Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Han Shizhong was observing the Yuanyang formation of the rebel army. He had seen it from a distance when he was guarding the camp that day.

But they couldn't see clearly, and there was no actual fighting.

The armor of these rebels was very cheap, mostly paper armor.

The paper mill in Jintan Village has stopped producing writing paper for a long time, and has switched to armor paper for more than a year.

After the Zhu family and his son revolted, they occupied paper mills in various states and counties and ordered them to supply enough paper. Whether it's by force or plunder, you still have to pay on credit to buy paper at a low price.

The army is expanding too fast. Not to mention iron armor and rattan armor, even leather armor is in short supply. Paper armor is the easiest to make.

When the archers of the officers and soldiers saw the shields in front of the rebels, they all chose to throw them and rearrange their troops.

Most of the archers in the Western Army belong to the rank of rural soldiers.

It became even worse after Wang Anshi's reform. Baojia rural soldiers were organized and trained in both urban and rural areas. Later, a bow and arrow society was organized, allowing citizens to hold bows and arrows, and the government would also give money to members to buy bows.

There are bow and arrow clubs all over Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shaanxi. They train at home in peacetime and wait for recruitment by the army in wartime.

There is even a special official position, that is, "promoting a certain group of archers", and Zhong Shidao once held this position.

A few years ago, due to financial difficulties, Song Huizong ordered the dissolution of the National Archery Society. The government no longer provided money for members to buy bows, resulting in fewer and fewer qualified archers in the Western Army.

At this time, the arrows rained down, most of them were blocked by shields and wolf mills, and a small number of them hit the rebels' paper armor.

Paper armor sounds very stretched, but it is the nemesis of bows and arrows. High-quality paper armor "cannot make holes with strong arrows."

Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty specially formulated laws at that time, and those who made five pairs of paper armor privately were sentenced to death by hanging.

It has a hard cloth base and paper tendons for blocking. It is one of the standard armors of the Song Army. Sometimes tens of thousands of sets are customized in one go.

The helmets of the rebels were woven from bamboo strips, with paper tendons stuffed inside. They could basically effectively defend against arrows being thrown down.

The advancing rebels withstood a round of bows and arrows. Many were slightly injured, but none were seriously injured. They all knew how to protect their fatal parts.

Just hearing a trumpet sound, another five hundred rebels were ordered by Shen Wei to move around the flanks.

Han Shizhong made adjustments accordingly and sent a force to engage in the battle.

The melee soldiers also stepped forward to protect the archers from behind. Because direct shooting is difficult to achieve, there is no need for the archers to line up in front of the formation. They can stand anywhere when shooting.

"What kind of ghost formation is this?"

The arrangement of the mandarin duck formation made Han Shizhong feel that something was wrong.

Strange weapons, strange formations, and a sense of weirdness everywhere.

Qi Jiguang's mandarin duck array weapon changed several times according to the enemy, and finally became nearly four meters long.

When Ju Ming expanded his army, he also set standards: the wolf mill was one foot and four feet (4.4 meters), the spear was one foot and one foot (3.5 meters), and the boring palladium was one foot and two feet (3.8 meters).

After three rounds of bows and arrows, the front rows of both sides were so close that each other's faces could be seen.

The Western archers fired one last time, then took out their swords and prepared for close combat. They are also armored. If they are replaced by regular soldiers of the Western Army, they even have specialized archers in human armor.

The Northern Song Dynasty army had a very high proportion of archers, reaching 60% at the most outrageous times.

Naturally, it would be impossible to bring so many troops to seize Guancheng in a surprise attack.

Moreover, after Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty abolished the bow and arrow club, the output of the bow and arrow workshop also dropped, and it was difficult to recruit enough weapons to recruit so many people.

Of the more than 2,000 people in Han Shizhong's hands, 70% were close combat soldiers. Their main weapons were spears and hand knives, and some soldiers were also equipped with javelins.

I didn't bring the bed crossbow or the divine arm bow. Those things are too heavy.

Of course they didn't wear heavy armor, but they looked much more formal than the rebels.

It is precisely because the equipment of the rebels is so poor that these Western troops can maintain high morale.

"Change!"

"Hush!"

Without the threat of archers, the Yuanyang formation began to become loose. The cane players and the long player, under the command of the squad leader, led the soldiers to change formations, and the width of the battle suddenly increased.

"Throw the gun!"

After the formation change, the shield bearers began to throw javelins, and the squad leaders began to shoot arrows freely.

The Western Army was also throwing javelins sporadically.

Both sides suffered casualties, but there were many wounded and few dead.

Finally, the front rows of the two sides collided and instantly fell into a stalemate.

The four-meter-long wolf millet poked and prodded, making the Western soldiers irritated. This thing is not very lethal, but it interferes with the line of sight and blocks the space.

Some brave people rushed through the wolf formation despite being injured, but they were immediately attacked by spearmen.

The few fish that slip through the net rush forward and will be skewered back by the boring palladium.

After more than ten minutes of fighting, the Western Army continued to suffer casualties, and the thought of "cherishing life" came to mind again.

Han Shizhong had no choice but to let the archers hold their swords and go around to both sides to try to attack from a flank.

Upon seeing this, Wei Shen also threw in his reserve team to resist the approaching archers.

The archers of the Western Army circled around for a while, and soon stopped shooting, unwilling to engage in close combat with the rebel reserves.

Han Shizhong personally led his five hundred soldiers, regardless of formation, and attacked the rebel flank as quickly as possible.

However, Lieutenant Shen led his troops in formation and trotted forward to rescue, while blowing the trumpet to alert the relevant troops.

Han Shizhong led his troops to quickly go around the flanks, and with another Western army, they attacked the hundreds of rebels on the far left from both sides.

The boring palladium men in the rebel army, as well as the spearmen in the back row, all turned to the left.

Han Shizhong avoided one boring palladium, but was pushed away by another boring palladium. The sharp cone of the boring palladium directly pierced the armor.

In pain, Han Shizhong grabbed the boring and palladium rod and dragged it back, dragging the boring and palladium hand so that he stumbled forward.

Another spear came and pierced Han Shizhong's abdomen, but was blocked by the armor and did not penetrate deep into the flesh.

Han Shizhong was horrified. He was attacking the thieves from both sides, and he was actually attacked by a combination of several weapons.

What the hell kind of formation is this?

Han Shizhong was so angry that he dropped the spear in his hand, continued to hold the boring palladium with his left hand, and grabbed the spear stabbing his abdomen with his right hand. The pikemen quickly retracted their spears and thrust out again. Han Shizhong dragged his hand back and pulled the hand out of the formation.

Han Shizhong's men took the opportunity to rush into the gap. The rebel soldiers of this small group raised their swords to take over their positions regardless of life and death, and were stabbed by a Western soldier with a shot.

The Boring Palladium hand was so frightened that he quickly abandoned his weapon and drew his sword to slash at the enemy.

Han Shizhong seized the boring palladium and rushed forward with all his strength. The injured rebel spearmen retreated continuously.

The rebel team leader came to take over his position again, raised his gun and stabbed Han Shizhong.

The boring palladium was too long, and Han Shizhong had trouble using it. Moreover, he had already rushed in, so the weapon was too long and cumbersome. He discarded the boring palladium and drew his sword, split the squad leader's spear, and pushed the sword forward along the gun shaft.

It was too late for the squad leader to put away his gun, so he abandoned it and drew his sword to block.

Han Shizhong suddenly dwarfed and knocked out, knocking the squad leader over and stabbing him hard.

The knife was aimed at the neck, where there was no protection from the paper armor.

The captain quickly turned over to avoid it, and at the same time shouted: "If the captain dies in battle, the whole team will be killed!"

"kill!"

The entire team seemed to be furious. The injured soldier ignored him and pounced on Han Shizhong, but was kicked away by Han Shizhong.

A soldier from the Western Army thrust his gun at the soldier who was standing unsteadily, and stabbed the soldier in the throat with a single shot.

Han Shizhong still wanted to kill the fallen team leader, but another spearman attacked again.

Han Shizhong waved his sword to block, but the spearman had already been shot, and he was shot twice at the same time, both of which were caused by Western soldiers.

The two spears were stabbed in the paper armor and injured him but he did not die.

Han Shizhong raised his sword forward and slashed at the spearman's face.

Another Western Army soldier also killed a boring machine.

Three people in this Yuanyang Formation team were dead, many more were injured, and they were attacked from two sides. They were finally on the verge of collapse.

A sense of fear set in, overpowering the excitement of adrenaline.

As long as Han Shizhong hacks the squad leader to death, the entire squad will inevitably collapse, and no matter how strict military discipline is, it can't suppress him.

At this moment, Shen Wei's headquarters finally arrived in formation and instantly surrounded Han Shizhong.

"Brother Han Wu, leave quickly!" the officer under his command reminded.

Han Shizhong swung the knife again. The squad leader rolled to avoid it, and his face was slashed until his teeth were exposed. Han Shizhong roared angrily: "Don't worry about this guy anymore. Kill the traitors who are still standing. These traitors will collapse!"

In fact, it has collapsed. After all, it was a two-sided attack.

While Han Shizhong was speaking, one of the wolf soldiers died, and the rattan player also died. The Yuanyang team was attacked from the front by the Western Army.

The remaining soldiers turned and fled, smashing the friendly troops next to them into pieces.

As long as Han Shizhong continues to pursue and kill, he can defeat the rebel formation horizontally.

However, Shen Wei's headquarters suddenly came and attacked Han Shizhong's headquarters from the side.

At the same time, another battalion of rebels rushed towards the Western archers. The archers fired two rounds, but they were not willing to engage in battle with the rebels. They were so frightened that they turned and ran away.

This rebel army stopped chasing the archers and slammed into the right flank of the Western army.

The right wing of the Western Army was already fighting hard, but it was instantly shaken when faced with changes.

Liu Guangshi's general Feng Chong understood the importance of his superior's life and fled without any psychological burden.

The entire right wing collapsed instantly, like dominoes falling, and one group after another of Western troops fled.

Han Shizhong's headquarters, which was attacked from behind, was still fighting when he suddenly heard the shouts of friendly troops running for their lives. The veteran immediately realized what was going on and ran away regardless of the military order. On the contrary, the recruit foolishly continued to fight.

Han Shizhong was furious, but he was also a veteran...

The soldiers of the Western Army who did not know how to escape would not live long. This was not the first time that Han Shizhong escaped.

In other words, Han Shizhong's ability to escape was also among the best among the Western Army. At this moment, he could escape very quickly with oil on his feet.

When fighting in small groups, Han Shizhong often defeated more with less.

Once he cooperated with friendly forces, Han Shizhong suffered countless defeats in his life. Inexplicably, friendly troops always retreated, and then his own troops followed suit.

This battle is just a reappearance of a classic.

"Blow the trumpet and the whole army will pursue you!"

Wei Shen's blood surged and he led his troops to rush out with great excitement.

Of course he didn't realize who he had defeated, he was purely happy because of his meritorious service.

Not many Western troops died in the battle, and there are still more than 2,000 people killed today. These guys fled in all directions, some running northward along the old Tangluo Road, and some fleeing eastward along the way they came.

Han Shizhong's mind was still clear, and he knew that if he escaped to the north, he would starve to death if he was not caught, but if he escaped to the east, friendly forces would block his way. He had quickly formulated an escape plan. He would first go north and then east. He would escape and then collect the defeated troops. He would have to drag hundreds of people back to report.