Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

When the Southern Song Dynasty resisted Mongolia, Jiangling and Xiangyang were collectively known as the "Jingxiang Defense Line".

It is said that if you defend Jing, you must defend Xiang. In fact, if Xiangyang is lost, Jiangling can continue to defend. Because in the Southern Song Dynasty, the area where Ju Ming's army was at this moment was artificially turned into an endless lake.

Even the "Great Lakes Community" is known as the "Three Seas of Jingzhou" in history.

Initially, in order to resist Cao Wei, the Sun Wu regime introduced the Jushui and Zhangshui into the low-lying areas of northern Jing. Later, General Lu Kang of Sun Wu ordered the generals to build weirs and dams to store water to resist the Western Jin army from going south, thus forming the "North Sea" in the north of Jiangling.

In the following hundreds of years, any unified dynasty would encircle the lake to build farmland and occupy the "Three Seas of Jingzhou" because it was created by artificial diversion of water.

During the Five Dynasties, Gao Baorong once again built weirs to divert water to the North Sea in order to resist the Later Zhou Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin forced Gao Baorong to block the Bei Sea.

How did Jingxiang come to be so sparsely populated?

The Jingzhou Three Seas in Jiangling account for one, the swamp area around Honghu Lake accounts for one, and the swamp area in the north of Zhijiang accounts for one. Without the imperial court's systematic improvement of water conservancy and the imperial court's large-scale relocation of people for reclamation, it would be difficult to achieve significant results by relying solely on private reclamation.

The people had been cultivating the wasteland for twenty years, but it was all over after a great flood!

Throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, over many years and months, most of the "Three Seas" were barely restored into fertile soil.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to resist the Mongols, water was again diverted to build weirs, and the north of Jiangling was turned into lakes and swamps.

This land can be described as a land of great changes.

If Prime Minister Zhong had read the history books carefully, the best plan would be to defend Zhijiang and station heavy troops to dredge the upper reaches of the Zhang River. Then use the navy to control the river, dig canals and build weirs, and create three seas, directly flooding the entire north of Jiangling. No matter how powerful Ju Ming's army is, they can't get through!

At this moment, Ju Ming's army gradually returned to camp.

Relying on the camp, a large formation of the Chinese army was set up. This was a common formation used during the Song and Ming dynasties, and it was particularly liked by civilian commanders because it was reliable and effective.

As long as you don't mess around, the formation will be fine.

Ju Ming had 30,000 troops in the new territory and trained 6,000 militiamen under the command of the surrendered generals. Today, Han Shizhong's militia is in the direction of Zhijiang, Zhang Guangdao leads troops to guard Hanyang, and Sun Lan leads troops to guard Mianyang in later generations (also under Zhang Guangdao's command).

There were only more than 20,000 people on the Jiangling battlefield, led by Ju Ming himself.

The peasants were transporting food back little by little, passing through the rear passage of the formation. More civilians continued to retreat with food and stayed away from the area near the battlefield as soon as possible.

Chen Ziyi's cavalry and Hua Rong's gunmen have all arrived under Ju Ming's command.

But like Deng Chun's cavalry, it was difficult to gallop. The surrounding areas were all low-lying areas, and the long-term rain made them muddy.

Eighteen artillery pieces are still on the north bank of Zhijiang River. The Chu army has not been able to sink into the river and does not know how to destroy them. They didn't even bring a hammer, how could they smash the cannon body to pieces? However, during the dragging process, the fire door was blocked by mud, and it had to be cleaned up slowly afterwards.

On the Chinese army position, Hua Rong, his musketeers, and more than ten people sat in a group and began to dry a small amount of gunpowder.

This kind of behavior is very dangerous. They don't dare to do it too much. Two or three shots are enough if they can be temporarily dried.

It has been raining for days and even the firewood is damp, making it difficult for the army to cook.

The Shenji Battalion has been equipped with paper shell ammunition, and those paper shells are also in a semi-wet state. Perhaps it will be better to fight in the north in the future.

They struggled to light more than a dozen bonfires, tear open the paper shells and pour out the gunpowder. Each person only poured out three shots and placed them in a dry bowl, not daring to get too close to the flames.

The sky was cloudy and it wasn't raining, but it could rain at any time.

Ju Ming has already set up a large formation, but further away, the Chu army is still setting up the formation.

Prime Minister Zhong does not know how to be considerate of the people's strength. Many of the people in his core areas are half soldiers and half civilians, and can be mobilized to fight at any time.

But the combat effectiveness is worrying!

Most of their armors are made of cloth inlaid with bamboo pieces. Thick and hard bamboo is used, and the armor pieces are made after drying in the shade. They are strung together like armor and sewn on the tough cloth. Some elite troops strung iron or bamboo pieces on leather.

In Jiangling City, Prime Minister Zhong has stationed 50,000 troops! .

No matter where he develops in the future, he must first defend Jiangling, and it is best to defeat Ju Ming's army.

Otherwise, on the front line of Jingjiang River, Zhong Xiang would always have to divide his troops to defend the city along the river, and would not dare to go south or east with all his strength.

As long as Ju Ming is defeated, these 50,000 people can be used as mobile troops, which can be led to attack Guiyangjian to seize the silver mines, or they can be led to attack Jiujiang and annex Jiangxi.

Ju Ming used a telescope to observe the enemy's situation. When Zhong Xiang's army formed a formation, not only was the whole army in chaos, but the connection between the various departments was also extremely chaotic.

At this time, if he could use cavalry, Ju Ming was confident that he could defeat them in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, the distance was too far and the road was muddy. Not only could the cavalry not be able to charge forward, but it would also take a long time for the infantry to cross.

Zhong Xiang took his time to complete the formation of the army, then moved forward a certain distance, and then reorganized the army again. Next, there was no immediate attack, but the flat cannon was taken out for assembly.

When he rebelled, he got some crossbows and small cannons from Wang Zhen's warship.

Like bows and arrows, bed crossbows cannot be used in rainy and humid weather.

It’s not that the bow string has become soft, but that the bow glue has become unstable and must be re-glued after the rainy season.

The wheels of the flat cannon will get stuck in the mud and cannot be moved as a whole. They can only be disassembled and lifted out for assembly.

Of course Ju Ming also had this thing. At the beginning of the battle between the two armies, there was a large number of flat artillery bombardments.

At the same time, Prime Minister Zhong sent 10,000 troops to each wing, slowly moving around the side of Ju Ming's formation. He wanted to rely on his strength advantage to launch a three-sided siege.

"The enemy's Yan Zi Banner is the most chaotic, the troops are not in order, and the orders are slow." Wang Xin observed carefully with a telescope.

Wang Yuan speculated: "Chen Ziyi and Han Shizhong defeated Yan Ziqi and Li Ziqi on the Zhijiang side. The Yan Ziqi enemy troops in front of them may have been reorganized, or they may even be new recruits who have recently joined the army."

Zhang Boring said: "The bell thief only knows that the rainy and muddy weather will make it difficult for our cavalry, firearms, and bows and arrows to attack, but he does not know that the Yuanyang Formation doubles its combat power. No matter whether he is an elite or a new soldier, he will be the same when encountering the Yuanyang Formation!"

It is naturally impossible for the Yuanyang Formation to increase its combat effectiveness out of thin air, but the muddy road is slippery and the Chu army moves slowly. The Yuanyang Formation only needs to stick to the slow-moving enemies, and can form a formation to kill the enemies calmly, making the fight easier than normal.

After nearly forty minutes of artillery fire, the artillery battle finally ended.

It wasn't that all the catapults on both sides were smashed, but that Zhong Xiang's stone bullets were all used up, while Ju Ming's side still had a lot of stone bullets left.

The Chu army advanced slowly on three sides, and Ju Ming's artillery carriage continued to drop bombs.

The two groups of Chu troops in front of them were hit by stone bullets one after another. No matter how the generals tried to boost their morale, they all appeared to be panicked and sluggish. Some soldiers even turned around and ran away.

Zhong Xiang was furious and personally ordered the execution of the fleeing soldiers before regrouping and moving forward.

As the enemy troops gradually approached, Ju Ming's artillery troops withdrew all their troops.

The leader of the Chu army on the front is Zhong Yi. This man is the brother of Prime Minister Zhong. Not only did he become the prime minister of the Chu Kingdom, he was also named King of Shu by Jin last month.

With such a royal title, it goes without saying that anyone is disgusting.

The Chu army commanders on both wings were Xia Cheng and Huang Zuo.

In another time and space, Xia Cheng would rather die than surrender, while Huang Zuo defected to Yue Fei.

Half of the other generals who had taken refuge with Yue Fei, such as Yang Qin, Liu Heng, Jin Cong, Liu Shen, Yan Qi, etc., were on the Jiangling battlefield at the moment. They were an important part of the Yue Family Army, and their improved naval warships and tactics influenced the entire Southern Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty naval forces. Even the navy of Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang still retained the fighting methods of these people.

When the Chu army moved, Prime Minister Zhong sent Yang Qin and Jin Cong, each with 5,000 men, to line up the front army and between the two wings. They belong to the mobile reserve force and carry out rescue operations when friendly forces are unstable.

Zhong Xiang probably read "Martial Arts General Essentials" and knew how to adapt the defensive female formation to attack with slight changes.

There's nothing wrong with arranging troops, but it's a pity that they don't pay attention to training, or they don't have time to train. After barely being able to form a formation and understand the orders, they were directly dragged into the battle. After a few actual battles, the "elite" were the ones who survived.

Ju Ming's camp only had walls and no trenches or fortresses were built.

This is because he has never thought of relying on the camp for defense, and hopes that Zhong Xiang will take the initiative to attack. If there were trenches and barriers, it would be impossible to fight this outdoor battle. Zhong Xiang was so confused that he attacked the stronghold!

The caltrops still had to be scattered, as they were mixed in the mud and water and difficult to identify. When the Chu army approached the camp, sporadic screams continued.

"Throw the gun!"

The javelins of the rattan player and the long player were thrown, and the Chu army raised their shields to block them.

Moving closer, the squad leaders started shooting arrows.

The bow and arrows can still be used, but they must not be fully drawn. The bow glue will become unstable due to moisture, and excessive force will damage the bow arms.

To be honest, armor made of bamboo slices can still effectively defend against arrows.

After withstanding the javelins and bows and arrows, the Chu generals commanding on the front line were overjoyed. Because the enemy did not rely on the stronghold wall for defense, they could more easily knock down the stronghold wall.

This was of course intentional. Yuanyang Formation felt that the wall was too obstructive, making it inconvenient for the wolf mill and boring rake to move around.

"boom!"

The wooden fences and walls everywhere were knocked down by the Chu army.

They stepped on the fence and moved forward, seemingly seeing hope of victory, but what they met head-on was a wolf in the forest.

Zhong Xiang's troops were 2.5 times that of Ju Ming, but they could not all be put into battle. The head-on strength of the troops was close to 1:1.

Seeing the stalemate in the battle, Xia Cheng and Huang Zuo immediately sent their idle troops to Ju Ming's rear army.

Countless mandarin duck teams formed a large formation. They received military orders before the battle. Before the enemy was defeated, they would try to stay still as much as possible. Even if the enemies fell down and retreated, they would not pay attention to them and just fight in formation on the spot.

The muddy road is slippery, so save your energy.

The entire battlefield seemed to be still, and Ju Ming's army remained motionless.

As time passed, the Chu army began to become unstable, and reserves were constantly deployed to respond.

Chu general Xia Cheng even led his own soldiers to circle around Ju Ming's rear army and fight. This man was wearing iron armor. He was very weak when moving, but he was brave when fighting. He was bleeding through the wolves in the thicket, and was soon pushed down by a hammer.

Xia Cheng fell down and was dragged back by his own soldiers. However, the rebel army did not pursue the enemy generals and still maintained a fixed formation for defense.

Encirclement on three sides has turned into an attack on four sides.

After a long battle with no results, Prime Minister Zhong became more and more anxious and beat the drum himself to encourage him.

It's useless no matter how many troops he has. A large number of troops are idle on the periphery, unable to engage in battle at all.

The Chinese army's formation also had passages. Some Chu troops went to attack those passages, but they were blocked by horses and grain trucks. After finally moving the obstacle, they were immediately attacked by the cavalry.

The battlefield is Ju Ming's camp, and the roads in several passages have long been packed with soil.

Especially the eighty heavy cavalry. They couldn't charge outside the camp, but they could move calmly in several passages. Even if the charging distance is short, it is enough to impact the enemy.

On the high platform built in the center, Wang Zhen held up the telescope and said: "It's almost done."

Ju Ming raised his arm, and the ordering soldier immediately waved the order flag.

Gu San and Shi Biao led three thousand personal guards, all wearing iron cans like infantry armor. They each led 1,500 heavy infantry and fought out through a passage respectively.

Chen Ziyi's eighty-heavy cavalry also abandoned their horses and led their retinue through another passage. Hua Rong led more than 500 musketeers and followed Chen Ziyi and others. The dried gunpowder was enough for two or three shots.