Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

For the Jin Kingdom, Huosu Guancheng (Gaizhou City) cannot be lost, not only because it is at a strategic location.

"Hesu Hall" is the name of a Jurchen tribe, but these three words can continue to be dismantled.

Hesu is iron.

Guan, the name of an institution in the Liao Dynasty, is similar to the field in the Song Dynasty.

Hesu Pavilion is the iron smelting yard!

Tangchi County under the jurisdiction of Hesuguan Road used to be Tiezhou of the Liao Kingdom.

Once the Hesu Guancheng is lost, the Ming army will continue to fight to the northeast and will soon occupy the second largest iron smelting field in the Jin Kingdom!

If the Ming army continues to advance north, it can still occupy Tongzhou, the former Liao state.

At this moment, Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Xiyin personally led their troops to take control of Huosu Guancheng.

There are more than 10,000 Jurchen soldiers here, including teenagers aged thirteen or fourteen.

There was no other way, he had to put all his efforts into it. Wanyan Zongfu was so mad with the ding.

There are also more than 40,000 Bohai, Khitan, Xi, and Han soldiers, including a large number of teenagers. Some of the new recruits didn't even have armor and only carried a mess of weapons.

"The Ming army is still increasing its troops and transporting food. On the sea side of Fuzhou, there are often large fleets approaching, often dozens or hundreds of ships," Wanyan Xiyin said. "The army of Guangning Prefecture must continue to Send some over to defend the city."

Guangning Prefecture is probably Panjin City. The prefecture is located in the north of Panjin City, and the first Privy Council of the Jin Kingdom was located there.

The Jin Dynasty was crazy about drawing Ding, but the Ming Dynasty was also crazy about increasing troops and transporting food.

Thousands of private merchant ships alone were recruited. Although the freight was not high, the maritime merchants were willing to earn hard money.

Once there is no shortage of military orders, you can make money by transporting them repeatedly.

Secondly, the waves in the Bohai Sea are small and there are no pirates, so it is relatively safe to go to sea.

The number of Ming troops stationed in Fuzhou City has exceeded 70,000.

And they are all elite field troops!

Wanyan Zongfu muttered: "If too many Guangning troops are sent here, Jinzhou may not be able to defend it."

Wanyan Xiyin said: "Guangning City is far away from the sea, so we don't need to leave any troops. Seventy percent will be transferred to Hesu Pavilion and 30% will be transferred to Jinzhou. These two cities must be defended."

"Can Posulu send troops back?" Wanyan Zongfu asked.

Wanyan Xiyin said: "You can't move there. I heard that on the south bank of the Yalu River, the Ming army also has 70,000 to 80,000 troops. Once Posu Road is lost, the Ming army stationed in Goryeo will be able to drive northward."

The more Wanyan Zongfu thought about it, the more anxious he became. He already regretted agreeing to Wanyan Zonghan's plan.

In the two people's original assumptions, the defense of the Liaodong battlefield must be no problem. After all, soldiers of all ethnic groups still have fighting ability.

But now it is very embarrassing, because soldiers of all races may rebel!

Wanyan Zongfu not only had to guard against the Ming army, but also had to spend time guarding against his own people. He didn't dare to send troops out of the city to play tactics, for fear that the troops sent out would suddenly rebel while fighting.

Now they can only defend the city and wait for Wanyan Zonghan's main force to come back for reinforcements.

"Woooooooo~~~"

"Dangdangdangdang..."

"The southern thieves are coming!"

What came was the vanguard cavalry of the Ming Army.

There are three thousand light cavalry and four thousand strong cavalry, for a total of seven thousand cavalry.

The chief general is Yang Yun, a Qiang general, and his deputy generals are Li Shifu and Yang Zaixing.

This is a newly formed cavalry unit in recent years. The horses come from the Hehuang Valley, the Yellow-headed Uighurs, and a small amount of them from Xixia in exchange for tea.

Due to long-term trade with the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow-headed Uighur has expanded rapidly in recent years and has occupied the area from the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains to the surrounding areas of Qinghai Lake (except the Hehuang Valley).

If this trend continues, it is very likely that the Yellow-headed Uighur will occupy both Haixi and Hainan. Then control the entire Qinghai except Hehuang Valley!

…

There is a Shahe River blocking the road ahead, and there are two hills on the north bank of the Shahe River. The forts on the hills can be seen with a telescope.

Yang Yun, Li Shifu, and Yang Zaixing each led cavalry on patrol on the south bank of the Shah River.

They were waiting for the infantry to follow.

As long as the enemy cavalry on the south bank of Shahe River is driven away, the task of opening a road will be completed.

A large group of Jurchen cavalry, together with cavalry from various ethnic groups in Liaodong, were confronting the Ming army cavalry across the Shah River.

The next day, noon.

Generals such as Deng Chun, Zhang Xian, Gu San, Zhong Yanchong, etc. led the infantry and civilians to come slowly.

Mules pulled four-wheeled chariots, which were loaded with various baggage. Beside each chariot, there were soldiers and civilians following.

Wanyan Zongfu came with his soldiers and watched the Ming army gather more and more on the south bank.

Shahe cannot be defended, it is only a few dozen meters wide.

Under the protection of soldiers, civilians have gone to the mountains to the east to cut down trees and transport the wood back to build temporary pontoons.

The Jin cavalry dismounted one after another and stood on the north bank across the river to shoot.

The Ming cavalry retreated one after another, and the giant shield bearers came forward to protect the fusiliers.

The huge shield was pushed towards the shore, and the fusiliers hid behind the shield to reload. After the ammunition is loaded, he stands with his right half exposed and shoots freely towards the other side of the river.

After a firefight, the Jin cavalry retreated, leaving more than a dozen corpses by the river.

"Sure enough, the Ming army's muskets no longer require matches." Wanyan Zongfu put down the telescope, his mood becoming more desperate.

Wanyan Chala said: "When the Ming army crosses the river, the car formation has not yet formed, so we will attack them halfway across the river and charge to the death!"

This Wanyan Chala was not Jin Xizong's younger brother, but Wanyan's mother's younger brother. Just the same name and surname.

After Wanyan's mother died of illness, her troops were succeeded by Wanyan Chala.

"That's all we can do," Wanyan Zongfu said, "send more rangers to patrol upstream to prevent the enemy from sneaking across the mountains."

Did the Ming army need to sneak across?

But when the Ming army craftsmen were building the pontoon bridge components, another army continued to come from the south.

Gun carriage!

Two mules pulled a four-wheeled artillery cart, and there were civilian men pushing it behind. There are huge gun barrels on the car, all of which are thick and bulky junk pig iron field guns.

This kind of field artillery looks majestic, but in fact it is cheap.

One can be made in more than a month, and the iron mold can be used repeatedly. The pass rate is relatively low, and it is difficult to polish after casting. If there is a slight problem, it will have to be melted and recast, otherwise there is a risk of explosion.

In order to prevent the chamber from exploding, it was made thicker and thicker, and the outside was fixed with wrought iron hoops.

The weight is nearly twice that of a wrought-iron cannon of the same caliber, but its power is less than that of a wrought-iron cannon of the same caliber, seriously slowing down the overall speed during long-distance marches.

There are only two advantages: low cost and fast production!

This kind of thing is suitable for mass production and used as city defense guns and coastal defense guns. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was widely used for coastal defense guns.

"All artillery?"

Wanyan Zongfu stood on the hillside and observed the Ming army from a high position.

The sight of those thick and mighty gun barrels and the numerous gun carriages made Wanyan Zongfu's scalp numb.

More civilians invested in the construction and cooperated with the artillery to build artillery positions.

Wanyan Zongfu originally wanted to prevent the Ming army from building a pontoon bridge, but waited until the Ming army's pontoon bridge was built before attacking halfway across the river.

But those muskets and artillery on the south bank made Wanyan Zongfu hesitate.

He said to Wanyan Chala: "You personally lead a thousand knights, go around to the upper reaches to cross the river, hide in the mountains and wait for the opportunity. Tonight, try to attack the enemy camp at night. If the night attack is successful, I will cooperate with the large-scale crossing of the river." Attack the camp.”

After saying that, Wanyan Zongfu ordered: "The entire army retreats three miles and be on guard against enemy artillery!"

The Jin soldiers retreated three miles and were right next to the two hills. They could also rely on the forts on the mountains for defense.

They didn't bring too much baggage, and all the food and grass were in Hesuguan City. They could quickly retreat to the city if they lost the battle.

While the Jin soldiers were setting up camp, Wanyan Chala led a thousand knights around the mountain and quietly lurked to the mountains further upstream to cross the river. This is preparation for the night attack!

Soon, Wanyan Zongfu gave up on the night attack.

Because the Ming army continued to increase its troops, at least 10,000 infantry were encamped at the mouth of the valley against the Shah River. After blocking the exit of the valley, Wanyan Chala's thousand cavalry were unable to get out at all.

Clumsy reborn iron cannons were set up one after another and lined up along the south bank of the Shah River.

Wanyan Zongfu sent his soldiers to count them with telescopes. The soldiers came back and reported: "There are a total of two hundred and fifty large cannons. In addition to those large cannons, I also saw many small artillery pieces (Tiger Crouching Cannons)."

"Two hundred and fifty doors..."

Wanyan Zongfu had the urge to surrender directly. He recruited his own soldiers as messengers: "If you go and urge him again, let Nianhan lead the main force to come back at full speed for rescue! Just tell him that this place won't last long. If you can't come back within a month and a half, , then he shouldn’t come to collect the body for me.”

That night, Wanyan Chala led the Jingqi to attack at night, but was killed by the Ming army blocked at the mouth of the valley and fled in panic.

In the golden camp.

Gao Jingshan took advantage of the opportunity to inspect the camp and called his nephews Gao Song and Gao Bai into his tent.

"The Jin soldiers will definitely be defeated," Gao Jingshan analyzed. "The Ming army is all elite, and they have countless firearms and more troops than us. But our elites have suffered too many losses in the past few years. This year, even underage children have been beaten." Ding Weibing. The big families in Liaodong all have evil intentions. How can we win such a battle? But Nianhan sent his elite main force to fight over Yanshan, but let us defend the city here at our own risk."

Gao Song said with a depressed look: "But our family members of the Gao family in Chengzhou have been sent to Liaoyang as hostages."

Gao Jingshan remained silent.

Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Xiyin led the army to Huosu Pavilion and immediately summoned the generals of each city for a meeting.

Everyone went there stupidly without thinking too much. Because they are always waiting and watching, and have not yet made up their mind to betray the money and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, he was detained as soon as he arrived and had no choice but to hand over his family members.

Wanyan Zongfu's sudden move made the generals of all clans feel chilled, but it also disrupted the plans of the aristocratic families.

I don't know what to do.

Gao Jingshan said: "If something cannot be done, we can only take risks."

Gao Song and Gao Bai looked embarrassed. They really didn't want to give up their loved ones.

The three of them went back to their tents to sleep, and they were all covered in armor to prepare for any unexpected events. The soldiers under their command all wore armor to sleep.

At dawn, there was a sudden noise.

The exclamation woke Gao Jingshan up. He grabbed the spear and ran out to check, only to see a large fire burning in the distance.

"The mother-in-law is crazy!"

It was obvious that someone did not care about the life and death of his family and caused trouble on the first night of the confrontation between the two armies.

"Uncle, the armies are noisy and chaotic, what should we do?" Gao Song came running with his soldiers.

Gao Jingshan shouted: "Take the clan troops and retreat to Hesuguan City!"

"Aren't you going to surrender?" Gao Bai asked.

Gao Jingshan said: "If we surrender now, all the family members in Liaoyang will die!"

The three uncles and nephews gathered with their own soldiers blowing trumpets. They were far away from the fire place, and they could barely gather most of the soldiers to escape in an organized way.

The generals of all ethnic groups were actually very cautious and all required their soldiers to sleep with their armor on.

But there were too many newly recruited militiamen, and the teenage shengguadanzi had never actually been on the battlefield. In their panic, they had great fear and fled indiscriminately without obeying military orders, leading many experienced militiamen to flee.

Gradually, it turned into a flight of the whole army, even the core elites were running away.

In the chaos, Liu E led hundreds of ethnic soldiers to the north bank of the Shahe River and shouted: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live the Ming Dynasty, we are here to surrender and submit! Don't fire cannons and cannons, we are here to surrender and submit!"

Not only did this guy not care about his family, he even abandoned all the redundant country soldiers and came with only a few hundred elite clan soldiers.

He's the one setting fire to the camp!