In the blink of an eye, it is late May of the third year of Hongwu. Late May of the lunar calendar is already the second month of summer, and it is the hottest time of the year.
North of Keyimen, the land on both sides of the Yellow River is still in the scorching heat of midsummer. The scorching sun is high and baking the earth. Only the banks of the Yellow River are a little cool and moist.
For the Northern Song Dynasty army, which still lacked cavalry strength, this hot and dry summer was the most suitable day to launch a war against the Jin Kingdom.
Not only because the Jurchens are afraid of heat, but also because the hot and arid desert north of Keyi Gate has blocked the Jurchen cavalry from taking a detour south. Of course, the Song army will not fail to take precautions, but in this season, they will prepare for their retreat. The cost will be significantly reduced.
Therefore, for the Song army, which had strong infantry and weak cavalry, it was extremely advantageous to go north during the hot and dry season.
To the north of Keyimen Fortress, on the official road near the west bank of the Yellow River. Two infantry corps, one cavalry corps, and 20,000 minzhuang driving mules, horses and carts, or mules pulling grain ships, have already formed their formation and are ready to go.
Nowadays, the full strength of all the armies of the Northern Song Dynasty is that one army has six generals, including four infantry generals, one cavalry general, and one direct general. Not counting the officers and the personal followers of the armored cavalry, the full strength is one Twelve thousand!
At this time, the two infantry armies deployed along the Yellow River were fully equipped. Their designations are the Royal Account Army and the First Shaanxi Army respectively. The Imperial Accountant Army is controlled by Yue Fei, who has the rank of capital commander, while the Shaanxi First Army is controlled by Wu Jie.
The two armies are now in a hollow square formation, with the Yuzhang Army in the front and the Shaanxi First Army behind - the eight infantry generals belonging to the two armies all formed a hollow square formation and lined up along the bank of the Yellow River. tidy.
The cavalry generals and direct generals belonging to the two armies were separated and collected into the hollow square formation.
Li Shifu's Yulin Cavalry Army was not used to clear the way, but followed the rear of the Shaanxi First Army, covering 20,000 people and thousands of grain ships as they moved slowly.
The establishment of the Habayashi Cavalry Army is the same as that of the Infantry Army. When fully equipped, it can reach 12,000 people...the same does not include officers and the personal followers of the armored cavalry. Because there are many descendants of powerful ministers in the Yulin army, and there are also many armored cavalry who need the assistance of auxiliary soldiers. Therefore, the Yulin Cavalry has a large number of followers. Counting them, the entire army can easily exceed 20,000 at full strength!
Of course, the Yulin cavalry could not form a hollow phalanx, but formed solid phalanxes with battalions as units. Between the phalanxes, there were carts of mules and horses pulling baggage and ammunition (feather arrows, explosive pots). There are also 20 casserole cannons dragged by mules and horses!
The Yulin Cavalry Army does not have hotpot cannons, only casserole cannons that fire five-pound bullets. Strictly speaking, this kind of artillery should be considered a howitzer (perhaps it should be called a grenade pot?). Their barrel length is equivalent to 12 times the caliber. However, the trial production of blooming ammunition for howitzers has not yet been successful. So these howitzers can now only fire shotgun shells, chain shells, incendiary shells and stone shells.
Moreover, due to the short range caused by the short barrel, this kind of howitzer functions a bit like a machine gun. It must closely follow the actions of infantry and cavalry and constantly change positions to be truly effective.
Although the performance of this howitzer is far from ideal, there are not many armies that can be equipped with this weapon. Currently, there are only three armies, Yuzhang, Yulin, and Xuanfeng, of which Yuzhang and Xuanfeng each have 16. Casserole cannons. Since the Yulin Army was not equipped with hot pot cannons, it was equipped with 4 more casserole cannons, for a total of 20.
The Selection Front Army is still in Luoyang, so there are only 36 casserole cannons in front of the Xingling Army.
However, the number of hot pot cannons is relatively large. Each army has an artillery battalion equipped with clay pot cannons ranging from 16 to 4.
The Shaanxi First Army is considered the leader among all Shaanxi armies, and its equipment is relatively good, so the number of hot pot cannons has reached 16.
In other words, this legion composed of three armies led by Yue Fei has a total of 36,000 regular soldiers, 36 casserole cannons and 32 hot pot cannons. It is quite powerful!
Now the officers and soldiers of these three armies are lined up neatly on the bank of the Yellow River north of Keyi Gate, silent and exuding a murderous atmosphere!
The city gate of Keyi Gate was wide open, and Zhao Kai and Yue Fei were riding side by side, galloping slowly towards them.
Both of them were wearing purple clothes and black hats, and were not wearing any armor. Dozens of knights, led by Guo Tiannu, followed from a distance, leaving room for the two of them to talk. This was the first time that Zhao Kai let Yue Fei lead the army alone, so he had to explain it properly.
Zhao Kai is riding on a horse with a straight back and his already tall and strong figure makes him look even more majestic. Although Yue Fei is a rare warrior and tiger general, he is one size smaller than Zhao Kai, and he does not have a long beard, so he does not look as fierce as Zhao Kai.
But Zhao Kai knew that this Yue Fei and Yue Pengju was the number one general in the Song Dynasty!
In these years, it was not Zhao Kai who led Yue Fei to fight, but Han Shizhong and Yue Fei who led Zhao Kai... Especially after Han Shizhong became a sole commander, it was Yue Fei who led Zhao Kai in east and west conquests!
Therefore, it is not Zhao Kai who really needs to explain things properly, but Yue Fei.
"Brother, if you give all your elite soldiers to your younger brother, the battle at the forks of the Yellow River will not be easy to fight!" Yue Fei's tone seemed a little solemn.
Zhao Kai smiled when he heard this: "Pengju, you'd better tell the truth... Among the generals, who can take advantage of the overall situation?"
"Brother Li Liu," Yue Fei said with a smile, "Brother Li is as good at using troops as my brother and my second brother, and he has always been strict in running the army. He can share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and he is meticulous in his actions. The eldest brother can rely on him to supervise the army. "
Brother Li Liu is Li Xiaozhong. Among Zhao Kai's brothers, he, Yue Fei and Han Shizhong are the most capable. Moreover, Li Xiaozhong was born into a wealthy family, and the 3,000 warriors he relied on to make his fortune were all his private soldiers. Therefore, if he was allowed to train him, he would naturally develop the habit of running the army harshly. This is much better than Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong came from the bottom of the Western Army and relied on his brothers to help him. He could not be too harsh, so his army was always relatively unorganized and his military discipline was a bit poor...
Although Yue Fei also came from the bottom, he was not from the Western Army, but a general of the Xiangzhou Army. Among a group of Xiangzhou warriors, Yue Fei was the eldest brother... When he became famous and pacified the Ding Army, the rest of the Xiangzhou Army were still serving as soldiers!
Therefore, if Yue Fei is stricter, the people in Xiangzhou below will not be dissatisfied.
After Yue, Han, and Li, there is Dong Jingang, who was born in the Changsheng Army. Dong Jingang was a fierce man who was the most brave in the three armies. His martial arts skills were no less than that of Yue Fei. He was also good at using cavalry and charging into battle. His team was the Changsheng Army of the Dong clan entrusted to him by Guo Tiannu. They were all veterans of the war and were easy to control. This group of Yan people was very isolated in the Northern Song Dynasty army, so they had to unite to survive.
However, Dong Jingang is a bit brave and can only attack fiercely, but cannot be a leader.
The fierce men ranked below Dong Jingang are Liu Qi, Huang Wuji, and Xiang Ke, three generals from the Western Army - they all have a certain background, either as generals or from the Yingwu family, and have been trained as generals since they were young. They are all outstanding in martial arts and military skills, but they are a bit more official and know too much about politics... so Yue Fei looks down on them a bit.
"In addition," Yue Fei said, "Niu Boyuan has the talent of a general, and I can rely on my eldest brother. With the assistance of Brother Li Liu and Niu Boyuan, there should be no trouble at the fork of the Yellow River... Unless Brother Li Qianshun and Brother Richard come from The White Horse Army Commander comes out!"
Niu Gao is also in Zhao Kai's army now... It was Yue Fei who led him to the Western Expedition, and now he is in charge of the Shaanxi Third Army.
This foolish and blessed general in storytelling is actually a rare handsome man in reality! According to Yue Fei's evaluation, Niu Gao's ability to lead troops in battle was superior to Han Shizhong and Li Xiaozhong!
Therefore, with the assistance of Li Xiaozhong and Niu Gao, Zhao Kai should not make any big mistakes along the way... But once the 50,000 troops of Li Qianshun and Brother Richard break out from the White Horse Army Division, it will be unpredictable.
"Don't worry," Zhao Kai laughed at this time, "Li Qianshun can't leave the White Horse Army Division..."
"Can't get out?" Yue Fei was stunned, "Did he..."
"He's sick!" Zhao Kai said with a smile, "I got the news that Li Qianshun is very ill...and will die soon!"
...
"Is this going to...step by step?"
At the camp at the fork of the Yellow River, Wanyan Xiebao looked at the newly marked castles on both sides of the Yellow River on the map and said to himself: "Is Zhao Kai going to use the best strategy and the middle strategy together? He is not afraid. Did Li Qianshun and Brother Richard break out from the Baima Army to attack Xingzhou?"
"Xie Bao, have you forgotten that Li Qianshun fell ill in Baima City!" Wanyan Loushi reminded him, "Yesterday, Xiao Zhonggong returned from Baima City. When he passed by us, didn't he tell me that Li Qianshun had lost his interest? Ling, too grief-stricken, has become bedridden.”
"Is he pretending to be ill?" Wanyan Xiabao suddenly frowned, shook his head and said, "He must be pretending to be ill because he is afraid that we and the party members under him will force him to fight... .But it’s really unwise to pretend to be sick at this time!”
"Why are you so unwise again?" Wanyan Loushi asked.
Wanyan Xiebao said: "Now when the party members are in disarray, how can Li Qianshun pretend to be sick? Even if he is really sick, he has to pretend not to be sick, so as to stabilize people's hearts. If he is not sick, he pretends to be sick, and he still pretends to be bedridden. , is there someone in the army who is plotting to assassinate someone else? His brother Cha Ge has more authority than him... We have to think of a way to remind Gan Shun to stop pretending! If he keeps pretending, he will really dying!"
"No, that's not the case, right?" Wanyan Loushi frowned.
If Wanyan Zonghan were here, he would definitely pounce on him and cover his mouth right now! But Lou Shi is not very clear about Xie Bao's "power" and is still doubtful about his crow's mouth.
"Brother Cha and Qian Shun have a deep love for each other!"
Wanyan Xiebao just shook his head, "How can there be brotherhood in an emperor's family? I'm afraid that in a few days, the news of Gan Shun's death will come!"
