Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1089: 1084 [Shocking Battle Casualty Ratio]

"Prepare for battle, the enemy is coming!"

Hearing the team leader's order, Nong Zuxing immediately perked up.

He is a Zhuang from Sicheng Prefecture (Lingyun). Because he has lived next to the Han people for a long time, many people in the tribe can speak Chinese.

Their relationship with the court is very delicate.

Most of the time, they were willing to obey the orders of the government. Even in the Former Song Dynasty, they sent troops and food to help the court conquer Nong Zhigao and also helped the court resist the invasion of Annan.

However, when the government imposes heavy taxes and levies, they are likely to rebel, and the conflict between the government and the people turns into a national conflict, believing that the Han people living down the mountain are bad guys who should be killed.

The current Ming Dynasty court is highly supported by all the Zhuang people.

They even managed to tolerate the government during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song and never rebelled. Now that the administration has become better, the exploitation is not as severe as before, and they are also taught to grow corn and sweet potatoes, so they naturally think that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a good emperor.

Therefore, these tribes actively joined the army!
They also served in the army during the early Song Dynasty. Starting from Wang Anshi's reform, they were organized into baojia groups to assist the Guangxi government in suppressing the rebellion in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Now they can join the regular army, but unfortunately there are not many vacancies for recruitment, and the proportion of non-Han soldiers must not exceed 15%.

This made some servants very disappointed, because serving as a soldier for the Ming court was more promising than digging in the mountains.

Eat better, earn more, and have the opportunity to become an official.

There has already been a boy who has been promoted to a general of a hundred men. It is said that he could be promoted higher based on his military merits, but his promotion is blocked because he cannot read.

The generals in Guangxi all said that the Tong soldiers were useful, they could cross mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground, they could endure hardships and resist diseases. Therefore, they all wanted to recruit more Tong soldiers. Yang Zaixing also had this idea and had applied to the court for two consecutive years.

"I'm coming!"

The first wave of enemies that Nong Zuxing faced were the barbarians from the Aning tribe.

The name of the later Anning City originated from the Aning tribe, and Aning was changed to Anning by taking its homonym.

The Aning barbarians, holding round rattan shields and two-foot-long short swords, crouched and rushed up the mountain in the front row. Behind them followed some Aning spearmen and some Aning archers.

These barbarians also had rich experience in mountain warfare. Their formations originated from hunting in the mountains and gradually evolved into military formations.

The formation was relatively loose, with soldiers more than three meters apart.

On the not-so-steep hillside, the Aning soldiers climbed very quickly.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The flintlock soldiers in the firearms version of the Mandarin Duck Formation began to aim at the enemy and shoot freely.

The rattan shields in the hands of Aning's barbarians were no match for the enemy and they were repeatedly knocked over by the muskets from above.

Seeing the large number of rattan shield soldiers killed, the Aning barbarians were terrified. They climbed a few more meters, but as casualties continued to increase, they finally turned around and fled without being able to bear the fear of death.

Nong Zuxing, holding the spear, immediately relaxed and smiled again. He made a bet with his comrades, "When do you think the enemy will come to us for close combat?"

"We have to attack at least six or seven times." Ding Man, the boring and palladium expert next to him, laughed.

Nong Zuxing said, "I estimate it will take more than ten times. Do you want to bet?"

"What's the bet?" asked Timon.

Nong Zuxing said: "The loser please drink corn wine."

Timon said, "Okay."

The Ming army only prohibited alcohol during training, marching, and fighting, and drinking was not allowed at other times.

Soon, the enemy launched a second attack, but was also beaten back by muskets halfway through the attack.

Both sides are testing.

Gao Zhenshou was observing the Ming army's troop deployment, while Yang Zaixing was weighing the combat effectiveness and morale of the Dali soldiers.

There is no morale at all!

The internal strife among the Gao clan princes led to a serious depletion of Dali's national strength, and the treatment of the army became increasingly worse.

Moreover, thirty-seven barbarian tribes rebelled in the east, even occupying Shicheng County and establishing an independent state. In the south, the Jinchi barbarians rebelled and seized Xishuangbanna and Pu'er.

The Dali army couldn't even recover the lost territories and didn't even dare to conquer the barbarians. How could they have any fighting power and morale?
After several unsuccessful attacks on the mountain, Gao Zhenshou called the generals and said, "For those who died in the attack, their families will receive a five-string guan pension. If we take down the outer stone wall of the mountain stronghold, the first person to climb it will be rewarded with five hundred strings of guan, and the next person to climb the wall will be rewarded with twenty strings of guan. If we take down the second stone wall, the first person to climb it will be rewarded with one thousand strings of guan, and the next person to climb the wall will be rewarded with fifty strings of guan!"

Many tribes in Dali Kingdom still practiced barter and even used shells as currency.

But there were also a lot of copper coins.

Yang Zaixing also sent people to tell the generals: "You can get closer and wait for the enemy to flee, then chase them for a while. But if you get close to the foot of the mountain, or encounter enemy reinforcements, quickly retreat and continue to defend the stone wall."

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

Moreover, Gao Zhenshou mobilized his own clan soldiers this time.

The Dali Kingdom had three types of troops: standing army, local troops and foreign troops.

Standing army, similar to the imperial guards and garrison troops of the Song Dynasty.

As in the Song Dynasty, local militia and foreign soldiers were recruited temporarily.

As their treatment became worse and worse, these soldiers were no longer willing to fight, so the real elite became the private soldiers of the princes.

It can also be understood as the "servants" of the generals!
However, Gao Zhenshou deployed 200 private soldiers at one time. All officers and above wore iron armor, and ordinary soldiers also wore leather armor, and there were iron plates on key parts of the leather armor.

They let the miscellaneous soldiers attack the mountain first, trying to consume the Ming army's bullets and gunpowder, while they hid behind and waited for the right moment to attack.

The north and east of the stronghold were filled with Dali's attacking troops, and it was difficult to find the two hundred private soldiers hiding among them... Well, they were soon discovered.

With a telescope, this trick is easier to expose.

A lookout said to the sentry behind him: "Go and report quickly, an elite enemy force has sneaked in from the northeast. All of them are wearing armor, the generals in iron armor and the soldiers in leather armor."

In less than a moment, twenty tiger squat cannons were carried over and several reserve troops also took action.

Two groups of miscellaneous soldiers over there were defeated, and the Ming army gradually reduced the frequency of shooting, and in the end only fired a few sporadic shots.

"The Ming army is out of medicine!"

"Follow me and kill!" The morale of the Dali soldiers here was greatly boosted, and even the local soldiers shouted and charged forward.

Gao Zhenshou's two hundred private soldiers rushed forward quickly, climbing the hillside as if it were flat ground, and in the blink of an eye they had reached the first stone wall.

"Run away!"

The Ming army defending this section of the low wall fled in panic.

Nong Zuxing was also running away, but there was no panic on his face. He even smiled after turning around.

The acting is not up to standard.

Behind the first stone wall here is a relatively flat valley, which was used to hide soldiers and store boulders, logs and other supplies.

Gao's private soldiers quickly climbed over the low wall, and with high morale, they rushed towards the second stone wall.

"I'll go first!"

a soldier yelled.

The Dali officer next to him shouted, "I climbed there first!"

The soldier stopped talking and continued charging forward with a heart full of resentment.

As long as you rush to the second stone wall, the reward will be even more generous.

Several Dali Kingdom reserve troops at the foot of the mountain had already discovered a gap in the first stone wall, and generals immediately led their troops out to expand the results of the battle.

Yang Zaixing had already reached the highest point in the northeast corner of the mountain stronghold. He licked his cracked lips and observed the battle situation through a telescope.

The Ming "deserters" fled in panic to the bottom of the second stone wall.

Then, they turned around and fought the enemy with weapons.

It was not until this time that Gao's private soldiers, who were at the forefront, discovered that there were twenty tiger squat cannons deployed there!

"Go back quickly!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The nearest enemy to the Tiger Crouching Cannon was only ten meters away.

The gentle slope, the cannon fired from a high position, and the cannon fired at the enemy 10 to 20 meters away...

Many hay leaves flew out with the stones. The hay was used to stuff into the barrel to prevent the shotgun shells from slipping out, after all, the barrel was tilted downward. The gravel was the shotgun shells, the big ones were like goose eggs, and the small ones were about the same size as quail eggs.

A large number of enemies fell in an instant, and many of them were seriously injured but not dead. They rolled on the ground crying and screaming in pain.

Nong Zuxing escaped to the rear of the Tiger Dun Cannon and followed his comrades to fight back.

"Dong-dong-dong-dong!"

The Ming army’s war drums sounded.

Not only was this place charging, but several sections of stone walls nearby also launched a counterattack.

Several reserve teams suddenly joined in, and the number of muskets increased exponentially. After defeating the enemy in front of them, they suddenly jumped over the low wall and chased them, then rushed to the side.

On the northeast slope of the mountain stronghold, the remaining private soldiers of the Gao family fled with the miscellaneous soldiers behind them. They were so frightened that many of them slipped and fell down the hillside. When they escaped the first stone wall, they were horrified to find that the Ming army was also coming to attack them on both sides.

The Dali troops who came later to expand the victory rushed to the mountainside and found that something was wrong. There were countless friendly soldiers in front of them, and the enemy troops were about to attack them on both sides.

"Come on!"

The Dali follow-up troops quickly turned around and just retreated at first. They didn't care about anything as they retreated, and people fell and rolled down the mountain from time to time.

Gao Zhenshou was horrified and said to his younger brother and eldest son, "You lead the cavalry to support them!"

He then said to a general of the Yang clan, "You lead the infantry to form a battle formation and advance slowly. If you encounter a fleeing soldier, kill him without mercy. You must stabilize the defeat!"

Gao Zhenming and Gao Shouchang, uncle and nephew, each led several hundred cavalrymen to circle around to the two sides.

General Yang led his infantry to form a battle formation and march forward.

"Dang-dang-dang-dang!"

The gong sounded, and Yang Zaixing called back his troops.

At this time, the Ming army was almost at the foot of the mountain. Seeing that the enemy infantry and cavalry were coming to support them in a steady and orderly manner, and that his own troops were too scattered because of guarding the village, Yang Zaixing did not choose to rush down the enemy all at once.

The Ming troops who were chasing after them obeyed orders upon hearing the gong sound.

Some of the Ming soldiers who had run away even formed small groups and returned nearby.

And on the way back, he kept poking at the enemies lying along the way. No matter if they were dead or not, he would attack them and deliberately not attack their vital parts.

The fighting stopped temporarily.

After fighting for several hours, the Ming army still had no casualties. More than a dozen people were injured during the pursuit - some were sprained, and some were injured by falls.

Such outrageous casualties are because the two sides have not yet engaged in direct combat up to this point.

The morale of Dali's regular army, local militia and barbarian soldiers was very low. They had rarely won a battle in the past ten years and were defeated by the barbarians time and time again. Moreover, the military pay and rewards were much less than before.

As a result, everyone valued their lives and was unwilling to fight.

The first two waves of attackers went quite far, but later they found that rattan shields could not stop bullets, so everyone was trembling with fear when attacking the mountain. When a few were killed by muskets, the whole team retreated.

Fighting on flat ground might be better, but they really didn't dare to attack the mountain stronghold.

Gao Zhenshou was also counting the casualties, and the reports that kept coming in made his face pale.

In fact, not many people died in the initial attack on the mountain. More than a dozen attacks were repelled, and there were only two to three hundred casualties in total, including those who suffered falls and sprains.

But the previous wave suffered heavy losses, with nearly a thousand casualties at one time!

At this moment, there were still wounded soldiers fleeing back from the hillside. They pretended to be dead when the Ming army attacked them, and now they were crawling back, all of them were attacked on the knees.

(End of this chapter)