Chapter 651 0646 [Gun, Sword and Bow Composite Formation]
After daybreak, the Jin army did not attack immediately.
Instead, they sent some cavalry to pick up the infantry who would ensure the smooth retreat.
The Liaodong Haner Hard Army led by Han Chang had about 3,000 people. They all came on horseback this time and were elite infantry of the Jin Kingdom.
The core elites were the 2,000 Iron Buddhas led by Wanyan Huo Nu and the more than 5,000 Jin Kingdom Cavalry led by Wanyan Saili and other clan members.
There were also cavalry under the command of Poluhuo and Shengguo, a few of which were Jurchen Cavalry and Light Cavalry, and most of which were grassland tribal cavalry, totaling more than 2,000 people.
The total force invested by Wanyan Loushi was about 13,000.
There were also more than 3,000 infantrymen, who were the city defense troops of Yu County. Their combat effectiveness and morale were not very high. These people were not brought to the battlefield, but together with thousands of civilians, they took over the hard army to ensure the retreat passage and guard the military food and supplies in the camp.
Considering the terrain of the valley when they came, these miscellaneous soldiers should have no problem guarding the camp.
Let's talk about the Ming army.
Zhang Guangdao led 3,000 reserve troops and set up a command platform at the eastern foot of Fangshan Mountain, overlooking the entire battlefield.
Xu Ning was in charge of the large formation of more than 6,000 carriages.
The two small hills behind the formation were guarded by Wu Jie and Liu Qi, each with more than 3,000 soldiers.
The total strength of the Ming army on the battlefield was about 17,000.
However, the 5,000 cavalrymen of Chen Ziyi, Yang Yun, and Geng Zhongnian were hidden by Zhang Guangdao at this time.
More than 4,000 people under Yao Pingzhong, including Wang De's Xiandeng Camp, are currently missing.
There are still 1,000 Ming troops stationed in Pingdingjun City in the south.
There is a Ming army camp at the valley entrance at the ruins of Zhao Jianzi City in the southwest, with only 500 soldiers and a large number of civilians in the camp.
The decisive battle did not start until noon, because Han Chang's hard army needed to rest after arriving at the battlefield.
But before that, Wanyan Loushi had sent light cavalry to scout around, trying to find out where the Ming cavalry had gone.
"Wan Hu, the light cavalry has searched so far, but no trace of enemy cavalry has been found!"
"Search again."
Wanyan Loushi frowned. The Ming army had several thousand cavalry, and they disappeared after escaping yesterday. Without this new force, he dared not attack with all his strength, and he had to keep a core force for defense.
When the hard army had rested for a while, Wanyan Loushi finally ordered an attack.
He did not attack the chariot formation directly, but sent the hard army to go around the hill northwest of the formation, trying to conquer the hill that was not very high.
Some of the Jin cavalry were also ready to dismount and attack the mountain at any time. The remaining cavalry supported and protected the mountain-attacking troops, while guarding against the Ming cavalry from nowhere.
Just when they were about to attack the mountain, a team of Jin light cavalry rushed back: "Wan Hu, the Ming cavalry is in the valley more than ten miles southeast. More than a hundred of our light cavalry went into the valley to explore, but only less than twenty cavalry escaped!"
It was not a simple valley. After entering, there was a different world. There was a six-mile long and four-mile wide valley where soldiers could be hidden.
Wanyan Loushi ordered to stop the action and asked Wendu Sizhong: "What is that place?"
Wendu Sizhong asked the scouts in detail and finally concluded: "It should be the valley leading to Jucheng. From Jucheng, we can attack and block our retreat. From Jucheng to the southwest, we can lead to Pingdingjun City. From Jucheng, we can attack Chengtianzhai and advance to Jingxing. The enemy cavalry will come directly to the west and can quickly reach the battlefield here."
Wanyan Huo Nu suggested: "Father, it is better to ignore the enemy in front of us and go east to annihilate the enemy cavalry first."
Wendu Sizhong said: "It is difficult to attack if the enemy cavalry guards the river valley. Even if our army can win, the enemy only needs to leave hundreds of people to cover the valley and escape back to Pingdingjun City from the southwest of Jucheng. First, it is difficult to attack, and second, even if we win, we can only defeat them."
What kind of terrain is this? Wanyan Loushi is a bit trapped. He finally feels that his troops are too few.
The hiding place of the Ming cavalry is too disgusting. They can not only attack the rear camp of the Jin soldiers, but also attack the main battlefield from the opposite direction, and retreat to the city calmly when the situation is not good.
Zhang Guangdao saw that the Jin soldiers who were about to attack the mountain stopped moving, and immediately realized that his cavalry had been discovered.
But it doesn't matter. If the hidden card is exposed, then play the open card.
As long as the Jin soldiers don't withdraw immediately, it won't have much impact on the entire battle situation.
Should I withdraw?
Wanyan Loushi began to hesitate.
I can't retreat. It's not easy to meet the main force of the Ming army in the wild.
If I withdraw today, I will definitely fight a war of attrition to attack the city. And it will soon be winter and snow, and it will be more difficult to attack the city at that time. If it is delayed until spring, there will be a shortage of soldiers and food.
Whether it is a war of attrition or delaying time, the Jin Kingdom can't bear it.
Because the overdraft of the people's strength in the south this time is too serious, if the war is delayed until next year without progress, all the counties in the territory of the Jin Kingdom will surely revolt everywhere. At that time, if the Ming army attacked, Jin would be troubled both internally and externally. Not to mention suppressing the rebellion and annihilating the enemy, they would not even know where to find military rations.
Wanyan Loushi had an epiphany in his heart. The high-ranking generals of the Jin Kingdom were too optimistic about this southern expedition and did not consider the consequences of unfavorable operations.
This battle should not have been fought at all!
From a tactical point of view, Wanyan Loushi should have retreated immediately. It was obvious that the battlefield here was a trap.
From a strategic point of view, Wanyan Loushi must fight. This is the only chance to break the dilemma of Shanxi.
Since we have to fight, we should consider how to fight.
Go east to fight the Ming cavalry first?
But the Ming cavalry has a passage and can escape back to the city at any time. Wanyan Loushi may be fooled by the dog walking, and then he will have to come back here to attack the Ming army.
Retreat to the withdrawal passage first?
That is no different from withdrawing directly.
Splitting troops to guard the camp at the withdrawal passage?
The battlefield was already short of troops, so it was impossible to split the troops again.
After thinking about it, Wanyan Loushi had only one choice, which was to attack with all his strength to annihilate the enemy in front of him!
If he won, he would not have to worry about anything else.
If he lost, everything would be over.
Having made a decision in his heart, Wanyan Loushi did not think about anything else.
The Jin Kingdom had encountered this kind of critical situation countless times, and each time it was solved by fighting desperately. He drew his sword and shouted: "Hard troops attack the mountain!"
The Jin Kingdom's spear infantry soldiers, led by Han Chang, began to organize an attack on the hilltop defended by Wu Jie.
The troops of the brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin were not strictly organized according to the mandarin duck formation, and they were also different from the overlapping formation they invented in history.
After observing Yang Zhi's training, they absorbed the core idea of the mandarin duck formation and believed that it came from "Wei Liaozi·Shu Wu Ling", so they organized the formation according to the characteristics of their soldiers.
Familiar with military books, with comprehension and long experience in actual combat, this kind of general is different.
The Wu brothers have many archers under their command, but they do not have the financial resources to manufacture a large number of divine arm bows for the time being. They use long spears in front, followed by strong bows, and weak bows, and place chevaux de frise in front.
The same small teams of 11 or 12 people, each small team is formed into a large team, and the teams are interlaced, and can attack or retreat alternately. The staggered formation can also surround and kill the enemy who has broken through the formation. As long as multiple teams do not collapse at the same time, they can continuously line up to fight, and the reserve team can easily replace the friendly forces that have been beaten.
Seeing that the Jin army was still at the foot of the mountain, Wu Jie's first row of strong archers began to fire in unison. A little closer, the second row of archers shot again.
The mountain was not steep, and the Jin soldiers had not yet approached the chevaux de frise, and the first wave of attack was forced to withdraw by the archers.
Zhu Ming did not form a large army of archers, initially because there were not enough bows and arrows, and later because there were not enough archers. The Marshal's Office and the Privy Council suggested the formation of a crossbow army, but the large-scale expansion of the army required too much equipment, and the large-scale production of strong crossbows had to be put off.
And Yao Pingzhong's old subordinates had no shortage of bows and arrows, nor did they lack archers.
The Yao family's garrison was the newly occupied territory of the Song Dynasty. Tong Guan made a trick that year and transferred six archers from the north to guard the border. This led to many serious consequences. First, there were not enough archers in other border armies; second, due to rampant corruption, a large number of archers transferred to Hehuang died and fled. There were also many other messy things.
However, it also led to the fact that the number of archers in the Yao family army was far more than that of melee soldiers, and they were all veterans who had practiced archery for many years!
These border army archers were short of food and clothing when they served in the old Song Dynasty, and they often faced the danger of starvation. Their morale in the war was extremely low, and archery was clearly marked with a price, so they lived by shooting those few arrows and receiving rewards.
In the new Ming Dynasty, although Yao Pingzhong led his old troops, the court sent military judges and grain and salary officers.
Grain and salary were paid in full, and no more heads were cut off to judge merit.
These two changes alone made the old Song archers who had been living a lazy life burst out with a strong fighting will!
The first wave of Jin’s hard army was blocked, and soon a second wave was organized, and hundreds of cavalry also dismounted to prepare for foot battle.
At the same time, thousands of Jin’s cavalry began to patrol and shoot arrows in front of the Ming army.
Until the fourth wave of attack, the Jin infantry finally rushed up and pushed down the chevaux de frise in front of Wu Jie’s formation.
Wu Jie’s front row of long spearmen, in uneven formations, alternately advanced and launched a wave-like attack.
In the midst of the fight, the second row of archers were still throwing shots at the Jin soldiers behind them, while the first row of strong archers drew their swords to fight in close combat.
Who said archers can’t fight in close combat?
Their close combat weapons were two-handed broadswords that were widely equipped in Liao and Song.
The length of the sword is only 70 to 80 centimeters, but the widest part is 10 centimeters. The sword head is not sharp, but in the shape of a gui, so it is not used for stabbing, but for chopping and breaking armor.
This is a standard sword from the Five Dynasties. Because there are too many strong armors on the battlefield, stabbing is changed to chopping.
The strong archers swung two-handed broadswords, passed through the gaps left by the friendly spearmen, and chopped out fiercely with armor and sharp weapons - these archers not only carried swords in close combat, but also wore strong armor.
The armor of the Jin Dynasty's hard army weighed about 30 to 40 kilograms.
After being chopped by a broadsword, it was no different from being chopped by an axe. It has a little blunt attack effect, and you can try your luck to cut off some of the braided armor ropes of the lamellar armor. If you chop the shoulder, the huge impact force is like a hammer hitting it, and the whole arm will be painful and numb.
The composite formation of spearmen and giant sword soldiers, and the wave-like attack method of iterative warfare, caught the Jin Dynasty's hard army off guard as soon as it appeared.
The Jin soldiers were stunned. They had never encountered such a situation before and had no idea how to deal with it.
After defeating the enemy again, Wu Jie ordered the soldiers not to pursue and to restore the barrier fortifications.
Looking at the hard troops fleeing back to the foot of the mountain, Wanyan Loushi's expression became more and more solemn, because the cavalry's attack was also not going well.
The combat effectiveness of the Ming army here was far beyond his imagination.