Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The officers and soldiers organized several attacks in succession, but they all collapsed at the first touch.

They also attacked the mountain half a month ago, at least they could hold out for a few minutes.

Zhao Yu remained silent, of course he knew what was wrong.

The mandarin duck formation and so on are only at the tactical level. The officers and soldiers were defeated so quickly because their morale was too low. A few casualties could lead to a large defeat.

Especially the young soldiers in the Chengdu Plain had high morale when they first joined the army. Many of them even left home with the idea of ​​killing thieves and making meritorious deeds.

However, they were trapped in Zitong for too long, and instead of winning a single battle, they lost two strongholds.

Those rural soldiers who suffered from the cold in winter also had an impact on the younger soldiers, who always felt that the government had gone too far.

There is also Ju Ming's appeal. Many of the soldiers knew its content, and thus developed a complicated psychology: on the one hand, they blamed Ju Ming for his rebellion, which caused them to leave their homes and their families had to pay more taxes due to the war; on the other hand, they sympathized with Ju Ming and believed that Ju Ming was speaking out for them.

In a word, I don't want to fight, and I don't dare to fight anymore.

Zhao Yu set up the "big formation" most commonly used in the Song Dynasty, also called the "Chinese Army Formation".

This formation has basic routines and can be adjusted according to the terrain. What is transformed at this moment is the "Four-door Doubi Formation".

Without him, this formation is the safest, and it is easy to change and is suitable for new recruits.

The commander sat in the center, and the swordsmen and spearmen were arranged in a square formation around them. The shield and harpooneers were mixed in among them, and then the horses and soldiers were used as the base. The crossbowmen were behind them, and a small number of cavalry were also hidden in the formation.

More than 30,000 officers and soldiers formed a large formation that stretched for several miles.

Zhu Ming personally led the main force to come slowly, climbed up to observe from a distance, and saw that the officers and soldiers were putting up such a cautious formation, so he also calmly began to set up the formation.

Put the Juma at the front, followed by four battalions of infantry. The flat artillery was pulled to the front for assembly, and the tiger crouching artillery and musketeers also came forward. There are two rows that follow, with more than 10,000 infantry arranged directly horizontally. These infantry are slightly formed in a "V" shape.

"Female Formation?"

Zhao Yu's central army was on a small hill. He carefully observed Ju Ming's formation, but he really didn't understand it.

In fact, it doesn’t count as any kind of formation, it’s just Qi Jiguang’s triple stack formation, a weird combination with the traditional female formation. Ju Ming not only had few firearms, but also very few bows and crossbows. He was unable to exert the power of the triple formation and could only use close combat soldiers to make up for the lack of firepower.

On Ju Ming's side, it took dozens of minutes to form the formation.

The officers and soldiers did not move, and did not bother to divide their troops to attack the mountain. They allowed Deng Chun to lead the elites from the mountain down to join Ju Ming's main force.

It's not that Zhao Yu didn't want to move, but that he couldn't move. He was afraid to take the initiative and scattered his formation!

Once the army stretching for several miles becomes chaotic, it is estimated that Han Xin will not be able to contain it until he is born again.

Zhao Yu just set up his formation and stopped quietly, waiting for Ju Ming to attack. Moreover, he occupied all the relatively flat terrain, leaving the area where Ju Ming formed his array to be rugged, with even several large ponds sandwiched in between.

After the formation was completed, Ju Ming observed for a long time and did not order the entire army to move forward. Instead, he pushed out the large and small flat cannons.

Zhao Yu was so "calm" that he arranged several layers of horse resistance in front of the formation. Although it was too far away to see clearly, he probably also sprinkled caltrops in some areas.

This guy treats the four-door Doubi Formation as a turtle formation. Don't seek merit, just seek no faults.

Hundreds of flat cannons were pulled out, intending to smash the enemy horses in front of the army's formation first. It would be best if they could kill a few people along the way.

On Zhao Yu's side, he also launched a flat cannon.

Before leaving Beijing, he specially studied the blueprints of the flat cannon, and when he arrived in Zitong, he immediately asked craftsmen to build them.

Ju Ming is fine with this and has no regrets about leaking the technology.

At that time, it was necessary to conquer the barbarians, and Yu Wenchang must be interested in bringing out the cannons to fight. Even if Ju Ming did not dedicate it to the court, Yu Wenchang would definitely submit the drawings.

The real power is not the weapons, but the people who use them!

The number of catapults on both sides was about the same, with the officers and soldiers having slightly more than a dozen, which directly evolved into a catapult shooting battle.

Stones, big and small, flew around.

After a round of test firing, each adjusted the distance. The rebels still fired stone bullets, but the officers and soldiers also fired fire bombs.

To be precise, it’s a poisonous smoke bomb!

Gunpowder is added to this thing, and its proportion cannot explode, but it can burn violently. It is also mixed with various irritating substances. Once projected, billows of pungent smoke will emit.

As an artillery commander, Deng Xia saw that the situation was not good and immediately ordered the civilians to take off their clothes, tear the cloth, wet it and bring it back.

Fortunately, there was a large pond in the rebel formation. After coughing and throwing in the second round of stone bombs, the gunners began to cover their mouths and noses with wet cloths.

His eyes were still exposed and red and bloodshot, but he still persisted.

The accuracy of the flat artillery was extremely poor. The two sides fired at each other for more than 20 minutes, but only a few were destroyed. After occasionally hitting the gunner, the scene was bloody and bloody, making people feel extremely uncomfortable.

The artillery battle gradually decided the winner. The rebels, who had fewer flat artillery pieces and were still plagued by thick smoke, won.

And the officers, soldiers and artillerymen collapsed one after another!

The supervising team raised their swords to kill, and at the same time announced a generous reward. Even if they died in battle, their families would be generously compensated. However, the morale of the officers and gunners was still low. After being forced back to the artillery position by the supervising team, they continued the stone-throwing battle almost in despair.

Their status in the army was very low, they were treated like handymen, they never had enough to eat, and now they were still wearing autumn clothes.

When they are alive, they don’t have enough food or clothing to keep warm. How can you make them believe that they will receive pension after death?

After another round of shelling, only two people were killed, and the remaining gunners collapsed. And it was not a retreat, this time it was a "rout". They were afraid of being killed by the supervising team, so they ran towards the rebels crying and screaming.

Ju Ming saw clearly with the telescope and said with great joy: "It's a good idea to entertain the enemy's defeated troops. Bring a few big pots and get some meat to catch the wind and wash away the dust for them!"

Bullying Zhao Yu and not daring to disturb the military formation, Ju Ming stopped attacking and even stopped the bombardment. He set up a pot between the two armies to cook rice and meat.

Zhao Yu didn't understand at first and quickly guessed what Zhu Ming wanted to do, and shouted: "Send more gunners to destroy those rice pots!"

The so-called gunners are all civilian men.

The operation of the flat cannon is too simple, so the officers and soldiers do not pay attention to the gunners. They treat them harshly in peacetime, but in wartime they just pull some up and fire.

The rice could no longer be cooked and the bombardment resumed.

The rebels had already filled up the stone bullets, and before the officers and gunners were in position, they fired a volley at them.

With the previous success stories, this group of officers, soldiers and artillerymen didn't even bother to touch their own catapults and just ran away towards the rebel positions.

Zhao Yu was stunned and speechless for a long time.

The morale of all the officers and soldiers near the artillery positions dropped sharply. Although they were not bombarded, the friendly forces escaped right under their noses. Anyone who was not stupid knew that they were going to be defeated today.

"The general system cannot be stubborn and must change its formation to attack," Huang Gai reminded. "Otherwise, if the Zhu thieves push up the flat artillery, they should throw rocks at the military formation. Throwing stones can hit the front line of the army." Collapse."

Of course Zhao Yu knew this and said helplessly: "Send the order, the front army will stand still and wait for orders, the left and right armies will change into horizontal formation and move forward, the rear army will move forward to defend the center army, and the whole army will prepare to advance."

As soon as the formation of officers and soldiers moved, local chaos immediately occurred.

Ju Ming seized the opportunity: "Drum roll, the whole army except the Chinese army will attack!"

The drums beat loudly and the flags wave.

More than 10,000 elite rebel troops advanced over rugged terrain.

Ju Ming then ordered: "The auxiliary troops are young and strong, and move around the enemy's left flank!"

As the elite rebels advanced, their formations also became chaotic. But it was only the whole team that was in chaos. Each Yuanyang team still maintained a high level of organization.

They are closer than brothers, eating and sleeping together.

If private accommodation must be requisitioned, a team of twelve people will live in the same room.

The head-cutting reward has been cancelled. Now it only depends on the overall performance and whether the combat objectives are completed. When giving rewards based on merit, merit is usually recorded as a team, and only those who are particularly outstanding are credited with individual merit.

Various systems allow every Yuanyang team to become one with each other, and many even become sworn brothers in private.

When they made a sworn vow, they also agreed that if someone died in battle, the surviving brother would have to help take care of the family.

The drum beat became more rapid, and the soldiers changed from sprinting to trotting. Looking down from a high altitude, the rebel lines were uneven, but there was never any chaos. Because the grassroots organization of the team is still there, and each team leader is looking at the higher-level banner.

Watching the flags advance from layer to layer, it is always chaotic but orderly.

The young and strong auxiliary soldiers responsible for the side bypass were obviously much worse. They had already rushed into a swarm. They were just pretending to be a spectacle to scare the officers and soldiers. To put it bluntly, it doesn't matter if they are completely defeated. Anyway, they are going around the side, and the defeated troops will not impact the fighting soldiers.

The left and right armies of officers and soldiers were still adjusting their formations and moving forward, and some rebels had already rushed in front of them.

Some rebels screamed, but their feet were pierced by caltrops.

More rebels overturned the rebel horses and crashed towards the enemy formation.

"The cavalry will charge with me!"

Zhu Ming stepped onto the cornucopia, threw the Chinese army to the commanders of Bai Sheng, Gu San, and Hua Rong, and personally led the cavalry around the right flank of the officers and soldiers.

There were originally only about twenty horses in Daming Village. He captured and recruited horses along the way. As long as they could ride on them, he wanted any horse, no matter how rubbish. Especially after occupying Wenzhou, more than a hundred Sichuan ponies were bought from the Qiang people there.

Today, Ju Ming has more than 400 miscellaneous cavalry.

The total number of people on both sides is fifty or sixty thousand, and fighting has begun at this moment.

When the troops enter the battle, it all depends on how the commander performs. The battlefield is too wide and the commander cannot command effectively. What the coach can do is to continuously invest in the reserve team according to changes in the war situation. Or where major results have been achieved, use this as a breakthrough to mobilize relevant troops.

The front army of officers and soldiers who had been holding on could still maintain their formation at this time.

The left and right armies that changed their formations and moved forward were killed by the rebels before they even formed their formations. They did not retreat immediately, relying on their fellow villagers to support each other.

Seeing the rebels coming from the left and right wings, Zhao Yu mobilized the rear army and the central army to fight against the auxiliary Qingzhuang and the rebel cavalry respectively.

Interestingly, the officers and soldiers also had a cavalry force of 600 people.

Sichuan trades with each other to buy horses every year, but Sichuan's officers and soldiers are in short supply of horses. Being able to organize 600 cavalry was thanks to Yu Wenchang's management of the Tea and Horse Division.

It's a pity that Yu Wenchang was quickly transferred out of Chengdu the second year after he reorganized the Sichuan Tea Horse Company because he blocked too many people's financial paths!

Ju Ming deliberately slowed down his horse and tried to maintain the cavalry formation.

More than 600 officers and soldiers came to attack. Ju Ming immediately accelerated and charged head-on with more than 400 miscellaneous cavalry.

When the two sides were twenty or thirty steps away, they saw that the rebel cavalry was still accelerating, and the official cavalry was so frightened that they quickly avoided its edge.

Cornucopia ran at full speed. Ju Ming brandished his mace and smashed an enemy rider to death. The dent in his chest was visible to the naked eye.

Several people were killed in a row. The officers, soldiers and cavalry in the rear had already given way, and Ju Ming led four hundred cavalry to kill them. Then he rushed towards the enemy's right-wing infantry without stopping. Those infantry who met head-on instantly collapsed, exposing the central army where Zhao Yu was located.

The Chinese army was on a mound. Zhu Ming jumped on his horse and climbed up the hill, wielding his mace and striking out left and right.

Looking at Zhu Ming, who was wearing the Heavenly King's armor and looking like a god descending to earth, Zhao Yu's soldiers threw away their weapons and fled. Their cavalry was penetrated, and their right-wing infantry was also penetrated. How could they dare to stay and fight to the death?

Huang Gai left a horse for himself and fled immediately when he saw that the situation was not good.

However, Zhao Yu was still drawing his sword and shouting: "Don't panic, we can block it by forming a formation and raising your gun!"

No one listened to him, and each one ran faster than the other.

Zhu Ming rode his horse and rushed in front of Zhao Yun, smashed the Chinese army flag with his mace, then smashed the sword out of Zhao Yun's hand, and reached out to catch the clan leader.

"The enemy commander has been captured by me!"

"The enemy commander has been captured by me!"

In fact, after the banner of the Chinese army collapsed, the officers and soldiers on the left and right began to collapse, and then the front army was also led to flee.

More than 30,000 officers and soldiers subconsciously fled back to Zitong City.

The defenders who stayed in Zitong City opened the west city gate and grabbed boats to cross the river to escape.

They even started fighting each other over the ship!