Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The war horse that Wu Juyuan received was captured by the Ming army in Yizhou last year and came from the grassland cavalry at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

To be honest, it's much better than the horse at home.

"There is a river and a camp in front of you, just rest there!" the leading officer shouted.

This is a grain transport team composed of Han immigrants, responsible for transporting some grain and grass baggage from Yanqi to the front line. In addition to the immigrants transporting food, there were also five hundred sergeants protecting them along the way.

Wu Ju Yuan is the temporary battalion commander, so naturally he does not have to carry the food and grass himself.

He is responsible for managing the immigrants in his battalion and has to deal with all kinds of trivial matters. Sometimes I don’t know how to deal with it, so I go to the elementary school who is responsible for food security for advice.

The geographical environment of the Western Regions made Wuju Yuanpo feel strange.

They passed through a desert area, and there were oases wherever there were oases. The river in front of them came from nowhere, as if it suddenly appeared in the desert.

The camp by the river should have been left by the main force. Now it has become a transfer point for grain and grass. There are still some sergeants staying in the camp.

After settling down his battalion of immigrants and handing over all the supplies, Wu Juyuan ran to get close to Xiao Xiaotiao.

"General Hu..."

"How many times have I told you not to call me general? My military position and rank are not qualified."

"Hey, it's a matter of time."

Wu Juyuan was very good at getting things done. Not only did he complete the task with high quality and quantity, but he also found every opportunity to flatter the small school responsible for the grain.

This small school named Hu Zun was very comfortable being flattered by Wu Juyuan, so he taught him some experience in marching and fighting from time to time.

Hu Zun sat down cross-legged, Wu Juyuan immediately walked around behind him and rubbed his shoulders and back.

After feeling comfortable after being massaged, Hu Zun closed his eyes slightly and asked, "Do you know how to retreat if an enemy attack occurs?"

Wu Juyuan said: "Select one or two elite troops to attack, and then the rest of the troops will retreat slowly."

Hu Zun shook his head and said: "Retreating slowly is easier said than done. Even for the truly elite, retreating in the face of the enemy can easily turn into a rout. At this time, you need to use the team extraction method."

"What is the method of drawing teams?" Wu Juyuan asked hurriedly.

Hu Zun said: "Draw a team from every other team. When the team is ordered to retreat, the captain personally escorts the team to face the enemy, and the deputy captain guides the entire team to retreat. The team retreats to the designated position, immediately reorganizes the formation, and is ready to defend the enemy at any time. The enemy will cover the friendly forces. The teams that have not been drawn will form a guard position. When the friendly forces withdraw to the designated position, they will be guided back by the captain and deputy captain. "

Wu Juyuan understood immediately: "It's just between teams, covering each other and retreating to ensure that there are soldiers guarding the enemy at all times."

"You are very smart," Hu Zun nodded in approval, "I will only teach you these things today, digest them slowly, and I will teach you something else tomorrow."

Wu Juyuan didn't want to be too impatient, and even more diligently massaged Xiaoxiao Hu.

After eating, he took out a pen and paper from his bag, took water and ink and carefully recorded the "Team Drawing Method".

The grain transport team continued to move along the edge of the desert and arrived at the frontline battlefield the next day.

Ming army cavalry can be seen along the way. I heard that enemy cavalry occasionally come around to attack the grain transport team. Several cavalry battles have broken out nearby.

Wu Juyuan was incorporated into the Minfu camp and was stationed in a camp.

Outside Kucha City, the enemy has built fortifications and built two circles of camps around the city.

I remembered that Kucha City had better anti-cannon capabilities than Gaochang City!

The city here is smaller, the walls are shorter, and the moat is even less than 8 meters wide. However, the city wall is extremely thick!

The wall base thickness generally exceeds 15 meters, and even reaches 22 meters in some places.

I don’t know which architect it was, but Kucha City is very strange anyway. The moat is narrow and shallow, and the city wall is short and thick. The shortness here is just that compared to Gaochang City, it is actually in the Western Regions. Extremely high.

Don't underestimate the city-building ability of the Uighurs. Their ancestors even built cities in Mobei. The earliest city-building craftsmen came from Luoyang.

"Tomorrow, you will help fill in the trenches and obey military orders!"

After receiving the order, Wu Juyuan was very excited, but the immigrants under his command were quite scared. Although he received weapons and leather armor, he never really fought in a battle.

Perhaps because he was too excited, Wu Juyuan actually fell asleep that night.

Wake up the next day, gather in formation, and advance slowly with the troops.

The regular army stopped hundreds of steps away from the enemy camp, but Wu Juyuan and his fellow civilians actually took action - digging sand and putting it in sacks or tamarisk baskets.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery was pushed out and fired in volleys, and some soldiers were responsible for protecting the gunners.

Wu Juyuan was digging in the sand. When he heard the sound of cannons in front of him, he couldn't help but look up, but he couldn't see clearly at all.

Not long after, a messenger came over on horseback: "The civilian men from the first to the tenth teams will go out with the army immediately!"

But they saw the auxiliary soldiers pushing the light tank forward. All the weapons on the tank were dismantled, and the dismantled artillery was being fired from the position. Not only were the chariot's baffles erected high, but long poles were also erected to hang curtains. Those curtains also had the function of blocking arrows.

The first ten groups of civilian men hid behind the chariot, carrying bags of sand and soil and carrying red willow baskets and moving forward slowly.

There are also a large number of distant and close combat units hidden behind the chariots to prevent the enemy from rushing out of the camp, and at the same time looking for opportunities to rush through the camp.

Wu Juyuan wanted to observe the battlefield, but his view was blocked by the army, and he didn't know what the fighting was like ahead.

"The civilian men from the 11th to 20th teams move forward and wait for orders to go into battle!"

Another herald came.

Wu Juyuan was a little anxious, why wasn't it his turn yet?

It was unknown how long it had been, but more than a dozen batches of civilians were transferred away, and it was finally his turn at noon.

Wu Juyuan led many civilians and followed the officers who led them forward, only to find that the first camp of the enemy had been breached.

Those enemies were determined to defend their positions, and the barriers did not leave any passage for troops to pass through. Some civilians who had been sent out before were digging barriers everywhere to open up military routes, otherwise chariots and artillery could not pass through easily.

The first trench had been filled up to a width of several miles.

Behind the first barrier, there were corpses of enemy soldiers everywhere. Many of them were killed by injuries from behind, and they were quite far away from the barriers. They should have been killed by the Ming army while escaping.

"Ugh!"

A civilian next to him suddenly vomited.

But there was an unlucky guy among the enemy who had his head blown up by a shell. Two-thirds of his head was gone, and one-third was left hanging on his neck. The death was not only miserable but also disgusting. The corpse directly made the civilian vomit.

Wu Juyuan turned his head and glanced at the corpse. Although he felt disgusted, he was more excited.

This guy is a natural fighter!

"Follow up, follow up, the artillery has been deployed, and the front is about to march. Hide behind the chariot, be careful of stray arrows!"

The civilians all carried sandbags and red willow baskets and moved forward with their waists bent. Some who were too afraid of death even squatted and dragged the sandbags.

The sound of artillery was heard again in front.

Wu Juyuan carried the sandbags and moved forward for a while. He could not see any enemies at all. He only had his own regular soldiers, auxiliary soldiers and chariots in his eyes.

The chariot baffle completely blocked his view, and the wide curtains hanging on the long poles rustled in the strong wind. Waves of arrows rained down, most of which were blocked by the baffles and curtains, and occasionally a few flew through the gaps in the curtains.

"Swish!"

A stray arrow flew in front of Wu Juyuan and pierced into the sandbag on his shoulder.

If it was half a foot off, the arrow would have hit Wu Juyuan's face.

"I'm lucky!" Wu Juyuan muttered.

Soon, fewer and fewer arrows were shot, and the enemy was suppressed by the long-range firepower of the Ming army.

An officer shouted to them: "Hurry up and pass between the chariots and throw the sandbags into the trench!"

Wu Juyuan immediately rushed forward with the sandbags. When passing the chariots, he saw the flintlock gunners and archers firing at the opposite side through the shooting holes.

"It's really impressive!"

Wu Juyuan actually had the mind to admire, he couldn't wait to become a member of the soldiers.

After rushing past the chariots, there was a trench in front.

Wu Juyuan threw the sandbag into the trench and immediately turned around and ran back.

But he saw a civilian who was too panicked and fell flat on his face, spilling most of the sand in the red willow basket.

Wu Juyuan went over to get the red willow basket, turned around again and ran to the trench, pouring the remaining sand in the basket into the trench.

Perhaps because he found no danger, Wu Juyuan even had the leisure to look at the enemy's position.

Behind the opposite wall, there were several collapsed temporary buildings, probably enemy arrow towers and the like, which had all been blown down by artillery.

Occasionally, the enemy could be seen popping up, but as soon as their heads came out of the wall, they would be shot by muskets and crossbows.

Wu Juyuan retreated to the back of the chariot and was ordered to return by the officer.

On the way back, he met another group of civilians carrying soil. Those civilians had no shelter, but they were not shot by the enemy, and the enemy's position was silenced.

The sacks had been used up, and only red willow baskets were left.

Wu Juyuan received a backpack, quickly dug sand and filled it, and then went to the battlefield again to fill the trench.

After going back and forth several times, the trench was finally filled.

He and other civilians were ordered to retreat, and countless soldiers advanced with the sound of war drums.

The sound of fighting sounded in the distance, but Wu Juyuan could not see clearly.

As the Ming army flag was firmly planted on the rampart, Wu Juyuan realized that the second rampart had been taken.

"Great Ming wins!"

Wu Juyuan blurted out, standing among the civilians and shouting.

The civilians nearby, who were originally terrified, couldn't help but shout with him, and then more and more civilians cheered and shouted.

The Ming army's position moved forward as a whole.

Wu Juyuan and his men were also sent out to flatten more ramparts and tamp those uneven trenches, because there were siege equipment to pass through later.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

The sound of artillery sounded again, this time it was to bombard the fortifications of Qiuci City.

The towers, war sheds, arrow towers... one after another were pulled out by artillery shells, and a large number of gaps appeared in the parapet.

In this case, no matter how tall and strong the city wall was, the city's defense power was almost halved, and the defenders only had the advantage of being high above.

Siege machines were pushed to the city. They were made by the craftsmen who were the first to go to the city when Wu Juyuan was transporting grain in the rear.

Two consecutive fortifications outside the city were breached. The Ming army was about to advance to the city, and the fortifications on the city were also destroyed. At such an urgent moment, perhaps realizing that they would definitely be doomed if they defended to the death, the city gate with the city wall suddenly opened, and many enemy soldiers shouted the slogan of holy war and rushed out.

Those holy soldiers had no time to form a team. Under the guidance of the noble generals, they rushed straight to the siege machines of the Ming army.

What greeted them were bullets and arrows!

This time, Wu Juyuan saw it clearly. He cooperated with the civilians. Just as he flattened a section of the barrier and had not yet withdrawn, the defenders in the city rushed out of the city wall.

Those enemies were still dozens of steps away from the siege machines, and they were shot and arrowed and fell one after another.

As if brainwashed and unafraid of death, the survivors continued to press forward. But another volley of muskets finally woke them up. They turned around and ran away screaming in fear. Only a few of them were able to escape back to the barbican.

"Woooooooo~~~~"

Just as the siege equipment was pushing closer and closer, a trumpet sound suddenly came from the northwest.

The Ming army is surrounded by three and one is missing. That side is the missing side.

The Kucha soldiers continued to defend the city, but some Dongkara nobles were afraid of death.

This is not the territory of the Eastern Kara Kingdom, they are just here to help. Seeing that the Ming army was about to attack the city, a Dongkara nobleman took the lead in abandoning the city and fleeing, taking several other nobles with him.

The rumble of horse hoofbeats came from the southwest of Wu Juyuan. It was the Ming cavalry dispatched, chasing the enemy's escapees.

"Took it."

Wu Juyuan sat down on the remaining barrier and looked at the city being attacked with a smile.

With his limited knowledge of military affairs, he also understood the consequences of desertions among the defenders.

Within the royal city.

"Your Majesty, several armies of the Black Khanate have escaped. They have no intention of fighting to the death here!"

"knew."

Kucha King Kuma wanted to sigh.

He is already old and has become frail and sickly in recent years. He may not live long.

After thinking for a while, he said to the chief prime minister Bayibuhua: "Let the entire army surrender."

But Bayi Buhua said: "Your Majesty, the two armies are already fighting. Where can they stop? If you order surrender at this time, the enemy troops will definitely take the opportunity to attack the city. I am afraid that the generals of the Ming Dynasty will not be able to stop it. They should send envoys first. They have never been If we leave the city on the northwest side of the siege, perhaps the envoy can be taken to see the Ming army general."

"Then send an envoy out of the city." Kuma Yu sat there feeling helpless.

In fact, he has never had any desire to resist. If he could have made the decision, he would have surrendered from the beginning.

But he couldn't even command the nine prime ministers. Some of those prime ministers were controlled by the East Kara Kingdom, and some were controlled by Xiliao. As well as the clergy across the country, most of them had their hearts set on the Eastern Kara Kingdom and did not take Kuma Yu seriously at all.

Love so much.

The city became increasingly chaotic. One after another, the Dongkara nobles abandoned their infantry and fled the city, not caring that the infantry was brought by them during the holy war.

These guys are nothing but common people.

At that time, the Eastern Kara Khanate was so big that even the rebels could not be quelled. Yelu Dashi actually took the opportunity to annex it, leaving only a small piece of land for them as a vassal state.

Now they are deceiving the people to engage in jihad, and many people come with hoes and sticks. When the fight actually begins, they abandon the jihadist people and run away.

The Kucha envoy sent by Kuma Yu was captured by the Ming Dynasty's cavalry not far out of the city.

"We are here to contact you for surrender!"

shouted the interpreter brought by the messenger.

More than a dozen rangers gathered around, looked at each other, and raised their bows and arrows.

Isn’t it nonsense to surrender at this time?

Suddenly, another city gate opened in the west, and countless soldiers swarmed out.

Those were jihadi people who came from Kashgar. At this time, they had thrown away their dung forks, hoes, and wooden sticks, broke through the soldiers defending the city gate, and fled towards their hometown.