Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Whether you are holding on to the city or forming a camp for confrontation, you cannot just defend it because morale will drop quickly.

So Taira Takaramori followed the rules and went out to challenge the day after the confrontation.

Before the Heian Period and the early Heian Period, due to the existence of foreign wars, Japan mainly fought in military formations. Moreover, with a central army, soldiers need to regularly train formations. There are also a large number of crossbows, and long-range firepower determines combat effectiveness.

After the capital was moved to Heianjing, the Central Army gradually disappeared due to the prolonged peace.

The Japanese army only retains a small number of legionary forces in the northeast.

In vast areas, the armed forces of wealthy families are the main force.

The scale of the war became smaller, and even peasants and soldiers did not bother to recruit. It is often a knight on horseback, leading a group of gangsters out, and the scene is similar to a gang fight. Victory or defeat is often determined by single combat, and "one-horse bet" is becoming more and more popular.

If there is a battle involving thousands of people, there will also be a very strict process.

First of all, warriors wearing large armor, riding horses and shooting bows and arrows, did not fight in close combat.

Then, the armored warriors sent out their Langdang, those warriors who fought on foot, to engage in a small-scale warrior melee.

Finally, farmers and soldiers from both sides rushed forward and fought in a messy manner.

The large-armored warriors only fought against the large-armored warriors. They didn't bother to fight with ordinary warriors, and they didn't even bother to kill the peasant soldiers.

If you are a peasant soldier and dare to attack a armored warrior, then you will be punished for not practicing martial ethics.

I saw the gate of the Japanese army's camp opening. Ping Zhongsheng was the first to come out wearing a large armor, followed by a group of Lang Party warriors. Behind them, there was another large group of armored warriors, riding horses and leading their respective men in formation.

Then came a large group of farmers and soldiers, arranged in a chaotic formation to fight.

This kind of large armor is not quite the same as the armor used in Japan during the Warring States Period.

When it was designed, it had to follow the fighting habits of armored warriors. It is mainly for the convenience of shooting arrows and drawing swords, and its defensive features are all about preventing shooting and slashing.

It has a lot of shortcomings, it's heavy and clumsy.

Wearing this thing, you can't even move widely. You can only shoot arrows and draw a sword to chop, but it's difficult to make other complex movements.

Its greatest advantage is - bluffing!

The more stylish and gorgeous the better, the various parts may even be decorated with many decorations that have no practical effect according to the user's preferences.

They are the first generation of voluptuous bitches in Japanese armor.

At this moment, Ping Zhongsheng was wearing a large armor.

There are two antlers rising from the helmet, and their length is about one-fifth of Taira Takaramori's height.

The shoulder armor is extremely wide and connected with copper plates. The golden light can brighten a blind dog's eyes. In addition to enhancing the defense power of such a wide shoulder armor, its biggest "function" is to limit the user's movement flexibility.

The armor skirt is similar, wide and overlapping. It would be difficult for a samurai to perform most equestrian movements when wearing this thing.

It is clumsy and heavy, making it difficult to mount a horse.

According to the fixed battle process, Ping Zhongsheng rode out in armor and went to the Ming army's formation to ask for a test of archery skills.

The coach of the Ming army must appear. If he sends anyone else, he will look down on Ping Zhongmori.

Even if Zhu Xiaozhong comes on the stage to compete, both sides can only draw their bows and shoot at each other. Anyone who dares to rush over and fight in close combat has no martial ethics. Because all armored warriors have status, casualties are inevitable in close combat. Even if there were no casualties, it would be ugly to accidentally fall off a horse.

Yuan Sheng muttered for a while, explaining Japan's war rules.

Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and actually rode a horse to fight in person. But he was using a compound bow, while Taira Takaramori was holding a single bow.

The coaches of both sides rushed out.

Behind Ping Zhongsheng, followed a group of Lang party infantry warriors.

Behind Zhu Xiaozhong were a group of fusiliers.

After running for more than twenty steps, Zhu Xiaozhong saw the Lang party warriors on the opposite side stop and said to the musketeers behind him: "You are here to raid the formation!"

The coaches of both sides continued to advance on horseback. When they reached a certain distance, Ping Zhongsheng bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and Zhu Xiaozhong followed suit.

They fired several arrows at each other, and two or three arrows hit, but none of them could successfully break through the armor.

Although the Japanese armor is bulky and gorgeous, its defensive power is really strong, and the noble warriors are very precious about their lives.

Zhu Xiaozhong simply continued to charge forward on horseback. Ping Zhongsheng did not want to lose face, so he also approached and continued shooting.

The Japanese samurai who were watching the match all exclaimed in admiration, expressing their admiration for the bravery of the two coaches. Normally, armored warriors would not be so close to each other when shooting at each other. If they were not careful, they would really shoot someone to death.

"call out"!

An armor-piercing arrow with a chisel head hit Ping Zhongsheng's chest with maximum power at the optimal riding distance of twelve or three steps while Zhu Xiaozhong was charging on horseback.

The ordinary arrow shot by Ping Zhongsheng with a single bow also hit Zhu Xiaozhong, but... it couldn't break the armor.

Ping Zhong was horrified and quickly reined in his horse and turned to run away.

The Lang party warriors who were plundering the formation for him stepped forward to assist him, drawing their swords and guns to block Zhu Xiaozhong who was pursuing him.

Next, it was time for the Lang party warriors to engage in a melee.

Zhu Xiaozhong was very disciplined and did not pursue any more. Instead, he rode away from the musket shooting area and let the "musketeers" behind him take action.

A group of orphans adopted by Ju Ming made a temporary appearance as Lang Party warriors, and they all raised their flintlock guns.

Ping Zhongsheng rode back and signaled the other armored warriors to come forward with their respective Lang Party warriors. If the Lang party fails in the melee, these armored warriors will also go up and continue fighting with the "armored warriors" of the Ming army.

But he said that Ping Zhongsheng's Lang party warriors were charging on the board with swords and guns.

Suddenly I heard a "bang bang bang" sound and smoke was rising from the enemy formation on the opposite side.

More than a dozen Lang Party warriors who were charging forward fell down in confusion. Others were still charging, not knowing what was happening.

The second row of fusiliers then pulled the trigger.

Third row of fusiliers...

After three rounds of flintlock fire, only a few of the Lang Party warriors who were still charging were left.

They finally realized something was wrong, turned around to check, and found that all their teammates had fallen down.

"Monster! It's a monster!"

The surviving Lang party warriors were so frightened that they immediately turned around and charged in the opposite direction.

Those fusiliers were all monsters in their eyes, a group of man-eating demons that breathed fire and smoke!

Ping Zhongmori, the other armored warriors, the Lang party warriors, as well as the peasant soldiers who were pulled to raid the formation, were all horrified when they saw this, and could not understand such a weapon that they had never seen before.

"Drum roll!"

"kill!"

Dozens of Ming cavalry rushed out first, followed by a thousand soldiers, leaving a thousand soldiers as a reserve.

On the Japanese army side, the first reaction of the armored warriors was to flee, and they quickly fled back to the camp with their men.

Ping Zhongsheng also deployed troops on the mountains on both sides. He shouted: "Raise the flag, beat the drum, attack from three sides, no escape!"

Some armored warriors were willing to obey orders and lead their men to fight.

But more armored warriors speeded up their escape, unwilling to fight the fire-breathing and smoke-breathing enemy.

Those who escaped were mainly warriors who joined along the way. They were not under the control of Ping Zhongsheng in normal times, but because of the central government's orders and wanting to rob treasures, they came with the army to fight.

Once an accident occurs, these guys will never go all out, but think about how to preserve their own strength.

The warriors and peasant soldiers on the mountains on both sides were much braver. Because they were attacking from the side and outflanking them, rather than facing the Ming army head-on, they had an innate battlefield psychological advantage.

Zhu Xiaozhong had already rushed back to the formation and stood in the valley with his reserve team, forming a formation to deal with the enemies coming from the mountains on both sides.

Dozens of musketeers were also lined up on both sides to load ammunition.

In the front direction, the Japanese army was already in chaos. The few armored warriors who tried to fight led the Lang Party to summon peasant soldiers. But the peasants and soldiers were being attacked by the fleeing warriors, and their already chaotic formation was made even more chaotic by the fleeing warriors.

The Ming cavalry rushed forward first, all firing armor-piercing arrows.

Moreover, he was too lazy to care about the clumsy armored warriors with extremely high defense, and specifically shot at the Langdang warriors with weaker defense.

After shooting, he swept away, then drew his bow and shot at another target.

A thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty formed a formation and trotted forward.

Their enemies were a group of large-armored warriors and Langdang warriors in a chaotic formation.

The warriors who fought bravely with a strict formation against a chaotic formation, with the majority fighting against the minority, were instantly overwhelmed.

Especially those armored warriors, they have never encountered such a scene. Usually they fight with warriors of equal status. At most, they are besieged by Lang party warriors, and there is no way they will be overwhelmed by the tide of soldiers. Even when encountering enemy peasants and soldiers, they were too lazy to take action, as it would stain their samurai swords.

At this moment, they were surrounded and killed by a group of Ming soldiers.

These soldiers of the Ming Dynasty did not respect martial ethics, and they actually used their status as lowly soldiers to besiege the armored warriors with noble blood.

It’s simply a breakdown of etiquette and music!

If all the rituals and music are ruined, why should we fight for our lives? The armored warriors were so frightened that they galloped away on horseback.

As soon as they fled, the Lang party warriors under their command followed them.

The peasants and soldiers further back were even more unwilling to fight and rushed towards the gate of the camp.

Countless people were trampled to death in front of the village gate, and even the walls of the village were broken down. The archers guarding the village could only shoot arrows randomly, and then run away after shooting one arrow.

The enemy troops rushing down the mountains on both sides were fired upon by flintlock rifles from a long distance.

Unfortunately, there were too few musketeers and they only frightened some of the enemy troops. More armored warriors, led by Lang Party warriors and peasant soldiers, charged over with desperate double-teaming.

The reason why they are so brave is because the Ming army has only a thousand reserves, and its own strength is several times that of the Ming army.

The fusiliers have withdrawn from the formation, and the Ming soldiers are fighting in formation.

The chaotic enemy troops rushed up, seemingly in large numbers. But the Ming army, which was heavily arrayed, had a partial advantage in strength and was like a killing machine reaping the lives of the enemy.

The Japanese army two to three hundred years ago also knew how to fight in formations, and was equipped with a large number of bows and crossbows.

Now it has completely degraded, military formations are almost no longer practiced, crossbows are gradually eliminated, and only single bows still exist on the battlefield.

They had to wait a few more decades, and after experiencing the Genpei War, they suddenly realized something was wrong and learned lessons from the expanded war.

When the time comes, the armor will be improved one after another, and the tactics will be improved one after another, and finally it will become a decent army.

And in that battle between Genpei, the protagonists of both sides were the descendants of Minamoto Weiyi and Taira Tadamori.

Thousands of Japanese troops besieged a thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. They could not hold off for a long time and became more and more panicked.

Suddenly someone discovered that another thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty had chased and attacked the defeated troops and entered the camp. It seemed that the Japanese army had been completely defeated on the front battlefield.

"Run away quickly, the people of Tang Dynasty are all demons!"

More and more Japanese soldiers who besieged the Ming army's reserves turned and fled. And they ran directly into the mountains, not daring to return to their camp.

Ping Zhongsheng rode wildly all the way, but his Lang party warriors were too far forward, and all of them were killed in the battle.

Behind him was an overwhelming mass of defeated troops. The Ming army's cavalry intercepted them everywhere, trying to force as many peasants and soldiers to surrender as possible.

Until this moment, Ping Zhongmheng didn't understand how he was defeated.

He didn't even think about today's decisive battle. He just followed the fixed war process and engaged in a shooting battle between the armored warriors and a melee between the Lang party warriors. He didn't even plan to invest in peasant soldiers.

He still thought of stalling for time until Yuan Weiyi led his troops to block the enemy's retreat, trapping the Ming army in the valley and besieging them from all sides.

With this kind of tactical thinking, Taira Takaramori was considered Japan's top military strategist at this time.