After the Yicheng Hall discussion, the Jingxiang divisions were stimulated and excited as if they were given a heart attack. Under Ni Liang's appointment, a military meeting was quickly held to discuss the battle plan for attacking Xiang. The heads of each division discussed how to break the old rules of attacking the mountains first and then attacking the city. After a day of debate, he thought that His Majesty opened a path to drive directly to the city west and the idea of ​​capturing Xiangyang City was feasible.

Then the three armies fought for who was the main attack task. It was said that the quarrels were very agitated at the meeting. The heads of each tribe wanted to be the protagonists of this battle, and gave a perfect ending for the Northern Expedition, and also made the name for the Jingxiang army, indicating that they were not weak, but also the mainstay of the Song Dynasty. However, after discussion, the main attack task still fell on the Seventh Army, and the other tribes fought together to fight a turnaround battle.

Finally, the Seventh Army was chosen as the main attacker, and Ni Liang and others also thought about it carefully. First of all, the Seventh Army was located in the west of the city, while the Eighth Army was making final preparations for the recovery of Gucheng. The Sixth Army had successively removed the enemy strongholds embedded in its own defense zone and prepared to attack the Yuan army castle in Xianshou Mountain in order to open the path of march from the south. This arrangement would not require large-scale mobilization to avoid arousing the alertness of the enemy.

Secondly, everyone knows that this is a bad battle, and fierce people will be used for fierce battles. Wu Longqi, the commander of the Seventh Army, was a hero, had a violent personality, was brave in fighting, and liked to lead troops to charge. Among the generals of Jingxiang, no one was at his disposal. What was even more rare is that although Wu Longqi was good at fighting fierce battles, he was not a reckless man. He knew that he could use skill to keenly discover the weak links of the enemy in battle and quickly break through.

Third, when the Seventh Army was expanded, most of the soldiers came from mountain people and Li people in Huguang area. They lived in the mountains since childhood, adapted to the mountain environment, were good at climbing, jumped through ditches and streams in the mountains, walking like the wind and like plains. Moreover, the mountain people and Li people were brave and brave in fighting, and even in the case of heavy casualties, they still fought to the death without retreating.

After confirming the main attacking force, Ni Liang asked the participants to keep it strictly confidential and not to leak the plan. The external propaganda is still to "defeat Xianshou, attack Xiangyang, and Qin Shibi". The pre-war preparations, training and mobilization of the Seventh Army must be carried out secretly. The other two units must cooperate. The Eighth Army will break through Gucheng as soon as possible, completely cut off the enemy's retreat route, and block the enemy coming to the northwest to aid. The Sixth Army must launch a feint attack so that the enemy deployed in the south of the city will not dare to move lightly and withdraw to the city...

Gucheng is located in northwest Hubei, western Xiangyang, the west bank of the middle Han River, and the southeast foot of the Wudang Mountains. It is adjacent to Jingshan in the south, Wudang River in the west, and the Han River in the east. The two rivers in the north and south are surrounded by the county and the Han River in the north and south, surrounded by mountains on the northwest and south, but to the east are the Jianghan Plain in Hubei and Henan and the Central Plains with a flat river. It is located at the key point of the ancient mountain road leading to the Central Plains in western China. It can control Sichuan and Shaanxi, Xiangjing, and look at the Central Plains. It has always been a military important place. Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, Gucheng has been repeatedly war-torn and war-torn.

The Eighth Army took the lead in launching the battle to recover Gucheng. On the fifth day of the eighth month, Tian Zhong sent an elite force to smuggle the Han River, raided the mountain pass west of Gucheng, annihilated two hundred households of enemy troops, and controlled the enemy's route to escape west. At dawn on the sixth day of the 1st century, the First Division of the Eighth Army took the lead in launching an attack to seize the North Bank Ferry. The main force of the division successfully crossed the river, defeated the blocking enemy troops, and followed and pursued the surrounding Gucheng County.

The Gucheng garrison saw the Song army panic in a panic, and that night he abandoned the city and fled towards Laojun Mountain. The first division took advantage of the situation to seize the city and ordered the third regiment to follow him. After receiving the report, Tian Zhong ordered the second division stationed at Guanghua City Ferry to cross the river, and quickly detoured behind Laojun Mountain to cut off the enemy's way to escape. The escaped enemy broke north under the attack of the two units, and the two units chased for thirty miles and wiped out all the enemies in Gucheng. With Gucheng recovered, the first phase of the battle ended successfully.

At the same time, the Sixth Army also began to launch restraining attacks on Xianshou Mountain City and its affiliated strongholds, launching a series of organized attacks around Hutou Mountain City and Lumen Village, making an aggressive attitude towards Xiangyang. It also sent small troops to sneak into the farming area east of Xiangyang City to harass and fight, destroying their autumn grain collection, and forcing the enemy troops in the city to leave the city to protect the autumn harvest...

"What is Wu Longqi doing?" Zhao Bing was guiding the craftsmen of the craftsmen in the baggage camp to surround the blacksmith's stove and beat in the backyard of the camp. When he saw Xu Wunan coming over, he asked when he washed his hands in the cooling water.

"When you go back to your Majesty, Wu Du Commander is verifying their combat plan and chose two hills similar to Pipa Mountain and Guishan for drilling!" Xu Wunan took the scarf held by the little yellow gate and presented it to the emperor.

"Oh, how are you practicing?" Zhao Bing wiped his hands and folded the scarf and handed it back to Xiaohuangmen. He pointed to his ears and pointed to the shade of the tree beside him, indicating that it was too noisy and went to talk to him.

"Your Majesty, Wu Du General believes that the sand table deduction is too fake and cannot reflect the real situation. He insists on conducting real-time military drills, saying that this will not only show the shortcomings in the combat plan, but also allow the soldiers to familiarize themselves with the terrain earlier, know what they should do after the battle begins, and where they should be, so as not to be at a loss when fighting." Xu Wunan took the lead and sat down for His Majesty, and said with a smile.

"Haha, I don't think it's too fake. He can't understand it at all. After so many years, he still hasn't made any progress." Xiaohuangmen brought tea. Zhao Bing took a sip and smiled. "When the army was first established, they were the rebels, of course, including our imperial guards. Many people were illiterate, and the map was even more difficult to understand. There was no way to make it into a sand table, hoping that the generals could see it clearly, and then conduct real-time military exercises, so as not to know what to do in the battle and where to stand."

"I also know something. When we first joined the army, the commanders taught us this way. However, this method is very good, which can give soldiers the most intuitive feeling, and can also allow officers to discover problems during the drill and correct them in a timely manner." Xu Wunan said.

"Don't be polite, sit down and drink tea and pour it yourself!" Zhao Bing said, "You said it is not bad, but this method is something that junior and intermediate officers do, not what he, a senior officer, should do. One day he has to knock him!"

"This..." Xu Wu heard His Majesty's words and didn't know how to answer. He could only secretly complain in his heart. Should an emperor take his people deep into the enemy's backbone for reconnaissance? That's not what an emperor should do!

"What are you muttering?" Zhao Bing drank all the herbal tea in one sip and asked with a very unrealistic look on the back of his hand and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Oh, that... the Wu Du Commander kept asking when what Your Majesty can be used!" Xu Wunan was stunned for a moment and hurriedly covered up.

"Isn't that doing it?" Zhao Bing said nodded to the blacksmith's furnace.

"Is it that iron barrel?" Xu Wunan looked over and saw two two-foot-thick bottomless iron barrels placed there, and said in surprise.

"Yes, that's the one. I don't believe it can explode the fortress!" Zhao Bing nodded and said.

"I don't dare, but how do I use this? Should I fill it with gunpowder and roll it under the city to explode?" Xu Wunan guessed.

"Haha, you will know later!" Zhao Bing kept a secret. In fact, he was plagiarizing things from his previous life, but to be honest, he didn't know what it was.

"Your Majesty, you have already built it as you told me to see if it is right!" At this time, the craftsman came over to ask for instructions.

"Okay, let's go and take a look!" Zhao Bing stood up and called Xu Wulao.

"Yes!" Xu Wuhan was like a curious baby at this time, wanting to see what was going on.

Under Zhao Bing's guidance, several craftsmen sealed the bottom of the barrel with a two-inch-thick hardwood board and strengthened it. Then they used three iron hoops to strengthen the barrel. After it was done, they ordered them to load the car and left the camp under the escort of the guards. They came to an open place two miles away, where there were already baggage engineers waiting there, and a fortress built of logs and stones was built in the distance.

Zhao Bing also ordered the engineers to dig two earth pits with inclined angles three feet apart on the ground, and put the iron bucket in it. He first wrapped two six-kilogram gunpowder bags according to the diameter of the bottom of the bucket, placed them at the bottom of the bucket, and installed the fuse index outside the pit. After adding a layer of shelves to the bucket, a twenty-kilogram round earth bun was placed on it, and finally filled the soil pit, compacted the surrounding area, and measured the inclined angle again.

At this time, another engineer dug a hidden fortification next to him. Zhao Bing ordered the fuse to be pulled into the bunker, and everyone hid it in it, so he ordered the fuse to be ignited. At a moment, the gunpowder in the iron barrel was ignited, and with two roars, the smoke of gunpowder rose. The earth bun in the bucket rushed out of the bucket entrance under the urging of gunpowder and was thrown away to the distance. Then, Zhao Bing jumped out of the bunker and dug out the iron barrel from the pit. After checking, it was not damaged, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, the landblock was thrown forty feet away!" At this time, someone had found the landblock that was thrown out and measured the distance.

"Okay, record it and try again!" Zhao Bing nodded and asked the soldiers to operate according to the law. He just adjusted the launch angle and then experimented again.

"Did you see something?" After many experiments, Zhao Bing asked Xu Wu if it was.

"Your Majesty, I think it is similar to the launch principle of the mortar, but even if you can send the stones dozens of feet away, it is difficult to destroy the simple camp!" After struggling for a long time, Xu Wunan said in confusion.

"Look again!" Zhao Bing smiled. He adjusted his position, aimed the "muzzle" at the fortress fifty feet away, and ordered the soldiers to reload it again, but this time he replaced the landblock with an explosive pack of the same weight. He ordered the fuse to be lengthened and told everyone to hide, open their mouths, block their ears, and not to poke their bodies out of the fortifications.
Chapter completed!