Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

This was Tuoba Yan's voice, and the inside of the barrier fell silent.Yang Hao stood up slowly, and put the shield in front of him. At such a short distance, the speed of the flying arrows could not be avoided even with good skill. He didn't dare to push it blindly. "Hehe, Tuobayan, your reception today is much more exciting than the roasted sheep and singing and dancing that night. Presumably...you are not the young patriarch of the Bailing clan, can you tell me your real name? " Yang Hao took a deep breath and searched for Tuobayan's position in the mist. At the same time, he quietly gestured for Muen to look for an opportunity to shoot cold arrows, but Tuobayan seemed to be galloping away in the mist, his voice flickered from left to right, making him People can't grasp his exact position at all.

"Haha, easy to say, easy to say, I am indeed not from the Bailing family, but if you call me Tuobayan, it's not bad. I also have a name, you must have heard of it, I don't know the name Yinzhou Li Guangyan, Master Yang, have you ever heard of it?" There was a commotion behind Yang Hao, and Yang Hao also raised his eyebrows. Of course, he had heard of Li Guangyan from Yinzhou.As the core figure of the Tuoba clan, Li Guangyan's family inherited the post of Yinzhou defense envoy, which echoed Xiazhou's one south and one north. The forces of the Central Plains have firmly controlled the land of Xixia in the hands of their family, but Yang Haoshi did not expect that he would submissively obey, conceal his identity, and leave his lair to go deep into the place where the Qiang people in Hengshan live scattered.

"It turned out that it was Lord Li Guangyan, the defense envoy of Yinzhou, who was disrespectful and disrespectful. Speaking of which, you and I are both officials of the Song Dynasty. I don't know why Master Li met in battle?" Li Guangyan laughed loudly: "My lord Yang, you don't burn fake incense in front of the real Buddha, so you don't have to be so pretentious. The northwestern region has always done its own thing. Which feudal clan has taken the officials of the Song Dynasty seriously? Since your summer Since the establishment of the prefecture and the establishment of the prefecture, the two prefectures of Fu and Lin have been in close contact. Obviously, they don't take my Li family seriously. You, Mr. Yang, are very good. Not only did you use Linzhou and Fuzhou as backers, but you also Fighting and dragging, let the Qiangs in Hengshan also make you a friend. Now Xiazhou is fighting against the Turpan people, and there is no manpower for a while, so I accepted Jiyun's secret letter, and I will naturally stand up for him."

"It turns out that you came here to seek justice for Li Jiyun in Xiazhou. Speaking of which, you are about the same age as him, but in terms of seniority, you should be his uncle. It is only natural to stand up for your nephew. Master Li is patient. It’s very bad, I’ve been away from me for so long, and I’m only looking for an opportunity to strike, if you kill someone by the Wuding River, now Yang is already a corpse by the Wuding River.” "Hehe, if you kill one thousand, you will lose eight hundred. I won't do business that is not worthwhile. The Luling army swept across the Qiangs. I have to be afraid of that prestige. If you bring a large group of people here , I can't hide it from your eyes and ears, I have few people, and you have 800 soldiers in hand, how can I not be afraid, but after watching these few days, your people are only mediocre. Yinzhou, I really didn't expect that the Qiangs in Hengshan would be reduced to Sri Lanka, and they would be defeated by such a Han army, it is really sad."

When Li Guangyan uttered these contemptuous words, all the soldiers under Yang Hao showed no anger. Yang Hao was unmoved, and laughed aloud: "Master Li is really amazing. He dared to leave his lair with only two hundred people. , there are some women and children among the more than two hundred people, but it is no wonder that the official looked away. In other words, the reason why the young master ordered Rigude to kill Rigude that night was because he was from the Yinzhou area. Out of your identity?" Speaking of this, Yang Hao felt a chill again: "It's not surprising that an adult has such scheming and means, but it's really shocking that a child has such insight and can make a decisive decision. The child must be great when he grows up, but I don’t know his name, but he has a name in history.”

Yang Hao thought about it, calmed down his mood, and said again: "But now you have failed to lure me into reinforcements and defrauded me of encampment. What can I do with just these two hundred people? This is the territory of the Hengshan Qiangs, and it is not Under the control of your Yinzhou, if you can break through my camp with these two hundred people, then just let the horse come over." Li Guangyan sneered and said, "Even the prefecture of Linzhou dare not openly tear up the face of my Li family. You little Luling prefecture, you dare to challenge my Li family's authority without a firm foothold? Hey! Your strength is not enough. , but gave birth to the courage of the sky. Do you think it is difficult to kill you? To kill you today, I just gave a warning to the Zheyang family, so that the Hengshan Zhuqiang who are about to move know who is the one in this desert grassland The real master!"

Yang Hao smiled and said: "So, please use the knife!" Li Guangyan snorted coldly, and there was no sound from the other side. Mu Kui said a little uneasy: "They have used tricks again and again, but they have never attacked by force so far. There must be some tricks." Yang Hao looked at the foggy sky and said, "Mu En, look at the weather, when will the fog dissipate?" Mu En said solemnly: "My lord, looking at the weather, I am afraid that heavy rain is coming. When the heavy rain comes, although the fog will dissipate, it will also affect the eyesight. Although our military strength is larger than theirs, we need to surround those merchants. The troops here are limited and cannot take the initiative to harass the enemy. If they use the cavalry advantage to move and attack and focus on one point, we will be exhausted, and I am afraid that sooner or later they will break through the formation."

Yang Hao frowned and said, "Could it be that we can only be beaten passively?" Mu En said: "Although our army's combat power is not as good as theirs, if we can abandon these heavy cargoes and guard those merchants among them, relying on the superiority in numbers to take the initiative to find the enemy and fight, we may not suffer a loss. This heavy fog There are pros and cons, and maybe we can turn the tide.” Yang Hao immediately shook his head. Mu En's proposal was correct. In this situation, there is nothing to defend, and the troops have to be scattered. Only by finding the enemy and fighting can we avoid the situation of being passively beaten.

But Yang Hao's weakness is these merchants and goods. If he did that, he would have won this battle, but overall, he would have lost.Because of the raids of the Qiangs, Luling Prefecture scared away all the merchants. Now, with the prestige of the Tang family, they are reluctantly recruited back. On the grassland, then the prestige of Luling Prefecture is exhausted, and they can no longer be expected to come to Luling Prefecture to do business. Luling Prefecture maintains its relationship with Linzhou, Fuzhou, and Qiang by doing business. Now Luling Prefecture is poor and has no foundation for farming and animal husbandry. Its survival depends on doing business. There is no doubt that Lingzhou will fall, even if Li Guangyan is driven away today, so what?

Yang Hao immediately said: "It won't work like this. Industry and commerce is the foundation of my foothold in Luling. I can't abandon the goods of the merchants, and those merchants must do their best to ensure their safety. Hold on for now and pay close attention to their actions. Let’s look at the changes in the fighters and wait for an opportunity to break through. There are no mountains and no forests here, but the Wuding River is seven or eight miles west. We will camp by the river. I'll go to the formation first to appease those merchants." As Yang Hao said, he was about to walk into the camp, and just as he took a step, he heard a "clang" sound, as if there was a dull sound of heavy objects falling to the ground. Screaming, Yang Hao lost his voice: "What happened?"

Before anyone could check it out, a fist-sized stone suddenly appeared from the mid-air mist, and hit a car with a "slap", cracking the shaft of the car, and then several more stones fell from the sky.Mu Kui shouted urgently: "Hold up the shield, quickly lie down, my lord, quickly get under the car." Mu En couldn't help but say that Yang Hao and Tang Yanyan and the others hid under a car, only to see more and more stones falling from the sky, and after a while, some puffs of smoke and fire fell from the sky When the fire fell, the smoke choked the mouth and nose, and the fire ball fell on the cargo and ignited. Some people rushed to rescue them. Once they were hit by a stone, even the helmet would make a deep hole and fainted on the spot. Broken tendons. Mu En changed his face and said: "This is a whirlwind cannon. They actually have a wind cannon? Those carts must be those carts. Those dozens of carts are not loaded with goods, but whirlwind cannons. Isn't this... There must be as many as forty or fifty?" Yang Hao hurriedly asked about the situation, and his expression suddenly changed.The whirlwind gun was originally created by Ma Jun during the Three Kingdoms period. It looks like a windmill. In fact, it is a centrifugal catapult that uses centrifugal force to throw stones. If the centrifugal catapult has four arms, it is called a "cross cannon". If there are more than four spiral arms, it is called a whirlwind cannon.In the whirlwind cannon invented at the beginning, the throwing arms are all perpendicular to the ground, so that the weight of the entire rotating wheel is maintained on the rotating bearing. With the smelting technology at that time, if the rotating shaft was made of metal, the center of gravity of the entire whirlwind cannon would move upwards too much.If the axis of rotation is not made of metal, no wood can withstand the reaction force of six or seven riprap arms back and forth.Therefore, it is feasible in theory, but it is difficult to use it in actual combat.But this weapon was improved by skilled craftsmen on the prairie. The improved swing arm is inclined to the ground, and the swing arm of the whirlwind gun has also been improved, so that the weight of the riprap arm is no longer borne by the swing shaft. , but fell on the entire base. In this way, the life of the rotating shaft was extended, and the whirlwind cannon became practical. This kind of small siege weapon is characterized by being able to be assembled on the saddles of camels, mules, horses and other livestock. It has strong mobility, but the power of the projectile blades fired is a little less.However, Yang Hao's hastily built camp was not a solid city. The obstacles made up of carts and cargo boxes were vulnerable to a single blow. Even the shields couldn't resist the stone bullets thrown at them. Dozens of whirlwind cannons, hundreds of spiral arms are constantly rotating, and the stone bullets are like rain, which is impossible to resist. In addition, the poisonous smoke bombs made of wolf dung, horse dung, gunpowder and carnations, etc. It is not easy to dissipate in the mist. If you inhale too much, you will have difficulty breathing and bleeding from your mouth and nose. For a while, coughing and groaning sounded everywhere in the dense fog and smoke, and fireballs, smoke balls, and stone bombs kept falling. Yang Hao was worried about those merchants and goods, and he couldn't shake off his burden and fight the enemy. The weapons against the enemy could not defend themselves, and they were really caught in a dilemma for a while.