Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Wanyan Zonghan himself doesn't even know how many elites he still has left.

In the previous siege of Li Yanxian's camp, countless losses were suffered in the darkness, and three of the Jurchen warriors were killed. Before the troops were withdrawn, they learned that the army supplies had been attacked, so they hurried back to rescue the supplies.

Some remnants that have lost generals or officers can only be temporarily assigned to other generals, or officers can be temporarily promoted to generals.

Now that it was night combat again, the command became even more chaotic.

It wasn't obvious when I rushed back quickly, everyone just ran along. Now that a war was suddenly about to begin, those troops that had just been crippled by Li Yanxian and had not had time to reorganize were even out of touch with their new generals.

Worse still is morale!

Humans are not machines. No matter how brave a soldier is, he will become tired and frightened. After repeated defeats, rations taken away, enemies on all sides, rushing to come back for reinforcements, fighting in the dark... the golden soldiers are full of all kinds of negative buffs.

They are still following to seize food and did not immediately break up. Actually, there are two reasons.

First, Wanyan Zonghan’s prestige is high enough.

Second, if they don’t fight to get the rations back, they may starve to death!

Nearly ten thousand elite Jurchens rushed forward in the dark, with only more than a thousand torches guiding the way. Some of the temporarily reorganized remnants got into chaos as they ran and couldn't even find their new generals.

But they are elite veterans after all, and they can spontaneously get closer to those who have become separated - it is no problem to charge directly, but it will definitely be difficult to command complex tactics.

In the darkness, they had cavalry running back and forth on all sides, and they couldn't figure out the direction of the main force of the Ming army.

Wanyan Zonghan led his troops to charge forward, and the cavalry blocking them quickly fled one after another.

The smoother the battle went, the more frightened Wanyan Zonghan became: "The elite of the Ming army are not in the front, be careful they are coming from both sides. Send an order to Hu Zhan and ask him to lead his troops to the left wing to intercept..."

Wanyan Zonghan's military order had not yet been sent out. Yue Fei and Shi Ziming each led hundreds of Ming Dynasty knights and more than a thousand grassland cavalry to block the two wings of the Jurchen soldiers and charge them.

The Jurchen cavalry was in chaos on both wings.

Some middle and low-level Jurchen generals spontaneously led their soldiers to intercept. They quickly defeated the prairie cavalry who followed the Ming army into battle, and subconsciously pursued them, causing them to lose touch with nearby friendly forces.

The chaotic wings of Jinbing became even more chaotic because of their partial victory.

Who said the prairie cavalry was useless?

Letting them suffer defeat is also an effect!

Wanyan Zonghan couldn't see the situation clearly and didn't know how the two wings were fighting, so he could only send a general to lead troops to rescue.

Pucha Hu Zhan was ordered to lead his troops to the left. Before he reached the left battlefield, Luo Ruming, who was pretending to be a prairie cavalry and shooting back and forth, suddenly rushed to intercept with hundreds of Ming Dynasty Xiaoqi and more than a thousand prairie cavalry.

After escaping for a distance, the grassland cavalry that was defeated but not dispersed saw that the female main force seemed to be entangled. So the leaders of each tribe came back with their troops and shot arrows towards the left front of the Jurchen soldiers. There were even some Laosu who were afraid of fighting with the Jurchens, so they went around to shoot from the side and behind - the actual damage caused was very small, but it put huge psychological pressure on the Jurchen soldiers, who felt like they were surrounded by several times the number of enemies.

In the dark night, one cannot see far away, and Wanyan Zonghan cannot command as a whole.

In the absence of unified command, some Jurchen generals could not bear to be shot continuously. They roared angrily and led their troops towards the prairie cavalry. The latter was so frightened that they ran away from a long distance, taking the Jurchen cavalry chasing them farther and farther away.

After all, the Ming Dynasty's knights were less than three thousand, and the local battlefield was very difficult.

But nearly ten thousand elite Jurchens were turned into a mess. Some Jurchen cavalry were even two or three miles away from the main force because of the pursuit of the prairie cavalry. The Jurchen remnants who were temporarily reorganized completely lost their organization. The generals could not find their own soldiers at all and could only rely on force to fight independently. At most, a dozen or twenty cavalry organized themselves together.

There are also a large number of Jurchen soldiers, facing the darkness and chaos, not knowing which way to kill, they can only run around looking for the enemy.

A chaotic fight!

Wanyan Zonghan could only lead his own soldiers, blowing trumpets all the way and gathering troops to charge diagonally.

More and more Jurchen cavalry fell into chaos and rushed over after hearing the commander's bugle. If there are enemies ahead, they will kill them. If there are no enemies, they will not care about anything else. They will first get out of the chaotic battlefield and join the commander.

It's not that easy to get out of the battle suddenly!

Some small groups of troops who were separated from the friendly forces were eaten by the Ming Dynasty Cavalry inexplicably.

In fact, the Ming army was also in chaos. During the fight, some cavalry fell behind, and then they were surrounded and killed by Jin soldiers several times their own.

Wanyan Zonghan no longer dared to rush into the camp rashly. He blew the trumpet and gathered the remaining soldiers, went around the east side of the camp and rushed into the various gates.

Finally, at the dawn of dawn, Wanyan Zonghan took back his army rations!

After counting the number of people, there were only more than 6,000 riders left, and every one of them was exhausted.

"General Yue, General Luo was killed in battle!"

After Yue Fei got the news, he rushed over and saw that Luo Ruming's body had been trampled to pieces.

The second-ranked cavalryman under Li Yanxian died at the hands of Jin soldiers in a melee at night. He collided with the core elite led by Pucha Hu Zhan. Luo Ruming not only died himself, but also more than 300 Ming Dynasty knights under his command were killed.

Pucha Hu Zhan was originally a subordinate of Wanyan Loushi. When one thousand Jurchen cavalry defeated the thirty thousand Xixia army, he was the vanguard to lure the enemy.

He led three hundred Jurchen cavalry and defeated two thousand Xixia iron kites head-on. Then he went to attack the Xixia camp and lured 30,000 enemy troops to pursue him. Finally, he lured the enemy troops to the ambush site, and then cooperated with hundreds of friendly troops to kill 30,000 Xixia soldiers and fled in defeat!

"Retreat temporarily and take General Luo's body away," Yue Fei ordered. "When this battle is over, we can bury the fallen soldiers alive. Go and inform General Li Yanxian and ask him to march urgently at all costs. The Jurchen cavalry will not attack him." ”

Although Wanyan Zonghan regained the military rations, Yue Fei's battle goal had been achieved.

First, delay time and wait for Wang Yan to lead the infantry to come for reinforcements. To prevent Wanyan Zonghan from leading his elite troops to raid Wang Yan's troops on the march.

Second, demoralize the enemy.

The female main force who had been fighting desperately for food before was now dejected.

They besieged Li Yanxian and suffered heavy losses, and were attacked by Yue Fei in a chaotic battle. Just now, I fought hard to seize the food and grass. Now, although I have regained the food and grass, the breath in my chest has also been released. What follows is confusion and fear, not knowing what to do next?

It's one thing to take back the food and grass, but it's another thing to take it away!

The prairie cavalry who followed them south either surrendered to the Ming Dynasty or fled back to the prairie. There are only more than 6,000 Jurchen soldiers left, holding on to a large amount of military rations, and there are no civilians to help them transport food.

And Wang Yan's infantry was already rushing all the way.

There were no tanks, no artillery, and no thunderbolts.

Yue Fei led the cavalry to protect them, and Wang Yan ordered the infantry to form a formation three miles away from the Jin soldiers' camp.

It's getting brighter and brighter.

There were still residual fires burning in the Jinbing camp. Most of the military tents were burned down, and large wooden walls were also burned down.

Wanyan Zonghan rode out in person, observed with a telescope for a moment, and finally confirmed the strength of the Ming army.

He was beaten by Yue Fei. There weren't many Ming troops last night!

Wanyan Mouyan followed and asked, "Marshal, are you going to hold on or retreat?"

Wanyan Zonghan said: "Attack!"

"Attack?" Wanyan Mouyan said in horror, "Now that morale is low and we are exhausted, how can we storm the enemy's formation?"

Wanyan Zonghan said: "We are tired, so aren't the southern thieves tired? These infantrymen in front of us are all coming from Dadingfu City. They have already been half exhausted from marching all the way. We must take advantage of their unstable footing and lack of protection from the car array. Use all our strength to crush them and annihilate them! Otherwise, when the Ming army (Li Yanxian) from the south comes with reinforcements, how can we stand a chance of winning?"

Wanyan Mouyan was already frightened: "Since these infantry troops came from Dading Fucheng, Dading Fucheng must be empty. How about we ride on horseback and attack Dading Fucheng to capture Dading Fucheng!"

"Idiot," Wanyan Zonghan said, "there must be defenders in Dadingfu City, and there are also artillery and iron fire mines that can explode. Even if the number of defenders in the city is small, we will still suffer casualties if we want to attack the city. And if we go to attack the city, here Do we still need the military rations? If we want military rations, we must divide our troops. Once we divide our troops, how can we resist the enemy in front of us? Even if we succeed in taking the city, we will only exchange the camp and military rations here for the Ming army's city and military rations. , we still have to defend the isolated city!"

Wanyan Mouyan could not refute.

Wanyan Zonghan said: "There is only one way now, to annihilate these enemies in front of us. Send the order, all units have been reorganized, come immediately for a decisive battle!"

"Don't you want to eat first?" Wanyan Mouyan said, "Even the men and horses are hungry, and the horses haven't recovered yet. It's better to let the soldiers eat first and let the horses recover for a while."

Wanyan Zonghan said angrily: "When our army's horses recover, the enemy's infantry will also recover!"

Wanyan Zonghan was very tired.

Wanyan's mother died of illness, and Wanyan Lou's family also died of illness. Although Shi Jianu and Po Luhuo are not dead yet, they are suffering from injuries and are recuperating in Shangjing, and they are no longer able to fight on horseback.

Among Wanyan Zonghan's senior generals, only one can still perform silver skills.

Yin Shu can be sent to Xingzhong Mansion to resist Li Bao's main force. It can't be lost there. Once Xingzhongfu falls and the Ming army from Liaodong direction captures Jinzhou, they will be able to join forces with the Ming army here.

At this moment, beside Wanyan Zonghan, there was not even a general who could discuss military matters!

The Jurchen soldiers began to lead the horses out of the camp. They had already fed the horses with beans, salt and river water. But the horse is still so tired that it is reluctant to ride now.

The remaining more than 6,000 Jurchen elites have just been reorganized by Wanyan Zonghan.

"Hu Zhan, come and attack the enemy!" Wanyan Zonghan said.

Pu Cha Hu Zhan said: "I will never retreat until I die!"

Pucha Hu Zhan's men were all strong troops left over from Wanyan Lou's family. They were the ones who killed Luo Ruming just now, and also killed more than three hundred Ming Xiaoqi.

They themselves suffered heavy casualties, but Wanyan Zonghan immediately reorganized and reorganized.

They are all the best of the best!

These guys, before encountering the Ming army, always defeated more with less, and their results were outrageous. The war with Xixia has already been said. When they were still besieging Taiyuan, they defeated 10,000 Song troops with a thousand cavalry, and then defeated 30,000 Song troops with a thousand cavalry.

Yue Fei is also reorganizing and restoring the strength of his war horses.

Even when cleaning the battlefield, they collected all available armor and equipped it for the grassland tribes that performed well.

The infantry under Wang Yan marched in a hurry. They led the mules carrying armor and trotted for half the night. In the end, the mule didn't want to run away. They thought the mule was walking slowly, so they simply put on their armor and came over.

The troops were lined up, very tired!

The reinforcements led by Li Yanxian were still ten miles away at this time.