Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

After dawn, the Jin army did not attack immediately.

Instead, some cavalry were sent to pick up the infantry who ensured a clear retreat.

The Liaodong Han's hard-line army, commanded by Han Chang, consisted of about 3,000 people. They all came on horseback this time and were among the elite infantry of the Jin Kingdom.

The core elite are the two thousand iron pagodas led by Wanyan Huonv, and the more than five thousand Jin Kingdom's knights led by Wanyan Saili and other clans.

There are also cavalry under the command of Po Luhuo and Shengguo, a few are Jurchen valiant cavalry and light cavalry, and the majority are prairie tribe cavalry, totaling more than 2,000 people.

The total number of troops invested by Wanyan Lou's chamber was about thirteen thousand.

There are still more than 3,000 infantry, which are Yu County's city defense troops. Their combat power is not very strong, and their morale is not very high. These people were not brought to the battlefield, but together with thousands of civilians, they took over from the hard army to ensure the retreat and guarded the military supplies in the camp.

Given the terrain of the valley, these soldiers should have no problem guarding the camp.

Let’s talk about the army again.

Zhang Guangdao led 3,000 reserve troops and set up a command podium at the east foot of Fangshan Mountain, overlooking the entire battlefield.

Xu Ning was in charge of a large van array of more than 6,000 people.

The two small hills behind the formation were stationed by generals Wu Jie and Liu Qi respectively, each leading more than 3,000 troops.

The total battlefield strength of the Ming army was approximately 17,000.

However, the five thousand cavalrymen of Chen Ziyi, Yang Yun, and Geng Zhongnian were unknown to Zhang Guangdao at this time.

More than 4,000 people under Yao Pingzhong's command, including Wang De's Xianden camp, are still missing.

There are still a thousand Ming troops stationed in Pingding Military City in the south.

In the ruins of Zhao Jianzi City in the southwest, there is a Taniguchi camp of the Ming army. There were only 500 soldiers and a large number of civilians in the camp.

The decisive battle did not start until noon. This was because Han Chang's hard army needed to rest after arriving on the battlefield.

But before that, Wanyan Lou's room had sent Qingqi to investigate, trying to find out where the Ming army's cavalry had gone.

"Wanhu, Qingqi has searched so far, but there is no trace of the enemy cavalry!"

"Explore again."

Wanyan Loushi frowned, there were thousands of cavalrymen in the Ming army, and they disappeared after escaping yesterday. If this new force does not appear, he will not dare to attack with all his strength. He must leave a core force for defense.

After the hard troops were almost rested, Wanyan Loushi finally ordered the attack.

He did not attack the chariot formation directly, but sent hard troops to circle around the hill to the northwest of the formation, trying to conquer the small hill.

Some Jin Kingdom knights are also ready to dismount and attack the mountain on foot. The remaining cavalry were to assist and protect the attacking troops, and at the same time be on guard against the Ming cavalry coming out of nowhere.

Just when they were about to attack the mountain, a group of Jin Qingqi rushed back: "Wanhu, the Ming Army cavalry is in the valley more than ten miles southeast. More than a hundred Qingqi from our army went into the valley to investigate, but only less than twenty escaped. ride!"

It is not a simple valley. There is a cave after entering. There is a valley six miles long and four miles wide where troops can be hidden.

Wanyanlou ordered the operation to stop and asked Wendu Sizhong: "What is there?"

Wen Dusizhong asked the sentries in detail and finally concluded: "It should be the valley leading to Jucheng. From Juicheng to the northwest, we can attack and block our army's retreat. From Juicheng to the southwest, we can lead to Pingding Military City .Going straight east from Juicheng, you can attack Chengtian Village and enter Jingxing. If the enemy cavalry comes directly to the west, you can quickly reach the battlefield here."

Wanyan Huonv suggested: "Father, it is better to ignore the enemy in front of you and go east to annihilate the enemy cavalry first."

Wen Du Sizhong said: "It will be difficult for the enemy cavalry to attack if they guard the valley. Even if our army can win, the enemy only needs to leave hundreds of people behind to block the valley, and then they can escape from the southwest of the city back to the Pingding Army City. . First, it is difficult to attack, and second, even if you win, you can only defeat it."

What kind of terrain is this? Wanyan Loushi was a bit hard to get off, and he finally felt that he had too few troops.

The hiding place of the Ming army's cavalry was too disgusting. They could not only take a detour to attack the Jin soldiers' rear camp, but also attack the main battlefield from the opposite direction. They could also calmly retreat to defend the city when the situation turned bad.

When Zhang Guangdao saw that the Jin soldiers who were about to attack the mountain stopped, he immediately understood that his cavalry had been discovered.

But it doesn't matter, if the hidden cards are exposed, then play the bright cards.

As long as the Jin soldiers do not withdraw immediately, it will not have much impact on the entire battle situation.

Do you want to withdraw your troops?

Wanyan Loushi began to hesitate.

Unable to retreat, we finally encountered the main force of the Ming army in the wild.

If we evacuate today, the next step will definitely be a siege and a war of attrition. Moreover, it will soon snow in winter, and it will be more difficult to attack the city at that time. If it is delayed until spring, there will be a shortage of troops and food.

Whether it is fighting a war of attrition or stalling for time, the Kingdom of Jin cannot bear it.

Because the people's strength was severely overstretched this time, if the war was delayed until next year without progress, the states and counties in the Kingdom of Jin would surely revolt all over. At that time, if the Ming army attacks, the Jin Dynasty will be troubled at home and abroad. Let alone quell the rebellion and annihilate the enemy, they will not even know where to find military rations.

Wanyan Loushi understood clearly that the top generals of the Jin Kingdom were too optimistic about the southern expedition and did not consider the consequences of the unfavorable battle.

This battle should never have been fought!

From tactical considerations, Wanyan Loushi should retreat immediately. It is obvious that the battlefield here is a trap.

From strategic considerations, Wanyan Loushi must be defeated. This is the only chance to solve Shanxi's dilemma.

Since you want to fight, you should consider how to fight.

Go east and fight the Ming cavalry first?

However, the Ming army's cavalry had passages and could escape back into the city at any time. Wanyanlou's room was likely to be teased by walking dogs, and he would have to return here to attack the Ming army's formation.

Retreat to the withdrawal channel first?

That is no different from withdrawing troops directly.

Divide your troops to defend the camp at the withdrawal channel?

The battlefield was already under-strength and it was impossible to divide the troops.

After thinking about it, Wanyan Loushi had only one choice, which was to attack with all his strength and annihilate the enemy in front of him!

If you win, you won't have to worry about anything.

If you lose the fight, everything will be over.

Making a decision in her heart, Wanyan Loushi didn't think about anything else.

The Jin Kingdom has encountered this kind of critical situation countless times, and each time it was resolved by fighting to the death. He drew his sword and shouted: "Hard troops attack the mountain!"

The spearmen of the Jin Kingdom, led by Han Chang, began to organize an attack on the hilltop defended by Wu Jie.

The troops of brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin did not strictly follow the Yuanyang Formation, and it was also different from the stacked formation method they invented in history.

After observing Yang Zhi's military training, they absorbed the core idea of ​​the Yuanyang Formation and thought it came from "Wei Liao Zi Shu Wu Ling", so they compiled and practiced the formation according to the characteristics of his soldiers.

A general who is familiar with the art of war, has understanding, and has been in actual combat for a long time, this kind of general is different.

The Wu brothers have many archers under their command, but they currently do not have the financial resources to manufacture a large number of divine arm bows. They put their spears in front, strong bows second, weak bows third, and horses in front.

It is also a small team of eleven or twelve people. Each small team is then formed into a large team. The teams are intertwined and can attack or retreat alternately. The staggered formation can also surround and kill enemies trapped in the formation. As long as multiple teams do not collapse at the same time, they can continue to fight in formation, and the reserve team can easily replace disabled friendly troops.

Seeing that the Jin army was still at the foot of the mountain, Wu Jie's first row of strong archers began to fire volleys. Get a little closer and the second row of archers shoot again.

On the not-so-steep hilltop, before the Jin soldiers could get close to Juma, the first wave of attacks were shot back by archers and forced to retreat.

Ju Ming did not form an army of archers, first because there were not enough bows and arrows, and later because there were not enough archers. The Marshal's Office and the Privy Council recommended the formation of a crossbow army, but a large-scale expansion of the army required too much equipment, so large-scale manufacturing of powerful crossbows could only be postponed.

As for Yao Pingzhong's old tribe, there was no shortage of bows and arrows, nor of archers.

The Yao family's headquarters was a new territory occupied by the Song Dynasty. Tong Guan made a clever move that year and dispatched six archers from the north to guard the border. This led to many serious consequences. First, there was a shortage of archers in other frontier armies; second, due to rampant corruption, a large number of archers transferred to Hehuang died and fled. There are also a lot of messy things going on.

However, this also led to the fact that the number of archers in Yao's army was far more than that of melee soldiers, and they were all veterans who had practiced archery for many years!

These frontier archers were short of food and clothing when they were soldiers in the old Song Dynasty, and were often in danger of starving to death. Their fighting morale is extremely low, and the price of archery is clearly marked, so they live by receiving rewards for shooting a few arrows.

In the new Ming Dynasty, although Yao Pingzhong commanded the old ministry, the court sent military judges and grain and salary officers.

Food and salary will be distributed in full, and people will no longer be judged on their merits.

These two changes alone gave the old Song archers who were dawdling away a strong will to fight!

The first wave of Jin's hard-line army was blocked from attacking, and a second wave was quickly organized. Hundreds of brave cavalry also dismounted and prepared to fight on foot.

At the same time, thousands of Jin Kingdom knights began to parade and shoot arrows in front of the Ming army's formation.

It was not until the fourth wave of attacks that the Jin infantry finally rushed up and pushed down the resisting horses in front of Wu Jie's formation.

Wu Jie's front row of spearmen advanced alternately in uneven formations and launched wave attacks.

In the middle of the fight, the second row of archers were still throwing away the golden soldiers further behind, while the first row of strong archers drew their swords and went up to fight in close combat.

Who says archers can't fight in close combat?

Their melee weapons were the two-handed broadswords widely equipped in the Liao and Song Dynasties.

The length of the sword is only seventy or eighty centimeters, but its widest point is ten centimeters. The head of the sword is not sharp, but is in the shape of a kui, so it is not used for thrusting, but for chopping and breaking armor.

This is the standard sword used in the Five Dynasties. Because there was too much armor on the battlefield, stabbing was changed to chopping.

The strong archers wielded broadswords with both hands, passed through the gap left by the friendly spearmen, and slashed fiercely with their armors. These archers not only carried swords for close combat, but also wore strong armor.

The armor of the Jin Kingdom's hard army weighs about thirty or forty pounds.

After being hit by a broadsword, it is no different from being hit by an axe. It not only has some blunt weapon attack effects, but also can try your luck to cut off some armor ropes. If the shoulder is cut, the huge impact will be like a hammer blow, and the whole arm will be painful and numb.

The composite formation of spearmen and giant swordsmen, as well as the stacked combat method of wave attack, caught the Jin Kingdom's hard army by surprise as soon as it appeared.

Jin Bing was stunned. He had never encountered such a situation before and had no idea how to deal with it.

After repelling the enemy again, Wu Jie ordered not to pursue, but asked the soldiers to restore the horse barrier fortifications.

Looking at the hard troops hurriedly escaping back down the mountain, Wanyan Loushi's expression became more solemn, because the cavalry's attack also did not go smoothly.

The combat effectiveness of the Ming army here far exceeded his imagination.