Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In terms of culture and religion, Xixia has been learning from China.

Regardless of whether it was Liao China or Song Dynasty, they were all the goals of Xixia's study.

Therefore, Buddhism and Taoism were quite prosperous in Xixia.

At the same time, Xixia has its own primitive religion, namely nature worship, ghosts and witchcraft, and ancestral beliefs.

Every time Xixia sends troops, wizards must be asked to perform divination.

Use wormwood to burn the sheep blades, knock the ground with bamboo to break them, observe the cracks in the sheep blades, and count the number of broken bamboos. The wizard uses this to calculate good or bad luck.

There are also people who lead sheep and burn incense at night to pray, and then go to the wild to set fires. The next morning, the sheep will be killed and dissected. If the intestines and stomach are unobstructed, it will be auspicious. If the sheep has blood in its heart, the battle will be lost.

Or you can hit the bowstring with arrows, listen to the sound to predict the outcome, or even calculate the time when the enemy will come.

Before Li Renyi sent out troops this time, he also asked a wizard to do divination, and all the above four methods were used.

The divination result is: fierce!

Therefore, he gathered his troops in Jisang (Gulang) and refused to continue the march. Later, they had to move forward, and they were cautious along the way, for fear of being ambushed by the Ming army.

Another hilltop on the east side was chased and defeated by the Ming army and captured. On the hilltop farther south, the Xixia soldiers stationed there were attacked from the north and south by the Ming army, and it seemed that they could no longer hold on.

Yang Zhi's main army did not move forward. Instead, it began to defend in place and sent more soldiers to garrison the hilltop because the Xixia people also divided their forces to recapture it.

Just as the battlefield was stalemate, in the center of the Xixia camp, the wizard began to act before the battle.

Xixia's "Tiansheng Laws and Orders" stipulates that fortune tellers and official shamans must carry armor and accompany the army in battle.

Therefore, wizards are the standard equipment of the Xixia army, and each one is equipped with armor. At critical moments, they can also carry a knife to kill people.

There are even regulations that once the Xixia army is defeated, they should fight back within three days, capture the enemy troops and shoot them at the place of their defeat. It's called "Killing Ghosts and Calling Souls." If the enemy could not be captured, they would be buried in the ground with straw bundles and the soldiers would shoot arrows into the ground, which was regarded as a curse on the enemy.

At this moment, according to the description of the soldiers who escaped, the wizard used water and mud to make models of artillery and even models of muskets.

He also tied up the clay muskets and artillery with magic ropes.

Then he brought the straw man prepared in advance, tied it with French rope, and buried it in the small pit together with the musket and artillery model.

The wizard began to recite incantations and then danced.

The Xixia soldiers formed a circle and, after receiving the wizard's order, fired arrows at the place where the straw men, muskets, and artillery were buried.

After the practice was completed, the Xixia soldiers were still attacking the hilltop. Every time they attacked, the Ming army was condescending and killed them back.

The wizard said to Li Renyi: "Du Tong, I have cursed the enemy. But the enemy's cannon is blessed by ghosts and gods. I don't know if it will work this time."

"It must work!"

Li Renyi said to the surrounding soldiers: "Although the enemy's weapons are possessed by evil spirits, they have been cursed by the wizards. Don't be afraid. Even if you die in battle, your soul can return to your ancestors." Earth! As long as you fight hard to kill the enemy, you will be blessed by your ancestors and ghosts and gods!"

Those soldiers quickly returned to their respective departments and told other soldiers about the matter. The morale of the Xixia soldiers who had been severely hit finally recovered somewhat.

Ding Zhongyi said: "Victory or defeat is determined. We should take the initiative to attack while morale is improving. Otherwise, if the Han soldiers continue to fire artillery, morale will fall to the bottom again, and the whole army will collapse if one mistake is made."

Li Renyi said with a serious expression: "I think so too. It is difficult to tell whether the witchcraft incident is true or false. It can only temporarily boost morale. The cavalry has already rushed to the enemy's formation just now, so we can continue to divide the cavalry into three teams to charge. The pawns should not worry too much about the formation and rush over quickly with the cavalry. As long as they rush to the front of the Han army's formation, those cannons will have little effect."

Yang Zhi had climbed to the hillside with his soldiers and used binoculars to observe the movements of the enemy camp.

Li Renyi mobilized the army on a large scale, all exposed to the telescope.

The telescope is also an artifact, which is equivalent to giving the general a full map of the local battlefield!

There was a change on the Xixia side, and the Ming army immediately made corresponding changes.

The enemies on the hilltop diagonally behind have been eliminated by a pincer attack, and only a few troops are still fighting stubbornly. The musketeers from Shenji Camp who were attacking the mountain there have been transferred back.

The Tiger Crouching Artillery was also carried to the top of the hill occupied by the Ming army, and infantry was sent to protect it. The artillery was positioned high and could cover the battlefield without fear of being attacked by the cavalry.

"The Han soldiers carried the cannon to the mountain, what should we do?" Ding Zhongyi asked worriedly.

Li Renyi said: "You have to fight wherever you carry it, and it is impossible to avoid the battle. As long as you rush close and the two sides fight together, those cannons will be useless. But since the cannons have been carried away, the cavalry does not need to charge forward. Just let the infantry quickly rush over to take over the formation."

Thousands of Xixia infantry, fearful of guns and artillery, formed a sparse formation and quickly approached the Ming army's formation.

However, the main force did not follow too closely, and even the reserves stayed far away. This was because they were afraid of being shelled from the side hills.

Such a tactic is purely seeking death!

Charge in a sparse formation in a narrow valley and go head-to-head with the Ming army in a large formation?

Moreover, the Xixia reserve team and the main army are still out of touch with the charging front army, and cannot be stabilized in time once a defeat occurs.

This is tantamount to adding fuel tactics to the Ming army.

But Li Renyi had no choice. If he piled up all the troops, he would most likely be beaten to the point where his tens of thousands of troops would be scattered.

In fact, it would be nice to have a cart. Push the cart forward slowly.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is divided into horizontal firing and curved firing, with a maximum range of three to four hundred meters and an effective range of only two to three hundred meters. It fires fist-sized iron bullets. If you want to show the power of shotgun, you have to place it within a hundred meters. It is best to fire shotshells at 50 or 60 meters.

Wearing cotton armor at a distance of more than 100 meters, even if you are hit by a shotgun, it is very likely that you will not die.

It is difficult for such a rubbish cannon to resist cavalry alone. It must be combined with other long-range weapons.

As long as there are carriages, the squatting tiger artillery will have to be blinded, and more powerful field artillery will be needed.

However, Li Renyi didn't have a carriage or even cotton armor!

Ding Zhongyi advised: "Du Tong, we can't fight like this. Either shrink and retreat, or press forward with the whole army. If you only send a few thousand soldiers out without hesitation, you are asking them to die!"

Li Renyi said: "Those in front of you are all fighting against your son. If they die, they will die. From now on, we will catch the Han people. Let them try it first. If it works, send a strong army to press them. If they collapse at the first touch, find another way. .”

Ding Zhongyi said: "It's true that Young Master Chuang is a Han, but he is a Daxia soldier after all. If they were defeated miserably, wouldn't the captured army be afraid? Morale dropped again and again. Even if the enemy did not have divine artillery, the battle would not be able to continue. beated."

"Then what should we do? Send more soldiers to press up, and then be defeated and the whole army is defeated?" Li Renyi said frustratedly, "It's impossible to retreat. The enemy keeps firing artillery, and sooner or later our army's camp will be occupied. Can you withdraw from the camp with food and grass? By that time, even if the enemy does not pursue us, we can only return to Jisang for supplies. The food stations along the way are barely enough for us to withdraw!"

Ding Zhongyi said: "If the whole army is pressed, we can still give it a try, but if Dutong attacks like this, he will definitely fail!"

Probably disgusted by the Ming army's fighting style, the two party generals next to him also said: "Du Tong, fight for your life. Let Young Master Chuang block the artillery fire in front, and we will follow closely with the captured troops. Even Young Master Chuang will Even if we are defeated, we can fight through the rout."

This kind of situation also happens. Party soldiers often use Chong Gongzi as cannon fodder.

And since they are cannon fodder, defeat is naturally commonplace. A true party soldier would not be so frightened when he sees his master collapsing that he flees with him. They would even form formations to drive out the defeated troops to prevent them from breaking through their own formation.

But the premise of all this is that Prince Chong don’t collapse too quickly, and don’t let the entire front army flee in an instant - in the field battle outside the city of Henan Army, Prince Chong’s front army collapsed in an instant, causing all the party soldiers in the rear to be in chaos. .

Under the persuasion of General Dangxiang, Li Renyi finally decided to fight to the death.

Thousands of Princes were still in front, but Party Xiang's capture army followed closely behind. Li Renyi's Chinese army also moved forward as a whole, and the Xixia troops on both sides attacked the mountain like crazy.

"The Xixia General is going all-out!" Yang Zhi held up the telescope and smiled. He had already driven the enemy crazy.

But I saw the young masters in front of me moving forward cautiously.

The wizard can improve the morale of the party soldiers, but it has no effect on these men who are fighting against the prince. They have already determined that the Ming army must be protected by ghosts and gods.

How can a mortal body contend with ghosts and gods?

Even before the battle started, Young Master Chuang was already thinking about escaping due to fear of the unknown.

As Han soldiers who were born as serfs, the only belief that supported them in fighting was that they could continue to survive after the battle.

Since your life may not be guaranteed, why bother fighting?

Fortunately, the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and the Ming army's artillery never fired. The young men began to imagine that ghosts and gods would no longer protect the enemy.

The front troops of both sides were seventy or eighty steps away. The drums on the Xixia side were getting faster and faster, and the flag orders also made the young masters speed up their charge.

When the front army was more than ten steps away, the Qisheng army behind also arrived within sixty steps and began to throw arrows towards the Ming army's formation.

Yang Zhi waved his flag, and more than a thousand muskets fired at the same time, accompanied by javelins and arrows.

However, the squatting tiger cannons on the top of the mountain were positioned condescendingly, aiming at the captured troops behind them.

The moment the long-range firepower came out, the Ming army infantry charged collectively and slammed into the Xixia front army more than ten steps away.

The charge of the Ming army infantry was no less powerful than firearms. Chuang Gongzi, who had suffered more than a thousand musket fire at close range, was then charged by Ming infantry, and all those who were still alive turned and ran away.

The party's Jingsheng Army behind them had just been attacked by forty tiger squatting cannons at the best distance, and were attacked by their own defeated troops, followed by the wolf-like Ming army infantry. Where can I still bear it?

"Failed...lost too quickly..."

Li Renyi was devastated. He thought he might lose, but he didn't expect to lose so cleanly.

In such a narrow river valley, a defeat in the front will inevitably lead to a chain reaction, and it will not even be possible to drive the defeated troops around from both sides. Under the constant pursuit of the enemy, the entire army will definitely collapse due to the rout.

"Come on, Commander, as long as you can escape!" Ding Zhongyi had already led the horse.

Li Renyi smiled bitterly and said, "You are already prepared."

Ding Zhongyi said: "Don't worry about victory, think about defeat first."

Before the defeated troops collided with each other, the two men fled with their own soldiers, followed closely by the Xixia cavalry.

As for the infantry, wish yourself luck.