Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The seventh month of the lunar calendar, Shazhou.

Li Yanxian, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, has arrived for one and a half months, and the deputy commander Zhong Yanchong is still gathering follow-up troops in Lanzhou.

"Ding ding ding..."

The Shazhou telegraph machine kept ringing, and the commander-in-chief Li Yanxian and the military supervisor Fu Yuanheng took out their respective code books to translate the telegram together.

After a long time, Li Yanxian picked up the newly-made telegram: "In Lanzhou, the last batch of troops and civilians have arrived. We can go out here."

During the war, the troops were divided into several routes, one of which was to reduce the pressure on logistics.

But the expedition to the Western Regions could not be divided into troops, and there was only one road, the Hexi Corridor. There were hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians, and it was impossible to move forward all at once. They had to go slowly in batches, otherwise it would be difficult to find firewood for camping along the way.

At present, Shazhou, Guazhou, Suzhou, Ganzhou, and Lanzhou all have troops and civilians temporarily stationed along the way.

When Li Yanxian accepted the seal of the commander in Luoyang, he had already sworn an oath, and immediately sent out the vanguard after receiving the telegram.

Wu Jie was the vanguard general of the Western Expedition. He had trained troops in the Hexi Corridor for several years and had been paying attention to the intelligence of the Western Regions. He was the most suitable person to serve as the vanguard of the Western Expedition.

Wu Jie's vanguard troops had 2,400 charioteers, 1,800 combat soldiers, 800 cavalrymen, and the rest were auxiliary soldiers and civilians.

In addition to repairing equipment and transporting food and grass, those auxiliary soldiers and civilians were also responsible for the engineering work of opening roads and building bridges when encountering mountains and rivers.

As for the vanguard troops, fighting was secondary. You can't leave a big pit in the middle of the road for the main force, and you have to repair the bridges destroyed by the enemy quickly.

Wu Jie's troops had 120 unicycle chariots.

He felt that the existing chariots of the Ming Dynasty were too slow, too steady, and not aggressive enough, so he petitioned to try to modify the chariots. Zhu Ming adopted Yu Dayou's chariot idea, briefly described it, and asked Wu Jie to use it as a reference.

Wu Jie was shocked when he received the emperor's reply.

Compared with Qi Jiguang's chariot, Yu Dayou's chariot is more offensive, and his idea was still used by Zuo Zongtang until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chengzong's main force used Qi Jiguang's chariot. However, Yu Dayou's chariot was used to form a marine corps, which was specially used to attack the coastal areas of Liaodong by boat.

Let's put it this way, a Yu Dayou-style chariot battalion with three or four thousand soldiers can chase and beat tens of thousands of cavalry.

But no matter what kind of chariot battalion, when encountering a truly powerful enemy, it needs a large number of regular cavalry to cooperate. Hong Chengchou was disgusted by the Guanning cavalry. Those guys didn't listen to orders at all. They often left the infantry to fight alone and fled after being ambushed or frustrated.

This resulted in the main force of the late Ming Dynasty only being able to exert two or three percent of its combat effectiveness.

Wu Jie served as the vanguard this time, with a 5,000-man synthetic brigade, of which 800 were cavalry!

A chariot team consists of 20 charioteers (drivers and firearms) and 15 combat soldiers (cold weapon troops). 120 chariots make up a brigade, with a full complement of 4,200 people, plus 5,000 cavalry.

The reason for using a wheelbarrow is to quickly cross battlefield obstacles. It takes 3 to 5 people to push the chariot. During the battle, there are legs for fixing the chariot, which can be lifted up and pushed forward quickly.

If it is a long-distance march, two wheels can be temporarily installed and pulled forward by mules and horses.

Each wheelbarrow is a fire output platform.

Zhu Ming even asked artillery craftsmen to develop a small rapid artillery - the Francois cannon specifically for Wu Jie. It does not seek to shoot far or be powerful, but only to quickly load and fire during battle.

A chariot is equipped with three artillery pieces, all of which are light wrought iron barrels weighing 120 kilograms. It is also equipped with five flintlock gunners.

The soldier responsible for pushing the cart also serves as an artillery assistant during battle.

This type of Franji-style artillery can be equipped with shells in advance, and the firing rate can reach several shots per minute. What restricts it is not the loading speed, but the overheating of the barrel during firing.

And unlike Qi Jiguang's chariot battalion, Yu Dayou's chariot battalion is a highly mobile unit!

…

Including civilians, the vanguard of more than 10,000 people set out from Shazhou (Dunhuang) to Yizhou (Hami).

East of Xingxing Gorge, all are actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

Those places with water sources have already built beacon towers and food transfer stations in advance, so Wu Jie's vanguard marched very fast.

They can walk more than 60 miles a day, and there is no need to camp at night. They can use chariots and supplies to guard against wild beasts.

In fact, this place is too desolate and there are no large wild beasts.

It was not until approaching Xingxing Gorge that Wu Jie slowed down his march. At about 2 o'clock every afternoon, he would stop to camp seriously and send light cavalry to the front to explore.

Xingxing Gorge is the first throat to enter the Western Regions, and the transportation of grain and grass is extremely difficult.

In many places, four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriages cannot pass, and must be transported by camels, mules, or wheelbarrows.

The heavy chariots (side-compartment carriages) of the Ming Dynasty must be disassembled at this section of the road, transported and reassembled.

According to legend, Fan Lihua of the Tang Dynasty once fought a foreign general here.

The general guarding the pass, with a green face and fangs, was a gorilla, so this place was named Orangutan Gorge.

After entering Xingxing Gorge, Wu Jie marched slowly on the rugged mountain road.

This section of the road is not long, but it is extremely difficult to walk. The gun barrels on the wheelbarrows were all unloaded and towed, and even so, they often overturned.

At the western section of Xingxing Gorge, smoke suddenly rose.

There is a castle built by the Gaochang Uighurs, which also serves as a post station and a tax station. Merchants traveling along the Silk Road would stop here.

There are no rivers nearby, and they rely entirely on bitter spring water. It is difficult for the water source to supply the army.

During the Qing Dynasty, this place was directly named Kushuiyi.

"Choose a place to camp, recover your strength, and attack the city tomorrow." Wu Jie ordered.

This matter must be done by the vanguard force, otherwise the main army will be blocked by the enemy fort in Xingxing Gorge, and the drinking water carried by the army will be finished in a short time.

Even if they knew that Ming Dynasty was coming to kill them, the pass castle in Xingxing Gorge only had 500 troops stationed there.

In the past, there were only a few dozen troops stationed.

Because for Xiliao, supply here is also difficult.

The next day, Wu Jie led his army to attack Zhaibao.

Many of the mountains here are barren of grass, a few have low shrubs, and there are very few trees that can be used to make siege equipment!

Fortunately, Wu Jie had already found out clearly, and he had hundreds of simple flying ladders with him.

The Zhaibao is located at the exit of Xingxingxia, and the terrain is slightly more open.

However, the tanks and artillery still could not be fully deployed.

Wu Jie sent troops to block the passage ahead, and the artillerymen led the civilians to climb the hillside and carve out small platforms on the mountain wall.

It's just a small cannon weighing 120 kilograms, and its rear force is not great.

The five hundred defenders in the fortress were looking outside with trepidation. The guard wanted to escape directly, because there was no way there would be large reinforcements here. At most, one or two thousand more people would be sent to help delay, so that Hami would have more time to gather troops.

The Western Liao garrison here was abandoned from the beginning.

In order to enhance the fighting will of the defenders, Xiao Chala'abu even gave military orders. The stronghold only needs to be raised in smoke and defended for more than five days before the defenders can abandon the stronghold and escape.

If they escape within five days, all the soldiers guarding the stronghold will be executed, and their families will also become slaves!

The shield bearers protected the musketeers as they slowly approached the fortress and fired freely at the fortress, while the enemy also shot arrows at them.

It was a small cannon that weighed 120 kilograms, and it was a Furlong machine gun with insufficient air tightness. It couldn't hit very far at all.

Therefore, the platform built by the artillerymen and civilians was even within the range of the defenders' strong bows. The musketeers must provide cover, and the shield bearers must protect them.

For a moment, bows, arrows and muskets from both sides exchanged fire.

The shield bearers climbed up the hillside with difficulty, protecting the gunners and civilians as they dug artillery platforms on the slope.

There are also people who carry earth to fill the ditch in front of the village. There is no river here, so there is no need for a moat. The trenches were not dug deep because the soil was too hard to dig and the defenders did not have the manpower and material resources.

The peasants had their own wooden planks to protect themselves from arrows, which were removed from the chariot.

It took a whole day to build a simple fort and fill in several trenches.

I slept there that night and sent troops in turns to block the passage. Several tanks were placed directly in front as obstacles.

In fact, the defenders had no intention of going out for a night attack. They just wanted to survive the five days as soon as possible, then abandon the stronghold and escape to the next stronghold.

These fortresses along the route were all used to delay time due to supply difficulties.

At this moment, the smoke of war had already reached Yizhou (Hami), and Xiao Chala'a Bu was ordering a gathering of troops, and at the same time he also mobilized the troops from Gaochang (Turpan).

By the time Wu Jie broke through a series of forts, Xiliao's army was almost gathered.

On the third day after arriving at Xingxingxia Village, Wu Jie began to officially attack the village.

First, test the gun.

320 small guns took turns to test fire, ensuring that each gun hit the village wall or war shed as much as possible.

The defenders of Xiliao were shocked. They had only heard of the power of artillery, and today they experienced it in person for the first time.

But fearing that they would be executed if they escaped and that their families would become slaves, they had to stay here for more than five days.

The artillery debugging was completed and the infantry began to attack the city.

"Rapid artillery fire!"

Wu Jie gave an order, and 320 small artillery pieces opened fire in unison.

After firing, the sub-barrels were immediately replaced, and the assistants quickly moved to reload the fired sub-cannons.

Under the operation of a skilled gunner, a shell can be fired every 15 seconds on average.

In fact, it can be faster. According to actual calculations, the total time of the first three shots is less than 20 seconds. Subsequent shots will be slightly slower.

This thing has only two shortcomings. One is that the air tightness is too poor to shoot far, and the other is that continuous firing causes the barrel to overheat.

The best range of a small 120-pound French cannon like this is within 200 meters.

At this time, only 360 small artillery pieces were seen firing, with an average of one shell every ten seconds. It was still a salvo at the beginning, but due to the varying speeds of the gunners, the firing became chaotic, as if shells were falling all the time.

But the power is too small, hitting the wall is like scratching an itch.

But the war shed could not withstand the bombardment of small artillery. Before the popularity of firearms, this thing was usually a wooden structure.

Timber is difficult to cut here and access to water is difficult. The war tents of the fortress are neither made of wood nor rammed earth. Instead, they are made of simple adobe bricks made of soft soil soaked in spring water.

A thin layer of adobe brick walls will cause holes to appear within a few hits.

After a few more shots, it collapsed partially, and the defenders hiding inside suffered heavy casualties.

"Stop the artillery fire!"

Flags waved and horns sounded.

The artillery stopped one after another, and the siege troops were only a few dozen steps away from the wall.

The guard tremblingly looked up to check, and found that the situation was not good, and quickly shouted: "Hurry up and shoot the arrow!"

The Xiliao archers quickly stood up and shot arrows at the siege troops.

However, the Ming army's siege troops did not continue to advance, and stopped there to let the shield bearers block the arrows.

At the same time, the musketeers following behind them had already aimed at the battlements. The defenders who stood up to shoot arrows were instantly shot by 600 flintlocks, and about twenty unlucky people were shot and fell down.

It has just begun!

The small artillery that took a short break fired again with the waving of the flag, frightening the defenders who had just stood up and quickly lay down again.

After a round of bombardment, the battlefield became quiet again.

The barrel was too hot and needed to be slowed down.

The defenders did not stand up immediately, but carefully poked their heads out, only to see that the siege troops were still standing there.

A few Western Liao archers bravely stood up and shot arrows, and were hit by muskets again. The arrows were shot out in a panic, with insufficient accuracy and power, and the Ming army also had shieldmen to block the arrows.

The two sides continued to confront each other.

After a long time, the barrels of the Ming army cooled down and began to fire again, this time deliberately reducing the firing rate.

After two or three rounds of volleys, all the war sheds on the front of the fort collapsed. It was a facility used by the defenders to hide and mobilize troops, and also served as an arrow tower. At this moment, it had been flattened by artillery.

After all, they had never suffered from firearms, otherwise they would have been built more firmly and would not have been blown down by a bunch of small cannons.

The Ming army still did not continue to approach the wall of the fort, but the defenders did not dare to stand up again, and at most stuck out half of their heads to check the situation.

Wu Jie waited for the barrels to cool down, and then said to the messenger: "Order the soldiers to attack the city. When the defenders stand up, the automatic artillery (Flanger cannon) will only fire one shot and then stop, so as not to accidentally injure the friendly forces attacking the city! Before the artillery stops, the muskets are not allowed to fire."

As soon as the siege troops moved, the defenders exclaimed: "The Ming army is coming!"

The archers who were still alive stood up and shot arrows, and more than 300 shells flew immediately.

After the artillery stopped, the flintlock rifles also began to fire in turns.

The siege troops also bravely advanced, fearing that the shells would hit the wall and bounce back. Only when the shelling stopped did they speed up and trot forward under the cover of muskets.

The defenders were completely desperate, facing the Ming army's muskets and risking their lives to shoot arrows at the siege troops.

Due to the angle problem, the shield bearers of the siege party could not effectively protect their comrades. But their comrades, one by one, wore cotton armor with iron plates embedded in them, and even pulled down their face armor to prevent arrows.

Wu Jie's troops belonged to the assault-type heavy armored combined brigade!

Not only were the chariot soldiers and cavalry elite, but even the infantry's armor weighed 50 kilograms. If this 50-kilogram cotton armor was placed in the Song and Liao dynasties, its defense would almost catch up with that of heavy infantry.

Especially the anti-arrow performance, which was no different from the previous heavy armor.

Seeing that the Ming army was shot but nothing happened, the defenders who survived the multiple firearms attacks felt desperate and wanted to escape at this moment.

"Those who run away will be killed, and their families will be enslaved!"

"It's the third day since the smoke of war was raised. We can leave after two more days!"

The general shouted desperately. In fact, he also wanted to escape.

These enemies were too evil and could not be defeated at all. They could not hold on for long.

Due to the difficulty in obtaining wood, there was not even a beam in the fort, so they could only throw earth and stones.

There was no boiling oil, and it was too difficult to transport supplies. The food they usually ate was not very oily.

Only gold juice and boiling water were left.

Hundreds of simple flying ladders were put on the wall of the fort, and earth and stones kept falling down. Some defenders also used push rods to push the flying ladders directly, and the siege soldiers fell heavily, and some were even knocked unconscious.

"Ah!"

After several pots of gold juice and boiling water were poured, the Ming army siege screamed.

However, some ruthless people in the siege troops continued to climb after being scalded by boiling water.

There were too few defenders!

There were only 500 people. Some died when the war tents collapsed, and some died when they were hit by cannons and guns.

Even if the wounded who could still fight were counted, there were only more than 300 people who could fight now.

At this moment, hundreds of flying ladders were put up. On average, three and a half defenders had to defend one ladder. How many people could be spared to throw earth, rocks, gold juice and boiling water?

Moreover, the wall of the village was only more than three meters high.

In such a broken place, only such a high fortress could be built.

Soon, more than ten Ming soldiers on simple flying ladders climbed up the city smoothly. They relied on their excellent armor, and climbing up was like a tiger into a flock of sheep when the defenders were short of manpower.

The Western Liao defenders collapsed!

Because there was no reserve at all, any place that was breached meant the loss of the entire line.

The surviving defenders turned around and fled. What escaping was a capital crime, what family members became slaves, at this time, they could not suppress the instinct to escape.

The siege troops opened the gate of the fortress.

The artillery, civilians and auxiliary soldiers on the mountain road had already made way for the siege. The Ming cavalry, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed into the village and chased and killed all the fleeing defenders.

The vanguard troops generally did not take prisoners unless it was beneficial to the next action.