Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Report, the Qingqi has successfully passed through the valley, and the Ming army has not set up an ambush in the valley."

"Explore again!"

"Report, the hard troops and Yuxian defenders have climbed up the mountain, and the Ming army has not set up an ambush on the mountain."

"Explore again!"

Wanyan Loushi rode his horse and led his army forward slowly, and soldiers kept coming back to report the situation.

There was no ambush in front, and the Jin army passed through without any surprise, which surprised Wanyan Loushi. If nothing else happened, he should have sent a small team to harass and delay him.

In fact, Zhang Guangdao never thought of setting up an ambush directly, which would be to underestimate these golden soldiers.

Zhang Guangdao has been in Shanxi for more than a year. After capturing Shouyang, he has been looking for a suitable battlefield. After selecting more than ten places and repeatedly weighing and comparing them, he found this place to be the most suitable.

Most of the Jin soldiers quickly passed through the four-mile-long river valley that was 1,300 meters wide at its widest and 400 meters at its narrowest.

Ahead was a rugged and hilly area, and no Ming troops were found either.

Wanyan Loushi climbed up to the southernmost hill and looked around. He was so bright that this place was already within the "eight" character.

Although there are many hills and valleys ahead, it is generally relatively flat, and there are no big mountains for dozens of miles ahead. There are rolling mountains a few miles away on the left and right sides, which are the strokes and strokes of the character "eight".

For the sake of caution, Wanyan Loushi also sent some light cavalry and infantry to climb the mountains on both sides to explore the enemy's situation.

There is still no Ming army setting up an ambush!

Wanyan Loushi still felt that something was wrong, and became more and more cautious, and ordered: "The hard army formed a camp at the mouth of the valley to ensure that the entire army's retreat route was clear. The defenders of Yu County climbed up both sides of the valley to help defend the hard army camp. .”

The hard army is composed of Jurchen spear infantry, all of whom are soldiers. They serve as the front army before the battle. This time they also came on horseback.

Wanyan Loushi actually used his sharp army to guard the retreat and was ready to escape. In all his years of fighting, he has never been so vigilant. It was purely because he couldn't figure out the reality of firearms.

Although Wanyan Huonu despises the enemy and seems to have no brains, he is definitely not a fool.

Seeing how careful his father was, he couldn't help but become vigilant.

Wen Du Sizhong pointed to the high mountain in the southwest: "That's Fangshan. The Ming army only needs to set up a stronghold on the mountain to control the battlefield dozens of miles around E!"

Han Chang came running on horseback: "The Ming army may be on the mountain, setting up a stronghold waiting for us to attack. They also have a large number of firearms, ready to catch us by surprise. Our army cannot be too dense when attacking the mountain."

"It makes sense." Wanyan Loushi was already ready to dismount the entire army and attack the mountain on foot.

"Report~~~~"

A reconnaissance light cavalry ran back on Pegasus: "A large number of enemy cavalry were found ahead, at least three to four thousand, and they were all brave cavalry. Our light cavalry was invincible and could not continue to go south to detect the battlefield!"

Wanyan Loushi said to Han Chang: "Go back to the mouth of the valley in person and lead the hard troops to ensure the safety of the retreat."

"Follow your orders!" Han Chang rode towards the north.

In fact, there are not many Jurchen warriors in this hard army. Most of them are Han Chang's Liaodong Han soldiers.

As for the combat effectiveness, I'm afraid it's not much inferior to that of Guo Yaoshi's old troops. Otherwise, how could they have been serving as Jin Wushu's vanguard?

After thinking about it carefully, Wanyan Loushi gave another order: "Uncle Cai (son of Po Luhuo), take three hundred prairie cavalry to the southeastern valley before entering the valley. Don't go too deep, divide into several teams to guard against enemies. The army goes around the rear of our army to block the retreat. Once the enemy is discovered, do not fight and come back immediately to report."

"Yes!" Uncle Wanyan took the order and left.

Wanyan Loushi added: "Seli, lead your cavalry to fight against the enemy's cavalry. If you win, don't pursue too deep. Be careful of an ambush by the Ming army."

"yes!"

Wanyan Seri took the order and left.

After issuing many military orders, Wanyan Loushi took the remaining soldiers and slowly trotted forward while maintaining the strength of the horses.

But it was said that Po Luhuo and Sheng Guo, leading the Jurchens and the grassland Qingqi, were beaten back by the Ming army's Qingqi. Wanyan Saili arrived quickly with the Jurchen Knights, and they immediately became imposing and began to counterattack in cooperation with the friendly forces.

The leaders of the Ming Army's Xiaoqi were none other than Yang Yun and Geng Zhongnian.

When they saw the Jurchens riding on horseback, they fired a few arrows, then blew their trumpets and retreated.

The acting is extremely poor!

Mainly because he felt sorry for his cavalry and was afraid of unnecessary casualties if he pretended to be defeated.

Wanyan Saili took the false defeat seriously, because both the Liao and Song cavalry used the same tactics and were defeated.

In view of the excellent matching mechanism in the late Liao and Song Dynasties, the armored cavalry of the Song and Liao Kingdoms generally did not charge in close combat. They like to cruise around and shoot arrows, and charge for the purpose of shooting arrows. When encountering Jurchen cavalry charging, they often shoot a few arrows and then run away.

The rout of the Song and Liao cavalry in the past had already caused Wanyan Saili to form a conditioned reflex.

He completely forgot about Wanyan Lou's military orders, and when his mind got hot, he led his troops to pursue him.

"Blow the trumpet and bring that bastard back!" Wanyan Loushi rushed up the hill to see clearly.

"Woooooo~~~~"

During the Wanyan competition, which was in high spirits, he actually slowed down when he heard the sound of the horn, and angrily led his troops to stop where they were.

The Qingqi of Bo Luhuo and Shengguo continued to explore the battlefields, while Wanyan Saili led the Qingqi to hold them back.

The Jin people just left the infantry behind, camped at Taniguchi to ensure the safety of their retreat, while the cavalry advanced steadily.

Zhang Guangdao stood on Fangshan Mountain and observed for a moment with a telescope. He couldn't help but complain: "Are these the invincible Jin soldiers of the West Road? The cavalry is used like a turtle!"

Xu Ning said: "The enemy may be afraid of using firearms to set up an ambush. General Yang used firearms to attack Xixia in the valley, and the Xixia people were severely beaten in that battle. The Jin Kingdom's West Route Army must have heard about it long ago."

Zhang Guangdao said depressedly: "If Yang Zhi hadn't exposed his face by using a firearm, why would I have needed to spend so much effort?"

At the foot of the mountain, the Ming army had already set up a large formation.

On the periphery are two rows of chariots at the front and rear. These chariots are also grain transport vehicles.

It is used to transport food when marching and placed in front of the battle array. The chariots are connected with chains. There are several short spears stuck on the chariot.

The northwest, due west and southwest sides of the formation are closely adjacent to Fangshan. The due north, northeast, due east, southeast, and due south sides were protected by car formations to face the Jin soldiers.

Queyue Formation reappears!

It's just that Liu Yu had his back to the river, while Zhang Guangdao had his back to the mountains. Liu Yu used a strong bow and powerful crossbow, while Zhang Guangdao used a wooden cannon.

Zhang Guangdao's command platform is located on Fangshan, where he can observe the entire battlefield.

More than three hundred wooden cannons were placed behind the car formation and covered with cloth, with soldiers in front to cover it.

Wanyan Loushi moved forward cautiously, asking his troops to spread out.

He had long heard that the Ming army's artillery could fire for several miles, and he was afraid that he would be hit by it out of nowhere.

Wanyan Lou's room observed the Ming army's formation from a distance, but no artillery fire was seen after waiting for a long time.

Of course he has never read history books, let alone the story of Liu Yu leading 2,000 infantrymen to defeat 30,000 Northern Wei cavalry head-on with Queyue Formation.

What is a car formation?

Tiefutu even dared to attack the camp head-on and directly broke down the gate of the camp!

Wanyan Lou called Wendu Sizhong and asked, "How far is it from Pingding Military City?"

Wen Du Sizhong said: "It is estimated that there is still twenty or thirty miles."

Then, Wen Du Sizhong added a few words: "Going straight east from here, you can go through the river valley to Chengtian Village. After Chengtian Village, you will reach Jingxing, which leads directly to Zhending Mansion in Hebei. From here to the southwest, there are A river valley leads to Shouyang, which the marshal is attacking.”

Wanyan Loushi asked again: "Can Fangshan be directly connected to the river valley leading to Shouyang?"

Wen Du Sizhong said: "It should be possible. Otherwise, if we encircle and fail to attack, we will block the Ming army in the formation. Over time, they will not even be able to supply military supplies."

Wanyan Loushi said: "There should be enemy camps in the southwest direction of the valley entrance. It is estimated that the enemy cavalry that just escaped just went there. Send an order for the Qingqi to rush to the Pingding Army and contact the defenders there first."

That night, both sides slept with Godardan.

The Ming army waited for the Jin soldiers to attack, but the Jin soldiers were afraid that the artillery would not move, so they formed separate formations and spent the night.

At night, more than a dozen Jin Qingqi arrived outside Pingding Military City. After shouting a few times, they were met with a hail of arrows. Only then did they know that Pingding Military City had fallen.

Wanyan Lou's office got the news in the middle of the night and immediately called a meeting with all the generals.

He said: "The Pingding Army City is extremely strong. The Ming Army was able to break through it so quickly. Its combat power is far beyond our imagination. If the Marshal were here, he would not be able to break the city quickly. Just from the perspective of siege, the Ming Army was far away. Stronger than us.”

No one refuted it. The Jin generals all admitted that they were inferior to the Ming army in terms of attacking cities. The pacification of the military city in front of them was an example.

Wanyan Loushi added: "Now there are two options. One is to return the same way. I have made arrangements for several key points, so I can easily go back and join forces with the marshal. The other is to fight against the enemy in front of me. Those They should be the main force of the Shanxi Ming Army. As long as we defeat them, judging from the nearby terrain, they can probably be completely wiped out. Once the enemies in front of us are completely wiped out, Shanxi can be taken."

"Of course we have to fight," Wanyan Huonv took the lead in saying, "We came all the way, spent countless amounts of food and grass, and pacified the military city. How can we go back without firing an arrow?"

Even Po Luhuo, who came to supervise the army, was unwilling to withdraw: "The enemy is right in front of us, how can there be any reason to withdraw without fighting?"

"Let's fight," Wanyan Shengguo said. "In a terrain like Shanxi, we have to fight one city at a time. No matter how strict the chariot array is on the opposite side, can it be more difficult to fight than the city? Finally, the main force of the Ming army dared to go out of the city to fight. , if we put them back into the city, we will attack the city again and the casualties will be even greater."

"It's time to fight!" Wanyan Saili also said.

Several other generals spoke, all talking about fighting, and no one proposed withdrawing their troops.

Wanyan Shengguo made the most sense. If the Kingdom of Jin wants to take Shanxi, it must defeat it city by city. The Ming army finally got out of the city and had to seize the opportunity to annihilate them. They could not return to the city to fight siege.

Although Wanyan Loushi felt inexplicably uneasy, he did not want to withdraw his troops. He made a final decision: "We will fight tomorrow. Be careful tonight, and we must not be successfully attacked by the enemy at night!"

It was a quiet night, and the sky was getting brighter.

In order to attract Jin soldiers to attack, Zhang Guangdao even erected a large banner at the eastern foot of Fangshan Mountain.

Full of provocation!