Chapter 896: Reluctant to let go of the child but unable to trap the wolf!
Although he had a bad premonition, Yang Chongqing knew that he had no time left. Shangguan Changgong was becoming increasingly impatient with his tactics in Pingyang.

Especially after knowing that the Cumans were heading south, Shangguan Changgong thought that now was a good time to counterattack the Fengwu Army, and he ordered Yang Chongqing to launch a counterattack.

Yang Chongqing initially suppressed Shangguan Changgong's orders. He knew that Shangguan Changgong was under great pressure in the court, and he could understand Shangguan Changgong's eagerness to counterattack. However, as the commander-in-chief of the front line, he had a clearer understanding of the battle situation on the front line.

Although the southward movement of the Cumans brought considerable trouble to the Fengwu Army and forced Yuan Song to transfer the Fengwu Army's cavalry back to deal with the Cumans, the Fengwu Army was still able to deal with these troubles.

The situation on the front line did not change significantly due to the appearance of the Cumans. Yang Chongqing also wrote a letter to Shangguan Changgong to report his thoughts.

Unfortunately, Shangguan Changgong, who was in a vortex of pressure, could not understand Yang Chongqing's idea, and expressed deep disappointment with Yang Chongqing's idea of ​​continuing to stick to it.

Yang Chongqing was also helpless about this. Before he fought with the Fengwu Army, he was also very proud and believed that he could save the Great Zhou Dynasty by his own strength...
However, when he really led his troops to Yunbing and fought against the Fengwu Army, Yang Chongqing found that things were very different from what he expected. In particular, Yuan Song's tactics of preferring to suffer more losses and sacrifices rather than give you any chances made Yang Chongqing, who always liked to win by surprise, feel a little at a loss as to where to start.

Even though Shangguan Changgong never mentioned this situation, as a friend of Shangguan Changgong for many years, Yang Chongqing could feel that Shangguan Changgong had begun to think about changing commanders and letting Ma Chongyang take over his position. Perhaps in Shangguan Changgong's eyes, he was destined to fail to complete his task. In this case, he might as well let Ma Chongyang give it a try!
Thinking of this, Yang Chongqing also felt a little tired. The pressure from both inside and outside was on him alone, which made him feel unprecedented pressure.

Yang Chongqing originally planned to hold on to Pingyang to wear down the Fengwu Army and then seek an opportunity to counterattack. However, in the face of these pressures, Yang Chongqing had no choice but to give in and was forced to accelerate his plan.
An hour later, at a command from Yang Chongqing, more than 20,000 elite imperial guards stationed in Eryang Mountain and Pingyang City launched a sudden night attack on the Fengwu Army camp under the cover of darkness.

Faced with the enemy’s sudden attack, the Fengwu Army panicked and lost some soldiers, but soon under the command of generals at all levels, the Fengwu Army stabilized its position...

At the same time, Yuan Song in the central army camp also received news of the enemy's night attack. Yuan Song was not panicked at all. On the contrary, a smile appeared on his rough face.

He was not afraid of Yang Chongqing's attack, he was afraid that Yang Chongqing would continue to hide in the city. Now it was almost as he expected. After Yang Chongqing knew that his logistics were affected, he could not help but started to go out of the city to counterattack. This was the good opportunity he had been waiting for!
"How many enemy troops are there?" Yuan Song thought about Zheng Chuang in front of him and asked:
Zheng Chuang thought for a moment and said:
"About 20,000 people, more than 10,000 people from Eryang Mountain, and more than 10,000 people from Pingyang City!"

Yuan Song frowned slightly upon hearing this answer, and then instructed Zheng Chuang beside him:

"Tell the Eighth Division stationed in the front camp to withdraw its forces and gradually abandon the front camp. By the way, are there any red cannons of the Eighth Division that are broken?"

Zheng Chuang thought about it for a moment, nodded and said:
"Yes, General Ye Tao has reported it. The logistics department is preparing to arrange for craftsmen to repair it, but there are some parts that need to be replaced. It may take some time to repair it!"

Hearing this, Yuan Song waved his hand and said:
“Since we’re going to put on a show, we have to set a trap. Let Ye Tao throw those red cannons to the Imperial Guards, and throw some other muskets as well. This will create the illusion that our army is defeated. We must lure out more enemy troops…”

Facing Yuan Song's order, Zheng Chuang hesitated and said:
"Sir, should we discuss throwing the Red Cannon to the Imperial Guards? The General Staff has repeatedly warned us not to let the Red Gate fall into the hands of the enemy."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Song said:

"Yang Chongqing is a cautious man. If our army does not throw the red cannon to him, he will not believe that our army has retreated. Follow my orders. If there are any problems with the General Staff, I, Yuan, will be responsible!"

Seeing Yuan Song say this, Zheng Chuang did not hesitate at all and immediately sent the order.

As Yuan Song's order was issued, Ye Tao also faithfully carried it out. Immediately, tens of thousands of imperial guards attacked the front camp of the Fengwu Army.

An incense stick later, Tang Peng came excitedly and reported to Yang Chongqing:

"Marshal Yang, we have captured the enemy's front camp and captured a lot of firearms and supplies! Please order the entire army to attack!"

After listening to Tang Peng's report, Yang Chongqing did not say anything, but continued to observe the battle situation on the front line with a telescope. As the commander-in-chief, although he did not go to the front line to command in person, he was standing on the city wall with a telescope, keeping an eye on the battle situation on the front line. So without Tang Peng's report, he knew that they had captured the front camp of the Fengwu Army.

To be honest, although the speed of capturing the front camp of the Fengwu Army was not as fast as expected, the progress of capturing the front camp was still smooth. However, based on Yang Chongqing’s observation just now, he felt that when they were attacking the front camp, the Eighth Division of the Fengwu Army stationed in the front camp seemed to be suspected of letting them go...
Realizing this, Yang Chongqing was a little worried, fearing that this was a trap carefully set by Yuan Song to lure the enemy into a trap!
Because of this concern, Yang Chongqing only mobilized 20,000 people for the night attack. Although the effect of such a surprise attack is not as good as that of a full-scale attack, it is also very safe. If this is really a trap, Yang Chongqing still has troops to respond.

Just as Yang Chongqing was frowning and thinking, and Tang Peng was anxiously waiting for orders, a messenger came over and reported happily:

"Marshal Yang, Commander Wang and his men have captured seven Fengwu Army red cannons from the enemy's front camp!"

Hearing this, Yang Chongqing was stunned, and seemed a little unbelievable. Seeing this, the messenger repeated his words and added:
"Commander Wang arranged for Chief Sentinel Liu to pull these red cannons back into the city, and now one has been pulled back into the city!" As soon as these words came out, Yang Chongqing immediately walked towards the city gate. He wanted to see the Fengwu Army's red cannons with his own eyes. Soon Yang Chongqing arrived at the city gate, and at this time, one red cannon after another was being pulled into the city by horses.

Seeing Yang Chongqing appear, Chief Sentinel Liu, who was in charge of the escort mission, immediately stepped forward to greet him and said:
“I, Liu Quan, greet the Marshal. These are the red cannons of the Fengwu Army. When our army attacked the enemy’s front camp, the enemy was about to blow up these cannons. We immediately snatched them away when we saw them. Two of the nine red cannons were blown up by the enemy. Commander Wang asked me to take the remaining seven back to the city immediately…”

Hearing this, Yang Chongqing nodded and stroked the cold body of the red cannon with his palm, revealing a little excitement in his expression.

After being bombarded by the Fengwu Army for so many days, Yang Chongqing mocked the Fengwu Army for only relying on artillery to fight and being nothing without artillery.

But deep down in his heart, Yang Chongqing was also very envious of the Fengwu Army for having such powerful artillery. He had thought more than once that if the Luoan court had such powerful artillery, wouldn't it be just a matter of time before they could conquer the world?

In fact, Yang Chongqing was not the only one who envied the Fengwu Army's artillery. Almost the entire Luoan court envied the Fengwu Army's powerful artillery advantage. For this reason, they also thought of various ways to get a few red cannons.

However, the Fengwu Army was also very aware of the Luoan court's intentions, so the protection of the red cannon was very strict.

The troops were also required to abandon the red cannon even if they had to, and to blow up all the red cannons before retreating. The intact red cannons must not fall into the hands of the enemy.

Therefore, under the strict protection of the Fengwu Army, the Luoan court at most found some wreckage of the destroyed red cannon and some spare parts, but never obtained a complete red cannon. However, even so, it helped the Luoan court to improve the many shortcomings of the Zhengdong cannon·····························

Because of this, the Luoan court has always had a very high interest in the complete red cannon. When Yang Chongqing attacked Pingyang before, he had promised the remnants of the Third Division of the Fengwu Army stationed in Pingyang at the most critical moment of the war that as long as they were willing to hand over the red cannon, they would let the rest of the Third Division leave Pingyang.

However, the Third Division was worthy of being the ace force of the Fengwu Army. They remained unmoved by the temptation of Yang Chongqing's life. When the battle for the capture of Pingyang City reached the last moment, they did not forget to blow up the red cannon, preventing Yang Chongqing's evil plan from succeeding.

Although it was not easy to obtain the complete red cannon, it was not enough to make Yang Chongqing, the commander-in-chief of the army, so excited!
What really excited Yang Chongqing was that the Fengwu Army evacuated without even having time to completely destroy the red cannon. This undoubtedly proved that they were not luring him into the trap, but were really defeated and had to flee the front camp of the camp!
This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The firearms of the Fengwu Army cannot be used in the dark. If they can rush into the central camp of the Fengwu Army at this time, they may be able to launch a counterattack and completely defeat the Fengwu Army!

If this is really possible, then it will not only be an exciting victory, but will also completely change the way Yunbing behaves. Thinking of this wonderful possibility, Yang Chongqing took a deep breath and ordered:
“Pass the order down, the entire army will attack, and we must capture the Fengwu Army’s central camp before dawn…”

One stick of incense after Yang Chongqing made his decision, Zheng Chuang came to Yuan Song again, nodded heavily at Yang Chongqing and said:

"Sir, the enemy has launched an entire army to attack, and Yang Chongqing has finally taken the bait!"

Yuan Song was undoubtedly delighted when he heard this, and then he asked Zheng Chuang:
"What time is it now?"

Zheng Chuang thought for a moment and said:
"It should be three quarters past midnight!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Song's expression became serious again and he ordered:

"Send a message to Ye Tao to hold off the enemy's attack. Now is the time when the enemy is at its most frenzied. We must not let them break into the central army camp. As long as we can hold out until dawn, our artillery can be fully utilized and the enemy will be doomed!"

"Also, send a message to General Shen Quan of the Fourth Division to transfer 10,000 men from the Fourth Division. Immediately go back to the foot of Eryang Mountain and launch an attack on Eryang Mountain at dawn. We must catch the enemy off guard in this battle. Take Eryang Mountain for me!"

"Yes!"

After Zheng Chuang left, Yuan Song was completely sleepless. Listening to the deafening shouts and whistling wind outside the tent, Yuan Song's heart could not calm down for a long time.

Yuan Song knew that after the battle tonight, he and Yang Chongqing would really decide the winner in Pingyang. Conquering Pingyang and occupying the entire Yunbing was still secondary.

His main goal was to kill enough of the imperial guards' manpower. The reason why the battle with Yang Chongqing was so difficult was largely because the soldiers under Yang Chongqing's command were not the able-bodied men of the Yunbing Army who had been conscripted and forcibly enlisted a few months ago!
The people under Yang Chongqing's command are all the elite imperial guards of the Great Zhou. They are well-equipped professional warriors who kill without blinking an eye. These professional warriors cannot be trained in a few months. They are all veterans who have experienced several bloody battles and their combat effectiveness is very strong!
They are the last resort of the Luoan court. If one more person dies in Pingyang tonight, there will be one less obstacle for the Fengwu Army when it attacks Guanzhong!
Therefore, in order to more smoothly seize Guanzhong and destroy the Luoan court in the future, Yuan Song accepted the trouble and difficulty tonight and he accepted it!
As the two commanders Yang Chongqing and Yuan Song were anxious and waiting, time passed by minute by minute, and with every second that passed, several or even more than a dozen soldiers from both armies would fall in a pool of blood.

Although the pitch-black night limited the use of Fengwu Army’s firearms, the good military discipline and common beliefs allowed the soldiers of Fengwu Army to build a solid barrier with their flesh and blood. No matter how violent the enemy’s offensive was, they could never cross the line...

(End of this chapter)