Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the south of Dangyang County, on the bank of Zhanghe River.

Chen Ziyi had more than a thousand cavalry under his command, and he selected 80 strong cavalrymen to receive the first batch of heavy cavalry equipment.

Lieutenant General Geng Zhongnian asked curiously: "What does the Generalissimo look like? Is he a tough guy with a height of nine feet and a strong back and waist?"

"You've watched too many dramas." Chen Ziyi said amusedly.

Geng Zhongnian said: "My brother is an old friend of the Generalissimo, and now he is equipped with men and horses. Shouldn't we be the Generalissimo's personal bodyguards from now on?"

Chen Ziyi didn't answer, feeling quite emotional.

When Ju Ming first arrived in Xiangyang, he went to report for duty.

Although Zhu Ming remains enthusiastic after seeing each other for many years, Chen Ziyi always feels a little unfamiliar.

This was his own problem. His friend suddenly became his boss, and his status was still unattainable. However, he originally planned to make a career in the battlefield, but failed in many battles and failed to show his personality.

Just like friends who are doing business together, one person rushes to a big city to make a living. When he returns to his hometown after working hard for many years, he is still a small businessman. However, his old friend was already the richest man in the local area. For the sake of his future, he had no choice but to choose to join him and become a small department leader under his old friend.

Apart from feeling sad, I felt extremely awkward and had to slowly adjust my mentality.

Ju Ming lives in a small town. A lot of equipment has been placed at the entrance of the town, and more than a hundred Sichuan horses are standing quietly.

Chen Ziyi came forward with his cavalry: "Meet the Generalissimo."

Ju Ming greeted him warmly: "No need to be polite, just change your clothes and give it a try!"

Geng Zhongnian was a little disappointed. Although the Grand Marshal was quite tall, he was not as majestic as he had imagined.

When I think about the fact that the generalissimo is a civil servant, I feel relieved.

Facing the armored armor, Chen Ziyi stopped worrying about anything and immediately took Geng Zhongnian to collect the equipment.

Eighty pieces of cavalry armor were modified from infantry armor, and they cannot be used without modification.

The upper body of infantry armor has five rows of armor plates, while the cavalry armor has only four rows. This is because fighting on horseback requires bending down. If there are too many rows of armor plates, they will hit the armpits and hips, thus affecting the movement of the arms and waist.

In addition, the skirt of the cavalry armor is shorter, after all, they have to sit on horseback.

The eighty pairs of vests were recently made and made of leather and iron.

They helped each other put on their armors and vests, instantly becoming majestic and exuding a chilling air.

Especially when he pulls down his neck and visor to protect his neck and face, only the two dark holes for his eyes are exposed. The terrifying look can scare children to tears.

Ju Ming said: "After receiving the uniformed cavalry, each person will be given two Sichuan horses, which will be used to carry people and carry armor during the march. Give it a try!"

"As you command!"

Chen Ziyi became excited, reined in his horse and turned around to form the formation.

"Woooooo~~~"

The horn sounded and they moved forward slowly.

Gradually speed up, running faster and faster. Only eighty heavy cavalry seemed to have the momentum of thousands of troops. What if there were thousands of these?

The riders were all excited. When they came back after charging, they all stood there whispering to each other and bragging about how awesome they were, regardless of the fact that the general was still there.

Ju Ming was very happy and asked with a smile: "How do you feel?"

Chen Ziyi suddenly became free and easy, regained his former demeanor, patted his body armor and said: "If you have a thousand armors and fight bravely, you will be invincible in the world!"

"Yes, even if you attack the Liao people, you won't be afraid!" Geng Zhongnian also said.

However, Zhu Ming thought of the Iron Pagoda of the Jin Kingdom. They were not afraid of attacking the Liao people, but what about facing the heavy cavalry of the Jin Kingdom?

If you want to know the combat power of Song, Jin, Liao and Xixia, you can refer to Wu Lin's words in his later years.

The general meaning is this: "My brother and I joined the army when we were young, and we often fought against Xixia. The winner could be determined by charging once or twice. Later, when we fought against the Jin Kingdom, the Jin soldiers did not rush forward when they won, and they did not become confused when they lost. Eat. The defeated Jin soldiers will not break up, but will alternately cover the retreat. After reorganizing the army, they can fight again soon. The Jin soldiers are tough and durable, the military orders are cruel, and the soldiers fight to the death. Every time you fight with the Jin soldiers, don't think about it until it lasts for a full day. Victory or failure determines victory. So when I first met the Golden Soldiers, I didn't know how to win. It was only after repeated battles that I gradually figured out the trick."

If the heavy cavalry of the Jin Kingdom cannot defeat the enemy's formation, they can be converted into heavy infantry before the battle.

There is a record in "History of the Jin Dynasty: The Biography of Wanyan Talan" that Wanyan Zongwang led 6,000 cavalry against a 100,000 Song Dynasty army. The Song army was defeated and all its troops were scattered, leaving only the 2,000 heavy infantry led by Shi Qi.

No matter how Wanyan Zongwang charged into the formation, Shi Ai's heavy infantry remained unmoved.

So Wanyan Zongwang ordered the entire army to dismount, and six thousand gold soldiers surrounded and attacked two thousand Song troops. These two thousand heavy infantrymen of the Song Dynasty were also powerful. They fought to the death until the entire army was annihilated. The Song general Shi Ai was captured alive by Wanyan Zongwang.

Compared with heavy infantry, the cavalry of the Northern Song Dynasty had long been defeated.

During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, there were as many as 200,000 war horses, and "there were so many cavalry that they filled the valleys." But the use of it is very nonsense, and the description at that time is translated into vernacular, that is, cautiously marching forward in formation, and immediately fleeing if there is any disadvantage.

Thirty years later, the heavy cavalry of the Forbidden Army were so weak that they were no longer able to put on their armor and mount their horses. They had to be supported by someone (under normal circumstances, the heavy cavalry could mount their horses by themselves). Only five or six bows can be used for mounted archery, and the arrows will hit the ground after being shot ten to twenty meters.

…

The eighty people in front of me are all Ju Ming's treasures.

After receiving the equipment, Ju Ming hosted a banquet in person, and even the war horses carefully prepared bean cakes.

These horses are also very precious. Among Ju Ming's army, there are not many horses that can be equipped to fight.

Everyone sat on the ground, eating meat with big mouthfuls and drinking wine from big bowls.

After a few bowls of wine, Ju Ming joked: "Brother Chen, you have been very unfamiliar in the past few days. You are shy in speaking and doing things in front of me. Have you forgotten how you and I drank freely in Heifeng Village?"

Chen Ziyi smiled awkwardly, then stood up and raised the bowl: "I respect the Generalissimo. I will charge into battle from now on, and I promise not to frown!"

"Okay, cool!" Ju Ming laughed.

Geng Zhongnian also stood up: "I also respect the Generalissimo. The Generalissimo raised his troops to fight against the Song Dynasty because he was a foolish king. He is the best man in the world!"

"It's easy to say," Ju Ming drank the wine in one gulp, "I will still rely on you warriors from now on."

Ju Ming also asked the families of the soldiers and asked Bai Sheng to record the addresses of their hometowns and information about their relatives at home.

After finishing recording, Ju Ming said: "You guys go back to the army and write down the family members of the other warriors clearly and send them to Xiangyang. I will send someone to contact you and try my best to pick them up. Even if I have to spend money to redeem them, I have to redeem them!" "

"Thank you Marshal Ende!"

The soldiers were overjoyed and their loyalty gradually increased.

Ju Ming's territory has resumed private trade with the Song Dynasty, especially tea, silk and other Sichuan commodities, which were shipped in large quantities to Chang'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng and other cities.

Send a few businessmen north to find Li Bangyan, who is at home with Ding You. As long as he gives you some goods, Li Bangyan will definitely be willing to help find the person.

Li Bangyan still has his followers in the court. With just one word, he can be sentenced to two thousand miles of exile for the traitors and all the family members of the heavy cavalrymen will be exiled to Xiangyang.

After three rounds of drinking, Ju Ming said: "Drinking is not allowed in the army. Today is a special case. You will rest in the town and come back after you sober up."

"Yes!" Everyone agreed.

Chen Ziyi finally let go. After drinking and eating, he went to Ju Ming alone: ​​"Marshal, I have only gone home to visit relatives once in these years. When the war here is over, I ask for leave to return to Hanzhong."

"That's right," Ju Ming asked, "You never married again?"

Chen Ziyi sighed: "I originally planned to get married after becoming an official, but becoming an official is more difficult than I imagined."

Ju Ming said: "Now that you have become a military attache, I will ask my wife to find one for you. I will make sure that he is a good steward of the family."

"Thank you Marshal for your concern." Chen Ziyi said with a smile.

The next day, the eighty heavy cavalrymen who received the equipment went south one by one happily.

There are three horses for one person, one person rides a Sichuan horse, and the armor is carried by another Sichuan horse. The real war horse is carefully guarded throughout the process.

As a large number of small boats were carried to the river, more and more Chu naval forces gathered, and Zhong Xiang mobilized more troops to rescue Zhijiang.

The Chu army's Zhijiang garrison was named Li Huan, and the general who commanded the navy and reinforcements was named Yan Qi.

In another time and space, Yan Qi joined Yue Fei, and his son Yan Chengfang was also a fierce general under Yue Fei's command.

At the narrowest point of the Yangtze River, Li Huan had already built a stronghold.

Yan Qi mobilized two thousand troops to increase the defense of the stronghold. The remaining troops were on the south bank of the Yangtze River. They planned to wait for Ju Ming to cross the river and then cross the river by boat to conduct a combined land and water attack.

"Brother Yan," Li Huan pointed to the north bank and said, "the enemy has been filling up the river beach with soil in the past few days, and there are cavalry cruising back and forth on the bank. Master (Zhong Xiang) has suffered a big loss from the enemy's cavalry. When you send troops to cross the river, you can Be careful."

Yan Qi said: "My men are all big ships. As long as they don't enter the narrow place, they are invincible on the water and can transport troops across the river calmly. This time Duoduo prepared archers. After landing in formation, they only went to fight against the bandits who were halfway across the river. . I won’t fight with the thieves’ cavalry, I just need to send an army to line up to intercept them.”

"That's right. With the Yangtze River at our back and big ships to support us, the bandit cavalry can't do anything to us." Li Huan felt that there would be no danger.

Of course they didn't know that Ju Ming had just equipped eighty heavy cavalry.

"boom!"

There was a muffled sound from the north, and Li Huan and Yan Qi thought it was thunder.

Then there were several more muffled sounds, and the iron ball flew over the camp.

On the artillery position, Deng Xia said depressedly: "The enemy has been prepared for a long time. The barracks are very high, and the artillery fire directly hits the barriers."

This section of the Yangtze River is only a few dozen meters wide.

The artillery is mainly used to attack warships and cannot be pulled too far. When bombarding the enemy camp at such a close range, the projectile would fly two or three miles across the river, but the direct shot would be blocked by the barrier.

Deng Xia said to Han Shizhong: "Go and apply for some tiger squatting cannons."

"Is the Tiger Crouching Cannon more powerful than this?" Han Shizhong asked.

Deng Xia said: "The Tiger Crouching Artillery fires closer, and the position is farther away, just enough to penetrate into the enemy camp."

Han Shizhong said: "Forget it, since the generalissimo doesn't give the tiger squatting artillery, he has other considerations. The artillery only needs to defend the enemy warships, and I am sure to take down the bandit camp without too many casualties." "

"That's right," Deng Xia said, "Even if the Crouching Tiger Artillery is deployed, it will only throw some shells. The enemy is protected by camps and barriers, and the shells will not cause much damage other than damaging the enemy's morale."