On the eighth day of August in the first year of Jingkang of the Great Song Dynasty, there was a scene of chilling in the school grounds outside Jinming City, Kaifeng Prefecture.
After several months of selection, reorganization, and training, King Qin's army from all over the world and the warriors from Kaifeng City finally looked like elite soldiers.
120,000 strong men, under various banners, organized into military and general units, formed twelve large hollow square formations, and lined up neatly in front of Jinming City. The soldiers and armor are neatly arranged, and the swords and spears are cold.
What? Did the Song Dynasty have hollow square formations? There really is! The scientific name of the large formation they are setting up now is the Square and Circle Formation, but it is actually a hollow square formation. There is only a square, not a circle (a round formation is difficult to set up, and it is also difficult to command). The four sides are horizontal formations composed of four crossbowmen, spearmen and sword soldiers. The middle can be empty, or cavalry can be stuffed in. , baggage, civil servants, central army, and reserve army units.
This square formation is the most basic formation of the Song Army - cavalry can't do it, so of course you have to set up a formation with people guarding it on all sides. If you set up a large horizontal formation of two or three rows, and there are not enough cavalry to protect the two wings, and then encounter "large cavalry" opponents such as the Liao Army and the Jin Army, it will 100% allow people to attack the flanks or back in a roundabout way... Moreover, according to the know-how taught by professionals such as Zhong Shizhong, Cao Li, Yao Pingzhong, and Liu Xiu (Liu Qi’s brother), unless they occupy extremely favorable terrain or have an absolute advantage in numbers, the infantry line will not be able to withstand a large number of The cavalry's roundabout attack.
Therefore, those fancy "formation pictures" in the Song Dynasty were actually derived from the square and circle formation.
The infantry of the Song Dynasty who did not practice the square formation well could not go out of the city to fight in the field... Otherwise, a team of one or two thousand people would most likely be overwhelmed when encountering the enemy's dozen or so cavalry!
Because the infantry that cannot form a formation "cannot keep" the cavalry, the enemy's cavalry can continue to move and will not fall into the siege of the infantry. Moreover, the cavalry can also collide and attack the scattered infantry while moving. It will not take long for the infantry to collapse - the infantry who cannot even form a hollow formation will not have a strong fighting will and will not be able to withstand it. Repeated assaults by small numbers of cavalry.
So letting this low-quality infantry fight against the Jurchen cavalry is actually fighting without instruction...for abandonment and for killing!
Therefore, a few months ago, it was actually the most correct option for the 100,000-strong army led by Li Gang to flee without fighting in Huhe Town. If he had led an army to fight against the Jin soldiers, there was a high probability that he and his army would be annihilated in Huhe Town!
After several months of rigorous training, the 120,000 battalion soldiers placed in front of Zhao Kai today can already skillfully form army-level and general-level phalanxes!
Moreover, the infantry among these 120,000 marching troops have also reached the standard of being "ready for two battles."
The so-called "preparation for two battles" means that a soldier is proficient in the combat skills of at least two weapons - either he can use a spear and archery, or he can use a sword and shoot outside, or he can do archery (using a bow or a divine arm bow) Plus a broad-backed ring-shou knife. This is not just about bringing extra weapons to the battlefield, you have to know how to use them correctly.
And the correct use must be divided into two sets of usage: formation combat and individual melee!
The reason why we have to practice like this is because this is the basic skill of the Song Dynasty imperial army! If the imperial army of the Song Dynasty could only master one kind of weapon from the beginning, those who shoot arrows would not care about cutting people, and those who slash people would not care about stabbing people with spears. Then it would not be the Song Dynasty's turn to end the troubled times of the Five Dynasties!
It was just that in the later era of peace, the Sanya Imperial Guards became more and more useless. In the end, let alone being "prepared for three battles" or "prepared for one battle", they could not even do the "one battle" at hand.
Of course, under Zhao Ji's rule, not all Song troops were so useless, otherwise Zhao Ji would not dare to launch the Xuanhe Northern Expedition.
In fact, most of the soldiers of the Western Army in the Song Dynasty were still able to prepare for the second and third battles, and the elite cavalry troops among them were basically able to get off the horse and prepare for the third battle - the East these days Cavalry can basically reach this level.
Therefore, cavalry does not necessarily have to be on horseback to fight. Even if they are dismounted, ordinary infantry are not their opponents.
Therefore, cavalry can also be dismounted infantry. They can use the mobility provided by war horses to quickly assemble and transfer on the battlefield, projecting troops to weak links in the opponent's battle formation, and forming a local numerical advantage.
In this case, the infantry, which can only use one weapon to fight, can hardly withstand the attack of the dismounted infantry with numerical superiority (local advantage) even if it can quickly form a square formation... This is actually the main reason why the Song army was often easily defeated by the Jin soldiers in the early stages of the Song-Jin war.
Another important reason for the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty army was that their numbers were not dominant. Although there were about 100 million Han people under the Song Dynasty, the maximum population under the Jurchen rule was 10 million.
But the number of people who can actually go to the battlefield is more on the Jurchen side... There are hundreds of thousands of households in the country of Dajin, which is hundreds of thousands of regular soldiers. According to the standard configuration of one sergeant and two mates, Ali Xi , almost 400,000, plus all the servants with strong combat effectiveness, there are half a million troops!
The actual number of the Imperial Army in the Northern Song Dynasty at the end of Xuanhe's reign was not necessarily 250,000... Fortunately, the Western Army also retained the legacy of the Sui and Tang Dynasties' military households, with a large number of generals, military families and Grant field archers. Therefore, a mobilization system could be supported, and three or four waves of troops were mobilized to hold the Jin people back. It also provided a large number of backbones for the historical Southern Song army - the four Zhongxing generals in the early Southern Song Dynasty plus one Wu Jie, among the five Four were from the Western Army, and only Yue Fei was the leader of the Xiangzhou warriors.
But now, because Zhao Kai has won the Battle of Sanshan Floating Bridge, the Battle of Yuncheng, and the Battle of Hecaikou, he has also displayed the majesty of Captain Gao, and also destroyed the golden thief's super self-confidence, so for himself Together with the Western Army of the Song Dynasty and the various rebel armies, we gained time to reorganize and train. Only then did we have 120,000 combat-ready elite soldiers, standing neatly outside Jinming City to hold a swearing-in ceremony!
And these 120,000 elite soldiers and another almost 80,000 elite soldiers (deployed in Sanshan Floating Bridge, Liangshanbo, Dingtao, and Guangwu Mountain), a total of about 200,000 elite soldiers, are the capital that Zhao Kai has on hand!
These are elite soldiers who were trained with Kaifeng household registration (plus 10 acres of land), Kaifeng real estate, beautiful palace ladies, sufficient food and salary to whet their appetites, and 997 hours of hard training!
In the process of 997, at least 150,000 King Qin's troops were eliminated, becoming city defenders who could not leave the city to fight in the field, and could only receive a salary as a box soldier. One-third of them stayed in Kaifeng Mansion, and the rest were deployed in the cities and forts around Kaifeng Mansion, becoming the backbone of the city defense.
After several months, the 997 finally became an elite group of 200,000 people, who were reorganized into 20 armies and 100 generals.
Among them, 12 armies and 60 generals are now in the school field outside Jinming City. The people and horses are arranged neatly and silently. But behind the murderous aura of the army, there is still some fear and uneasiness... Although everyone has been practicing hard for several months and has improved their skills, can they defeat the golden thief? It still seems a bit uncertain!
It would be fine if he held on to the city, but now he has to go out to fight in the field...well, it's still a bit scary!
In addition, are there enough houses in Kaifeng Prefecture? Many people have been allocated houses in the past few months! Is it easy to get the Kaifeng Prefecture household registration? A lot have been sent out in the past few months! And Meijiaoniang...have you finished dividing them? It’s so anxious!
Inside the west gate of Jinming City, a group of knights were slowly walking out of the city gate and heading towards the school grounds. The first two riders, one with a golden helmet and a red cloak, were none other than Zhao Kai! The other rider is a man in purple robe and black gauze. He is a member of the Privy Council and serves as a camp envoy. Li Gang is left behind in Tokyo.
Li Gang did not lose Zhao Kai's trust because of the two defeats in Huhe Town and Chengshi County. On the contrary, his daring to venture out of the city to rescue the driver made him appear more reliable!
And he brought out an army of 100,000, and finally brought back 80,000, and also contained the gold thief in Chengshi County... This level is not bad!
Therefore, Li Gang not only kept the Privy Council and the envoys, but also had an additional one to stay in Tokyo - after Zhao Kai went on the expedition, he stayed in Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo!
However, Zhao Kai still wants to give a few words of advice.
"Li Qing, the queen is pregnant now, and Mrs. Ximen and several other ladies are also pregnant... I must be a father soon!"
soon? Li Gang was stunned and said to himself: You already have two children!
Zhao Kai did not realize that he had made a mistake and was still thinking to himself: "So you have to guard Kaifeng Mansion for me... No matter what happens, you are not allowed to lead troops out of the city again. Understood. Yet?"
"I understand, I will definitely guard Kaifeng Mansion...but Your Majesty must also be careful!"
Zhao Kai nodded and said: "I am the chosen one, and I have the blessing of destiny, so I will not be in danger outside Kaifeng City, so don't worry!"
After saying this, Zhao Kai jerked his horse and took the lead, leading a group of soldiers who followed closely, and flew to the front of the twelve military-level hollow square formations.
A recognition flag with the three characters "Zhao Wudi" on it followed closely behind him, fluttering in the wind.
As soon as the soldiers, who were a little depressed just now, saw this recognition flag, they immediately knew who was coming and immediately let out a huge cheer.
"Zhao Wudi! Zhao Wudi! Zhao Wudi..."
Zhao Kai galloped on his horse amidst the cheers like a sea wave, flying past one square formation after another, until he ran to the end of the team composed of square formations, and then stopped in front of the formation of the first army of the personal marching camp. The war horse lived.
When the officers and soldiers of the First Army saw Zhao Kai appear and knew that he was about to give a speech again, they immediately stopped talking and looked at this very unusual official of the Song Dynasty with burning eyes.
Zhao Kai looked at the military formation composed of more than 10,000 elite infantrymen in front of him. His heart was surging for a moment. He didn't know what to say, so he was silent for a while.
Just when everyone thought he had forgotten his words, he suddenly said: "Gentlemen, I have just received good news. The Emperor of the Golden Thief has arrived at Daming Mansion... This saves us the trouble of traveling thousands of miles to go there. Huining Mansion, we will send him to death outside Kaifeng City. This is a God-given opportunity. Are you willing to play for this incredible wealth? The real estate in Kaifeng City, the fields outside the city, and the flowers-like There are many wives for Jade!"
