they will attack Xiapi." ”

Yang Yan said: "Everything depends on Wei Dutong." ”

At this time, Wei Chang suddenly raised his head to the sky and let out a sharp roar, only to see two black dots in the sky from far and near, which were actually two big eagles. He made a big circle in the air, and then swooped down, landing on Wei Chang's outstretched arm one after the other. The two big eagles, one black and one white, were born with abundant grace and beauty, and they were within the reach of divine horses. Stopping on Wei Chang's arm, he kept letting out a sharp eagle chirp.

Cao Xun was immediately interested when he saw it, and urged Ma to come to Wei Chang's side and said, "Brother Wei Chang, is this the eagle you raised?" It's so beautiful. As he spoke, he reached over to touch the black eagle.

Wei Chang hurriedly said: "Commander Cao, be careful. Before the words fell, the black eagle stretched out its sharp peck and pecked at Cao Xun's hand. Cao Xun was startled, but fortunately, his reaction was very fast, and he quickly withdrew his hand and dodged a peck.

Wei Chang waved his hand, and the two eagles let out a sharp eagle whistle, spread their wings a little wide, and flew towards the direction of the sun in a graceful posture. It can be seen that Yang Yan is envious of everyone. Only Wei Sheng couldn't help shaking his head and sighing, and said, "If you don't learn the right way, it's all some strange and clever skills." Wei Jiao looked at his younger brother sympathetically. Wei Chang also looked embarrassed, so he had to pretend not to hear it, and asked Cao Xun, "Commander Cao, are you okay?" ”

Cao Xun shook his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay." Fortunately, I was quick to shrink my hand, this eagle is really powerful, how did you raise it. ”

Wei Chang said apologetically: "Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai were raised by me since I was a child. Usually they only listen to my commands. He glanced at Wei Jiao in front of him and said in a low voice: "Sometimes even my dad can't call them, so my dad has always disliked them." ”

Cao Xun was obviously very interested in these two eagles, and said, "I also want to raise an eagle to play, but why not get a little eaglet there?" ”

Wei Chang said: "Then I don't know, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai were bought by me three years ago from a Jurchen hunter for two hundred yuan, I heard that he was caught from Mongolia in the north, he took the money and left." I never saw him again. ”

Cao Xun was very disappointed, looked at the eagle flying in the sky, and asked, "Then how can I make the eagle listen to you?" ”

Wei Chang said: "I trained the eagle according to the method taught to me by the Jurchen hunter, first of all, I must let the eagle have a feeling of dependence on you, which is very important, to live with the eagle when it is young, and to be really good to the eagle, treat the eagle as my best friend." Once the eagles have become dependent on you, it will be easier to train them to hunt, hunt, and find sentry. ”

When Yang Yan heard this, his heart moved, and he asked, "Second Prince Wei, can the eagle be used to find the enemy?" ”

Wei Chang hurriedly said: "Yang Commander, don't call the second son who is hungry." Just call me Wei Chang or Xiao Chang. After a pause, he said: "As early as the Tang Dynasty, some people trained eagles to find sentry and explore the enemy. Because among the birds, the eagle has the sharpest eyesight. They can see rabbits hiding from thousands of feet in the sky. As long as it's not in the thick woods, no one can escape their eyes. ”

Yang Yan said again: "Then can the eagle you raise find a sentry and explore the enemy?" ”

Wei Chang said: "Of course you can, oh, you can focus on training them in their ability to detect the enemy, not only that, they can also be used to deliver letters, which is much faster than eight hundred miles of urgency." A journey of one or two thousand miles is a day away. ”

Yang Yan's eyes lit up, you must know that the distance between the battlefield and the DPRK and China is often thousands of miles, even if it is 800 miles expedited, it will take several days to deliver, and if a group of birds are trained to deliver letters, it will be much faster.

The group walked around and talked about it, and soon became familiar with it. Especially Cao Xun, with Jingcai Wei Chang like an old friend for many years.

The next day, Wei Shengqin led a large army to attack Xiapicheng. The Xuanfeng army is cavalry, so naturally it cannot participate in the siege, and only on the side is to guard against the sudden sneak attack of the Cauldron soldiers. Wei Sheng's subordinate Dong Cheng. Zhu Zhen, Chu Dao and Wei Xiao all participated in the siege.

Yang Yan noticed that the siege vehicle used by Wei Sheng was not the tower vehicle commonly used by other Song troops. It is two zhang wide and six zhang long, but it is only more than one zhang high. The soldiers were able to hide in their carts and push their carts forward, without fear of the bows and arrows in the city.

"However," Yang Yan thought to himself, "How can a siege vehicle that is only more than a foot high come to attack the city?" Just as he was thinking about it, he saw that more than 20 siege vehicles had been pushed to the city wall of Xiapi. I saw that the upper part of the siege sheep was suddenly erected, forming a tower with stairs. It turned out that the towers of this kind of siege sheep were laid flat on weekdays, and they were pushed to the edge of the city before they were erected to attack the city. In this way, the weakness of the tower cart that originally erected the tower was greatly improved because of its high center of gravity, which could not advance and retreat quickly, and was easy to be pushed down.

Yang Yan secretly thought: Wei Sheng deserves the name of a craftsman, and the things he designed are really cleverly conceived. Pointing to the siege vehicle, he asked Wei Sheng: "Wei Dutong, did you come up with this siege vehicle?" ”

Wei Sheng smiled slightly, glanced back at Wei Chang and said, "This is the siege vehicle that Xiao Chang came up with, he is not a martial artist, he just has a little understanding in these crafts." ”

Wei Chang also smiled awkwardly, he was weak since he was a child, he didn't practice good martial arts like his brother Wei Jiao, but he couldn't learn literature well, he was twenty this year, but he didn't even get into the show. Only he has a talent for manual skills. Wei Sheng was originally a skilled craftsman, and Wei Chang learned these skills, and some ideas even surpassed Wei Sheng.

At this time, many Song troops had already pedaled the city wall of Shangpi with tower carts, and started a fierce battle with the Jin soldiers defending the city.

I saw Wei Jiao with two knives in his hands, rushing back and forth on the city wall, unstoppable. Sure enough, it was a fierce general, and at once the Jin army's defense line broke through a gap, and more and more Song soldiers successively kicked up the city tower along the gap where the tower cart rushed from the suburbs of Wei, and the Jin soldiers suffered countless casualties. Immediately, countless gaps were broken open, and the Song army, who stepped up the city tower, killed the city wall along the city stairs, killed the Jin soldiers guarding the gate, and opened the city gate.

At this time, Yang Yan took the lead in leading the Xuanfeng army into the city, and killed the Jin soldiers when they met them. As soon as the Jin soldiers saw the city gate open, the Song army knew that the general trend was going when they entered the city, and the army fled without fighting spirit, and after a fierce battle, the Song army captured Xiapi City.

On the same day, the Jin army sent by Sushi Lie Zhining to counterattack Peixian was also defeated by Yu Gongliang and retreated to Xuzhou. So far, most of the counties and towns on the periphery of Xuzhou have been occupied by the Song army, and the Song army has completed the encirclement of Xuzhou in the south, west and north.

At this time, Li Xianzhong gave the order and began to attack Xuzhou City.

On March 13, Li Xianzhong left 10,000 horses to confront the Jin soldiers of Xiao County. He personally led a large army to launch a fierce attack on Baitu Town. At this time, it was less than a month before Sushi Lie Zhining hesitated and sent troops from Zhongdu to China.

When the news reached Xiapi, Cao Xun asked Yang Yan: "Big brother, the current situation is very favorable to us." It shouldn't take much effort to capture Xuzhou, right? ”

Yang Yan smiled: "Xiao Cao, you don't use your brain, it's so easy to fight." ”

Xin Qiji also said: "The city wall of Xuzhou is tall and strong, but it is not as easy to capture as Xiapi City. ”

Yang Yan shook his head and said, "Su Shi Lie Zhining will not stay in Xuzhou and not come out. I think he will definitely raise a large army to Baitu Town to fight Li Zhaofu in a decisive battle. ”

Gao Zhen said: "Why, didn't the Jin army lose again and again? Does he still dare to fight Li Zhaofu? ”

Yang Yan said: "What don't you dare, although the Jin army has lost again and again, but the strength has not suffered much loss, if you can defeat Li Zhaofu's army, at least you can stabilize the current situation and become a form of stalemate." What's more, although our army has captured the towns and counties around Xuzhou, it has also caused a fragment of troops to be scattered, at least our Xuan Feng Army and Yu Gongliang's Xuan Feng Army are outside. What's more, until now, for this reason, the Jin army has not dispatched Tiefutu. You don't think that Su Shi Lie Zhining didn't bring the iron float, right? He must have saved the Tiefutu for the final battle. As long as there is an iron float, whoever dares to defend us will definitely win. ”

Thinking of the power of Tiefutu, Cao Xun and Gao Zhen were a little uncomfortable. Xin Qiji said: "Then what should we do now?" ”

Yang Yan said: "I will go to Wei Dutong immediately, and the Fengjun will return to Xuzhou immediately, hoping to catch up." ”