Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Marshal, hurry up, the front is collapsed!"

Wanyan Yanmu and Wanyan Xiyin had just left the city. Before they could organize the troops outside the city to retreat, the golden soldiers on the city wall suddenly collapsed.

The two sides were fighting on a city wall a few meters wide. The death of the commander in the rear actually had little impact. Because the golden soldiers facing each other in the front row would most likely not know who was killed behind them, so they would only subconsciously form formations to fight.

At this time, sniping down front-line officers is more effective than sniping down generals.

The collapse of the Jin army was caused by Liu Jizhong's killing of a small officer. With the grassroots commanders killed, the Jin soldiers were pushed forward by the heavy infantry of the Ming army. Their position was unstable and they retreated.

The former enemy general who succeeded Yelu Mawu was also a surrendered general from the Liao Kingdom, named Yelu Duo.

He learned from the experiences and lessons of the previous two men and never dared to show his head again. He crouched and hid against the parapet wall. He perceived the battlefield through the oral descriptions of his own soldiers, and asked the orderlies to wave flags to take command.

When the Jin soldiers were defeated in the battle, Yeluduo had not yet reacted, and the reserve team in the rear also collapsed.

Even though they were defeated, they could not escape effectively because there were also a large number of defensive reserves standing on the horse road and the city wall further east. The disintegrated golden soldiers were in great panic, and they rushed towards the friendly forces without thinking. The despair seemed to be contagious, and the golden soldiers turned around and fled.

Among these golden soldiers guarding the city, very few were from the Jurchen tribe, the majority were from the Khitan tribe, and there were also many Bohai and Xi tribes.

They can snipe with muskets from the side and advance with heavy infantry from the front. They have persisted until now and are very strong and brave.

Even if they were all replaced by Jurchen soldiers, there wouldn't be much difference.

Seeing several groups of Jin soldiers fleeing, Wanyan Zongwang got on his horse in panic, rode along the east wall to the north wall, and then ran from the horse track on the north wall to the north gate.

"Open the city gate quickly!"

Following Wanyan Zongwang's roar, the gates and outer gates of Wengcheng in the north opened one after another.

Wanyan Zongwang rushed out with his soldiers, and then crossed the river on the pontoon bridge northwest of Gaocheng.

After crossing the river, instead of escaping, they set up banners and blew trumpets by the river to gather troops.

Wanyan Xiyin, Wanyan Chamu, Wanyan Talan and others originally planned to retreat in an orderly manner outside the city. The Jin soldiers guarding the city collapsed early, leaving them no time to deploy more. They first let all the Hebei Han troops attack, and then turned around and left with the Jin Guo cavalry.

Those Han troops in Hebei were not fools. They had already realized that something was wrong, and because of the intimidation of the Jin soldiers, they stepped forward.

When they saw the Ming army breaking up their chariot formation and rushing out, Jin Guo's cavalry was withdrawing again, and nearly 20,000 Hebei Han troops immediately fled. Many Han generals, even with their direct troops, threw away their weapons and knelt down on the spot.

However, there were still too many Han troops in Hebei that collapsed. Even though their generals had surrendered, the soldiers still subconsciously fled in all directions.

Countless broken troops blocked the battlefield and seriously interfered with the Ming army's pursuit.

"Your Highness, I would like to ask you to hunt down the enemy!" Wang Yan knelt down and said.

Ju Ming was still observing with his telescope: "Although the Jin infantry retreated in a chaotic manner, the Jin cavalry was calm and leisurely. These cavalry retreated alternately. Once our army lost its formation during the pursuit, the Jin cavalry would definitely fight back with all its strength. Send orders to all ministries and the infantry Don't pursue the soldiers, just send cavalry to capture the Han people and defeat them."

Li Yanxian personally led five thousand cavalry and rushed out to intercept, divide and recruit the defeated Han soldiers in Hebei.

The Ming army infantry who had already chased them out also received military orders and gradually retreated to the camp.

Wanyan Yanmu led his men and horses to retreat to the river. After waiting for a while, he became a little impatient. He rode towards Wanyan Talan and said, "Prince Zhu used his troops calmly. Our army of 20,000 Han soldiers was defeated. At this time, he can't defend the camp." Chase. What to do?”

"What else can we do?" Wanyan said lazily, "Give way to the riders and cross the river in batches, and then demolish all the pontoons!"

In addition to those who had died in the battle, the Jin troops who attacked the Ming army's camp also had those Han soldiers who had broken up. The rest of the infantry and cavalry all retreated from the battlefield calmly and orderly.

Li Yanxian led five thousand cavalry, surrendered and captured tens of thousands of Han troops in Hebei, and then began to divide his troops to get closer and observe the main force of the Jin soldiers.

Wanyan Talan immediately sent thousands of gold cavalry to kill him. Li Yanxian was unwilling to engage in battle and retreated while shooting arrows. The Jin cavalry did not pursue them and withdrew again to the river bank.

When about half of the main force of the Jin army crossed the river, Li Yanxian said to the messenger: "Send a message to His Highness the Crown Prince."

The messengers rode for a while and then waved flags.

"The whole army is out!"

Ju Ming finally gave the order.

More than 20,000 Ming troops came out of the camp one after another, only maintaining their basic formation and trotting forward.

When the Ming army approached the pontoon bridges, more than two-thirds of the Jin soldiers' infantry had crossed the river.

Strike halfway across!

Wanyan Xiyin and other Jin generals asked the remaining cavalry and Jurchen infantry to quickly cross the pontoon bridge, and separated the Bohai, Xi people, Khitan, and Liaodong Han infantry to guard the bridge.

When the Ming army began to attack, more than 6,000 infantrymen of various ethnic groups remained on the east bank.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Nearly two thousand musketeers jumped off their horses and started shooting freely.

The Ming cavalry and infantry archers also shot arrows at the golden soldiers.

The more than six thousand Jin infantry were frightened and had no courage to fight. They turned around and rushed onto the pontoon to escape.

The sound of "plop" was heard endlessly, and the Jin soldiers pushed each other to escape, falling into the sleeping water like dumplings.

"Burn the bridge!"

Wanyan Xiyin gave an order, and the Jin soldiers who had already crossed the river ran to destroy the more than ten pontoon bridges.

Liu Yanzong, Gao Jingshan, Xiao Qing and other generals from various clans all looked gloomy and full of resentment when they saw the miserable state of their own clansmen. The Jurchen soldiers were all withdrawn, but the Han soldiers, Bohai soldiers, and Khitan soldiers in Liaodong suffered heavy losses.

Apart from those who were captured and killed, more than half of the more than 6,000 Jin infantrymen from all ethnic groups fell into the river.

The temperature was so low that it was almost snowing, and the infantry were wearing armor. How could they possibly survive?

Inside the city.

Kong Yanzhou was the first to flee, and some of his soldiers even reached out to grab the treasures in the baskets while escaping - those treasures were used by Wanyan Zongwang to reward the soldiers who defended the city.

But before they could escape far, they were intercepted by the Jurchen war team, and more than thirty defeated troops were killed on the spot.

Kong Yanzhou cautiously led his troops back, but before they reached the battlefield, he encountered the collapse of the defenders, so he was so frightened that he turned around and fled again.

The heavily armored guards of the Ming army could not pursue him, so they took off their helmets and rested against the city wall.

A large number of Ming army elites entered the city from the horse road to open the gate of Wengcheng. Finding that it was already open, all the golden soldiers guarding the barbican city ran away. They quickly opened the main gate again to welcome more friendly troops under the city.

Thousands of Ming troops ran in pursuit, passing through the north gate and west gate, and headed towards the pontoon bridge over there.

Kong Yanzhou led the defeated troops and wanted to go to the pontoon bridge, but saw a Xiren general rushing towards him and slashing with his sword. The Xiren general yelled angrily: "What kind of dog are you? Go back to defend the enemy!"

"Yes Yes……"

Kong Yanzhou looked mournful, watching the Jin soldiers occupy the pontoon bridge to cross the river, while he and his soldiers could only stay put.

"kill!"

The Ming army's killing cry was approaching, and the Jin infantry sped up to escape. From time to time, some people were squeezed and fell into the river.

A group of Ming troops was still more than ten steps away. Kong Yanzhou knelt down with a bang, kowtowed and shouted: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live the official family, long live the prince!"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"

"Long live the official family!"

"Long live the prince!"

The soldiers under Kong Yanzhou's command also shouted in confusion.

"Get out of the way!"

The captain of the Ming army who was chasing after them raised his gun and stabbed these guys. Kong Yanzhou was so frightened that he quickly climbed over to get out of the way.

These guys huddled in the corner tremblingly, not daring to join any side, watching the Ming army kill the Jin soldiers who had not yet crossed the river.

"Burn the bridge!"

Wanyan Zongwang, who was riding on horseback on the other side of the river, quickly issued the same order. The more than a thousand Jin infantry who had not yet crossed the river were either buried in the belly of the fish or killed by the Ming army.

The Jin people suffered heavy losses in this battle. More than 20,000 Han troops in Hebei were wiped out. More than 10,000 soldiers of all ethnic groups were killed and captured. Four Baihezhamengan was also lost.

The only thing that is acceptable is that the Jurchen soldiers suffered few casualties.

All the grain, grass and baggage in the city were seized by the Ming army.

Jin Bing did not dare to take away all the baggage in the camp on the west bank of Qinshui River, and tried to burn all the items that could not be taken away.

Ju Ming asked the craftsmen to build the pontoon bridge and immediately led his troops across the river. He found the Jinbing camp blazing with flames and quickly sent troops to rescue the food and grass inside.

Li Yanxian led the cavalry to continue the pursuit, but there were too many Jin cavalry to effectively detain the enemy. The main force of the Jin soldiers successfully crossed the Hutuo River east of Zhending.

Wanyan Zongwang also brought the remaining soldiers to join him and hurried towards Zhending Fucheng, only to see a flag with the word "Ming" flying on top of the city in the distance.

But last night, four generals, Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, Li Qiong, and Li Shifu, led two thousand soldiers on horseback to attack Zhending.

Also, not wearing armor.

They crossed the river from Zhaozhou to the west bank of the Lishui River, and ran all the way to the foothills of Fenglong Mountain further northwest, bypassing Luan City to avoid the Jin soldiers and quickly headed north.

At dawn, we arrived at the southern suburbs of Zhendingfu City.

Carrying the bitterly cold water, he swam across the Hutuo River on horseback, and then set fire to a large number of residential buildings outside the city.

Due to the raging Jin people and the cruelty of the puppet court, even the people's livelihood in Zhending Mansion was in decline. One-third of the residential houses in Fuguo were empty, and many people fled to Zhaozhou under the Ming Dynasty.

After the fire broke out, the Ming army shouted in unison: "The Jin army has been defeated, and the second prince (Wanyan Zongwang) is dead!"

The people living near Guo woke up from their dreams. They heard the shouts and went out to check. When they saw fires everywhere, they were so frightened that they quickly fled around the city and fled north.

The few Jurchen soldiers left behind quickly took up arms to defend the city, and ordered the Han troops in Hebei to also defend the city.

Liu Yu and his son heard the noise and soon received military orders, asking them to lead troops to fight quickly.

"Father, what should we do?" Liu Lin asked.

Liu Yu was also frightened and muttered: "If the Jin soldiers are not defeated, we will definitely be punished for escaping. If the Jin soldiers are defeated, staying to defend the city will be a dead end. No matter what, get the little emperor first!"

The general commanding the imperial army has been replaced by Liu Yu's nephew Liu Yi.

The father and son sent troops to guard the city wall while riding horses to the palace, asking Liu Yi to lead the troops to "protect" the Queen Mother and the Emperor.

Halfway through the journey, the city suddenly burst into flames, and there were more than one fires.

Liu Lin exclaimed: "There are enemy troops inside the city!"

Liu Yu said angrily: "How can there be any internal support? It must be an important minister in the court who disobeys me and sends his trusted servants to set fires everywhere."

At this moment, a group of broken troops came running.

When the leader saw Liu Yu, he immediately cried: "My lord, Wang Shan's fellow rebel has rebelled, and Yang Jin and Li Gui have also rebelled!"

Wang Shan, Yang Jin, and Li Gui were all bandit leaders in Hebei. Historically, they surrendered to Zongze. In this time and space, they were recruited by the puppet government. Due to their poor reputation, Wanyan Zongwang considered them credible and allowed them to garrison in Zhending Mansion.

When Liu Yu heard that all three generals had turned against him, he was so frightened that he trembled all over: "Quickly take the Queen Mother and Your Majesty out of the city!"

They rushed towards the palace, and his nephew Liu Yi was ready. He took the crying queen mother and the confused little emperor with his troops and fled out of the northwest gate to Lingshou County, more than 30 miles away.

Wang Shan opened the southeast gate and welcomed Yue Fei and others into the city.

The city gate was lost, and fire broke out inside and outside the city. The Han soldiers in the city either defected or fled. The remaining Jin soldiers were frightened and frightened and fled back to the city to find Shiliai.

Shi Liai has a way of dealing with civil affairs, but he doesn't know much about fighting.

Seeing the chaos in the city, and learning that Liu Yu had run away with the Queen Mother and the Emperor, he led these golden soldiers to chase Liu Yu.

"How to do how to do……"

Zhang Bangchang walked around the study, as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

He wanted to stay and join the Ming Dynasty, but he was afraid of being liquidated by his former political opponents. There were many ministers there who had old grudges with him, and they would definitely be tricked to death if they went to Tokyo. Moreover, I heard that the Zhang family had been exiled by the whole family, and I didn't know whether this news was true or false.

It's not good to continue to escape with the Jin man. That Liu Yu is so shameless!

Zhang Bangchang seemed to have difficulty choosing. He was struggling in his study, not to welcome the Ming army into the city, nor to take advantage of the chaos to escape.

Ever since Liu Yu attacked Huang Qianshan, most of the important officials in the puppet court were Liu Yu's confidants. These guys packed up their belongings and fled with Liu Yu with their whole family.

Among the remaining important officials in the central government, Zhang Bangchang has the highest official position, followed by Dong Ti, the Minister of Rites.

Zhang Bangchang did not come forward, but Dong Ti took the opportunity to stand up.

Dong Ti sent people to contact officials everywhere, called a group of officials to his home, and said: "There are two fires in the city, and I sent people to put them out. I have already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. Officials below the sixth rank will immediately lead people Put out the fire in the city. Officials of rank six or above will follow me to meet the heavenly soldiers!"