said so lively, Gao Cuifeng was sleepy, so is the 91 gun good or not? The Xixia people seemed to have a heart-to-heart with Gao Cuifeng, and soon provided an opportunity to show it.

There is a small tributary of the Yellow River called Qingshui River about 40 miles away from Anxi City, the water volume is not too large but it is more than 30 meters wide. There are two stone piers and wooden bridges on the river, one north and one south are fifty miles apart.

If you want to cross the Qingshui River, the easiest way is to cross the bridge, and the nearest path from Dingxi City to Lanzhou is to pass through the bridge in the north, after crossing the bridge, there is a small city called Xincheng on the road less than five miles away, and this bridge is also called Xinqiao.

The marching route chosen by Hong Tao was to cross the new bridge from the southwest near Lanzhou, leaving Dingxi City less than two hours, the lookout on the hot air balloon received a message from the forward regiment, the new bridge met the enemy, there were infantry and cavalry, at least 3,000, the upper limit is unknown.

"It seems that the ancients are right, the name of the shadow tree of the people, the Xixia people are still afraid of my name and are unwilling to take the initiative, and always want to steal and play tricks. As everyone knows, the ancients also said that stealing chickens does not make rice, and we have won this first battle. ”

Hearing the news, Hong Tao only glanced at the map and smiled, opening his mouth to be the ancients, with a posture of a bamboo in his chest. It's a pity that only Gao Cuifeng, an idler, is willing to listen to his vernacular, no, there is also a baga.

However, this Japanese samurai's understanding of war was still at the level of two village fights, and when he heard that these tens of thousands of people were all troops, and there were likely to be 50,000 or more enemies on the opposite side, he was already numb, and he did not understand what important things were worth fighting so much.

"What do you mean, sir?" Gao Cuifeng listened for a long time and didn't understand why he won before the fight started, so he could only first admit that he was a mallet, and then wait expectantly to listen to the lecture.

"Come and see, this is a river, and if you want to get close to Lanzhou, you have to cross it. We are tired teachers from afar, and the Tangut people have been here for at least a month, and they can be regarded as half masters. The best way to face a tired army is to attack rather than defend, but the Tangut people knew that the new army had arrived but did not dare to cross the river to attack, but regarded this river as a reliance, and planned to fight a war of attrition with this king across the river, do you know what this means? ”

The troops on both flanks neither stopped nor accelerated, approaching the Qingshui River in a hurry, and Wang Da himself did not come back to listen to the battle plan.

Hong Tao felt very hurt and taught his apprentice to starve his master to death, which is really true. Since the children can solve the problem on their own, then stop pointing fingers and continue to be a teacher for Gao Cuifeng.

"The other general's ...... is a little timid," Gao Cuifeng felt very reasonable.

"Hehehe, not really, the other party is afraid that he knows that the king can't get supplies from the rear before he puts on such a strange formation. In their opinion, it was a victory to consume the weapons of the Forces nouvelles. It seems that Xia Shu's previous judgment is very likely, maybe Weiqiao Town has been taken over by the imperial army at this time. ”

Originally, Hong Tao did not agree with Gao Cuifeng's three doubts, and always felt that the emperor and courtiers would not joke about the country, if the Xixia people did not leave after occupying Lanzhou, even if they got rid of themselves and the King of Qi, it would be a very unfavorable situation for the Great Song Dynasty.

But what he saw and heard along the way was indeed full of suspicions, and when he learned the news sent by Jiang Erlang, Hong Tao was completely dead. If there had not been a report from the imperial court, the Tanguts would not have been able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the new army so well and make such targeted arrangements.

If the new army can get a steady stream of supplies, the arrangement of the Tangut people is equivalent to giving away the only little advantage, how can such a waste general defeat the forbidden army led by the king of Qi to the ground?

"Do you have a way to deal with it?" The more Gao Cuifeng listened, the cooler his heart became, he didn't know much about military affairs, but he could understand human words.

King Liang explained very clearly that the Western Xia people did not intend to attack or retreat, but to fight a war of attrition with the new army with a river, which happened to be the weakness of this new army.

"Don't worry, you'll find out when you get to the river." How to describe the scene where the cannon burned for several miles, Hong Tao felt that his vocabulary was not enough, and hearing was false, seeing was believing, so it was better to see it for himself.

When the baggage troops led by Hong Tao and Gao Cuifeng arrived on the east side of the riverbank, Wang Da's main force had almost dug up the simple bunker, only Wang Qi's artillery was still busy, and the twenty field guns were divided into four groups, only 100 meters away from the infantry in front.

The Western Xia army on the other side of the river has changed a bit compared to ten years ago, and it is more obvious that there are fewer cavalry and more infantry, and they are also doing the same thing, digging bunkers, fixing siege crossbows, and they are very busy.

The number of people, according to the statistics of the lookout posts on the hot air balloon, between 100,000 and 120,000, divided into three groups, left, center and right, the two wings are dominated by cavalry, but there is no sign of crossing the river to outflank, just one by one to two miles from the shore.

"My lord, they have this, and they still want to play yin, but unfortunately they were discovered by the last general." The first to run over was Jiang Erlang, still holding a black ball in his hand, pointing to the bridge with contempt on his face.

"I'm afraid this is the thunderbolt that King Qi said, although it is not as powerful as the new army, but if there are many of them, it is enough to deal with ordinary cities."

Hong Tao didn't even reach out to get it, he knew what it was, this weapon filled with black powder was not used by the new army for a long time, and it was obvious that the Tangut people had also mastered the formula and manufacturing technology.

It's hard to say whether someone deliberately leaked it, compared to making a steel plate crossbow, the difficulty of making black powder is much lower, and a technician who is familiar with the recipe can spread it.

However, the Tanguts this time they were able to play with the axe, they tied more than a dozen thunderbolts under the bridge, and wanted to detonate them when the new army crossed the river, not only to blow up the bridge, but also to give the new army a dismount.

But Jiang Erlang is a thief, these are all tricks he uses to harm others, and he has already hidden in the distance with a telescope to find the person hiding on the bridge pier and preparing to light a fire before he got close to the river.

After being shot to death, he felt that he couldn't show his ability, so he simply sent his men to dive into the water from a few hundred meters away, and quietly dived under the bridge along the river to kill people directly, dismantling the hidden danger and saving the bridge. Although the bridge could not slow down the crossing of the river by the Forces nouvelles even if it was blown up, it was better to have a bridge than never.

"This only has two or three petals when it explodes, and it's not good at learning. The lookout spotted that they were fiddling with the huge wooden shelves behind them, but they had not been able to erect them for a long time, and the child thought it was probably a trebuchet. The artillery is ready, the range is enough, it is better to destroy them first. ”

At this time, Wang Qi also walked over, took the thunderbolt and looked at it, pouted and threw it to the ground. In his eyes, this kind of goods is not a big threat, but he is more scruples about another weapon.

Speaking of trebuchets, he is still the inventor, but he is useless in the tactics of the new army, and he has never had a chance to carry it forward, and he does not want to be picked up by the Tanguts.

"Boss, what do you say?" Hong Tao felt that there was no skill at all in this battle, so he shot a cannonball, and then crossed the river, and the musket team V crossbowmen to see who was more powerful. However, he knows his position very well, the grand strategy can be arranged, and the specific tactics have to be up to the commander Wang Da.

"The child has already arranged, let the seventh brother lead someone to cut down trees and build a pontoon bridge first. If the enemy does not care, he will set up a few more and wait until tomorrow morning when the whole army crosses the river. If the enemy comes to block it and it happens to be a target, it is better to wait for the artillery to be used again, so as not to scare everyone away. ”

Wang Da really didn't plan to discuss tactics with his father, and he had already made arrangements, so the reason why he came over was not to report the attack plan, but to ask Wang Qi to build a bridge.

"See, there is a way that the tiger father has no dog, and in another five or six years, it will be time for them to take the lead, and we should almost take a back seat." Looking at the backs of his daughter and son, Hong Tao began to touch his whiskers again.

Wang Da definitely didn't mean to embarrass herself in front of Gao Cuifeng, she is this kind of character, as soon as she enters the working state, she doesn't recognize her relatives, and she doesn't want to do too much unrelated to the battle.

But in this way, I am indeed a little embarrassed, but fortunately, my skin is thick enough, and I am stunned to turn the embarrassment into the pride of parents for their children. As for what Gao Cuifeng thinks in his heart, he doesn't care.

.。 m.