Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 951 0946 [Yue Fei Charges into the Battlefield]

The Liao Dynasty also had the Iron Harriers, which were the private guards of the royal family, clan members, and nobles.

The Western Xia Iron Harriers were originally modeled after the Liao Dynasty, and later absorbed the characteristics of the Karakhanid Khanate's heavy cavalry.

Its armor is very powerful, all made using cold forging technology.

Han Qi once sent people to do an experiment to collect data, using a strong crossbow to shoot at the iron kite armor at a distance of 60 steps. Basically, the arrows could not penetrate, and occasionally one or two arrows penetrated, but they happened to hit the gaps in the armor.

Shen Kuo said that the cold-forged armor of the Xixia Iron Harriers could reduce the weight by two-thirds compared to the Song and Liao armor without reducing the defensive power. This data is probably a bit exaggerated, but it is certain that the Xixia cold-forged armor is lighter.

In recent years, the heavy cotton armor produced by Daming also uses water hammer combined with manual cold forging for the iron lining.

As for the war horses of the Iron Harriers, most of them came from Ganzhou Horse Farm. If it had a different name, everyone would have heard of it - Shandan Horse Farm!
The Ganzhou Horse Farm of Western Xia was larger than the Shandan Horse Farm.

However, the Song-Xia war consumed too many horses. Especially when the Song army captured Tiandu Mountain, the Western Xia lost the horse breeding land there and had to buy war horses from Hehuang. Then the Song army captured Hehuang again, and the Western Xia could only increase the number of horses raised in other areas.

It's not the deadliest yet.

The real reason why Xixia was short of horses was that the government-run horse farms were being encroached upon!
Li Yuanhao wanted horses but not food back then, and when there was no food, he sent troops to rob them.

However, the food grabbing was not stable after all. A hundred years later, the horse policy was corrupted and many pastures were reclaimed as farmland. Those that were not reclaimed as farmland also gradually reduced the number of horses raised and increased the number of cattle and sheep, such as the Ganzhou Horse Farm.

This situation was not reversed until Li Renxiao's reforms.

Li Renxiao even included special regulations for the Ganzhou Horse Farm in the new law, prohibiting private individuals from encroaching on the horse farm, and prohibiting the horse farm from raising more cattle and sheep without authorization.

The problem is that Li Renxiao is only fifteen years old now, and he has just ascended the throne and has not had time to carry out reforms.

Even worse was the rise of the Ming Dynasty. The Western Xia did not recapture the Tiandu Mountain and other horse farms, let alone occupy the Hehuang Valley, and could not even cross the border to plunder. Faced with years of natural and man-made disasters, the Western Xia horse policy became even more corrupt.

For example, the Weifu Military Division continued to increase the area of ​​agricultural reclamation, improve the grain production there, and even resell military rations to make money. This was impossible in the past. The fertile areas outside the Tao would rather suffer famine than reduce the production of horses. If there was no food to eat, they would go to Song State to rob!

In addition to war horses, the amount of iron smelted in Western Xia also decreased sharply.

The largest iron ore company, Xiazhou Iron and Steel, saw its output and quality decline due to over-exploitation of iron ore.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the actual combat effectiveness of the Xixia Iron Harriers had begun to decline due to the heavy losses caused by years of war. Their war horses were not as good as before, their armor was not as good as before, and even their manpower was not as good as before. Strictly speaking, they could no longer be considered heavy cavalry.

How could the manpower be worse than before?
Because the Xixia Iron Harriers were basically hereditary, a set of armor was passed down for several generations, and combat skills were also inherited from the family.

This can ensure combat effectiveness in the early stages, but problems will inevitably arise if it is passed on for several generations.

First, there were too many casualties in a short period of time, making it difficult to replenish them quickly; second, it was difficult for the descendants of hereditary meritorious aristocrats to maintain their bloodiness.

During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, the Western Xia Iron Harriers were even afraid to charge into the battle line and had to defeat the Song army with bows and arrows before they dared to charge.

Heavy cavalry who dare not fight in close combat!

At this moment, about one-third of the Iron Harriers did not come from hereditary aristocratic families.

There was no other way, as all the adult males in many Iron Harrier families had died. However, they still took up the quota, selecting brave men from their respective tribes and "lending" their armor to the warriors instead of joining the army.

However, it is difficult for these brave men who dare to fight and fight to climb to high positions by relying on their military achievements and bravery.

The middle and senior officers and generals of the Iron Harriers all came from hereditary aristocratic families. Many of them had lost their blood, but they still occupied their positions and refused to move.

If a real fight breaks out, his true colors will be revealed soon.

……

Yang Yizhong was frightened by the reputation of the Iron Harriers. After joining forces with Yang Jin's troops, he immediately distanced himself from them to avoid their sharp edge and turned to rush towards the Western Xia light cavalry that was farther away.

Then they found that the Iron Harriers who were chasing them did not rush over, but started shooting arrows from a distance. After shooting one arrow, and then another, it seemed that they had missed the best opportunity to encircle them, and these Iron Harriers planned to take a break from shooting arrows.

Brother Richard also saw it and shouted angrily: "Give the order, let Fang Dangqili lead the troops to charge. Don't just keep shooting arrows there. He is not leading the nomadic cavalry, and he is not facing the Ming army's infantry formation. If you dare to be afraid of the enemy and not move forward, you will be beheaded even if you win!"

The messenger first blew the trumpet and waved the flag, but the Iron Kites only rushed forward for a while, then stopped and shot arrows repeatedly.

In desperation, the messenger could only ride to the battlefield and shout.

Before Richard's order was delivered, another group of Xixia light cavalry was defeated by Yang Yizhong and Yang Jin. Then, they rushed straight to the side of the Xixia infantry formation.

The Western Xia infantry there hurriedly turned around to defend against the enemy. The brave cavalry of Yang Yi Zhong and Yang Jin were divided into six groups, which swept past the front of the formation in waves and shot at close range while sweeping the formation.

Then, these Ming cavalry turned around and fled far away, attacking the Western Xia light cavalry from all directions.

On the other side of the battlefield, Li Yu and Liu Zhengyan were also blocked by the Iron Harriers and also kept their distance to attack the Western Xia light cavalry.

The Ming Dynasty's cavalry was organized into teams of 25 people and battalions of 250 people. There were officers in front, behind, left and right, and they could turn and advance and retreat very quickly.

The Western Xia light cavalry was divided into tribes, with one chief leading a group. The number of people in each group was not fixed, depending on how many soldiers the chief could recruit.

Each team is led by nobles from different tribes, and the command depends entirely on the nobles' prestige and mutual understanding.

When faced with large-scale battles, the herdsmen who ride on horses all year round are actually not as flexible as the regular cavalry with strict military discipline!

At this moment, Yang Yizhong turned around, and the deputy general on the right took over the command automatically, leading six cavalry battalions to flee. The six battalions galloped for dozens of steps, and then split into two to attack the Xixia light cavalry coming from the front. Each battalion had an officer leading the charge at the first time, and each squad also had a corresponding commander.

The proportion of officers in the Ming Dynasty's cavalry was more than six times that of the Western Xia light cavalry.

Relying on its tight military organization and strict military discipline, as well as military equipment that crushed the Western Xia light cavalry, the Ming cavalry could often disrupt and defeat the Western Xia cavalry with just one or two combat maneuvers.

The Xixia infantry formation was still standing firmly at this time, and did not attack the Ming cavalry, because the two sides were already fighting each other. They continued to shoot arrows, aiming at the grassland cavalry cruising in front, and the strong crossbowmen were shooting and killing a large number of grassland light cavalry.

And at the beginning of the battle, more than a dozen carrier pigeons flew northeast.

When Western Xia sent troops to make long-distance detours, they often liked to use carrier pigeons to deliver signals, which was sometimes more effective than smoke signals.

The 8,000 light cavalry that Richard had sent to the rear of the Ming army, 20 to 30 miles away, had already received the carrier pigeon and immediately rushed to the Ming army's food and fodder transfer station.

It was a relatively large fortress. After it was conquered by the Ming army, all the artillery and part of the food were piled up inside. Only three hundred infantrymen, more than two hundred artillerymen and hundreds of grassland peasants were left to defend the castle.

"Blow the horn, and the Iron Kites will stop the enemy!"

Brother Richard was giving orders again, because Yue Fei was rushing over quickly, and all the Western Xia cavalry that intercepted him along the way were defeated.

The 1500 Iron Harriers under Fang Dangqili had to fight this time because Yue Fei led 2000 cavalrymen to charge straight towards him.

The Iron Harriers were divided into a battalion of 300 men and a squad of 30 men, and the ratio of officers was half that of the Ming Dynasty's Cavalry.

Yue Fei did not dodge or evade, and even did not ride or shoot, but charged forward fearlessly.

On either side of him were team leaders Xu Qing and Wang Gui. The three of them were like three arrows, charging forward without any fancy moves.

Fang Dangqili bravely accepted the battle, and their armor was better than Yue Fei's cavalry, but many hereditary officers of the Iron Harriers became afraid, timid, and no longer had the courage of their ancestors.

Yue Fei had a fine horse and precious armor bestowed by the emperor. He rode at the front. His armor was better than that of the Iron Harrier!
His weapon was the "Zhangba Iron Spear", which was actually only Zhang2 according to the Song ruler, or about four meters.

The Western Xia Iron Harriers' formation was relatively sparse, with the distance between the war horses being a full five meters, which was described in the Six Strategies as an "easy way of fighting."

The formation of Yue Fei's cavalry was relatively dense, with the distance between the horses being about three meters, which was described in "Six Strategies" as "the method of fighting in dangerous situations."

Dangerous battles test your courage and skills, and if you are not careful you will collide with enemy cavalry!
Not to mention a hundred years ago, even if it were the Iron Harriers fifty years ago, they would definitely adopt a dangerous battle formation, but now their courage and skills are not up to the mark.

Yue Fei was the first to rush into the enemy camp. He positioned himself between two Iron Harriers and thrust his four-meter-long spear diagonally forward.

The Iron Harrier was knocked off balance by the impact, but he did not fall off the horse immediately. Instead, he lay on his back on the horse's back.

The Iron Harriers will never fall off their horses, because they have tied themselves up with grappling hooks!
This kind of hook can also be taken down, and when the cavalry is charging, it can be thrown out to entangle the enemy's horse's legs. The cavalry of Song and Liao countries have suffered losses. However, its technical requirements are too high, and there are only records of it in the early and middle periods of the Iron Harriers. It seems that the Iron Harriers no longer use hooks in combat in the later period.

Yue Fei stabbed the enemy with his spear, released his hands to reduce the impact, and the spear slid back a few inches in his palm. He immediately clenched his hand and pulled it diagonally to release the force, sweeping it towards the Iron Harrier on the other side.

At the moment of charging, Yue Fei had already eliminated two enemies. Neither of them died.

The first one was stabbed so hard that his blood boiled. He was tied up by a hook rope and didn't fall off his horse. This guy tried to sit up dizzy, but was stabbed again by Yue Fei's personal soldiers who rushed over. This Yue Fei personal soldier rode forward, and the second personal soldier swung his bone flower and smashed it hard on Tie Yaozi's chest.

The second one was knocked down by Yue Fei's sweep, and then stabbed by Yue Fei's personal soldiers, and soon he was also hit by the iron bone flower.

The first two rows of the Ming cavalry led by Yue Fei used long spears to fight. Starting from the third row, they put away their long spears and used blunt weapons to attack. This was a temporary charging tactic designed to deal with the Iron Harriers.

In order to facilitate close-range attacks with blunt weapons, Yue Fei arranged the formation more densely and paid a corresponding price.

The Ming cavalry that came later collided directly with the Iron Harriers because the formations of both sides were no longer neat and the distance between the Ming army was narrow.

In the physical sense of the word, a collision would result in serious consequences for both parties.

Yue Fei, Xu Qing and Wang Gui, like three arrows, led the Ming cavalry to charge in.

Each team of Ming cavalry has five rows.

The five rows of the front team all rushed into the formation, and the five rows of the back team quickly followed and continued to attack.

The entire battle was extremely brutal, but Yue Fei, who was at the forefront, had not been injured yet. His four-meter-long spear swept left and right, only responsible for knocking the enemy cavalry off balance, so that the following Ming cavalry could use blunt weapons to deal with them.

After defeating two teams of Iron Harriers in a row, the third team of Iron Harriers was actually defeated.

The cavalry charged the heavy cavalry head-on and directly defeated them!

Fang Dangqili, the leader of the Iron Harriers, did not even dare to lead his troops to the front. He saw the tragic battlefield from behind and was so scared that he led his troops to turn to the side to avoid the battle, which made his Iron Harriers even less motivated to fight.

More than ten years ago, Fang Dangqili was also fearless of death.

His father died at the hands of the Song army, and his brother died at the hands of the Song army. He inherited the Iron Harrier armor and was determined to avenge his father and brother.

At the beginning, he was promoted quickly after numerous meritorious deeds. Later, he followed Brother Richard to fight and encountered Yang Zhi's firearms troops in a narrow valley. At that time, he did not even participate in the battle, but abandoned his warhorse and armor, crossed mountains and ridges to follow Brother Richard to escape, because if he did not run away, he would be blocked in the valley from front and back.

Having lost his warhorse and his armor, Fang Dangqili returned to Xingqing Prefecture in despair.

The production speed of cold-forged armor is very slow. It took Xixia several years to rebuild the equipment of the Three Thousand Iron Harriers, and the quality was not as good as the set passed down from Fang Dangqili's ancestors.

During this period, Fang Dangqili's will was worn out and he began to indulge in sensual pleasures in Xingqing Prefecture.

When the Iron Harrier was reorganized, he couldn't even bear the heavy armor, and he was out of breath after riding his horse and waving his gun for a while.

From then on, he never fought a decent battle again.

They did not dare to face the Jin soldiers or the Ming army. Everyone had a shadow in his heart.

Fang Dangqili led more than 700 Iron Harriers to avoid the battle, and even did not dare to rescue his own Iron Harriers who were surrounded.

Yue Fei continued to chase and kill, not giving Fang Dangqili a chance to regroup and fight again. Yue Fei's follow-up troops were attacking the trapped Iron Harriers, using blunt weapons to attack two or three at a time.

Fang Dangqili's behavior of avoiding battle made Brother Richard so angry that he vomited blood.

Brother Richard urgently transferred 900 Iron Harriers from the other side, leaving only 600 Iron Harriers with light cavalry to fight Li Yu and Liu Zhengyan.

At the same time, Richard dispatched 800 of his own cavalry to encircle and kill Yue Fei, and ordered several Western Xia light cavalry to harass him.

But after Yue Fei's cavalry broke through the battlefield, Li Shifu's troops followed closely.

The number of people is not large, only three hundred heavy cavalry and three hundred auxiliary cavalry.

All wearing heavy cotton armor and light cotton armor, they were inconspicuous on the battlefield, like a cavalry wearing cloth armor.

Two groups of Xixia light cavalry took the initiative to come over and take advantage. All the arrows they shot were blocked by cotton armor, and even the horses were covered with cotton armor to protect against arrows. Another group of light cavalry blocked the front, and Li Shifu led the heavy cavalry to rush over and crushed the Xixia light cavalry like a rotten wood.

The nine hundred Iron Harriers that were later dispatched by Brother Richard were originally going to surround and kill Yue Fei, but at this moment, three hundred of them were sent over to stop him.

They thought that three hundred people were enough. What was there to be afraid of with cavalrymen wearing cloth armor?
"Heavy armor, this is heavy armored cavalry!"

After the battle, the Iron Harrier officers screamed in fear.

Seeing that the three hundred Iron Harriers were defeated, and that Yang Yi Zhong and Yang Jin led the brave cavalry to defeat the Western Xia light cavalry and go around the side and rear of his central army, Brother Richard finally panicked at this time.

He ordered more infantry to retreat in formation, and he himself led the central army forward to strengthen the rear infantry formation, so as to ensure his own safety.

Yue Fei was still chasing the Iron Harriers. As they were fleeing from the battle, their formation was in complete chaos and they were unable and dared not turn around to fight.

Yue Fei, Xu Qing and Wang Gui chased the Iron Harriers and continued to encroach on them.

The surrounding Xixia light cavalry did not dare to charge forward. They were so frightened that they only dared to shoot arrows at the Ming cavalry from a distance.

Fang Dangqili didn't know how far he had fled. At first, he didn't intend to flee, but just led his troops to temporarily avoid the battle. But he turned into a rout and was completely unable to organize an attack. He even dared not stop running for a moment.

He looked back again, only to see that the Iron Harriers under his command had been cut into several pieces by the Ming army.

The Ming cavalry general who was rushing in the front was leading more than a hundred brave cavalrymen in pursuit, and his own cavalrymen were being killed on horseback one after another.

Yue Fei led his troops closer and closer, and the remaining Iron Harriers behind Fang Dangqili were finally frightened and fled in all directions, hoping only to leave the battlefield alive.

There were only a few people left around Fang Dangqili.

Yue Fei's horse accelerated again, and the Iron Harriers in front of him dodged one after another, leaving only Fang Dangqili.

Yue Fei chased close and shot out, but Fang Dangqili unexpectedly counterattacked.

While dodging urgently, Yue Fei urged his horse forward, hung up his spear, drew out his iron mace, and hit Fang Dangqili's left shoulder with the mace.

Fang Dangqili felt as if half of his body was smashed into pieces, and he was leaning on the horse's back, unable to sit up straight.

Yue Fei's horse slowed down slightly, and he swung out another iron mace.

Fang Dangqili vomited blood and passed out while hanging on the horse's back. His internal organs were injured and he was probably dead.

"Form a team and charge back!"

Yue Fei shouted.

The brave cavalry led by Yue Fei, Wang Gui, Xu Qing, Yang Yi Zhong, and Yang Jin, as well as the heavy cavalry led by Li Shifu, attacked the personal cavalry and Iron Harriers dispatched by Richard from all sides.

They didn't even have a chance to escape and were directly surrounded and annihilated.

Brother Richard was helpless, as he had no fresh troops at his disposal.

Although there were more than 30,000 Xixia cavalrymen deployed on the battlefield, most of them were tribal cavalrymen. Once the Iron Harriers were defeated, they were useless against the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty!

Even before the Iron Harriers were defeated and fled, they had been defeated countless times by the Ming cavalry, and each time they would escape far away only to run back and be shot at.

As for the infantry, they were even more useless. Apart from shooting at the Ming grassland cavalry, they could only stand there and watch. They did not dare to move in a large area. Once they moved, the formation would be disrupted and the entire army might collapse.

Brother Richard now only has about a thousand of his own cavalry and a few Iron Harriers who escaped urgently from the gaps in the infantry formation.

He was protected by tens of thousands of infantrymen and was also surrounded by the Ming army.

The Ming cavalry was unable to break through the infantry formation for a while, but Richard could not continue fighting, and did not even dare to order a retreat.

There were still more than 20,000 Western Xia light cavalry left on the battlefield, but most of them fled far to the periphery of the battlefield and had no idea how to fight against the Ming Dynasty's elite cavalry and heavy cavalry.

Perhaps, this is the secret of why the Jin Dynasty's cavalry of that time could defeat tens of thousands of Liao and Western Xia troops with just a thousand people.

Faced with fully armed armored cavalry, no matter how many grassland light cavalry there are, they are just decorations.

(End of this chapter)