Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1057 1052 [Submit or Not]

The battlefield has now been divided into three parts.

To the west of Gaochang City, Zhang Xian led more than 10,000 troops to block Xiao Chala Abu's garrison from leaving the city.

In the southwest of Gaochang City, Zhong Yanchong led an army of more than 20,000 but was held back by Yelu Tiege's Western Liao reinforcements.

These two battlefields, together with the main battlefield where Li Yanxian was located, formed an irregular triangle.

If the three battlefields were added together, they would stretch ten miles from east to west and fourteen miles from north to south. It was difficult to know how the friendly forces were doing, so fast horses had to be used at all times to deliver messages.

Taiyang Khan of the Naiman tribe had no idea what was going on.

He was a vassal of the Western Liao, and the leaders of the Naiman tribes were also his vassals. He did not unify the tribes by force, but inherited the title of Sun Khan conferred by the Liao Kingdom, and the several leaders were all relatives through marriage.

It would be fine if it was a favorable battle, but in a fight like the one now that required a lot of effort, Taiyang Khan was simply unable to give effective command.

A few days ago, facing the elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, he asked the leaders of each tribe to preserve their strength and wait for the arrival of reinforcements from Western Liao before fighting bravely.

Now he asked the leaders to fight with all their strength, but those guys are still conserving their strength!
Eight thousand Naiman cavalrymen galloped around Zhang Xian's formation, but they did not even have the courage to rush close to shoot arrows, for fear that the Ming army's firearms would cause them too much casualties.

Xiao Chalaabu, with his superior military strength, organized several infantry and cavalry attacks, but all ended in failure.

The more difficult it was to conquer the enemy, the more anxious they became, fearing that the reinforcements would be defeated.

There was really no other way to fight, so Xiao Chala Abu invited Taiyang Khan to come and said: "Your troops are mainly light cavalry, which is not very effective in attacking the enemy formation. All of them should go around the western battlefield to harass the main force of the Ming army."

"Yes!"

Taiyang Khan led eight thousand light cavalry... Well, there are no longer eight thousand. More than seven hundred people were killed or wounded in the fighting these days.

He led more than 7,000 Naiman cavalrymen and bypassed Zhang Xian's formation from afar. After a long delay, he finally saw Li Yanxian's main force.

Li Yanxian didn't take Taiyanghan seriously at all and just sent out three thousand cavalry to stop him.

The young Qiang general Yang Yun has become a veteran cavalry general in his thirties. He has only led cavalry for twenty years since he joined Zhu Ming. The cavalry in the entire capital area is under his command, and his title is only one step away from the county duke.

Faced with 8,000 Naiman cavalry, Yang Yun rushed forward without saying a word.

These Ming Dynasty cavalrymen consisted of 25 men in a squad and 250 men in a battalion. Each squad was surrounded by low-ranking officers, and the ratio of officers to the generals was frighteningly high.

And they are all top-grade war horses, almost qualified enough to be heavy cavalry.

From equipment to manpower to war horses, these three thousand cavalrymen are the elite among the elite of the Ming Dynasty!

They were all deployed in horizontal rows, and regardless of the thickness of the formation, each team charged forward densely with only two rows.

The so-called dense charge means that the distance between the cavalry is only three or four meters.

In comparison, the Naiman cavalry had very few officers, with a squad of about fifty people, and the officer ratio was only one-fifth of that of the Ming cavalry. When they fought, they changed their formation and direction, which was more due to their long-term accumulated experience.

As the two armies engaged, the difference in organization quickly became apparent.

The next-in-command Taiyang Khan in history, Yinanchi, is now the son-in-law of the current Taiyang Khan. He led his troops to rush in front of a Ming cavalry brigade, shot an arrow, and immediately split into two, changing direction to both sides very smoothly, and also used his superior force to let the follow-up cavalry come over to shoot.

The idea behind this tactic is to make the enemy exhausted and then use the superior force to encircle and fend off the enemy.

However, the flag officer of the Ming army brigade immediately raised the flag and blew the trumpet, issuing basic military orders to each team.

Each Ming army cavalry squad also had a flag officer waving a small flag.

Upon receiving the flag order, the officer of the squad in the corresponding direction immediately took the lead in reining in his horse and turning. The entire cavalry squad, including the captain, followed that officer and turned.

At the beginning, Yinanchi could still keep up with the pace of the Ming army.

But they were always half a beat slower than the Ming cavalry. Even though the grassland cavalry had rich experience, they still needed more reaction time to execute slightly complex instructions.

Before they knew it, a group of more than 60 grassland cavalrymen were somehow trapped by two Ming cavalry squads, as if they had run into them on their own initiative.

The light cavalry were attacked by the brave cavalry in close combat, and there was no need to say what the outcome would be. Only a few of them managed to break through in a panic.

In the battle between the two armies, the three thousand Ming cavalrymen charged forward, and the seven thousand grassland cavalrymen were unable to resist. Due to the backward equipment and organization, the advantage of the troops could not be brought into play at all. Instead, there were Ming cavalry squads everywhere, cooperating with each other to divide and encircle the enemy, and then quickly eat the trapped prey.

After a short battle, more than 600 Naiman cavalrymen were killed or wounded, while only more than 100 Ming cavalrymen were killed or wounded.

The majority of the Naiman tribe's casualties were killed in battle.

The Ming cavalry, on the other hand, were mostly wounded, with casualties even in the single digits. The cavalry's cotton armor and the horses' leather armor were all dangling with arrows stuck in them. Some of the Naiman cavalry's bone arrows couldn't even penetrate the leather armor of their horses.

As the fighting went on, the tribal nobles were completely terrified of being killed.

These guys ignored Taiyang Khan's military orders and tried to escape at a distance on their own initiative, wanting to temporarily leave the battlefield and look for an opportunity.

They did escape, but at the cost of more than 800 of them being killed by the Ming cavalry!
Retreating far between the eastern and western battlefields, Taiyang Khan was indescribably horrified. He had encountered the Ming Dynasty's cavalry before, but they were not the elite of the elite like Yang Yun. The battle just now had frightened him to death.

Yi Nanchi ran to see his father-in-law, covered in blood, and said, "Khan, my troops rushed too far forward just now, and I don't know how three or four hundred people were killed or injured!"

Taiyang Khan said, "I'll get you some more herdsmen when I get back."

"Khan, the Ming army is too strong," said another leader. "Even Yelu Dashi didn't have such powerful cavalry. The Liao Dynasty will definitely be defeated this time. Let's... retreat..."

"Khan, withdraw your troops!"

"Great Khan, we can't even defeat the Ming cavalry, so how can we possibly break through the Ming chariot formation?"

The leaders gathered around. What did the fate of Western Liao have to do with them?
The descendants of these guys even had internal conflicts in another time and space. Some continued to rely on the Western Liao Dynasty, some formed an alliance with Wang Khan, and some were loyal to Genghis Khan.

Hearing the sound of artillery fire in the distance, Taiyang Khan did not hesitate for too long before giving the order: "Withdraw!"

Not only did they withdraw their troops, but they also plundered the tribes on the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains on their way back. Many of the young and strong men in those tribes were recruited to defend Gaochang, and a large number of women, children and livestock were abducted by Taiyang Khan.

They even went south the following year to annex the Khitan tribal pastures that belonged to the Western Liao Dynasty.

Not only did you not lose money, but you made a huge profit!
How could it be more profitable to backstab an ally than to fight to your death?

……

As for Xiao Worila's side, the front army was on the verge of collapse due to the bombardment of Wu Jie, so they had to send other troops to hold on.

He tried to use his military superiority to organize a breakthrough for the left and right armies.

But to the left and right rear of Wu Jie's light chariot battalion was the main heavy chariot battalion that was slowly advancing. The Western Liao troops were defeated one by one. They wanted to use cavalry to attack the two wings, but the Ming army's battlefield was wide enough, and at critical moments there were Ming cavalry to protect them, so the Western Liao cavalry returned without success every time.

At this moment, a light cavalryman came from the southern battlefield to report the news, saying in horror: "Ming cavalry suddenly attacked from behind our army!"

It turned out to be Chen Ziyi who had gone around and joined the battlefield in the south at some point.

Before he set off, he received military orders with two sets of plans.

Plan one: if the enemy camp can be raided, then rush into the camp and burn the food and grass.

Plan 2: If the enemy camp is difficult to attack, then fight back from the rear of the enemy. But don't take the main road all the way, but hide to the south and head straight to the camp set up by Zhong Yanchong.

Yelu Tiege was ordered to divide his troops and drag out Zhong Yanchong's troops. As the two sides were fighting, Chen Ziyi suddenly attacked from the southwest.

Although the light cavalry arranged by Yelu Tiege were on guard from a distance, Chen Ziyi charged forward without hesitation.

When Yelu Tiege received the news, he hurriedly ordered the rear troops to turn around and form a battle line.

Zhong Yanchong took the opportunity to abandon his chariots and rushed out with his entire army without any warning, cooperating with Chen Ziyi to form a pincer attack from the front and back.

The Western Liao troops here were only there to hold back Zhong Yanchong, and their fighting power and will were far inferior to Xiao Wulila's main force. Most of them were noble armed forces that had surrendered to the Western Liao, and their territories were in the surrounding areas of the Western Liao capital, and they had been frightened by Zhong Yanchong's chariot array before.

Now being attacked from both sides, some nobles were on the verge of collapse.

Yelu Tiege couldn't bear it anymore, so he fled with his personal soldiers and a few cavalrymen.

Zhong Yanchong sent all his cavalry to cooperate with Chen Ziyi to chase and kill the defeated enemy. He led the infantry, without chariots, to speed up and rush to the main battlefield on the side of Li Yanxian, directly threatening Xiao Wulila's right wing with more than 10,000 people.

After chasing for a while, Chen Ziyi no longer paid attention to the fleeing soldiers and led his cavalry to the side and rear of Xiao Worila.

Xiao Worila had just sent out cavalry to rescue them, but halfway through he found Yelu Tiege leading the remaining troops to escape.

Yelu Tiege ran all the way and said to Xiao Wulila when he saw him, "Hurry up and leave. If you are any later, we will be surrounded from all sides!"

Xiao Worila glanced at the main army whose morale was almost at rock bottom, and without saying a word, he blew the horn and ordered the cavalry to withdraw.

As long as the elite cavalry can be preserved, Western Liao will have deterrent power in the Qihe region.

If the elite cavalry were lost, rebellion would break out in the core territory of Western Liao in no time.

Seeing that their cavalry was withdrawing, the infantry, who had already suffered heavy losses from firearms, were so scared that they threw away their weapons and ran away. They were afraid of running too slowly, so they took off their armor while running.

Xiao Worila, Yelu Tiege, Li Tiansheng and others ran so fast that Chen Ziyi, who was responsible for intercepting them from behind, was unable to stop them in advance.

Seventy percent of the Ming army's cavalry were sent to pursue, all the way to Xiao Worila's camp.

Xiao Worila did not dare to enter the camp and walked around it.

The soldiers and civilians who stayed behind in the camp were so frightened when they saw what was happening that they fled one after another, without even bothering to burn the food and supplies.

Li Yanxian, with all his infantry and 30% of his cavalry, returned to the eastern battlefield at a leisurely pace.

After Xiao Chala Abu's attack was repelled, Li Yanxian ordered: "Stop the bombardment and send people to persuade them to surrender."

A Ming light cavalry rushed to the front of the formation, but no enemy shot an arrow at them.

When the Western Liao soldiers who came out of Gaochang City saw Li Yanxian leading his troops to attack them, they realized that the reinforcements had been defeated.

Xiao Chala sighed and said, "Let him come over."

The Ming cavalry rode straight into the enemy's center and said, "The commander-in-chief has ordered that you surrender and you will be spared!"

Generals of Western Liao came one after another. Most of them were local nobles, all waiting for Xiao Chala Abu's order to surrender.

If you don't surrender, I'll chop you off!

"Surrender." Xiao Cha La Abu sighed.

He was taken to see Li Yanxian, who asked with a smile, "Are you convinced?"

Xiao Cha La A Bu shook his head: "I don't accept it. You rely on the sharpness of firearms."

"If you say you can surrender and be spared from death, then surrender and be spared from death," Li Yanxian asked again, "Do you accept this?"

Xiao Chala didn't hesitate for a moment, knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "I accept it."

(End of this chapter)