Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Yang Zaixing of the Southern Army was faster, and his troops were all mountain infantry and mountain cavalry.

And he didn't bring so many immigrants to drag him down, and he didn't even bring artillery that weighed more than 50 kilograms - the tiger squat cannon weighed about 40 kilograms.

Yang Zaixing had only 7,000 regular troops. In order to prevent the rebellion of the local chieftains in Guangxi, he ordered all the chieftains of the Guangxi tribes to personally bring their eldest sons and warriors to attack the Dali Kingdom with the army.

All tribes that did not send troops after the deadline were considered to be conspiring for rebellion!

When Bai Qi, Lin Chong, Zhong Yu and other civil and military officials were still busy dealing with Guizhou affairs, Yang Zaixing had already divided his troops into two groups and killed them at the border of Dali.

One group was the coalition of chieftains of various ethnic groups in Guangxi, taking the Temo Road to the west to attack the Huimo tribe.

Temo Road refers to the large area of ​​Guangnan and Funing, and the Huimo tribe is one of the 37 barbarian tribes of Dali.

The other route was led by Yang Zaixing himself, who went through the destroyed Ziqi Kingdom (Xingren, Anlong, Xingyi) to attack the Luo Xiong tribe in Luoping County.

Luo Xiong tribe is also one of the thirty-seven barbarian tribes. The original meaning of Luoping County is "Luo Xiong has been pacified".

What are you so heroic about?

Just call it Luoping.

These places are more difficult to go than Guizhou!

But Yang Zaixing's troops are used to it. Their soldiers are all from Lingnan, and they are stationed in Guangxi all year round to quell the rebellion of local chieftains. Even 15% of the soldiers are from naturalized tribes.

As elite troops, they all wear light armor, even the generals only wear light armor.

The logistics troops brought a large number of southwestern ponies. These ponies are not good at fighting, but they are very useful for carrying goods in the mountains. After long-term training, one person can control multiple horses. That is, a person leads a horse in front, and the horses behind carry goods and follow the mountain road. Only when the road is extremely difficult, they need help.

Food route?

Yang Zaixing had no food supply.

He only brought 40 days of food with him, and he would find a way to get food wherever he went.

If it really didn't work, he would kill the horses that transported the food and eat them. Anyway, there was no food to transport, and it would be a waste to keep them.

Yang Zaixing's army was very fast, and the vanguard he sent was even faster.

"Lord, the Ming army is coming!"

"How is it possible? They just attacked Lingtou Village yesterday. Did they fly here?"

Pu Wa, the chief of the Luoxiong tribe, was shocked.

The barbarian chiefs in southern Sichuan and western Guizhou called themselves "ghost lords", while the barbarian chiefs in eastern Yunnan and western Guangxi called themselves "Lord", and the title of "Lord" was recognized by the Duan family.

Pu Wa learned that the Ming army was coming suddenly, and immediately ordered the villages to gather troops, and sent envoys to ask for help from the Shizong tribe.

He hadn't even gathered his troops yet, and Yang Zaixing's vanguard had already come.

Pu Wa took the tribal warriors and rode Yunnan horses to check it out in person.

There are dozens of miles of narrow dams, that is, flat land between mountains, which are very suitable for farming and naturally suitable for cavalry combat.

But more than 500 Ming Dynasty mountain cavalrymen were seen galloping with three horses, bypassing two villages along the way.

Pu Wa saw it from a distance, as if he had seen a ghost, and returned to the mountain village without saying a word.

Five hundred elite mountain cavalrymen were not something that Luo Xiong’s tribe could confront head-on, so they could only rely on the fortress for defense.

The main camp of Luo Xiong’s tribe was close to the mountains and rivers, and there was a lake next to it, but there were several miles of flat land in the southeast, and those flat lands had all been reclaimed into cultivated land. The narrow dams dozens of miles away were also mostly cultivated land, and the agriculture here was relatively developed, and it was stronger among the thirty-seven barbarian tribes.

Therefore, Luo Xiong’s tribe was able to gather thousands of troops!

As long as they were young and strong, they could fight, and women could also fight at critical moments.

"You go and persuade them to surrender."

The cavalry general was called Cao Xun, the nephew of the great bandit Cao Cheng, and he also went to Kaifeng Military Academy for further studies.

He said to the guide who accompanied the army: "Tell Pu Wa to surrender or be exterminated. I still have tens of thousands of troops behind me. This time I am just passing by. The real goal is to destroy the Dali Kingdom. He is a vassal of Dali and a traitor of Dali. Let him think it over carefully."

The guide was a merchant who often traveled to Yunnan. He ran to the outside of the mountain stronghold to shout tremblingly.

Pu Wa called the small chiefs under his command and discussed for a long time, hesitating.

Because Yang Zaixing's methods were extremely brutal, he had slaughtered two villages of Luo Xiong's tribe and robbed all the food in the village and nearby. One was to collect food and grass, and the other was for the safety of the rear.

Pu Wa and the small chiefs were very worried. What if Yang Zaixing suddenly ordered a massacre after they surrendered?

But if they did not surrender, they could only flee into the mountains, and they would never win.

But Yang Zaixing's vanguard troops came too fast. If Pu Wa chose to escape at this time, it would be difficult for him to take away the money and food. If there was a slight mistake, he might be chased and killed by the Ming cavalry and collapse.

While he was thinking about it, the Ming cavalry had already taken action.

More than a dozen tiger squat cannons weighing about 40 kilograms were taken from the horses. This thing could not destroy the fortress, but it could cover the attacker's advance.

Of course, this time the light troops were in a hurry and did not bring many shells.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than ten shells were fired, and the effective range was only 100 meters.

Not a single enemy was hit. It seemed that they were firing cannons to add to the fun, but they frightened the barbarians in the village.

After two rounds of artillery fire, Pu Wa sent an envoy to discuss surrender.

In the afternoon, Pu Wa led the small chiefs to formally open the gate of the village and kneel down to surrender.

Cao Xun did not lead his troops into the village, but chose to camp 20 miles to the south. The army guarded the entrance to the mountain to prevent Pu Wa from sending people to report to the division. As long as the place was blocked, even if someone went to report, they would have to cross the mountain or take a remote path to get there.

He said to Pu Wa: "Give me some food and fodder, and then you can send your people back home, leaving only 300 warriors in the village, waiting for the follow-up army to take over. By the way, one of my soldiers is sick, so he will stay in your village to recuperate for the time being."

"Is that all?" Pu Wa was a little confused.

Cao Xun said: "You must lead 300 warriors in person, and take your adult son with you, and then follow the army to fight Dali. I am the pioneer, you don't have to follow me."

Pu Wa said: "I can help persuade the Shizong tribe to surrender."

"No need." Cao Xun shook his head.

The Luoluo Kingdom established by the 37 Barbarian Tribes, the chief of the Maitreya Tribe is the king, and the chief of the Shizong Tribe is the prime minister.

But in terms of wealth, the Shizong Tribe ranks first, and it is the tribe with the most money and soldiers among the 37 Barbarian Tribes!

As for the Maitreya Tribe, it is the tribe with the most fierce soldiers.

Even if Shizong surrendered directly, Yang Zaixing had to be on guard against rebellion at any time. He had to beat them hard and persuade them to surrender, so that they would remember it when they wanted to rebel in the future.

What's more, the court had already set its sights on Shizong's land and planned to settle some Han soldiers and civilians there. How to make room without killing some natives?

Watching Luo Xiong's army disband, and replenishing food and grass here, resting for fifteen or sixteen hours, Cao Xun continued to march the next morning.

Shizong's reinforcements were already on the way, and they didn't know that Luo Xiong's army had surrendered.

Luo Xiong's army did secretly send someone to inform the surrender information, but the best way was blocked by the Ming cavalry. The messenger took a detour and took a small path to go there, setting off more than ten hours in advance, but was quickly overtaken by Cao Xun and his cavalry.

The two armies met in the hilly area.

One side was eager to rescue the allied tribe, and the other side was eager to rush over to attack the reinforcements. Neither of them explored the way seriously, and they went to war directly when they bumped into each other.

"Why are there Ming troops here?"

The chieftain of the Shizong tribe was the prime minister in Shicheng at this time, and the chieftain's second son was in charge of leading the army to help.

He was horrified when he saw the Ming army, because this place was located in the "rear", which should be absolutely safe.

"Change horses, charge forward!"

At Cao Xun's command, all the cavalry moved quickly.

These guys were wearing light armor even when they were on the road, and now they all changed to spare war horses.

To be honest, this place is not suitable for cavalry combat.

One hill is connected to another hill. Although the mountains are not high and not very steep, they are covered with thorns and even infantry can hardly walk.

The only place that can pass quickly is the narrow mountain plain.

The Shizong tribe came with 3,000 reinforcements. They sent more than ten cavalry to explore the way. At this moment, they received the news and hurriedly responded to the battle. Thousands of soldiers and baggage troops were dragged into a long snake formation in the mountains because of the march. They had no time to form a formation when they suddenly encountered it.

The Ming mountain cavalry chased the Shizong tribe's scout cavalry.

When the main force of the division received the news, the Ming cavalry was already two miles away.

They had no time to form a formation, so they could only dispatch shieldmen and archers, about two or three hundred people blocking the front. More troops were still moving in a panic, trying to cut down the thorns on the hillsides on both sides of the passage, trying to deploy troops on the hillsides on both sides. Otherwise, no matter how many soldiers there were, they could not be deployed.

The range of the barbarian soldiers' bows and arrows was limited. The auxiliary soldiers and gunners of the Ming Mountain Cavalry Regiment directly rushed to within a hundred meters with pack horses and dismounted to set up the guns.

The power of the tiger squat cannon was extremely small. Not to mention attacking the city wall, even the shield carts at close range were difficult.

But it was enough to bully the shieldmen!

And they often fired shotgun shells, flying out like flowers scattered by fairies.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

The barbarian shieldmen and archers were nervously meeting the enemy, and the thorns and weeds on the hillsides on both sides were not cut out much, and the five tiger squat cannons started the first round of volleys.

After the first shot, the front row gunners retreated quickly, and the second row of five tiger squat cannons continued to fire - the terrain was too narrow, and there were too many cannons to be arranged.

Then the third row fired...

"Go over and shoot arrows, don't shoot here!" the barbarian general roared.

But it was the surviving barbarian archers who were so scared that they shot arrows on the spot to kill the artillery.

If it were the regular army in the north, this distance would have been within the range of the infantry bow. But the barbarians of the division were not good, their bows and arrows had a shorter range than the tiger squat cannon.

The shooting came, but it was light and lost its power.

The barbarian general forced the archers to rush closer to shoot arrows, but they suffered heavy losses from the subsequent shotgun shells. The surviving archers fled one after another, and because they were blocked by shieldmen behind them, they turned around and rushed to the hillsides on both sides.

The hillside was full of shrubs, thorns, vines, weeds, and occasionally some big trees.

"Don't cut anymore, get into the grass and surround it!"

The barbarian general was extremely anxious.

If they had set up an ambush in advance, they could have calmly entered the thorn bushes.

But now they were fighting a battle on the march, and the barbarians who could not deploy were running around in a mess. Everyone was shouting, and no one cared about anyone else. The soldiers behind them didn't even know what was going on.

They didn't bring many shells, and they fired them all in one breath.

The front row of barbarians who had finally assembled had been bombarded with heavy casualties, and the survivors dropped their weapons and fled. But behind them were the messy friendly troops, who were stuck in the narrow passage and couldn't escape at all, and the situation became even more chaotic as they pushed each other.

After the Ming army had used up the shells, the artillery immediately dragged the tiger squat cannon away to make way for the passage.

"Blow the horn, the first team goes forward!"

Because the terrain was narrow, the twenty-five Ming mountain cavalrymen lined up in five rows to charge, with only five riders in each row.

They first ran slowly and shot arrows at the enemy in front.

The passage ahead was crowded with people, and the shield bearers threw away their shields. Many barbarians were shot in the back.

The Ming mountain cavalry did not charge directly. They could not break through the pile of people that the enemy's fleeing soldiers could not break through, so they could not even think of breaking through the pile of people with their horses. Therefore, they just shot arrows repeatedly, hitting the crowd with one shot after another.

The son of the prime minister of Luoluo State and the chief of Shizong tribe was directly squeezed into the pile of soldiers and could not move.

This barbarian general had difficulty even taking two steps normally, let alone giving orders. In front of him were the fleeing soldiers who were fleeing in fear, behind him were the personal guards who were protecting him, and behind him were the soldiers who did not know what happened but guessed that they might be defeated.

The shouting and chaos in front of the passage first spread to the hillsides on both sides.

The barbarian soldiers in the thorny bushes on the hillside were so scared that they turned around and fled with difficulty, constantly cutting through the vegetation that blocked their way, and from time to time someone was tripped by vines.

Suddenly, the barbarian general was knocked down by the fleeing soldiers in the mountain road, and then he was stepped on countless times in succession.

Now even the personal guards of the barbarian generals began to flee, and the momentum of the rout had spread to the middle of the enemy's long line. But it was still crowded and impossible to escape. The barbarian soldiers at the back were standing there in a daze.

"Everyone dismount and fight on foot!"

Cao Xun quickly changed the way of fighting, and hundreds of Ming cavalrymen dismounted.

These mountain cavalrymen did not use the four or five-meter-long spears of the north, but used two or three-meter-long lances. After dismounting, they did not form a battle array, but rushed forward with their spears, stabbing the rout soldiers.

Finally, the barbarian soldiers at the back learned from the shouts that they were defeated, and one by one threw away their weapons and turned to flee.

The crowded rout soldiers in the mountain road finally accelerated.

The Ming cavalry went back and rode their war horses, chasing the fleeing enemy.

After chasing for more than ten miles, except for a few enemies who escaped over the mountains, the three thousand barbarian soldiers were almost wiped out.

Cao Xun did not want prisoners, and he would kill all the rout soldiers he caught up with!