The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

() At the critical moment, Li Ningming calmed down instead. He quickly estimated the situation. The Song Army's sudden counterattack seemed to be limited to harassment. Generally speaking, only the [-]-riding rear team led by him suffered harassment. , Caught off guard, three or four hundred cavalrymen were caught by more than a dozen tripping ropes, and the second echelon cavalry, which was the main charge, had already rushed to the enemy without hindrance.

Li Ningming looked around, and found no sign of a large number of soldiers from the Song Army encircling him. Although it seemed that the Song Army deliberately designed to lure him into the valley, in fact, the strength of the Song Army was still as large as reported by the detailed report. No increase; dozens of Song soldiers on the top of the cliff set off beacon fires to rescue, and at the same time pushed down huge rocks and logs to block Taniguchi. In fact, the effect was not obvious. The passage that allowed twenty riders to enter and exit was only a little narrower, at least the passage that could accommodate ten people in parallel was not blocked.

Li Ningming's spirits are high. At this time, he must not be frightened and run back. As long as he runs, the Song army will definitely chase after him, and the cliff mouth has narrowed. If they flee, this place will become a bottleneck. Perhaps this is the real purpose of the Song Army.

"Ridiculous strategy, in the face of strength, any strategy is ridiculous." Li Ningming ordered loudly: "The front team charges unchanged, and the rear team clears out the enemies around us!"

The cavalry immediately scattered in the form of scattered soldiers, and began to chase and kill dozens of soldiers of the Song army who were lying in ambush underground to pull the horse rope. It was nothing more than a stumbling horse, and after that, they could only escape with their own ability. Under the pursuit of hundreds of horse troops, dozens of soldiers had no escape, so they had to rise up and resist. Unfortunately, this resistance could not change their fate. One by one, they became Xixia machetes. The ghosts and corpses were trampled indistinctly by horseshoes.

Although the tactic of tripping the horse rope cost the lives of dozens of soldiers, the return in exchange was huge. Nearly 300 cavalrymen of the Xia Army lost their combat effectiveness. There was a big disjoint among the troops; Yeli Xianzong and Mu Zangming each led a thousand cavalry to charge to the east end of Yingzuiya Valley. The speed has been mentioned to the extreme.

Standing on the roof of a carriage, Di Qing took in everything in front of his eyes. Seeing that the enemy had bitten the tail of the convoy, he said loudly: "Master Su, your clever plan is about to come into play."

Su Jin smiled and said, "Very well, it's also the first time I use such a strategy, I hope it won't make you laugh."

Di Qing laughed, turned his head and ordered loudly: "Light it up!"

The third arrow shot straight into the sky, and the soldiers of the Song army who were retreating suddenly jumped out of the cart, turned their heads around and quickly lined up in a row. The can was shattered into the car, and then forty or fifty carts burst into flames. When the flames came together, they turned into a skyrocketing fire. Obviously, the bottom of the cart was covered with flammable igniters. It was soaked in oil, and it was out of control immediately.

The mules and horses were frightened by the fire on the cart behind them, and the soldiers of the Song Army stabbed the buttocks of the animals several times with knives. The mules and horses dragged the blazing cart to meet the charging Xia The army cavalry rushed over.

The first to bear the brunt was not the soldiers of the Xia army, but the dozen or so grain carts of the Song army that were being chased by the Xia army behind them. The seventy or eighty soldiers on the grain carts immediately became burning men before Xia Jun. There was also kerosene hidden in a cart, and the fire was even more ferocious and out of control.

Su Jin sighed repeatedly with tears in the corners of his eyes. His plan was still not thorough enough. He did not expect the enemy to pursue him so fast that he was caught up in the tail, and the seventy or eighty soldiers killed were buried in the sea of ​​flames; the original plan was When everyone arrived at the fortification at the east end of Taniguchi, the enemy sent out trains to attack when they charged, but they did not expect such a situation; roughly calculated, our side has lost more than 150 soldiers, and the other side does not yet know the casualties How many.

But the scene that followed made Su Jin a little relieved. The burning cart collided head-on with the oncoming cavalry. Suddenly, the sky was full of wailing, and the horses and soldiers that had been burned into fireballs kept falling to the front, turning into hot wheels rolling on the ground. The screams from the soul were horrifying. In an instant, the cavalry's charge was blocked. The more than 200 Xia Army Death Squad who had committed crimes and performed meritorious service was almost wiped out.

The [-] cavalry led by Wu Zangming, who followed closely behind, were also affected. The first few rows of more than a hundred cavalry had no time to stop their horses, and followed the death squad and crashed into the flames of hell. There was a beeping sound, and the smell of burnt food filled the valley.

Wu Zangming's voice was almost hoarse, and he shouted loudly: "Long gun! Long gun."

The soldiers came to their senses, quickly dropped their scimitars, hurriedly raised the spears on the saddles and poked them forward, only then did they push the remaining seven or eight trains rolling in four feet away from the horses' heads. The animals of the car were already at the end of their strength, and at this moment they finally fell to the ground and completed their task.

The fire was burning in the valley, and the scorched stench was mixed with the smell of the cooked meat of the corpses of the animals, and the black smoke of the charred human hair and clothes. The entire eastern end of Yingzui Cliff was like a hell on earth, which was horrible.

The soldiers on both sides were a little dazed. They never thought that such a small battle would be so tragic from the very beginning. Even Di Qing, who had been through battles for a long time, was a little dazed. All he experienced was face-to-face swords. Sword towards, if one knife cuts the enemy on the opposite side until the colorful intestines flow all over the ground, he will not notice anything, but like this, foreign objects cooperate with the scheme to annihilate hundreds of people in one fell swoop, and all of them are burned to black coals in front of their eyes. It was to shock him.

Su Jin originally had another trick, which was a trick learned by a certain du cai leader in later generations, that is, when the enemy army came to hide and kill him, the du cai leader opened tens of kilometers of trenches to drain the oil Fill the trenches, and then ignite them to block the enemy's way forward; that trick is extremely effective, but it's a pity that there is too little kerosene on hand, there are only dozens of barrels of kerosene in total, it is unrealistic to dig a trench and fill it up, and such a On the sandy ground, even thousands of barrels of kerosene would seep into the soil. As a last resort, Su Jin could only reluctantly sacrifice livestock and carts, and staged a train formation.

Li Ningming led the team to catch up. Everything in front of him made his pupils constrict, and he was terrified; Caibao pretended to be defeated, and the various countermeasures up to now are all a series of carefully planned schemes. He has been led by this person from the beginning, as if he knew that he urgently needed this victory, If you are sure, you will chase into the valley desperately.

With the current situation, it is impossible to advance or retreat. If you retreat, you will lose more than 500 cavalry and get nothing. How should you explain after you go back?What's more important is that after experiencing this defeat, brother Li Ningling's victory in Qinfeng Road became even more prominent. In the eyes of his father, he would be a loser, and the title of prince would not be on him. It's been too long; Brother Li Ningling, who has been coveting the crown prince for a long time, will definitely take this opportunity to take away the crown prince. In Daxia, a country where kings and conquerors have won, there is nothing more powerful than those who have made military exploits .

"Your Highness, let's retreat. It seems that the Song army has been prepared for a long time. We only lost [-] horses. At this time, retreating is not considered a big defeat." Go to Li Ningming and say.

Li Ningming sneered and scolded: "Retreat? It's a joke. The Song Army's tactics are nothing more than that. I lost only five hundred, which is less than [-]%. Thirty percent, it's still unclear who will win the deer, at this time you ask me to retreat?"

"His Royal Highness..." Wu Zangming almost spewed out a mouthful of old blood. How could such a calculation be made? The opponent exchanged about [-] casualties for [-] deaths of his own elite cavalry. It is already a big victory if you fight more with less. However, this confused prince actually said that the outcome was uncertain.

"Your Highness, what should we do if the enemy's reinforcements cover up and kill us?" Yeli Xianzong couldn't stand Li Ningming, and his tone was not very kind.

"Because of this, quick battles and quick decisions are needed. If you don't wait for the whole team to attack, but hesitate to fight, this is delaying the battle opportunity. Don't talk too much, order people to clear the way ahead, and the whole team will continue to attack. Those who are punished by military orders."

Wu Zangming and Yeli Xianzong looked at each other, their hearts were cold. It seemed that the two brothers who had experienced many battles were going to die today in the hands of His Highness the Crown Prince who was stubborn like a jackass while talking about war on paper; There is no other way but to follow orders and attack desperately in order to survive. As for acts of disobedience, that is absolutely unacceptable. Otherwise, even if you can return to the camp, you will be punished by the whole family. It is better to fight here. Even if you die in battle, at least you can get the name of being fearless in a deadly battle.

"The whole team! All are equipped with bows and arrows, ready to charge." Wu Zangming issued a rare order to equip bows and arrows. The cavalry of the Xia army has always been a scimitar. The two weapons in the three major cavalry items are actually decorations. If it weren't for the fact that the cavalry of the Song and Liao armies were equipped with such weapons, the Xia army would have disdain to use them at all. At this moment, they have no choice but to name these soldiers. So as not to make moths on the road.

The burning carts and corpses on the road were cleared away, and the scene on the opposite side fell into the eyes when the thick smoke cleared. On the roof of a cart, two figures, one tall and one lower, stood tall. After passing through some barriers just now, All the Song troops had already retreated to the east end of the Yakou, where dozens of large carts were lined up, but the piles on top were not food supplies, nor the empty kerosene carts just now, but sand and soil.

The Song army really came prepared. These dozens of carts lay in front of them, forming a solid sand fortification. It is obviously not easy to dig fortifications in the valley, but with these carts piled up with sand, this problem will be solved. It worked out.

The people on both sides confronted each other quietly, no one spoke, even the soldiers of the Song Army who were throwing rocks and rolling logs on the cliff fell silent. In the open area two hundred steps away, the sun was scorching the gravel.

The brief silence made a vulture circling on the top of the cliff mistakenly think that there was no danger. She couldn't resist the smell of cooking human and livestock meat. ;Suddenly it seemed to have a premonition of something, flapped its wings and flew high, and at the same time a heart-piercing cry sounded in the valley: "Kill..."

Li Ningming's sharp voice was like the last cry of a dying person, making the skin numb and trembling all over. He took the lead and rushed out with the sword held high. Before; more than 400 remaining cavalry, no matter what echelon or formation, just rolled towards the Song army on the opposite side like a huge wave.