The Song army is on small hills. These hills are not high, ranging from a few meters short to more than ten meters high, and there is a long gentle slope below.
But even this is not conducive to the cavalry running.
For example, in the Battle of the Boundary Bridge between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao at the end of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Shao's general Ju Yi also laid an ambush on the gentle slope. When Baima Yi came close, he suddenly rushed out and fired a volley of bows and crossbows, defeating Gongsun Zan.
However, even so, Li Yuanhao still did not let the soldiers dismount and fight on foot. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to charge towards the small hills.
The reason is that after all, it is a long gentle slope rather than a high right-angle slope. Horses can rush up the long gentle slope, but the infantry runs slowly. The Song army is likely to be condescending on the slope and keep shooting bows and arrows. It only takes a few rounds to cause a lot of damage to them. casualties.
If the cavalry ran faster, the Song army would only have one round at most. As long as the cavalry charged up with shields, the casualties would not be too great.
Therefore, in order to reduce casualties and get the two sides into close combat more quickly, Li Yuanhao must consider using the horses' short-term burst sprint to achieve the purpose of giving full play to the Xixia army's melee advantage.
In fact, he was right.
The Song army attacked for dozens of kilometers, with no time to rest, and the men and horses were exhausted. When they encountered a surprise attack at this time, there was no chance to breathe. As long as they were approached closely, the Xixia army would definitely be able to defeat the Song army.
Even when Li Yuanhao saw that his troops were getting closer and closer to the Song army, he had already begun to laugh at the Song army general who led the team because he didn't know how to fight.
Originally, the Song army was short of horses, and Fan Zhongyan sent such a general. Wasn't he here to kill the cavalry?
However, just when Li Yuanhao was expecting his Xixia cavalry to rush all the way up the gentle slope and tear the fragile Song soldiers into pieces, he saw a scene that shocked him.
I saw that the Song army on the slope did not take out the crossbow as they imagined, but a small black hammer with a long handle.
Yes.
Li Yuanhao's eyes were very good. Although he was at a distance, he did see a small hammer.
Probably less than a foot long.
It's a bit similar to that small pumpkin hammer, but smaller than the pumpkin hammer.
Could it be that the Song Army wanted to rely on hammers for close combat?
A flash of doubt flashed in Li Yuanhao's eyes. How powerful can such a small hammer with such a short hammer handle be?
But just when he was wondering, when the Xixia Army was about twenty feet away, the Song Army pulled the buckle of the long handle of the small hammer, and then a stream of green smoke came out from the end of the handle.
At this time, the Xixia army was still running forward, and the Song army immediately threw it forward.
As the saying goes, it is better to catch well than to throw well. The distance Song Jun threw was actually less than fifteen feet, which is about fifty meters. This still took advantage of being at a high place. If it was flat ground, it would only be ten feet at most. Far.
However, in the few seconds of pulling the ring, throwing it and flying, the Xixia Army had already reached about fifteen feet, and those who ran fast had even reached ten feet.
Thousands of Xixia soldiers were overwhelmed, and they saw the smoking hammer above their heads falling into the crowd.
Some even hit those Xixia soldiers on the head, and even more agile masters actually raised their hands to catch the hammers when they fell, and then opened their palms and looked at them in confusion.
It's not that they didn't know that the Song Army had firearms. The former Song Army's firearms were no different from toys.
The barely useful Zhentian Lei (landmine) also requires horses to run across the mixing line. The force of the horse's legs contacting the mixing line drives the Zhentian Lei igniter under its feet, and then detonates.
Therefore, in the perception of the Xixia people, the Song Army's firearms were weak in power and complex to operate. They were of little use except for making loud noises to scare people.
This resulted in them having no idea what the small hammer in their hands could do.
A Xixia soldier raised his head and saw the fallen thing. He took it and glanced at it casually, then threw it back and continued to gallop.
The next second.
"boom!"
The first explosion sounded.
The Xixia soldier only felt a huge force coming from behind him. He didn't even feel the pain. His whole body was so light that he seemed to be falling in the air.
Before the man landed, the surrounding explosions sounded one after another, "bang bang bang bang", just like Bianliang City setting off firecrackers during the New Year, crackling, the sound was louder than the firecrackers, deafening, like thunder.
The grenade fell into the crowd and exploded into bloody flowers. Mud splashed, and the shock wave generated by the explosion disturbed nearby war horses, and debris was embedded in the horses' bodies.
In an instant, the Xixia army fell on their backs, and the entire formation was gone. The frightened horses ran around, causing a large number of Xixia soldiers to fall off their horses, fall to death or be trampled to death. There was chaos below the hillside.
Zhang Kang looked indifferently at the chaotic Xixia army below. Li Yuanhao laughed at him for not knowing military affairs, and Zhang Kang laughed at him for not knowing about grenades.
Some generals also suggested that he take a rest before entering the battlefield, but Zhang Kang deliberately let the soldiers run all the way. As an experienced general with many years of fighting, Li Yuanhao could not fail to tell whether they had traveled a long distance or had rested and recuperated.
Only by convincing the other party that they have no physical strength and that they are rushing in to rescue the security forces without any rest will Li Yuanhao be fooled and immediately organize troops to attack them.
Obviously Zhang Kang did not make a mistake in his calculation.
Li Yuanhao was not wrong. He made the most correct choice, but he just didn't expect that the Song Army had invented a new weapon. Just like before the Japanese surrendered, they did not expect that the United States had invented the atomic bomb.
As the sound of explosions continued to sound, the situation on the battlefield changed instantly. Screams, horses neighing, wailing, and the sound of hitting the ground were heard endlessly. Dust was everywhere. The battlefield was instantly blown up by grenades, trampled by horses, and blown up by the wind. shrouded in dust.
The key is that the Song Army had more than one round of grenades. Because it was inconvenient to carry, each soldier of the Song Army only carried two grenades in his waist. After throwing them, the next batch was thrown outside. In just thirty seconds, The Song army threw more than 10,000 grenades.
Nearly half of the Xixia army was directly bombed, trampled to death, or thrown to death, because in addition to those who were bombed in front, those far behind were also made to fall by the frightened horses, colliding, squeezing, and trampling each other, causing death and injury. countless.
Li Yuanhao was shocked.
In less than a minute, he didn't know what happened, but he saw roaring everywhere, and before he could recover, his Xixia cavalry collapsed.
Almost immediately after this brief daze, his eyes turned red and he roared: "Quick, blow the retreat order, quick!"
In fact, there was no need for him to issue such an order, and the Xixia army was already retreating.
But the Song army was not just for nothing. The two rounds of grenades were almost thrown, so Zhang Kang immediately ordered: "Kill!"
"kill!"
The Song army had little physical strength at this time, and the horses were very tired, but they could not hold back their high morale.
Who would have thought that the once arrogant Xixia cavalry would collapse in one encounter.
At this moment, every soldier had a fanatical and fierce expression on his face.
Almost as soon as Zhang Kang gave the order and the charge horn sounded, all the soldiers of the Song Army pulled out the ring-headed straight knives at their waists.
Thanks to year-round trade with Xixia and Tubo, the Song Dynasty had a large number of cavalry.
During the Renzong period, the number of forbidden troops was as high as 680,000, and there were more than 400 cavalry battalions alone, with a population of 220,000. It's just that there are a lot of empty pay, idle soldiers, old and weak soldiers, and the actual number of cavalry is only one hundred thousand.
Moreover, the weapons of the cavalry of the Song Dynasty were mainly spears, spears, and broadswords (straight swords with ring heads). They adhered to the concept that one inch is long and one inch is strong. The latter were rare, and those with spears and spears were mostly used.
But it’s really inconvenient to hold a spear with a grenade in it. It’s impossible to hold a spear or spear in your left hand, and you have to bite the pull tab with one hand to throw the grenade with your right hand.
So this army all uses broadswords.
Anyway, after the grenades, you just need to clean up the battlefield.
Zhang Kang gave an order, and Di Qing, Zhang Yu, Zhe Jimin and other powerful generals immediately galloped over with their brothers in charge.
At this time, the Xixia army was in chaos, and order collapsed. They were caught off guard and were almost cut through by the Song army. Countless people were killed. A large number of soldiers fell off their horses. The formation at the rear also collapsed and fled in all directions.
There were no tactics at all. The Song army only had to rush forward on horseback, brandishing the straight sword in his hand, and then raised the sword and dropped it. The blood spurted out half a meter away, and the head fell off, killing a Xixia man.
It was almost a massacre.
Yuan Hao personally led the troops to fight, and he was in the rear. Seeing this situation, he did not bother to call the soldiers to retreat, and quickly reined in the horses and ran back.
In the midst of this chaos, Zhe Jimin had early set his sights on Li Yuanhao's banner at the rear of the Xixia Army in the distance. He patted his horse and said to his brothers behind him: "Brothers, follow me and kill. The banner in front is Zhao Yuanhao. Kill him." If you take his head, the court will reward you greatly!"
You must know that when Li Yuanhao proclaimed himself emperor, the Song Dynasty placed a heavy bounty on Li Yuanhao's head at the border.
If you kill him, you can't say that you will be directly promoted to Privy Councilor, but you can at least be regarded as rising through the ranks, rising several levels in a row.
Moreover, rewards such as gold, silver, copper coins, silk and silk fabrics are worth hundreds of thousands of coins. It can be said that you can rest on this merit book for a lifetime and have nothing to worry about.
Under such encouragement, the soldiers whipped the horse's buttocks like crazy and followed Li Yuanhao all the way to the charge.
The horses were in pain and pursued wildly, frightening Li Yuanhao in front.
He looked back anxiously from time to time, and when he heard someone shouting, "That big flag in front is Zhao Yuanhao," he immediately ordered the soldiers who were resisting his flag to throw down the flag.
Even if the commander-in-chief Da Zhen is brave enough to fight an army, but now that the army is gone and the army is defeated like a mountain, what is the use of this flag.
As a result, as soon as he threw the flag, the pursuers behind him slowed down.
It's not that his flag has any magic power, but that the Song army traveled a long distance, and many horses sprinted over such short distances. After only four or five miles, they were all foaming at the mouth and dying of exhaustion.
Zhe Jimin's horse even weakened under its feet and fell directly, almost knocking him into the mud. When he turned over and got up from the tired horse, he spit out the dust that fell into his mouth, and then When he raised his head to look, he could only hit the ground hard with his whip, annoyed at the lack of strength of the war horse.
But the next moment, another group of cavalry rushed past. The leader was an elderly officer in his fifties. Logically speaking, Fan Zhongyan selected elite soldiers. There was no reason to choose such an old soldier as a junior officer.
But Zhe Jimin quickly recognized that the person was Zhou Mei, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Tianwu Army.
Although Du Yuhou is not a high-ranking official, the Tianwu Army is one of the upper four armies and has thirty-four battalions under its jurisdiction. In theory, excluding the empty pay, there are about 17,000 people. Du Yuhou He is the deputy general of the commander of the Tianwu Army, which is regarded as a mid-level officer.
If we consider an army, Zhang Kang is a general and Zhe Jimin is a battalion and company cadre, then Zhou Mei is almost a school-level cadre. Even though this man is in his fifties, he even participated in the Battle of Chanzhou when he was young.
Zhe Jimin discovered that Zhou Mei and the others had all put on Xixia horses at this time. After the Xixia people collapsed, the battlefield was full of ownerless horses.
The Xixia people's war horses have much more physical strength than the Song people's war horses.
When Zhou Mei passed by Zhe Jimin, she even smiled at him, as if she was saying, "Young man, you are still too young. Learn more."
The next second, Zhou Mei passed by him, and with about two hundred men, she ran towards Li Yuanhao.
Li Yuanhao had already thrown down the flag. Zhou Mei stared over and saw the black cloak behind Li Yuanhao, and shouted: "The one wearing the black hat is Yuan Hao. If you kill him, you will be rewarded heavily!"
"Huo!"
"Kill!"
"Zhan Yuanhao!"
"Quickly, kill him!"
The soldiers in the rear were inspired and started chasing again.
Li Yuanhao in front was already frightened out of his mind. Although the distance between the two sides was still a bit far, it was obvious that being chased by the other party was really heartbreaking.
In a hurry, Li Yuanhao had to untie his cloak and throw it away when he heard the faint shout from behind.
It seems that there is some magic after throwing things.
It didn't take long for Zhou Mei to catch up.
Because the Xixia army who attacked Kaolan Village was going crazy.
Wei Ming Congshun originally led the Xixia army to storm the Kaoliao stronghold, beating Liu Huaizhong to the point of losing his armor and armor, and was about to break through the stronghold.
Turn around and look.
Good guy, something big happened over there with the boss.
If something went wrong with Li Yuanhao, it would be a good thing if Li Yuanhao died. If he hadn't escaped and fled back to Qiu Hou to settle the score, even if Wei Ming Chongshun was his clan brother, he would probably have died.
So Weiming Congshun quickly withdrew his troops and led his troops to rescue him. And immediately organized a force of a thousand people to come over and stop Zhou Mei.
The Song army in the rear completely defeated the Xixia army, and thousands of Song troops continued to pursue forward.
The more than 1,000 people sent by Zhou Mei and Weiming Congshun to escort them fought together, but soon the Song army from behind and the Xixia army from the front also came one after another. About 8,000 Song troops and more than 10,000 Xixia troops started a bloody battle.
Some Song soldiers had some grenades left, and they threw them before they got close. There were explosions one after another, and the brutal fighting could not be seen to the end. Li Yuanhao was also able to breathe at this time.
Just when he discovered that reinforcements from the rear were arriving, he reined in his horse and was about to rest for a while, and then commanded the battle stall. Among the troops fighting in the front, another Song army squad of about 300 people suddenly jumped out and pierced the Xixia army like gods and demons!
Just when the team was about to go back and fight after killing each other, the young general at the front who was covered in the blood of the enemy seemed to have discovered something. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Li Yuanhao.
Li Yuanhao was less than a mile away from the young general. When he looked at him with the young general's sharp eyes, he felt like two sharp arrows were pointed at his throat. A vague but strong sense of danger seemed to fall from the sky, and the terrifying oppression seemed like there was a Invisible hands grasped his heart, making him breathless.
The young general had tattoos on his face, and he was handsome but covered in blood. He stared at him fiercely like a demon crawling out of hell, and then shouted loudly: "The one riding the white horse in front is Yuan Hao, kill him! "
Again?
This was the only thought that flashed through Li Yuanhao's mind, and then he almost instinctively turned his horse and left!
He has followed his father and uncle on many expeditions in the northwest.
He is not afraid to go into battle and kill the enemy himself.
But the explosion caused by the hammer thrown by Song Jun just now scared him out of his wits.
What's more, the young general on the opposite side was able to single-handedly penetrate the entire Xixia army that was intercepting and rescuing him. He was not easy to mess with at first glance.
It's better to run away and return to the outside of the Great Wall as soon as possible.
(End of chapter)
