Yang Zhaofang is a doctor in the Ministry of Works of the Western Xia. He is specialized in the construction and maintenance of the Xixia city bridge. Last year, he was dismissed from his official position due to a bridge collapse incident and was idle in his hometown in Shunzhou. Li Yanqing got the news from an official in Xiazhou, so he ordered the scout camp to invite the official to the Song army camp.

Li Yanqing looked at him and smiled and said, "Are you a Han person?"

"My grandfather is Song Min, but now the villain is from Xixia."

Li Yanqing nodded. It seemed that this person had a strong sense of belonging to Xixia, but Li Yanqing didn't care. He smiled and said, "I'm looking for you, there is something I want to ask for advice."

"I dare not, even though Li Jingluo asked, the villain knew it and answered."

"That's right. When we were repairing Xiazhou City, we found that the mortar between the big stones in the city wall was weathered. The entire city wall was piled up between stones, which was very unreliable. However, the city walls of the Song Dynasty did not have this situation. What's going on?"

Yang Zhaohe sighed, "The strategy makes me clear about the situation. I was dismissed because of the collapse of a bridge. The reason for the collapse of this bridge is the weathering of the mortar. In Xixia, this situation is very common."

"But according to my military craftsmen, you did not use rice slurry when building the city, but just mixed lime with sand as mud. Is that true?"

Yang Zhaohe smiled bitterly, "Western Xia does not produce rice, and we use dough powder, but the dough powder is not adhesion enough. This is not the main reason. It is because the Western Xia has strong winds and sand, dry climate, and buildings are easily weathered. Therefore, the city wall usually needs to be rebuilt every thirty years. However, due to financial resources, only the Xingqing Prefecture City Wall can do this. Other cities may be once every fifty years, or even never rebuilt. For example, Xiazhou City, the last time it was rebuilt was sixty years ago."

"What about Lingzhou and Jingzhou?"

Yang Zhaohe was silent for a moment and said, "Is the Strategic Envoy looking for the weakness of the city wall?"

Li Yanqing stared at him with sharp eyes, "I won't force you if you don't want to say it, but this is your opportunity. After the demise of Xixia, we will definitely reuse a group of local Han officials. You can think about it yourself!"

After being silent for a long time, Yang Zhaohe sighed and said, "The sand is filled in the middle of the Lingzhou city wall. Even if a large layer of stone collapses outside, the sand is pouring down. However, the city wall at the city gate is hollow and supported by wood. It has been more than fifty years, almost sixty years, and it is very decadent. It is the same with Jingzhou. Last year, I wrote a report asking for the reconstruction of Lingzhou and Jingzhou, but I was dismissed before I got a response."

"Is there any weakness in Xingqing Mansion's city wall?" Li Yanqing asked again when he looked at him.

Yang Zhaohe nodded, "There are also weaknesses. If you can really attack Xingqing Prefecture City, I will tell you all."

"Okay! Mr. Yang, please go down and rest first."

The personal soldier led Yang Zhaofang down, and Liu Qi smiled and said, "The governor really doesn't plan to use the siege ladder?"

Li Yanqing smiled faintly, "If the Jin soldiers had our thunder, I think they wouldn't use the siege ladder to attack the city again!"

At night, dozens of black shadows appeared one mile outside Lingzhou City. They were moving quickly and vigorously, carrying several huge thunders toward the southern gate of Lingzhou step by step. Two miles away, 50,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry were ready. The Jingzhao Army has been practicing night combat skills for a year, and almost every soldier can fight at night, and night combat is exactly the weakness of the northern nomadic peoples.

Li Yanqing also rode on the war horse and stared at Xiping City from afar. Once he attacked the city, both sides would focus on street fighting. The cavalry was inconvenient in street fighting, but the infantry was more dominant.

For this northern expedition, Li Yanqing also made sufficient preparations. The soldiers not only trained night battles for a long time, but also carried out intensive training in street fighting, including short-shoot crossbow arrows specially used for street fighting. The killing distance of this crossbow arrow is only fifty steps. The advantage is that it is that it is small and convenient, and can quickly shoot. In addition, iron fire thunder is also a weapon for street fighting, and there are poisonous smoke cartridges. This poisonous smoke cartridge was invented in the early Northern Song Dynasty. It is the size of a teacup, with arsenic and wolf poison inside. After burning, it will produce poisonous smoke.

However, the early gunpowder was not good, which made the poisonous smoke cartridges not effective. This time, the Song army used the modified efficient burning gunpowder and the wolf poison arsenic ground into fine powder to mix it. When burned, it would produce a large amount of poisonous smoke, which would be a huge disaster for the enemies hiding in the room and be regarded as an early chemical weapon.

In addition to 50,000 infantry, Li Yanqing also deployed 20,000 cavalry on the periphery. Their mission was to suppress the escaped Xixia soldiers and prevent them from fleeing back to Xingqing Prefecture.

Thirty soldiers were carrying two city-burning thunders, and were moving quickly towards the city gate. Compared with the Song Dynasty, the biggest difference between the Xixia city and the Xixia city is that there is no moat. Some cities will dig a trench with spikes and wooden stakes placed inside, while others do not even have trenches.

Lingzhou and Jingzhou behind belong to the latter. It is not an important border city like Weizhou and Xiazhou, nor a capital city like Xingqing Prefecture. Therefore, there are no trenches in front of their city, and even the city gate is relatively old. What the Xixia army can do is to block the city gate with huge rocks. Even if the city gate is blown up, there are still more solid rocks behind it.

Thirty soldiers have entered the range within fifty steps from the city wall. The moonlight is good tonight, and the defenders on the city wall can already discover the Song army.

There were about 5,000 defenders on the city wall at night, and the city's chief general was still King Li Cha Ge. Originally, Richard Li was defeated in Xiazhou, which had affected Li Qianshun's trust in him.

Li Qianshun originally planned to appoint King of Guard Li Zhizhong to guard Lingzhou. Li Zhizhong and his brother King Pu Li Renzong have become the most trusted right-hand man of Emperor Li Qianshun, and have vaguely surpassed Brother Richard.

But unfortunately, Li Zhizhong is currently coordinating various tribes to send troops and cannot rush to Lingzhou. Brother Richard also happens to play a role in Lingzhou. Li Qian decided to use Brother Richard again to make him defend Lingzhou no matter how.

Within fifty steps, the thirty soldiers became more careful. They were wearing big cloaks and the color of the big land was exactly the same. They crawled on the ground and could not be seen even during the day. The thirty soldiers moved slowly, and a group of soldiers on the top of the city were standing in front of the battlements, but they did not find the Song soldiers gradually approaching the city wall.

The distance between fifty steps was scrambled for a quarter of an hour. Finally, the two soldiers jumped up and rushed to the city gate, standing close to the city gate. Two thunders immediately rolled over. They topped two thunders weighing 80 kilograms on the walls on both sides of the city gate with a tripod. This is what Yang Zhaohe called the hollow city. It looks very strong, but in fact it is as dangerous as a burrow.

Two soldiers were operating nervously by the city wall, while more than a dozen soldiers outside were holding crossbow arrows and guarding them with vigilance, worried that after being discovered, sentries would slide down the ropes on the top of the city.

At this time, the fire was lit under the city wall. The soldiers lit the fire note and were immediately discovered by the soldiers on the top of the city. They immediately shouted and shouted.

The two soldiers lit the fuse, turned around and ran against the city wall. This was an effective method. They could use the city wall to block the shock wave of the sky-shaking thunder. It was not very convenient to shoot arrows on the city wall. Eighteen soldiers also jumped up and ran against the city wall.

At this time, arrows began to be fired at the top of the city wall. A soldier screamed and threw himself to the ground. He was shot in the back of the middle by an arrow. The two soldiers quickly carried him on their backs and ran wildly.

Just as the soldiers on the city wall were running from all directions to the city gate tower, two extremely dull explosions exploded, fires soared into the sky, thick smoke rolled, countless bricks and stones flew away, the entire city wall shaking, as if a small earthquake had occurred.

Twenty Song soldiers lay on the ground in a hurry, holding their heads with their hands, and no one on the top of the city was concerned about them. The soldiers were extremely frightened, and many of them fell to the ground without standing firmly.

When the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the entire city wall at the gate disappeared, leaving only a small section of the city wall in the middle being pressed by the huge rock behind him. A gap of more than ten feet long appeared on both sides, and ruins were everywhere.

At this time, the sound of war drums suddenly sounded in the distance. The Song army, who had been waiting for a long time, came out and rushed towards Lingzhou City. Five thousand cavalrymen rushed in front and rushed closer in just a moment. Hundreds of Xixia soldiers were carrying sandbags in an attempt to block the gap, but it was too late. The cavalry took the lead and rushed into the gap directly.
Chapter completed!