At this time, Zhang Xiang, Yang Bamei and Zheng Duanzhixian stood behind Yang Peng, and Yang Peng asked Yang Bamei to bring the Khitan prisoners. After a while, seven Tatar prisoners and fifty-six Tatar heads were carried to the Chinese army's tent. The fifty-six Khitan heads were prepared with lime salt, beaten together and piled high, with a thin braid trailing behind each head. Five of the seven living Tatars were hit in the hands and feet by flintlock bullets, and two were injured by horses falling. At this time, they were all injured. They knelt in the Chinese army's tent and shouted from time to time.
Zhang Xiang looked at the Khitan soldiers with pigtails and nodded approvingly. As soon as the other generals saw these capable Tatar soldiers on the ground, they immediately believed Yang Peng's words, and their eyes immediately changed when they looked at Yang Peng. This Yang Peng really captured and killed more than sixty Tatars, and his soldiers and horses were really brave. With such strong soldiers accompanying us, the odds of winning this victory will be a little better.
This time the officials of the Song Dynasty sent Kou Zhun to take Huaihua general Shi Pingzhang (grandson of Shi Shouxin) to Tianjing New City to watch Yang Peng's army. Kou Zhun asked: "Khitan soldiers, Dr. Ziguanglu, I want to ask you, besides the commanders Xiao Tianzuo and Xiao Tianyou, who are the generals you have when you enter the Kou capital this time?"
An aide behind Kou Zhun stood up and translated Kou Zhun's words into Khitan. The Khitan soldiers on the ground grunted a few times, but were unwilling to answer. The soldier from the Selection Regiment behind the Khitan soldiers raised his whip and slapped it on one of the Khitan soldiers. The Khitan soldier immediately had a thick bloody mark on his back. He was afraid that Yang Peng's soldiers would beat him again, so he knelt on the ground and babbled.
Kou Zhun's staff heard this and the translator said: "This time Khitan Xiao Tianzuo is the ordered general, Xiao Tianyou and Zhang Hua are deputy generals; Hu Yuan Youzhou regiment training envoy, Han Derang is the deputy general." When the generals heard this, they suddenly realized. Only then did they know who other Khitan leaders were on the other side besides Xiao Tianyou.
Xiao Tianzuo, the eldest brother of Empress Dowager Xiao, Empress Dowager Chengtian of Northern Liao Kingdom, the eldest brother of Xiao Tianyou, and the right-hand man of Empress Dowager Xiao together with Xiao Tianyou. Xiao Tianzuo and his father and son have been enemies of the Yang family for three generations, and are the old rivals of the Yang family generals. He was born with a rugged face and a very ferocious appearance. He had a horse on his back and a metal folding iron knife in his hand. Legend has it that he is the reincarnation of a dragon from heaven and is invulnerable to weapons and weapons. In fact, Xiao Tianzuo has strong kung fu skills and is protected by precious armor, so ordinary weapons cannot hurt him.
The Battle of Youzhou surrounded Song Taizong in Youzhou. Yang Qilang (Yang Yansi) killed the four gates with all his strength, and fought Xiao Tianzuo and Xiao Tianyou with one man. He killed them until they could no longer resist, and Youzhou withdrew the siege. Xiao Tianzuo participated in the subsequent Battle of Golden Beach and the Battle of Lianglang Mountain. Especially in the Battle of Lianglang Mountain, it was Xiao Tianzuo and brother Xiao Tianyou who set up the fifth encirclement to surround and kill Yang Qilang. Xiao Tianyou was defeated by Yang Qilang. Xiao Tianzuo was about to capture the exhausted Yang Qilang, but Du Jin'e rushed out, defeated Xiao Tianzuo and rescued Yang Qilang. Later, in the battle with the generals of the Yang family, Xiao Tianzuo lost more than he won, but he persisted in fighting the Yang family. Xiao Tianzuo became the backbone of the Queen Mother Xiao Group, entangled in important battles such as the Battle of Loess City and the Siege of Suizhou. Yang family general.
Han Derang, his Han name was Yelu Longyun, and his Khitan name was Xingning Yao Ge. Minister and politician of the Liao Dynasty, his ancestral home is Yutian, Hebei. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Han Derang's grandfather, Han Zhigu, was captured by the Khitans and brought to the Liao Kingdom as a slave. However, when Han Derang's father, Han Kuangsi, became a rare general in the Liao Kingdom because he was able to fight in battles. Han Derang was influenced by his father's battles in the Liao Kingdom since he was a child. He was brave and resourceful, and made military exploits for the Liao Kingdom. Empress Dowager Xiao even appreciated him, and later became the "Regent" of the Liao Kingdom, supporting the development of the Liao Kingdom.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, his grandfather Han Zhigu was plundered and enslaved to the Liao Dynasty, and his later official position was Zhongshu Ling. His father, Han Kuangsi, stayed in Nanjing (Youzhou) and was granted the title of King of Yan. Later, due to the failure of the battle with the Song army, he was granted the title of Jiedushi of Jinchang and was demoted to the King of Qin. Han Derang was influenced by his family and his father's generation since he was a child. He has extraordinary wisdom and a deep understanding of the principles of governing the country. At the beginning, he served Jingzong of Liao Dynasty with sincere orders. He was appointed as an official in Dongtou, supplemented by the general affairs of the Privy Council. He was transferred to the imperial city in Beijing and was appointed as the military governor of Zhangde Army from afar.
In July of the first year of Qianheng (979), Han Derang guarded Nanjing on his father's behalf. In September, the Song army attacked Nanjing. Han Derang was not afraid of the danger. He climbed to the city and commanded the defenders to resist for 15 days and nights. When reinforcements arrived, they attacked from inside and outside and defeated the Song army at the Gaoliang River (about the area around the outer city of today's Beijing). It is known in history as "The Battle of Gaoliang River". service". Han Derang was awarded the title of Military Envoy of Liao Xingjun for his meritorious service. In the fourth year of Qianheng's reign, he was promoted to Privy Envoy of the South Academy and given the name "Dechang", becoming the most powerful among the Han officials.
In the autumn of that year, Jingzong of Liao Dynasty was critically ill, and both Derang and Yelu Xiezhen were ordered to take care of him. He secretly discussed with Empress Chengtian Xiao Chuo, adapted to the situation, deprived the military power of various princes who coveted the throne, and established the 12-year-old Liang Wang Longxu as the emperor of the Liao Shengzong. He respected the Shengzong's biological mother Xiao Chuo as the empress dowager and regent of the country. Han Derang supported the meritorious Prime Minister Su Wei and participated in major political decisions.
In order to win over Han Derang and make him her right-hand man, Empress Dowager Xiao said to Han Derang in private: "I have always promised to marry a son. I hope to harmonize the past, and then the young master will rule the country, just like you." From then on, Handerang was in the position of supervising the country. In the first year of Tonghe (983), Empress Dowager Xiao implemented Han law with the support of Han Derang, and granted Han Derang the title of Kaifu Yitong Third Division, as well as political orders. In the fourth year of Tonghe, the Song Dynasty attacked the Liao Dynasty. Han Derang followed the Empress Dowager Xiao to reject the Song Dynasty, defeated the Song Dynasty, and was granted the title of Duke of Chu. When the army returned, Han Derang, with the support of the Empress Dowager Xiao, united the Khitan nobles and those of the Han nationality who had the ability to govern the country, and implemented the selection of officials, regardless of Han, and the assessment of officials; established the imperial examination system; cleaned up the stagnant prisons since Emperor Shizong of the Liao Dynasty; and reduced the suffering Reform measures such as taxes and levies for victims of wars and natural disasters led to prosperity in the mid-Liao Dynasty.
In September of the 22nd year of Tonghe, Han Derang went south from Empress Dowager Xiao to attack the Song Dynasty and participated in the establishment of the "Chanyuan Alliance". The Song and Liao parties entered a period of relative stability. Han De was appointed to the rank of prime minister. He was in charge of the affairs of the privy envoys of the Northern and Southern Courts and integrated military and political power into one body. Empress Dowager Xiao took advantage of her regent position to first give Han Derang the name Dechang, then give him a royal surname, cancel his slave status, and become a Khitan noble. After the Liao Dynasty, Emperor Shengzong named Yelu Longyun, and gave him "the most important father". He also gave him iron coupons and several sticks. One more point of recognition. It seems that confidential information cannot be obtained from these low-level soldiers, but it is enough to obtain the enemy's general layout and troop distribution. What's more, the battle situation is unpredictable, and a slight mistake can lead to a huge difference. Sometimes some seemingly useless intelligence can often improve the general's decision-making and influence the situation of the battle.
After Kou Zhun interrogated these Tatars, Kou Zhun still wanted to say, "How does the city lord plan to use these Khitan prisoners?" As soon as Yang Peng heard this, he knew what Kou Zhun meant. He cupped his hands and said, "If Lord Kou wants to interrogate these prisoners in detail, he will send the prisoners to Lord Kou's Biao army at night."
Kou Zhun was overjoyed and said: "Okay! This doctor wants to get more information from these prisoners!" Overjoyed, Kou Zhun raised his water cup towards Yang Peng and said: "The city lord is very different in running the army. This time For your contribution to the intelligence service, I would like to toast the city lord with water instead of wine!" After a pause, Kou Zhun said, "When the Khitan army and the Khitan army fight in five days, I, the doctor, will recite my merits for the city lord together!"
Seeing Kou Zhun toasting Yang Peng's wine, other generals were very envious. But who wants his own soldiers and horses to be incapable of capturing a few Khitan soldiers? The generals were also convinced that Yang Peng was treated with courtesy. Yang Peng picked up the rice wine on the case and drank it all in one gulp.
Then the banquet began, and all the generals began to toast each other. Of course, Yang Peng is the one who is most respected. At this time, the war was raging, and the battlefield rules of civil and military forces were gradually disintegrating. The Song Dynasty had already tended to become a warlord, and each town in the army was the most powerful. If you make friends with powerful military attachés, you can speak louder in the court. When you make a mistake and are impeached by an officer or punished by a governor or governor, if you have a friend to save you, you can save the day.
When the generals heard that Yang Peng's troops were strong and saw with their own eyes the Tatar prisoners captured by Yang Peng, they all secretly thought that this Yang Peng was unusual and wanted to make friends with him. Although when they first met, they were a little resentful that Yang Peng was so young, but after seeing the prisoners Yang Peng captured, everyone secretly thought that Yang Peng could do what they couldn't, and they accepted the fact that Yang Peng was a young hero.
For a while, Yang Peng drank more than a dozen glasses of rice wine in front of the case. Generals and lieutenants came over one after another. He drank so fast that Yang Peng felt his face turn red. After the generals and lieutenants finished drinking, a group of generals came over again. Yang Peng drank more than a dozen drinks, and he really couldn't eat anymore. When the captains came to pay their respects again, Yang Peng asked Duan Zhixian and others behind him to drink for him.
After a round of toasts, the generals began to enjoy the wine and meat. Most of those generals were rough men, and Yang Peng only saw a scene of gobbling up food. Huaihua General Shi Pingzhang stuffed the meat into his mouth with chopsticks, tilting his head and biting the meat fiercely, as if he was fighting the mutton. Those generals were even more rude. He thought chopsticks were hard to use, so he just grabbed the meat with his hands and ate it, making his mouth full of oil.
Among all the eating photos, Shi Pingzhang was the most beautiful. He held the mutton with chopsticks and chewed it carefully, eating it very decently. Occasionally, he would pick up the wine glass and take a sip of wine, and his movements would be very graceful. After all, Kou Zhun was a civil servant, but he was more civilized than these warriors. However, he had a huge appetite and actually ate three bowls of rice in one go, which made Yang Peng marvel. You must know that the rice bowl in the army is very big, and those three bowls of rice are worth four bowls of rice in civilian households.
After eating the wine and meat, Yang Peng said goodbye to Kou Zhun and returned to his military camp. Yang Peng first asked the soldiers to deliver the prisoners to Kou Zhun, then he fell heavily on the jar and fell asleep immediately.
At dawn the next day, Yang Peng heard the scouts coming to report as soon as he got up. "General, the Khitan's 100,000-strong army all pulled up their camps and headed west!" Yang Peng was stunned, wondering why the Khitan left. It seems that after testing for a while, the Khitan did not have the confidence to attack Cangzhou of the Song Dynasty in one fell swoop. The Khitan lived in the bitter cold land of Liaodong and lacked population and materials. All they wanted was to burn, kill and loot outside the Song Dynasty's Cangzhou City and do some profitable business. Yang Peng felt that he was still a little hungover. He shook his head and asked, "Have all the troops been withdrawn?"
The scout platoon leader said loudly: "There are still a thousand soldiers, half of them in vests, stationed fifty miles east of Yingzhou City. They seem to be preparing to follow our Song army and collect information about our Song army!" What an arrogant Khitan! Army, how dare you leave spies behind after the main force left! Yang Peng snorted and asked again: "Half of those Tatars are horse-armored soldiers?" "
The scout platoon leader said: "Probably, we can't see clearly. These Khitan soldiers are very arrogant with their horses. As soon as we got close to them, they rushed up to chase them. My cavalry platoon tried to get close several times and failed to see clearly."
The Khitan interrogated those living Tatars and knew that the Khitan had reformed the military system at this time. The Khitan no longer used the Centurion as its basic combat unit, but divided its soldiers into three major battalions, and Empress Dowager Xiao uniformly appointed the officers of each battalion. These three major camps are the Garbushxian Camp, the Nanzhao Envoy Camp and the Yeqianhachaoha Camp.
The most elite one is the Yeqian Shixian Camp, whose soldiers are composed of Khitan nobles and two brave and powerful men selected from each centurion. Next is the recruitment of envoys to the south, with ten people selected from each hundred-man team, all of whom are elite Xi army elites. Finally, there is the Alihachaoha camp. Forty people are selected for each hundred-man team, and they are all brave horse soldiers.
The other infantry and auxiliary troops fought behind the horse armor soldiers of the Yeqianhachaoha camp. Half of these thousand Khitan soldiers and horses are vests, and they seem to be a combat unit under the Yeqianha Chaoha Battalion. Yang Peng nodded and shouted to the messenger: "Let Huyan Chijin come out with a thousand riflemen and follow me out of the camp to eat these thousand vests!"
The ordering soldier shouted the order and passed on Yang Peng's order. Not long after, Huyan Chijin ordered his troops and horses and got ready for the expedition. Yang Peng was wearing armor, riding on his maroon horse, holding a big flag, and leading a thousand soldiers of the Selected Front Regiment to kill eastward.
After traveling for forty miles to the east, Yang Peng saw many Khitan sentries nearby. When these sentinels and detectives saw the Khitan soldiers and horses coming to cover them up, they all ran to the military camp more than ten miles away, seemingly returning to report the news. But soon new sentinels rode out from near the Khitan camp and circled around Yang Peng's horses. The Khitan soldiers still seemed very relaxed and did not believe that Yang Peng and the thousand Song troops dared to attack them.
Yang Peng led his troops all the way east until they were within five miles of the Khitan camp. Only then did the Khitan soldiers become alert. The Khitan soldiers blew their horns and formed a battle formation outside the camp. Yang Peng used a telescope to look at the Qing army's camp and found that everyone in the Khitan army had a horse. Half of the Khitans were riding tall war horses, probably horse-armored soldiers. Yang Peng asked Huyan Chijin's soldiers to load their guns and press towards the group of Khitan soldiers little by little.
The Khitan troops lined up outside the camp and rushed towards Yang Peng on horseback. Horse hooves rolled, and the Khitan army's cavalry charge raised bursts of smoke, as if to show off their force, and rushed towards Yang Peng and Huyan Chijin's thousand riflemen. Yang Peng asked the soldiers to line up in four deep phalanxes - the phalanxes had no rear and would not be attacked by enemy cavalry from the flanks. The soldiers had trained countless times to organize phalanxes, and they quickly adjusted and changed their formation into phalanxes in just one minute.
Yang Peng then asked Huyan Chijin and his soldiers to spread caltrops in front of the formation, turning the twenty meters in front of the formation into an inaccessible restricted area. Yang Peng's soldiers had just finished scattering caltrops, and the Khitan soldiers' cavalry had already rushed a mile away. Huyan Chijin's soldiers began to load their guns and prepare for battle.
At a distance of four hundred meters, three hundred meters, and two hundred meters, Huyan Chijin had clearly seen the face of the Tatar cavalry army, and Huyan Chijin's musketeers opened fire. Seventy musketeers in the first row of the front fired at the Tatars at the same time. Only a crackling sound of gunfire was heard, and a cloud of smoke appeared in front of the formation. Seventy bullets were fired at the Khitan soldiers two hundred meters away, and they were shot hard into the bodies of the Khitan soldiers.
A Khitan soldier in horseback was shot. The bullet broke through the iron-plated cotton armor on the outermost part of his body, broke through the chainmail armor on the inner part, and pierced his right abdomen. But the distance was too far. The bullet lost its kinetic energy after breaking through the two layers of armor. It only penetrated his body for a centimeter and stopped. He was not seriously injured. He gritted his teeth and insisted on charging into the battle on horseback.
A Khitan infantry soldier who was shot was not so lucky. He only wore a layer of armor. The bullet pierced his iron-plated cotton armor, penetrated into his flesh and blood, and beat his lungs into pieces. A bloody mess. The infantry immediately vomited blood after being shot and fell to the ground with a scream. A Khitan soldier's horse in the vest was hit by a bullet. The horse stood up in severe pain and threw the vest soldier on its back to the ground. The torrent of army horses rolling behind him trampled over the vest soldier, trampling him to death immediately and turning him into a bloody corpse.
With just one shot, thirty Khitan infantry soldiers were killed on their horses. The bodies of the fallen Khitan soldiers blocked the charge of the cavalry behind them, causing a small chaos. The Khitan soldiers did not expect to be hit by firearms from such a long distance. It was as if they had been punched hard and their morale was stagnated. However, the Khitan soldiers did not lose heart. The "elites of the Xi Army" who led the thousand horse troops of the "Yeqianha Chaoha Camp" hid behind the Khitan soldiers, shouting loudly to boost the morale of the warriors.
The Khitan soldiers and horses mustered up their courage and continued to rush forward. At a distance of one hundred and sixty meters, sixty riflemen from the second row opened fire on the Khitan soldiers. Another sixty rounds of bullets pierced the gap in front of the battlefield and shot into the ranks of the Khitan soldiers. In front of the Khitan soldiers' charge formation, people fell on their backs. More than twenty riflemen who had been shot fell off their horses like rice cut by a sickle.
Their corpses became obstacles on the way forward, tripping up the two horses behind them and injuring two more cavalrymen on the horses. The morale of the Khitan cavalry was shaken. Where did the Song army come from? Why was the firepower of this volley of firecrackers so fierce? After just thirty steps forward, more than fifty warriors had already lost their lives. If you want to rush to the Song army's formation and shoot arrows, how many corpses need to be left behind?
And if the distance is too close, will the cavalry soldiers wearing two layers of heavy armor also be killed by the sharp fire guns of this Song army? The Khitan cavalry flinched and flinched. The elite of the Khitan Xi army secretly complained, so he grabbed the horn of the trumpeter beside him and blew it loudly.
Hearing the energetic trumpet sound of the Chinese army, the Khitan cavalry became more stable. They suddenly howled together and continued to gallop towards the Song army, which was a hundred steps away. From a distance of one hundred and twenty meters, another sixty bullets were fired. At this distance, the accuracy of rifle shooting is already very high. Although it is not as high as the 99% during training, it still has a hit rate of 80% or 90%. Moreover, at a distance of 120 meters, even a soldier with two layers of heavy armor cannot protect against cone-shaped Mini bullets. The flintlock bullets can fully shatter the internal organs under the skin of the person who was shot.
A Khitan soldier's vest was hit by a bullet in the left chest. Blood suddenly spattered and sprayed the face of the cavalryman on his left. The vest just shouted and fell under the horse. A Khitan infantryman was hit in the stomach. He didn't feel that he had been shot until he felt his abdomen was so cold that he realized that his intestines had been exposed from the wound. When he saw such a big wound, he felt that he was going to die. He lowered his head and fell down from his horse with a thud. The army horse behind did not slow down and trampled over his chest. He died on the battlefield without saying a word.
Sixty rounds of bullets came through the air, and the front row of the Khitan cavalry was suddenly stagnated like a wave hitting the bank. At least fifty Khitan cavalry were killed. The bodies of these dismounted cavalrymen became obstacles. The front row of the charging cavalry was in chaos again. The Khitan soldiers were stunned by the firepower of the trapped regiment. Is this a war? This is pure massacre! In just a dozen breaths, the Khitan army had dropped more than a hundred corpses on the battlefield. The cavalrymen no longer charged forward with their heads sullenly. They looked at the Chinese army in panic to see if the elite of their Xijun army had retreated.
But the elite of the Xi Army responded to them with a horn sound to continue charging. The cavalrymen in the front row turned pale, but they did not dare to retreat. They could only grit their teeth and continue to rush forward. Ninety meters away from the Ming army, another row of guns came. The front row of Khitan cavalry fell to the ground like soulless sandbags.
The Khitan soldiers rushed forward one after another, rushing forward regardless, and finally reached fifty steps away from the Song army. The first row of more than sixty Khitan cavalry raised their bows and arrows and fired at the trapped group fifty steps away. A rain of arrows streaked across the sky, and seven soldiers of the formation regiment were hit by arrows and fell to the ground screaming.
However, the response from the Khitan soldiers was the fifth salvo fired by the soldiers from the front of the trapping regiment. Sixty meters away, seventy soldiers of the Trap Regiment once again stood in the shooting position and opened fire. Seventy bullets were shot like seventy gods of death into the Khitan soldiers sixty meters away. The Khitan cavalry in the front row fell to the ground one by one as if they were called by name.
Compared with the Khitan archers who shoot on horseback, the musketeers have a much higher hit rate. When a musketeer wants to aim at a certain target, he only needs to overcome the weight of a few kilograms of the musket. The user only needs to aim and pull the trigger. But when you use a bow and arrow, you have to pull back hard to maintain ten times the strength of the musketeer. What's more, the horse was bumping up and down when charging into the battle, and it was impossible to aim carefully. It would be shot out at a glance. The result of the exchange of fire between the Khitan cavalry in the front row and the soldiers of Huyan Chijin's trapping regiment was a disastrous defeat.
Let’s see what happens next time.
