"So slow? It seems that I still don't know how powerful this official is! Wang Da, go to the siege crossbow first! If you have a cheap advantage, don't take advantage of the bastard, give me a life shot! ”

It's Hong Tao's advantage to be ashamed to ask, it's hard to say whether it's an advantage or a disadvantage at all, anyway, he thinks it's an advantage. Fighting, where is there so much stinky and exquisite, whoever wins is the master, and whoever loses is the grandson.

The assembly of the siege crossbow was very fast, and the base was fixed with four large nails nailed into the dirt, and the crossbow body was bolted to the base. There is a rotating device at the junction of the base and the crossbow body that can rotate left and right, and by adjusting the front legs of the base, it can be pitched up and down.

In less than ten minutes, the crossbowman was already spinning the ratchet winding, and the deputy crossbowman was picking up two pickaxes and placing the thick crossbow arrows in the grooves to help adjust the pitch angle.

When the launch does not belong to Hong Tao, that is the task of Wang Da and them. At this time, he was standing on the box car and observing the enemy situation with a telescope, or counting the heads.

"Dut...... Doodle...... Bang bang bang! With three short brass whistles, a dull vibration sounded at once, and it was the distinctive sound of a steel plate crossbow. Due to the material, the steel crossbow arm will swing back and forth after releasing energy, a bit like some kind of bass instrument, which is not difficult to hear.

The person who launched it didn't feel bad, but the person who accepted it was more uncomfortable. The deputy town guard of Xixia was a little excited, according to the convention, the two sides were a little close to each other about a mile away, but the advantage of being backed by the city can also be said.

It's not that there are no weapons that can shoot a mile away, and the Northern Song Dynasty's sharp weapon for defending the city can be a bed crossbow, but that thing is fixed on the city wall, and it has never participated in a field battle, so it is inevitable that there will be some carelessness.

The sound of the steel plate crossbow was slow, the crossbow bolts came quickly, and before the bass could hear it, more than twenty huge crossbow arrows pierced into the crowd.

Compared with the hornet's nest, the shooting accuracy of the siege crossbow is much stronger, as long as the pitch angle is adjusted according to the ruler, and there is not much crosswind, the small-angle projectile landing point of the siege crossbow will not exceed plus or minus ten meters.

The Western Xia infantry in front was the most unlucky, the first wave of crossbow arrows was all aimed at them, who let them stand in the middle and be so dense.

Not a single crossbow arrow missed, all hit the target, and even two flew far in front of the drawbridge, giving a greeting to the Chinese army who had just crossed the bridge.

"Hey, I didn't expect this thing to have a fragmentation attack!" Hong Tao held the telescope and saw clearly, and the state of the crossbow arrow suddenly changed after it penetrated the crowd, which was not found in the usual experiments.

Some of them have become sticks, and the shafts of the arrows will sweep out, and it will be enough to choke anyone when they touch them. Some arrow shafts are simply broken by the huge torque, and the sharp stubble is no weaker than the arrow lethality, and whoever is on the side is unlucky.

To say that the Western Xia army is indeed well-trained, after being attacked by such a surprise, only the infantry in the middle is a little flustered, and they are still looking around for what the hell is, many people don't realize that it is the weapon launched here.

The cavalry on both sides belonged to sitting high and seeing far away, and without waiting for the main general to make a decision, they made the right choice under the leadership of their respective generals. The pawns were divided into two groups, like two full moon scimitars plunging straight into the sides of the boxcart position.

In terms of how to deal with pure infantry technology, the Western Xia army did not need to carry out special training, and it was almost exhausted. Use light riders to harass flanks and heavy riders to break through in the middle.

As long as the dense formation of the infantry is broken up and the favorable conditions are provided for your own infantry, the battle is basically over. When encountering good generals and well-trained infantry, this process may be longer, and even if it is broken up once, the opponent will regroup in a very short time.

In this way, the cavalry-based Western Xia army will no longer fight fortified battles, and will use siege tactics, and by the way, go to see if it can cut off the opponent's grain route, and slowly consume the infantry to death.

What if you encounter a lot of cavalry on the other side? The Western Xia army still had a way, and that was to retreat. Their infantry actually had horses to walk on their feet, and they were no slower than their cavalry.

The purpose of this was to lengthen the battle line and make the most of the terrain and climate to maneuver with the opposing cavalry. Look for an opportunity to quickly assemble forces by surprise and then attack the opposing infantry.

After defeating the infantry first, the Western Xia army turned into a mixed infantry and cavalry army, with heavy infantry forming a formation and fighting the opponent's cavalry, and then using light cavalry to restrict the movement space of the opponent's cavalry, forcing them to either fight or run.

These tactics were all learned by Hong Tao by reading the official documents of the imperial court, asking generals at all levels, and summarizing and communicating with the General Staff Headquarters led by Wang Shao.

Don't look like there are two or three tactics in the future, but how to use and when to use which tactics are all played by officers who have experienced a hundred battles on the spot, and there is no too fixed procedure.

Sometimes one right little choice can make the difference between the outcome of a battle, and the combination of several of these small choices can be enough to determine the outcome of a battle.

Hong Tao studied for a long time and found that it was a bit difficult to adjust his tactics in time for the tactics of the Xia people. It is possible to achieve relatively high command skills, but you need to experience many actual battles, and then summarize and absorb from every defeat and victory.

This method is obviously not suitable for you, and maybe you will die after one failure, which is too dangerous. So he simply ignored the other party's tactics and focused on himself. I can fight as much as I want, you can fight as much as you like, anyway, I'm like that!

Speaking of which, this kind of self-centered tactic either has extremely superb command skills and very elite troops, or it is a big fool who doesn't know anything, so he is unwilling to change. Hong Tao basically belongs to the latter, but he has one more thing to rely on than the latter, weapons!

When many people talk about war, they always like to put the wisdom of the commander and the bravery of the soldiers in front, and this reason does sound very emotional and legendary.

However, the reality is often very boring and boring. What really determines the outcome of the battlefield is often not the wisdom of the commander and the bravery of the soldiers, it is a cold thing, weapons and equipment.

In the early stages of World War II, neither France, Britain, nor the Soviet Union could resist the attacks of Germany and Japan. Suddenness is one thing, but the important thing is the lack of preparation of weapons and equipment.

No matter how wise the British, French and Soviet commanders were, and how brave the soldiers were, they could not hold back the huge tank groups of the Germans. After all, people are flesh and blood, and all plans in front of steel cannons are in vain.

The Americans, too, did not have sufficiently advanced and numerically superior warships, so they could only engage in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese fleet in the Pacific theater, dragging their feet and waiting for their new warships to be launched.

In fact, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the same, the Chinese army, which was several times larger than the Japanese army, was not a brainless commander every time, nor was it defeated before a battle every time, and it was indeed unable to block the opponent's firepower superiority.

Then some people will ask, in the Korean War, the equipment of the US army was obviously much stronger than that of the Volunteer Army and the North Vietnamese Army, why did it still not win?

This local war seems to be a contest between two countries, but in fact it is a political contest between the two camps, which has gone beyond the category of pure combat.

From the standpoint of the Americans, the Korean War only failed to achieve the ultimate goal, but it did not lose either, and from a grand strategic point of view, the exchange of half of Korea for the protection of Wanwan from being attacked, decades later, did achieve the strategic goal.

If there had been no Korean War, Wanwan would probably have been taken down. Just imagine, once Wanwan becomes our Wanwan Province, does the first island chain still make sense? With this bridgehead, we can radiate far and far to the south and are vital to the maintenance of Malacca's lifeline.

There are examples of this in later generations, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Syria. They are more political, and the war is nothing more than a statement. The real strategic purpose may not be something that most people can understand, and it will take time to prove.

Hong Tao does not have such concerns at present, and he can fight as much as he wants, so he wants to give full play to the advantages of weapons and equipment to make up for his lack of command technology.

"Blow the trumpet!" For the Western Xia cavalry outflanked from both flanks, Hong Tao only said two words.

"Tick tock...... Tick-tock...... "Every time this kind of brass horn sounds, Hong Tao wants to raise his arm high and wave it forward, and then shout: Comrades, rush!