Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 952 0947 [Great Defeat]

The battlefield seemed to suddenly become quiet.

Richard's infantry formation was there, and the Ming cavalry did not force a charge. Instead, they lined up and guarded various places on the battlefield, searching for the wounded and the bodies of the dead and bringing them back.

The grassland cavalry that depended on the Ming Dynasty concentrated on picking up arrows in a safe area.

They repeatedly harassed the Western Xia army in a loose formation, and the arrows they brought were almost used up.

These people had a special small stick with a curved hook tied to the end. They could lie down and pick up arrows while riding horses.

By the Ming Dynasty, bow tips began to have hooks, so there was no need for special tools to pick up arrows. The hook on the tip of a Kaiyuan bow was particularly obvious.

Brother Richard was also organizing his troops, especially his personal soldiers and the Iron Harriers who had escaped back into the formation.

The Western Xia light cavalry that fled to the outskirts of the battlefield also gradually gathered to the side and rear, but did not dare to get too close to the Ming cavalry.

The auxiliary cavalry helped the heavy cavalry to dismount, stood in place to restore the horses' strength, and even took the time to feed the horses water and salt.

The cavalry also dismounted and kept a close eye on the movements of the Western Xia light cavalry.

Both sides are waiting.

The Ming army was waiting to recover their strength and collect more arrows. Then they would let the grassland light cavalry shoot arrows to disrupt the Xixia infantry formation, and once they got the chance, they would charge with the brave cavalry and heavy cavalry.

So what is Brother Richard waiting for?
He was waiting for the 8,000 light cavalry he was sending to attack the castle behind the Ming army, blow up the siege artillery there, and burn the food and grass stored in the castle.

In this battle, Richard had already lost because of the disastrous defeat of the Western Xia cavalry. But if he could destroy the artillery and food supplies of the Ming army, he could retreat to Wulahai City and defend it. If the raid failed, Richard would even abandon Wulahai City and lead the cavalry to flee back to Keyimen.

The Ming army already had a huge advantage, but Yang Yi Zhong was extremely angry at this moment.

He blamed himself for not being brave enough. When he saw the Iron Harriers coming, his first reaction was to run away. If the Iron Harriers dared to fight, and Yang Jin and Yue Fei did not rush to rescue them, the 1500 cavalry under Yang Yizhong would be scrapped and would be trapped in the enemy's encirclement.

He also complained that Tie Yaozi was too useless, saying that he was just a show-off and didn't even dare to chase him and fight to the death.

If he had known this, he would not have run away, but would have directly confronted the Iron Harriers. With Yang Jin, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu following up, if Yang Yizhong had dared to charge at the Iron Harriers and swept past them, the Xixia infantry formation would have been broken, and Brother Richard would have had no time to deploy his troops.

But he did not dare to charge at that time, resulting in two hundred Ming cavalrymen being intercepted by the enemy while fleeing. After a bloody battle, only more than thirty cavalrymen escaped.

Those were all his soldiers, each of them was extremely brave and fearless. The more Yang Yizhong thought about it, the more he blamed himself.

Yang Jin had similar thoughts at this time. He was sent to meet Yang Yi Zhong, but when he saw Tie Yaozi, he did not dare to charge head-on. He subconsciously kept his distance and went around to meet Yang Yi Zhong.

Yang Jin thought that if he had dared to charge at that time, he would have made a great contribution by now.

Damn it, these useless guys from Tie Yaozi actually managed to scare me!

……

After an unknown amount of time, Han Shizhong called the chieftains of the various tribes and said, "You take turns to pretend to charge and shoot arrows to disrupt the enemy's formation. The task of breaking the formation will be left to the Ming cavalry. If we win this battle, the captured Xixia weapons and armor will be distributed to the various tribes according to their merits. Yue Duhu and I will not take any of them. Including the armor of the Iron Harriers!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the spirits of the chiefs of various tribes were greatly boosted.

When the Ming cavalry charged forward, the various tribes on the grassland had also been fighting, dragging along the Xixia infantry and tens of thousands of light cavalry. They suffered heavy losses, especially when they were shot by the Xixia strong crossbowmen. Nearly a thousand people have been killed so far, and many wounded soldiers are in urgent need of medical treatment.

With the casualty rate exceeding 10%, the cavalry units did not even want to fight anymore. They certainly did not dare to withdraw directly, but planned to perform paddling techniques to preserve their strength in the next battle.

But now I want to fight again.

Because all the captured weapons and armor, including the Iron Harrier armor, were distributed to them.

Under Han Shizhong's arrangement, the cavalry from various grassland tribes formed a sparse formation of one hundred men each and rushed forward in waves. When they were within ten steps, they shot an arrow and immediately fled away.

Specifically shoot those Xixia infantrymen who are not fully armored!
The Ming Dynasty's cavalry and heavy cavalry all mounted their horses to protect the cavalry of the grasslands. If the Xixia cavalry dared to obstruct them, the Ming Dynasty's cavalry would immediately charge forward.

Round after round of arrows flew out, and the Xixia infantry formation became visibly in chaos.

No matter how strong the Xixia crossbowmen were, they only had 3,000 men after all. The chieftains of the various tribes on the grasslands all carefully avoided them, not wanting to be hit by the crossbowmen.

Of course, Western Xia also had other archers. Mounted archers were at a disadvantage when facing infantry archers, and the various tribes on the grassland suffered even greater losses.

It depends on who can't bear it first!
Yue Fei was commanding his troops and standing on the outer right wing of the Western Xia army. He could see the situation more clearly than Han Shizhong and suddenly sent a flag signal to Han Shizhong.

Han Shizhong immediately responded with a flag, allowing Yue Fei to decide the timing of the battle on his own and let Yue Fei unify the command of the right wing troops.

Yue Fei immediately summoned all the generals nearby, including those under Han Shizhong.

After giving some instructions, the cavalry led by Yang Jin were divided into four teams and took the lead in the attack. They charged alternately with the grassland cavalry, ignoring the rest of the enemy troops and only caught one of the less armored troops and repeatedly pretended to charge and shoot.

Yang Yi Zhong and Wang Gui led their troops to move westward to prevent the Western Xia light cavalry from rushing over and causing trouble.

Li Shifu's heavy cavalry advanced dozens of steps and waited, looking for an opportunity to charge directly into the battle formation.

Xu Qing led his troops in the area between the various troops. He was responsible for providing support when they encountered danger and charging into the battle line to expand the results when there was an opportunity.

The Xixia infantry that was attacked by the Ming army was precisely the capture force that Richard brought from the Chaoshun Army.

Normally, when the Qinsheng Army was first drafted, each person was given a horse and a camel. Their ancestors also had armor issued by the Xixia court, most of which were leather armor, and a few were iron armor. They maintained it from generation to generation, and checked their armor every once in a while to see if it was in good condition.

Their war horses died, and they had to find a way to replace them.

If their weapons and armor were broken, they would be fined by inspectors and the court would allocate funds to replace them, which was considered using the fines to purchase weapons and armor.

These rules were very strict decades ago, but now they are not taken seriously.

Especially in the counties surrounding Xingqing Prefecture, many tribes had switched to farming. There were more and more captured soldiers who were unwilling to pay for their own horses, so the court could only accept the status quo and even stopped issuing horses to new recruits, and they gradually became infantry.

I was too lazy to check my armor, and even if I did, I did it perfunctorily.

The leather armor of this capture army before them was as tattered as that of a beggar, but they were all heirlooms passed down for two or three generations.

The defeat of the Xixia cavalry had already frightened them, and now they were being attacked by the cavalry, wave after wave of arrows. They also fought back with bows and arrows, but the bows and arrows were poorly maintained and shot out lightly without much power.

Brother Richard also sensed something was wrong and quickly dispatched elite infantrymen.

At this moment, Yue Fei shouted: "Blow the horn!"

As the dull horn sounded, Li Shifu's 300 heavy cavalry set out. They followed behind a group of brave cavalry, and when the brave cavalry shot arrows and swept through the formation, the heavy cavalry suddenly rushed towards the already collapsing Qinsheng army.

"Run for your life!"

This beggar-like capture army, the front-row spearmen threw away their weapons, pushed each other and turned to flee.

The Xixia infantry generals on both sides seemed to want to come over to remedy the situation, but Li Shifu's heavy cavalry had already rushed into the gap and were chasing the fleeing soldiers to attack the rear troops.

Xu Qing, who was in charge of the support, led his troops to follow closely behind Yue Fei without waiting for the order, and rushed into the gap to attack the troops next to the fleeing soldiers.

While commanding the Western Xia light cavalry to move out, Richard dispatched the right wing infantry to fill the gap.

He still wanted to fight hard at this time, maybe he could stop it with infantry.

But he overestimated his troops, and Xixia was no longer the same Xixia as before.

Fear spread like a plague. As Li Shifu and Xu Qing charged, three consecutive Xixia infantry units were defeated. Yang Jin also led his troops to charge, further expanding the victory.

The few light cavalry sent by Richard were first intercepted by Yang Yi Zhong and Wang Gui, and then encountered an attack led by Yue Fei himself.

"Beat the drums, blow the trumpets, and march out!"

Han Shizhong also seized the opportunity and ordered all the troops to charge together, and even he himself led his personal soldiers to charge out.

In the Western Xia infantry formation, shouts of killing were heard from three sides.

The left wing and the front army did not understand what was going on at first, until they heard the deafening cries of the friendly troops on the right wing, and then they realized that they might have been defeated. They threw down their weapons and fled madly, completely losing their minds, and no longer considered that they would be slaughtered at will if they lost their formation.

Tens of thousands of Xixia soldiers were defeated in an instant!
Those who had war horses fled very fast, especially the Western Xia light cavalry. They had been hiding in the rear and now charged in the opposite direction and were at the front.

Brother Richard also acted quickly. Before Han Shizhong's war drums were sounded, he had already fled with his personal soldiers and the remaining Iron Harriers.

Moreover, they did not flee towards Wulahai City, but fled to Keyimen, the headquarters of Chaoshun Army, which was the northern barrier of the Western Xia capital.

As long as they hold the Keyi Gate, Xixia can continue to fight.

If Richard led his troops to escape to Wulahai City, once the city was captured, Han Shizhong might go directly to the Western Xia Emperor for a drink!

Yue Yun followed Li Shifu and fought hard. He was now extremely excited.

In the previous battle, he personally killed three Iron Harriers, and now he was charging into the enemy camp. For a young man who had just entered the battlefield, this was enough to make him lose his mind, and now he only had eyes for the enemy in front of him.

There were too many defeated soldiers, and they fled indiscriminately, blocking the Ming army's path.

Han Shizhong shouted, "Inform the generals of the Ming Dynasty to ignore the Xixia infantry and go after the Xixia cavalry. Also inform the tribes on the grasslands not to kill prisoners indiscriminately. Capturing the enemy is also considered a merit!"

The Ming cavalry on the right wing of Yue Fei's side were chasing after the Western Xia cavalry that had just rushed over.

On the left wing, Li Yu and Liu Zhengyan bypassed the fleeing infantry and chased after the nearby Xixia light cavalry.

All the Xixia infantry were handed over to the grassland tribes. Those guys seemed extremely excited. They divided themselves into teams to intercept and kill the fleeing soldiers, forcing the Xixia infantry to surrender in large numbers.

The Ming cavalry chased for more than seventy miles and did not return until midnight. Some of them even got lost and disappeared at night.

Brother Richard fled from dusk to dawn. Some of the more than 20,000 Western Xia light cavalry followed him and fled south, some fled to Wulahai City, some fled to the farther Zhenyan Military Headquarters, and many locals directly surrendered to the Ming army.

After Brother Richard escaped back to Keyimen, it took several more days to gradually gather the escaped cavalry.

There were only twelve thousand cavalry left.

Another 8,000 cavalrymen went around to attack the castle, and 4,000 to 5,000 cavalrymen fled to the Zhenyan Army Headquarters. Another 3,000 to 4,000 cavalrymen fled into Wulahai City, where several thousand infantrymen remained.

The rest of the Western Xia soldiers were either killed or captured, with more than 50,000 of them being either beheaded or captured by the Ming army.

Brother Richard seemed a little dazed. Xixia had suffered such a big defeat before. But this time was obviously different. The Ming Dynasty was too powerful and was heading straight for the destruction of Xixia.

This year's war is just the beginning, and the real general offensive will not be launched until next year.

I'm afraid that the Ming army will kill hundreds of thousands of people from Shaanxi!
The Iron Harriers had been crippled, with only about 400 people escaping, and the Strong Crossbowmen were completely wiped out. Would they use the Infantry and the Capture Army to deal with the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Ming Dynasty next year?
Brother Richard began to reflect. He should not have gone to rescue Wulahai City. He should have ordered the Wei Fu Army to withdraw to the south, clear the fields and lure the Ming army to advance... No, no, this was the tactic used to deal with the Song army in the Hengshan area. It would not work at all against the Ming army outside the Hetao area.

Brother Richard discovered that no matter how he commanded, he could not defeat Han Shizhong.

The army under his command was too weak.

The Iron Harriers were actually defeated head-on by a group of brave cavalrymen!

How is this played?
The infantry was even worse. As the time for dispatching troops was too tight, he could not dispatch infantry from far away to fight, and could only use the rubbish captured soldiers recruited nearby.

The capture army, which had not gone out to plunder for more than ten years, had extremely poor equipment and extremely poor morale.

When the news reached Xingqing Prefecture, the whole country was shocked.

The fifteen-year-old Li Renxiao was extremely panicked. Prime Minister Li Renzhong said, "Your Majesty, don't panic. When the King of Jin led the reinforcements to the north, we had already sent envoys to contact the Liao Kingdom (Yelü Dashi). The Liao Kingdom is becoming increasingly powerful in the Western Regions, and they will bring a large army to rescue us."

Li Renxiao asked, "What if Liao doesn't send troops?"

Li Renzhong said, "They will. I have asked the envoy to promise that as long as the Liao Kingdom sends troops to help, I will teach them how to make firearms. Your Majesty can also send another envoy to Luoyang to see if it is possible..."

"What can we do?" Li Renxiao asked.

Li Renzhong said: "Can we cede our territory in exchange for a truce with the Ming Dynasty?"

(End of this chapter)