In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

At the end of the Mao hour and the beginning of the Chen hour, the sky and the earth slowly turned white in the dark clouds and the mist, and the vision became increasingly broad from the gray fog.

In the middle of winter in December, there was no snow in Hebei. But the wind was howling and the weather became very cold.

The soldiers of the Song army got up early in the morning to do morning exercises to stretch their muscles and bones. There were all kinds of whistles and drums in the camps that stretched for more than ten miles, and the sounds of exercises were one after another, and the momentum was deafening.

Now the morale of the Song army is high, while the Liao army is much dimmer. In addition to the fear caused by the two artillery shells, the most important thing is that they went south in September, and the Liao country prepared supplies in a hurry, and winter clothes were not complete.

The soldiers were still wearing autumn clothes, which were also very warm, but as the weather got colder, snow gradually fell on the grassland and the north of Youzhou, and the temperature was getting lower and lower, and the role of autumn clothes was much smaller, making it difficult for them to bear the cold.

Yelu Zongzhen knew that he could not delay any longer. Fan Zhongyan could not be anxious, but he was anxious. If you can't afford to fight with national strength and consumption, and can't capture the city by force, then you can only choose to try to fight to the death with the opponent in the wild.

As the desolate horn sound echoed in the Liao army camp, the Jintaiyi Liao army camp, more than ten miles away from the Baosai city, suddenly woke up from the deathly silence. The sound of ping-ping war drums, mooing horns, jingling gongs and drums, and sharp whistles echoed in each camp.

Teams of fully armed soldiers emerged from behind the battlements of the rammed earth wall, with bows strung and swords unsheathed.

Everywhere there were the clattering sounds of iron armor leaves, anxious and angry urging sounds, neat shouts, short and rapid orders, sharp whistles, and thumping footsteps, all of which made the wall a mess.

About half an hour later, groups of Liao soldiers led by their respective leaders left the camp and formed an army outside the camp.

These soldiers were dressed differently and their formations were scattered. They were basically the tribal army of Liao, the Han army of Nanjing prefectures and counties, the Bohai army, and the army of other vassal states. They were complex in type, with many types of soldiers, mainly infantry.

The most elite cavalry of Liao was the imperial guards, also known as the Pishi army.

They were the main force in field encounters and the rear supervisors in city battles. Once the infantry broke through the city, the Pishi army would rush in and loot all the property in the city.

Yes.

This was the way Liao fought and maintained logistics.

The Liao did not rely on logistics supply lines, nor did it pay soldiers. Soldiers had only two sources of income - "grass and grain" and "reward money".

The former was to allow soldiers to rob, and the latter was to distribute the spoils to soldiers after victory as rewards.

Therefore, the soldiers of Liao Kingdom were fine in a favorable war of looting everywhere, but once they encountered a situation where there was nothing to rob in the wild and they could not attack the strong city, the morale of the army would fall to the bottom.

Yelu Zongzhen, the Emperor Xingzong of Liao, was riding on a horse at this time. He was in his twenties and strong. He looked at the vast army like the ocean under the hillside in the distance, without a trace of joy between his eyebrows.

Now the food and grass prepared by Liao Kingdom in the early stage had been almost used up, and they could not rob food and property from the Song army and the people of Song Kingdom. The soldiers of Liao Kingdom, who were originally in high spirits and wanted to follow him to take a bite of the fat meat of Song Kingdom, were extremely disappointed.

This made Yelu Zongzhen regret his decision to go south.

He pretended to be deaf and dumb and waited for the situation in Song Kingdom. If Song Kingdom continued to pay tribute, he would just pretend that nothing happened. If they stopped paying tribute, he could also accuse Song Kingdom of breaking the alliance and then join forces with Li Yuanhao to go south.

But Li Yuanhao was crippled at this time and could not help him contain the troops in the northwest of Song State. Now he was obviously a bit alone. He could not break through and could not attack. He was really in a dilemma.

Now he could only fight to the death. If he won, he would go home to continue drinking and eating meat, waiting for Song State to send money. If he lost, everything would be over.

"Let's go!"

Yelu Zongzhen was not a person who looked back and forth. Since he had made a decision, he would carry it out to the end.

He raised the sword symbolizing the emperor of Liao State in his hand and shouted to the Tangqi who was responsible for delivering the message: "Tell the soldiers, if we win this battle, they can plunder the land of Hebei as they please. If we lose, we can only retreat to the grassland and blow the cold wind. Whether we can have a good New Year this year depends on this battle!"

"Yes!"

The Tangqi turned their horses and went to the foot of the mountain to deliver the message.

Then the big flags on the hillside began to wave. After seeing it, the leaders of the tribes below began to urge the soldiers of their tribes to march forward.

The rest of the Tangqi also spread the news and scattered, conveying Yelu Zongzhen's order to the generals everywhere.

The Liao army went all the way to the southwest. They were not going to Baosai City over there. The cannons on the city had already scared the Liao soldiers. Now they were asked to attack Baosai, which would undoubtedly cause the whole army to collapse.

So the Liao army's target was the unbuilt camp of the Song army.

When Fan Zhongyan received the news of the Liao attack, he did not hesitate at all and immediately issued a military order. The generals of various departments followed the previous deployment and went out of the camp to set up their battle formations to prepare for the enemy.

Why didn't he defend the camp?

The reason was simple. The camp had not been built yet and the defense was not strong. Once the camp was breached by the Liao army, the army would be demoralized and might face a direct defeat.

Therefore, we often see in history books that when two armies confront each other, if one side has just arrived at the battlefield and is in a hurry to fight when setting up camp, the generals often do not choose to defend in the camp that has not been arranged yet, but the army goes out and fights the enemy outside.

For example, in the Battle of Dingbian, Mu Ying confronted the enemy, the camp was not built, and the enemy came to provoke him, so he led his troops out of the camp and defeated the enemy.

The first to leave the camp on the Song side were the cavalry of various units.

After the scouts detected the large-scale assembly of the Liao army, the Song cavalry also responded immediately. The cavalry was fast, and after leaving the camp, they quickly advanced to a place two or three miles away from the camp, then stopped and stood still, and began to be on guard after arranging the queue.

Then, the infantry units left the camp in turn according to the distance of their positions and directions, and lined up on all sides at a distance of 20 steps from the camp to be on guard, forming a formation of a sea of ​​people, located around the Baosai city.

Fan Zhongyan personally went into battle. Although he was a civil official and did not wear armor, he rode a warhorse and issued various instructions in the camp in a majestic manner.

After about half an hour, the army of more than 100,000 had almost assembled. Looking to the left from the camp, there were so many heads that you could not see the end. Looking to the right from the camp, there were still so many heads that were endless.

A large number of cavalrymen were interspersed between the camps. These were Tangqi, which could also be called scouts, scouts, and scouts. Their role was not only to detect the enemy's movements, but also to convey the commander's orders to the various departments and coordinate the battles of such a large army.

With Lao Fan's order, the army rushed forward, and in front of them was the Baosai city. Wang Deyong in the city had also mobilized his troops, and the heads of the Song army kept popping up on the top of the city, looking towards the northern horizon.

The Song army relied on the Baosai city. There were 60,000 troops in the west of the city, 50,000 troops in the east of the city, 20,000 troops in front of the north of the city, more than 10,000 people in the city, and 30,000 cavalry cruising outside. In addition to the more than 30,000 reinforcements from Cangzhou, Qingzhou, Hejianfu and other places that have come to support, the total strength of the Song army reached more than 200,000.

If you stand on the top of the city and watch, you will see an extremely spectacular scene. On the east and west sides of the Baosai city, there are at least seven or eight miles of continuous Song army infantry squares, surging like the waves of the ocean, and there is no end in sight.

Their periphery is fully armed, holding shields and wearing heavy armor. There are also spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, grenade throwers, archers and other types of soldiers. The cavalry was the first to leave the camp, but when they were in formation, they stood behind the infantry.

Because in such a large-scale war, it is difficult for the main general to command all the capitals, camps, armies, and wings, and he can only rely on officers and generals under the establishment at all levels.

Therefore, the commander often needs to control a certain number of mobile forces. Once the camps collapse, they will immediately send people to supplement the battle.

Such mobile forces can only be carried out by cavalry.

By noon, the vast Liao army had already appeared on the distant horizon.

They also formed an infantry square formation, but the difference was that the Liao cavalry was large, so not only did they arrange the cavalry in the rear, but they also mixed a large number of Liao cavalry in the wings and the main formation.

This is obviously Yelu Zongzhen's intention to go all out. The front is basically the Liao heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. Even if they are hit by grenades, they will not be injured. They have tested it and at most they will have a concussion and be buzzed by the impact of the explosion.

However, they also found that once the heavy infantry is hit, if the center of gravity is unstable and falls, it is possible that they will be trampled to death on the battlefield with dense crowds of people. It's just like hitting heavy infantry with a blunt instrument. The armor is not broken, but the people inside are gone.

But the Liao upper echelons decided to conceal the news. As long as the heavy cavalry and heavy infantry resisted the first wave of grenades, and let the rest of the infantry and cavalry kill into the Song army and disrupt the enemy's formation, it would be foolproof!

The Liao army advanced slowly, and the earth seemed to be shaking. Their number was not much less than that of the Song army, and they were also like the surging waves of the sea, and the mighty torrent of steel was surging.

When the Liao army reached three miles away from the Song army's square formation and four miles away from the Baosai city, the army had already stopped.

If it were in the past, it would definitely not be this distance.

Like the battle of Chanzhou, the Liao army and the Song army were less than a mile apart. If the Liao general Xiao Tallin had not been shot in the head by the eight-bull crossbow like a god, I am afraid that the Liao army would dare to get closer.

After reaching this distance, the Liao people stopped, and then Yelu Zongzhen sent another knight to come and give Fan Zhongyan an ultimatum.

As long as Fan Zhongyan agreed to Yelu Zongzhen's conditions, there would still be room for both sides to recover.

Once the war started, the Song Dynasty would be doomed.

Fan Zhongyan only gave one reply - get out!

Yelu Zongzhen was furious when he heard it, and issued an order for a general attack on the hillside behind.

As the desolate sound of the horn resounded throughout the battlefield, countless Liao soldiers began to move forward at the urging of the leaders of various tribes.

Four miles!

Three miles!

Two miles!

The Song Dynasty's firearms never showed their power!

Because the range of the "seven-tip cannon" and "nine-tip cannon" is basically between 200 and 300 steps, and only the "thirteen-tip cannon" can reach 400 to 500 steps.

The thunder fireball can be thrown a mile away by the catapult because the catapult is installed on a tower several feet high.

Without the commanding position, the range of the catapult will be greatly reduced.

One mile!

The Liao army was getting closer and closer, and many Song soldiers in the front row were in a commotion, looking nervously at the enemy army that was coming like a tide.

"Get ready for the catapults!"

In the rear of the Song army, the catapults began to pull the tendon strings one after another. The soldier holding the thunder fireball carefully put the pottery jar on it, and another soldier took out the flint.

Soon the Liao army was getting closer and closer, and it was about 300 steps, or about 420 meters, and was about to enter the range of the catapults.

"Fire!"

A large number of Song generals gave orders.

A few seconds later, the order was passed to the catapult camp, and then the soldiers lit the fuse with flints. With a "buzz", the rubber band loosened, and with a "swoosh", the scoop threw the pottery jar fiercely.

Countless pottery jars drew a brilliant arc in the sky, many of which were sizzling with gray smoke, and then fell accurately into the army formation of the Liao soldiers.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

The sound of explosions came one after another.

Many of them exploded directly in the air, and some of the fuses were blown out by the wind in mid-air, but most of the pottery jars successfully fell into the Liao army formation, and a huge noise broke out.

The Liao army formation caused a lot of riots in an instant, and many soldiers were killed or injured, and some even wanted to run.

But the Liao army had strict military law, and the leaders and generals of each tribe suppressed the riots, ordered the soldiers to rearrange their formations, and then continued to move forward.

No one charged.

Running at a distance of three or four hundred meters, even the strongest people were exhausted when they ran to the front of the enemy formation, and they were just fearlessly sending themselves to death.

So the most correct way to fight is to withstand the enemy's artillery fire, get close to about fifty meters, and then start a charge and raid.

Soon the riot was stopped, and the Liao army continued to move forward, as if they were not afraid of death.

The next moment, the Song army threw the second wave of thunder and fireballs.

On the hillside, Yelu Zongzhen watched this moment nervously, and behind the Song army, Fan Zhongyan was also watching this scene.

The Liao soldiers were not fearless, but had to die under the cruel military law.

Fortunately, there were no batches of artillery, and the lethality of thunder and fireballs alone was very limited. Even iron pieces could not break the Liao army's heavily armored soldiers, let alone ceramic fragments.

So even with two waves of baptism, the Liao army could still hold its ground.

A moment later, the Liao army had already approached 200 steps. They maintained the speed of walking, and it was expected that the two sides would be in close combat in three minutes.

During these three minutes, the Song army fully utilized its firepower advantage and continuously projected thunder and fireballs.

At 100 steps, the archers on both sides finally exerted their power. The dense arrows replaced the pottery jars in the sky, like dark clouds, covering the sky.

The sound of ding-dong-dong resounded endlessly!

At this time, the Liao army continued to advance, and it was less than 50 steps.

The grenade throwers behind the Song army raised their grenades one after another. The distance they could throw was actually only about 20 steps, about 30 meters.

That's enough!

At thirty steps, the Liao army's general attack officially began!

In an instant, with an order, countless Liao soldiers rushed towards the Song army like a tide!

And at this moment, two cannons were slowly pulled up on the high slope of the Song army in the rear, and the muzzles emitted strange lights, pointing directly at the Liao army's position!