Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 422 0417 [Heavy cavalry becomes heavy infantry]

"Boom!"

There was a thunderstorm, and there was a lot of wind and rain.

In the Yangtze River Basin in summer, this kind of weather is normal, and there will be a heavy rain from time to time.

Deng Xia's artillery position had already put up thatched roofs and dug drainage ditches around it.When the rainstorm was about to fall, the artillerymen took out tarpaulins to cover the artillery and gunpowder barrels tightly to prevent the strong wind from blowing raindrops into the shed.

General Yan Qi of the Chu Army stood in the barracks in despair. He already knew that Zhijiang City had fallen.

Moreover, it was the news brought by the guard Li Huan himself!
"I was wrong, I shouldn't be careless, I should put all the soldiers on the city wall..." Li Huan looked very embarrassed.

He was awakened last night by the sound of killing, and hurriedly put on his armor and picked up his weapon, but Han Shizhong had already occupied many city walls.Li Huan didn't even bother to wear shoes, so he gathered his troops barefoot, but the city was breached in the dark, and his soldiers had already dispersed.

No matter how religious fanaticism is, soldiers are human beings, and it is no longer possible to fight in this situation.

There were still some small boats in the south of the city, so Li Huan escaped by boat, with only a dozen remnants of soldiers following him.

When he fled to the camp to meet Yan Qi, Li Huan discovered that not only did he not wear shoes, but his legs were bare, and he was only wearing a pair of shorts on his lower body.

Yan Qi looked back at Li Huan, although he was angry in his heart, he did not reprimand him sharply.

Because he himself didn't expect that the enemy army actually crossed the river in the most open place, and directly attacked and occupied Zhijiang County.

If it were Yan Qi who defended the city, the soldiers would be rotated to stay on the city wall, while the rest of the troops would be on standby in the city, at most setting up more guard posts around the city.

But setting up sentries is also difficult to prevent. Those sentries must be careless, and they will probably fall asleep at night.

There was a warship on the pier, and all the sailors were dead asleep, and thousands of people touched the river without knowing it.

Li Huan complained about himself for a long time, and his tone became weaker and weaker. He lowered his head and asked, "Should we lead troops to take back Zhijiang City?"

"It can't be taken back." Yan Qi shook his head.

Li Huan asked again: "Then take advantage of the heavy rain and withdraw the remaining soldiers to the south bank?"

Yan Qi still shook his head: "Let's see how long the rain will last. The enemy has to spit out something after eating a whole city of Zhijiang."

The rain was intermittent, sometimes big and sometimes small, and it continued for two days and one night.

In the end, it turned into a continuous drizzle, as if God could not stop peeing.

Not only did it rain here, but many surrounding states and counties experienced heavy rain. The water level of the Yangtze River began to rise sharply, and it had already flooded beyond the camp of the Chu army.

The current became more and more turbulent, and the troops of Han Shizhong, He Ji and others could only stay in Zhijiang City, and it was impossible to go back by boat.It was even difficult to come over and attack the Chu army's camp, because the road was muddy, and the forty-mile march would be half exhausted.

"Go across the river and destroy the enemy's artillery before leaving. You must give the master (Zhong Xiang) an explanation!"

Yan Qi said harshly.

One thousand Chu soldiers stayed to guard the camp, and the remaining 7000 people boarded a boat to cross the river in the light rain.

Due to the rapid current, the warship was rushed further downstream, and when it landed, it was three or four miles away from the artillery position.

"Boom!"

The tarpaulin was lifted, and the artillery fired again.

But no matter how well Deng Xia waterproofed it, the air humidity was already high during this period, and the two consecutive days of rainfall exacerbated this problem.

The gunpowder was damp, and seven of the eighteen cannons fired in salvo, but none of them exploded.

Thousands of Chu troops gathered on the shore in the rain, and walked slowly towards the artillery positions in the mud.

"The cavalry couldn't run, the ground was soaked by the rain." Chen Ziyi said depressedly.

Geng Zhongnian said: "Call the artillery back and defend the camp together."

Deng Xia was still directing the artillery to reload and ignite, but there were dumb guns from time to time.And those Chu troops were scattered in formation, and at most a few people could be hit by a single shot. This casualty could not scare the inspired religious army back.

The messenger ran to the artillery position, Deng Xia hesitated for a moment, and could only say: "All fire one more shot, and retreat to the camp!"

There are more than 1000 cavalry in the camp, and more than 100 logistics personnel who take care of the horses.Each of the eighty heavy cavalry was equipped with two retinues, and these retinues also wore light armor and had weapons.

In addition, there are thousands of civilians who are responsible for transporting grain, guns and small boats in the early stage, and helping to build artillery positions and cavalry to fill in some rough terrain in the later stage.

After the artillery came back, everyone organized themselves, and even the peasants took poles to defend.

Yan Qi quickly occupied the artillery position, pointed at the artillery and said, "Pull back to the ship!"

How could it be possible?
These cast iron cannons weighed [-] jin at the lightest, and [-] jin at the heaviest.However, it was difficult to move in the mud after the rain, and the wheels for carrying the guns were all sunk in the mud, and it was difficult to drag the wheels even if they were removed.

After working for a long time, I only dragged a few meters away.

Yan Qi let the warship go upstream again, and rowed this way against the turbulent river, trying to drag the artillery to the riverside and board the ship nearby.

But how can it be easy to sail against the current of the Yangtze River during the flood season?

The boatmen and sailors paddled frantically, and managed to advance a certain distance, and the warship retreated after a little exhaustion.

Yan Qi had no choice but to capture the enemy's artillery, but he couldn't transport it away at all.He could only order: "Drag it into the river and sink it!" Pointing to the shells and powder kegs, "Move them all and throw them into the river!"

Shells and gunpowder barrels were thrown into the river one after another.

But the artillery was very troublesome. Although it was dragged to the river, if it wanted to sink into the river, it couldn't be dragged in the last section unless people stood in the river.

It must be pushed into the river by manpower!
To be honest, it doesn't matter even if the river sinks, the river here is very shallow.Wait until the water level drops, and then send someone to salvage it.

When Yan Qi was competing with the artillery, Li Huan was leading the Chu army to attack the camp.

Chen Ziyi's more than 1000 cavalry, although unable to gallop on horseback, are all well-armored.Especially the eighty heavy cavalry, all temporarily turned into heavy infantry.

At the beginning of the Chu army's attack on the stronghold, the civilian husband's defense line was in jeopardy, but the eighty "heavy infantry" fought back.

There was a war horse but he couldn't use it. Chen Ziyi was so angry that he kept stabbing with guns in his arms.Eighty iron cans wrapped in armor, with three small holes for eyes and mouth, stepped forward slowly on the muddy ground.

The Chu army, who only wore light armor, could not hurt them no matter how they swung their swords and spears.

The more they fought, the more frightened they became, and they were soon broken through the formation.

"It's the Dark Lord's magic soldier!"

A few Chu soldiers looked at the terrifying visor and suddenly remembered the legend of Manichaeism.

The main god of Manichaeism is naturally Da Mingzun, and the villain is the Dark Lord.

Its teachings integrate Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity, and has a religious view of dualism between good and evil.Light represents good, darkness represents evil, and light must defeat darkness.

Demons hide in the dark world, constantly eroding the world, causing chaos in this world between good and evil.

Even the ancestors of human beings were born by the demons by the Dark Lord.Because human beings are the descendants of demons, Daming Venerable sent an envoy of light to the world to save human souls.

"Demon soldiers! Demon soldiers!"

Similar shouts came and went, most of these Chu soldiers were believers, pious but ignorant.

In addition to extreme fear, they firmly believe that the heavy armored infantry is a demon soldier, and what is the terrifying appearance of the helmet?
With the breakthrough of the heavy infantry, more and more Chu troops who fought with the heavy infantry began to turn around and flee.

Even a small number of Chu soldiers, remembering that human beings are descendants of demons, had a wonderful belief conversion before the battle. They dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground: "Father of the demon soldiers, I am your descendant. Please don't kill me. I won't believe in it in the future." Mingzun, I only believe in the Lord Dark Lord!"

Dark Lord belief and ancestor worship?

The Chu army dropped their weapons and knelt and surrendered. The heavy infantry did not attack again because there were more enemies to deal with.

Seeing that converting to the Dark Lord could save their lives, more and more Chu soldiers knelt down.

At this moment, they worshiped the Dark Lord very much, he was the emperor of the devil ancestors!
Eighty heavy infantry broke through the formation of the Chu army, but Minfu's line of defense was also breached.

A large number of civilians collapsed and fled, while the Chu army roared and chased them down. Both sides limped forward in the mud.

"Blow the horn, stop chasing, come back and kill the enemy's flanks!"

The generals of the Chu army are also knowledgeable. Chasing and killing routs is useless. The most urgent task is to cooperate with the friendly forces and attack the enemies who are still fighting.

Soon, thousands of civilian husbands were completely defeated!

Only the artillery, cavalry, and cavalry retinues were left to fight. After hundreds of casualties, they gradually shrank into a circular formation, and no matter how much the Chu army attacked, they could not take it down.

The eighty heavy infantry were still expanding their battle results, and they were invincible on the way forward. Those Chu soldiers either fled or knelt down and begged the magic soldiers for forgiveness.

Yan Qi was still competing with the artillery, but when he saw the situation was not good, he immediately gave up and brought the reserve team to join the battle.

However, the [-] heavy infantry cooperated with friendly troops to attack some enemies from both sides, which directly caused the Chu army to flee in large areas.When Yan Qi came to respond, the Chu army was almost completely defeated. Even if he arrived in time, it was useless. Eighty iron cans were not something they could deal with. They had to use heavy crossbows, heavy arrows or blunt weapons to break the formation.

Yan Qi was dragged by the rout and fled downstream, where there were warships waiting at anchor.

Chen Ziyi ordered the whole army to pursue and kill them, but the eighty heavy infantry moved slowly and were unable to participate in the pursuit of the rout.

In this battle, civilian husbands died the most.After two or three hundred people were killed or injured, thousands of civilians all collapsed.

The whole army chased them out, and there were no followers to help them remove their armor. The heavy infantry could only help each other, and some of them took off their armor directly.

When Chen Ziyi unarmored and chased to the riverside, many Chu soldiers had already boarded the boat, and those who were too late to board the boat were all driven into the river.With this turbulent flow rate, no matter how good the Chu army's water skills are, it is estimated that not many can survive.

Yan Qi took the remnants across the river by boat, and all of them were washed downstream and landed.

He has no way to pick up the more than 1000 Chu troops who stayed in the camp, as well as the grain and grass in the camp, and can only wait for the flow rate of the river to drop.

In the direction of Zhijiang City, Han Shizhong was marching with [-] soldiers on the muddy road and braved the light rain.He took off his armor and shoes, and without his long plate and giant shield, he rushed towards the Chu army's camp.

Of course, Han Shizhong didn't know that the main force of the Chu army crossed the river to attack the friendly army. He only knew that the road was slippery in rainy days, and most of the enemy troops were unprepared, so the night attack had a great chance of success!

The next night, the light rain had stopped long ago, but the river was still rising.

Han Shizhong raided the enemy camp, and the morale of the more than 1000 remaining Chu troops was low, and they all fled in panic.But they couldn't escape, they ran to the riverside and stopped one after another, choosing to surrender in desperation.

Yan Qi looked at the enemy's flag on the other side, and fell into a trance.

He hadn't grown up yet, he wasn't the veteran general who took refuge in Yue Fei, but just a novice general who had rebelled for more than half a year and kept fighting with the wind.

In this state, he happened to meet the old soldier Han Shizhong!
(End of this chapter)