Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The young masters in the front row ran away very fast. As Han people who were taken away, what they feared most was facing the Han army.

Because the Western Army was so eager for heads, they even cut off the heads of their own soldiers. The Song Dynasty court ordered the soldiers to have their faces tattooed.

And they have party hairstyles, so if they are caught, their heads will be cut off!

In the past, when encountering the Han army, the princes all fought bravely, just to save their lives.

Now I don't dare to fight. The death conditions in the first few rows were too tragic. I still don't know what the hell caused it.

The troops of Prince Zhuang fled indiscriminately, completely disrupting the channels reserved between the military formations. The infantry and cavalry of the captured soldiers in the rear could no longer move forward, and were even overwhelmed by the rout.

The Ming Dynasty infantry who were chasing them did not care about the formation while running, and only formed small groups to charge.

They chased the broken troops and ran, but the Xixia soldiers in front of them were jammed, and their speed slowed down in an instant and they were overtaken. The Ming army's squad was dedicated to killing enemy troops who tried to resist. The Xixia Supervisor's team finally managed to resolve the local chaos, but was soon killed again and scrambled to flee.

The Xixia troops in the rear had no idea what was going on. They only heard a burst of cannon fire in front, and the friendly troops were inexplicably defeated.

A few elites formed a formation to resist the attack of the defeated troops, but more of the captured troops could not hold their ground. When Li Yanxian came with his cavalry, the two captured troops were so frightened that they turned around and fled.

Li Yanxian led the miscellaneous cavalry to kill the defeated troops blocking the way.

He did not pursue them to the end, but asked the messengers to raise flags and divide the four thousand cavalry into two.

Li Yanxian led half of the cavalry and crossed diagonally towards the left front. General Yan Ping led the other half and crossed diagonally towards the right front. The two of them worked together with the Ming army infantry to cut up the enemy troops that had not yet been defeated, cutting them into several pieces like a scalpel.

Xixia general Yeli Fulu was in the rear cavalry formation. He could only command the cavalry troops now because the infantry was completely out of control.

Even his cavalry was attacked by broken troops and blocked the road ahead.

A mature general knows what to do now.

withdraw!

How much can be withdrawn? Otherwise, everything has to be explained here.

Thousands of Xixia cavalry all retreated, fleeing with the defeated infantry, and soon left the infantry far behind.

Li Yanxian and Yan Ping led the cavalry to charge back and forth. With the cooperation of the Ming infantry, the Xixia infantry, which had returned to its official form, gradually dispersed in formation, and then began to flee in groups.

Until then, they rode horses to chase north, cutting the large group of broken troops into smaller groups along the way, so that the following infantry could capture or kill the enemy.

As for the Xixia cavalry who ran away, they would definitely not be able to catch up.

There were too many broken troops blocking the road ahead, and the terrain was too narrow to get around. All we could do was watch the enemy cavalry escape.

Li Yuchang divided his troops to prevent Gong Xiu from crossing the river from the south, and at the same time tried to cross the river from the east to attack.

Before he could complete the deployment of his troops, and even before he led his troops out of the city, the wrought-iron field artillery aimed at the mother city opened fire. Immediately, the other half of the Shenji battalion, which did not accompany the army to attack the city, rushed to the west battlefield on bad horses, stood by the river and shot at Li Yuchang's troops leaving the city.

The main Xixia field force on the other side has been defeated at this moment!

Shooting across the river from a distance of less than a hundred meters, the Xixia soldiers who had just left the city became a living target for their muskets and artillery.

Even the forty tiger squatting guns on the northern battlefield are being moved to the river. After quick disassembly, two people carried it and ran away. The Tiger Crouching Cannon was transferred very quickly.

What kind of battle is this?

Li Yuchang looked around blankly. Not even 10% of his ability, as well as that of the Xixia Army, was used, and the battle situation was inexplicably ruined.

"Boom boom boom!"

A cannonball flew over and fell into the Xixia army, instantly killing and wounding a bunch of them. Blood and flesh flew everywhere where the cannonball passed.

The terrain is so cool, narrow and congested, with dense queues.

If the Song army were to attack the city, it would be at an infinite disadvantage. No matter how many troops there were and no matter how good the equipment, there would be no room for improvement.

But now there are muskets and artillery, and the Xixia army has no place to hide!

"Ming Jin withdraws his troops!"

Han Huaizhong on the top of the city quickly ordered that he had discovered that Li Yuchang was sleepwalking.

"Dangdangdangdang..."

The sound of the gong woke Li Yuchang up. Just as he was about to say something, the soldiers beside him suddenly fell down, but a bullet flew from nowhere.

"Prime Minister, leave quickly!" Another soldier shouted in horror.

The main force of Xixia who had just left the city was shot by a burst of muskets and artillery. They did nothing and hurriedly returned to the city.

Han Huaizhong was also a veteran general and only opened the northern city gate so that Gong Xiu's troops crossing the river could not pursue him into the city.

Gong Xiu was waiting to take advantage of the victory to attack the city, but he also received an order to withdraw his troops. Yang Zhi asked him to cross the river and come back.

"What kind of fight is this birdman fighting? He acts like a bitch!"

Gong Xiu was very dissatisfied with Yang Zhi, thinking that Yang Zhi was too timid and cowardly.

Gong Xiu now had 6,000 soldiers to cross the river. The enemy troops fled into the city in panic, but there were not many enemies left at the top of the city. With only one or two thousand casualties, and with luck a few hundred casualties, he could successfully seize the city. At such a great opportunity, the general actually asked him to withdraw his troops?

He even suspected that Yang Zhi deliberately suppressed him and prevented him from gaining the credit of being the first to get there!

But the military orders were overwhelming, and Gong Xiu had no choice but to retreat honestly.

On the other side of Zicheng, guard Zhang Chuo still wanted to hold on and even tried to engage in street fighting.

But each Yuanyang team rushed to the gap with bows and arrows. At the place where the city wall collapsed in the complex terrain, the advantages of the Yuanyang Formation were brought into full play. Especially with the addition of musketeers, who cooperated with the team leader in shooting arrows, the Xixia defenders were completely unable to resist.

The Xixia soldiers who were throwing stones at the incomplete city wall shouted in panic when they saw the defeat of the reinforcements. The cowardly ones simply abandoned the city and ran away.

So guard Zhang Chuo also ran away!

He did not dare to run north, where there were Li Yanxian's cavalry, and there were also Ming troops to the south and west. Then only the mountainous area to the east is left. The mountains are not too steep, but they are endlessly undulating.

Zhang Chuo rode out of the city and abandoned his horse to climb the mountain. He only took his son and a few soldiers with him.

Zicheng was captured easily, with not many casualties. Most of them were killed by stones thrown from the incomplete city walls on both sides when passing through the gap. As for the injured, they were mostly shot by bows and arrows.

The Song Dynasty had been coveting the city of Sizicheng, which was so close at hand, but could not capture it for decades. The Ming army only spent most of a day, with only a few hundred casualties, and less than a hundred killed.

After winning a complete victory, Gong Xiu came angrily on horseback and asked: "Why did you order the withdrawal of troops?"

Yang Zhi said: "Why should a cooked duck increase casualties?"

Gong Xiu asked: "What should we do if enemy reinforcements arrive tomorrow?"

Yang Zhi smiled and said: "In the great plains or deep mountains and dense forests, I can't guarantee that I can defeat the Xixia soldiers. But in the terrain in front of me, I will eat as much as they come, just because I am afraid that Xixia reinforcements will not come! If it were not for the food and grass, the prince would have ordered a quick battle. , I have to surround him for several months and slowly provide support."

Gong Xiu had nothing to say, he just glared at Yang Zhi and left angrily.

His first achievement was to capture the Henan Army Division!

Yang Zhi sighed, called a few old brothers over, and told the specific situation: "When we attack the mother city next, let Gong Xiu attack first, otherwise he will not be happy."

"I have no objection." Li Jinyi didn't care. He just led his troops to capture Zicheng.

The other generals were dissatisfied, but because of Yang Zhi's reputation, they couldn't say anything. They only disliked Gong Xiu more and more.

Yang Zhi sent his own soldiers to convey the message. When Gong Xiu heard that he could board first, he instantly became happy and thought that the man surnamed Yang still had a conscience.

This party's leader is really a headache, and Yang Zhi feels unhappy.

But Gong Xiu was the one who brought money into the group. He had nearly a thousand miners joining the group, and he had known Ju Ming for a long time.

Although Fatty Zheng's brother-in-law was exiled for corruption, only he, his wife and children were questioned, and the Li family was not greatly implicated. Gong Xiu mined gold privately, had long-term cooperation with the Li family, and had a good relationship with Fatty Zheng.

Due to the friendship between Ju Ming's brother-in-law and brother-in-law, Yang Zhi did not want to conflict with Gong Xiu.

But it was said that Li Yanxian came back with the cavalry, stroked the cooled barrel, and laughed loudly: "This battle was fought happily, thanks to these treasures."

Artillery commander Deng Xia smiled and said: "If General Li likes it, I can lend you a cannon to hold him to sleep tonight."

"Forget it, I have a mother-in-law at home." Li Yanxian smiled more and more happily.

Other cavalrymen also dismounted one after another and gathered around the cannons to praise each other.

Although several outposts had been captured with artillery along the way, they still could not be compared to the demolition of the castle.

Yan Ping said with emotion: "Henan Army Division is within easy reach, just sixty miles away from Jingyuguan. The Song Dynasty has been unable to break through it after decades of fighting. Now the Ming Dynasty soldiers took action and captured Zicheng in less than a day. , the Mother City on the other side is no longer a problem!”

Li Yanxian laughed loudly and said: "With this powerful weapon to control the country, it is time for us to rise up. From now on, we will not only destroy Xixia, but also collect the Western Regions to restore the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

When these words were spoken, the cavalrymen cheered and dreamed of riding their horses on the battlefield.

The Xixia cavalry had crossed the river further north and fled back to the city in despair, but the infantry who crossed the river to attack were all destroyed.

Li Yuchang, Han Huaizhong, and Yeli Fulu were sitting together in silence at this moment.

On the table, there was also a cannonball that flew into the city during the bombardment.

After a long time, Han Huaizhong sighed with emotion: "No wonder the Zhu family and his son were able to raise troops to replace the Song Dynasty, it must be with such sharp weapons. With this kind of iron cannon, our fortified city in Daxia will be like paper."

"What's the use of talking about this? How to defend against the enemy? We can't lose it with the Southern Army!" Li Yuchang said worriedly.

There are twelve military divisions in Xixia, and the southern military division is the east gate of the Hexi Corridor.

If this place is lost, the Hexi Corridor will be wide open, and the Han army can go straight to Liangzhou (Wuwei). This will really cost the lives of the Xixia people!

Han Huaizhong was speechless.

Li Yuchang thought about it carefully and then said: "How many days can we hold on? Even if we all die here, we must hold on. If we send people to break out and bring in reinforcements, we must hold on no matter how high the price is!"

"Alas, even though the mother city's wall is thick, I'm afraid it won't last a few days." Han Huaizhong sighed.

Li Yuchang said: "We can only survive in death."

As the Prime Minister of the country, Li Yuchang personally came to sit in charge of the Southern Army Division. At first, he did not find that there were heavy Han troops in Lanzhou.

This guy originally planned to conquer the Han Dynasty, but in the autumn of that year, he took advantage of the Jin soldiers to attack the Song Dynasty and captured Xining, Huangzhou, Kuozhou and Jishi Army in one fell swoop!

Unexpectedly, the Han Dynasty changed dynasties, and before Li Yuchang had finished gathering his troops, the new Han Dynasty sent troops to attack him.

Li Yuchang knew what Xixia was like. Facing the Song Dynasty during the Huizong period, they were beaten until they ran out of food and grass and took the initiative to seek peace.

Now the Ming Dynasty is even more powerful, how could Xixia be able to withstand it?

Li Yuchang added: "Not only do we need to mobilize reinforcements, but we also need to renegotiate the peace. Even if all the forts and gates in Hengshan are returned, Henan Military Division must be preserved. This place is more dangerous than Hengshan!"