The Dangxiang people called themselves Dabaigao, as the name suggests. But in Yang Gun's opinion, ordinary soldiers and herdsmen were not Dabaigao. The herdsmen in front of him, who looked like beggars in Yang Gun's eyes, were all black and dirty, with red cheeks from the wind and sun on the plateau. They were not born like this, but probably because of the environment.
As a Khitan of the Liao Dynasty, Yang Gun felt a sense of superiority at this moment. It was obvious that the Liao army was much more decent than the Dangxiang people.
Although the Liao people established their country as a nomadic tribe, they once had Youzhou and now also had the rich Bohai farming area. They ruled over vast tracts of land and numerous tribes. In addition to nomadic life, they mainly learned things from the Han people and had become relatively advanced in everything from laws and rituals to production.
On the other hand, Yang Gun had enough confidence to think that these Dangxiang people were like beggars.
However, Yang Gun did not underestimate their fighting ability and still had confidence. Because he knew that these nomadic cavalrymen who lived in a harsh environment had endurance and bravery that were naturally honed. The poorer the people, the less afraid of death they were. They might lack battle formation training, but cavalry combat should be flexible and more dependent on individual strength and endurance.
There were also a large number of Hengshan Qiang infantrymen behind them, who were poorly equipped and extremely vicious.
Li Yiyin, who was traveling with them, looked at the well-trained and disciplined Liao army and seemed to realize the gap. He said: The Dangxiang people are as desperate as other tribes in battle.
After all, they were accomplices. Yang Gun hid his sense of superiority and said: All tribes in the world value the performance of Lord Li's tribe, and Lord Xiao is looking forward to it day and night. The Dangxiang troops still need training.
As soon as he finished speaking, a warrior angrily said in Qiang language: We are not the sons of the Khitan people, how can you send anyone here to give orders
Yang Gun didn't understand and looked at Li Yiyin. Li Yiyin cursed in Chinese: It's not your turn to speak.
Although he didn't understand what the man said, Yang Gun could tell from his expression that it was not a good thing. He pondered for a moment and said: At least the training of the war horses cannot stop.
At this time, a crackling sound was heard in the distance. Several people looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the cavalry marching tents had just been set up, and the training that Yang Gun strongly advocated had begun again.
The temporary training of the Tangut war horses was relatively reduced. Yang Gun had no choice but to not be able to get enough gunpowder for the time being, as the gunpowder carried by the army had been used up in the previous days.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Khitans knew about gunpowder. When the two Li clans in the Central Plains rebelled, the Zhao clan produced a large amount of gunpowder with the intention of blowing up Jinzhou City. Although they failed to break the city, the reason was that the recipe presented by Guo Shao did not include the method of purification and the method of classification and test ratio, and he did not tell the court the importance of sealing for gunpowder explosion, but leaked a better gunpowder formula to the Northern Han Kingdom.
The Northern Han Kingdom was a vassal state of the Liao Dynasty at that time, and the Khitans therefore obtained the prescription.
After the Khitans learned how to make gunpowder, they did not use it in battle, but used it to train their horses to adapt to artillery and muskets. Sealed hard bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder could simulate the explosion of artillery, and digging a pit in the ground and tamping it to bury the gunpowder and exploding it could simulate artillery.
Yang Gun said: "The cannons of the Xu people are used to attack the city, and they can also scare the war horses. Although the fire guns are not as far away as the bows and crossbows, they are not very useful, but they can also scare the horses that are approaching. If the horses have never heard of explosions, they will panic. Fortunately, horses are smart and they will be much better after hearing them.
The Central Plains used firearms in both battles in Youzhou, and the Liao people already had experience. In the first Northern Expedition, there were very few firearms, and the noise of the war horses and drums made the cavalry close to the small group of firearms very uncomfortable and frightened. In the second battle, the Central Plains had already used firearms in large quantities in Wubao, but the Liao people were already prepared.
That's why Yang Gun said: The fire gun has no power, it's just that the horses are afraid of it.
After he finished speaking, he looked at the training method outside the camp with some concern. Because the Liao army had run out of gunpowder, they could not find the raw materials needed for gunpowder in Pingxia at the moment, so the current method was a last resort.
The soldiers placed the short bamboos cut by Hengshan on the ground, hit them with hammers until they crackled, and then set fire to them and let out smoke, gathering their horses nearby to listen. The Tanguts in another place set fire to them and let out smoke while beating their big drums.
However, more Dangxiang people were laughing and giggling on the side. Many of them were dancing in the open space accompanied by the crackling sound, treating the thing as a game and accompaniment, singing and dancing happily.
Yang Gun saw this with a serious expression. He really wasn't doing this for fun, he just felt that this matter was very important.
By nightfall, Yang Gun had returned to the Liao army camp to rest, but was suddenly invited over by Li Yiyin's men.
Li Yiyin was beside the campfire and stood up when he saw Yang Gun: I just received a report from the scouts that Xu’s army has begun to build a city where the Wuding River flows into the Yellow River.
Yang Gun frowned, but was not surprised. He said: The Xu State used the same trick again. They also built hundreds of large and small forts in Youzhou.
Li Yiyin:
Yang Gun cursed: The people of Xu love to cheat and treacherously. Every time they build a city, they waste time when there is no opportunity and only take action when there is an opportunity.
Li Yiyin said: If they want to waste time like this in Pingxia, it will not be easy to deliver food and military supplies from afar.
Yang Gun nodded and said: That's right, Pingxia is not like Youzhou, in the Hebei Plain, the land and water are smooth. The Xu people can't hold on, but General Li has enough food and fodder. He couldn't help but emphasize that the Liao Dynasty was not well-off, and it was a long way to transport food from the Liao Dynasty.
Li Yiyin looked troubled, and this time he gathered almost all the young and strong people who could help.
Li Yiyin said: If Xu's army builds a city and defends it, we will send our main force westward to attack Lingzhou, occupy the fertile land in the Hetao area of Lingzhou, and unite with the Dangxiang in Hexi.
Yang Gun nodded and said: That's great. But Zhe Dejian is in Lingzhou, and he probably already smelled something wrong and is getting restless. He may have been on guard and will defend to the death.
Li Yiyin said: "It's easier to attack than the city guarded by Xu's imperial army. I was also wondering, since Xu's army was attacking, their strength was only half of ours. It turned out that they used this tactic to counterattack and defend.
At the confluence of the Yellow River and the Wuding River, more than 70,000 troops and tens of thousands of civilians arrived, and hundreds of thousands began construction work.
Guo Shao suddenly became an architect. He first named the fortress Wudingbao, and later added the name Yongbuluobao, intending to use it as a rear base camp, and then began to design a simple blueprint. The ancients had rich experience in building cities, and there were also ways to build cities in winter, so he didn't need to do it. But Guo Shao believed that Xu's army was equipped with a large number of firearms, and the original city model was no longer suitable for tactical needs.
Guo Shao knew nothing about modern fortifications, and his knowledge of ancient city construction was limited to actual combat. But he used his brain to think about it, and he could also figure out that ancient cities were built by cold weapons, with walls as high as eight meters, equivalent to three-story buildings, and a circumference of more than ten miles.
Guo Shao was thinking about two reasons. First, the purpose was to prevent a large number of cold-weapon soldiers from climbing up, and high walls made climbing more difficult. In addition, the defenders had limited firepower, so the higher the wall, the easier it was to defend, and the gravity of the earth and rocks thrown would cause more damage. Second, China has always been an economic powerhouse, and a large perimeter could protect urban residents and the economy. The larger the city, the greater the threshold for the number of troops to besiege.
But times have changed, and it would be meaningless to cling to old ideas and build an unfixed city.
First of all, Wuding City was built in a barren land with no people living there. The one-mile range of the field bronze cannon also indirectly increased the circumference of the ancient army's siege.
Therefore, the volume can be greatly reduced, greatly reducing the construction cost. It only needs to meet the needs of garrison barracks, warehouses, etc. A complete military fortress.
Secondly, it doesn't need to be that high, which reduces the cost of building a city. A large number of defenders equipped with firearms rely on firepower to defend the city, not the height of the wall. A high wall will also create a blind spot for firepower.
Finally, the square city is not conducive to crossfire, and the artillery has a lot of blind spots. The ancients' urn city, also known as the moon city, is like an arc protrusion, which slightly increases the firepower point. Guo Shao got inspiration from this and prepared to make this design more prominent.
The general outline of the Liuhua Fort has been drawn, like a fortress flower with six petals. Each petal is a two-sided corner growing around the fortress; plus the arc-shaped connecting edge between the two petals, the actual figure has six corners and eighteen sides.
Guo Shao used a wooden ruler to practice drawing on paper, and came to the conclusion that no matter where the attack came from, they would suffer from direct fire from approximately three directions.
Of course, this fortress is more vulnerable than ordinary cities when it is not supported by firearms, because it is shorter and smaller. Therefore, when designing it, it is necessary to consider the weather conditions that may affect the use of firearms, such as rain.
Guo Shao mainly considered the firepower points of artillery and muskets. The six-petal protrusions are solid rammed earth, and holes are dug on the outer wall to install beams as shelters, which can prevent attacks from catapults and shelter from rain.
Outside the physical fort, the bottom is an inclined surface with three parapet walls built in layers, and small soldier caves are dug behind the parapet walls to shelter from the rain. Enemy soldiers nearby will be shot at by three muskets from several directions; and three soldiers are hidden in each soldier cave behind the wall, taking turns to fire to ensure the shooting frequency.
A defense system of small forts was set up within a radius of ten miles, using fireworks, sky lanterns, wolf smoke and drums as warning signals. When encountering a small group of people, they would send troops from the small forts to wipe them out, and when encountering a large group of people, they would give signals and ride away on horseback.
A water gate was set up on the south side of the fortress, a ditch was dug to connect the river with the Yellow River, and a dock was set up at the fortress. As long as the Yellow River was controlled, external aid to Wuding Fortress could be guaranteed.
After Guo Shao designed the blueprint, he ordered the Tokyo Military Department to equip the inland navy with artillery to ensure that the Yellow River water rights could be seized when necessary. Although the Dangxiang people did not have a navy, Guo Shao was excited and examined the design of this beautiful fortress with a perfect attitude.
He looked at his achievements and could not help but say excitedly: This fortress can be defended for a hundred years as long as the Central Plains can supply materials. Even if a million troops come here, they will die.