Zhao Bing did not express any objection to Ni Liang's choice of rude and straightforward combat plan. After the battle began, he did not interfere, but just watched the battle quietly. When he came to the battlefield in person, he was more of a ritual existence, showing his determination to conquer Fancheng and morale. As for the days of being in person, leading the troops to fight, he was gradually drifting away from him. It is now a luxury to be able to watch the battle in front of the battlefield.

Therefore, Zhao Bing understood that he should let go and grant power to his generals. After all, as the country's territory increases, the battlefield will also expand. He does not have three heads and six arms, so it is impossible for him to cover everything. He has to rely more on his capable ministers and generals. This Northern Expedition, he also had this idea and wanted to select available people from it.

Time is tight, and Ni Liang also chose the most direct and rough way to attack Fancheng as soon as possible, and Zhao Bing also thought it was the most appropriate choice. The shape of Fancheng is similar to an elliptical, with short east and west ends, with only two small gates on Linjiang, which are inconvenient for military use and will be attacked by cross-attacks on both sides. On the contrary, the south city of Linjiang and the north city facing 6 places are narrow and long, with seven gates on the north city and close to 6 places, which is convenient for attacking one side to use military use.

According to the information provided by Zhang Jin, there are few buildings on one side of the north city and the terrain is empty, so it is easy to launch troops after attacking the city. The south city is close to the Han River, with many docks, shops and houses, and the alleys are as dense as spider webs. If you attack the city from this direction, you will be involved in street battles and fight with the enemy one by one, which is very unfavorable to your side with a slightly inferior force.

Therefore, choosing the North City as the offensive direction, the enemy needs to invest a lot of troops to defend the North City, and it is inconvenient to move in the city, so loopholes will appear when defending it. On the other hand, the Song army has the advantage of firepower, and can use artillery to destroy the Hui cannon that threatens the most to one side, kill and injure the enemy on the city, weaken the enemy's strength, and attack the morale of the enemy.

Of course, even though Fancheng was built with rammed earth, it was difficult to destroy the city wall with the various artillery equipment of the Song army in a short period of time. However, the East Group used blasting several times to destroy the city during the Northern Expedition and had accumulated rich experience. Therefore, Ni Liang naturally chose this tactic when he lacked siege equipment.

As for choosing the two city gates of the Hajj Gate and Pingxiang Gate as breakthrough points, it is not blind, because the two city gates are divided into the east and west ends of the north city, which makes it possible for the enemy to use this as a breakthrough point to dispatch troops for a long distance, which easily leads to a time difference. Moreover, the two gates serve as auxiliary city gates, which may be to save money and labor. There was no wall city building during reconstruction, which also allowed the Song army to enter the city directly without a second blast.

In addition, the enemy did not expect that the Song army would use blasting to attack the city, and did not block the city gate in time. The Song army could not have to dig out the city wall to place gunpowder, and could directly place the gunpowder in the door hole. After blasting, it would cause the city wall to collapse, forming a slope, so that the Song army could climb over the gap and enter the city with only a short ladder or even bare hands, or go up the city to compete with the enemy for city defense and drive out the enemy on the city wall.

"The city is about to be broken!" Zhao Bing watched as a brigade divided his troops to attack Fancheng in two groups, and had successfully forced him to the city and began to prepare for a blast, and said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, will the enemy open the city and carry out counterattacks? This will disperse our frontier artillery and expel the assault troops that attack the city!" Tan Fei interrupted at this time.

"Shi Bi probably doesn't have the courage at this moment. If he sends his troops out of the city, he will receive a counterattack from our cavalry. I'm afraid that before they can even unfold, our army will be captured by our army." Zhao Bing pointed to the cavalry brigade arranged in the central army and said with a smile, "And it's too late for them to open the city at this moment, and the last round of attacks is about to begin."

Tan Fei looked at the high-rise watchtower, watching his hands waving flags to report the movements of the enemy in the city, and indicating the targets to the artillery. While the first and second regiments of the 1st Brigade, which were the main attack, organized the blasting of the trenches, the small-caliber artillery and mortars were still firing fiercely, cooperating with the frontier infantry to suppress the enemy at the top of the city, cooperating with the engineering battalion to install explosives, demolish the foot corners and fences, and destroy obstacles such as traps.

The heavy artillery of the 1st Brigade Artillery Regiment stopped firing at the city head and began to ignite the guns and test fires into the city, extending the artillery fire to clear obstacles for the siege troops; the medium-sized artillery focused on attacking the city towers, war sheds and horse-driving troops, destroying the enemy's city defense facilities; the rocket artillery business has been filled and is ready to shoot to attack the enemy reserve team stationed behind the city.

At this time, the building collapsed on Fancheng City, submerged in smoke and flames. Most of the battlements and female walls were destroyed. The soldiers guarding the city fled back and forth on the city, looking for shelter. The archers who had just shot against the Song army were the most casualties. Under the suppression of gunfire and artillery, the counterattack was weak. Only the sparse arrows shot from the city showed that they were still making the final resistance.

‘Boom, boom, boom…’

The central army commander's flag swung three times left and right, and three red flags rose from the watchtower, which marked the beginning of the general attack. In an instant, heavy artillery began to roar, and the projectiles spurted out from the muzzle with the flames, crossing the high city wall. Then, a thunderous explosion sound came from the city, followed by smoke of gunpowder.

‘Swish, swish, swish…’

The rocket launcher also followed the power, and with a unique whistle, it quickly broke away from the shooting rack and soared into the sky. Its tail spewed a bright tongue of flames and drove the long tail flames into the city. When the fuel was exhausted, it fell like a meteor with the grim smile of death, and exploded, and the fireworks easily crossed the city wall more than two meters high.

‘Bang!’ Tan Fei suddenly heard a muffled sound. Amid the roaring cannon shooting, it was like a muffled fart. Later, he felt a shock on the ground. The war horse sniffed uneasyly, and his hooves stomped on the ground a few times. The water in the moat suddenly rippled and rushed to the embankment. The floating bridge swayed left and right with the water waves like duckweed. He realized that the Chaojin Gate had begun to explode the city gate.

However, Tan Fei did not see the city gate collapsed, bricks and stones flying, and the sky collapsed and the earth cracked. After the muffled sound, he saw the tall Hajj Gate rising up to the naked eye, and then crawling on the ground like a seven-inch long snake arched its waist. The city gate collapsed with a bang, and the two sides of the door hole spewed out smoke and fire like a sneeze.

‘dong, dong, dongdong, dongdongdong, dong…’ The handsome flag leaned forward, the war drums sounded, and before the dust smoke settled, shouts of killing suddenly started. The assault camp, which was already ready for charge, jumped up, rushed into the dust, and launched an attack on the city...

…………

"The one who retreats, kills! The one who retreats, kills!" Shi Bi climbed up from the wall on the ground, pulled up his personal guards in heavy iron armor, looked at the bodies of the soldiers who retreated in fear and Ziji around him, waved his long sword and roared, and ordered the remaining soldiers to stop the enemy troops who rushed out of the smoke of gunpowder.

"Master, hurry up and go down the city, the Hajj Gate has broken!" Alihan grabbed Shi Biyan with blood on his face and said.

"If you only lose one door, you will easily break the city. If you dare to disrupt our morale, I will kill you!" Shi Bi was furious when he heard this, and raised his sword and was about to chop it.

‘Bang!’ Another dull sound, the head of the city shook violently like a swaying stone. Shi Bi stood up unsteadily, staggered two steps and fell to the ground, and the knife in his hand also fell out.

"Master General, don't be stubborn anymore. Pingxiang Gate has been broken. The Southern Army has already entered the city. It would be too late if it doesn't leave!" Alihan did not care about his actions just now, and helped him up and persuaded him.

"There are more than 20,000 soldiers in the city, and they still have the power to fight. They will go up to the city to fight back and urge the people to block the gap!" Shi Bi felt that he was really cowardly. The Song army did not play according to the rules at all. He had not used all his tricks yet. Why did they collapse their city gates? He still shouted unwillingly.

"Please look, the soldiers under the city were bombarded by enemy artillery fire, and the casualties were severely injured. They were already in chaos, and all the civilians fled!" Alihan heard this and pulled him to the edge of the city, pointing to the bottom and let him see.

‘How could this be like this? How could this be like this?’ Shi Bi looked down at the city and saw that the army stationed under the city had already run away except for the dead and the wounded, and the men who were unable to run away. The gatherings were nowhere to be seen, leaving only a mess. He felt his heart was depressed, and he was so frustrated that he murmured with a bitter face.

"General Manager, Fancheng can no longer be defended. Hurry up and gather all the troops to retreat to Xiangyang City. There is still a lot of things to do in the city where the city is high and deep!" Alihan kept persuading while summoning the remaining soldiers from the city to support his lower city.

"How could this happen? How could this happen..." Shi Bi was still muttering as if he had been caught in a demon, and still couldn't believe that Fan Cheng was broken like this.

"Come all the troops quickly, retreat to Xiangyang, then demolish the floating bridge, sail the ships to the south bank, burn all the food, grass and supplies, and do not leave them to the enemy!" Alihan saw his crazy appearance and knew that he could not refer to it now, so he ordered his entire army to withdraw from Fancheng.

After the order was conveyed, Alihan and the hundreds of remnants brought Shi Bi to the city, grabbed a few horses on the way and ran towards Guandu. At this time, the Song army had already reached the top of the city and raised a large flag. More and more Song army entering the walls were surrounded by two wings. The main city gate was quickly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and a large group of Song troops flocked in, and the situation was no longer controlled.

The city was already in chaos at this moment, and the military and civilians rushed to the south of the city pier. For a moment, all the streets and alleys were blocked, and several city gates were even more crowded. Alihan led the remaining troops to gather the troops while walking, gathered thousands of people to break a road among the crowd, and stepped on the bodies to the Guan Wharf. But at this time, the pontoon bridge that maintained the two cities was like ants, and the middle of the overwhelmed pontoon had already sunk into the water.
Chapter completed!