Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Boom!"

Thunder exploded and the wind and rain came heavily.

In the Yangtze River Basin in summer, this kind of weather is normal, and there will be heavy rains from time to time.

Deng Xia's artillery position had a thatched roof long ago and drainage ditches were dug around it. When the heavy rain was about to fall, the artillerymen took out tarps and covered the artillery and powder barrels tightly to prevent the strong wind from blowing raindrops into the shed.

Yan Qi, the general of the Chu army, stood in the camp in despair. He already knew that Zhijiang City had been lost.

Moreover, it was the news brought by guard Li Huan himself!

"I was wrong. I shouldn't have been careless. I should have put all my troops on the city wall..." Li Huan looked very embarrassed.

He was awakened by the cry of killing last night and hurriedly put on his armor and picked up weapons, but Han Shizhong had already occupied many city walls. Li Huan didn't even bother to put on his shoes and went barefoot to gather his troops. However, the city was breached in the dark and his soldiers were already scattered.

No matter how religious the fanaticism is, soldiers are still human beings, and this situation can no longer be fought.

There were some small boats in the south of the city. Li Huan fled by boat, with only a dozen remaining soldiers following him.

When Li Huan fled to the camp to meet Yan Qi, he discovered that not only did he have no shoes on, but his legs were bare, and he only wore a pair of shorts on his lower body.

Yan Qi looked back at Li Huan. Although he was angry, he did not reprimand him harshly.

Because he himself did not expect that the enemy troops would cross the river in the widest open area and directly attack and occupy Zhijiang County.

If Yan Qi were to defend the city, the soldiers would be rotated to stay on the city wall, while the rest of the troops would be on standby in the city. At most, they would just place more sentries everywhere.

But it's hard to guard against it when setting up sentries. Those sentries must be careless, and they'll probably be fast asleep at night.

There was a warship on the pier, and all the sailors were so fucking asleep that they didn't even know it was touched by thousands of people across the river.

Li Huan complained about himself for a long time, and his tone became weaker and weaker. He lowered his head and asked, "How about leading troops to take back Zhijiang City?"

"You can't take it back." Yan Qi shook his head.

Li Huan asked again: "Then take advantage of the heavy rain to withdraw the remaining soldiers to the south bank?"

Yan Qi still shook his head: "Let's see how long the rain lasts. If the enemy eats an entire Zhijiang City, he will have to spit something out."

The rain came on and off, sometimes heavy and sometimes light, for two days and one night.

In the end it turned into a steady drizzle, as if God couldn't stop peeing.

It rained not only here, but also in many surrounding states and counties. The water level in the Yangtze River began to rise sharply, and it had already flooded outside the Chu army's camp.

The water flow became more and more turbulent. The troops of Han Shizhong, He Ji and others could only stay in Zhijiang City and could not go back in small boats. It was even difficult to fight over and attack the Chu army's camp because the road was so muddy that just marching forty miles would make them half dead from exhaustion.

"If you cross the river and destroy the enemy's artillery before leaving, you must give an explanation to the master (Zhong Xiang)!"

Yan Qi said harshly.

One thousand Chu troops were left to guard the camp, while more than 7,000 others boarded boats to cross the river in the light rain.

Because the current was too strong, the warship was washed further downstream, and when it landed, it was already three or four miles away from the artillery position.

"Boom!"

The tarpaulin was lifted, and the artillery showed its power again.

But no matter how well waterproofed Dengxia is, the air humidity is already very high during this period, and the two consecutive days of rain have exacerbated the problem.

The gunpowder was damp, and seven of the eighteen cannons fired without any explosion.

Thousands of Chu troops landed ashore in the rain to gather, and walked slowly through the mud toward the artillery position.

"The cavalry can't run, the ground is soaked by the rain." Chen Ziyi said depressedly.

Geng Zhongnian said: "Call the artillery back and defend the camp together."

Deng Xia was still directing the artillery to load ammunition and fire, but dumb guns appeared from time to time. The formations of those Chu troops were very scattered, and they could only hit a few people with one shot. This casualty would not scare away the inspired religious army.

The messenger came to the artillery position. Deng Xia hesitated for a moment and said, "Everyone fire one more artillery piece and retreat to the camp!"

There are more than a thousand cavalry in the camp, and more than a hundred logistics to take care of the horses. Each of the eighty heavy cavalry is equipped with two retinues, and these retinues also wear light armor and have weapons.

In addition, there were thousands of civilians who were responsible for transporting grain, artillery, and boats in the early stage. Later, they helped build artillery positions and helped the cavalry fill in some rugged terrain.

After the artillery returned, everyone organized, even the civilian husbands defended with carrying poles.

Yan Qi quickly occupied the artillery position, pointed at the artillery and said: "Pull back to the ship!"

How is it possible to hold it?

The lightest of these pig iron cannons weighed two thousand kilograms, and the heaviest weighed two thousand five hundred kilograms. It was difficult to move in the mud after the rain, and the wheels for transporting the cannon were all stuck in the mud. It was difficult to drag the gun even if the wheels were removed.

After working for a long time, I only dragged it a few meters.

Yan Qi asked the warship to go upstream again, rowing this way against the rapid river water, hoping to drag the artillery to the riverside and board the ship nearby.

But how can it be so easy to sail against the current of the Yangtze River during high water periods?

The boatman and the sailors paddled frantically, finally advancing a certain distance, and then the warship retreated after losing some strength.

Yan Qi had no choice but to capture the enemy artillery, but could not transport it away at all. He could only order: "Drag them into the river and sink them!" He pointed at the cannonballs and powder barrels, "Move them all and throw them into the river!"

Cannonballs and gunpowder barrels were thrown into the river one after another.

But the artillery is very troublesome. Although it is towed to the river, if it wants to sink into the river, the last section cannot be towed unless the person stands in the river.

It must be pushed into the river manually!

To be honest, it doesn't matter even if the river sinks, the river here is very shallow. Wait until the water level drops and then send people to salvage it.

While Yan Qi was competing with the artillery, Li Huan was leading the Chu army to attack the camp.

Although Chen Ziyi's more than a thousand cavalry cannot gallop, they are all well-armed. Especially the eighty heavy cavalry were all temporarily converted into heavy infantry.

At the beginning of the Chu army's attack on the stronghold, the people's defense line was in danger, but the eighty "heavy infantry" fought back.

There was a war horse but he couldn't use it. Chen Ziyi was filled with anger and kept thrusting with his spear. An iron can wrapped in eighty armors, with three small holes for its eyes and mouth, slowly moved forward on the muddy ground.

The Chu soldiers, who were only wearing light armor, could not harm them at all no matter how they wielded their swords or guns.

The more they fought, the more frightened they became, and they were soon broken through the formation.

"They are the Dark Lord's magic soldiers!"

Some Chu soldiers looked at the terrifying visor and suddenly remembered the legend of Manichaeism.

The main god of Manichaeism is naturally the Great Mingzun, and the villain is the Dark Lord.

Its teachings are a fusion of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity, and have a dualistic religious view of good and evil. Light represents good, darkness represents evil, and light will surely defeat darkness.

Demons hide in the dark world and continue to corrode the human world, causing the world to be chaotic between good and evil.

Even the ancestors of human beings were born from demons caused by the Dark Lord. Because humans are the descendants of demons, the Great Ming Lord sent messengers of light to the world to save human souls.

"Demon soldiers! Demon soldiers!"

Similar shouts came one after another. Most of these Chu soldiers were believers, pious and ignorant.

In addition to extreme fear, they firmly believed that the heavy armored infantry were demon soldiers. What could the terrifying appearance of the helmet be if it wasn't the devil?

As the heavy infantry broke through, more and more Chu troops who engaged the heavy infantry began to turn around and flee.

There were even a few Chu soldiers who remembered that humans are the descendants of demons, and had a wonderful change of belief when they faced the battle. They threw away their weapons and knelt on the ground: "Ancestor of the demon soldiers, I am your descendant. Please don't kill me. I won't believe it in the future." Mingzun, I only believe in the Dark Lord!"

Dark Lord belief and ancestor worship?

The Chu army dropped their weapons and knelt down to surrender. The heavy infantry did not attack again because there were more enemies to deal with.

Seeing that they could survive by converting to the Dark Lord, more and more Chu soldiers knelt down.

At this moment, they worshiped the Dark Lord extremely, that was the emperor of the devil ancestors!

Eighty heavy infantrymen broke through the Chu army's formation, but the civilian defense line was also breached.

A large number of civilians collapsed and fled, while the Chu army roared in pursuit. Both sides limped forward in the mud.

"Blow the trumpet, stop chasing, come back and surround the enemy's flanks!"

The generals of the Chu army are also knowledgeable. There is no point in chasing down the defeated troops. The top priority is to cooperate with the friendly forces and attack the enemies who are still fighting from both sides.

Soon, thousands of civilians were defeated!

Only the artillery, cavalry, and cavalry retinue were still fighting. After hundreds of casualties, they gradually shrank into a circular formation. No matter how hard the Chu army attacked, they could not take it.

However, the eighty heavy infantrymen were still increasing their results and were invincible on the way forward. Those Chu soldiers either ran away or knelt down and begged the demon soldiers for mercy.

Yan Qi was still competing with the artillery, but when he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately gave up and brought the reserve team over to join the battle.

However, the 80 heavy infantry cooperated with friendly forces to attack some enemies from both sides, which directly caused the Chu army to flee in large areas. When Yan Qi came to respond, the Chu army had almost been defeated. Even if he arrived in time, it was useless. Eighty iron cans were beyond their ability to deal with. They had to use heavy crossbows, heavy arrows or blunt weapons to break the formation.

Yan Qi was carried away by the defeated troops and fled downstream, where a warship was anchored and waiting.

Chen Ziyi ordered the entire army to pursue and kill him, but the eighty heavy infantry moved slowly and were unable to participate in the pursuit of the defeated troops.

In this battle, civilian husbands died the most. After two to three hundred people were killed or wounded, thousands of civilians collapsed.

The whole army chased them out, and there were no followers to help remove their armor. The heavy infantry could only help each other, and some people took off their armor directly.

When Chen Ziyi took off his armor and chased him to the river, many Chu troops had already boarded the ship, and those who were unable to board the ship were driven into the river. With this rapid flow rate, no matter how good the water quality of the Chu army was, not many people would survive.

Yan Qi took the remaining troops across the river by boat, but they were all washed ashore further downstream.

He could not pick up the more than a thousand Chu troops who were left behind in the camp, as well as the food and grass in the camp. He could only wait until the water flow in the river dropped.

In the direction of Zhijiang City, Han Shizhong was marching with four thousand soldiers on muddy roads in light rain. He took off his armor and shoes, as well as his long shield, and rushed towards the Chu army's camp.

Of course Han Shizhong didn't know that the main force of the Chu army was crossing the river to attack the friendly forces. He only knew that the road was slippery on rainy days, and the enemy troops were probably unprepared, so a night attack had a high chance of success!

The next night, the light rain had stopped long ago, but the river was still rising.

Han Shizhong raided the enemy camp. The morale of the more than a thousand remaining Chu troops was low, and they all fled in panic. But they couldn't escape, so they rushed to the riverside and stopped, choosing to surrender out of despair.

Yan Qi looked at the enemy flag on the other side and fell into a trance.

He has not grown up yet. He is not the veteran general who took refuge with Yue Fei. He is just a novice general who has been rebelling for more than half a year and has been fighting against the odds.

In this state, I happened to meet the veteran oil man Han Shizhong!