Chapter 650 0645 [Artillery Version of the Moon-Repelling Formation]

"Report, the light cavalry has successfully passed through the river valley, and the Ming army did not set up an ambush in the valley."

"Explore again!"

"Report, the hard army and the Yu County garrison have climbed up the mountain, and the Ming army did not set up an ambush on the mountain."

"Explore again!"

Wanyan Loushi rode his horse and led the army slowly forward, and soldiers kept coming back to report the situation.

There was no ambush ahead, and the Jin army passed through safely, which surprised Wanyan Loushi. At the very least, he should have sent a small team to harass and delay him.

In fact, Zhang Guangdao never thought of setting an ambush directly, which would be too much to underestimate these battle-hardened Jin soldiers.

Zhang Guangdao has been in Shanxi for more than a year. After capturing Shouyang, he has been looking for a suitable battlefield. After selecting more than ten places and repeatedly weighing and comparing, he thought this place was the most suitable.

The widest, 1,300-meter-wide, narrowest, 400-meter-wide, and four-mile-long river valley area, most of the Jin soldiers quickly passed safely.

Ahead is a rugged hilly area, and no Ming army was found either.

Wanyan Loushi climbed the southernmost hill and looked around. It was bright and clear. This place was already within the "eight" character.

Although there were many earthen hills and valleys ahead, it was generally flat. There were no big mountains for dozens of miles. There were continuous mountains a few miles away on the left and right sides, which were exactly the left and right strokes of the "eight" character.

For the sake of caution, Wanyan Loushi also sent some light cavalry and infantry to climb the mountains on both sides to explore the enemy situation.

There was still no ambush by the Ming army!

Wanyan Loushi still felt something was wrong and became more cautious. He ordered: "The hard army set up camp at the mouth of the valley to ensure that the retreat of the whole army was unobstructed. The defenders of Yu County climbed up both sides of the valley to help defend the hard army camp."

The hard army was Jurchen long spear infantry, all armored soldiers, serving as the front army before the battle, and this time they also came on horseback.

Wanyan Loushi actually used the sharp army to strictly guard the retreat and was ready to escape. He had been fighting for so many years and had never been so vigilant, purely because he could not figure out the strength of the firearms.

Although Wanyan Huo Nu looked down on the enemy and looked like he had no brains, he was definitely not a fool.

Seeing his father being so careful, he could not help but become alert.

Wendu Sizhong pointed to the high mountain in the southwest: "That is Fangshan. The Ming army only needs to set up a camp on the mountain to control the battlefield for dozens of miles around!"

Han Chang rode over: "The Ming army may be on the mountain, setting up a hard camp waiting for us to attack. And there are a lot of firearms, ready to attack us by surprise. Our army cannot be too dense when attacking the mountain."

"That makes sense." Wanyan Loushi was ready to dismount the whole army and then attack the mountain on foot.

"Report~~~~"

A scout light cavalry galloped back: "A large number of enemy cavalry were found ahead, at least three or four thousand, and all of them were brave cavalry. Our light cavalry was defeated and could not continue to move south to detect the battlefield!"

Wanyan Loushi said to Han Chang: "You go back to the valley entrance in person and lead the hard army to ensure the safety of the retreat."

"Yes!" Han Chang rode northward.

In fact, there are not many Jurchen warriors in this tough army, most of them are Han Chang's Liaodong Han soldiers.

As for combat effectiveness, it is probably not much inferior to Guo Yaoshi's old subordinates, otherwise why would they always serve as the vanguard for Jin Wushu later?

After thinking carefully, Wanyan Loushi ordered again: "Poshu (son of Poluhuo), you take 300 grassland cavalry to the southeast valley before entering the valley. Don't go too deep, divide into several teams to guard, and prevent the enemy from going around our army to block the retreat. Once the enemy is found, don't fight, come back immediately to report."

"Yes!" Wanyan Poshu took the order and left.

Wanyan Loushi said again: "Seri, you lead the cavalry to fight the enemy cavalry. If you win, don't chase too deep, be careful of the Ming army's ambush."

"Yes!"

Wanyan Seri took the order and left.

After issuing many military orders, Wanyan Loushi took the remaining soldiers and kept the horse's physical strength to trot forward slowly.

However, Poluhuo and Shengguo led the Jurchen and grassland cavalry and were beaten back by the Ming army cavalry. Wanyan Saili arrived quickly with the Jurchen cavalry, and they immediately became powerful and started to counterattack with friendly forces.

The leaders of the Ming army cavalry were Yang Yun and Geng Zhongnian.

When they saw the Jurchen cavalry coming, they shot a few arrows and blew the horn to "retreat".

The acting was extremely poor!

It was mainly because he felt sorry for his cavalry and was afraid of unnecessary casualties when pretending to be defeated.

Wanyan Saili took the fake defeat seriously, because the Liao cavalry and the Song cavalry had the same tactics and defeat.

In view of the excellent matching mechanism in the late Liao and Song dynasties, the armored cavalry of the Song and Liao dynasties generally did not charge for close combat. They liked to cruise and shoot arrows, and charging was also for shooting arrows. When they encountered the charge of the Jurchen cavalry, they often shot a few arrows and fled.

The rout of the Song and Liao cavalry in the past had formed a conditioned reflex for Wanyan Saili.

He completely forgot Wanyan Loushi's military order, and in a fit of excitement, he led his troops to chase forward.

"Blow the horn, let that bastard come back!" Wanyan Loushi rushed up the hill and saw it clearly.

"Woo woo woo~~~~"

Wanyan Saili, who was in high spirits, slowed down when he heard the horn, and angrily stopped with his troops.

The light cavalry of Poluhuo and Shengguo continued to go out to explore the battlefield, while Wanyan Saili led the cavalry to support them.

The Jin people left the infantry behind, set up camp at the entrance of the valley to ensure the safety of the retreat, and the cavalry advanced forward in a methodical manner.

Zhang Guangdao stood on Fangshan, observed with a telescope for a moment, and couldn't help complaining: "Is this still the invincible Western Jin army? The cavalry is used like a turtle!"

Xu Ning said: "The enemy may be afraid of ambushing with firearms. General Yang used firearms to attack Xixia in the valley, and the Xixia people were beaten too badly in that battle. The Jin Kingdom's Western Army is next to Xixia, and they must have heard about it a long time ago."

Zhang Guangdao said depressedly: "If Yang Zhi hadn't been exposed with firearms, why would I have to go to such lengths?"

At the foot of the mountain, the Ming army had already set up a large formation.

The outer periphery was two rows of chariots in front and behind, which were also grain transporters.

They were used to transport grain during the march and were placed in front of the formation during the battle. The chariots were connected with chains. There were also several short spears on the chariots.

The northwest, west, and southwest sides of the large formation were closely adjacent to Fangshan. The north, northeast, east, southeast, and south sides were protected by the chariot formation to face the Jin soldiers.

The Queyue formation reappeared!

It's just that Liu Yu had his back to the river, while Zhang Guangdao had his back to the mountains. Liu Yu used a strong bow and crossbow, while Zhang Guangdao used a wooden cannon.

Zhang Guangdao's command platform was set up on the square mountain, where he could observe the entire battlefield.

More than 300 wooden cannons were placed behind the chariot formation and covered with cloth, with soldiers in front to block them.

Wanyan Loushi moved forward cautiously and asked his troops to spread out.

He had heard that the Ming army's artillery could fire for several miles, and he was afraid that he would be hit without knowing it.

Wanyan Loushi observed the Ming army's formation from a distance, and waited for a long time but no one fired.

Of course, he had never read history books, let alone the story of Liu Yu leading 2,000 infantrymen to defeat 30,000 Northern Wei cavalry with the Queyue formation.

What was the chariot formation?

The Iron Pagoda even dared to attack the camp head-on and directly broke down the gate!

Wanyan Loushi called Wendu Sizhong and asked, "How far is it from here to Pingdingjun City?"

Wendu Sizhong said, "It's estimated to be 20 to 30 miles."

Then, Wendu Sizhong added a few more sentences: "Going straight east from here, you can cross the river valley to Chengtianzhai. After Chengtianzhai, you will reach Jingxing, which leads directly to Zhendingfu in Hebei. From here to the southwest, there is another river valley leading to Shouyang, which the marshal is attacking."

Wanyan Loushi asked again, "Can Fangshan be directly connected to the river valley leading to Shouyang?"

Wendu Sizhong said, "It should be possible. Otherwise, if we surround it without attacking, we will block the Ming army in the formation. After a long time, they will not be able to supply military rations."

Wanyan Loushi said, "There should be an enemy camp in the southwest valley entrance. It is estimated that the enemy cavalry that escaped just now went there. Send an order to let the light cavalry rush to Pingdingjun and contact the garrison there first."

That night, both sides were ready to fight.

The Ming army waited for the Jin soldiers to attack, but the Jin soldiers were afraid of the artillery and did not move. They formed their own formations and spent the night in the same place.

At night, a dozen Jin light cavalry arrived outside the Pingdingjun City. They shouted a few times and received a rain of arrows. Only then did they know that the Pingdingjun City had fallen.

Wanyan Loushi got the news in the middle of the night and immediately called a meeting of all the generals.

He said: "The Pingdingjun City is extremely strong. The Ming army broke through it so quickly. Its combat power is far beyond our imagination. If the marshal was here, it would not be possible to break the city quickly. Just in terms of siege, the Ming army is far stronger than us."

No one refuted, and the Jin generals all admitted that they were not as good as the Ming army in siege. The Pingdingjun City in front of them was an example.

Wanyan Loushi said: "There are two choices now. One is to return along the original route. I have arranged several key points, so I can easily go back and join forces with the marshal. The second is to fight the enemy in front of us, which should be the main force of the Shanxi Ming army. As long as we defeat them, we can most likely annihilate them based on the terrain nearby. Once we annihilate the enemy in front of us, Shanxi can be taken."

"Of course we have to fight," Wanyan Huonu said first, "We have come all the way here, spent countless food and grass, and even lost the Pingdingjun City. Can we just go back without firing a single arrow?"

Even Poluhuo, who came to be the military supervisor, was unwilling to withdraw: "The enemy is right in front of us, how can we retreat without fighting?"

"Fight," Wanyan Shengguo said, "In the terrain of Shanxi, we have to fight one city at a time. No matter how strict the chariot formation on the opposite side is, can it be more difficult to fight than the city? It's not easy for the main force of the Ming army to dare to go out of the city to fight. If we let them go back to the city, the casualties will be even greater when we attack the city again."

"We should fight!" Wanyan Saili also said.

Several other generals spoke up, all of them saying to fight, and no one suggested withdrawing.

Wanyan Shengguo made the most sense. If the Jin wanted to take over Shanxi, they had to take it down city by city. The Ming army finally got out of the city, so they had to seize the opportunity to annihilate them, and they couldn't let them go back to the city to fight a siege.

Although Wanyan Loushi felt uneasy, he didn't want to withdraw his troops, so he made a decision: "We will fight tomorrow, be careful tonight, and we must not let the enemy attack us at night!"

Nothing happened overnight, and the sky gradually brightened.

In order to attract the Jin soldiers to attack, Zhang Guangdao even erected a large flag at the eastern foot of Fangshan.

It was full of provocation!