While King Li Qing of Yan was carrying out a large-scale operation, King Qin Li Wu of Qin was organizing the Western Front Battle. As an important part of the "parallel and cross strategy", the success or failure of the Western Front Battle was crucial. For this reason, Li Liangzuo not only prepared a large amount of weapons and equipment for Li Wu, but also sent the subsequent troops recruited from various places to the Zhejiang Water Front and Luoyang City.

浙水前线夏军大营内.

秦虎走进来向李武禀报道:“王爷,陛下送来的十万大军已经到了,如今我们浙水一线已经有三十万大军了.”

“李胡儿那边呢?”李武问道.

“虎贲将军已经率领八万大军从洛阳南下了,在洛阳一带留下了三万大军守卫.”

"Well, in this way, there is no need to worry about Master Zhong taking over our retreat." Li Wu said with a smile.

“种师道基本上算是完了,在荥阳和开封一带只剩下了五万残兵,而且大多数都是新兵,战斗低下兵器粮草也不足,根本就不足为虑.”

"Don't take it lightly. You should know that the western defense line was designed by Zhong Shidao. If the father had not sent cavalry to break through Hangu Pass, there would be no such situation now. Let's take the battle situation in front of you as an example! It's not that simple to cross the Zhejiang River. Wang Kai on the opposite side is not a fuel-efficient lamp." King Qin Li Wu said; "Now in the world, I am afraid that I will be a little behind. Look at the later generations of King Liang and King Yan, especially King Yan, who dares to cross the sea and fight thousands of miles, which really makes me admire him! I heard that Qing'er has caught a lot of good things in Jiangnan this time..."

"Prince, you don't have to envy His Highness King Yan. As long as we can destroy Wang Kai, the good thing that is entering Jingxiang is probably no less than Jiangnan." Qin Hu said with a smile.

“说的也对.”李庆笑道；“行了,不说废话了,现如今我们有了这三十万大军兵力就充裕多了；对面的情况查清楚了吗?”

"Report to the prince, you have found out." Qin Hu walked to the map and said to Li Qing. "Wang Kai has arranged more than 500,000 troops in this area with Nanyang as the center, of which 300,000 are elite troops of the Song army in the Western Army, and the remaining 200,000 new troops have been almost trained. Unlike the Song army on other fronts, although Wang Kai's Nanyang defenders lost the supply from the Eastern Front, they can still rely on the Han River to obtain a large amount of supplies from Jingxiang. This is also the main reason why Wang Kai can expand his army. It is not easy to eat Wang Kai's corps in one bite."

“襄阳呢?”

"In order to prevent Xiangyang from being in trouble, Wang Kai stationed a hundred thousand troops in Xiangyang, including 50,000 elite troops and 50,000 new troops; this is the only life channel for Wang Kai's army, and Wang Kai attaches great importance to this. It is probably not easy for us to attack Xiangyang. Finally, we think that the only way to attack from the front is to force the attack."

“那可不见得.”李武紧盯着作战地图说道:“强攻损失太大,我们要给王恺一些惊喜.”

"Surprise? What surprise?"

“传令诸将到本王的大帐议事.”

The next day, the Xia army, which was originally gathered on the west bank of Zhejiang River, was suddenly divided into three parts. Some of the Xia army under the banner of the main army went north and Qin Hu led a group of troops, led by Li Yanze, and Qin King Li Wu personally led a large army to garrison in the camp to show an attitude of being strongly attacked.

“报,报,报……禀副帅,夏军动了.”

“快报.”

"Reported to the deputy commander, the Xia army divided into three groups, the main force went north, left behind and went south in secret."

“李武也就这点手段,竟然也向瞒过本帅.”王恺十分不屑的说道.

“副帅的意思是?”

"If it is solid, it is weak, it is solid." Wang Kai said: "I ordered the gathering of 100,000 troops to follow the commander south to Xiangyang. Xiangyang is the place where our army's food route must pass, and there must be no mistakes."

“是,末将了领命……”

On the other hand, Li Hu'er led an army of 80,000 under the banner of 200,000 troops and drove south. The marching speed of the Xia army was not very fast. It took six days for more than 300 miles. Li Hu'er stationed his army in Ye County. To the south of Ye County is Fangcheng Mountain. If you want to enter the Nanyang Basin, you must cross Fangcheng Mountain; Fangcheng Mountain is the remnant of Xionger Mountain, and Fangcheng is the only channel for Fangcheng Mountain to enter the Nanyang Basin.

叶县城南夏军大营.

“报,报,报……禀将军探马回报,宋军在方城驻扎了五万精兵,而且整修了城防,整个方城山固若金汤.”

“本将知道了,你先下去吧!”

"Yes, I'm leaving."

在所有人离开以后李胡儿对着地图说道:“方城地势险要易守难攻,又有南阳作为战略支撑,想要拿下方城可不太容易啊!看来只能故技重施了.”

The next morning, the Xia army drove to the north gate of Fangcheng; Li Hu'er rode a horse and looked at Fangcheng in front of him and thought to himself: "It seems that the Song army has made a lot of preparations to prevent me from attacking Fangcheng!"

The entire Fangcheng is located at the pass of Fangcheng Mountain. The city wall is built against the mountain. The entire northern city wall has sealed the entire pass. Moreover, the Song army has also built camps on the mountains on both sides to form a three-dimensional attack on the siege army. Moreover, Fangcheng's defense is not only this city wall, but also three city walls behind Fangcheng. In other words, the Xia army must attack three times in this way before it can break through the Fangcheng defense line.

"The general's siege weapon has been prepared." A general walked up to Li Hu'er and said.

“传令投石器,床弩密集射击……”

“是,末将领命……”

At the command of Li Hu'er, dozens of crossbows and catapults were pushed forward, but before the attack position was reached, the counterattack of the Song army began. For a moment, the Xia army suffered heavy losses. Li Hu'er frowned and said, "Send the order to Mingjin to withdraw the troops..."

After the Xia army retreated, Song army held up his weapon and shouted loudly: "Victory, victory, victory..."

李胡儿冷笑道:“现在就说你们胜了,言之太早了吧!”

The Xia army's attack was just to test the defensive firepower of the Song army. The real war had not begun yet! Two days later, Li Hu'er led his army to attack the city again. This time, the Xia army used hot air balloons and was prepared for the hot air balloons. When the hot air balloons arrived above the Song army's defensive position and was about to drop bombs, the Song army suddenly erected several three-bow crossbows and aimed at the hot air balloons.

The officer leading the hot air balloon attack saw that the situation was not good and immediately ordered: "Drop all the heavy objects quickly, be afraid of rising."

But it was too late. The Song army's crossbow shot over "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...". Two hot air balloons were hit and smashed directly to the ground. Needless to say, the Xia army soldiers on it fell to the ground and fell into meat paste. The Song army was not having a good time. Unfortunately, these two hot air balloons fell into the city. One of them happened to hit a brazier and detonated the falling bomb. This was also an unexpected gain for the Xia army! When the other hot air balloons saw that the Song army was ready, they immediately threw the bomb down and ran away. Most of them were not hit by the target.

The second update is presented...

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!