Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 800: Scare the Horse

Due to the obstruction of the Lingdu Mountains and the Roulang Mountains, the snowstorm from north to south was blocked.

As a result, an area of ​​returning wind and snow was formed in the vast land south of the two mountains.

The wind and snow that blew in from the mountain pass between Roulang Mountain and Lingdu Mountain, which was dozens of miles long, formed ripples like water waves on this vast land.

This is a very beautiful natural landscape, but it is a pity that the snowy ground with ripples had long been trampled beyond recognition by the battle between Liu Qi's army and the Western Xia army.

The tips of the withered and yellowed grass had already appeared under the completely destroyed snow.

At this time, the various military commanders of Western Xia were like a group of prisons launching a hearty siege against Liu Qi's army.

They were patient because the outcome of the battle was already determined and they did not need to fight for their lives with a trapped beast.

It is impossible to mobilize the entire army on such a vast battlefield with flags and drums.

The commander-in-chief of the central army can only issue the simplest combat intention, and then the military commanders of each unit will carry out their own operations.

Liu Qi raised the blood-red flag and ordered the army to fight to the death.

The more closely they entangled with the Western Xia army, the more difficult it would be for Western Xia's three ace legions to play a role.

Their desperate efforts can be exchanged for more.

The various military commanders of Western Xia were scattered across the vast snowfields, acting as the vanguard of hawks and dogs, encircling the enemy in a roundabout way, attacking in different directions and at the same time, advancing layer by layer with the sound of thundering hooves.

A pair of huge goat horns, like the horns of a devil, stood ferociously on Tuoba Hou's central army flag.

Under his command, Tuoba Hou was neatly dressed in brown-black leather armor, with the scarlet tassel on his helmet fluttering in the wind, and he was commanding the battle in an orderly manner.

He knew that he had already defeated the Song army.

The Song Dynasty had spent several years and put all its national strength into this war against Western Xia, but it would end in complete failure.

The Xixia people had several kinds of war flag totems, including white yak, falcon, wolf, goat, macaque, etc.

Babahou's battle flag was a goat.

Things have come to this point. The established strategic goals have been achieved, and all he has to do now is wait to reap the fruits of victory.

Nomadic peoples always need to rely on mutual cooperation and certain combat skills in order to hunt and to fight with other tribes for pastures.

Therefore, they are born with combat skills and experience.

Their war mobilization and assembly were much simpler and faster than those of the farming peoples in the Central Plains.

They do not need to go through the complicated and time-consuming process of conscription, training, practicing attack and defense formations, preparing baggage and food, etc.
The vast and empty grassland and Gobi provided sufficient strategic depth for their cavalry.

Therefore, they do not have to worry about having their food supply cut off or their retreat blocked, like the armies of agricultural nations.

Therefore, it was easy for them to take the initiative in the war.

Now, they have mastered all the advantages, the right time, the right place, and the right people...

Just wait for the harvest.

The left-wing army led by Shi Han attacked from behind the Western Xia Army.

This Western Xia army was about to make a detour and wedge its way into the heart of Liu Qi's troops.

How could they not take a big bite of such a fat sheep?

But suddenly, a Song army appeared inexplicably in the rear.

They were a little puzzled because they already knew the strength of the Song army.

The line from Roulang Mountain to Huizhou is the only passage for Song army reinforcements.

But that passage had been blocked by Zhuo Luo and the Southern Army.

The Song army on Roulang Mountain fought a desperate battle and then all went down the mountain, where they were surrounded and devoured by them.

Whose troops and generals are those who suddenly appear from behind?
Shi Han had never expected that he could actually give the Xixia people a "thousand-year killing spree".

These Xixia people had already concluded that there was no Song army as their retreat route, so they became careless.

They were so arrogant that they didn't even bother to look back.

Anyway, the entire army has been deployed to the decisive battle, so why bother thinking about the retreat plan?

Add to that the shouting of people and the neighing of horses, the effect of wind direction on the sound, and the fact that the Song army was composed entirely of infantrymen without war horses, so the movement made less noise...

If there was a chance to play a "Millennium Killing" on the Xixia people, Shi Han wouldn't mind poking them in the ass.

The firearms soldiers who were charging in the front took out their slingshots and threw the lit grenades out in unison.

The grenade exploded, and porcelain pieces, iron pieces, and nails splattered in all directions, clearing an area instantly.

The Western Army soldiers who reacted hurriedly turned their horses and rushed forward without hesitation, stepping on the bodies of their comrades, when the second batch of grenades exploded above their heads, sides, and feet.

Another flurry of people turned around.

The Xixia cavalry reacted and began to take out their bows and fight back.

The Song army's firearms soldiers on the opposite side began three-stage shooting under a hail of arrows.

People kept falling on both sides.

Then, the Song army's crossbows and arrows began to provide air cover.

Sharp arrows whizzed back and forth like dark clouds. The shields above their heads protected the vital parts of the soldiers under the shields in time, but many soldiers from both sides still fell.

The Western Xia cavalry rushed over from both wings.

Then, the tiger squat cannons that had just been set up on the snow on both wings fired out more than a dozen quail egg-sized iron sand balls.

The mid-range killing effect of this shotgun is really terrifying.

If one of them hits you, both the man and the horse will have holes in their bodies, and blood will flow out.

With a "swish" sound, the scene in front of him became empty.

The Xixia army's war horses had almost never heard such a loud noise at such a close distance.

The horse was startled!
Gunpowder had only been used in warfare for a short time, and black powder, which was extremely powerful and perfectly proportioned, had never appeared before.

Occasionally, some Jin soldiers were baptized by the Song army's firearms, which were the early bamboo-tube muskets with extremely small power that relied entirely on flames and explosions to scare people.

It's just a small firework that's not as powerful as a magic bullet.

The Western Xia army had never even seen that thing.

Even if some soldiers had seen it occasionally, they were long gone.

The soldiers of the Western Xia army have been renewed for countless generations, and they have not had any borders with the Song Dynasty for decades.

First, a few frightened horses ran around and neighed, and soon the whole army started to push and crush each other.

How could Shi Han miss such a rare opportunity?

Taking advantage of the chaos among the Xixia cavalry, which had lost its power to charge and its advantage in mobility, Shi Han decisively ordered the entire army to advance.

A troop that has lost its formation and is colliding and trampling on each other will be crushed one-sidedly when facing an army with neat formations, coordinated long and short weapons, coordinated long-range arms, and coordinated tactics.

When the entire Song army pressed forward, the Western Xia cavalry, who were good at charging into battle, were crowded together with their horses against each other, and became sitting ducks.

Moreover, this style of fighting enabled the Song army to successfully seize a large number of high-quality war horses.

……

Guo Di's right wing army was not as lucky as Shi Han.

The Xixia general of this military command was cautious in his style of action and he also sent scouts to the rear.

Although theoretically speaking, this is completely unnecessary.

So after discovering the sudden arrival of the Song army, the Western Xia army had enough time to adjust.

Moreover, this Western Xia army itself is still in the peripheral area of ​​the entire melee, so it has enough space to adjust and change its formation.

The front team became the rear team, and the battle formation was formed. Every thousand cavalry formed an arrow-shaped charge assault group. They had enough time to form the most perfect attack formation.

When Guo Di found out that he had been discovered by the enemy cavalry, he stopped and organized a defensive formation.

So, when the more than a hundred iron cavalrymen that the Xixia people were proud of formed a sharp blade with countless cavalrymen and tried to tear apart the defensive positions of the Song army's infantry in one fell swoop.

Cannons, muskets, crossbows, and grenades thrown from catapults made loud roars.

The thick smoke produced by the explosion was blown towards the Xixia positions by the wind, choking them and making them cough and cry. The smoke even felt suffocating when it entered their throats.

The musketeers, archers and grenade throwers quickly approached and launched a second round of intensive attacks.

The Song army's spearmen and swordsmen followed closely behind, and in the huge chaos caused by the violent explosion of firearms, they quickly engaged the enemy and started a fierce battle.

This is why Yang Yuan divided all his trained firearms soldiers into three groups.

As the Xixia soldiers who had experienced the use of Song army firearms fled back, they quickly understood the characteristics, range, power and combat effectiveness of this new weapon.

At that time, the Xixia people would study corresponding tactics and counteracting weapons.

The development of weapons and equipment may not be that fast, but the corresponding adjustments in tactics and strategies can greatly reduce the power of firearms.

Yang Yuan had crossed mountains and rivers, and neither the types of firearms nor the ammunition reserves could support his continuous fighting and heavy consumption.

Therefore, it must be used to the best of its ability.

The strongest point of the Xixia soldiers is charging.

The weapon used to charge into the battle is the war horse.

Yang Yuan distributed the limited firearms evenly among the three groups of people in order to make them have a more powerful effect than the firearms of that era: to scare people.

To be precise, it is to scare the horse.

This was also the most effective means to deal with elephant soldiers in later battles.

Appian said in "Roman History": "(During the Hannibal War) when the battle was going on, as soon as the Roman horses saw the war elephants and smelled the scent of the war elephants, the troops became chaotic and began to flee."

At that time, the best way to deal with elephant soldiers was to make fake lions and use lion feces to scare away the elephants.

Later on, people started using sound, and the most effective way to deter people from making noise was through the use of gunpowder.

The IQ of horses is lower than that of elephants. As long as the leading horse continues to charge, the rest of the herd will subconsciously follow.

However, Yang Yuan's firearms soldiers did not rely solely on noise to scare away the war horses.

Bows and crossbows may not be able to immediately kill the leading horse in the charge, especially the armored cavalry equipped with horse harness protection.

However, the projectiles from artillery and muskets can easily tear through the protection of armor and have a powerful killing effect on the body of the warhorse.

Once the leading horse of the charge fell, or fled away due to severe pain or fear, the entire cavalry would be defeated without a fight.

At this time, once the infantry approached, they stabbed the cavalry from above and cut the horses' legs from below. The cavalry, having lost their running momentum, fell into a great disadvantage.

……

Yang Yuan's central army attacked swiftly.

Due to the rapid encounter with the enemy, the Western Xia army on the left and right wings were entangled by Shi Han and Guo Di's troops, and their sharp blades could point straight forward and kill towards the heart of the country.

By doing so, Yang Yuan himself would be in danger of falling into the enemy's hands.

But, he had to do it.

As long as we make contact with Liu Qi's troops and let them see the reinforcements, they will change their tactics.

Moreover, the tremendous morale generated by this can turn the officers and soldiers of Liu Qi's army into "berserkers" one by one!

Liu Qi's troops still had a lot of remaining strength, and when they were involved in the final battle, there were as many as 50,000 of them.

This was the information Yang Yuan obtained from the wounded soldiers left behind on Roulang Mountain.

Yang Yuan's own troops have about 20,000 men. Once these two forces are combined, coupled with the huge change in military morale, it will be enough to reverse the situation of the war and achieve the effect of blossoming in the center.

However, the troops that Yang Yuan used to cut into the enemy's formation had always been the Crazy Demon Legion.

He never used the firearms soldiers that remained in his headquarters.

Firstly, the Crazy Demon Legion was under his direct command. With this force, he could save the consumption of firearms soldiers to the greatest extent.

The second was that he discovered the existence of the three major ace troops of Western Xia from the prisoners after the battle.

Good steel should be used on the blade.

His firearms were to be used on war camels, iron kites, and rifles.

It is said that the Xixia iron armor can withstand arrows. He wants to see whether it can withstand the whistling bullets, the "screaming" iron pieces and nails.

Therefore, Yang Yuan placed the firearms soldiers in the central army.

The mad army broke through the formation to open a path, the infantry followed behind to expand the results of the battle, and the firearms soldiers in the center were on standby.

As they fought their way forward and used the captured war horses in battle, a cavalry team gradually formed under Yang Yuan's command.

"Boom-boom-boom-boom..."

Yang Wanli and others defended the city strictly and would rather die than let Yang Yuan show off in front of the battlefield.

If a stray arrow really hit him, the consequences would be disastrous.

Yang Yuan was extremely helpless and had to beat the war drum himself to help.

The drum used by Yang Yuan is the Yandun drum with the best craftsmanship, produced in Guanzhong and seized in Baoji.

"Star Chasing Hammer", "Moon Grabbing Hammer", "Sky-reaching Hammer", "Earth-shaking Hammer"...

Although he did not study for a long time, Yang Yuanlei learned it very well.

The military band surrounded him, with instruments such as trumpets, suonas, and strings of bells as accompaniment.

The compact, intense, powerful and high-pitched sound of war drums seemed to recreate the majestic power of the Qin Dynasty's "Tiger and Wolf Army" sweeping across the world a thousand years ago!

The war drums roared, the trumpets blew, and the flags of both sides were in chaos like a surging torrent.

The fighters attacked each other at the same time, like teeth in a tussle.

Yang Shou led the Crazy Army and transformed them into several arrow-shaped assault groups, destroying the formation all the way and leaving the fighting to the following Song army.

Finally, Liu Qi's troops from afar noticed the presence of reinforcements.

The two sides were still far apart, but the Western Xia army, which was fighting with Liu Qi's army, had already learned the news that a large number of elite Song troops had appeared in the rear.

Therefore, they must make some adjustments and precautions, and this kind of adjustment and precaution, like a surging undercurrent, has the most direct impact on the Song army's fierce battle with the Western Xia army.

Then, on the arrow tower of the Song army, the Song army lookout discovered the Song army’s flag several miles away.

The lookout hurriedly took out a battle flag from his arms, which he had long thought would never be used.

He was just glad that he hadn't thrown away the flag out of despair.

The reason for this is simply because it can keep you warm when you put it flat in your arms.

He didn't even have time to report to the commander-in-chief Liu Qi, because Liu Qi led his personal soldiers and directly engaged the enemy.

It was a big melee.

The lookout finally took down the bloody banner with trembling hands that were stiff from the cold and excitement.

Then, a pure white battle flag with an apricot-yellow unicorn embroidered on it rose to the top of the arrow tower.

The wind was howling loudly, and the battle flag was shaken in the air and fully unfolded.

Qilin is a auspicious beast!

White background with apricot yellow pattern and a unicorn flag, it means...

Reinforcements are coming!

(End of this chapter)