Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1056: 1051 [Even the Dead Soldiers’ Charge Is Unstoppable]

The 80,000-strong army that the Ming Dynasty sent on its expedition to the Western Regions was not fully deployed on the battlefield.

Auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers were stationed at the outposts along the way from Xingxing Gorge to Yizhou City to transport and protect food and fodder.

Starting from Yizhou City, there were 6,000 Ming regular soldiers guarding the city. One was to guard against the Western Liao hiding troops in the Barkol Basin to launch a surprise attack, the second was to escort the grain transport team to send the follow-up grain to Gaochang, and the third was to guard against the local hungry people or nobles suddenly rebelling.

The Ming army camps around Gaochang were built to guard water sources and surround the city.

Half of those camps were now empty. The main force was withdrawn to fight a decisive battle with the Western Liao in the wild, and the remaining troops and baggage were transferred to the two camps in the east and north.

Excluding those soldiers guarding the city or the stronghold, the actual number of Ming troops used in the decisive battle was only more than 50,000, and they were divided into three groups to surround the Western Liao reinforcements.

Of course, there are other forces.

For example, when attacking the forts around Yizhou and Gaochang, a total of more than 6,000 enemy troops surrendered, hundreds of whom were local noble armed forces who voluntarily came to surrender.

In addition, the Ming army pretended to be benevolent and recruited young and strong people among the starving people as soldiers. Now the Ming army has a full 7,000 vassal troops.

Some auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers were also pulled to the battlefield.

Including the vassal troops, auxiliary troops and civilian laborers, the total number of troops involved in the decisive battle was about 82000.

The Zhong Yanchong tribe, located 20 miles southwest of Gaochang City, was the first to engage in battle with the enemy.

He had more than 20,000 men under his command, arranged in a huge chariot formation.

They were all four-wheeled side-carriages, and there was no need for chains; the parts of the chariot could be fastened together in pairs.

As for the Western Liao reinforcements, they had horses... so many horses that they could not be counted.

Using horses to charge the barrier of firearms troops was a tactic used by the Qing Dynasty before the invention of the shield cart, and it was also the most basic tactic that ancient generals could come up with.

Afraid that the horse would be unwilling to charge into the battle to die, they made a simple blindfold out of black cloth.

After wearing the blindfold, the horse can only see a little bit of the ground in front of it until it is about to hit the chariot.

However, they saw that each Western Liao cavalryman rode two horses, and most of the horses without riders were inferior horses. They had been transporting supplies for them along the way, and now they had to ram their chariots.

At a distance of about three hundred steps, the Ming army fired their slightly larger caliber field artillery.

There were not many artillery shells, and most of the Western Liao cavalry were able to drive their horses forward.

Within 200 steps, artillery with a smaller caliber was fired, which was the kind of French cannon used by Wu Jie.

The gun barrels were constantly replaced, shells were fired continuously, and more and more cavalrymen or horses fell down.

Perhaps they were not fully accustomed to the sound of the cannons, the horses of the Western Liao Dynasty began to panic, and the cavalry formation became chaotic. They were forced to drive the inferior horses to charge in advance, slashing or stabbing the horses' buttocks with knives or spears, and the injured and crazy inferior horses could only rush forward.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

At about ninety steps, the Ming army's flintlock rifles began to fire.

"Boom boom boom!"

At about eighty steps, the Ming army's artillery switched to shotgun shells.

Those inferior horses had injured hips and were frightened by the sound of artillery fire. They were in a state of fear and madness, but because of the blindfolds their vision was extremely narrow and they could only run forward.

War horses fell one after another, and in a blink of an eye, the battlefield was full of horse carcasses.

The Western Liao cavalry were still charging, their horses were also wearing blinders. These people were all dead soldiers used to charge!

Xiao Worila looked at the battlefield with a cold expression. He had no other choice but to adopt this tactic.

The first charge consisted of three hundred cavalrymen and six hundred horses, divided into three teams and charging forward in layers.

The first team was still fifty steps away from the chariot formation when only a few lucky ones were left.

The second team barely made it within thirty steps, but only a few were left.

The third team actually rushed to twenty steps.

The third team had not yet been killed, and the second wave of 300 cavalry charge had already begun. They just repeatedly attacked that narrow section.

By the time they reached the third wave of eight cavalry teams, the barrel of the Francois cannon was close to overheating.

"General Zhong has ordered that you ignore the overheated barrel and fire the shell first!"

The Francois cannon is not prone to explosion, and overheating of the barrel will more likely affect the life of the cannon.

The Ming army was still firing guns and cannons, but the last group of the third wave of Western Liao cavalry was defeated. They had already lost 800 people in front of them, and those who rushed to the front of the chariot formation were killed by muskets, and a few were stabbed to death by spears.

After all, dead soldiers are alive, they have their own thoughts, they are afraid of death and want to live!

The fourth group of cavalry did not continue to charge forward, but retreated slightly and waited for orders.

The surrounding soldiers looked at Xiao Worila.

He issued a military order before the battle, stating that when attacking the chariot formation, if the team retreated but the captain was still alive, the captain would be beheaded; if the captain died, the entire team would be beheaded.

"Behead it!"

Following Xiao Worila's order, the law enforcement team ran to surround the third group of cavalry that had retreated.

Of the one hundred stormtroopers, only seventy or so were left.

The cavalry captain was a minor noble from the capital region of Western Liao. Facing the law enforcement team that surrounded him, he shouted angrily, "I don't accept it. You are asking us to die. We have never fought like this before!"

Not only this team of cavalry, but other cavalry nearby also agreed with this. Seeing that this man was about to be executed, they couldn't help but feel sad.

It’s better to execute him. Military orders are as heavy as mountains.

Li Tiansheng, the cavalry general of the Western Liao Dynasty, personally rushed to the central army and said to Xiao Wulila, "We lost more than 800 cavalrymen and more than 1,000 horses, but only 20 to 30 cavalrymen rushed to the front of the chariots. They were killed by firearms and spears before they could ram the chariots. This tactic is useless. Even if we can break through the chariots in front of us, we don't know how many cavalrymen will die. This is not the main force of the Ming army at all!"

Xiao Worila was silent.

The general next to him didn't say anything either.

This battle should not have been fought, and Gaochang City should not have been saved.

They should abandon all the territory of the former Gaochang Kingdom south of the Tianshan Mountains, and then rely on the vast mountains to the west to defend the pass. In that kind of terrain, the Ming army's chariots could not be deployed at all, and even artillery would be affected by the firing angle.

But what can Xiao Wulila do?
Empress Gantian did not want to lose the country, and many generals in the army also wanted to go to war, so Xiao Wulila had no choice but to lead his army to rescue thousands of miles away. And he had to fight quickly and decisively.

Gaochang City is not easily destroyed by artillery fire, and if there is a water shortage in the city, people can dig wells to make do. What is really scary is that someone will turn against the city.

How many years did it take for Yelu Dashi to conquer Gaochang Kingdom?
At the beginning, the king was just treated as a puppet, and his confidants were sent to supervise state affairs. Political and military affairs were still in the hands of the Gaochang nobles.

He then directly governed the areas around Gaochang City, while the rest of the territory was still managed by local nobles.

It took only two or three years to completely annex Gaochang, and Western Liao could only manage a few large cities itself.

If the battle was short-lived, the Gaochang nobles would have no choice but to accept orders and fight bravely against the Ming army, even if they had many thoughts. But if the siege lasted too long, who knows how many nobles would betray the Ming army.

Why did Yelu Dashi choose to fight a decisive battle with the Seljuks when he was weaker?

The fear is that if it drags on for too long, the complex composition of the army will inevitably change, and a concerted effort will allow them to exert their greatest combat effectiveness.

"The main force of the Ming army is coming!"

northeast.

Li Yanxian personally led more than 50,000 people and approached the battlefield in an overwhelming manner. After the battle array was formed, the battlefield was seven or eight miles wide. This was because the vassal army, ambush troops and civilians were placed in the back position, otherwise the vassal army and auxiliary troops would be wider after they were deployed.

Cavalry from Western Liao kept coming back with reports, and Xiao Worila went to check it out in person.

He also had a telescope, and he stood on a high place and observed carefully, and soon fell into deep despair.

Behind Li Yanxian's main force, a force of more than 30,000 people was slowly approaching. It was Xiao Chala Abu who came from Gaochang City to join the battlefield.

The battlefield situation is as follows:

Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Wulila were facing each other from east to west. Li Yanxian's troops were slightly to the north, and Xiao Chala'a was not further east.

Xiao Worila divided his troops and asked Yelu Tiege to stay here to keep an eye on Zhong Yanchong who had formed a turtle formation, to prevent him from running away and interfering with the subsequent battle.

He led the main force to move northward, trying to stop Li Yanxian, and then together with Xiao Chala Abu who rushed to the battlefield, they attacked Li Yanxian's main force from the east and west and killed him.

At this moment, a group of cavalry came galloping from the rear: "The Ming army is attacking the camp!"

Xiao Wulila asked: "How many smoke signals are there?"

"Three pillars." said the cavalryman.

"The camp is safe and sound, there is no need to panic." Xiao Worila said.

Although he only left a few thousand soldiers in his camp, there were still many armed civilians, and the troops were concentrated on protecting food and supplies. It would take the Ming army a day or two to capture the camp.

Just as the main forces of the two armies were facing each other, another team of light cavalry returned covered in blood.

"The enemy is coming, they are all elite armored cavalry, our cavalry can't stop them!" a cavalry lieutenant reported in panic.

Xiao Worila immediately called Li Tiansheng and ordered him to lead the elite cavalry to the west to fight with the Ming cavalry that had circled behind them.

He thought the Ming army was going to attack the camp and burn his food and supplies.

However, the Ming cavalry abandoned the camp and charged directly towards the main battlefield, causing Xiao Worila to be attacked from both sides.

On the watchtower of the main force of the Ming army, the soldier in charge of observing the battlefield said: "A large number of enemy cavalry are heading west!"

Li Yanxian smiled and said, "General Chen Ziyi has arrived. Let's attack too!"

Wu Jie's light chariot battalion (single-wheeled chariots) continued to serve as the vanguard, and the heavy chariot battalions (side-compartment chariots) of various armies followed behind.

When arriving at the battlefield, the four-wheeled carriage was not pulled by mules or horses, but was pushed forward by soldiers.

The overall advancement speed is not fast, but it keeps moving forward.

Zhang Xian from Li Bao's faction led 10,000 soldiers as the rear army, ready to guard against enemies from Gaochang City at any time.

The main forces of both sides were getting closer and closer. After entering the range of the Portuguese cannons, Wu Jie's chariot battalion began to show its power.

With a large army to support him, he completely ignored the flanks and the rear. All 120 chariots were deployed and arranged in a highly offensive stacked formation.

The entire battle line was like a wave. When the chariots that protruded forward fired, the chariots that were recessed in the battle line moved forward. This cycle repeated over and over again, with the chariots firing and moving forward continuously until they broke through the enemy's battle line.

The front formation of the Western Liao reinforcements was under constant bombardment, as if Wu Jie's artillery shells would never stop.

As the distance got closer, the muskets also began to fire.

As the battle went on, the formation became disrupted.

Li Yanxian saw the opportunity and ordered: "The heavy chariot camp, abandon the chariots and speed up, and the cavalry of each unit should protect the two wings."

Xiao Worila's facial muscles twitched wildly. He could still accept the large formation of side carriages, but they were too heavy and slow to move. If he couldn't win, he could just run away.

But Wu Jie's chariot drove Xiao Worila completely crazy.

This thing can maintain a stacked formation, firing while pushing forward, so that the enemy in front of it is always under bombardment.

Fortunately, Wu Jie deliberately suppressed the speed of the artillery fire to maintain the temperature of the gun barrel, and waited until he was close to a few dozen steps before playing a big wave. Therefore, the front army of Western Liao was only in chaos, and had not been directly defeated!

The cannon imitated by Western Liao was very heavy and made of copper.

Only four were copied in total, and all were left in Hu Sihan's ears. He didn't bring them with him this time because he was in a hurry. Even if he had brought them, Xiao Wulila felt that they were of no use.

Although they also had firearms, the Ming army had overwhelming numbers and a variety of supporting tactics.

The entire front line of the Ming army pushed forward little by little. Just when Wu Jie ordered to change the shotgun shells, Li Tiansheng suddenly came back with the cavalry.

"Why are you coming back so soon?" Xiao Worila asked.

Li Tiansheng said: "I led the cavalry there, but before we met the Ming army's armored cavalry, the light cavalry reported that the enemy had gone south. I had elite cavalry in my command, and I didn't dare to be moved too far away from the battlefield by the enemy."

Xiao Wulila said: "This battle is very difficult to fight. The front army is already in a mess. You... forget it, let's talk about it after the battle."

Xiao Worila wanted to remind Li Tiansheng to preserve the elite cavalry, as those elite cavalry were the foundation of Western Liao's rule. He was already prepared to escape if defeated.

If he could escape back to Hu Sihan's ears, he would persuade Empress Gantian not to fight the Ming army in the field anymore and must defend the mountain passes east of the capital to the death.

(End of this chapter)