Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The 80,000-strong army of the Ming Dynasty that went on an expedition to the Western Regions was not fully deployed on the battlefield.

Auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers were left at the strongholds along the way from Xingxing Gorge to Yizhou City to transport and protect grain and grass.

Starting from Yizhou City, regular soldiers were left behind, where 6,000 regular soldiers of the Ming Dynasty guarded the city. One was to prevent the Western Liao Dynasty from hiding soldiers in the Barkol Basin to launch a sneak attack, the second was to escort the grain transport team to send subsequent grain to Gaochang, and the third was to prevent the local hungry people or nobles from suddenly rebelling.

The various Ming army camps around Gaochang were to guard the water source and surround the city.

Half of those camps are now empty. The main force was withdrawn to fight a decisive battle with the Western Liao Dynasty in the wild, and the remaining forces and supplies were transferred to the two camps in the east and north.

Excluding these soldiers guarding the city or the stronghold, the regular soldiers of the Ming Dynasty that were actually used for the decisive battle were actually only more than 50,000 people, and they were divided into three to surround the Western Liao Dynasty reinforcements.

Of course, there were other forces.

For example, when attacking the forts around Yizhou and Gaochang, a total of more than 6,000 enemy troops surrendered, among which hundreds were local noble armed forces who took the initiative to surrender.

In addition, the Ming army pretended to be benevolent and recruited young and strong men from the hungry people as soldiers. Now the Ming army has a full 7,000 vassal troops.

Some auxiliary soldiers and civilians were also pulled to the battlefield.

Including the vassal troops, auxiliary soldiers and civilians, the total force involved in the decisive battle was about 82,000.

Zhong Yanchong's unit, located 20 miles southwest of Gaochang City, was the first to engage the enemy.

He had more than 20,000 people in his hands, arranged in a huge chariot formation.

All four-wheeled side-carriage chariots, and no iron chains were needed, and the parts of the chariots could be buckled together.

On the other hand, the Western Liao reinforcements had horses... countless horses.

Using horses to attack the barrier of firearms troops was a tactic of the Qing Dynasty before the invention of shield carts, and it was also the most basic tactic that ancient generals could think of.

Fearing that the horses would not want to die in the battle, they made simple blindfolds out of black cloth.

After wearing the blindfolds, the horses could only see a little bit of the ground in front of them, and they could not see until they were about to hit the chariot.

However, the Western Liao cavalrymen rode two horses each, and most of the horses without riders were inferior horses, which had been transporting supplies for them along the way, and now they had to crash into the chariot for them.

At a distance of about 300 steps, the Ming army fired field artillery with a slightly larger caliber.

There were not many shells, and most of the Western Liao cavalry could still drive the horses to continue moving forward.

Within 200 steps, smaller caliber artillery was fired, which was the French cannon used by Wu Jie.

The sub-barrels were constantly replaced, and shells were fired continuously, and more and more cavalrymen or horses fell down.

Perhaps because they were not fully adapted to the sound of the artillery, the Western Liao war horses began to panic, and the cavalry formation became chaotic. They were forced to drive the inferior horses to charge in advance, chopping or stabbing the horses' buttocks with knives or guns, and the injured and crazy inferior horses could only rush forward.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

At about ninety steps, the Ming army's flintlock rifles began to fire.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

At about eighty steps, the Ming army's artillery changed to shotgun shells.

The inferior horses were injured in the hips and frightened by the sound of the artillery. They were in two states of fear and madness, but because they were wearing blindfolds and had extremely narrow vision, they only knew to run forward.

One after another, the war horses fell, and in a blink of an eye, the battlefield was full of horse corpses.

And those Western Liao cavalrymen were still charging, and their war horses were also wearing blindfolds. These people were all dead soldiers used to charge!

Xiao Worila looked at the battlefield with a cold expression. He had no other choice but to use this tactic.

The first wave of charge had 300 cavalrymen and 600 horses, divided into three teams and rushed forward layer by layer.

The first team was still fifty steps away from the chariot formation, and only a few lucky ones were left.

The second team barely rushed to within thirty steps, and there were few dead.

The third team actually rushed to twenty steps.

Before the third team was killed, the second wave of 300 cavalrymen had already started charging. They only repeatedly attacked the narrow section.

When the third wave of cavalrymen, totaling eight teams, rushed to the third wave, the barrel of the French cannon was close to overheating.

"General Zhong has an order. Don't worry about the overheated barrel. Fire the shells first!"

The French cannon is not easy to explode. The overheated barrel affects the life of the cannon.

The Ming army was still firing, but the last team of the third wave of cavalrymen from the Western Liao Dynasty collapsed. They had already killed 800 people in front of them. Those who rushed to the front of the chariot formation would also be killed by muskets, and very few were stabbed to death by long spears.

The dead soldiers are alive after all. They have their own thoughts. They are also afraid of death and want to live!

The fourth wave of cavalrymen did not continue to rush forward, but retreated slightly and waited for orders.

The surrounding soldiers looked at Xiao Wulila.

He issued a military order before the battle. When attacking the chariot formation, if the team retreated and the captain was alive, the captain would be beheaded. If the captain died, the whole team would be beheaded.

"Behead him!"

With Xiao Wulila's order, the law enforcement team ran to surround the third group of cavalrymen who had retreated.

The assault team of 100 people was reduced to more than 70 people at this time.

The cavalry captain was a small noble in the capital area of ​​Western Liao. Facing the law enforcement team that surrounded him, he roared angrily: "I don't accept it. This is asking us to die. We have never fought like this before!"

Not only this team of cavalrymen, but other cavalrymen nearby also agreed with it. Seeing that this man was going to be beheaded, they couldn't help but feel sad.

He was still beheaded. The military order was as heavy as a mountain.

Li Tiansheng, the general of the Western Liao cavalry, rushed to the Chinese army in person and said to Xiao Orili: "More than 800 cavalry and more than 1,000 horses were lost, but only 20 or 30 cavalry rushed in front of the chariot formation. They were killed before they could collide with the chariots. Firearms and spears are useless. Even if we can break through the car formation in front of us, we don’t know how many cavalry will die here.”

Xiao Weili was silent.

The general next to him didn't speak either.

This battle should not have been fought, and Gaochang City should not have been saved.

We should give up all the territory of the old Gaochang Kingdom south of the Tianshan Mountains, and then rely on the vast mountains to the west to guard Xiongguan. Fighting in that kind of terrain, the Ming army's tanks couldn't move at all, and even the artillery would be affected by the shooting angle.

But what can Xiao Weili do?

Queen Gantian did not want to lose her territory, and many generals in the army were also clamoring to go to war. Xiao Orila could only lead his army to come thousands of miles away to rescue.

And it has to be done quickly.

Gaochang City is not easily destroyed by artillery. If the city lacks water, wells can be dug to make do. What is really scary is that someone changes sides.

How many years ago did Yelu Dashi conquer Gaochang?

In the beginning, they just treated the king as a puppet and sent their confidants to supervise the state affairs. Government and military affairs were still in the hands of the Gaochang nobles.

Then the area around Gaochang City was under direct jurisdiction, and the rest of the territory was still managed by local nobles.

The true and complete annexation of Gaochang will only take two or three years, and Xiliao can only manage a few big cities personally.

If the battle is short-term, even if the Gaochang nobles have a lot of thoughts, they can only accept the command and fight bravely with the Ming army. But if the siege of the city lasts too long, there is no telling how many nobles might turn traitor and set fire to the enemy.

Yelu Dashi was weaker back then, but why did he choose to fight Seljuk?

I am just afraid that if we delay for too long, the complex army will inevitably change, and it will be able to exert its maximum combat effectiveness in one go.

"The main force of the Ming army is here!"

Northeast.

Li Yanxian personally led more than 50,000 people and approached the battlefield overwhelmingly. After the formation was formed, the battlefield was seven or eight miles wide. This is because the servant army, ambush troops and civilians are placed at the back position, otherwise the servant army and auxiliary troops will be wider when deployed.

The Xiliao cavalry kept coming back to report, and Xiao Orila also went to check it out personally.

He also had a telescope, and he observed carefully from a high place, and soon fell into deep despair.

Behind Li Yanxian's main force, a force of more than 30,000 people slowly approached. It was Xiao Chala'a Bu who came from Gaochang City to join the battlefield.

The battlefield situation is as follows:

Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Weili are facing each other from east to west, Li Yanxian's headquarters is further north, and Xiao Chala'a is farther east.

Xiao Weili divided his troops and asked Brother Yelutie to stay here, watching over Zhong Yanchong who had formed a turtle formation, and preventing Zhong Yanchong from running away and interfering with the subsequent battle.

He himself led the main force to move north, trying to stop Li Yanxian, and then together with Xiao Chala Abu who came to the battlefield, they attacked from east to west and killed Li Yanxian's main force.

At this moment, a group of cavalry rushed from behind: "There is a Ming army attacking the camp!"

Xiao Weili asked: "How many pillars of smoke?"

"Three pillars," said the cavalryman.

"The camp is safe and sound, no need to panic." Xiao Weili said.

Although there were only a few thousand soldiers left in his camp, there were still many armed civilians, and the troops were reduced and concentrated to protect the food, grass and baggage. It was impossible for the Ming army to capture the partial divisions that had been bypassed in a day or two.

Just when the main forces of the two armies were facing each other, another group of light cavalry returned with bloodshed.

"The enemy is coming. They are all elite armored cavalry. Our cavalry can't stop them!" a cavalry major reported in panic.

Xiao Weili immediately called Li Tiansheng and ordered Li Tiansheng to lead the elite cavalry to the west to fight the Ming Dynasty Xiaoqi who were surrounding them.

He thought that the Ming army was going to attack the camp and burn his food, grass and baggage.

But the Ming army cavalry abandoned their camp and went directly to the main battlefield, causing Xiao Weili to be attacked from both sides.

On the watchtower of the main force of the Ming army, the soldier responsible for observing the battlefield said: "A large group of enemy cavalry is heading west!"

Li Yanxian smiled and said: "General Chen Ziyi has arrived, let's attack too!"

Wu Jie's light chariot battalion (unicycle chariots) still acted as the vanguard, and the heavy chariot battalions (side chariots) of each army followed behind.

On the battlefield, the four-wheel sidecars were not pulled by mules, but pushed forward by soldiers.

The overall advancement speed is not fast, but it keeps pushing forward.

Zhang Xian of Li Bao's faction led a rear army of 10,000 soldiers to be on guard against enemies coming from Gaochang City at any time.

The main forces of both sides were getting closer and closer. After entering the range of Fran's cannon, Wu Jie's tank battalion began to show its power.

He had a large army to support him, and he completely ignored the flanks and rear. All 120 tanks were deployed and formed into a highly offensive formation.

The entire front line is like a tilde. The tanks protruding forward fire their guns, while the tanks recessed in the formation move forward. Repeat in a cycle, keep firing and moving forward until the enemy's formation is penetrated.

The front army formation of the Xiliao reinforcements was under bombardment all the time, as if Wu Jie's artillery shells would never stop.

After getting closer, the muskets also started firing.

Fighting and fighting, the formation was in chaos.

Li Yanxian saw the opportunity and ordered: "Heavy chariot camp, abandon the chariots and accelerate forward, and the cavalry of each unit will protect the two wings."

Xiao Weili's facial muscles were twitching wildly. He could still accept the large array of sidecars, but it was too bulky and slow to move. If he couldn't win, he could run away.

But Wu Jie's unicycle chariot made Xiao Weili completely crazy.

This thing can maintain a stacked formation, firing guns and pushing forward at the same time, so that the enemy in front of you is always under bombardment.

Fortunately, Wu Jie deliberately suppressed the speed of the artillery fire, maintained the temperature of the barrel, and waited until he was close to dozens of steps before playing a big one. Therefore, the front army of Western Liao was only in chaos, and had not been directly defeated!

The cannons imitated by Western Liao were very heavy and were made of copper.

Only four cannons were imitated in total, all of which were left in Hu Sihan's ears. This time, they were not brought to help in a hurry. Even if they were brought, Xiao Worila felt that they were useless.

They also had firearms, but the Ming army was overwhelming in number, and there were also various supporting tactics.

The entire front line of the Ming army pushed forward little by little. Just when Wu Jie ordered to change the shotgun shells, Li Tiansheng suddenly came back with cavalry.

"Why did you return so quickly?" Xiao Worila asked.

Li Tiansheng said: "I led the cavalry there, but before I met the Ming army's armored cavalry, the light cavalry reported that the enemy went south. I have elite cavalry in my hands, and I dare not let the enemy move too far away from the battlefield."

Xiao Worila said: "This battle is difficult to fight, and the front army is in a mess. You... forget it, we'll talk about it after the battle."

Xiao Worila wanted to remind Li Tiansheng to preserve the elite cavalry, which was the foundation of the Western Liao Dynasty's rule. He was ready to flee after the defeat.

If he could escape back to Hu Sihan's ears, he would persuade Queen Gantian not to fight the Ming army in the field anymore, and must defend the mountain passes east of the capital.