Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The battlefield has now been divided into three places.

In the west of Gaochang City, Zhang Xian led more than 10,000 troops to block Xiao Chala Abu's garrison from leaving the city.

In the southwest of Gaochang City, Zhong Yanchong led more than 20,000 troops and was held back by Yelu Tiege's Western Liao reinforcements.

These two battlefields, together with the main battlefield where Li Yanxian was, formed an irregular triangle.

If the three battlefields were added together, it would stretch ten miles from east to west and fourteen miles from north to south. It was difficult to know how the friendly forces were fighting, and fast horses had to be used at any time to deliver messages.

The Sun Khan of the Naiman tribe had no idea of ​​the situation.

He was a vassal of the Western Liao, and the leaders of the Naiman tribes were his vassals. He did not unify the tribes by force, but inherited the title of Sun Khan conferred by the Liao Kingdom. The several major leaders were all relatives through marriage.

If it was a favorable battle, it would be fine. In a battle like the one in front of him that required desperate efforts, Sun Khan could not effectively command at all.

A few days ago, facing the elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty, he asked the leaders of each tribe to preserve their strength and wait for the reinforcements from the Western Liao Dynasty to arrive before fighting bravely.

Now he asked the leaders to fight with all their strength, but those guys are still conserving their strength!

Eight thousand Naiman cavalrymen galloped around Zhang Xian's formation, but they didn't even have the courage to rush close to shoot arrows, fearing that the Ming army's firearms would cause them too much damage.

Xiao Cha La Abu organized infantry and cavalry attacks several times with superior forces, but all ended in failure.

The more they couldn't defeat it, the more anxious they became, worried that the reinforcements would be defeated.

There was really no way to fight, so Xiao Cha La Abu invited Taiyang Khan: "Your tribe is mainly composed of light cavalry, which is not very useful for attacking the enemy formation. All of them go around the western battlefield to harass the main force of the Ming army."

"Yes!"

Taiyang Khan led eight thousand light cavalry... Well, there are no more eight thousand, and more than seven hundred were killed and wounded in the battles these days.

He led more than seven thousand Naiman cavalrymen to bypass Zhang Xian's formation from a distance, and finally saw Li Yanxian's main force after a long delay.

Li Yanxian didn't take Taiyang Khan seriously at all, and only sent out 3,000 cavalrymen to stop him.

Yang Yun, a young Qiang general, has become a cavalry veteran in his thirties. He has only led cavalrymen for 20 years since he joined Zhu Ming. The cavalrymen in the entire Jingji area are under his control, and his title is only one step away from the county lord.

Facing 8,000 Naiman cavalrymen, Yang Yun rushed forward without saying a word.

These Ming Dynasty cavalrymen have 25 people in a squad and 250 people in a squad. The front, back, left and right of each squad are all low-level officers, and the officer ratio is frighteningly high.

And they are all top-level war horses, almost qualified to bear heavy cavalry.

From equipment to manpower to war horses, these 3,000 cavalrymen are the elite of the Ming Dynasty's elite!

They are all deployed in a horizontal row, and regardless of the thickness of the formation, each squad has only two rows and then they charge densely.

The so-called dense charge means that the distance between the cavalry is only three or four meters.

In comparison, the number of officers in the Naiman cavalry was very small, with about 50 people forming a squad, and the ratio of officers was only one-fifth of that of the Ming cavalry. When they fought, they changed their formations and directions, which came more from their long-term accumulated experience.

When the two armies fought, the difference in organization soon became apparent.

The next next Sun Khan in history, Yi Nanchi, is still the son-in-law of the current Sun Khan. He led his troops to rush to the front of a Ming cavalry brigade, and immediately split into two after shooting arrows, and slid to both sides very smoothly, and also used superior forces to let the follow-up cavalry come to shoot.

The idea of ​​this tactic is to mobilize the enemy to run around, and use the superior force to pull and surround and fly kites.

However, the flag officer of the Ming brigade immediately raised the flag and blew the trumpet, and issued basic military orders to each squad.

And each Ming cavalry squad also had a flag officer waving a small flag.

After receiving the flag order, the squad officers in the corresponding direction immediately took the lead to rein in their horses and turn around. The entire cavalry squad, including the captain, followed the officer to turn.

At the beginning, Yi Nanchi could still keep up with the pace of the Ming army.

But as they ran, they were always half a beat slower than the Ming cavalry. When executing slightly complex commands, even if the grassland cavalry had rich experience, they still needed more reaction time.

In a confused state, a group of more than 60 grassland cavalry were somehow trapped by two Ming cavalry squads, as if they had taken the initiative to run into them.

The light cavalry was trapped by the close combat of the brave cavalry, and there was no need to say what the end would be. Only a few cavalry broke through in a panic.

In the battle between the two armies of cavalry, 3,000 Ming brave cavalry rushed forward, and more than 7,000 grassland cavalry were unable to resist. Due to the backward equipment and organization, the advantage of the troops could not be brought into play at all. Instead, there were Ming cavalry squads everywhere, cooperating with each other to divide and trap the enemy, and then quickly ate the trapped prey.

After a while of fighting, more than 600 Naiman cavalry were killed or wounded, while only more than 100 Ming brave cavalry were killed or wounded.

The casualties of the Naiman tribe were mostly killed in battle.

The Ming cavalry had the most wounded, and the number of casualties was even in the single digit. The cavalry's cotton armor and the horses' leather armor were all dangling with arrows. Some of the Naiman cavalry's bone arrows couldn't even penetrate the leather armor of the horses.

As the battle went on, the tribal nobles were completely scared of being killed.

These guys ignored the military orders of the Sun Khan and took the initiative to try to distance themselves and escape, wanting to temporarily leave the battlefield to find an opportunity.

They did escape, but the price was that more than 800 people were eaten by the Ming cavalry!

Retreating far between the eastern and western battlefields, the Sun Khan was horrified. He had encountered the Ming cavalry before, but they were not the elite of the elite like Yang Yun. The battle just now made him lose his soul.

Yinanchi ran to see his father-in-law covered in blood: "Khan, my troops rushed too far forward just now, and I don't know how three or four hundred people were killed or injured!"

Taiyang Khan said: "I'll go back and give you some herdsmen."

"Khan, the Ming army is too strong," said another leader, "Even Yelu Dashi didn't have such a strong cavalry back then. The Liao Dynasty will definitely be defeated this time. Let's... withdraw..."

"Khan, withdraw the troops!"

"Khan, we can't even beat the Ming cavalry, how can we break through the Ming army's chariot formation?"

The leaders surrounded him one after another.

What does the life and death of the Western Liao have to do with them?

The descendants of these guys even had internal conflicts in another time and space. Some continued to join the Western Liao, some allied with Wang Khan, and some were loyal to Genghis Khan.

Hearing the sound of artillery in the distance, Taiyang Khan did not hesitate for too long and ordered: "Withdraw!"

Not only did they withdraw, but they also looted the tribes on the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains on their way back. Many of the young and strong men in those tribes were recruited to defend Gaochang, and Taiyang Khan took away a large number of women, children and livestock.

They even went south the following year to annex the Khitan tribal pastures belonging to the Western Liao.

Not only did they not lose money, but they made a lot of money!

How could it be more profitable to stab an ally in the back than to fight to death?

…

On the other hand, Xiao Wulila's front army was bombarded by Wu Jie and was on the verge of collapse, so he had to replace other troops to hold on.

He tried to organize the left and right armies to break through with his superior strength.

But to the left and right rear of Wu Jie's light chariot camp was the main heavy chariot camp that was slowly moving forward, and the Western Liao troops were defeated one by one. He wanted to use cavalry to attack the two wings, but the battlefield of the Ming army was wide enough, and at critical moments there was also protection from the Ming cavalry, so the Western Liao cavalry returned without success every time.

At this moment, a light cavalryman came from the southern battlefield to report the news, saying in horror: "Ming cavalry suddenly rushed out from behind our army!"

It turned out to be Chen Ziyi who had gone around and joined the southern battlefield at some point.

Before he set out, he received two plans in the military order.

Plan 1: If the enemy camp can be raided, then rush into the camp and burn the food and grass.

Plan 2: If the enemy camp is not easy to attack, then rush back from the rear of the enemy. But don't go all the way to the main road, but hide in the south and head straight to the camp where Zhong Yanchong had set up.

Yelu Tiege was ordered to divide his troops to drag out Zhong Yanchong's troops. As the two sides were fighting, Chen Ziyi suddenly rushed out from the southwest.

Although the light cavalry arranged by Yelu Tiege was on guard from a distance, Chen Ziyi rushed forward without hesitation.

Yelu Tiege received the news and hurriedly asked the rear army to turn to the battle array.

Zhong Yanchong took the opportunity to abandon the chariots, and rushed out with his entire army without any warning, cooperating with Chen Ziyi to form a pincer attack from the front and back.

The Western Liao troops here were only to delay Zhong Yanchong, and their combat effectiveness and will were far inferior to Xiao Wulila's main force. Most of them belonged to the armed forces of nobles who surrendered to the Western Liao. Their territories were in the surrounding areas of the Western Liao capital, and they were frightened by Zhong Yanchong's chariot formation before.

Now they were attacked from the front and back, and some nobles even collapsed at the first touch.

Yelu Tiege couldn't stand it, and also led his personal soldiers and a few cavalry to escape.

Zhong Yanchong sent all his cavalry to cooperate with Chen Ziyi to chase and kill the defeated enemy. He led the infantry, accelerated without chariots, and rushed to the main battlefield on Li Yanxian's side, directly threatening Xiao Wulila's right wing with more than 10,000 people.

Chen Ziyi chased and killed for a while, and no longer paid attention to the defeated soldiers, and led the cavalry around to the side and rear of Xiao Wulila.

Xiao Wulila had just sent out cavalry to rescue them, but halfway through, he found Yelu Tiege leading the remaining troops to flee.

Yelu Tiege ran all the way and said to Xiao Wulila, "Withdraw quickly, or we will be surrounded from all sides!"

Xiao Wulila glanced at the main army whose morale was almost at the bottom, and blew the horn without saying a word to order the cavalry to withdraw.

As long as the elite cavalry was preserved, the Western Liao would have deterrence in the Qihe area.

If the elite cavalry was lost, the core territory of the Western Liao would be in chaos in a minute.

Seeing that their own cavalry was withdrawing, the infantry, who had suffered heavy losses from firearms, was so scared that they threw away their weapons and turned around to flee. Moreover, they were afraid of running too slowly, so they took off their armor while running.

Xiao Wulila, Yelu Tiege, Li Tiansheng and others ran so fast that Chen Ziyi, who was responsible for intercepting them from behind, failed to stop them in advance.

70% of the Ming army's cavalry were sent to pursue, all the way to Xiao Wulila's camp.

Xiao Wulila did not dare to enter the camp, and went around it directly.

The soldiers and civilians left in the camp were frightened and fled, not caring to burn the food and supplies.

Li Yanxian took all the infantry and 30% of the cavalry and returned to the eastern battlefield slowly.

When Xiao Chala Abu's attack was repelled again, Li Yanxian ordered: "Stop the bombardment and send people to persuade them to surrender."

A Ming light cavalry rushed to the front, but no enemy shot arrows.

Those Western Liao soldiers who came out of Gaochang City saw Li Yanxian leading his army to kill, and they knew that the reinforcements had been defeated.

Xiao Cha La A Bu sighed: "Let him come."

The Ming cavalry rode straight into the enemy's central army and said: "The commander has ordered that surrender will spare your life!"

The generals of the Western Liao Dynasty came one after another. Most of them were local nobles, all waiting for Xiao Cha La A Bu's order to surrender.

If they didn't surrender, they would be chopped off with a knife!

"Surrender." Xiao Cha La A Bu sighed.

He was taken to see Li Yanxian, and Li Yanxian asked with a smile: "Are you convinced?"

Xiao Cha La A Bu shook his head: "No, you rely on the sharp firearms."

"If you say surrender and spare your life, surrender and spare your life," Li Yanxian asked again, "Are you convinced?"

Xiao Chalaa didn't hesitate for a moment, knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "I accept it."