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Volume 4 Midstream Chapter 156 Four or Five Sighs in the Midnight-2

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    On the city wall fort, the gunners huddled behind the crenels. The howling north wind blew across the city, and everyone was blown away and frozen.  Luo Huan, commander of the Guangnan Artillery Team, looked pale and his nose was red from the cold. He looked down at the four-inch cannon on the emplacement.  Stoppers and gunpowder barrels were piled around the cannon body. At the beginning of the breakout, the five-inch cannon and the four-inch cannon could not be taken away because they were too heavy and had to be blown up in advance.  Luo Huan reluctantly stroked their dark bodies one by one.  "It's a pity that Chunyu made the superior iron cannon." the gunner said in a low voice.  The hugeness and power of the artillery, and the great affection of the people of the Song Dynasty, made people feel a certain attachment and reluctance to it, especially when they were forced to destroy the cannon.  However, compared with the scene of casualties on the battlefield outside the city, and compared with the tens of thousands of fallen soldiers, this sentiment is not only inappropriate, but also weak.  On the battlefield, victory or survival has become the overriding concern.  Luo Huan took a deep breath of cold air and looked away from the cannon.  Luo Huan sighed and turned around to leave. Suddenly, the messenger came over with an officer with a ginger complexion.  "General Zuo ordered me to come and receive your heavy artillery." The officer handed over a warrant and said expressionlessly.  "What?" Luo Huan's voice became rough instinctively.  However, the other party was indifferent and just extended the general's order in front of him.  This voice of dissatisfaction caused officers from several surrounding artillery battalions to gather around and look at the visitor with hostility.  Five-inch cannons and four-inch cannons are both called heavy artillery. After the rise of firearms, these are the most precious weapons. Under normal circumstances, they would never be given away to others.  However, under the unkind gazes of everyone, the officer seemed not to notice. His eyes were gloomy and he looked at Luo Huan coldly.  At this time, a group of heavy-walking wounded soldiers climbed up the city wall. Some had broken hands, some had their feet amputated, and some were wrapped in thick wounds. Their faces were sallow, some were supporting each other, and some were being carried.  Come up.  These people seemed to turn a blind eye to the officers and soldiers of the artillery camp on the city wall, and quietly gathered behind the officers receiving heavy artillery.  At this time, Luo Huan noticed that the sleeve under the officer's right elbow was actually empty, and it fluttered slightly when the wind blew.  "What are you doing?" Luo Huan couldn't help but have an ominous premonition in his heart, "What is going on?" "Please hand over the heavy artillery to us." The ginger-faced officer repeated coldly.  "Then what?" Luo Huan asked in silence.  "Then," a hint of pride appeared in the corner of the officer's mouth, and he said solemnly, "we will stick to this." His gloomy eyes flashed with brightness, and Luo Huan clearly felt that several subordinates behind the officer puffed up their chests almost at the same time.  Mouth, with a special kind of pride.  "Okay." He said solemnly and waved his hand. The officers and gunners of the Cantonese Artillery Team also stepped aside and silently handed over the heavy artillery to the wounded soldiers who were defending Xiongzhou.  Everyone's hearts were heavy, and they didn't even dare to look directly into the eyes of those who were left to die.  After witnessing countless injuries and deaths on the battlefield, such a great hero would be deceiving himself if he said he was not afraid.  Although the group of people in front of them could hardly survive the slow journey of breaking out due to their injuries, the choice between a glimmer of hope and defending their honor with death was enough to put anyone who calls himself a hero to shame.  The handover of thirty-five five-inch guns and ten four-inch guns was completed in oppressive silence. Several wounded soldiers with their legs amputated were seated directly next to the gun emplacements, with their eyes closed and leaning against the sky-shattering thunder.  wooden basket rest.  Luo Huan wanted to give some advice on the placement of gun emplacements and cross-firing, but found that the ginger-faced officer was more familiar with this than him, so he stopped playing around.  The Guangnan Artillery Team left in silence. At this time, any words were redundant.  Before the war, everyone¡¯s most precious rest and quiet time.  Among the soldiers of the Zuo Army, there were about 3,000 wounded soldiers who voluntarily stayed to defend Xiongzhou City.  After the army evacuates, the artillery on the four walls will bombard the invading enemies, and finally ignite gunpowder to kill the enemies who boarded the city.  In addition to these three thousand dead soldiers, the battalions of the left army completed their assembly at Chou, discarding all heavy artillery and most of the ammunition. The artillery team carrying only light three-inch cannons accompanied the main force of the left army out of the city from the west gate. Two thousand cavalry and  Three thousand horsemen and gunmen, each holding two torches, galloped out of the four gates, making loud noises to conceal the whereabouts of the army. Finally, they gathered together and headed southwest to attack the Song Army's western formation, which had been besieged by the Liao Army.  Wing artillery fort, fighting a bloody road back south.  The troops preparing to break out were all concentrated on the road leading directly to the west gate. It was so dark that only one road was left in the middle.  There was no conversation, no coughing, no groaning. At this moment, although there was no roar of horse hooves or the whistling of arrows like on the battlefield, this silence was even more eerie.  The officers were all among the soldiers. The robes and armor of the left army officers were similar to those of the soldiers, but now it was even more difficult to tell them apart.  Zuo Nianyuan and Luo Huan were also crowded among the people in Guangnan camp. They felt that he was a little depressed and couldn't help but half-jokingly said: "What's wrong, you can't bear to leave Xiongzhou?" Luo Huan snorted and asked: "Brother Zuo, you  Are you afraid of death? "Zuo Nian? He was stunned for a moment, shook his head, and did not answer.  "I'm also afraid of death." He thought to himself.  However, there were soldiers all around at this time, and if he said it, he might upset the morale of the army.  "Me too," Luo Huan glanced at the top of the city tower and whispered, "But now I feel that death is more pleasant than life." Zuo Nianyuan followed his gaze, nodded with the same feeling, and said: "Peijiu  Going to Yiyi and leaving Cheng Ying alone, it is indeed more satisfying to die. However, everyone has their own responsibilities, but as long as they are alive, they must not relax at all." Luo Huan knew that he was motivating himself, and just as he was about to nod, the city gate in front of him shouted.  There was a "squeaking" sound, and a crack was opened. At the same time, with the sound of horse hooves, hundreds of riders rushed past them with double torches. The firelight was briefly dazzling, "Brother Jia?  Zuo Nianyuan whispered, suddenly recognizing Jia Yuanzhen who was speeding by, and immediately stopped talking.  These hundreds of cavalry rushed out with torches in the dark. Half an hour later, each team tried their best to attract the attention of the Liao army.  They will face the pursuit of Liao cavalry ten times their own. It is unknown how many of them will return to the army after half an hour.  "Everyone has his own responsibility," Zuo Nianyuan murmured and repeated as he watched the cavalry disappear outside the city gate: "As long as you still have a breath, you must not relax at all." The blood in his body seemed to solidify, but also seemed to be burning.  .  Shortly after the cavalry rushed out of the city gate, the heavy artillery in the south and east of the city began to fire. The battalions that had been waiting in the city filed out in order. Unlike the cavalry with great fanfare, the battalions leaving the city did not light torches, but used  Following the faint firelight on the artillery base on the west wing of the army, the rear team followed the front team towards the southwest.  Lu Mingyu, Zuo Nianyuan, Luo Huan and other commanders were all walking as fast as the soldiers.  Because they were marching at night and had to conceal their whereabouts, all the battalion heads were not prepared to fire muskets. Instead, they prepared spears and spears, used the fire blunderbuss as long spears, and painted black mud on the spear thorns.  Along the way, the sound of hoofbeats could be heard from all sides of the left army's large team. The Guangnan camp stumbled and stopped, and sometimes there were loud shouts from the outside, as if it was fighting the incoming cavalry outside.  "Everyone in line, don't move around!" "The Liao thieves have no cannons, form a formation and move forward!" Zuo Nianyuan heard someone whispering an order.  The noise lasted for a while, then quickly subsided, and we continued to move forward.  "We may be defeated, and everyone will be devastated" In the darkness, Luo Huan stared at the heavy black shadows in the distance, secretly thinking that the black shadows in the sky seemed endless, and occasionally he would stumble upon frozen dead bodies on the ground.  , as if marching in hell, "However," he took a breath and tightened his grip on the bludgeoning rod, "if a man dies, his ears will die. The Liao thieves were only famous for a while. Even if we lose, the Song Dynasty will definitely win! Under the eternal  , Someone will come to pay homage to these lonely ghosts like me." As I thought about it, my steps felt lighter.  "If you die, you will die. Even if you die, we are still one hundred thousand male ghosts. We will not be afraid of even the eighteenth level of hell." This situation is different from when we went out of the city to rescue the Chinese army during the day.  During the day, the outcome was still unclear, and the Liao army was eager to win, so they tried their best to intercept the Song army who was sending reinforcements from Xiongzhou.  The Song army had another way to retreat. Whenever they encountered setbacks, they retreated to the city.  At this moment, the left army, tens of thousands of men and horses, was determined to fight. However, the Liao army did not know whether it was because of a hard day's fighting, or because it was unwilling to fight the Song army at night, or because the main force was divided into several groups to surround the Song army and was surrounded from all sides.  Confused by the wandering Song Army cavalry, they could not mobilize enough troops to intercept, or they sent troops and horses to intercept but went in the wrong direction.  All in all, before the main force of the left army reached the Song army's west wing artillery base outside the city, there was never a large enough Liao army to stop them, and several cavalry groups that came one after another were also repelled.  Luo Huan didn't know how long he had been walking. When it was about to break, the army arrived in front of the artillery base on the west wing of the camp that was besieged by the Liao army.  Fortunately, despite the lack of information, the thousands of Song troops who were guarding the west wing artillery fortification first saw the army in the city coming to help from a high place. They were overjoyed and immediately opened fire to bombard the Liao army outside the artillery fortification.  The forwards of the Song Army below the fort heard the sound of the cannons in front and launched an attack almost without hesitation. The gunman charged forward without firing a shot.  Surrounding the west wing artillery fort was the Jurchen army, which had already suffered heavy losses in the day's battle.  Under the desperate attack of the Song army from inside and outside, the Jurchen army retreated with only a slight resistance.  The left army gained a way out, and the Song army who was besieged on the artillery fort recovered from the desperate situation. Both sides' morale was greatly boosted and they cheered thunderously.  The commander of the fort, Yao Xian, immediately expressed his willingness to be controlled by Lu Mingyu.  The two Song armies met together, reorganized themselves briefly, and then retreated south.  At this time, the sky was just getting dim.  The Liao army determined that the Song army in Xiongzhou was planning to break out and escape, and hurriedly reported to Brother Yelu Tie.
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