Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Jinzhou, the beautiful state.

The population here is mainly Han and Bohai, and a large number of craftsmen and farmers moved here in the early Liao Dynasty.

It was a private state for the emperor and queen of the Liao Kingdom. The emperor sent private soldiers to garrison it, and various specialties were directly supplied to the royal family of the Liao Kingdom.

Comparing the agricultural tools unearthed in later generations, the agricultural technology in the Jinzhou area of ​​the Liao Dynasty was far more advanced than that in northern Shanxi at that time.

When Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty spent money to buy the land of Youyan, the Kingdom of Jin moved a large number of farmers and craftsmen from Youzhou to Jinzhou for resettlement. Jinzhou has developed to this day and has become more prosperous and lively, which was extremely rare in the late Liao Dynasty and early Jin Dynasty.

At this time, the Jinzhou City Wall had a circumference of six miles. This was nothing in the Central Plains region, but it was one of the top cities in the Northeast.

Wanyan Zongfu used the food stolen from Goryeo to formulate a plan to clean up the coast.

Among them, Quang Ninh Prefecture and Jinzhou sent 13,000 troops, 60% of whom were issued militiamen. In order to drive away Li Bao, the Jin Kingdom did not care about affecting Jinzhou's production. Not only did many farmers join the army, but even the craftsmen in the city were beaten to war.

These troops were commanded by Wanyan Zongbi.

Over at Yanshan Mansion, Wanyan Zongwang also mobilized 10,000 people and gave them to Wanyan Talan to bring over.

Jin soldiers from the east and west, with a total of 23,000 troops, attacked the coastal county where Li Bao was stationed!

This dilapidated county town has a wall perimeter of less than three miles and looks more like a slightly larger castle.

"The Ming army in the city should come out to fight if they have the guts. Don't huddle in the city like women. If you don't come out, you will be a bastard without eggs..."

After the two groups of Jin soldiers converged, before the moat was filled in, Wanyan Zongbi sent someone to call for a duel outside the city.

Don’t think that a battle between military commanders is a novelist’s invention.

Until the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, single combat between military commanders was still very popular.

As the population of the Tang Dynasty recovered and the army and horses became stronger, the phenomenon of single combat became less and less, but it revived in the Five Dynasties.

During the Five Generations of warlords, the population dropped sharply, the number of troops decreased, and the intensity of wars decreased. It was often the case that single battles determined the outcome.

The current era is another recovery period for duel.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty in history, when the Jin Kingdom was facing difficulties in overcoming difficulties, it was forced to curse and call into battle. The overall quality of the Song Army is not good, but there are many strong men, which is just suitable for a one-on-one challenge in front of the battle. Anyway, if they lose, they can continue to retreat and defend.

The two countries of Song and Jin hit it off immediately, and there are many records of duels in history books.

The Jin generals outside the city were scolding him more and more unpleasantly. Not long after Daming Zhen surrendered, he was eager to perform meritorious service and took the initiative to ask for help: "General, let me go out of the city to meet that guy, so that the Jin soldiers will not dare to call him again!"

Li Bao glanced at Daming Zhen and said, "Our army is absolutely safe in defending the city. Why are you taking the risk of going out of the city?"

Da Mingzhen stopped talking. There was a young general Hu Yantong beside him, who was also eager to perform meritoriously: "General, if I lose, I will deal with it according to military law!"

Li Bao said: "I know you are a powerful fighter, so there is no need for that right now."

Hu Yantong had no choice but to shut up, but his eyes were looking outside the city eager to try.

This guy is the prototype of Hu Yanzhuo in "Water Margin", but he is not a Liangshan hero, but a Xiangjun general from Shandong.

In history, Han Shizhong faced danger several times, but Hu Yantong stepped forward to turn the situation around. Once, he even turned defeat into victory by relying on a duel in front of the battle. It's a pity that this person committed suicide by drowning in the end. Some historical data say that he was suppressed by Han Shizhong, but the specific process is very outrageous, and it seems more like he was disheartened by the entire Southern Song Dynasty court.

In the next half month, Jin Bing sent people to fill in the moat and at the same time built a large number of return cannons.

As the moat was filled up little by little, the morale of Li Bao's direct troops remained as usual, but other troops appeared quite nervous.

There were only three thousand of Li Bao's direct descendants in the city, another two thousand newly formed field troops, and five to six hundred Bohai soldiers who had defected.

As the Jin soldiers yelled at each other every day and the Ming army remained in the city, Li Bao obviously felt that his morale was declining. He called Hu Yantong over and said, "Go out and meet that guy. Just don't get hacked."

"Yes!" Hu Yantong was overjoyed.

The city gate opened, and Hu Yantong led a group of soldiers and horses to rush out.

Wanyan Zongbi said to one of the generals: "Kill this man and break the enemy's morale. Then we can attack the city with twice the result with half the effort."

This golden general is called Wuyan Puluhun, who comes from the Wugudihun Mountain District on Haozan Road. He was originally under the account of Wanyanja's mother together with his brother Hushahu. Later, he began to lead his own troops, with one hundred Jurchen soldiers from his own tribe, and the rest were mixed troops from various ethnic groups.

Wuyan Puluhun is famous for his bravery. It is said that he can draw a strong bow and shoot 270 steps, which means he can shoot an arrow 400 meters!

But I saw them each leading a team of soldiers and horses, confronting each other outside the moat.

The men on both sides were waving flags and shouting, and the rear continued to beat drums to cheer. Huyantong and Puluhun each rode forward.

If Ju Ming were at the scene at this moment, he would definitely feel that it was outrageous. In what era are we still playing one-on-one?

The last time Zhu Ming personally led troops to confront Wanyan Zongwang, Jin soldiers came to challenge him many times, but they were all rejected by Prince Zhu.

The war horse began to trot, Puluhun bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow hundreds of steps away.

Hu Yantong lay on his horse, arrows flying over his head, and the sound of them breaking through the air shocked him. When he was still unconvinced, Hu Yantong took aim with his bow and began to shoot at the enemy general on horseback.

Two consecutive arrows were shot at each other, and the leather horse armors were both hit. Both of them were quite afraid of each other.

The horses ran faster and faster, and they each drew back their bows and raised their guns.

There was no charge with guns clamped. When the horses crossed each other, they were more than three meters apart. They hold spears about four meters long, twist their bodies while stabbing sideways, which is the most common horse fighting posture in ancient Chinese paintings.

"Poof!"

The impact of the spears makes a sound. At this time, it is not about strength, but about who has the most exquisite moves, because the charge of the war horse has its own strength.

Hu Yantong continued to beat him, taking advantage of Puluhun's spear to be tilted, and stabbed out the head of his own spear like a poisonous snake. This attack seemed to defy physics. It had clearly missed the horse. Hu Yantong's strength had become old, but the spear had grown half a foot longer out of thin air.

Puluhun dodged urgently and was almost stabbed in the throat by a gunshot. He was so frightened that his vest was sweating like crazy.

The horses ran a certain distance each, and the two turned around and galloped to start the second round of fighting.

The charging distance this time was very short. Before the horses could fully accelerate, the spears had already collided again, and there was still no winner.

In the third round, the charging distance is shorter.

In such a fight, not only are moves compared to each other, but strength also becomes extremely important, because the horse's speed is simply too fast.

After fighting, they stopped charging at all. Each of them rode their war horses in a small circle, fighting with guns while spinning.

Li Bao also became nervous when he looked through the telescope, and took the drumstick to beat the drum himself to cheer.

The officers and soldiers of both armies shouted loudly and cheered for their generals.

Hu Yantong regretted fighting like this. His marksmanship was more sophisticated, but his strength was slightly smaller, which gave him an advantage in the charge. At this time, the fight started. Wuyan Puluhun knew that his marksmanship was inferior, so he kept using brute force to fight Huyan.

This golden general's moves are wide open and closed, deliberately reducing thrusts and using more sweeps.

Hu Yantong suddenly accelerated towards the city wall and fled, no longer riding in circles with the enemy generals, and fled the battlefield in a panic as if admitting defeat.

Wuyan Puluhun immediately chased on horseback. Countless golden soldiers shouted louder, thinking that their general had won.

Hu Yantong lay on the horse, his mind extremely clear, and controlled the speed of the horse so that the enemy could catch up.

He pricked up his ears to distinguish the distance of the horse's hoofbeats, and turned his head slightly to observe the enemy's riding posture. Just when Wuyan Puluhun caught up with him and drew his gun, Huyantong drew his gun at an extremely weird angle.

The spear seemed to come alive, the gun body rotating in the direction of shaking, and this rotation was hidden in the twisting of the body. In Wuyan Puluhun's field of vision, he only saw Hu Yantong twisting and avoiding, and suddenly a cold light approached quickly, giving him no time to react.

It's hard to guard against the carbine!

Wuyan Puluhun was shot in the face and fell to the ground on the spot.

Hu Yantong, on the other hand, reined in his horse, slowed down, urged his horse back, and shot Puluhun, who was still alive, with a shot.

The spear pierced the armor, but Wuyan Puluhun was still alive.

Hu Yantong landed on the vault, drew his sword and pressed it against the enemy general, so close to his throat.

A team of golden soldiers brought by Wuyan Puluhun to assist him rushed over to rescue him the moment he fell from his horse. The soldiers brought by Hu Yantong also roared and rushed forward.

The drumbeats from both sides became more intense.

Hu Yantong picked up Wuyan Puluhun's head, quickly remounted his horse, and galloped back and forth in the open space to show off.

He led his team and rushed towards Jin Bing's supporting team.

The morale of the golden soldiers was greatly reduced, and they fled back in embarrassment after being killed. Hu Yantong led his troops and took away Wuyan Puluhun's horses and corpses.

A large group of Jin soldiers caught up and arrived near the moat, but were shot back by the Ming army defending the city.

"Good man!"

Li Bao went down to greet Hu Yantong in person, patted Hu Yantong on the shoulder and expressed his admiration.

"Wonderful victory, ten thousand victory!"

The Ming army officers and soldiers guarding the city burst into cheers.

However, if the generals on the Jin soldiers' side fail, their morale will inevitably be low.

Another golden general, regardless of applying to fight, rode towards the city and shouted: "Come and fight again if you have the guts!"

Li Bao sneered: "Shoot him to death!"

I've already won a fight, who the hell is going to challenge you in a one-on-one fight?

A volley of bows and arrows fired, and the golden general was almost shot to death on the spot. He fell off his horse and rolled back to the formation in despair.

Wanyan Zongbi and Wanyan Talan both looked helpless.

In their minds, the Ming army only had powerful firearms, and the generals would definitely be weak in single combat, so they wanted to use single combat to undermine the morale of the defenders.

Unexpectedly, the Jurchen warriors with infinite strength actually lost in the battle of generals.

Moreover, after the Ming army won a duel, they never fought again.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Seeing the golden general who called the formation flee in panic, the Ming army at the top of the city burst into laughter.

Even the Bohai soldiers who followed Da Mingzhen and Da Mingyi to surrender became confident at this moment. They had seen the power of the Sky-shattering Thunder before, and now it was so powerful even in single combat with military generals. What did they have to fear if they were to defend the city?

(I finally returned home. Just like someone who had fled famine, I showed off three bowls of rice. For someone with a heavy palate, the food in Po County is really hard to swallow.)