Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The surprise attack on Huaishuguan from Jinshui Town was less than twenty miles away in a straight line.

But it is winding in the mountains, and you actually have to walk thirty miles to get there.

Han Shizhong was afraid of exposing his whereabouts and did not dare to follow the mountains in the south. He had to go around the hills further north. The whole journey would probably be sixty or seventy miles.

At first, he walked around day and night to avoid being discovered by the mountain people, but gradually he felt that it was unnecessary.

"Brother Han Wu, the hut in front is empty again. Not to mention anyone, there's not even a chicken." The sentry came back to report.

Han Shizhong's heart sank when he heard this: "It's hard to beat."

The cottages in Huaishuguan and Jinshui Town both stand on mountains. To the north of the high mountains, there is a hilly area with villages dotted in the hills.

Along the way Han Shizhong walked, the villages were all empty.

These villagers will definitely not move all the way to the county seat. Most of them will retreat behind Huaishu Pass. The old, weak, women and children can help transport supplies, while the young and strong are temporarily recruited to guard the gates.

There are probably quite a few defenders at Huaishu Pass!

"Eat first." Han Shizhong felt his head hurt.

But I saw my soldiers breaking off many tender corn cobs and lighting a fire to roast them.

Han Shizhong quickly scolded: "Don't light a fire!"

An officer smiled and said: "All the farmers in the nearby villages have fled long ago, and no one noticed even if we burned the mountains."

"No fire allowed!" Han Shizhong repeated the order.

Except for his own soldiers, no one left him alone, and they continued to hit the flint.

Han Shizhong brought 2,500 soldiers, only 500 of whom were his own soldiers, and the rest came from the generals on Fuyan Road. Four people had official positions at the same level as Han Shizhong, and one was even Liu Guangshi's general.

How could Han Shizhong be restrained?

Seeing that something bad was about to happen, Han Shizhong put on a smile and hooked up with Liu Guangshi's subordinates: "Brother Feng, please feel aggrieved these days. When you go to Tokyo after making great achievements, I, Old Han, will treat you to a meal at Fanlou." liquor."

Feng Chong actually put down his fire sickle: "With the little money you have, can you buy a bowl of wine at Fanlou?"

Han Shizhong said with a smile: "Fan Lou couldn't afford it, so he looked for a good place outside the city. No matter in the city or outside the city, it is still Tokyo. Let the girls from Tokyo come and drink with Brother Feng."

"Forget it, for Han Wu's sake." Feng Chong took out the dry food and started to eat it.

With Feng Chong taking the lead, the other officers had no choice but to obey and put away their fire sickles and stopped messing around.

Liu Yanqing's army set off from Fuyan Road in late May and stayed in Yusu County for a while. It is now the end of the eighth lunar month, the tender corn is almost getting old, and the rice in the south has been harvested long ago.

Feng Chong studied the tender corn cobs: "This stuff tastes really good. I ate two of them a few days ago."

Another officer laughed and said: "It tastes delicious when it's young, but it becomes very rough when it's old."

Feng Chong muttered: "Can we grow this in Shaanxi?"

The soldier next to him said: "There are farmers in Yusun County. When we entered the mountains, we saw many corn fields."

"There are people in Tokyo who grow this. The old red thief brought it here." Someone else said.

Han Shizhong had not read Ju Ming's appeal. He was fighting in Hebei at that time. When he returned from the defeat, the imperial court had already issued an order that anyone who dared to hide or spread the message would be executed.

But Han Shizhong also heard about the reputation of the Zhu family and his son.

He knew that Zhu Guoxiang brought corn and sweet potato seeds back from overseas, and he also knew that it was Ju Ming who invented the flat cannon.

The soldiers chatted about everything from corn to cannons.

"Since the red thieves can make flat cannons, they can also make bigger cannon carriages. To be able to project iron balls several miles away, how big the cannon carriages must be."

"I'm afraid there are several floors high."

"Isn't there one at Huaishu Pass?"

"We are attacking by surprise, so don't be afraid. No matter how big the artillery truck is, it will be useless."

"What do the two thieves, Lao Zhu and Xiao Zhu, look like? Instead of being good officials, they actually rebelled. If we could be officials, we would laugh out loud in our dreams."

"I heard that the little red thief is eight feet long, good at both civil and military skills, and can shoot a five-stone bow."

"Do you believe it when you shoot a five-stone bow?"

"Otherwise, why would we capture Sichuan in half a year?"

"..."

The more Han Shizhong listened, the more unhappy he became and shouted: "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and get on your way after eating!"

The discipline of these guys is extremely poor, only Han Shizhong's is better.

But good things can only go so far. If they stay together for a long time, even the best military discipline will be distorted.

We continued our latent march, took a good nap midway, and found a bamboo forest to cut bamboos to make flying ladders.

Han Shizhong sent several spies to inquire about the situation at Huaishu Pass. They came back after seeing Huaishu Pass from a distance - mainly to determine the specific location.

Waiting until dark, they carried the flying ladder and hurried on, successfully avoiding the nearby rebel observation tower.

The Locust Tree Pass is not on the mountain, but at the foot of the mountain.

It is bordered by a river in the west, mountains in the south, and mountains in the east. Only the north is easy to attack.

Han Shizhong detached 500 men, went to the east to climb the mountain and circle to the side, and led 2000 men to approach Guancheng in the dark.

Everyone held bamboo branches in their mouths to avoid making sounds.

After waiting for another half an hour, feeling that the flanking friendly troops had climbed up the mountain, Han Shizhong ordered the main force to start attacking.

"Um!"

"ah!"

They took dozens of steps in the dark and suddenly made a continuous sound.

Some people groaned and some screamed.

The guard at Huaishu Pass was so disgusting. A lot of pits were dug outside the gate, and there were many spikes buried in the pits.

His whereabouts had been exposed, Han Shizhong could only shout: "If you encounter a pit, take the flying ladder and climb over!"

"Dang-dang-dang!"

The bells in the city were ringing loudly, and soon there were more and more torches at the top of the city, followed by continuous shouts.

Han Shizhong shouted: "The enemy troops are in chaos, take advantage of the chaos and attack the city!"

Han Shizhong and three of his men rushed forward carrying a flying ladder.

Suddenly, his feet were in the air, and he subconsciously held on to the ladder. Half of his body fell into the pit, but he didn't fall in because he was holding on to the ladder for strength.

Climbing out with a cold vest, Han Shizhong heard the screams one after another and shouted angrily: "Blow the trumpet, retreat!"

There is no way to fight this battle. There are only scattered pits on the outermost edge, and there are connected trenches directly inside. The bottom of the trench is full of spikes.

Han Shizhong even suspected that after crossing this trench, there would probably be another trench inside.

A surprise attack was no longer possible. They had to wait for dawn to attack, or go back in despair.

…

The guard here is called Shen Wei. He is not brought by Yang Zhi and does not belong to Daming Village. He is a refugee who escaped from Shaanxi.

Wei Shen was unknown, and his father and brother were drafted into rural soldiers and died on the battlefield in the conquest of Xixia.

A few years ago, during the great disaster in Shaanxi, he was also drafted to serve as a soldier. He ran away because he could not bear the bullying from his superiors. After returning to his hometown, he found that his old mother was dead and his younger sister had married into a neighboring village. Both villages fell into famine.

Wei Shen simply took his wife, children, younger brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and his whole family, as well as several deserter families from his hometown, more than 60 people into the mountains to become bandits.

But there were too many bandits in the mountains and not enough fat sheep passed by to slaughter.

He heard that there was a smuggler named Zhang Guangdao who often brought refugees back to Yangzhou for resettlement, so he also planned to go there to make a living.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Guangdao started training troops and did not come to smuggle for more than half a year.

Lieutenant Shen didn't wait anymore and took his people to seek refuge. After many inquiries, he finally arrived at Jintan Village. Along the way, he gathered some more bandits. When he arrived at Jintan Village, there were nearly 300 people.

After hearing the news, Zhu Guoxiang personally received them and arranged for them to farm in Jintan Village. While farming, they practiced with Li Jinyi.

During the attack on Xingyuan Mansion, Shen Wei also participated, but he was only the leader.

Due to the expansion of the army, Lieutenant Shen was quickly promoted and became a general commanding 3,000 men. In addition to the old troops from Shaanxi, he also recruited many Yangzhou mountain people to join him.

It was very boring to be stationed at Huaishu Pass, especially when farmers from the hilly areas to the north fled, and a large number of non-combatants gathered together with nothing to do.

Anyway, he was idle, so Shen Wei asked the farmers to dig trenches and pits.

It had been digging for more than two months, and there were many potholes outside Huaishu Pass. Han Shizhong was unlucky enough to run into them.

After daybreak, Wei Shen stood on the city wall and used a telescope to observe the enemy on the opposite side.

Han Shizhong was also observing Huaishu Pass. He rescued some of the wounded from last night and tore their clothes everywhere to find herbs and simply bandaged them.

Feng Chong was dejected: "Han Wu, withdraw your troops, the surprise attack failed."

Han Shizhong looked around and found that the morale of the entire army was low.

A force of 2,500 people suffered hundreds of casualties last night due to inexplicable confusion. Moreover, they were far away from the main force and faced a dangerous situation. No matter how elite they were, their morale was demoralized.

"Withdraw." Han Shizhong was helpless.

"Guancheng is open!"

At this moment, a soldier shouted.

Yang Zhi was timid when facing the Western Army, but Shen Wei was a fool.

His father and brother were local soldiers in the Western Army. He himself had been in the Western Army and knew what the Western Army was like.

Moreover, I have never seen the enemy here. I finally encountered it. How can I let the enemy troops escape? How can he perform meritorious service without fighting?

Han Shizhong was overjoyed when he saw the bandits taking the initiative to leave the border.

Two generals who were eager to make meritorious deeds fought hard outside Huaishu Pass.

Han Shizhong said to the generals: "The thief general is a fool. He will not defend the dangerous pass and must come out to fight. My sons, today is the day to kill the thief and make a contribution!"

Wei Shen's army has no rattan armor or iron armor, only leather and paper armor.

Even the squad leader's bows and arrows were all made of earthenware, with an effective range of only a dozen meters.

artillery? Stop talking nonsense!

The equipment was very poor, and Yang Zhi warned them many times to prevent them from holding on.

Han Shizhong was afraid of scaring the rebels back to Guancheng, so he retreated to the hilly areas to form an array.

Lieutenant Shen led his troops through the passage between trenches and pits. After forming an array, they slowly marched towards the Western Army.

The forces of both sides were equal, and they could not form any complex formations. They were all arranged in small square formations, and their respective generals led their troops to suppress the formation.

The rebel advance was slow because of the rugged terrain.

The squad leader's bamboo whistle sounded one after another, restraining the formation at any time.

Lieutenant Shen sent a thousand men forward to engage in the battle, and reiterated the military order: "If the squad retreats, kill the squad leader. If the squad leader dies in battle, kill the entire squad. If the entire squad refuses to retreat, they will be exempted from punishment!"

Han Shizhong, on the other hand, asked the archers to come forward and shoot from a distance first, and then let the melee soldiers attack when the enemy came.

This is a habitual operation of the Western Army. Even in daily training, archers practice the most diligently, and the training of close combat soldiers is negligible.

Including cavalry, they also specialize in riding and shooting, and don't train much in formations and charges.

No matter how bad Ju Ming's Tengxiang Army is, if they encounter the Western Army's cavalry, the Tengxiang Army will fight hard to kill them, while the Western Army's cavalry will probably not dare to fight. Path dependence has been formed. The Western cavalry only wants to shoot arrows from a distance. They will not charge until the enemy is defeated. They will not charge until the enemy's formation is disordered. It is even more dreamy for their cavalry to hedge.

Cherish your life!

Unclear rewards and punishments, and deprivation of food and wages will cause this kind of consequences.

Many civil and military officials complained about this shortcoming, but they could not change it at all.

"Raise your shield!"

Facing the archers of the Western Army, the rebel rattan players and long card players raised their shields one after another.

The formation of the team also shrank as much as possible, hiding behind the shield soldiers while the wolf soldiers raised the wolf soldiers and prepared to swing wildly.