Chapter 357: Battle at the Estuary, an Easy Victory

The south bank of the river mouth is now in a mess.

Thousands of Xixia troops who rushed out left corpses on the ground and fled westward in a hurry, not even their belongings.

The Xixia army on the north bank saw with their own eyes the disastrous defeat of the defenders in their fortresses and fortresses in the south.

Li Yuanhao didn't have many artillery pieces. He had to cross the Qishan Mountains in this raid on Qingtang, so he naturally didn't bring any of them. Later, he temporarily allocated a batch from Zhuoluo City, plus a batch captured from Qingtang City, the total was only more than fifty. Door.

These artillery were all arranged in Miaochuan City, Huangzhou, because Li Yuanhao himself knew that if the strategy he implemented was successful, the Song Army would definitely think that the west side was his main force.

In this way, the main force of the Song army attacked the west, and he deployed the main force to the east. So no matter whether the Song army chooses to attack or defend, the main force in the east can act accordingly.

The entire strategic mission of Li Yuanhao was actually very simple. He knew that he could not wipe out the Song Army's northwest army in one battle, so he had to defend from the west and attack from the east. The two sides fought each other with bayonets to achieve a strategic victory on the east side and coordinate the Liao Dynasty's massive southward march. .

In order to complete this strategy, Li Yuanhao must use limited artillery to defend the city. In this way, when the Song Army attacks Miaochuan City, it will be blocked by more than fifty artillery pieces.

Therefore, the defenders in the river mouth area were no different from a symbolic interception. They did not have heavy artillery and faced the Song army's firearms, such as chopping melons and vegetables.

They were very brave, waving the scimitars in their hands, howling like wild wolves from their mouths, and galloping towards the Song army, as if everyone who stood in their way would be torn into powder.

Then there is no more.

The Song army rode on horseback and took turns shooting several times. Thousands of Xixia cavalry fell down and died silently. When they were fifty feet away, they suddenly fell off their horses as if they had been hit hard.

This obviously startled the rest of the Xixia army, and then they turned their horses around one after another, shouted something in horror, and fled in a hurry.

Watching their retreating figures, Jia Kui spat under his horse to spit out the dust that had just flown into his mouth. Then he squinted his eyes and looked at the dust flying in the distance, and muttered: "It's unbearable." hit."

"General, look."

The guard next to him pointed into the distance.

Jia Kui looked in the direction he pointed and saw countless Xixia troops on the north bank of the Huangshui River staring at this scene in stunned silence.

"hehe."

Jia Kui smiled, rode his horse to the edge of Huangshui, and squinted his eyes to look at the other side.

There was a sudden commotion on the other side.

Many Xixia soldiers on the north bank also had frightened expressions on their faces, with their eyes wide open and their mouths slightly open, as if they were saying - don't come over!

"There must be boats in their camp. Search them for me. If there are a few small boats, I will clear out the ones in the north as well."

Jia Kui then shouted to the soldiers behind him.

"yes."

Soldiers stormed the camp on the south bank.

Jia Kui and I guessed well. There are indeed several ships in the camp on the south bank, which are used for communication with the north bank.

Soon they dragged six small boats from the camp to the nearby river.

"Up, up, up!"

Jia Kui personally led the team. There were more than 20 people in each boat, and about a hundred people arrived on the boat.

Huangshui was not too fast, so the group swam across it quickly.

There was another commotion on the north bank halfway, but a moment later a Xixia general shouted something in Xixia language.

Immediately afterwards, the Xixia soldiers took off their crossbows from the horses' bellies, began to bend their bows and set arrows, and quietly waited for the enemy to come within the range of their crossbows.

"Stop the boat, stop the boat quickly."

Jia Kui shouted, and when they got on the boat, they tied several large rocks weighing hundreds of kilograms with ropes to act as anchors.

Since it was not the flood season in Huangshui at this time, the boat quickly stabilized.

When the Xixia soldiers on the other side saw them stopped, they thought they were scared, and shouted and made noises. Their faces changed from the previous fright to strange laughter and screams, as if they were mocking the Song army's cowardice.

However, Jia Kui narrowed his eyes, measured the distance, and then said: "Fire!"

"Fire!"

The soldiers on the ship squatted or stood on the bow or side of the ship and began to pull the trigger toward the other side.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

The muzzles of hundreds of guns spurted flames and white smoke at the same time, and then a dozen or so people fell down on the other side.

Only then did the Xixia soldiers on the other side realize something was wrong.

The enemy is at least seventy or eighty feet away from us, which is about two hundred meters. This is beyond the range of the bow and crossbow, but the enemy can hit them.

Although their accuracy was poor, they could not withstand the large number of Xixia soldiers standing in a long snake formation by the river. Their people were everywhere on the river embankment.

No matter how erratic the bullets were, it was still easy to hit them. Especially since they are still riding on war horses with clear goals.

Many Xixia soldiers were not even shot, but their horses were seriously injured. Some horses fell to the ground in pain, some were frightened and ran away, and some simply jumped into the river, drowning the people half to death.

Seeing this scene, the Xixia soldiers around them panicked and began to retreat in panic.

Then as soon as they retreat, the Song army can advance. No matter how much the enemy retreats, they advance as much as they advance. They will always stay outside the range of the bow and crossbow and continue to shoot and harass.

to be honest.

The Xixia soldiers on the south bank were severely damaged because the Song army could provide fire coverage. It doesn't matter if the accuracy is poor. You can make up a fire network to see how you hide.

But it was not easy to hit the Xixia soldiers on the north bank. They carried a large number of fixed bullets on the ship, and it was estimated that they fired more than a thousand rounds. Only a few of them actually hit the enemy, only a dozen unlucky ones.

But the Xixia people and horses were afraid, especially the horses.

Even if Li Yuanhao had learned to plug the ears of the horses to prevent the loud noise, it was difficult to cover the eyes with a blindfold.

Regardless of the cost or the fact that they were not blindfolded and rushing at this moment, the horses would only be exposed to gunfire.

After more than a dozen rounds of shooting, the Xixia cavalry scattered like birds and beasts, and Jia Kui led the soldiers to the beach. More than a hundred people organized a firepower network, forcing the surrounding Xixia soldiers not to cross the line.

Then the boats began to turn back to pick up people.

At this time, if the Xixia army took the opportunity to rush regardless of casualties, the firepower network organized by more than a hundred people would kill one or two hundred people, and it would still be no problem to capture them.

The Xixia garrison commander was not stupid. He understood this and began to shout and demand that the soldiers from all units quickly assemble.

However, if the number of people was too small, they would just die. Most of the Xixia soldiers were already scared out of their wits. The frightened horses were running around. It was very difficult to reorganize the personnel to launch an offensive. Time was needed urgently.

The two sides raced against time. After about a quarter of an hour, the Xixia side finally managed to organize a team of 3,000 people, arranged the battle formation, and planned to launch a death charge.

But before they started, they fell into despair. Because the next wave of Song soldiers had already rowed a boat to the shore quickly and also arranged a musket formation.

With the current situation, I am afraid that even if they rushed over and won, it would be a miserable victory at best.

The Xixia general gritted his teeth and shouted in Xixia language: "Warriors of our tribe, the eagle will not lower its proud head to anyone. Even death cannot shake our honor. Kill!"

"Kill!"

The group that followed Li Yuanhao to fight for the country was also considered the elite of Xixia. They were so brave and fearless that they launched a death-like charge.

Seeing this, Jia Kui, who had built a defense line on the shore in the distance, sneered and shouted: "Take out your weapons."

Immediately, soldiers walked onto the boat and began to carry grenades.

Although muskets and artillery were equipped on a large scale, the Song army had always had reserves of these things. After all, it was a firearm against a cold weapon. How could they not prepare anything?

The Song soldiers hung two or three grenades on their waists. When they crossed the river for the second time, Jia Kui asked people to move a large number of grenades onto the boat.

At this moment, about 30 people gave up their guns and moved the grenades to the front of their positions.

The remaining 200 people continued to form a three-stage shooting formation, aiming their guns at the Xixia cavalry that was charging at them on the northern plain.

"Shoot!"

When the cavalry was more than 100 feet away, that is, about 300 meters away, Jia Kui shouted loudly.

Although the loading of Minié bullets is not as convenient and simple as that of breech-loading rifles, the range is not much inferior.

During the Civil War in later generations, Sergeant Grain, a sniper of the Southern Army, also created a miracle of shooting and killing John Sedgwick, a general of the Northern Army, with a Whitworth rifle at a distance of 900 meters.

And the structure of this rifle is not even as good as the current musket of the Song Dynasty.

Because the early design of the Whitworth rifle did not have Minié bullets at that time, and it also used hard bullets, which made it easy for the muzzle to be stuck by bullets during loading, making it impossible to shoot.

It was not until the later period that Minié bullets were used, and the lack of air tightness led to incomplete combustion, which made the problem of residue inside extremely serious.

Today, the weapons of the Song Dynasty are all made by the imperial court. Unlike the West in the 18th and 19th centuries, which were often modified and designed by folk craftsmen or gunsmiths themselves, the Niemi bullet was widely used at the earliest, and the airtightness was also reduced to the lowest.

The power of a country and the power of an individual, the degree of completion of the designed firearms is naturally incomparable.

So to a certain extent, the firearms of the Song Dynasty today are more advanced than those during the American Civil War, and even stronger than those during the Guangxu period of the late Qing Dynasty in 1880.

Basically, it has reached the threshold before the First World War, that is, the era before the invention of smokeless gunpowder in France in 1886, and the world abandoned black gunpowder after 1890 and began to vigorously develop modern rifles.

At this moment, the enemy cavalry regrouped and launched an offensive towards the river again. Dozens of musketeers immediately fired, followed by the second round, the third round, and the fourth round, which seemed to be repeated endlessly.

The Xixia cavalry in front fell down like harvesting wheat, making the Xixia general who was also charging with the team sweat profusely and feel a sense of fear in his heart.

But he didn't dare to slow down or leave the battlefield.

Sometimes marching and fighting depend on a momentum. Once the momentum is not played out or discouraged, then the real defeat will be over.

Therefore, the Xixia side can only continue to rush forward, praying to God to protect them and not let the bullets fall on their heads.

A distance of 100 zhang is only 300 meters, less than a minute, but for the Xixia soldiers, it seems like more than half a century has passed, so long and terrifying.

But after paying the price of hundreds of people, the remaining 2,000 people finally killed to the front, making the surviving Xixia general excited and nervous.

Excited that the god of luck really favored him and let him survive. Nervous because he saw with his own eyes that when he was about to approach 30 zhang, the Song army suddenly took out the grenade that made them terrified.

This thing is too familiar to the Xixia people.

Before the Xixia soldiers could react, they heard the Song army shouting: "Grenadiers, get ready!"

"Throw!"

Thirty feet is more than ninety meters, and the grenadiers can't throw it even if they try their best.

But this is a predictive attack.

It takes a few seconds for the Song army to take out the grenade, pull the fuse, and throw it out.

And these few seconds are enough for the Xixia cavalry to run fifty or sixty meters away.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The first round of grenades caused almost no lethality.

Because only a few grenades can be thrown to fifty meters, most of the grenades fell at about thirty meters.

But even so, it caused the horses to be frightened, and the Xixia soldiers instinctively pulled the reins to slow down the offensive.

Then the second and third rounds, the grenades continued to explode, blowing the Xixia soldiers who rushed into the smoke and dust to the ground.

And the musketeers continued to harvest lives.

After more than ten seconds, only a few scattered Xixia soldiers, less than a hundred in number, rushed in front of them.

"Kill!"

The battlefield was in chaos. Some people took bayonets to the tip of their guns to prepare for hand-to-hand combat, some continued to throw grenades to confuse the enemy's formation, and some still maintained their shooting posture.

After a while, it seemed that many Xixia cavalrymen approached, and the two sides fought fiercely, and finally started a cold weapon battle.

However, at this time, the Song army was getting more and more, while the Xixia army was getting fewer and fewer.

Because six small boats were constantly transporting the Song army back and forth, it had been about three quarters of an hour since the Xixia people organized the army, which was enough for three or four small boats to go back and forth.

Soon the number of Song troops exceeded 500, and the Xixia army retreated step by step. The Xixia army on the entire north bank was in a mess. Even the Xixia general was not as lucky as the second time. He was killed on the spot by a grenade.

"Humph!"

Jia Kui pulled the bayonet in his hand out of the body of a Xixia soldier and snorted coldly.

Dust and gunpowder filled the air.

The neighing of horses, the shouting of soldiers, the screams of enemies, and the sounds of sporadic guns and grenades were heard everywhere.

He raised his head and looked around. The battlefield was about one kilometer away, and there were enemies fleeing in panic everywhere.

Although there were casualties on his side, they were not many. Only a few unlucky guys died, and then there were twenty or thirty soldiers who were injured.

Most of the soldiers were in high spirits and rushed forward as if they had been injected with chicken blood, but their feet were not as good as war horses. Many Xixia soldiers reined in their horses and fled without approaching, leaving them with only a distant back.

"Bah! A group of cowardly Western thieves."

Jia Kui spit on the ground again. It was true that fighting was expensive. In addition to the strong northwest wind and heavy dust, the dust caused by throwing grenades was all over the sky, and even many soldiers were covered with dust.

"General, what should we do? We can't catch up."

A soldier reported to him.

"Occupy their camp and report to the deputy commander that we have taken the river mouth!"

"Yes."

The soldiers went back.

In this battle, only 3,000 Song troops defeated more than 10,000 Xixia troops on the north and south banks of the river mouth.

And they killed and wounded thousands of people, and their own casualties were almost negligible. It can be said that they won easily!