People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 232 If you run slowly, you will die!
  On the battlefield of Song and Liao, the Liao army demonstrated the toughness of its contemporaries.

Yelu Zongzhen ordered that as long as this battle was won, troops would be plundered throughout Hebei, and all the coins obtained would be used to reward the three armies.

This order undoubtedly greatly boosted morale, so much so that even if thunderballs, crossbows, grenades and other things were flying all over their heads, they had to continue to advance against the powerful firepower of the Song army.

On the contrary, the Song army was a little frightened by the Liao army's fearlessness and death. Some Hebei troops with poor fighting qualities actually showed signs of collapse when they were about to engage in a head-on battle with the Liao army.

Obviously, the founding elite of the Song Dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Gaoliang River by Zhao Guangyi, and then the overwhelming power of the Liao Army in the Battle of Chanzhou frightened the Song Dynasty monarchs and ministers. This made the Song Dynasty's army naturally fear the Liao Army from top to bottom. Emotions.

But this kind of fear could not last long. The Liao army launched a charge. Almost a dozen seconds later, the front armies of both sides collided like roaring tanks, and huge sparks broke out. .

If you look down from a high altitude, you will see that the dense sea of ​​people on both sides merged together in an instant. The Song army continued to throw grenades towards the Liao side, and the explosion dust and smoke continued to come from the Liao side. It appeared in the middle of the national army formation and exploded, causing the Liao soldiers to fall off their backs.

But again, it is actually difficult to kill people with grenade fragments. At most, the impact of the explosion will just stun people. But on the battlefield, this was deadly enough. Many people were not even killed by the explosion, but were trampled to death by their own people behind them.

All kinds of roars, screams, wailings, the sounds of weapons clashing, and the banging explosions kept ringing out. From the east city of Baosai to the west city, the continuous battle line stretched into a long river. , the fighting has no end.

Soldiers on both sides slashed with knives or stabbed them with guns. Grenades and crossbows were fired from behind. Not to be outdone, the Liao people also fired back with crossbows. The sky above their heads was obscured by the dense arrows.

A Song Dynasty general showed his bravery, rode a heavily armored war horse, brandished a pumpkin hammer, and hit a Liao soldier on the head. But as soon as he finished smashing, his legs were grabbed by the Liao soldiers on the other side. Seven or eight people dragged him off his horse like zombies and drowned him in the waves of the sea of ​​people.

Another general of the Liao Kingdom was even worse than him. Before he even got close to the battlefield, a grenade was thrown from nowhere. It happened to land on his crotch at the feet of his horse. There was a loud bang and he was hit by a huge impact. He was swept away.

The whole person leaned back and fell off his horse. The heavy armor hit a soldier to death. Then the people behind him didn't even have time to pull him up before he was trampled under the feet of the crowd and trampled to death.

And things like this happen every moment on the battlefield.

Yang Wenguang stood on the mountain and looked into the distance. At this time, the battle line had just begun, and the Liao army was charging forward with huge casualties.

He had just asked the Prime Minister to fight on the front line, but was rejected, which made him very unhappy.

no way.

Who told him that he was the guard sent by Zhao Zhen to test the artillery.

His gunners were crucial.

Therefore, Yang Wenguang had to stand on the hillside to protect the safety of the artillery.

This hill is not high, only about four to five feet high. It is about a mile away from the battlefield and can overlook the entire battlefield.

"Pillar, aim over there, don't hurt your own people."

"Lower the muzzle a little further. This time it's not a super long-distance upward shot, but a horizontal shot. If you want to blast me several miles away with one shot, can you hear me?"

"Daniu, just like Zhu Zhu, go in that direction and try to defeat them all the way first!"

Yang Wenguang directed impatiently.

He was very talented in military affairs in history, which even surprised Fan Zhongyan.

But as a family of generals, it is imperative to restore the glory of the Yang family.

Just commanding two cannons from behind obviously made his superiors unable to appreciate his bravery, nor did he let the people of Liao know how powerful he was.

Even if these two cannons could play a decisive role on the battlefield, Yang Wenguang still felt that after firing the shells, he must charge forward and fight fiercely.

After the two cannons are ready, they are adjusting the firing direction. In fact, there is no need to aim too much on such a large battlefield, but the position of the muzzle needs to be adjusted.

As mentioned before, if you are hitting an ultra-long-distance target several miles away on a tower, you need to raise the muzzle and shoot upward into the air.

The cannonballers found that the distance they could hit was very far. However, after the cannonball was fired, after passing through the parabola and air resistance, the potential energy would be reduced a lot, and it would easily fall directly into the ground with a "bang".

If it's a flat shot, it's awesome. Even if it can't hit that far, the energy of the cannonball will not decrease after it hits the ground. It will ricochet high and continue to shoot forward.

Human flesh and blood cannot withstand the pace of its ejection. Facing the enemy in front, it is enough to shatter hundreds of wooden boards with one shot.

The gunners Zhuzi and Daniu were a little excited at this time. Last time, super long-distance upward shooting was just an appetizer, and now it's finally time to shoot flat. Before, they only tried hitting wooden boards, but now they are trying the water with the armored soldiers that the Liao Army is proud of. .

After a while, the muzzle position was almost adjusted. They were aiming at the central Liao army about [-] miles away, so that even if the shells deviated from the expected, they would not damage the nearby friendly forces.

"Commander, the muzzle is adjusted."

"I've also adjusted."

Zhuzi and Daniel reported one after another.

Yang Wenguang shouted: "Then why are you still standing there? Boom!"

"Load the shells!"

The two soldiers immediately lifted up the bowl-sized iron bullets and stuffed them into the cannon bore.

This gun bore has hand-polished rifling. Historically, neither gun rifling nor cannon rifling was invented at the beginning. People figured it out later.

But with Zhao Jun here, this is naturally not a big problem. Even the research and development of muskets directly skips the inefficient matchlock gun and studies the production of flintlock muskets based on the shooting principle of the musket.

As the cannonball was successfully inserted into the muzzle, he used a pick to push it in to the bottom. After making sure it was tight, Yang Wenguang looked at the soldiers holding torches next to him.

"ignition!"

he shouted.

"Zizzizizi!"

The soldiers immediately lit the fuse.

"boom!"

The moment the fuse was inserted, the cannon made a loud noise, and the barrel seemed to move back.

The soldiers standing next to them could feel the ground shaking under their feet, and the huge sound was like a shock wave. Even if there is something plugged in the ears, it is deafening and the brain is buzzing.

These things sometimes make the soldiers who launch them feel that if they injure the enemy one thousand, they will lose twenty, and if they serve for a few more years, their ears will be deafened.

But the effect is truly amazing.

The artillerymen standing on the slope saw two huge iron balls flying out of the two flame-spraying gun barrels in an instant, flying into the enemy's formation at extremely fast speeds.

Wherever the iron ball passed, people were seen turning on their backs, passing through countless enemy bodies along the way. Broken limbs and fragments were flying all over the sky. When it stopped, the artillerymen on the hillside saw only an extremely spectacular sight.

Where the shell passed, two lines of blood were blasted out. The line became a vacuum zone, with no one standing anymore, only fallen corpses, and pieces of broken flesh and armor. In fact, standing on a high slope in the distance cannot intuitively feel the power of the cannon. Only people standing near the gun line can understand what happened just now.

At this time, all the Liao soldiers were stunned wherever the artillery line passed. Many of them were even stunned on the spot. They had no idea what had just happened. They only felt the strong wind roaring around them, and then a stream of heat filled their faces. It was also accompanied by the feeling of something falling on me.

When they came back to their senses and looked to the side, they could only see that the ground was full of minced meat, with stumps and pieces of clothing everywhere. There were at least thirty incomplete corpses on the ground. The blood gathered into a river.

Their bodies were also stained red by the blood of their comrades, and some of them still had their teammates' bodies hanging on their heads. A row of people was missing from the entire artillery line, leaving a long line around them.

"what!"

"Run!"

"Witchcraft, this is sorcery!"

This Liao army is from Bohai. They wear warm animal skins and have fierce faces.

But when seeing this scene, no matter how fierce the person is, he can only collapse.

Because they have the courage to fight bloody battles with the enemy, but if they don't know where the enemy is, it will only bring panic to them.

Many people opened their mouths wide and stared blankly at the remains of their teammates. After coming back to their senses, they felt that their souls were out of their minds, their eyes were full of fear, and they instinctively crowded towards the surroundings.

Their squeezing immediately caused the gap near the long line to get wider and wider. Then a large number of people who did not know why also crowded to both sides. The formation suddenly scattered and became a mess. Even the leader's pressure had no effect at all.

And less than four minutes later, two more shells were fired, completely destroying the psychological defense of these soldiers. Many people simply dropped their weapons, turned around and ran away, leaving chaos on the battlefield.

The Bohai Soldiers regiment northwest of Baosai City was directly hit by four artillery shells and turned into a mess. Panic even spread to the rest of the nearby regiments.

The morale of the Song army in front was not greatly boosted. After all, they were too far away and they still needed to deal with nearby enemies.

However, at this point in the war, it was basically a waste of energy. After less than ten minutes, the infantry regiment in front was blown to pieces by grenades, but the Bohai Navy regiment in the rear was slow to catch up, which also made this area The balance of war quickly tilted towards the Song army.

At the same time, on the hillside several miles away from the battlefield to the north, Yelv Zongzhen also quickly noticed the commotion there. Although the distance was extremely far, he could only see that there seemed to be a problem there, but the specific problem was not clear. clear.

The main reason is that the cannon is at the rear of the Song army, and its location must be at least seven or eight miles away from Yelv Zongzhen's side. From such a long distance, it's almost impossible to see what's going on over there except with a telescope.

Moreover, the explosions of grenades and thunderbolt fireballs also covered up the explosions of cannons. Unless Yelu Zong really went to the front line of the battlefield in person, it would be impossible to see clearly.

Now he could only vaguely see the distant battlefield, in the direction of the Bohai Legion, with a large number of people moving up and down like a wave. This was extremely rare in the disciplined rear regiment.

So he could only react normally immediately and said anxiously: "What's going on over there? Did the enemy's grenades and thunderbolt fireballs blow up their formation? Quick, go over there now and let their tribal leader stabilize the formation. , there must be no chaos.”

"Yes."

Tang rode forward to deliver the order.

However, how difficult is it to convey instructions to a battlefield with hundreds of thousands of people?
  At least when Tang Qi galloped away, the two artillery pieces of the Song Army were already aiming at the next target, and they fired a few more shells.

Now not only the Bohai Army could not withstand it, but also the brave and capable Jurchen Army. They screamed and fled around like ants on a hot pot, trying to avoid the baptism of artillery fire.

But in fact, those who survived did not need to be so panicked, because there were only two cannons, and their targets were only the regiments arranged in formation. Often, once such a regiment of three to five thousand people was defeated, they would immediately change to another target.

So as long as there is chaos, the remaining people can ensure safety.

But the enemy doesn't know.

Soon the riots continued to expand, but because the scale of the war was too large, such riots could not immediately become the trigger for the enemy's defeat.

Fan Zhongyan was keenly aware of the commotion in the enemy's central army due to artillery, and it continued to expand.

Especially in the northwest corner, several regiments had not made up for the front line, causing the Song Army to use grenades to blast a gap.

A large number of Song soldiers poured into the enemy's front army formation and killed them everywhere. The Liao army's front army in the northwest corner was already on the verge of defeat.

Lao Fan made a decisive decision: "Give me the order, and the cavalry from the west will press in immediately and break through their front army."

"Yes!"

Tang Qi then conveyed the order.

At this time, the situation on the battlefield became increasingly serious for the Liao army.

Less than half an hour later, the northwest corner of the Liao army completely collapsed.

Especially with the arrival of the Song Army's cavalry, the defeat was already obvious.

Even Yelu Zongzhen noticed this and immediately sent the Liao cavalry to the rear to try to stabilize the position.

But after two huge explosions, the Liao cavalry also fell on their backs and became a mess. While they were still on the road, they were frightened back by the artillery.

Time passed by, and the war raged from noon to afternoon. When it was almost dark, the Liao people could no longer hold on and were defeated in large numbers.

On the front line of the battle between the two sides, there were densely packed corpses of enemy and enemy soldiers. The Liao people abandoned their helmets and armor like a tide and fled in panic. The Song soldiers in the rear were waving their weapons and excitedly chasing them.

"Hahahahaha."

Fan Zhongyan seemed to let out a fierce breath, and his mind had too many thoughts. After laughing wildly, he said loudly: "Send the order, the whole army attacks, chase, chase me for a hundred miles!"

"Yes!"

Tangqi next to him also shouted excitedly.

"Woooooooooooooo!"

"Dong dong dong dong!"

"Kill!"

The sound of desolate horns and war drums continued to sound.

Countless soldiers of the Song Dynasty bravely pursued them. They were everywhere in the mountains and plains.

Just as the reinforcements from Cangzhou, Qingzhou, and Hejian Prefecture arrived, they suddenly gave the Liao people in the east a severe blow from the flank.

On the battlefield more than ten miles below, there were not many Liao people who dared to fight back. There were only Liao soldiers who abandoned their weapons and fled in panic.

A large number of Liao cavalry abandoned their infantry teams and fled northward, with smoke billowing behind them. Countless infantry were caught up by the Song Army's cavalry behind them, and then drowned in the Song Army's crowd. Now they had only one result - if they ran slowly, they would die!

(End of this chapter)